Rookie Cookery

Mimosa Soup from "French Women Don't Get Fat"

Here's my third post on soup before I change topic. Last Spring I picked up a copy of "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano. It was the subtitle of the book that caught my eye: "The Secret of Eating For Pleasure". The book attempts to answer the question of the "French Paradox"; namely, Why is it that French people enjoy a diet of rich foods without the national obesity rates that plague Americans?

While I think the author's answer is a bit too simple, (for example she does not fully address the profound impact of food industry additives and agribusiness practices that have undermined the quality of American food), the book does address other lifestyle issues that give the French a healthy advantage over Americans. This is what makes the book worthwhile, making it less a diet book per se and more of a primer for living more consciously and enjoyably. From snacking, to walking, to eating fruit for dessert and indulging in chocolate, the author does an admirable job of describing the French habits which tend toward health, while avoiding the obsessions with counting calories and severe diets that are so prevalent here in the United States. And even though I am an American, I can say that my own personal habits and experience bear out the truth of this philosophy.

Now for the Mimosa soup. The ingredients pictured above illustrate that this is a vegetable soup meant to cleanse and nourish the body during a day or more of semi-fasting, as a means to getting back on track with a healthier lifestyle. I decided to try it largely because it called for several ingredients new to me: celeriac (celery root), leeks ( a new favorite), and turnips. The recipe calls for a couple of hard boiled eggs for protein. All the veggies are chopped and cooked in a big pot of water.

Then the vegetables are run through a food mill or blended into a thick broth. The author advises that you eat a cup of this broth hourly for the few days in order to avoid hunger. This is meant to help someone drop a few pounds as well as inaugurate a new lifestyle of more moderate but normal eating habits.

So what did I think of the soup? (Drum roll, please). Sadly, I was underwhelmed. I found it surprisingly bland, perhaps because I was still expecting it to taste like a "regular" soup, not a diet food. I added salt (the recipe did not mention spices) but it barely made it palatable. My conclusion is that it is the base of water instead of stock that made this a disappointment for me.

It was a bummer to use all those fresh ingredients and be unhappy with the results. I was not serious about losing weight with this, (I am not a proponent of fasting per se), but if I was desperate to lose a few pounds and begin a new lifestyle I suppose this might work. But my advice would be to stick with a much more flavorful soup, because otherwise the temptation to throw in the towel and quit would be too great. Eat real food in more frequent, smaller quantities, and excercise, is my motto. That should keep a person reasonably fit, unless their body is out of whack hormonally, (synthetic estrogen dominance)--which is another post entirely!

I still think a tasty soup is a great choice for eating light.

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish is a recipe from Rachel Ray that was featured on the Food Network Thanksgiving special last year. No, I am not decorating for Christmas yet--the photo above was taken last December when I first made this dish. I absolutely loved this soup! Rachel's recipe is deceptively simple, but the real stunner is the savory, spicy and sweet relish that she uses as a garnish, and which elevates an otherwise unremarkable soup to a holiday favorite.

The base of the soup is a traditional blend of stock, pumpkin puree, cream, herbs and spices, and vegetables such as celery and onion. There is heat in the form of hot suace to taste. The garnish consists of a small dice of onion, tart green apples such as Granny Smith, and dried cranberries, tossed with cinnamon, chili and honey. The way this chutney style garnish played off the creamy, mellow richness of the pumpkin was spectacularly delicious and tastes like the entire autumn and winter holiday season in a bowl.

This is only one of a few great recipes from Rachel Ray that are in my keeper file. I hope you'll try it!

Refridgerator Fear and Loathing

The modern refridgerator is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Unless you live in an igloo, until recent history your food preservation options were limited to smoking, drying, salting or canning. Now dairy products, fresh produce, and leftovers are available at arm's reach, on demand, at home. Yay for the fridge!

But let's not kid ourselves. Who among us not left Something in the fridge beyond its prime? We jokingly refer to this as the "cure for the common cold", but deep in our hearts we suspect that our benign neglect has generated something far more sinister.

I am not saying this has ever happened at our home. However, our son Evan, a college student at UC Berkeley, has written a cautionary tale about a close encounter of the refridgerator kind, based on what I can only surmise were experiences he had AFTER leaving home. He calls it The Occupant of Shelf Number Three.

Consider yourself warned.

Get Well Soup

Before we get to the soup course, it is time to 'fess up: I've been sick. Not just me, but my 15 year old son Ethan and my husband Jim. (They are all better now, I am not quite back to normal.) This has been going on for WEEKS.

I am not one to run to the doctor, as I am usually strong as a horse and figure my body can kick the infection. I avoid anti-biotics. But this time I got a ten day round of anti-biotics and it didn't work! I didn't know that was possible. Now I am on a different rx for five days that has the "side" effect of a bad taste in my mouth. Most often this is a subtle metallic taste, annoying but tolerable. But after a few days the taste got so bad at night that it seemed as if a small rodent had died in my mouth and stayed there. Gross! I was going to stop the rx but my husband talked me out of it. The compromise: I now take it in the morning, with food as usual, which seems to be working. It seems that the bad taste is mollified by having food in my tummy, and this way I don't have to get up in the middle of the night just to have a snack. I really think I'll be back to my old self in a few more days.

So...needless to say it is difficult to write about and enjoy food when my taster is "off." And cooking? There has been precious little cooking from me lately. Except...

SOUP! Lovely, warm, nourishing, comforting SOUP!

Here's the drill:

Grab a big ol soup pot. Start with a saute of onions and garlic in a little olive oil, and don't be shy with the onions or garlic. Add more.

Pour in a couple of cans, or a large liter box of chicken broth. (The organic one from Trader Joe's is good.)

Cut up a leek, a zuchini, some celery...whatever veggies are on hand. Toss them in.

Add a can of tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste (but go easy if the canned broth is salty already).

If desired, add a few pasta bow ties ("farfalle") or a little rice, or a little left over bread croutons from the chicken panzanella you had recently. Heck put in some leftover chicken too if you still have it.

Serve when the pasta or rice is cooked through, piping hot, with a little sprinkle of fresh parmesan and a wedge of crusty ciabatta bread on the side.

Repeat until cured.

When you are feeling poorly, and need the culinary equivalent of parental love, soup is where it's at: Healing, delicious, easy.

MMmmmmmmmmm!

Hurricane Katrina

I  have not wanted to post updates in this blog unless I have something to offer in terms of positive action to alleviate the suffering from Hurricane Katrina.  For now I simply request that you join me in making a donation to the Red Cross.

Sugarless Fruit Tart

As promised, here is my first attempt at a fruit tart.  I really loved being decorative with the fruit, and I will definately make more of these.  This is not a classic tart, because I did not use pastry cream or even a real tart  crust. Because I sometimes bake for family members who do not eat sugar,  I devised my own version of a tart  by using a pie crust purchased from the grocery store  (the kind you can unroll and bake immediately or keep in the freezer to thaw and use later),  which I simply "blind-baked" flat onto the baking sheet lined with a Silpat to keep it from sticking.

Instead of  pastry cream I used a sugarless and fat free "instant Jello"  vanilla pudding mix.  (I know, it has artificial sweeteners which I  prefer to avoid, but sometimes use  for diabetic family members who are willing to eat it). 

Then I used the fresh fruit,  with no other dressing or glaze.   This pretty dessert was  much appreciated by my family, and I would like to experiment further with devising a pastry cream that can be sweetened with Stevia,  a healthy alternative to artificial sweeteners, or some other way. Because  dried fruits or condensed fruit is highly caloric, I cannot safely use it for diabetics.  Nevertheless this fruit tart will make a festive and tasty treat in the meantime.  Instead of  a pie dough base, perhaps I will try a biscuit dough, very minimally sweetened  as in a shortcake style. 

I still  aim to bake a traditional fuit tart, with real pastry cream, in the near future.  Fruit desserts are gorgeous, a feast for the eyes and deceptively simple to make.