The best asparagus soup recipe to serve hot or chilled

It is Spring and Spring fruit and veggies are showing up in the grocery store.  Lately, asparagus have been available.  Usually the stalks get trimmed and thrown away, but for some reason when I saw the amount of this delicious vegetable that was going to end up in the trash, I decided to use them.  The first thing that came to mind was a delicious asparagus soup. 

Asparagus soup is a great way to use stringy stalks since the stalks are cooked then pureed.  It is a delightful soup that is delicious both hot and chilled.

 

Sorry, I don't have photos of making this soup, but next time I make it, I will update this post with the details.  The recipe contains enough details for you to make it without problems.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Makes about 8 cups 

• 6 cups  Chicken broth
• 1 ½ lbs Asparagus                  
• 2 tbsp  Butter
• 1 med  Onion, diced
• 2 tbsp  All-purpose Flour
• ½ cup  Half and half
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 

1. Add chicken broth to a 4-6 qt stockpot and bring to a boil.  Turn down heat. 

2. Meanwhile wash and trim asparagus.  You will use everything but the tips.  (If you only have the woody ends, that's fine, too.  The soup will still be wonderful.  You may want a few whole asparagus for decoration.)  Cut the stalks in about 2” pieces.   Place all the stalks in the chicken broth.  Cook for about 20 minutes or until the asparagus is soft.  

3. While the asparagus are cooking, dice onion.  Place butter in small frying pan and sauté onions until translucent.  Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for a minute or two.  The flour should be completely absorbed into the butter/onion mixture.  If it is not, add a little more butter and cook until well incorporated.  Using a whisk, incorporate some of the chicken/asparagus broth to thin out the onion/flour mixture. 

4. You will want to puree the asparagus and onions.  There are several ways to do this:  1) Blender; 2) immersion blender or 3) Vitamix. 

5. If using a blender or Vitamix, remove the asparagus solids from the pan and put in the blender or vitamix.  If there is room, include the onion/flour mixture to remove all lumps.  Whirl until completely smooth.  Be careful not to load the machine more than about ⅓ to ½ full or the hot mixture can explode.  Also hold the lid down using a towel for protection.  Do this in batches until everything is pureed.  Put it back in the pan.  

6. If using an immersion blender, blend right in the pot until the mixture is completely pureed.   

7. Whichever method you use, continue cooking until everything is well combined and begins to boil.  This will thicken the soup.  Add the half and half, then salt and pepper to taste. 

8. Garnish the soup with a few of the asparagus tips that have been cooked.  This is good hot or chilled.   

If you make this soup out of season, it can be quite expensive to make, but in the Spring, asparagus are very affordable.

 

Simply Impressive's Chicago deep dish recipe

If you are from Chicago, you know that it's difficult to get a great deep dish pizza anywhere in the Phoenix area.  There are a few places that have 'okay' Chicago style pizza, but none that 'float my boat'.  So I dug through lots of old recipes  I've collected over the years and pieced together a few of them to come up with what I think is a fantastic deep dish pizza

A few things to know…our recipe is for a 14" deep dish pizza. You can buy special pans to make this, or you can use what you already have in your kitchen. We often use a springform pan since it works well, but you can use a large cake pan if you'd like. If you don't have a 14" pan, just use smaller ones and make a few of them.  This crust recipe makes 2 10-inch and 1 8-inch pizzas.  Just note you may need a little more cheese than the recipes call for if you break out into smaller pans.

What makes deep dish pizza different from the others is its flaky crust and the fact that it's built upside down. The cheese is on the bottom and the sauce is on the top. Restaurants put raw sausage on their pizza, but at home, our ovens don't get as hot and the sausage may not be cooked through, so we pre-cooked our sausage.

First, let's make the crust.  To make a Chicago deep dish pizza, you need to use a dough that's different than 'regular' pizza dough.  It's thick and crunchy and delicious.   We found that springform pans made a great substitute for regular deep dish pans  If you have one hanging around your house, use it.  You can also use a 2" deep cake pan.

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza Dough

Makes One 14" Pizza

• 3 3/8  tsp Quick acting yeast
• ½ cup Warm water (105° to 115°)
• 1 tbsp Granulated sugar
• 3 ½ cups Unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp Kosher salt
• ½ cup Cornmeal
• ¼ cup Extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• ¼ cup Vegetable oil
• ½ cup Warm water

Proof the yeast in warm water with sugar. Stir and let sit for about 5 minutes.

To make the crust in a food processor:

Place a dough blade in your processor. Add the flour, salt and cornmeal. Process for a few seconds to combine ingredients. Add in the yeast mixture, oils and remaining water. Process until a ball of dough is formed. If the dough does not come together add warm water, a tablespoon at a time, until it forms a ball. If the dough is still wet, add a tablespoon of flour, and process until it becomes a ball. Knead the dough by processing it for another 30 seconds. Remove the dough from the food processor and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead by hand for another minute or two until the cough is smooth and supple. (Sort of like a baby's behind.)

Oil a bowl at least twice the size of your ball of dough. Cover the dough with olive oil and place in the bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours. It should double in size. The dough is now ready to use.



To make the crust without a food processor:

If you do not have a food processor, just mix the ingredients in a large bowl until the dough comes together.  Remove to a floured counter and knead for about 10 minutes.  Oil a bowl and let the dough rise as shown in the food processor method.

Now, on to making the actual pizza.  You can prepare many of the ingredients while the dough is rising.

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Makes One 14” Pizza

• 28 oz Crushed tomatoes, well drained
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp Fresh basil, optional
• 8 oz Italian sausage
• Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling and oiling the pan
• 1 recipe Chicago Style Pizza Dough
• 10 oz Mozzarella cheese, sliced preferred
• ¼ cup Grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 475°. Place a rack on the lowest part of your oven and another in the middle of the oven.
2. Empty the can of crushed tomatoes into a strainer lined with dampened paper towels. Place over a bowl and allow the tomatoes to drain for a few minutes. Discard the liquid that comes out of the tomatoes. Add the Italian seasoning, kosher salt and black pepper to the tomatoes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Add fresh basil to sauce, if using. 
3. If the sausage is in links, remove the Italian sausage from the casing. Sauté until the sausage is completely cooked without browning. Remove the sausage from the grease. This also works well with chicken Italian sausage that I purchase from Sprouts for a much lower fat version. 
4. Use a 14” deep dish pizza pan, cake pan that is 2” deep or a springform pan. (note: if you use a smaller pan than 14”, just use less of the crust and filling to make this pizza and use the remaining ingredients to make a mini pizza.)
5.  
6. Lightly oil the pan on the bottom and sides. Place the dough into the pan and allow it to rest for a few minutes. After resting, use your fingers to press the dough on the bottom of the pan, then use your fingers to press it up the side of the pan for at least 1”. Make sure the dough is even all over.
7. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake on the bottom rack of preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove pizza from oven.
8. Next, build the pizza. These instructions seem backwards, but they are correct!
9. Drizzle the partially baked crust with olive oil and brush it over the crust to make sure it is evenly disbursed. Place the mozzarella slices directly onto the oil-drizzled crust making sure to cover the bottom crust entirely. You can also use shredded mozzarella, but it does not melt as well as slices. Spoon about half the tomatoes over the cheese. Sprinkle the cooked sausage over the tomatoes and top with the remaining tomatoes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
10. Place pizza back in the oven on the middle rack. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned. Let the pizza rest for a few minutes before cutting.

Some items of note:  Don't forget to par-bake your pizza on the lower part of the oven so the crust can begin baking. Otherwise you will have a gooey crust.  Also, let your pizza rest a few minutes after it comes from the oven or the filling will ooze all over.

This pizza is pretty filling so you won't need a lot to be filled up.

Enjoy this pizza on New Years Eve or any time.  It's always on the menu at our house on New Years.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Make your own yogurt

Homemade yogurt with
homemade blueberries mixed in

Our family eats a lot of yogurt and it's getting more and more difficult to find them without lots of 'stuff' in them.  They either have lots of sugar or modified food starch.  All I want is dairy and maybe some fruit.

Also when I buy the lighter calorie versions, they have lots of chemicals in them.  I don't want any part of that.

So, now I make my own.  Yogurt is really easy to make.  Here's the yogurt recipe I use.  Truthfully, it's easier to make yogurt than it is to find one that doesn't have a lot of fat, sugar and other stuff you do not want in your yogurt.

If you want a recipe for the blueberry compote I made, I will make one available.  Just ask.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Cook once and eat twice - transforming leftover pork tenderloin

We love to cook once and eat twice, but aren't a huge fan of eating the same thing every day.  We did not want to eat 'leftovers', so I did my magic and transformed my previously-cooked, Mexican-seasoned pork tenderloin into something completely different.

For today's tip, we want you to grill (or cook however you like it) additional pork tenderloin or chops when you are going to have it for dinner.  Then....

Look through your refrigerator to see what you have that will complement your pre-cooked pork so you can have a completely different meal.  This time I used a pork tenderloin, apples, Trader Joe's honey apple butter (yum) and whipped up a fabulous meal. 

Check out our honey apple pork tenderloin recipe.  It only took about 15 minutes from start to finish and was deeelish!!

Simple sweet tart crust -- No rolling required

Removable Bottom Tart Pan

So many people panic when it's time to make a crust for a tart.  If you are one of those people who hate making and rolling a crust, why  not use a press-in crust. 

My favorite crust for a sweet tart is a shortbread crust.  I just use a shortbread cookie recipe for mine, but when I want a chocolate shortbread crust, this is what I use:




Chocolate Shortbread Crust
Makes 1 10-12” tart

1 cup	Butter, softened
1 cup	Powdered sugar
⅓ cup	Cocoa powder
⅛ tsp	Pure vanilla extract
dash	Kosher salt
1 ½ cups	All purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 300°.   
2. Place butter in medium sized bowl and cream butter until soft and smooth.  Beat in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt until well mixed.  Gently mix in flour until just incorporated.  Do not overmix. 
3. Press dough into a 10 to 12” tart pan with removable bottom.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is set.  Do not overbake or crust will become very hard.  Note:  if crust becomes really hard, it is still tastes great.  Just have people pick up the tart and eat it like a pizza!

What do you do with milk that's nearing its expiration date?

You make cheese, of course.  Sometimes I'll buy a gallon of milk and we do not use it.  Rather than throwing it out when it nears its expiration date, I make ricotta cheese.  It's really easy to make and it freezes well.  I use it to make stuffed shells, pierogi, lasagna and even use it as a base for stuffing mushrooms.

If you want to know how to make it, here's the recipe.  This is for a full gallon of milk, but if you only have a quart or half gallon, do the math to come up with the ingredients.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Makes about 1 ½ pounds

1 gallon	Whole milk (or you can use 1%, 2% or even fat free)
6 tbsp	White vinegar
½ - 1 tsp	Kosher salt (depending on your tastes)

Heat the milk in a large pot over medium/medium high heat to 200º (this temperature is key.  Too low and it will not work properly.)  Stir often to assure the milk does not burn on the bottom 

Stir in the vinegar, then remove pot from heat.  Cover and let rest undisturbed about 15 minutes.  You will see what looks like an ‘icky mess’.  The white part is the curd, the yellowish liquid is the whey. 

Line a colander with a clean kitchen towel that has been soaked in water and wrung dry.  Pour the whole pot into the cloth, letting the liquid whey drain.  Tie the ends of the towel together and tie it to your sink faucet.  Place the colander underneath it, in case it unties and drops. Let it drain about 20 minutes.  Put it in a bowl and add salt to taste. 

 

Optionally, wait until the cheese cools a bit and wring it dry with your hands.  Place the towel full of cheese in a colander and let it settle for a few minutes.

Use right away or freeze until you need it.

Some people also save the whey and use it for making bread or other cheeses.  I have not done that yet so I do not have any recipes for you.  In this case, GOOGLE is your friend.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

 

 

Note:  the whey which is the liquid that drains off the cheese, is wonderful for baking bread.  If you want to save it, just put a bowl under the colander before you drain the curds and whey.