stick to your bones good: White Bean Soup with Garlic and Parsley

who knew that such simple and plain ingredients could yield a soup such as this? i know the title doesn't seem very interesting but hey, what's a hungry student with minimal ingredients to do when faced with the minor problem of feeding herself? (in fact, i find myself wondering how tasty any of the recipes are going to be with plain names such as this one...) answer: flip through the book until she finds a recipe that uses what she already has on hand, of course!

like i mentioned in my Chick Pea Soup blog, i cooked up a pot of white beans while waiting for the chick peas to do their thing. the next day, i took the beans, boiled them (actually, i over boiled them and they turned into a semi-solid state of mush, but it actually worked in my favour this time round...) and got ready for another long long wait before a new pot of soup should magically appear on my stove top. nope, not this time round. with in 15 mins, the soup was ready to eat! incredible!

i admit that it took two tries to get the seasoning right (i guess i tend to under season out of the "no salt" policy that exists in my house) but a little more salt, fresh ground pepper, and most importantly, fresh parsley, was thrown in, magic really did happen. i mean, it took this soup from a state of "blah" to a state of... well, i think nikki's response says it all.

first time round, "it's good, but needs some more salt and pepper" (at this point, i hadn't added in the parsley yet). second time round (with the adjustments) she needed three times just to "make sure that everything was just right". sweet perfection.

because the soup was finished late at night, i covered it and put it into the fridge for consumption the next day. i guess that overnight, not only did the flavours come together more but so did the soup itself! serving myself was more that slapping down balls of off-white goop that dishing up a bowl of soup... :S i ended up having to dilute the soup with some hot water while warming because it was just too thick. granted that the recipe did say that you could serve this as a side dish to roast veal, i'd say that soup is meant to have at least sooooommmmeeee liquid....

at any rate, the soup was delicious and definitely filling. i was pleasantly surprised when, after 6 hours, dinner was just a distant thought. (i usually need to feed myself every 4 hours or so)

in conclusion, this soup is perfect for us students heading into exam period. it doesn't really need any work (aside from preplanning the soaking of the beans) and will keep us filled and fueled for our long hours in the library. on top of that, litteraly pennies to make. definitely a keeper.

and so my friends, the count is 17 down, 502 to go.

3 down, 515 to go!

Well, after procrastinating for about a week, I finally decided to get down to make my first recipes.

As a cook, I don't usually follow recipes well. I read them, understand the big picture, then go about making the dish my way. For the intents of this project, I am trying to stick to the recipes as written - which, for someone like me, if MIGHTY difficult.

Minestrina Tricolore: potato soup with carrots and celery

after visiting Loblaws to pick up some missing ingredients (and a new heavy bottom saute pan, cover and herb bush) I peeled my potatoes, put on the water and started the boil. Woohoo!! Step 1 done without a hitch. Now on to step 2...

Onions, carrots, celery and oil are all things I am very familiar with in the kitchen. I tend to over use the OCC and under use the oil, just because I'm like that. So, when the recipe called for the complete reversal of my norm, I definitely had problems. i mean, who uses ONLY 3tbsp of OCC?!? really, com'on now! and then, on top of that, they called for BUTTER?!?! the dreaded light yellow brick that seems so familiar to my brother-in-law and sister but is almost as dreaded as the plague in my house... moral dilemma. what to do? what to do?!? but, as it WAS called for in the recipe, i went ahead and used it... AND WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MAKES!!! wow! i mean, brown butter definitely has that nutty taste that all the chefs rave about. definitely try it if you haven't.

proceeded to do the rest of the recipe without a hick-up and, before i knew it, i was done. standing in front of my very first marcella recipe. it was a strange, yet satisfying feeling. knowing that i'd conquered some of my "fears" and understood WHY it was only 3tbsp of each... it just makes the soup quite pretty.

All in all, definitely a recipe i would recommend for anyone to make, especially as the days get colder.

oh, one other thing. the recipe calls for a "food mill" but definitely don't have one (maybe at christmas? still not 100% convinced that i need one) so i used my hand blender that i stole from home, on the "ok" from my "italian mother" (she says that if one does not have a food mill or a passaverdura, one can use a food processor instead -- also something i don't have, but will hopefully be getting soon) while i have never conciously had a soup that was made specifically with a food mill, i'm going to say that it probablly turns out a little more creamy than mine did. when i looked at the soup, i was expecting velvety goodness, but i was a little dissapointed with the almost granular texture that was produced.
i think the next time i make this soup (which is definitely going to be sometime this season) i'll try passing it through a fine mesh strainer or, even better, a newly procured passaverdura.

Finocchio - 2 ways

i love fennel. i really do. usually i toss it up with a splash of fresh orange juice, white balsamic vinegar, EVOO, salt and pepper. mmm... yum. but here, they called to braise it with either EVOO or butter/Parmesan.

not wanting to make a whole bunch of stuff i may or may not like, i took the time to make 1 slice of EVOO braised fennel and 1 slice of butter/Parmesan. it paid off because while both had this beautifully creamy texture at the end, i have to say that i liked the fresh stuff the most. of the two, EVOO was better, but maybe it's because i screwed up the butter one... i don't know, but i'll might try it out again later.