Again with the Tuesday post!
I just can't seem to get my creativeness from my hands to the camera to the computer to this awesome community on Mondays.
So even though I'm making stuff on Monday, y'all don't get to see it until Tuesday!
Whups.
Eh, no biggie, right?
On with it!
I did a bunch of creative stuff yesterday (getting ready for a craft fair), but what I made for dinner (and dessert!) was by far the best project. Because I got to eat it. And YUMMY!
The din:
Tomato Bisque.
Standard fare in my household.
My husband and I are both suckers for tomatoes and anything tomato related and we always enjoy tomato bisque in restaurants, so a few years back I searched for a recipe that was easy and delicious.
We hit the mark with this.
Even though it's mid summer here, we still enjoy the hearty soups.
Thank God for air conditioning!
The tomatoes:
2 cans (total 28 ounces) diced tomatoes
4-5 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 tablespoons light olive oil
In large saucepan, heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat.
Add onions.
Cook for about 3 minutes, until onions are semi-translucent.
Add diced tomatoes.
Add salt and pepper, about 1/2 teaspoon each.
Stir and continued to cook over low heat for about 20 minutes.
The roux:
4 tablespoons of salted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
Whisk in flour, let it cook through and incorporate with butter.
Add milk.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium/low and continue to whisk while waiting for roux to thicken.
(about 20 minutes)
Bring them together:
Take the roux and slowly pour it into tomato mixture.
Mix with wooden spoon over heat for about 5 minutes.
Take off heat and use stick blender (submersion blender) to blend mixture into a thick bisque.
(You can use a standing blender if you don’t have a stick, you just may need to do it in smaller batches.)
Bring bisque back to the stove and heat on low for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To serve:
Ladle into bowls, add grated cheese of your choice (romano or parmesean) and chopped fresh basil (dry is good too!).
For a hearty meal, add a scoop of cooked rice to finished bisque or serve in a homemade bread bowl! Yum!
As you may have noticed from the photo, we ate the bisque with jasmine rice and a french baguette.
I am a carb junkie, no doubt.
And now for dessert!
Lemon poundcake with fresh strawberries.
So delicious.
The strawberries were sweet and juicy and the poundcake was tart and moist.
Lovely.
LEMON POUND CAKE
Makes one 9 by 5-inch cake, serving 8
You can use a hand mixer instead of a food processor to mix the batter. This batter looks almost like a thick pancake batter and is very fluid.
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups cake flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons grated zest plus juice from 2 medium lemons
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon softened butter; dust with 1 tablespoon cake flour, tapping out excess. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk melted butter thoroughly to reincorporate any separated milk solids.
3. In food processor, process sugar and zest until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla; process until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, add melted butter through feed tube in steady stream (this should take about 20 seconds). Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three steps, whisking gently after each addition until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue to bake until deep golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack
A few notes:
I use a hand mixer for this recipe (I'm always loathe to break out the processor) and it comes out great.
You can melt yer butter in the microwave. (I don't have one, so it's always via stovetop.)
Baking times are approximate. My oven runs hotter than the setting, especially when I pre-heat, so I always start out subtracting 5-7 minutes from recommended baking time and then make it longer from there.
Lemon curd is super yummy with this poundcake, I just didn't have more lemons (or energy) to make it!
Cheers everyone and happy Tuesday!
:)
So even though I'm making stuff on Monday, y'all don't get to see it until Tuesday!
Whups.
Eh, no biggie, right?
On with it!
I did a bunch of creative stuff yesterday (getting ready for a craft fair), but what I made for dinner (and dessert!) was by far the best project. Because I got to eat it. And YUMMY!
The din:
Tomato Bisque.
Standard fare in my household.
My husband and I are both suckers for tomatoes and anything tomato related and we always enjoy tomato bisque in restaurants, so a few years back I searched for a recipe that was easy and delicious.
We hit the mark with this.
Even though it's mid summer here, we still enjoy the hearty soups.
Thank God for air conditioning!
The tomatoes:
2 cans (total 28 ounces) diced tomatoes
4-5 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 tablespoons light olive oil
In large saucepan, heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat.
Add onions.
Cook for about 3 minutes, until onions are semi-translucent.
Add diced tomatoes.
Add salt and pepper, about 1/2 teaspoon each.
Stir and continued to cook over low heat for about 20 minutes.
The roux:
4 tablespoons of salted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
Whisk in flour, let it cook through and incorporate with butter.
Add milk.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium/low and continue to whisk while waiting for roux to thicken.
(about 20 minutes)
Bring them together:
Take the roux and slowly pour it into tomato mixture.
Mix with wooden spoon over heat for about 5 minutes.
Take off heat and use stick blender (submersion blender) to blend mixture into a thick bisque.
(You can use a standing blender if you don’t have a stick, you just may need to do it in smaller batches.)
Bring bisque back to the stove and heat on low for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To serve:
Ladle into bowls, add grated cheese of your choice (romano or parmesean) and chopped fresh basil (dry is good too!).
For a hearty meal, add a scoop of cooked rice to finished bisque or serve in a homemade bread bowl! Yum!
As you may have noticed from the photo, we ate the bisque with jasmine rice and a french baguette.
I am a carb junkie, no doubt.
And now for dessert!
Lemon poundcake with fresh strawberries.
So delicious.
The strawberries were sweet and juicy and the poundcake was tart and moist.
Lovely.
LEMON POUND CAKE
Makes one 9 by 5-inch cake, serving 8
You can use a hand mixer instead of a food processor to mix the batter. This batter looks almost like a thick pancake batter and is very fluid.
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups cake flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons grated zest plus juice from 2 medium lemons
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon softened butter; dust with 1 tablespoon cake flour, tapping out excess. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk melted butter thoroughly to reincorporate any separated milk solids.
3. In food processor, process sugar and zest until combined, about five 1-second pulses. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla; process until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, add melted butter through feed tube in steady stream (this should take about 20 seconds). Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three steps, whisking gently after each addition until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue to bake until deep golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack
A few notes:
I use a hand mixer for this recipe (I'm always loathe to break out the processor) and it comes out great.
You can melt yer butter in the microwave. (I don't have one, so it's always via stovetop.)
Baking times are approximate. My oven runs hotter than the setting, especially when I pre-heat, so I always start out subtracting 5-7 minutes from recommended baking time and then make it longer from there.
Lemon curd is super yummy with this poundcake, I just didn't have more lemons (or energy) to make it!
Cheers everyone and happy Tuesday!
:)