Roasted Cauliflower and Smoked Gouda Soup... Tastes like Autumn!

The other day, I was in the mood for something hearty and comforting, but still somewhat healthy... thankfully, I have recently become addicted to Pinterest, which you should really check out if you haven't already (let me know if you need an invite! I have more). Some smart person pinned this soup, and I knew I had to make it immediately.

Unfortunately, the original recipe involved a lot of things like egg yolks and heavy cream, so I knew I had some work to do. Here is my version.

-1 onion, chopped

-1 head cauliflower

-1c white wine

-1 clove garlic

-2 bay leaves

-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (good, but optional)

-1/4tsp cayenne (just a little heat, it is not a spicy soup at all)

-4 oz smoked Gouda (could use cheddar, or other smoked cheese)

-1/2 squeezed lemon

-4c broth of your choice

-1c milk product of your choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)

-salt/pepper

-2 tbsp olive oil

-2 tbsp flour

First things first... the cauliflower. I wanted to roast it. But, it occurred to me that since I was going to blend it, how I cut it was pretty much irrelevant. So, I decided to cut it ~1 inch slices, to make it roast evenly.

The nice part about this is, it just looks so pretty! I misted it with some olive oil and roasted at 400 until it was very soft and looked like this:

It only got prettier! Now I want to find some way to use this technique that doesn't end with a blender.

Next, the soup itself. Brown the chopped onion in the olive oil, then toss in the garlic for a minute or so. Sprinkle in the flour, and stir around to make a paste (this will serve as a thickener. however, while this is already fairly low carb, if you want to make it lower, it will probably be fine to leave it out- just save one of the cups of broth out and add it slowly as you blend the soup at the end to control the texture to make sure it isn't too watery). 

Cook the mixture briefly, then pour in the cup of wine. Cook for a minute, then add the broth, bay leaf, Worcestershire, and cayenne. Roughly break up the cauliflower and add it to the broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for about 10 minutes. (note: if you don't feel up to roasting, you can always just use raw cauliflower at this step, and cook it longer in the broth, until soft. I think roasted tastes better, though). 

Now, the fun part! Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and get out the immersion blender (you can also use a regular blender or food processor, if you'd like). Blend the soup mixture until it's as smooth as you can get it. Then add the grated cheese- don't boil after you add the cheese, but keep it warm so it melts. As the last step, add the lemon juice, and salt and pepper.

It's amazing how hearty this feels, given that it's almost entirely cauliflower and broth, and there is less than an ounce of cheese per serving. But, it was just delicious!

(Side note- the salad you see there is a really nice light fennel citrus salad we learned to make at a cooking class (our first cooking class ever). If you're looking for a good class and live in LA, San Diego, Portland, or Seattle or I want to give a shout out to Hipcooks- we had so much fun at our class last weekend!)

Brace yourself.... homemade soft pretzels ahead...

After years of searching I may finally, FINALLY, have found something that rivals the excitement of making homemade pita bread (did you try that yet? no? then go do it! seriously! now! I'll wait.)


What could this amazing item be? Well, the title gave it away already but just pander to my whims.... drumroll please.... HOME MADE SOFT PRETZELS! (I wish I had taken time for a prettier picture but I could hardly stand to wait another minute before devouring one).

 I learned about this process over at Pink Parsley and got some extra tips from Annie's Eats. It wasn't simple, but it also wasn't as hard as it might seem- it was definitely fun, and I think kids would love shaping the pretzels (I know I did!).


First, you need to make the dough. 
--1.5 cups very warm water 
--1 Tbs sugar
--2 tsp salt
--2¼ tsp instant yeast (= 1 little packet)
--4½ cups all purpose flour
--4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted (could likely substitute olive oil, but butter would taste better)
--Olive oil


At this point, you should also put aside some things you'll need later:
--2/3c baking soda
--more melted butter (olive oil if you really prefer)
-salt/cinnamon sugar/garlic/herbs - whatever you want to top them with.


Put the water in a large bowl, and add the yeast and sugar. Leave a few minutes just to make sure that it starts to foam (so you know the yeast is active). Stir until dissolved. Then add the salt, melted butter, and flour. Mix until well combined, and stir/knead for about 5 more minutes until the dough holds together as a unit and stays away from the side of the bowl (add more flour if it's too wet). Put the dough in a clean bowl lightly coated in oil, flip a few times so it is coated, and then cover with a towel and let rise. (I usually turn on my oven for a couple minutes so it's a little warm, turn it off, and set the bowl in there). It'll have to rise 50-60 minutes, or until doubled.

Flip the dough out on to a clean surface. Then, divide it up into equal pieces- I cut mine into 12.

Take each piece and roll it into a snake- mine were about 12-14 inches long. Twist into a traditional shape, as below, or you can make pretty much anything else you can think of. I made about half of them like this, and then the rest I chopped up in to 1.5 inch pieces to make pretzel bites (which ended up like pretzel balls after baking).

Now, here comes the exciting part. After you have formed them all, you have to boil them, which is how they get their pretzel-like exterior instead of just being like bread.

Bring about 10c of water (or, just a big pan) and 2/3 cup baking soda to a boil. 

One by one, gently place each pretzel into the water for about 30 seconds. (the soundtrack to the above picture is something like "faster! faster! take the picture take the picture! it's falling!". When I made the pretzel nuggets, I cooked them all at the same time.

Halfway through the boiling, flip the pretzel over- the outside will visibly change texture.

Gently take it out, and place on a cookie sheet lined with oil brushed parchment paper. I lightly brushed mine with butter (or the butter-like) product of your choice) and I think it was well worth it. These aren't something you're going to be making every day, might as well make them maximally delicious when you do! Put some coarse salt on top.

I also made (in the pretzel-bites) garlic and cinnamon sugar flavored versions. The garlic I made by brushing them with butter heavily laced with chopped garlic. The cinnamon sugar had some issues, I think if I did them again, I'd roll them in cinnamon sugar immediately upon coming out of the oven.

Cook them for about 12-15 minutes, until really nice and golden in an oven preheated to 450 degrees.

When they come out, be prepared to enjoy the deliciousness immediately, because seriously, they will never be more delicious than at that moment! If you want to reheat them later, I highly recommend putting them in a very hot oven for a few minutes, although some people say you can also microwave them as well. 

This was definitely a process, but it was fun, and man, they were amazing!

The Gallery of Sandwiches: Round 4 "The Combo"

I have previously posted about various epic sandwiches that I've encountered. Some were old favorites, some were touristy must-haves, but this one is a little different.

I have been driving past this sign for something like 9 years, now.

It was really the "Home of the Combo" that got me. First of all, I thought maybe they were claiming to be the first place to have the standard drink/fries/burger combo, which seemed hilarious somehow, like it was a thing that had had to be invented. Like this tiny place was battling all the fast food joints, by still laying claim to it. Then, I kept imagining all the many and wondrous things that The Combo might include.

Every morning and evening I would drive past and sometimes there would really be quite a line at Marty's, so I got more and more curious. I kind of liked the idea of not knowing what "The Combo" was, though, so I avoided googling it or looking on yelp, or trying to learn about it at all. I avoided it, because I had a dream. A dream in which I would just walk up, with no idea what it was, and just order The Combo.

Unfortunately, as indicated by the Vienna Beef sign, and the burger-shack-like vibe, this dream was bound to involve some kind of mysterious meat concoction. And even more unfortunately, as wonderful as they are, a huge percent of my local friends during this period of mystery were vegetarians, so recruiting someone adventurous enough to head over and just eat whatever Marty's was ready to dish out was tough. So, for years I remained thwarted, because really, that's the kind of adventure for which you need a partner in crime.

Fortunately, I met Feeesh. I told him about the mystery of Marty's, and like with most things, he was totally game. It took us a long time to get around it, but finally, today, out of the blue as we were pondering lunch, he asked "Hey, you wanna try The Combo". At which point I almost jumped out of my chair bouncing with excitement, and off we went.

Just like in my dream, we walked up, and just ordered The Combo... behold...

Turns out, The Combo is a hamburger (made of beef freshly ground by them each day), topped with standard burger toppings, plus a sliced up hotdog! (and, for the truly brave, it can include chili. We decided to experience The Combo in its pure non-chili form, since we were newbies. Also, because we didn't want to have heart attacks on the spot). I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it... which obviously makes the whole thing even more awesome.

The Combo is not for the faint of heart, I ate it 7 hours ago, and have no inclination whatsoever for any kind of dinner. But, the burger was delicious, and freshly grilled right in front of you, the hotdog was delicious... all in all, mmmm. (in addition, even though I didn't test its powers in this regards myself, I would suspect that this might be one of the highest forms of hangover food).

Now that I've gone, I let myself look up Marty's on Yelp  and apparently it has been there for years. If you're local and craving a fresh burger, it may be worth a shot- they also have an assortment of other things, including turkey burgers, but we stuck to our Combo guns, so I can't vouch for the rest...

All in all, quite a dream-satisfying weekend lunch.

Spicy Egyptian Couscous

This is a delicious, quick easy veggie recipe that makes a nice light but comforting dinner. I found it here, but these are my adaptations.

1 cup couscous (and 2 c water for cooking or else 1c water/ 1c broth)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 zucchini, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup carrots, grated
1/2 tsp. coriander
pinch cayenne pepper (more if you like spice)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (or 2 tsp chopped garlic from the jar)
3/4 tsp. cumin
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
4 tsp. water

Cook the couscous by itself (just bring the 2c water to a boil, pour in the dry couscous, cover, and let it sit while you do the rest).

Heat up the oil and add the coriander, cayenne, garlic, cumin- stir for a minute, then add the onion, zucchini, and cook until soft. Then, pour in the beans and 4 tsp water. Combine with cooked couscous, stir, let sit a bit to mix, then eat! It also reheats really well in the microwave for lunch.

The flavors in this are nice- the carrots give it a sweetness, and if you put enough cayenne to get some heat, it makes a nice combination. The zucchini and extra water also make it very moist. Give it a shot!

Damn you, scary commercials.

I am very susceptible to scary things. I'm not even kidding, when Paranormal Activity 2 came out, I had nightmares about the COMMERCIALS for weeks, even though I never even saw the first movie. I realize this is ridiculous. (you can only imagine what happened once I subsequently made the ridiculous decision to go ahead and watch the first one on netflix).

Now, tonight, my old nemesis is back to haunt me and I'm going to need to avoid TV for the foreseeable future, because I just saw the commercial for #3. The critical scene was when 2 little girls do the whole "Bloody Mary" chant thing in the dark bathroom, and then when they leave some dark shadow is really standing there.

Fortunately, I'm 100% prepared for that particular fear already, because ever since the first time I read the Shining, I cannot go into a dark bathroom without turning on the light to make sure the lady from the bathtub isn't in there.

It's really nice when things all come together, you know?

Bliss.

Well, it's been pretty busy around these parts. Among other things, I had a grant deadline situation going on (my second ever R01, for those of you who might be interested, and for the record it was WAY WAY less traumatic than the first one).

Fortunately, I finished that sucker right around 6:30, which allowed me to come home to an evening of leisure, in which I'm pretending that none of the other things I have to do now that the deadline is over exist.

I will give you a glimpse of my evening in photos...

#1. Magic Hat #9- I kid you not, I have been looking for this beer on the West Coast for almost 10 years (aka, ever since I moved from the East Coast). After completely giving up, I had a miraculous experience in Whole Foods (which I mainly go to for the bulk grains aisle) in which the heavens opened up and a beam of light shone down on the ONE BOTTLE of #9 they had. I brought it home, swaddled in reusable shopping bags, and have been saving it for this very day. I almost had some weak moments, but am I ever glad I made it through. I am sipping it and basking in memories of my youth.

#2 There is a missing picture here of my gnocci, kale, pesto, and (veggie) sausage dinner, but I assure you it was both delicious and photogenic.

#3. Yep, I made MYSELF some earrings for once!

#4. I'm unstoppable! Pair #2! All for me! (pictures aren't that great because I was too lazy to get my whole setup organized).

#5. And, I'm ending the evening with my dear old friend (and, possibly some amazingly crappy television that you don't even want to know about).

What a night! As I said... bliss....