Soup's On

Here are three of the recipes I've posted to my other blog.

1. A low-fat, no-carb seafood chowder: it's cream-, potato- and flour-free, thickened only by blended cauliflower. I had wanted to make either the creamy cauliflower soup from Rachel Ray's book 30 Minute Vegetarian Meals, or the New England veggie chowder from the Claire's Cornercopia Cookbook, but I didn't have the right ingredients for either recipe and am not crazy about potato based soups, so I scrapped them both and made something up.

1 lb. baby or bay scallops
1 medium to large head cauliflower
1 small white onion, diced
1 clove minced garlic
3 cups skim milk
1 cup water
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 bay leafCoarse salt and ground white pepper to taste

In a large pot, boil cleaned and trimmed head of cauliflower until tender. Remove florets and set aside. Discard stem (feel free to remove florets first and then boil them, which is probably quicker).

In 3 quart saucepan, saute onions, garlic and 1/3 to 1/2 of scallops in olive oil until scallops are thoroughly cooked and a small amounf of stock has formed. Remove from heat.

Remove scallops from onion and garlic mixture. Add milk, water and cauliflower florets and blend, using hand blender, until relatively smooth. Return to heat. Add thyme, bay leaf, cooked scallops and remaining scallops. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

And that's it. I think this version might benefit from a spinkling of shavings of hard cheese, like asiago or romano, which is what that Rachel Ray suggests in her book. I also think it could do with a splash of white cooking wine, but I didn't have any on hand and that might just counterbalance this soup's many health benefits: Calcium! Protein! Fiber! I'm pretty happy with the results, but I think I'll tinker with the recipe for next time. Parsley might be nice. Using a cup of vegetable stock instead of plain water might also add a more interesting note to it. And more veggies--say, corn, celery and carrots-would undoubtedly be good. I just liked the idea of having a pure white soup this time around.

2. Black bean soup, a fast favorite
2 15.5 oz. cans of black beans
1/3 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced1 jalapeno, diced
1 bay leaf
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. minced garlic (or about 1-2 minced fresh cloves of garlic)
2 c. water
Sea salt to taste
Cumin to taste
(optional--as much cilantro as you like)

In 3 qt. saucepan, saute onions, garlic, bay leaf, jalapeno and bell pepper in olive oil over medium-low heat, until onions are transparent.While onions and peppers are cooking, open and drain both cans of beans. Leave one can of beans whole; mash other can of beans until they form a paste (easiest to do this right in the can with a fork or wooden spoon).

Add whole beans to onion mixture and stir. Add water and bring to a low boil. Add bean paste and stir until the paste is dispersed and soup has thickened. Add cumin to taste (I like it a lot so I add at least a full tsp., sometimes more). Add cilantro and salt to taste. Simmer over low heat for another 10 or so minutes, then remove from heat. Serve topped with a sprinkling of diced peppers and onions, nonfat plain organic yogurt, and home-made guacamole or a sprinkling of low-fat cheddar cheese.

3. Scottish Stilton Soup: I got the recipe online, from Recipegoldmine.com. I had to tweak the recipe so it wasn't so, you know, obscenely fatty and dangerous to one's health. The original can be found here. Here's my tweaked version.

1 head cauliflower
1/2 c. diced shallots
1/2 c. diced carrots1 bay leaf
1/4 c butter (or, if you're really trying to be good, 2 tbsp. of olive oil, instead)
1/4 tsp. white pepper
2 c. vegetable broth (unsalted, non-tomato based)
1 1/2 c. skim milk
1 1/2 c. crumbled stilton cheese
1 tsp. sea salt

Boil cauliflower until tender. Remove florets from stem, chop and set aside. Discard stem. In 3 qt. saucepan saute shallots, bay leaf and carrots in pan with butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Remove bay leaf.

Add cool broth, milk and florets to saucepan and blend ingredients in saucepan with hand blender (or in standard blender) until fairly smooth. Return soup to heat and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Add crumbled cheese and stir until melted. Add sea salt to taste. Serve hot with crusty bread.

Next time, solid food, promise.