Is it time to try a new soup?
Do I hear a loud “Yes!”?
Off we go, then, with what strikes me as a particularly timely recipe I’ve borrowed from the very appealing “Hay Day Country Market Cookbook.”
According to the blurb, “Full of nourishing vegetables and spiked generously with garlic and olives, this lively, colorful soup is wonderful in any season, but it’s particularly welcome in front of the fire after skiing or shoveling the driveway.”
Since some of us are certainly taking to the slopes lately, while at least a few of us in isolated rural areas have been out there (and may be again) in the snow, endlessly shoveling away the snowplow’s driveway-blocking pileups, this ought to make a perfect apres-ski or apres-shovel supper.
“Complete the meal,” the book suggests, “with a basket of warm Parmesan-sage biscuits.”
Almost as easy done as said; we’ll follow the soup with the proper biscuit how-to.
But first, my soup-loving husband’s hear-and-say appraisal of this particular concoction?
“Does it have any meat? It couldn’t be any good if it doesn’t have meat.”
Well, let me be clear on this — as it stands, the soup calls for no meat. Nada, zip, zero.
It’s strictly a veggies-only thing. However, in case you’re feeding the same kind of fella I am, my solution to his perception of this so-called “sorry meatless state of soup” is simply to add some marble-size Italian-sausage meatballs, either homemade or the store-bought frozen kind…
Now we’re talking, so grab your apron and get supper started with this recipe twosome:
Hay Day Country Market Mediterranean bean soup
1/4cup olive oil
2large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
1zucchini (about 12 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch dice (21/2 cups diced)
1each small yellow and red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1teaspoon dried basil
1/2teaspoon dried thyme
Kosher salt
4cups vegetable stock
1pound (2 cups) fresh or canned plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped, with their juice
1/3cup coarsely chopped brine-cured black olives (Kalamata or Gaeta)
2-1/2 cups cooked or canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4ounces fresh spinach leaves, trimmed, washed and very coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat oil in large kettle or soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until onion is very tender and just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add zucchini, bell peppers, basil, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt and saute for another 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, tomatoes with their juice and olives.
Bring to boil, reduce heat, partially cover and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes. Add the beans and spinach and cook over medium heat just until the beans have warmed and the spinach has wilted, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add a bit more stock or water for a thinner soup, if desired. Serve hot in crocks or mugs.
Makes 12 servings.
Bright ideas: Top bowls of soup with Parmesan croutons: Sprinkle 1/2-inch-thick rounds of French bread with Parmesan cheese and black pepper, then bake at 400 degrees or broil briefly until the cheese is melted and crisp. Ladle a small spoonful of pesto into hot bowls of soup just before serving.
Hay Day Country Market Parmesan-sage biscuits
2cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1tablespoon baking powder
3/4teaspoon salt
5tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into chunks
2tablespoons solid vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into chunks
1/2cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1teaspoon dried thyme
1teaspoon dried sage
3/4teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4cup whole milk (1 percent or 2 percent milk can be substituted; do NOT use skim milk)
1/4cup fine cornmeal, for dusting
1tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a food processor, combine flour, baking powder and salt; add butter and shortening and pulse until the bits are no larger than small grains of rice.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the cheese, thyme, sage and pepper; toss to mix. Add milk and stir it in gently, using a large spoon or spatula, just until all the dry ingredients are moistened and a soft, slightly crumbly dough forms.
Dust work surface with the cornmeal. Turn dough out onto work surface and gather it up into a ball. Roll dough out to form a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Fold the short ends of the rectangle to meet in the middle, then fold it in half at the seam to create four layers. Roll dough out again to form a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle.
Grease and flour a 21/2-inch biscuit cutter and neatly cut dough into rounds. Reflour cutter after each cut, and do not twist as you cut, or you will compress the biscuit layers. Pinch together the remaining scraps of dough, fold in half, reroll, and cut out additional biscuits.
Place the cut biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and brush tops with the melted butter. Bake until roughly doubled in height and nicely browned on top, 12 to 15 minutes.
Makes eight to 10 biscuits.
Bright idea: Split the biscuits and fill them with sliced tomato and ham for little teatime sandwiches.
The next Forum will appear in Friday’s Time Out section.
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