Month: September 2023

Summer Tomato Soup with Spaetzle

Summer always is tomato time around here.  But it’s now officially autumn and this day is distinctly chilly. I still have a few nice tomatoes, so I made my homemade tomato soup but added something special to it. Spaetzle; skinny egg dumplings which my mom made free form and tossed in her tomato soup often served for Saturday lunch. I got a lovely spaetzle maker for Christmas which I had not used too much yet and so I decided that I would try to replicate my mom’s luncheon soup. You don’t have to make spaetzles, but I highly recommend them. They really shine in the soup’s rich flavor; they are delicate and delicious.

I generally make Ina Garten’s tomato soup recipe but simplified a tad.  I made it today without the cream; I don’t think it goes as well with the spaetzles. So, if you don’t make spaetzles and don’t like it creamy leave out the cream or use half and half or whole milk for less calories.  If you are a vegetarian use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. I actually did half of each type of broth today as I had nearly a cup of veggie broth to use up.  You can strain or blend the soup. I never strain but sometimes I use my immersion blender to make it smoother. But I generally prefer it unstrained and chunky. Note: It has a good amount of garlic which you can reduce as wished.  I cut back on the salt, but you can cut it even further as you wish.

Your family will love this soup with a sandwich or salad. It is naturally gluten free.  GF croutons would bring a lovely crunch to it if you have any and aren’t doing the spaetzle dumplings. Enjoy!

See my trusty spaetzle maker in action! Notice how thick the dough is,

 

Just after I added the dumplings and before I put the lid on for their 5 minute beauty bath.

 

Fresh Tomato Soup with Spaetzles

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red or yellow onions (2 onions)
2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped (5-6 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves

2-3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream/half and half or whole milk (optional)

Spaetzle Ingredients

1 large egg

100 grams of Better Batter gf flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4-1/3 cup 2 percent milk ( I believe I used a full 1/3 cup)

Soup Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and sauté for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.

Or: use your Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker to make it; saute as per recipe in the pot, add the rest of the ingredients and put the lid on and cook under pressure 20 minutes.  You might have to blend it a bit with an immersion blender. I sometimes leave off the cream but my next paragraph is how to add that….

Spaetzles:  Beat the egg with a whisk in a medium mixing bowl. Add in the milk and then the salt mixed with the flour, Stir briefly until you have a very thick batter. Use a spaetzle maker to drop the dough in strands into the hot soup; I added it about 6-8 minutes before the soup was supposed to be done. I cooked it 5 minutes once all the dumplings were in and turned off the heat; let it stand 10 minutes. 

Thick, chunky and fragrant with EVOL and fresh basil as well as the ripe tomatoes. Heavenly.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe.

Original post of this was way back in the summer of 2014.  Minor changes and addition in this recipe of the spaetzle dumplings. Enjoy!

Salad Nicose; Classic Summer Supper Salad

This dish is a family favorite in those summer months of ripe tomatoes and hot days that feel too warm for a big heavy meal. I know it has cooled down some but this salad is so delicious if you have fresh summer tomatoes which are easily available at farm stands or home gardens. This salad is composed of several vegetables cooked until just barely done, bathed in a simple EVOL vinaigrette and topped with oil packed tuna. Fresh, satisfying and very healthy in that trendy Mediterranean way I keep reading about. This salad is my daughter’s favorite from her teen years; she is 31; I have been making it for decades! My mother loved it too. My guy enjoys it as well. I don’t make it except in summer as the fresh produce is critical to the flavor especially the tomatoes.

First, you start with fresh ripe summer tomatoes, crisp bell peppers, tender zucchini and high-quality small potatoes, preferably red organic ones and the oil packed tuna of your choice. Do not make it with water canned pallid tuna, a total waste of time in my opinion. You can lay it on a bed of romaine leaves or leave off the lettuce, great either way. I use fancy olives sometimes, but inexpensive small canned pitted ones work really well. Please do make the homemade vinaigrette; it is very simple and very effective in creating the perfect flavor of the salad. If you hate one of the ingredients; leave it out. I do want to mention that many recipes use wedges of hard boiled eggs but my version doesn’t usually have that. Feel free to add them in!

Before I add the tuna….

Angie’s Salad Nicose

Ingredients

2 lbs of small red potatoes

2 medium peppers; one red, one green, cut into vertical strips and halved across the middle.

1 medium zucchini sliced in 1/2 inch half rounds

1/2-2/3 lb fresh green beans, tips removed, if long cut in half

2/3 of a 14 oz can of small pitted olives, drained

1 large ripe tomato cut into chunks

2 cans oil packed tuna fillet

Vinaigrette
I use one of those cool modern vinaigrette jars that has a wire metal ball in it to easily mix my dressing in; works really well!

Fill jar with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or to the water line [If using a Good Season’s jar – second line from bottom]

Fill rest of way to oil line with EVOL (I often do half EVOL and half mild olive oil) (about 2/3 cup)

Then add the following:

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp. French Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt; rounded

ground black pepper to taste – cap it and mix it up well

Salad directions

Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and boil on high until just tender. Whie, they cook chop the individual veggies. Steam each kind individually in a pot with 1/2-inch water until just tender (3-5 min) Taste one to be sure., do not overcook them! Carefully drain each cooked veggie and dump gently into a big bowl. On top of each other. Make the vinaigrette as you do the cooking so it can stand 5-10 minutes. When the potatoes are done drain them and set on your cutting board to cool; not touching each other. Peel them and slice thickly. If they are oval, I sometimes just cut into two thin halves, cutting along the long side. Put them in the bowl you will serve the salad in. When all hot potatoes are peeled pour 1/3 of the vinaigrette over them and carefully turn with a big spoon to coat well. They should still be quite warm when you do this step. The dressing soaks into the warm potatoes; doing it warm is very important to the flavor. Put the cooked and drained veggies in there on top. Add the tomato chunks, tuna and olives. add another third of dressing and gently turn the salad to mix well. Adjust the salt/pepper and dressing amount. Serve on a plate or shallow bowl on a bed of torn up crisp romaine leaves. Enjoy!

Peach Crisp with Oat Topping

I rarely make peach crisp and this small pan of crisp I whipped up by lunchtime today made me wonder why that is. It is so peachy flavored and the topping is perfectly crisp; I am just sad that peach season is about over, and I only made it this once. Sigh. Well, I plan to enjoy it even though it is not a huge pan; all the remaining peaches I had after a cobbler and peaches on my cereal every day for a week… Plus, I dislike soggy crisp, so it seemed perfectly sized to be all eaten before any sog sets in. I did poach the peaches 2 minutes in a hot water bath to make the skins slip off easily; I strongly suggest you do the same. Let them cool 5 minutes before you peel and slice them. So much easier than using a peeler and laboriously peeling with it. Plus, now they are nicely warmed from the poaching and ready to make into crisp. Don’t be tempted to use canned peaches; that would be a sad parody of peach crisp. Get fresh ones! There are still peaches at Bechdolt’s Orchard.

Notes: This recipe is a slightly different version of the fruit crisp in Annalise Robert’s Classic GF Baking Cookbook. I like less sugar and I like oats in mine plus I downsized it by approximately one quarter. It is easy to throw together in 15 or so minutes and bakes up golden and sweetly crisp. So peachy I wanted to devour the entire pan full! This hastily taken picture give you some idea of its looks; I was in a hurry to eat some before heading out to an appointment, so my photog skills were somewhat impaired.

Angie’s Small GF Peach Crisp

Fruit filling Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of skinned, pitted and sliced fresh peaches

1/4 cup of sugar

A heaping 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon

3 Tbsp. tapioca flour

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees, put shelf in middle position for baking; I used a 6-cup size glass rectangular baking dish. Next, put sliced peaches in a large mixing bowl, blend the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over the fruit, mix with a spoon and pour into the baking dish that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Make the topping next.

Topping:

3/4 cup gf flour (I like King Arthur’s basic GF blend)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 scant tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 heaping tsp. of xanthan gum

3.5 Tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 cup old fashioned oats, gf

Directions:

Mix together dry ingredients except oats and pour melted butter over the mixture. Stir briefly and then add the oats and stir until blended and sort of clumping. Spoon over the peaches. Bake 30-35 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving it in dessert dishes. I like it plain but some people I know love all things peach with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Apple Bread Pudding

This is a great take on bread pudding, adding fruit for flavor and added nutritional value. Apples are good for you and knowing they are in the pudding makes me able to rationalize this rich and delicious dessert concoction. I found this recipe online; it had a caramel sauce but honestly it seems sweet enough without that addition. I make a version that is more or less halved the original one. It’s in my fridge calling to me!

I used some Wide pan whole grain Aldi’s gluten free bread that was getting dry; perfect usage for it. I used more apple than the original as I love apple flavor. When in doubt I increase fruits/veggies in most dishes.

This can be gluten free as it was for me or use any bread you want. Enjoy!

Angie’s Apple Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup 2 percent milk

2 small apples, peeled and cored and sliced on the thin side

2 Tbsp. melted butter, melted in a glass ramekin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided

3-4 cups of cubed bread; I used 4 slices plus the end crust

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan or a 9×4 baking pan; I used cooking spray.

Cut the bread into the cubes and get the apples ready. I like thin slices as they go further and cook easily. Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl; whisk briefly to blend, add milk and cream and whisk good. Measure the sugar and set 1/2 Tsp sugar aside; add that to the 2 Tbsp. melted butter and add 1/4 tsp. cinnamon; blend and set aside. Pour the rest of the cinnamon, sugar and the vanilla into the milk and egg mixture and whisk until well blended. Put the bread cubes in the liquid and press into it to absorb the wet into the dry cubes using a large wooden spoon. Then pour half of it into the buttered pan and put apple slices all over the bottom; half of what you cut up. top with the rest of the bread/egg mixture and then with the rest of the apples. Pour the melted butter/cinnamon mixture over the top to cover the apples and bread mixture evenly. Bake about 40 minutes; should still be slightly jiggly when you take it out. Let the pan cool at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

Refreshing Gazpacho Soup: Slurp your Tomatoes!

Hot late summer days mean I need a cool soup recipe. One with minimal cooking: that is easy and tasty.  Plus I want to use some of my garden produce.  This classic Spanish soup called gazpacho is perfect for all of that and my family loves it. It absolutely must be made with ripe summer tomatoes, never ever attempt it with any less than the best vine ripened fruit.  You can get great tomatoes at farm stands, farmer’s markets and even the grocery store; look for the grown local label for the best flavored tomatoes. Please do not use greenhouse tomatoes grown far away and shipped while not really ripe. Your soup will not be full of tomato flavor and it will taste disappointing.  These ripe locally grown tomatoes are vital to the flavor of gazpacho.

I make my gazpacho in the blender but I believe a food processor works okay too.  No heat,  minimal fuss.

My version allows you to add chopped raw veggies in the amount you prefer just before you slurp it down. I prefer its fresh pure flavors to those soulless restaurant versions that are gelatinous and crammed full of a wide assortment of chunked veggies…uggh.

I once had a version of gazpacho similar to mine in a Philadelphia restaurant made with golden yellow tomatoes which was beautiful looking and quite tasty too.

Warning: you do need to peel the tomatoes but that goes pretty fast.  I heat about a wide sauce pan filled 3 inches deep with water to a boil and pop the ripe tomatoes in for 2 to 3 minutes. I put in 4 at a time; done in a couple batches.  Let them cool a bit and then peel off the skin and cut out the blossom end (top) and they are ready to use. You can easily halve this recipe; just one blender-full of tomatoes for that and half the rest of the ingrediens.

One more important instruction: gazpacho HAS to chill really good; make it early in the morning to serve as a late lunch or better yet; for supper. The colder the better, I actually put my soup bowls in the freezer for 15 or 20 minutes and yank them out just before filling and serving this cold summer delight.

It is a flexible recipe; depends on the size of your tomatoes. This should make close to 60 ounces or just shy of 2 quarts; cut in half if you don’t want too much. But you will wish you had made more…I promise!  It will keep 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

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tomato juice for thinning the soup

 

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skinned tomatoes ready for soup making

 

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I am about to press the puree button!

 

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Still in blender, just pureed soup.

Summer Chill Gazpacho

Soup ingredients:

8 to 10 ripe fat tomatoes (large ones)

About ¼ cup EVOL; best you can afford

2 slices white bread (GF if you have celiac)

1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 to 1 ½ tsp. sea salt

Toppings:

2 large tomatoes diced, heirloom if possible

1 cup diced burpless cucumber

2 scallions, sliced thin, green and white parts

Directions: peel the tomatoes as described above.  When I peel them I do it over a bowl to capture the juices and seeds. I save them, strain off the seeds and I add back the juice as needed to thin the finished soup.    Put 4-5 tomatoes in the blender; add a slice of bread broken up, 2 tbsp. olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and one garlic clove.  Put the lid on and blend well.  Note: do not fill the blender more then ¾ full. Taste; add salt; ½ to ¾ tsp.

Repeat entire process with the rest of the ingredients and thin with reserved tomato juice – it should be thick but not porridge thick. Just know that it will thicken as it rests and chills in your refrigerator.  Mix the two batches together in a big glass bowl; never metal because of the acidity of tomatoes and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Then chill it at least 3 to 4 hours.

Serve with bowls of toppings to sprinkle on top of the thick soup; diced ripe tomatoes, scallion slices and cucumber ( preferably burpless) cut in small dice.  If you want to guild the lily, top with croutons (gf ones if you have celiac), I don’t bother.

Note: gluten free bread often gives a slightly different texture to the soup; somewhat less smooth in the look of it and the taste.  It’s okay as it doesn’t affect the flavor: it still is delicious and a bowl of it is so very refreshing on a hot day.  Serve with a sandwich and you have a perfect summer lunch.

Note: This recipe has not been changed but some additional information is in this repeat posting of this most delicious soup!

I used some chunks of gf sourdough as my croutons in this bowl. Used zucchini not cucumber in topping.