Weekly Dish

…just in case I forget. I tend to do that. Forget, I mean, about dinner.

It’s just that I get so wrapped up in the flurry of holiday cooking that sometimes I turn around at 6 pm and glance gleefully over the roasted butternut squash resting on the stove, the sweet potatoes that have just been pureed in the blender, the discs of pie dough awaiting refrigeration, and I realize: we’re going to have to eat take-out for dinner. Again. Which seems absurd, since it seems like I’ve spent the whole day in the kitchen.

So, tonight, and most likely for the rest of the week, we’ll be having this soup. If you happen to have some already-cooked sweet potato on hand, it comes together easily; the only trick is to think about it before 6 pm (unless you typically eat around 9, as we sometimes do), so it will have some time to simmer. If you don’t already have sweet potatoes cooked, you’ll need a bit more time, but since your oven is already set to 350 (you know, for all of those fabulous Thanksgiving baked goods you’re working on), you can throw in the potatoes and garlic at any time, and then, with the chop of an onion, it’s just a matter of assembly.

The soup is good, hearty comfort food, and, as an added bonus, it’s also packed with all sorts of good-for-you nutrients. Which, let’s face it, is even more important this week, as our bodies are gearing up for the holiday of excess. The best part about the soup is that the potatoes and garlic lend their creaminess to the texture, so no cream is actually needed. To cut out even more fat (and to make this a vegetarian soup), you could also omit the bacon and cook the onion in olive oil instead. Or, leave out the stock altogether, and use the potato mixture in enchiladas or burritos.

Or, make an entirely different soup, based on what you have that you could throw into a pot, or make pizza or pasta or a 5-course meal, but, please, whatever you do, don’t forget about dinner. Your body will thank you, come Thursday, for not having spent the week surviving on snatches of cake batter and take-out. At least I know, from painful past experiences, that mine will.

Smoky Sweet Potato Stew

The bacon, chipotle, and maple syrup pack this soup with flavor, so if you don’t have stock on hand, don’t worry, water will probably be just fine. Same goes for the corn — I had it, I liked the crunch it added, but it certainly isn’t essential.

4 smallish sweet potatoes, scrubbed (or 2 cups cooked, mashed potato)
Olive oil
1 head of garlic
4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
1 medium yellow onion, small-diced
3 T. chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely minced (less if you are heat-sensitive)
2 T. maple syrup
1 T. coarse salt plus more to taste
1 can black beans
1/2 cup corn kernels, scraped from the cob or frozen
1 cup beer (preferably something dark)
2 cups stock, chicken or vegetable (or water if you don’t have stock, and more, if you want a thinner soup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poke holes in the sweet potatoes, rub them lightly with olive oil, and bake them whole, on a foil-lined baking sheet, for about 2 hours. Set aside to cool.

When the potatoes have 30 minutes left, slice off the top of the garlic head, wrap in foil, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool with the potatoes.

While the potatoes and garlic are cooling, cook the bacon in a large soup pot. When it’s done, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but about a tablespoon of the fat, and add the onions. Cook the onions over medium heat, stirring frequently, until well-browned and very soft, about 15-20 minutes.

Turn the heat on the onions up to medium-high and add the syrup and the chipotle peppers in adobo. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, then pour in the beer. Stir, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by half.

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and squeeze the garlic cloves from the skin. Mash the flesh from the potatoes and garlic together, and add to the pot, stirring to combine. Stir in the black beans and corn and salt well. Add the stock and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and let it cook for 10-15 minutes (or longer, depending on how hungry you are and how long it took you to remember about dinner). You may need to add more liquid to get the soup the consistency you like; ours was quite thick (and we liked it that way). Season to taste with salt. If you like, serve topped with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of the bacon pieces. Will feed two hungry people for dinner at least 3 times (about 6 main dish servings).

As I have written here before, I do not winter well. Granted, I do not live in a climate with an especially long or harsh winter, but perhaps the perception of the deep south as a relatively warm place tricks me into thinking that I shouldn’t have to suffer winter at all. Adding to the illusion, cold weather doesn’t really kick in here until after Christmas, so I come up from a brisk, chilly holiday season thinking that spring should soon be on its way.

Only, I’d better get through January and February first. This winter has been especially cold and wet — it rained and stayed below 40 degrees every day for the first three weeks of the spring semester — but I’d braced myself to be prepared. After all, aren’t pregnant women chronically hot? I’m afraid carrying an extra person around with me has not made the wet chill in the air easier to endure as I’d hoped.

Just when I thought I could duck beneath the covers and stay until April, the Japanese magnolia in our front yard burst into purple and white blooms, showering the ground beneath with a welcome carpet of petals quietly announcing that the end must be near. Armed with this tiny bit of hope for warmer weather, I determined to make it through the next few weeks of blustery cold. To get me through and provide sustenance for our growing little family, David and I got into the habit of making soup on Sundays.

A fitting winter Sunday afternoon project, making soup requires leaving the stove on for hours at a time and ends with comfort food to last through the week. If you are just barely surviving winter where you are, I highly recommend this seasonal therapy. For me, it accomplishes several things at once: it warms me as I cook it, it warms me when I eat it, and it provides food for us on the nights when I just want to come home, put on my pajamas, and crawl into bed without standing over the stove. Soup has surely saved us from many a night of take-out (although we’ve had our share of those too). If you’re hankering for a warm bowl of something to tide you over until spring, head over to A Veggie Venture, where Alanna has been collecting soup recipes all month long.

This tortilla soup, adapted from the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, is not particularly difficult, although it does require a few preliminary steps before you throw everything into the pot to simmer. The complexly layered flavors reminds me a bit of a hot gazpacho: fresh with garlic and onions, rich with tomatoes and broth, smoky with the heat of the dried chilies. The onions and garlic I used were especially pungent; next time I make it, I might saute half of them to soften their bite just a bit.

A word about the dried chilies: the Lees call for a combination of anchos or mulatos and pasilla or guajilla chilies. I couldn’t find either of the latter two, so I substituted another dried hot variety, chiles de arbol. If you can’t find any dried chilies at all, I would recommend substituting roasted ones (poblanos would work well, I think, combined with a hotter pepper like a habanero or a serrano). Canned chipotles would also add an interesting note of smokiness and heat.

Whatever you do, don’t skip the toppings — they make the soup, in my opinion.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
2 cups corn or canola oil
4 whole dried chiles ancho (or other sweet-smoky pepper)
4 whole dried chiles de arbol (or other hot pepper)
10 soft yellow corn tortillas
Ground cumin
Chile powder
Seasoned salt
5 cups vegetable broth (you can substitute chicken broth for a non-veg version)
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped,
Kosher salt, to taste
Cracked black pepper, to taste

Toppings:
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 t. chile powder
1/4 t. seasoned salt
Cilantro, chopped
Avocado, sliced

Heat about an inch of the oil in a soup pot. While the oil heats up, prepare the dried chiles: slit each one down its side, remove the stem and seeds, and cut into large pieces. (Kitchen shears are well-suited for this job). Add the chile pieces to the hot oil in batches, toasting for about a minute per batch. They should be a little soft and fragrant. Remove with tongs to a plate and set aside.

Add the rest of the oil to the pot and heat to about 350 degrees (medium-high on my electric stove). Meanwhile, cut 6 of the tortillas into thin strips; leave the remaining 4 whole. Line a plate with paper towels. Fry the whole tortillas one at a time for about 1 minute per side, or until crisp. Remove to paper towel-lined plate and season immediately with cumin, chile powder, and seasoned salt. Repeat with tortilla strips, which will crisp faster. Discard the oil.

To the pot (I used the same one), add 2 cups of broth, diced onions, chopped garlic, and the canned tomatoes and liquid. Sprinkle with a palmful of Kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Add the toasted chiles. Crumble in the whole tortillas. Simmer (bubbles just below the surface) until the liquid has reduced by about a fourth, about 10-15 minutes. At this point, you’re going to puree the soup in a blender. Here’s what I recommend: pour the hot soup into the blender and let it sit for a few minutes to cool.

Meanwhile, you can prepare the toppings: stir together the buttermilk, sour cream, lime zest and juice, and seasonings. Wash and chop the cilantro and/or green onions. Slice the avocado. Get out some bowls.

When you think the soup is cool enough not to explode your blender, place a dish towel over the top of the blender, and pulse a few times. If it appears to be behaving, puree until smooth. Return the pureed soup to the pot, add the remaining broth, and bring back to a simmer. Serve with a dollop of the lime cream, a handful of cilantro, slices of avocado, and a fistful of tortilla strips. Be warm and think lovely thoughts of a coming spring!

PS: Thanks to all who have sent pregnancy encouragement my way; your thoughts and words of kindness have brightened many a dreary, tired day!

Two things I have bought every week at the farmer’s market for the past few weeks: corn and shrimp. Both have a delicately sweet flavor that reminds me of summer, so the combination is a natural one in my mind.

Shrimp and corn soup as prepared in restaurants around here is usually either roux-based, dark and heavy, or cream-based, light in flavor but not in substance; both versions are a bit too hearty for this sultry summer heat.

This shrimp and corn soup is light and flavorful, packed with the flavors of the two featured ingredients and not much else, which, for this simple girl, is how soup should be. The broth I made from shrimp stock in my freezer, boiled with the leftover corn cobs, but you can make vegetable stock with the corn and water if you don’t have any shrimp stock on hand or if you’re pressed for time.

This soup is a good dish to make on a lazy summer afternoon–it takes a bit of time, but not much cooking really; most of the time you can spend sipping lemonade and watching the stock simmer. I served it with a green salad and Rosemary Olive Oil bread (Rorie’s recipe, which I altered by reducing the sugar to 1/2 cup and substituting pine nuts for the walnuts–it was fabulous!)

Summer Shrimp and Corn Soup

3 ears corn
1/3 cup milk
2-3 cups shrimp stock (or water)
1 T. olive oil
1/2 large sweet yellow onion
1 clove garlic
2 small new potatoes, small-diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb. of small to medium shrimp, shelled
Fresh basil leaves, for garnish

Cut the kernels for the corn cobs and set aside.
In a large pot, combine the shrimp stock with the trimmings from the onion and the corn cobs. Simmer for about 45 minutes.

In a small saucepan, cover the corn kernels with the milk and heat over medium until the milk boils; reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil over medium to medium-low heat; add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent but not brown, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, then cover with stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings and add the shrimp. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes, or until the shrimp are pink and opaque. Serve topped with chopped fresh basil. Serves 4 as an entree, 6-8 as a starter.

My love of all things Ina is no secret to those who know me well. I have learned much about cooking from the Barefoot Contessa, and her cookbooks remain my most-often referenced.

For Christmas, my dear sister-in-law, who shares my love of the Contessa, gave me Barefoot in Paris. The reason I haven’t posted about it yet is because I believe in getting to know a cookbook before I commit to a full-blown evening with it. Call me old-fashioned, but I tend to take things slowly, reading the book through over a cup of coffee once or twice, getting a feel for what it has to offer, before I settle on my first recipe.

As the weather has been truly stew-worthy and as I thought my foray into French cuisine should start with something simple and classic, I began with Beef Bourguignon. Not the most photogenic dish, mind you, but don’t be fooled by its humble appearance. This stew is well worth the time you must wait for it to come to full flavor and the price of the wine and brandy you must put up to coax the homely beef, carrots, and onions into saucy decadence.

One of the things I most like about the dish is its versatility. The first night we ate it over garlic-rubbed bread, as the Contessa instructs. But rice and egg noodles also made good accompaniments, and thinned with some beef broth, it makes an excellent soup. The best thing about it, though, is that I made it on a Monday and it provided at least 3 other meals for us throughout the week (that’s 8 servings altogether), and I thought it was even better each time I ate it again, which doesn’t usually happen with me and leftovers. For a busy, cold week, this beef stew was my perfect match. Definitely worth the wait.

Beef Bourguignon
adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris (thanks, Hannah!)

Olive oil
1/2 pound bacon, diced
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound carrots, sliced thickly on the bias
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup brandy
1 bottle dry red wine
1 14 1/2-ounce can beef broth
1 T. tomato paste
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme or sage)
3 T. butter
3 T. flour

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Heat a teaspoon or 2 of olive oil in the biggest skillet (with a lid) you’ve got or in a Dutch oven.  Brown the bacon until it’s done, but not crispy. Remove the bacon, but leave the fat; return to medium-high heat. Add the cubes of beef in batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Turn the pieces quickly to brown the meat on all sides; remove to the plate with the bacon.

When all the meat is seared, add the carrots and onions to the pan and cook for about 12-15 minutes, until the onions are golden brown. Add the garlic, and cook for another few minutes. Season with plenty of Kosher salt and cracked pepper. Now comes the fun part. Have the half cup of brandy and a match or lighter. Add the brandy, and light it on fire, standing away from the stove. It will burn off in less than a minute, but it’s fun to watch!

Stir in the beef and bacon pieces, and pour in the wine. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Add the beef broth; make sure that the meat is sufficiently covered. Stir in the tomato paste and rosemary. Bring the mixture to a boil, then pop it into the oven to cook for about an hour.

Remove the pan from the oven and return to the stove top. Mash the butter and flour into a paste, and stir into the stew to thicken. Bring it to a boil; reduce and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. To serve, layer thick slices of crusty bread, rubbed with cut garlic, into bowls; ladle the stew on top.

Note: Ina’s recipe calls for small frozen onions and sauteed mushrooms, to be added after the stew has been cooked in the oven. I was too hungry to slice and cook mushrooms by the time the stew was ready, but I’m sure they would make a nice addition. In my opinion, the stew is onion-y enough, so I left out the frozen ones altogether.

I know I shouldn’t complain about the cold. I live in southern Louisiana for crying out loud. But I tell you, when we bought our house (in July when it was 100 degrees), we didn’t really think to check the insulation or ask about the efficiency of the heating system. Boy do I wish we had. The conventional foundation means we’re up off the ground (cold), and the 1920s windows and doors are not quite as tightly sealed as they were, say, 80 years ago (drafty and cold). Plus, it’s humid, which makes the cold colder.

And I, friends, am not a cold weather kind of girl.

The cold affects my culinary senses one of two ways: either I crave standing in front of the hot stove making something hearty and satisfying or I simply want to stay in bed, food or not (it’s really the only warm place in our house besides in front of the stove).

Fortunately for David, I’m coming out of the stay-in-bed-with-my-books-and-computer slump and working towards spending as much time in front of the stove as possible.

This soup is an old standby, and it hits the hot spot on both counts: spice and temperature. The soup is rich and garlicky, thick with the tomato puree and chunky because of the chopped ones. After a big bowl of this (and the time I spend cooking it) I sometimes can even take my coat off and not be freezing.

But only sometimes.

Spicy Tomato Soup

4 slices bacon
1 yellow onion, chopped
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 16-ounce can chopped tomatoes
1-2 t. Kosher salt
2 cups chicken stock or canned broth
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
Cracked black pepper
Half and half or heavy cream (optional)

Cook the bacon in a large pot until brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Cook the onion in the bacon fat over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until just tender. Add the garlic, and cook for another 5-8 minutes, until both are very soft and the garlic is beginning to turn golden. Salt and pepper well. (I don’t measure my salt, but with soup, I’ve found that if you season as you go, instead of all at once at the very end, you’ll end up with a nicely enhanced flavor, rather than a salty soup.) Stir in the crushed tomatoes, then add the chopped ones and their liquid. Add the broth, and season again. Bring the soup to a simmer,then reduce the heat and add the cayenne. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. The soup is ready to serve at this point, but I usually leave mine on the stove on low heat for a while, to let the flavors mingle a little longer. When ready to serve, spoon into bowls and top with a few drops of half and half or cream and a crumble of bacon. Focaccia bread makes an excellent vehicle for dipping, if you’re so inclined. This soup could easily be vegetarian: substitute olive oil or butter for the bacon fat and vegetable broth for the chicken stock.
This recipe is my submission to this week’s ARF Tuesdays over at Sweetnicks.

I am probably in grave danger of being called in by the veggie police for blasphemy. After all they do for me–feed my body the nutrients it needs, liven up my salads, play a second fiddle to the main courses–and all I do is talk about how I need to dress them up in order to eat them. Why do I feel this way about vegetables? Well, I’ve been giving that some thought. I really don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve had bad experiences with canned or frozen ones that scarred me. Maybe I’m just not familiar enough with how to prepare them in a way that makes them taste good instead of bad to me. Whatever the reason, I’m trying to conquer my dislike of vegetables, one recipe at a time, so when I saw this soup recipe over at The Gracious Bowl, I knew I had to give it a try.

If you like soup and you haven’t visited Adrienne and Margaret’s blog, you should check it out. I have long been a fan of the comforting and nourishing powers of soup, so I check their site often for new ideas and recipes. They posted this recipe last week, and I immediately wanted to try it. We love Italian sausage, and since David loves beans of all sorts (and I, sadly, do not), I’m always trying to think of new ways to fix them where we might both be happy. This soup really did the trick. It is thick and hearty and utterly satisfying. The sausage and beans give it enough substance to make it filling, and the loads of vegetables makes it extra good for you. I simplified the original recipe just a tad–I eliminated the bacon and cooked the sausage, onions, garlic, and carrots all together before adding the rest of the ingredients. Also, Margaret included the rinds of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which sounds like a lovely addition–I just didn’t have any. The recipe was also perfect for my new schedule–I threw everything together in the morning before class, and then David put it on to simmer a couple of hours before I got home.

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This soup is so simple, but really satisfying too. The sweetness of the squash, enhanced by the cane syrup and basalmic vinegar in the roasting process, provides the main flavor for the soup, but the subtle savory depth of the carrot and onion mellows the sweetness a good bit. I use a sweet onion so that the contrast is not too stark, add a dollop of mascarpone cheese for texture and creaminess, and sprinkle the bowl liberally with fresh nutmeg. Homemade chicken stock provides a richer flavor, but canned broth works too.

This recipe is designed to use up leftover squash, but other roast vegetables would work too, especially in combination. The wonderful thing about soup is that it’s a pretty forgiving medium. You’d rather use celery than carrot? Fine. Don’t have mascarpone cheese? No big deal. Want to add sweet potatoes? Go right ahead! My favorite thing about this soup recipe is that it makes use of what I have and allows me to play with the flavor combinations already at work with a minimum amount of time and effort. To have dinner on the table, the only thing I had to do was chop and saute the carrot and onion, add the rest of the ingredients and let them simmer, and throw together a salad. What’s even better is that the soup could be made early in the day, or even the day before, and then just warmed up later.

You’ll probably be seeing more meals like this one from me in the coming months–starting Tuesday, I have class three nights a week. If dinner’s going to be made, it will have to be done in the daylight hours. Yikes!

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The Aunts’ Recipe Book, a collection of Ellis family recipes I received when I got married, contains dozens of notecards with each of my Mississippi aunts’ handwriting on them. I love to look closely at each card to see what it tells me about its author. Aunt Cindi’s cards are big and bright; they have fun stickers in each corner and the cookbook from which the recipe came. Aunt Prissy’s tend to be very opinionated and a little on the bossy side, but very precise. Aunt Em’s recipes are written on the back of whatever she had handy at the moment; many of the ones in this book are scratched on the back of very old Christmas cards featuring her boys in matching sailor suits (they’re almost all teenagers now!) Aunt Jennifer’s recipes, for the most part, are simple and straightforward, occasionally adorned with a comment about what the recipe means to her and her family.

When I first started cooking, Aunt Jennifer’s recipe for White Chili was approachable, but not so easy that it didn’t feel like “real” cooking. I find her style to be like that: she believes that food doesn’t have to be fussy to be good, and that if more people learned to cook simple, satisfying meals, we’d have many more families sitting down to home-cooked meals, instead of to pizza or McDonald’s.

This chili is a little like a spiced-up chicken soup, heartier because of the beans, and edgier because of the red pepper and cumin. I love to make a pot of this soup on a dreary Saturday or Sunday afternoon and let it sit for a while. As with most chili recipes, the longer the flavors have to mingle, the better it tastes. I always stir in a few extra thoughts of Aunt Jennifer, for whom I was named, who always served my noodles on top of my spaghetti when I was a kid and never told my mom that I asked her to, and with whom I share a love of teaching and good books. As a matter of fact, this soup goes great with a good book for lunch, if you happen to have one on hand.

Aunt Jennifer’s White Chili

1 pound white navy beans (Aunt Jen says canned is ok, so I don’t argue. Just don’t tell Aunt Prissy. I don’t drain them, either)

2 pounds chicken breasts, or 2-3 cups of cooked chicken meat (I used the leftovers from our Thanksgiving roast chicken)

6 cups chicken broth or stock (I used a combination of canned and homemade)

1 T. olive oil

2 med. onions (I like the sweet yellow ones in this dish)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 t. cumin

1 t. oregano (I used fresh because I have it in my backyard)

1/4 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

If using uncooked chicken, cook it in water on the stove until all the meat turns white and comes apart easily with a fork. In a large pot, cook the onions and garlic in olive oil until very, very soft. Chop the chicken into small pieces; add everything else to the pot. Simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, preferably longer. Just be careful not to let it boil, or you’ll lose liquid. Serve with any or all of the following garnishes: salsa, sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese, tortillas, chopped oregano or cilantro.

P.S. I realize that I am not abiding by the days on the menu, but it’s been one of those weeks already. I promise to post the Chicken Pie and Risotto recipes later in the week!

A strange cat has been hanging out at our house lately. He’s pretty cute, brown and gray tabby with really bright green eyes, but Chester and Carmela are having a hard time adjusting to his presence. We often hear the yelps and hisses of kitty violence in our backyard, opening the door just in time to see our cats ganging up on this wandering neighbor.

A few weeks ago, I had the back door open because it was so nice outside, and I came into my kitchen to find a cat on the floor, one that doesn’t belong to me. He quickly sauntered back out when he saw me, but he isn’t afraid to intrude. His favorite spot in the backyard is near our enormous basil plants, so in honor of his persistent presence around our house, I named him after another constant in our kitchen: Pesto.

I’ve never had basil plants (or strange cats, for that matter) hang around this long. I don’t know if it’s because we planted them late in the season or because of the near-tropical climate, but they show no signs of fading any time soon. And so, I’ve had a never ending supply of pesto in my fridge (as I’m sure you’ve noticed!) and am trying to find new ways to use it. This soup is perfect for a fall use of the usually summertime herb; it’s warm and creamy but not too heavy. I adapted it from the recipe for Basil-Eggplant Soup in Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge’s Intercourses; my version differs only slightly from theirs.

Eggplant Basil Bisque

1 medium eggplant

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Olive oil

4 large tomatoes, or 1 14 1/12 ounce can whole tomatoes, drained

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/8 t. cayenne pepper

1/2 t. Kosher salt plus more to taste

Cracked black pepper

2 ounces goat cheese

2 tablespoons basil pesto

Peel the eggplant, and cut into small chunks. Boil in salted water until tender, about 10 minutes. (The original recipe calls for grilling the eggplant, which I’m sure would impart lots of flavor. I keep meaning to try it that way.) In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic together over medium-low heat until the onion is translucent and very tender but not brown. Dice the tomatoes and add them to the pot; cook for another 5-7 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft. Add the eggplant and chicken broth; season with cayenne, salt, and pepper. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Remove from heat to cool a bit. Mix the pesto and goat cheese in the blender to form a greenish paste. Remove the pesto paste from the blender, leaving a little sticking to the sides. Puree the soup in batches, but be careful! Hot soup will blow the lid right off your blender. Reheat the pureed soup if necessary; serve with a spoonful of the basil paste on top. I didn’t have goat cheese when I made the soup you see in the photo, so I just used pesto. It was still good, but the goat cheese adds a nice creaminess that I like, so if you have it, use it. Serve with crusty bread and a salad.

Since the Paper Chef competition, I have proclaimed the southern Louisiana Autumn officially here. No matter that it got just a teeny bit warmer that is usual for a crisp, cool season today–the air has that fall edge to it now, and I refuse to go back to wearing flip flops and pretending like the season isn’t changing.

It is with that spirit that I approached the rest of this week’s menu. One of the first meals I love to make when it cools off is a hearty soup with homemade bread. Traditional Wisconsin cheese soup is made any number of ways with varying vegetables and spices, but the key ingredient is good cheddar cheese. I combined that idea with French Onion soup and made some cheesy bread to go with it. I used leftover zucchini in the bread to give it some extra texture, but I’m not going to list that in the recipe because all the zucchini did was make the bread mushy–I won’t do that again. The jalapenos were a good choice, though; they give the bread just the right amount of spice and combine with the basil to lend a hint of freshness.

The soup was delicious fall fare–rich and savory and chock full of onions and cheddar cheese. When I was a kid, I spent weeks of the summer at my Aunt Emily’s house. She fed me terribly decadent food–Butterfingers by the fistful–and I have this vivid memory of sitting at her kitchen counter with a bowlful of melted cheddar cheese for breakfast. Also as a kid, I loved to order French Onion soup at restaurants because they brought it to you with this huge layer of cheese on top. This soup is my attempt to merge those two memories. It’s quick and easy too (back to the daily grind for me, alas!)

Here are the recipes:

Spicy Beer Bread

This recipe is very similar to the Cheese and Beer Bread in Better Homes and Gardens

2 1/2 cups flour

1 T. sugar

2 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. Kosher salt

1 T. freshly chopped basil leaves

12 ounces beer

6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

1 or 2 jalapenos, chopped (and seeded if you don’t like things too spicy)

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the basil. Mix in the beer, cheese, and pepper, and stir until just combined. Pour into a greased bread pan. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the outside is beginning to crisp and brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cheesy French Onion Soup

2 large sweet yellow onions (Vidalia if you can get them), chopped

1 T. butter

1 T. olive oil

Dash cayenne pepper

1/2 t. Kosher salt

14 1/2 ounces chicken broth

12 ounces beer (I used Abita Golden)

Good cheddar cheese, grated

Heat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and cook until brown and tender, about 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and add the liquids. Stir in the cheese (this quantity is really up to you, depending on how cheesy you want your soup. I used about 6 ounces) until it melts. Simmer over low until the bread finishes baking. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of paprika (I was a little heavy-handed with mine, as you can see from the photo!) Happy Fall!