Soup + Salad = Dinner
January 15, 2008This post will start with the photos:
The Salad
1 sweet potato, oven roasted for 60 minutes until tender, then cut into medallions
1 head red butter lettuce, washed and torn or chopped into bite-size pieces
Fresh goat cheese, rolled into 1″ balls (enough for two per person)
Almonds, crushed into small pieces
Any vinaigrette dressing you choose (homemade if you wish)
I crush the almonds by putting them in a zip lock bag and smashing them to bits with a heavy pan. Then I toss the cheese balls into the zip lock bag and shake to coat.
Pre-dress the salad, then place a good handful on each plate. Add two cheese balls and the sweet potato (still warm). Eat. The contrasting textures, flavors, and temperatures is remarkable.
I think you’ll really like this.
The Soup: Cauliflower and Potato Puree
This soup is so, so, so, so easy. It does require the use of a blender, but you can turn this into a rustic country soup by using a potato masher instead of a blender, if you prefer.
1/2 red onion
3 whole cloves garlic, peeled
2 T. ground coriander
1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 cups chicken stock (homemade is best)
- Saute the red onion and whole garlic cloves in olive oil until the red onion is translucent and the garlic is slightly brown.
- Add a pinch of kosher salt, black pepper, and ground coriander and saute for a few more minutes until the kitchen is really aromatic with the smell of coriander.
- Add potato and cauliflower and toss to evenly coat the vegetables with the spices.
- Add stock, cover, and simmer for 7 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Blend the soup in a blender (might need to do this in a couple of batches) until smooth. Return to the cooking pot.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with bread. Garnish the soup with white truffle oil, or olive oil.
This sounds great. You’re a big white truffle oil fan, aren’t you? Delicacy. Have you tried cooking with grapeseed oil? I love it. Doesn’t take over like olive oil can and has a great subtle taste.
by Maggie January 20, 2008 at 1:45 amLooks yummy. The photo of the salad is one of your best pictures so far. That’s definitely something you should work on – as a huge fan of your food, I can tell you that pretty much none of these pictures do it justice. Don’t they say that half of your taste buds are in your eyes?>>Emily’s suggestion is ZOOM IN. We were flipping through some cook books and pretty much all the photos are way close up. Take a look at how the photos in your cook books are and try modeling after those.
by Spencer Pforsich January 21, 2008 at 9:15 pm