roasted tomato soup & grilled cheese

I’m sick of everything.

Recently, I feel as if I’m constantly being challenged. Thrown on one long emotional roller coaster without end in sight. Faced with choices that I’ve made, regrets that I have, and a mild fear of what I might become. Sometimes I wish I could just hide and wait it out for a few years after all the complicated shit is over.

Is it ever over?

2012 has been tumultuous to say the least. When it rains, it pours.

I don’t want to have any regrets, but it seems I can’t do anything right anymore.

I need comfort food.

Soup is good at keeping me company.

Soup is quite possibly the best remedy for when I’m feeling down. Along with Cary Grant and red wine. Let’s throw in John Mayer’s “Battle Studies” while we’re at it. I hate feeling down when it’s an Indian summer outside. It makes eating soup and wallowing under the covers highly uncomfortable.

Roasted Tomato Soup
adapted from smittenkitchen

Serves 4 (though closer to 6 if served in mugs)

Soup
3 pounds tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Lid
4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
1 tablespoon grated raw onion
1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste)

Make soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (I used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

Create cheddar lid: Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Stir grated onion into the warm soup. (I love this last-minute suggestion of onion.) Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. If you’d like it even more bronzed on top, preheat your broiler and finish soups for a minute or two under it. Serve immediately.

Do ahead: Soup can be prepared one day ahead, and kept covered in the fridge. Rewarm before serving, or before finishing with cheddar crouton.

artichokes and quinoa

August.

AUGUST?!

As in, summer is almost over? As in, more than half the year has passed? As in, by the way it’s 110 degrees in the Valley? (Sidebar: I hate the Valley.)

I am not ready for Autumn, for another work busy season, not ready to retire flip flops and – I live in LA, nevermind.

BUT some thoughts about this August nonsense:

1. MAKE EVERY DAY WORTHWHILE. The older I get, the faster time seems to fly. High school years felt like eons, college semesters seemed to creep along, and now, post-college, I can’t even screw my head on straight before months just fly by. Spend less time on the Internet, more time with people/food/pets/books. Youtube is great, but forreal, get a life.

2. GET AS MUCH OUTDOORS LOVE AS POSSIBLE. So, it’s a million degrees outside. That just means it’s perfect temperature at the beach. Must do more activities like paddleboarding, hiking, kayaking, and rolling around at the park.

Me paddling at snail’s pace in Laguna.
photocred: Charlyne Hsu

3. READ THE BOOKS SITTING ON MY NIGHTSTAND. I have a bad habit of buying a ton of books and starting three of them at the same time and taking forever to finish. Break this habit, Jean. Finish your damn books. My favorite purchase this summer though is this:

Sneak peek inside:

4. EAT HEALTHY. I’m not 19 anymore. I can’t guzzle down beers and chips with zero consequence. My body doesn’t absorb sodium and carne asada fries via osmosis or whatever anymore. I sit in an office chair for 12 hours a day. I feel a permanent pooch starting to form. Shady taco truck at 2 a.m.? That used to seem like a good idea. I’m still young enough to be able to do WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT (WHOO!) but not young enough that I don’t wake up the next morning with heartburn and aching limbs (Pass me the Tums and a jumbo Gatorade).

I’m flexing my flexitarian health-mode ways. If for any reason, because of my deteriorating state of health. Yes, I threw in some melted brie. Only like a chunk of it though. And it’s stuffed into an artichoke, so it doesn’t really count.

fresh thyme!

brie stuffed artichokes

 

A little brie appetizer… finished up lunch with a Quinoa Rice Bowl. Think Korean bibimbap but with quinoa and arugula.

healthy! and still tastes good.

My body is thanking me for not abusing it today.

It will not be thanking me tonight though. All part of making everyday worthwhile and living up my summer! Oh, why hello there Friday night shenanigans!

Artichoke with Baked Brie Sauce
recipe from foodrepublic

2 large artichokes, top quarter and stems sliced off
3 ounces brie, rind removed and cut into chunks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for the top
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons finely sliced almonds, crushed into coarse crumbs with a rolling pin

In a large pot of salted water, boil the artichokes for 10 minutes. Take them out of the water and let them drain well, upside down, in a colander.

Put the brie in a small pot with the cream and let it melt on a low flame while constantly stirring.
When the mix is smooth, turn off the heat and, while stirring, add the yolk, the grated parmesan, the thyme and the crushed almonds.

Preheat the broiler to low and position the rack close to the bottom of the oven.
Fill the artichokes with the mix (it should cover the tops as well), sprinkle them with some more grated parmesan and almonds and place them standing head up in an oiled casserole dish.

Put under the broiler and let them cook for about 10 minutes, checking often, or until the cheese turns into a golden crust. Enjoy by peeling off the leaves and dipping them into the sauce.

Skillet Quinoa Mixed Bowl
Serves 2

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups arugula, roughly chopped
1 red onion, sliced
2 cup crimini mushrooms, quartered
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 eggs (feel free to remove this if you want to go the vegan route)
oil

In a bowl, combine mushrooms, soy sauce, hot sauce, agave syrup, and rice vinegar. Mix until mushrooms are coated. Refridgerate for about 20-30 minutes until mushrooms are marinated. You can adjust the hot sauce to your liking.

Put one cup of quinoa and one cup of arugula per bowl. Set aside.

Heat a few teaspoons of oil in a pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the red onions and saute for about five minutes (I like mine a little crunchy – you can cook them longer if you don’t want that onion kick). Divide evenly between two bowls.
Add some more oil to the pan set over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and stir them so the pieces are evenly coated with oil. You should hear the mushrooms sizzling. Continue cooking the mushrooms, stirring them every few minutes to make sure they don’t burn. Saute about ten minutes and add to rice bowls along with any sauce in the pan.

Fry the eggs and add to the top of each bowl. Mix it all up and EAT to your heart’s content because this is a very filling low calorie meal. Ho ho ho :)

(And of course, if you want this to be vegan, just remove the fried egg. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.)

summer berry jammin’

In May, I went blueberry picking at Underwood Family Farms, a quaint little family farm hidden in the valleys of Somis. The early blueberries were so incredible and only $4 a pound (what a steal!) and there were a bunch of still green berry bushes a few months back so I’ve been patiently waiting…

And the raspberries and blackberries are here!

Delicious little antioxidant hairy powerhouse superfruit! Each one is perfectly amazing.

Be careful though. These bushes have a ton of thorns and I scratched up my hand grabbing greedily through the brambles. It made squeezing fresh lemon juice for my jams …. Let’s say the experience was unpleasant to say the least. Like dipping my fingers in battery acid.

Picking berries on a hot August morning. A perfect Cali summer.

There is always like one ripe one among ten unripe ones. These little tricksters be hiding from me.

Charlyne loves berries!

Narhee loves berries!

Charlotte definitely loves berries… “Hehhhh.”

Eight pounds of our loot!

But we’re not done yet.

Raspberry bushes!!! OMNOMNOMROM….

We brainstormed a million things to do with these berries… Pies, tarts, cakes…. I mean, what do you do with ten pounds of berries?? Brainstorming all of this on our drive down from Simi Valley really took it’s toll on our energy.

And we ended up being too tired and hungry and headed straight to Chego instead.

Don’t get in the way of us and our food. CHOW TIME IS NOW TIME. Our bellies wait for no one. Especially when it’s delicious grub in an unassuming strip mall in Culver City.

The Ooey Gooey Fries, Burgers, and Chubby Pork Belly bowl  - savory umami flavors in my MOUTH. Why is everything Roy Choi does so amazing? Whole cloves of pickled garlic, 1/2 pound grass-fed beef burger, Kimchi sour cream, grilled pineapple, Chinese broccoli, Korean marinaded Kurobuta… The man’s food truly embodies Los Angeles. A perfect harmonious fusion of ingredients and cuisines.

After stuffing our faces silly, I knocked the eff out for a few hours. I would never survive on a real farm.

But let’s just fake it for a little bit while I make some jam, okay? Getting all domestic up in here. A lot of the raspberries were delicate and overripe and managed to mash themselves on the ride back home, so I did some jammin’ since half the job was done for me already.

Raspberries! Framboise!

Jam is easy to make as long as you have the patience to sit in front of a simmering pot for a few hours. Constant, endless stirring so that the jam doesn’t explode all over your kitchen. I accidentally walked away for a couple minutes to have a Neon Trees singing session and ended up having to clean up burbled over raspberry sugar off of my stovetop. No bueno, man. Nyet spasi.

This jam’ll last me a while. As for the blackberries… I’ll figure out what to bake with those if I don’t end up eating all of them first.

Raspberry Jam

4 cups raspberries
2 cups sugar
Juice of one lemon

Mash raspberriess to a pulp in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil at medium-high heat. Add sugar and boil for 3 more minutes. When mixture begins to boil, lower heart to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.

After 3o minutes, add lemon juice and simmer at about medium low for 30 minutes – 1 hour until it comes to a jam-like consistency. To test if jam is done, spread some onto a small plate and refrigerate for one minute. You should be able to swipe your finger through it and it won’t come back together.

Add to sterilized jars and seal tightly. I don’t have proper jam jars so I stuck mine in the fridge right away. Best to eat this right away! If you want to keep your’s around for a longer shelf life, you’ll want to boil proper jam jars and sterilize all your utensils, etc.

Looking forward to spreading this with some goat cheese onto my breakfast toast!

just because it’s made from corn…

Great infographic about high-fructose corn syrup from Matador.

“It’s about the right every person has to healthy foods, no matter what their income level.”

Via Matador Network