Quick + Easy: Potato & Broccoli Soup

After a few fleeting days of glorious fall weather last week, a winter chill is slowly starting to creep into Cincinnati. The changing of the seasons means more than just a change in the availability of ingredients for me -- I stop craving salads. I crave Indian food. I eat more soup.

I love recipes that use potatoes to make a smooth rich soup, rather than a starchy roux or cream. It also helps make the soup more substantial to me, like I am eating a proper meal rather than eating a soup to start. This soup is super fast, cheap, and easy to make. Whenever I am done with a chunk of parmesan cheese, I throw the rind into the freezer to use for soups. However, this soup is still delicious without it. This recipe can be made vegetarian by using vegetable broth rather than chicken broth. It can be made vegan by subbing the veggie broth, omitting the parmesan, and using a squeeze of lemon at the end to brighten the soup (which I did anyway). You can also make a parmesan crisp if you feel fancy, but otherwise, this hearty simple soup + some sourdough rolls did just the trick to warm my bones tonight.

(makes 4 servings)

1 head of broccoli

1 tbspn. of butter

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks

1.5 cups of chicken broth

1.5 cups water

Salt + pepper

1 parmesan rind (optional)

1/2 cup of parmesan, shredded

Lemon wedges (optional)

Cut the broccolli florets into little pieces and set aside. Roughly chop the tough stems of the broccolli and set aside with the potatoes. 

Melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and sautee until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, potato + broccoli stem mix, broth, water, salt + pepper, and parmesan rind to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, simmer for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli florets and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the parmesan rind.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Return to pot and season with salt + pepper to taste.

Top each bowl with some parmesan and some lemon juice if desired.

Quick + Easy: The easiest dip ever.

I went back and forth about posting this -- it's so simple, was it even worth posting a recipe for it? But I think it's delicious, and I was very excited about it when I first made it (growing up in a household of primarily Asian cuisine, everything not Asian is an exciting discovery for me).

I make this when I crave hummus but I'm too lazy to go to the grocery store. It makes a great quick addition to an array of appetizers, or even a quick lunch (which is why I made it today). Serve it with pitas, pretzels, veggies. Experiment with flavored oils (I used white truffle oil today and it felt so decadent). Throw in whatever herbs you have on hand. Just start with a can of beans.

1 can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbspns. olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lemon, juiced

Salt + pep to taste

Process all of the ingredients together in a processor. Done.

Banchan!

My mom told me once that she has a Korean coworker who often packs a variety of banchan to eat with rice for lunch. That's always stuck with me -- it sounds so fun! And full of so many possibilities. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to eat the same thing every day, so I figured I'd have 5 options available and pack 4 for lunch every day, with a little bit of rice. Everything turned out great and I can't wait for Monday! (My fifth banchan is store bought kimchi)

Sauteed anchovies
1 small bag of dried anchovies + 2 tbspns. soy sauce + 1 tbspn. Sesame oil + 2 tbspns. sugar + 1/2 tbspn. vegetable oil + 1 sliced jalepeno (optional)

Soak the anchovies in cold water for about 15 minutes. Heat up the vegetable oil in a sautee pan, and throw in the anchovies, soy sauce, jalepenos & sugar. Stir everything over medium high heat -- the sauce should be kind of caramel-y and mostly on the sweet side, the anchovies will provide the saltiness. Once the sugar dissolves and the sauce is a little thicker, sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.

Soy shitake mushrooms

Bean sprout banchan (I tweaked this recipe by adding more sugar since it was coming out a little salty for my taste)

Spicy pickled cucumbers
This recipe calls for Asian garlic chives, which are broader & flat & super long, unlike typical American chives. As the recipe says, if you can't find these, you can just use the green onions and omit the chives -- I wouldn't substitute the Asian chives with regular chives. I also ended up only using 4 cucumbers but I had to double the quantities for the sauce. Everything came out great though!

Tofu Cuon

Grilled + marinated tofu, rolled up and dipped into hoisin goodness! You’ll need:

Grilled tofu

Romaine lettuce, cut or ripped into about 4 inch long pieces

Cucumber

Rice paper

Somen noodles

Bean sprouts (optional)

Shredded carrots (optional)

Hoisin dipping sauce 

Grilled tofu

Zest of 1 orange

1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tspns sesame oil

1/2 tspn soy sauce

1 tspn sugar

1 in. piece of fresh ginger, grated

1 minced garlic clove

1 tspn chili garlic sauce (look for a plastic jar that looks like it’s made from the brand that makes Siracha — in Vietnamese it’s called “tuong ot”)

1 block extra firm tofu 

Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch slabs and place on some paper towels. Place more paper towels over the tofu and put something heavy (look a heavy wooden cutting board) on top of the tofu. Press for about 15 minutes and throw away the paper towels.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Marinate the tofu in this mixture for at least 20 minutes. Heat a nonstick grill pan. Grill the tofu for about 3 minutes per side. Slice each slab in half lengthwise. 

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Hoisin Dipping Sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 tspns. vegetable oil

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/2 cup water

1 tbspn. peanut butter (smooth or chunky, it doesn’t matter)

Chili garlic sauce, to taste

Heat up the vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add the minced garlic and sautee until translucent. Add the hoisin sauce and water and stir until well combined. Add the peanut butter and chili garlic sauce and stir. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add more peanut butter if you want a thicker sauce, add more water if you want it to be more watery.

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To make the rolls, dip the rice paper in a huge bowl of warm-almost boiling water. Place the rice paper on a flat dish. Lay out your ingredients at the end of the rice paper closest to you. I like this order: lettuce, cucumber, any other veggies, a small amount of noodles, and lastly the tofu. Fold the two sides of rice paper toward the middle. Roll up and you’re ready to eat!

About 4 rolls per person makes a filling meal.  You can also eat these as appetizers.