The only thing I love more than taking in a hot and flavorful bowl of soup is making a large pot of it. This is the White Bean and Kale that I made the other day during a weeklong stretch of dampness and rain. This version has ham but you can certainly omit it and substitute the chicken broth for vegetable stock. I always say that cooking is an art and I have to declare that I am not a big fan of actual "recipes". I think winging it allows for a lot more creativity and lets you learn to be able to construct dishes just off the top of your head. So if you are craving a certain dish, you start to learn how to put it together simply by following your taste buds and of course, a little brain power. Obviously soups are one of the easiest dishes to put together and yet you can add whatever you like and they become complex, nutritional, and comforting.

Easy:

Large soup pot. Cover the bottom with a generous layer of olive oil. Add two smashed cloves of garlic, one medium chopped onion, two peeled and chopped carrots, and two stalks of rinsed celery, chopped. Saute in the olive oil until they become slightly translucent....add a dash of kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a few bay leaves. (Be sure to remove them after simmering.) Add your pre-soaked beans and mix everything together. Add cold water till about one inch from the top of your stock pot and bring to a roiling boil for about a good 15 min..take your heat down and then let simmer. Keep checking your beans for tenderness. At some point during the simmer is when I add chicken base and fresh rosemary. And I keep adding until I get the right flavor. When I feel that the soup is pretty much done, that is when I add my greens and ham in this instance. I did use kale for this particular soup, but you can add spinach, escarole, collard greens, etc. Adding fresh greens at the last stage keeps the soup tasting fresh and looking beautiful.

It's is not a lot of work. They most you are doing is chopping the 3 vegetables. I used a pre-cooked ham and diced a few slices. And for a little bit of work, you have a warm and wonderful meal for a few days ahead. I served this with a toasted buttered baguette and it was simply delicious.

Hoagies 101

Well, yesterday was spent puttering around the house and being relatively non-productive. I managed to boil water for some pasta, but that was it. Really off my game. At any rate, in conversing with friends about the good old hoagie (as it is known regionally here in the Northeast), I developed a woo-lee (Italian slang for craving), for what else? An Italian hoagie. So of course tomorrow, I’ll be making hoagies. So…my shopping list will be as follows:

• Portuguese rolls…(donna gimme a harda time…I liva here a longa and nogooda Italian bread, no Cacias bakery here!)


• Genoa salami


• Imported capicolla (gabagool)


• Parma prosciutto (brahzhoot)


• Green leaf or baby romaine lettuce


• Fresh basil


• Elise's marinated tomatoes


• Thick good slices of fresh red onion


• Imported sliced provolone or a hunk of BelGiosio


• Extra-virgin olive oil and oregano….fresh if I can find it!


• Pepperoncini or good cherry hots packed in oil…..mmmmmmmm.

I don’t think I have to explain how to put a hoagie together. I might not even make it that far….spread everything out on your kitchen table, crack open a bottle of cheap ass chianti, tell everybody to talk over one another and put the Soprano’s on. Hell, you might feel like a real Italian for a day!! And you might not want to go back!!
Ti amo tutti,
Elise

I'll Also Be Drinking.

Tomorrow evening I am presiding over a dinner party for two friends who are moving to South Carolina. It's 1:00 in the morning and I have no bloody idea what is on the menu. Usually I would cook something Thai or Asian but not for tomorrow. So I think I'll stick with some warm grilled veg, a killer risotto, and thin sliced sauteed chicken breast with melted provolone and fresh marinated tomatoes. Doesn't that sound good? A perfect mix of late summer and a tinge of fall. See how easy it is? I just gave you a great idea for some good food!

You have any red wine over there? C'mon over..it's late and I want to hang out a little bit.

Hot...And I Mean Really Hot!

Ok…this is why I love the internet, specifically blogging. Just quit my job, (it really was non-profit) the Jeep is getting repaired, winter is coming and I live in the middle of nowhere. Well, not really. But, this scenario gives me the perfect reason to just sit on my smart little bum all day with my laptop and write. And get up every so often to cook. And then get back to writing about what culinary creation I just designed. For a brief moment, I can believe that I am a successful writer living on the coast crafting the most beautiful and mesmerizing words ever. Yea. Anyway, I was checking out other blogs and came across Dispatches From The Sprewell Yacht. To my utter happiness, the author Andrew had posted about how restaurants never get tuna right and I gotta tell you, ….I could love this man. Andrew, do you hear me??? Wait until you see my recipe for Curried Chicken Salad!!!! Andrew?..Hello?

http://acdispatch.blogspot.com/

I'm Back

Ok.  So I took a little hiatus from writing.  Sometimes, you have to step away from a project so you can get a little fresh air flowing and spark up some new creativity.  So, the whole time that I haven’t spent writing, I have been cooking.  Lucky for you.  Obviously the better scenario would be that I could actually have all of you over for dinner and of course, cocktails, but until then, you’ll just have to read about what I have been doing in the kitchen.  As of right now, we caught a few striped bass and the filets are sitting in the refrigerator now with a light marinade of lemon, garlic, and parsley.  
I took about ¼ of one of the filets tonight and just tried something very simple.  I melted butter in a bowl and then I added some seasoned bread crumbs and a pinch of salt.  I just spooned this mixture right onto the fish and then I broiled it for about 12-15 minutes.  Unbelievable.  Real simple.  Real good. So that will be on the menu for tonight, along with a green salad and maybe some rice.  As I sit here and write, it occurs to me how incredibly boring and stupid this blog might actually be.  But then, I know you should always just do what you love.  And, it’ll get better.  Cold weather is coming and the best place to be is where the heat is.