Salmon Bisque with Tarragon

This soup is a great way to use leftover salmon or cheap salmon trimmings from the store. Cottage cheese adds a creamy tartness, and the curds compliment the texture of the salmon, but if cottage cheese curds in soup sound too weird, substitute creme fraiche, sour cream, or simply leave out the sour dairy altogether.

1 green bell pepper
3 stalks celery
1 carrot
1/2 of one onion
1/2 of one sweet potato or yam
1 tbsp oil (I prefer grapeseed or sunflower, but any will do)
2-3 cups vegetable broth or water
a pinch of sage
a pinch of thyme
1 lb. of cooked salmon, fully de-boned
1 cup 2% or whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
cottage cheese, creme fraiche, or sour cream, optional

Coarsely chop the vegetables. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and carrot. Cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add sweet potato and enough broth or water to cover the vegetables. Bring to a simmer, and cook until soft, about 5-8 minutes. Sprinkle in sage, thyme, salt, and pepper.

Using a blender or food processor, puree the vegetable mixture until completely smooth, in multiple batches if necessary. Be very careful blending hot liquids, and always do small batches to avoid splattering or trapped pressure from steam. Return vegetable puree to pot.

Stir de-boned salmon and milk into the vegetable puree. If bisque is still very thick, add vegetable broth until the soup is a desired consistency- not too thick, but also not watery. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve in large bowls, with a sprinkle of tarragon and a dollop of cottage cheese, creme fraiche, or sour cream if desired.

Groundnut Stew

From Sunday's At Moosewood Restaurant:

2 cups chopped onions
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp cayenne or ground dried chiles
1 tsp pressed garlic cloves
2 cups chopped cabbage
3 cups cubed sweet potatoes
3 cups tomato juice
1 cup apple juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
2 chopped tomatoes
2 cups chopped okra
1/2 cup peanut butter

Sauté onions in oil for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne and garlic. Sauté for a couple more minutes. Add the cabbage and sweet potatoes, and sauté, covered, for a few more minutes. Mix in juices, salt, ginger, cilantro, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer or about 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender. Add okra and simmer for 5 more minutes. Stir in the peanut butter, turn heat to lowest setting, and simmer until ready to serve. Add more juice or water if stew is too thick.

Recipe Exchange- Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup

Cook 1 cup of Lentils in 4 cups boiling water that is salted/flavored with chicken bullion
While the lentils cook, add in 2 carrots and 1 onion, chopped
Throw in a bunch of spices -- I always pick some thyme, sage, rosemary, and usually cayenne pepper/paprika/chili flakes for spicyness
Cook everything in the pot until it is soft
Use an immersion blender to turn it into a thick soup
Serve with lemon juice

Pate de Pomme de Terre (Potato pie)
Make pie crust:
put 2 1/2 cups of flour in a bowl, and add in a teaspoon of salt
Cut in a cup of cold butter. Once you have incorporated as much as you can with your fork/knife/whatever you are using, get in there with your hands and squeeze the butter until it looks like little pellets.
Add in a couple tablespoons of water (6-8) until the dough clumps together into a ball but is not too sticky
put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. The longer you wait, the better it tastes
Roll out 2/3 or so of your pie crust and put it in the bottom of a pie dish. The deeper the better
Fill the pie crust with sliced potatoes and onions. Put on salt and pepper every so often
Use the rest of the pie crust to cover the top
Cut a couple air slits in the top, and cook at 350 for about an hour, or until the potatoes are soft and the crust is golden-ish
When it is done, cut as large a hole as you can in the crust. Make sure to try and keep it intact
Spread yogurt or sour cream pretty thick as far as you can. The impossible goal is to cover the entire pie.
Put the piece of crust you cut out back on and serve it hot with extra sour cream/yogurt

Guacamole
Take an avocado or two, cut it into pieces, and mash it up
Cut up a tomato into very small pieces
cut up a shallot or half a small onion into very small pieces
Mix everything together, and add some lemon juice and (if you want) some spices
Eat with tortillas (which are also easy to make at home)


I hope you like these random recipe! The first two are from my mom, who is French. The last one is just for kicks. I don't really know who you are, but you're friends with Caitlin so you can't be that bad -- just kidding!! I'm sure you're awesome. The surest sign is that you would participate in/set up something like this

Thanks for the opportunity to share my favorite recipes! I hope you will try them out sometime.

Manon

Vegetarian Chili with Root Vegetables

1 beet, diced
1 turnip, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
5 large cloves garlic, minced
1 24 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 cup of vegetable stock
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp paprika

Boil the diced beet, turnip, and carrot for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp of water into a large pot or kettle (big enough to fit the entire batch of soup) over medium high heat. Cook the onion, jalapeño, and bell pepper for 3 minutes. Add garlic. Drain the root vegetables. Add onion mixture to root vegetables, as well as the cans of tomatoes, black beans and kidney beans. Bring to a simmer, adding a cup of broth or more if necessary (chili will boil down and get thicker). Stir in spices. Simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve hot, topped with cheddar cheese.

Delicata Leek Soup with Fennel

3 medium sized potatoes, (peeling optional)
1 Delicata squash
water for boiling
1/4 cup butter
3 leeks, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp chopped fresh fennel leaves, plus more for garnish

Chop potatoes and squash into fourths. Bring water to boil, add potatoes and squash, and reduce to a simmer. Melt butter in skillet. Add leeks and fennel bulb and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. When potatoes and squash are soft (about 15-20 minutes), reserve 2 cups of the water used for boiling and drain the rest. Remove the squash pieces from the pot, wait until they are cool enough to handle, and peel the skins off (they should come off very easily, if not, boil them longer). Place the leek mixture and squash and potatoes plus reserved water in blender (may have to do this in two or more batches). Puree until smooth. Add salt, buttermilk, and fennel leaves, and blend for a minute longer. Pour back into pan and reheat, if necessary. Otherwise, serve hot, topping with more fennel leaves.