I like to think that I use every part of the mammoth

Tomato soup sounds like it should be the easiest thing in the world to make. However, like many other things, I find that it is one thing that is very hard to make well. Usually, I hate tomato soup, for the main reason that it hardly ever really tastes like tomatoes. Some versions are so acidic that they taste like you are sucking on a handful of duracells, other versions have so much cream in them that you lose the tomato taste.

I stumbled on a recipe for tomato soup a while ago that used bread to give it the illusion of creaminess. I thought that it sounded like a good idea, but kind of filed it away under the category of "maybe I'll try that later", which, if you are anything like me, sometimes turns into the category of "maybe I'll try that never." Well, by some stroke of fate/luck, I finally decided to make this and was pretty pleased with the results. I tweaked it a little here and there, adding vermouth where it called for brandy and substituting pain de campagne for white sandwich bread. It really does taste (and even looks like) like there was some sort of dairy added to it, but not in an obnoxious way. The clear flavor of tomatoes is really pronounced without being acidic, and the creaminess is a nice compliment without being heavy or stodgy.

Also made some shrimp and salmon with a brown sugar/paprika rub. Marth gave me some beet tops from her momma's garden that I sauteed with some broccoli stems and caramelized onion. If you haven't tried beet tops, you really need to. We've been eating them on pizza at the bakery...kind of like spinach , but with more flavor. I heart them.

The last pic is some rosemary/lemonzest/garlic pork paillards with some honey glazed roasted carrots. cutting the meat into thin medallions is a great way to save cooking time and also to fool your stomach into thinking that you are eating more than you actually are.

DISH recommends:

34 Degree flatcrisp crackers. OH...JACKPOT! For those of you who have a crispy/crunchy/cracker tooth, welcome to nirvana. Had some of these over at iske's a couple of weeks ago and I can't get enough of them. Super thin. the texture is what gets me...I love crunchy. Great for dips or spready cheese. I picked mine up at leons.

"creamy" tomato soup: (serves about 4, or three hungrys)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 can 28 0z tomatoes, whole in juice (tomato juice that is!)

1 tbs brown sugar

3 large slices quality country bread (like pain de campagne or sourdough), crusts reserved

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or more if you're a spicy

2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable if you want to make it vegetarian)

2 tbs vermouth

salt and peps

scallions or chives and cherry tomatoes/crust croutons to garnish

heat 2 tbs of the oil in a dutch oven, or heavy pot over med heat and then add onion, garlic, red pepper, and bay leaf. stir and cook for about 4-5 minutes. put in the tomates, juice and all and smash them up with a wooden spoon or potato masher until they are pretty smashy, no big pieces left. Stir in the sugar and bread, bring to a boil and then turn down to med-low and cook until bread starts to break down, another 4 or so minutes. remove from heat and throw out bay leaf. Working in batches (about 2 batches), transfer the soup to a blender. cover with a towel and pulse until smooth. Once it is smooth and the threat of hot exploding soup has subsided, turn it on and slowly drizzle in one of the remaining tablespoons of olive oil. transfer soup to large bowl. Repeat with other half of the soup. Rinse out the pot and add all of soup back to pot. Stir in your chicken broth and vermouth. season with salt and peps. Garnish with some minced scallions, small dice cherry tomatoes, and croutons you made out of the bread crusts.

Brown sugar rub:

2 packed tbs brown sugar

1 rounded tbs paprika

1 tsp blk pepper

1/2 tsp salt

put everything in a bowl and stir it up until incorporated. I like to use this on whole roasted chickens and also on seafood. piece

Dumpster Diver...or Junk Spelunk!

Thought that I would post a pic of the garden. things are going really well. I just picked another giant head of broccoli and am starting to get peas of both varieties (snow and sugar snap). It should only be a matter of time before we are in full swing here and able to rely mostly on garden goods. How is everyone else's garden doing? I'm curious...very curious...

Saturday night we made some kebabs on the webster. I don't know if I've ever told the story about my beloved weber charcoal grill. anyway, it was given to me by a friend that found it next to somebody's garbage, ready to be taken away. He also told me that if you ever want a charcoal grill, to just drive around, apparently, people throw them away all the time. I didn't believe him, but sure enough, I still see them today. I guess a lot of people are converting to gas grills; I guess a lot of people are crazy.

anyway, back to the babs, I used a north african spice paste on these. For the meat, I used lamb and beef, and accompanied them with some pineapple, onion, orange bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes. A while back, I had read an article in Cook's Illustrated about butterflying the kebab meat before you put it on so that more flavor would get in there. but after doing it both ways, I'm calling shenanigans on them. Their way tends to make the meat tough and it's not worth the extra effort. We also had some corn that we soaked in water and then roasted directly on the coals, turning once. Not quite in season yet, but the good stuff is coming...

I had some leftover sausages in the fridge that I had grilled (but not eaten, wait...that was obvious, huh...) and wanted to use them up, and simultaneously, get the most out of them. I ended up putting them into a risotto with some roasted tomatoes and kale, and it really added a lot to the dish (oh yeah, I almost forgot, I made a huge batch of chicken stock yesterday, perfect for risotto making!). the smokiness of the sausages cut through the creaminess of the rice and really made for a pleasant bite when you had a forkful of the rice, kale, and tomatoes. So, yeah, if you have some leftover grilled meats (i.e. sausages, chicken, pork, steaks, lamb, shrimp, you get the idea, just no hamburgers!) camping out in your icebox, throw them into a risotto, the smoky flavor really shines through, and it's always nice to give your leftovers a face-lift.

other newsbits: I rarely talk about non-food stuff on here, but most of you know that i like to geek-out on fitness, and most of you also know my love for product recommendation. so, with that said, for those of you who also work out and take a protein supplement, I highly recommend that you pick yourself up some "Muscle Milk." I was spending about twice as much when I was getting my stuff at aikin's and wasn't really happy with the results (not to mention the taste), so on a whim, i switched to this stuff and I really like it. It also comes in already mixed form (for the times that you cannot find a blender), which is decent and super convenient. I 've noticed some progression in lean muscle since I've started this, which is a big plus, since I felt stagnant when I was using the other. I picked mine up at target for under 15 clams, there's probably a website out there that has it cheaper. here is what I do for a post-workout shake:

1 cup skim milk

1 scoop muscle milk powder

1 banana

handful of berries ( I usually use frozen strawbs, unless I have fresh on hand)

1 scoop psyllium husk powder (for fiber, it offsets the boost in protein you are taking), optional

On lifting days, I also add 1 scoop creatine powder, but not on yoga or tai chi days.

blend it all up and chug it down, as soon as you can after your workout.

DISH recommends:

Oster Beehive classic blender: This blender is great! pretty much pulverizes anything you put in it, so mind your digits! I use mine at least 5 times a week.

North African Spice Paste (or wet rub, if you like:):

(you will need a grinder of some sort, I use an old coffee grinder, like this one: click me!)

(I said grinder! don't try this in a blender, or a food processor, however you can use a seasoned molcajete, or morter and pestel)

2 tsps chili flakes

2 tbs coriander seed

1 tbs cumin seed

1 tbs caraway seed

1 tbs black peppercorns

2 tsps kosher salt

2 cloves minced garlic

5 tbs olive oil

Place the chili flakes, coriander seed, cumin seed, caraway, and peppercorns into the grinder and blend into a med-fine powder. empty into a small bowl with the salt and garlic. add the olive oil and stir to combine. Goes great on chicken, lamb, beef, pork, and even veggies to be roasted. you can adjust the chili flakes to your liking, this is probably a milder version (wifeshow's german and russian for pete's sake!) so feel free to experiment. later.

ps. no comments about my shabby lawn, either! haters...

gelato ticket

I'm the type of person that can't stand to have things in my possession that I don't use (just ask my gallbladder). I hate knowing that something is just lying around gathering dust, when it could be put to good use. So, naturally, I had become quite frustrated with owning an ice cream maker. Honestly, up until last week, we had used it once or twice in three years, and that's just ridiculous. I decided that it was way past time to give it another try and so on our day off together, we made some mint chocolate chip gelato. Gelato is an italian ice cream that uses infused milk and is a bit more dense than traditional ice cream. you make a custard and whisk it into the milk and then add it to your ice cream maker. I'm really glad that I tried making this because now that I have the method down, I will experiment with it a lot.

Last thursday, It was so nice outside that I decided to have some grill time. Meat treats over high heats equals tasty eats. I made an adobo spice rub out of garlic, lime zest, paprika, black pepper, cumin, kosh, and olive oil (at least I think that's all that I put in). Rubbed it on some chicken breasts and then seared them over high heat and then backed them off to finish cooking. ok, I'd like to take a moment here to talk about why spice pastes rule. well, for starters, they're a huge time saver. I have nothing against marinades, per se, it's just that they take so much time. a spice paste crams all that flavor into a concentrated form that you can basically cook with in little to no time at all. the difference in time is like comparing riding a bus in mexico (just ask wifeshow, now THAT was a fun day!) to traveling warp speed on the enterprise (sorry, I saw star trek over the weekend, good flick, recommends it.) ok, sorry, back to the chicken...I sliced them thin and served them on some grilled tortillas with red cabbage, grilled scallion, avocado, and lime squirtys. Delicious!

ok, last pic. Wife and I made pasta on sunday. If there is one recipe I post that I really want you to try, it's this one. The difference is totally ridiculous, in a good way. ok, maybe not this ridiculous (ok, seriously, well, two things. That is a frisbee hanging from her belt, I know because I had that frisbee and she is wearing a wedding ring, which means her husband probably took that picture. I'm totally speechless.) but still... It really doesn't take that much time, and it is so worth it. Having a roller will definitely help your cause, you could try it without, but it will be a lot of work.

Tuscan Pasta dough (variation from bon appetit)

1.25 cup durum semolina flour

2 eggs

1 tbs olive oil (eyeballed it)

1 tbs salt (" ")

2 methods here. You can mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients, using a fork to blend everything together top make a rough dough, or you can just whizz it into a food processor and jog the button a couple of times to get the same result (I use to do it by hand...I use to think I was being old school, now I know I was just being silly.) turn your dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. cut it in two, make balls out of it and flatten them into disks. cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. ( If you are going to be more than half an hour, knock it into the fridge until you can get to it later, just take it out about 30 minutes before you plan on rolling.

Set pasta machine to the widest setting( usually "1") and feed the dough through about 4 times (or until super smooth). now cut your dough in two. Cover one half with a towel and take the other half and feed it through the next narrowest setting about 2 times, switching to the next setting after every 2nd time. (I did this until I got to setting"5", the second to last setting.) the pasta will be about 2 feet long and pretty thin, like 1/16 inch (make sure to lay it on a lightly floured surface and lightly flour the top also, this will make cutting and unraveling way easier!). Now loosely roll your pasta strip until it looks like a scroll of dough. cut into desired width with a sharp knife. Repeat process with remaining dough (s). You can either hang your pasta to dry or let it dry on parchment for about 20-30 minutes. Now you are ready for the sauce of your choice, or veggies, or just olive oil and parmesan. make sure to only boil for about 3-4 minutes, time may vary slightly, serve al dente. enjoys!

DISH recommends:

A pasta machine/roller. This one is made by norpro. about 40 clams. they usually make good stuff. I think I have an "imperia." but don't want to go check right now. while this does have the potential to be a "dust gatherer," this pasta dough is so good, you won't want to return to the land of the inferior dried stuff. use it well.