A Little Bit of Spring

This is the recipe for the Chilled Asparagus Soup that we had for our Easter Dinner. The inspiration for the recipe came from wanting to have the beautiful green of asparagus for my spring celebration dinner, but did not want to just serve steamed asparagus.  I searched for a recipe that was simple and would have the flavor of spring.  I started with a recipe from Rachael Ray's website and went from there.

Chilled Asparagus Soup

3 Tablespoons of butter (divided)

2 leeks

1 bunch of asparagus

3 cups chicken broth

1 Tablespoon flour

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Clean leeks making sure to get rid of all of sand.  Thinly slice the leeks.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in saucepan over medium high heat.  Add leeks and a sprinkle of kosher salt.  Cook leeks for a couple of minutes until they are starting to wilt.  Meanwhile remove woody end of asparagus and roughly chop asparagus.  Add asparagus to leeks and saute for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and cook until asparagus in tender. Meanwhile,  in another small saucepan melt the remaining butter.  Stir in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes to get rid of the flour taste.  Whisk in 1 cup of chicken broth and cook until slightly thickened.  Add thickened chicken broth to asparagus mixture and stir to blend.  Remove from heat and using immersion blender, blend until smooth.  (If you do not have an immersion blender, may be done in regular blender.  Make sure to do blend in batches, never filling the blender more then half full and making sure to vent.  Hot things when added to a blender expand so blend carefully)  Once soup is smooth add the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth and cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to blend.  Cool slightly and then place in refrigerator until chilled.  I served my soup as an appetizer in espresso cups.  I topped the soup with Greek yogurt that I mixed in juice from 1/2 lemon, cubed pancetta that I crisped up in a skillet and fresh chives.  This soup is also good warm.  It has a different taste to it, but still yummy.

Spring Time Celebration

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day here.  Perfect spring day and perfect day for having friends and family over for dinner.  Dinner turned out pretty good.  Our menu was grilled lamb chops and chilled asparagus soup for appetizers, baked ham, scallop potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls and for dessert a lemon cake filled with a lemon curd whipped cream and strawberries.  The hits of the day were the lamb chops, chilled asparagus soup and the dessert.  The other hit and for a future post were chocolate chip cookies.  On the downside were the scallop potatoes that did not set up right, while flavor was good it was not pretty.  Not sure what happened and will have to try again.  

The recipes that I am going to share from this dinner are the hits for the day.  First up is the lamb chops.  The recipe is adapted from Gourmet magazine.  Gourmet is a great magazine for your daily dose of food porn.  I purchased the lamb chops from Costco and they were tender and flavorful.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary

Lamb chops (I used a package that contained 7 lamb chops)

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 Tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves of garlic minced

3 Tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Place lamb chops in large ziploc bag.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Seal bag and mush everything around to blend.  Marinate in refrigerator for a minimum of four hours and no more then six hours.  (Longer then six hours could make the meat mushy and make the balsamic flavor a little overwhelming.)  Heat grill to medium high heat.  Remove lamb chops from marinade and throw away remaining marinade.  Place lamb chops on grill and cook for 3-5 minutes per side or until desired doneness.  You want an internal temperature of 140 degrees.  Let chops sit for 5 minutes before serving.  Lamb chops are best served medium rare to medium. 

In the next couple of days look for the Chilled Asparagus Soup and the Lemon Strawberry Cake Roll. 

Spring Time

It has been raining off and on this week here. I am done with the rain even though we need it, just ready for spring. When I was at Trader Joe's this week I saw these beautiful tulips and daffodils. I figured if the sun will not shine outside then I will bring a little sunshine into the house. So enjoy this little bit of sunshine and I hope that the sun is shining wherever you are.

I am in the process of planning Easter dinner and I am leaning towards the following menu. Asparagus soup to start, salad, ham, scallop potatoes and a lemon sponge cake with a strawberry filling. I could probably just make do with the soup and the dessert, however the rest of my family will want a little more then that. Anyway after I decide for sure I am making I will share a couple of the recipes and pictures, especially of the dessert. Now go out and enjoy spring!

First Post

I have been debating about starting a blog for quite some time now. Where to start? This is what has stopped me. I knew it would be about food. Food is a passion I discovered later in life. To be more accurate I have always loved food, it is the passion of preparing food that has come later in life. Much too late to start culinary school and where we live makes it next to impossible. So it remains a dream. And leaves me turning a passion into something that can make money with no formal training. I am taking the skills that I have learned over the years and hoping to help others to improve their own cooking skills.

My hope for this blog is that it will give you some great ideas for meals that you can prepare for your family. I am very lucky to live on the Central Coast of California which offers so many opportunities to buy wonderful locally grown food.

My other hope for this blog is that it will help to heal from a business venture in meal assembly that did not work. From what I learned (and trust me there are and were plenty of life lessons) I am venturing into a new business. Same concept of wanting to help people get good healthy food on the table for themselves and their family. I want to be the affordable personal chef option. If you live locally check out our website and give us a try.  I hope that you will visit often to get easy, healthy dinner ideas made with the best ingredients that you can find in your neighborhood.

Our first meal together will be a simple and comforting meal. It is adapted from a recipe in Cooks Illustrated, one of the best cooking magazines that there is. Enjoy dinner on your plate tonight.

Pasta with Simple Tomato Sauce

1/2 pound of ground beef (may also use ground turkey or not use any meat for a veggie option)

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup grated onion (use the large holes on a box grater)

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

salt ( I use kosher salt, you may use table salt or sea salt)

2 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed through garlic press

1 (28 ounces) can crushed tomatoes (use the best quality that you can find such as Muir Glen)

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Ground black pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Heat skillet over medium high heat.  Add a drizzle of olive oil and meat to pan.  Cook meat while breaking it up as it cooks.  Cook until meat is brown, crumbly and cooked through.  Remove meat from pan and drain on paper towel lined plate.  (If not using meat, skip this first step.)  Heat butter in same pan over medium high heat until melted.  Add onion, oregano and 1/2 teaspoon salt, cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in tomatoes and sugar and increase heat to high and bring to simmer.  Stir cooked meat back into sauce, if using, and turn heat down to medium low.  Simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.  Remove sauce from heat and stir in basil and olive oil.  Serve sauce over cooked hot pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.  Serve with salad and bread to complete your dinner.