Italian Sausage, White Bean, Kale, Potato Leek Soup - It's a mouthful!

Summer's here in Chicago! And I"m continuing my trend of soup plus a salad for my weekly meals.

I find that the easiest way to save money and eat healthily is to buy whatever is on sale at the local market (not the supermarket, but actual local market). Usually, they'll have a super discount on items they got really fresh and cheap from a local farmer. In this case, fresh kale for 99 cents a bunch. Can't pass that up!

The 2nd easiest way to shop, if you eat meat, is to buy whatever meat is on sale. This week featured fresh Italian sausages, which looked so plump and delicious, I decided to get it. Usually sausage can be a bit rich for sautes or salads, so I opted to put it in soup.

You'll need:

1 cup of dried white beans (cannellini or great northern white) *soaked over night - if you want to get canned, it's ok too, get 1 can drained

1 package of Italian sausage (about 4 links)
1 head of leeks - chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion - chopped into half inch pieces
4 cloves of garlic - minced
3 medium sized red or yellow skin (not Idaho) potatoes - chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 bunches of kale - wash and tear leaves into 1 inch chunks - discard the stems

hot water - enough to cover everything

olive oil to saute
salt and pepper
oregano and basil
red pepper flakes (optional)

The FIRST thing to do is to soak those beans the night before you make this soup. Or if you don't have time, just used a can of great norther white beans, drained and rinsed. When soaking beans, just pour a cup of dried beans into a bowl that will hold about 3 cups of liquid, since the beans will expand. Rinse to clean the beans, add lots of water to cover the beans by about 1 1/2 inch, and leave out over night. Don't leave it in the fridge, or your beans will take forever to cook. They should be nice and plump and maybe split in the morning. Make sure you keep it covered with water once it expands.

To make the soup, first cut up the Italian sausage into bite size chunks about 1 inch. If you favor smaller bites cause you like eating all classy like, then cut them into half inch chunks. Heat up a pan on medium heat, add a little olive oil to coat the pan, and add the sausage in 2 batches. Make sure they brown evenly (hence 2 batches) on all sides. Pick up with a slotted spoon and place on the side.

You can either cook the onions and leeks in the fat of the sausage, which will give it a great flavor, or if you're watching your cholesterol or fat intake, drain the fat and add olive oil. Once the oil is heated, add the chopped onions and leeks. Saute until fragrant and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook with the onions and leeks until fragrant. Add the potatoes and saute for 1 more minute. Add the kale, and turn off the fire (no need to cook the kale).

Now you can add the sausage back in, along with hot water to cover everything. This will be the broth, so make sure you have just enough water to cover the contents, but not too much, since the veggies will shrink and give off more water. Turn the heat up to medium high, and let the stock come to a simmer. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, put the lid on, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

Come back and check on the beans and potatoes. Add the salt, pepper, and oregano and basil (make sure you add just 1 tsp of salt at a time, and taste to see how salty it is each time). If you like spicy, add the pepper flakes. Cook for another 15 - 20 minutes, checking on the potatoes and beans every 10 minutes. The potatoes should be just tender, and the beans should be soft and starchy (not crunchy, or you'll have issues with digesting them...).

Remove the pot from the fire. If you are storing this in the fridge, fill a sink with cold water, and put the pot in the sink (make sure water isn't too high), and let it cool off quickly in the water. It should take about 40 minutes to cool, and then you can store in the fridge for about a week.

This soup is great for the winter, and you can serve it with crusty bread. I eat mine with some Sriracha sauce ;)

Enjoy!

Chinese Style Braised Pork Shoulder with Mushrooms

With all the working out I've been doing, I've craved more protein this week. I decided to buy some country style pork shoulders and do something Asian with it. I essentially went with a red braise sauce, which is what Chinese dishes to stew meats using soy products. 

Country style pork shoulders is really easy to find at the supermarket, and relatively cheap. We usually make it into smoked bbq here in the US, but since I wanted to Asian, it made for a leaner version of braised Chinese pork belly. 

And because I was making this at midnight when I should have been sleeping, I cooked this whole thing in 45 minutes using a pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker, just follow all the instructions below up to bringing the pot to a simmer. Just simmer on the lowest setting for about an hour (adding the mushrooms 30 minutes into it), and then reducing the liquids on high with the lid off for about 15 minutes.

I used: 

1 package of 7-8 medium sized boneless pork shoulder steaks (if you want to sub in pork belly, you can as long as they are cubed or in 1 inch slices - whatever meat you use should not be too lean)

1 package of portabello mushrooms, cut into thick slices 

1 thumb sized knob of ginger (skin on), sliced into thin disks

5 stalks of green onions, chopped into 2 inch sections

1/4 cup Chinese sherry (use regular sherry if you don't have any, or even brandy/cognac)

1/4 cup dark soy sauce (low sodium if possible)

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water (for thickening the sauce)

salt to taste at the end

To start, heat up your pot/pressure cooker and add oil to coat the pan. Add the pork shoulder pieces and brown in the pan without crowding. Make sure you can easily flip the pieces, which would happen when the meat has developed a nice brown crust. 

Remove all the meats once they're browned to the side and reserve. Sautee the mushrooms in the same pot or in a different pot. Remove and reserve. Add the ginger and scallions and sautee in the pan until fragrant. 

Deglaze the pan with the Chinese sherry and use your spatula to get all the tasty brown carmelization off of the bottom. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and water. Return the pork into the pot, and place on high flame until the pressure cooker reaches pressure. Cook on high pressure for 15- 18 minutes.

*At this point if you don't have a pressure cooker, then place the lid on and turn the flame on high until the liquid starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and leave the pot for 30 minutes, and then add the sauteed mushrooms and return to cooking with the lid on and low heat. *basically you don't want to overcook the mushrooms.

When the time is up for the pressure cooker. Carefully cool down in the sink with running water to depressurize or let out the pressure following the pot's instructions. Open the pot, add the mushrooms, and return to pressure for 5 minutes.

Carefully open the pressure cooker again. Everything should be pretty tender and there should be more liquid than before you started cooking. This is the same for if you're using a regular pot.

Add the corn starch mixture, and let it simmer in the cooking liquid for 30 seconds. It should start to turn clear and thick. Stir gently. 

At this point, you can break up the meat into smaller chunks to coat them in the thickened sauce. Or if it's pork belly, just leave it alone!

Serve hot over rice with a side of vegetables (I had sauteed cauliflower with brown rice). Enjoy!

Super Duh Easy Potato Leek Soup

The leeks at the supermarket were very beautiful this week, so I couldn't resist and bought one. I decided to make some potato and leek soup to go with my salads at lunch.


The problem with most potato and leek soup recipes is how much heavy cream and potatoes go into the soup.


You can still have the creaminess without adding too much fat or starches by subbing in cauliflower for some of the potatoes and using low fat (2%) milk instead of heavy cream.


This is a super duh easy soup that is pretty much goof proof and cooking merrily in 20 minutes. Takes about 40 minutes to completely cook through. Serves 4-6 hungry ppl.


You'll need:


1 large leek

3 yukon gold potatoes

1 head cauliflower

1 onion

1.5 cup chicken stock

1-2 cups milk

1-2 tbsp oil

1-2 tbsp butter

salt

pepper


Start by washing the outside of the leek. Chop off the root. Then slice the white part into 1/4 inch slices. Chop until you start to reach the green part. The green part is trickier because of the dirt trapped in the leaves. Just peel them off and rinse them under running water. Then chop the green part into 1/4 inch slices. Slice the onion in half then chop into 1/4 inch strips. Heat up some oil in the soup pot. Add the leek and onions with a pat of butter. Sautee.


In another pan, sautee cauliflower that you've rinsed and chopped into 1 inch pieces. Use some butter and salt to help with the browning.


Chop the yukon gold potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. While the leeks and onions are caramelizing and sweating out their liquids, add the yukon potatoes. Keep sauteeing until everything is nice and golden brown and smelling tasty. Take the cauliflowers and add them to the soup pot. Sautee everything together.


When everything is nice and golden colored and smelling super tasty, add the cup of chicken stock. Turn the heat up to high. Cover the pot, and let it hit boil. When it boils, turn down the fire to a simmer, and add 1-2 cups of milk. The milk level is adjustable as long as the overall liquids cover all the ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Put the cover back on, and then let it simmer for another 20 minutes.


Go take a quick Facebook break and brag about making potato leek soup.


Come back to the soup. Poke the cauliflower and the potatoes. They should fall apart easily. Let cool slightly and then either use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or CAREFULLY ladle the soup into a food processor or blender and puree. I like mine sorta chunky so do as you wish.


Serve warm with a side of salad or with some toasted french bread. Yummers...

Mah Po Tofu Recipe

Issay's sister Mio asked me whether there are some good ma po tofu recipes out there. Yes there are. But since I cook it so often, I guess I can post mine too. It's adapted from Fu Pei Mei's famous home cooking cook book, published in Taiwan over 10 years ago.

Ma Po tofu is a vegetarian friendly dish. You can easily substitute the meat in the recipe with some vegetarian mince (which resembles ground pork) or some sort of minced tempeh. You can probably even just do a straight vegetarian version with some vegetable stock and peas and carrots.

Anyway, here's the regular recipe I cook for Issay. The key to making successful Ma Po tofo is to make sure you simmer the tofu for a good twenty minutes to let the broth penetrate into the tofu and flavor it from the inside out.

Ingredients:

1/4-1/2 lb ground pork, turkey, or chicken (beef is a bit too fatty so I'd not recommend it). Good ground meat consists of a good blend of fat and lean cuts.

1-2 blocks of soft tofu (2 blocks to make leftovers), cut into 1 inch cubes and blanched for 1 minute in boiling hot water

1 tbsp of Chili bean paste(chili bean paste is a fermented bean product with chili seasoning added,kind of like a strong miso with chili, except more flavorful).

1/2 tsp chili powder (gives the tofu a smoky flavor)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/3 tsp salt

1/3 tsp sugar

11/2 cup chicken or veg stock

2 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tbsp of water into slurry

1 tsp sesame oil

Lots of freshly cracked black pepper

2 stalks of green onion, chopped

First of all, you need to boil a pot of water. Drain and cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes. Then place the cubes into the boiling water for 1 minute. Drain.

Then, heat up a tsp of oil in a wok or deep bottomed pan. Start browning the ground meat on medium high heat. Season with the salt, sugar, chili bean paste, chili powder, and soy sauce. The meat should be well browned and smell very fragrant.

Then, add the stock to the meat. Bring to high boil. Add the tofu, then keep on medium to high boil for 20 minutes. By the end of the 20 minutes, the stock will have reduced by about 1/3. Then, add the corn starch slurry to the tofu while the heat is on medium. Stir until the sauce begins to thicken.

Turn off the fire, drizzle with green onions, sesame oil, and cracked black pepper.

If you can't find chili bean paste, just use a regular chili paste to get the mild heat. It will lack the pungency of the bean paste, but will still be tasty. For those of you who are averse to eating spicy dish... well this dish is probably not for you. Jk... just put in a little chili paste. It will be a mild version but not really ma po tofu... :)

Canadian/Quebequois Foods

I am currently traveling in Montreal for the Waterhouse art exhibit. This is also a chance for me to sample the French influenced foods of Quebec province. So far I've consumed:

Quiche (tasted like microwave oven...)
Octopus and lentil salad (marvelous)
Sorrel soup (which I didn't even know what Sorrel was)
Freshly baked french bread (perfect crust to soft interior ratio)
Poutine (was amazingly non-greasy given the fries drenched in gravy factor)
Terrine au canard et orange (Pate is the perfect combo of fat and meat)

And some other foods I might have forgotten.

My impression of Quebec is that it is a lot like France in mindset and approach to food. The people eat well and the produce they buy and utilize in the foods are amazing. We visited the Marche Atwater, a local farmers and gourmet foods market and were blown away by its cleaniless and the quality of foods available. I sampled the terrine there, which was creamy and savory with a touch of citrus. It was my breakfast and was immensely satisfying!

The gleaming fruits and vegetables and GIANT turnips at the farmers market were also found in the regular big chain super market. Prices there were very comparable to US prices, and the quality of meats seem far superior. Case in point the pork tenderloin. In the US, pork tenderloin is sold in large hunks which contain both the actualy tenderloin and all the surrounding meat. In Montreal, the tenderloin is a thin strip of extremely soft meat sold in a vacuum package. The meat's superior softness really makes it worthy of being called "tenderloin," and the US version really pales by comparison. I cannot imagine how delicious the tenderloin tastes when sliced and the lightly grilled...

The supermarket there also carried exotic cuts of meat such as milk fed veal and horsemeat (I was a little freaked out by that one). There was also plenty of liver from chicken, pork and beef variety all located right next to the regular cuts. In the US you'd have to ask the butcher for pork and beef liver if you wanted some.

The foods in Montreal are also very international. In fast food courts at the mall, foods ranged from Thai to Vietnamese to Mediterranean. Usually you're lucky to find just one Panda Express in a Chicago food court. Never will you encounter other Asian varieties.

Tomorrow is my last day here and I want to eat at the local Chinatown. I've heard very good things about the restaurants and can't wait to try it!

1001 Foods You Must Taste and CORNISH PASTY!

My sister borrowed 1001 Foods You Must Eat Before You Die from the library. The lush pictures and detailed descriptions of the foods made me extra hungry as I rode the train home in the sleet and snow.

Amongst the stranges are Shiokara (Japanese picked fish guts) and Bundnerfleisch (Swiss style cured thin sliced beef). But the book is also full of delightful descriptions of all the different herbs, spices, and plants I've heard of and wanted to learn about. Definitely a great reference for foodies and budding chefs alike. I've heard of ramps and eaten them before (not it's not just a place where skatboarders play), but I never knew that they take up to 7 years to mature!

Issay and I spent the entire evening poring over the book and learning about delicacies from around the world. What strikes me the most is how all cultures evolve similar foods and preparations. One common theme is the value placed on fatty meats, my favorite being Royal Peking Ducks, which can contain a third of its weight in fat (since fat weighs less than muscles, that means the bird is probably half fat by volume). Another is the delightful preparation of various foods wrapped in pastry dough then fried or baked.

Which brings me to the subject of the Cornish Pasty, one of the most wondrous creations of mankind. Filled with turnips and chopped (not ground) beef, the hearty interior is wrapped in a baked crust with a ridged side perfect for gripping with your fingers. I am proposing a pasty baking night this weekend with my other foodie friends. This can be either at my home or yours (I do not own a pastry knife!). But we will bake then consume pastys warm from the oven. Please feel free to reply with your interest.

Microwave Oven Poached Pears

I bought some unripened Bartlett pears last week from the grocery and stuck them in the fridge because of my love of crunchy pears. Issay disagrees with me on the validity of the unripe pear and prefers to ripen his naturally out of the fridge. Although naturally ripened pears can turn into little golden balls of silky sweetness, I've also forgotten to eat them in time and arrived to find brown and spotty ones.

Since I've been sick at home with a cold for the past half-week, I decided to poach the pears instead of eating them raw in order to reduce cold induced coughing fits. But being lazy as I usually am, I decided to poach them in the microwave. The end result: pretty good, but longer stay in the microwave would have been ideal, so I increased the cooking time.

Try this dessert:

1 firm unripened Bartlett pear (or medium ripe), cut into wedges or cubes
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp butter

Throw everything in a microwave safe bowl. Zap on high for 2 minutes. Stir. Zap for another 2 minutes. Stir. Zap for one more minute. Let cool. Consume with spoon and a side of ice cream or croissant (go for the croissant if you aren't sick!).