Spring Dogs Love Tomato Soup. They Hate Citrus. Recipe: Tomato Soup

Almost everyone claims that grilled cheese goes best with tomato soup.  As a kid though, I NEVER wanted tomato soup with grilled cheese.  I don’t know if my parents didn’t like tomato soup or what, but we never had it with grilled cheese so I just assumed for years that I didn’t like it.  In fact, until a year or two ago I don’t believe I actually had a bowl of tomato soup in my life.  Now, I am not one of those people who craves tomato soup, but this colder weather has me in the mood for something warm and comforting.  A couple weeks ago Alyssa and I went to Spiro’s in Iron Mountain and I ordered a Dr. Pepper braised short rib grilled cheese sandwich.  It was fantastic and I am pretty sure I asked Alyssa why more restaurants don’t put grilled cheese on the menu.  It is one of the ultimate comfort foods and so simple to make.  The next two days we made grilled cheese and I put some of my beer braised chuck roast in mine.  That weekend rekindled my love of grilled cheese and this week I was in the mood for them again.  As I was cruising Serious Eats I came across a recipe for Nordstrom’s Tomato Basil Soup. Bells went off in my head: warm, comforting, and supposedly the perfect companion to grilled cheese.  Remember, I am not one to crave tomato soup, but according to the recipe, this soup has a cult-like following.  It looked easy enough with just a few ingredients and it was something I could whip up fairly quickly.  So here it goes.

Gather the gang for a pool party.

Chop up some aromatic vegetables.

Let them get nice and cozy with some aromatic herbs.

Add EVERYBODY to the pool.

Simmer, cool, blend, add cream, simmer, serve, enjoy.

This soup is fantastic.  Ellie gave it 4 paws up, in fact she has been trying her hardest all night to get the leftovers as they cool on the counter.  Though, she does not like grapefruit peels (I had to test the theory that dogs don’t like citrus).  I won’t join the cult of Nordstrom Tomato Basil Soupeans after eating it tonight, but it is a great side dish to a grilled cheese on delicious natural starter home baked bread (which I will post about in the future).

Recipe: Tomato Soup (adapted from Serious Eats)

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon dried basil, crushed
• 3 28-ounce cans whole peeled Roma tomatoes
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 pint heavy cream (we used half and half, and probably only 10-12 oz.)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add carrots and onion and cook until beginning to soften, 10 minutes, then add basil and cook until vegetables are completely soft, about 5 minutes more.

2. Add tomatoes and broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes, or up to 45 minutes if time permits.

3. After allowing soup to cool somewhat, purée in a blender or food processor until smooth, doing so in batches if necessary. For a much silkier texture, strain the purée before returning to the pot (we didn’t strain it, the texture just added to the comfort factor).

4. Stir in cream little by little over over low heat, until desired texture is reached and soup is just heated through (we used about 10-12 oz). Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve warm.

Recipe: Beer Braised Chuck Roast

There are few people in this country that don’t like a good pot roast.  It’s almost as American as apple pie.  Reading online however, pot roast seems to be difficult for some home cooks.  Sometimes it’s bland, sometimes it’s dry, many times it’s both.  I came across this version of pot roast in GQ magazine a few years ago and have yet to be disappointed.  Instead of being a step by step recipe, it’s more like a method for getting deep, rich flavor that is perfect on cold fall or winter days.  The key step, and one that many people leave out when they make a roast is browning the meat.  Getting a good crust on the meat before roasting it is key to develop flavor.  I could go all scientific on you and describe why it makes things taste good, but I will let my favorite food site, Serious Eats, describe the Maillard Reaction instead.  Trust me, you want browned meat for great pot roast.  In this method it adds about 20 extra minutes to the process, but the vast improvement of your roast when you get done will make up for the extra time.  The rest of the method is variable depending on what you have on hand, what’s on sale at the store, or what your personal tastes are and that’s the beauty of it.  I will show you where you can change things up and give a few alternatives along the way.

Start with a 2-3 pound roast that is 2 inches or so thick.  I chose chuck roast for this but you can use any thick cut, rump roast, sirloin roast, even a rib roast.  Take your roast and cut it into fist sized chunks, obviously if you have giant hands you can go a little smaller than fists.  On my 2.5 pound roast I got 7 chunks.  Generously salt all the sides of each piece, coarse salt is better here because regular table salt tends to go overboard on the saltiness.

Salted Fists

Let the meat stand at room temp after salting for 20 minutes or so.  If you want, you can take the roast out and let it warm up before you salt and that way once you start in the kitchen you can keep going without the wait.  Peel and cut up 3-4 average carrots into pieces about the size of a pinkie, thicker carrots can be sliced in half lengthwise, or use 3/4 of a bag of baby carrots.

Carrots

Roughly chop a large onion.  Put the carrots and onions aside.

Carrots and onions

While the meat is resting, heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.  I love my cast iron Dutch oven for this, but any 5-8 quart pan with a lid will do.  Add a good glug of olive or vegetable oil, whatever you have on hand and let it heat up.  When the oil is shimmering add some meat, leaving space around each piece.  Usually you have to break it up into two batches to prevent overcrowding which doesn’t allow the Maillard reaction to occur.

Let the meat sear for 1-2 minutes per side until nicely browned and flip until you brown all 4 big sides of each piece.  Take the meat out and set it on a plate and continue with the next batch.  Take all the meat out of the pan and set the plate aside.

Results of the Maillard Rxn

Pour in about a half a cup of beer to the hot pan and stir rapidly with a wooden spoon scraping all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan.  The beer will bubble and start to reduce.  I like to use a bit of a darker beer than your typical light beer.  A pale or amber ale are my choices for this but a Miller Lite will do to if that’s all you have.  You can also use red wine, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, or chicken broth with great results.

Add the onions and carrots and stir to coat with thickened beer.  Add about a teaspoon of salt and a good crack of pepper and stir occasionally, cooking about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and cook 10 more minutes stirring occasionally until your onions and carrots get nice and caramelized (there’s that Maillard Reaction again).

While veggies are cooking, preheat your oven to 300.  When the vegetables are done, set the beef chunks on top of the vegetables, throw in 2-3 unpeeled cloves of garlic (or don’t, your call), a couple sprigs of parsley (rosemary works too, or a teaspoon of dried parsley or rosemary, or no herbs at all, again it’s your call), and pour in enough beer to come about half way up the sides of the meat.  I used 2 bottles of beer total today, so if you are using one of the alternatives that’s 1 bottle of wine, 2 cans of pop, or 3 cups of broth.

Put lid on pot and put in oven for 3 hours. Remove from oven, scoop out veggies and meat and put pot on a burner.  Turn heat on to medium high and bring liquid to a boil, boil til thickened about 10 minutes.  Serve by spooning “gravy” over meat.  Dig in.

Final Product

Beer Braised Pot Roast

• 2-3 Pound Chuck Roast
• 3-4 Carrots, Peeled
• 1 Softball Sized Onion
• 2 Bottles Amber Beer (1 Bottle Wine, 2 cans of regular pop, or 3 cups chicken broth can be used instead)
• A sprig of parsley (or rosemary, thyme, or 1 tsp dried herbs)
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic

1. Start with a 2-3 pound roast that is 2 inches or so thick.  Take your roast and cut it into fist sized chunks.  Generously salt all the sides of each piece.  Let sit at room temperature 20 minutes while oven heats to 300.
2. Peel and cut up 3-4 average carrots into pieces about the size of a pinkie, thicker carrots can be sliced in half lengthwise, or use 3/4 of a bag of baby carrots.  Roughly chop onion and put vegetables aside.
3. Heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.   Add a good glug of olive or vegetable oil, whatever you have on hand and let it heat up.  When the oil is shimmering add some meat, leaving space around each piece.  It might be necessary to separate into two batches.
4. Let the meat sear for 1-2 minutes per side until nicely browned and flip until you brown all 4 big sides of each piece.  Take the meat out and set it on a plate and continue with the next batch.  Take all the meat out of the pan and set the plate aside.
5. Pour in about a half a cup of beer or liquid of your choice to the hot pan and stir rapidly with a wooden spoon scraping all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Let beer bubble and start to thicken.
6. Add the onions and carrots and stir to coat with thickened beer.  Add about a teaspoon of salt and a good crack of pepper and stir occasionally, cooking about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and cook 10 more minutes stirring occasionally until your onions and carrots get nice and caramelized.
7. When the vegetables are done, set the beef chunks on top of the vegetables, throw in 2-3 unpeeled cloves of garlic (or don’t, your call), a couple sprigs of parsley (rosemary works too, or a teaspoon of dried parsley or rosemary, or no herbs at all, again it’s your call), and pour in enough beer to come about half way up the sides of the meat.
8. Put lid on pot and put in oven for 3 hours.
9. Remove from oven, scoop out veggies and meat and put pot on a burner.  Turn heat on to medium high and bring liquid to a boil, boil til thickened about 10 minutes.  Serve by spooning “gravy” over meat.