Autumn Soup

Ack, it seems we missed October! Who's in charge around here anyways? Though to be honest this soup was made in October, it just took me until today to be avoiding work so hardcore that I'm posting something. I didn't actually make this, I just invented it and typed up the "recipe" and Carter made it and then I adjusted it (like I do) and we ate it. And it was awesome. Truly, truly awesome. It could easily be vegetarian if you leave out the sausage (but if you aren't sausage-averse keep it in!!). Here's how it goes:

ingredients:

3 largish potatoes, chopped (peeled if you want)

1 bunch leeks, light parts sliced (dark green parts not needed)

1 celeriac bulb, peeled and chopped

3 or 4 carrots, chopped

8+ cloves garlic

1 qt (or more) stock (chicken/turkey/pork/veggie)

chicken bouillon cube or salt

a few heavy shakes of marjoram

3 bay leaves

much black pepper

1 c. half and half (or less cream)

8in section of kielbasa or andoiulle sausage

do this:

Roast garlic, then peel them and leave whole.

In a large pot, saute leeks until they're starting to brown, then add everything but garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Add garlic, spices, stock and then 4 or 5 cups of water until the pot is at least about half full. Simmer for 1-2 hours. When it's cooked, rescue the bay leaves and puree about half of the soup in the blender. Add cream, adjust seasonings, remove from heat.

Meanwhile: broil, grill, or otherwise cook your sausage. Cut into bite-size pieces and toss into the soup just before serving. Garnish with parsley and eat with rustic bread.

Key Lime Pie

Easy as pie! Key lime pie is so refreshing, perfect for spring/summer. It's also a great way to use up those stale graham crackers you have sitting around (and you know you do). It's one of my favorite desserts to make in the summer, and I've never heard any complaints when I announce that a key lime pie is in the works...

Crust:

• crumbs from 1 package graham crackers (not a whole box)
• about 3 T. butter, melted

Filling:

• 1/2 c. key lime juice (if you can't find it look in the mixer section of your grocery store near the seltzer and grenadine)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT fat free)
• 2 egg yolks
• zest of 1/2 of a large lime (or all of a key lime)
  

Topping:

• 1 c. fresh cream
• 2-3 t. sugar

Preheat oven to 325F.
Mix together graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into the sides and bottom of an 8" or 9" pie dish. If it crumbles instead of sticking to the sides, add more butter. Bake for 9 minutes. Remove to cool but leave the oven on.

Stir together filling ingredients (use some of the lime juice to rinse out the sweetened condensed milk can). Admire the cigar-smoking smiley face.


Pour into baked crust. Bake for 12 minutes, or until filling is set. Allow pie to cool fully to room temperature.

Whip cream until soft peaks form, adding the sugar after a few seconds of whipping. You want to taste the cream, not overwhelming sweetness, so use good cream and go easy on the sugar. :-)

Spread whipped cream over pie and garnish with curls of lime rind. Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Pictures of the pie to follow, I haven't topped it yet.

Butternutty Bisque

We had a butternut and some cream... and Epicurious decided that I should make this:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Butternut-Squash-and-Roasted-Garlic-Bisque-104280

They were so right. My alterations:

• Our butternut was probably only about 3 lbs, so
  
• I only roasted one bulb of garlic. And we didn't have any foil so I just put it in an oiled casserole dish with a lid-- it worked great.
  
• I baked the butternut (in the oven with the garlic) instead of peeling and boiling it, then just scooped it out of the skin to blend with the other ingredients.
• I used homemade chicken stock instead of canned, naturally.
  
• Instead of fresh thyme I used 2 tsp dried, and
• added a tsp or two of cayenne for kick.

Some of the reviewers on Epicurious mentioned that the soup doesn't need the cream, and they're right. I had one bowl of it cream-less right after I made it, but then added it to the leftovers because it needed to get used. Either way, it's delicious! Fairly easy too; the oven does most of the work.

P.S. I swear all of the post titles won't have "nutty" in them. But I couldn't resist this one...