Pizza Soup

Pizza Soup

1 onion
1 green bell pepper
1 cup (12 oz) sliced fresh mushrooms
2 (8 in / 20 cm) zucchini / courgette
14.5 oz beef broth
14.5 oz tomatoes
16 oz can pizza sauce
1 lb (4 oz) fully cooked smoked sausage links
1/2 tsp herbs de provence (pizza seasoning)

GARNISH
shredded cheese
sour cream

In a medium saucepan, combine onion, sweet pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, and 1/4 cup of broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer covered for 5 minutes.

Thinly slice the sausage.

Stir in the remaining broth, the undrained tomatoes, pizza sauce, sausage, and seasoning. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more or until the vegetables are tender.

Dollop sour cream on each serving and top with cheese.
Makes 6 servings.

Potato Soup

Potato Soup

2c ham roast
8 raw potatoes
Boiling water, just enough to cover the top of the potatoes
6 bouillion cubes
¼ cup parsley
¼ tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper
16 oz sour cream

Start with a ham roast that is well cooked it should it falls off the bone, cut into spoon sized chunks.

Boil first seven ingredients. (15-20 min) When the potatoes are tender, gently mash them, leaving lots of small lumps. Then stir the sour cream into the soup before serving. At the very end, if the soup is thin, add instant potatoes until thickness and creaminess are as you like it. ;)

Köttbullar "Mom's Meatballs" - Swedish Meatballs From Scratch

Growing up, swedish meatballs were a staple in our family. The recipe has been perfected over centuries, then promptly ruined by commercialization. Now we're getting back to the roots of a real, hearty, good for you, swedish meatballs from scratch recipe.

Swedish meatballs are essentially beef, onions and mushrooms in a sour cream and parsley sauce. Any dish called "Mom's Meatballs" is bound to have variations inspired by each household, that's why Köttbullar or Swedish meatballs must be prepared, above all, with love. So if you're trying your hand at this timeless recipe, don't feel intimidated by the variety of choices, just go with your gut and make a dish you would enjoy. Apparently, in southern Sweden many people prefer their meatballs with a little more fat, but the further north you go, the less pork you will find in the meatball mixture. Some things remain constant however, bread dipped in milk is a must!

KÖTTBULLAR MEATBALL
2 pounds of hamburger (preferably 1 1/2 lbs. beef and 1/2 lb. pork)
3 slices of bread - your favorite grain
1 cup milk
1/2 onion
2 eggs
salt, white pepper
Butter or lard for frying

SWEDISH CREAM SAUCE
1/2 onion
10 oz (300g) mushrooms
1 tub of sour cream
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley

First dice the entire onion and soften it on the stovetop, set it aside.
Then sauté the sliced mushrooms - don't crowd the mushrooms!

Meanwhile, stir together half of the onion and all of the meatball ingredients in a mixing bowl. Tear up the bread and get it wet in the milk, it will mix more easily. Frying the meatballs might be the most authentic method, but you can also bake them in the oven on a sheet of parchment paper, less mess, less fat.

Chop the parsley with scissors and mix the sauce ingredients together, perhaps in your mushroom pan to heat the sauce one last time before serving.

Tradition would have you serve the meatballs separate from the sauce, and generously pour the gravy over the meatballs. Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles. Always accompanied by lingonberries on the side.

Don't Crowd The Mushrooms

Crêpe Apéro

You'll need a batch of the World's Best Crêpes - Céline's Crêpes, but you can make them the night before. You can even eat a couple for breakfast and still have plenty to dress up your dinner.

smoked salmon
sour cream
chives (ciboulette)
cucumber

These are smaller than they look on the photo. The glasses they are in are actually expresso glasses, no more than two inches in height.

First you lay out a crêpe on a plate, fold it in half and roll it like an ice cream cone around the smoked salmon, cucumber and chives, and add a dollop of sour cream.

A Delish Classic in Any Country - Hachis Parmentier

According to Wikipedia :

"In haute cuisine, hachis Parmentier is a dish made with mashed, baked potato, combined with diced meat and sauce lyonnaise and served in the potato shells. In general use, a simpler version is the French equivalent of cottage or shepherd's pie.
The dish is named after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French pharmacist, nutritionist, and inventor who, in the late 18th century, was instrumental in the promotion of the potato as an edible crop. The word "hachis" means a dish in which the ingredients are chopped or minced, from the same root as the English word "hatchet"."

My Mom is going to see this and be like, "What? I've been cooking French food all this time?" Shepherd's Pie was always a classic around our house. It was even a standard in the public school cafeteria. It is woven into our culture. I guess that means we're French ;)

The sauce that distinguishes this dish is called a Lyonnaise Sauce and was invented by Duke Philippe De Mornay, Governor of Saumur, France, sometime in the late 1500s. He was a leader of the Hugenots. Apparently Mornay also invented many other sauces ; Mornay Sauce, Sauce Chasseur, Sauce Porto and that ever favorite French cheese sauce the Bechamel sauce!

So today I'm going to share with you my variation on Shepherd's Pie or Hachis Parmentier. First it is absolutely imperative that you make your own mashed potatoes. Please, humor me and do not purée them into liquid. So for this recipe I am officially forbidding the use of all electric mixers, blenders, and food processors. Only elbow grease will obtain the perfect texture, so all you'll need is a fork or potato masher. Lumps are essential in creating the right combination of flavors. Large lumps. Big chunky bits of potato all smooshed together with some savory sumpin' sumpin' seasonings. mmmm...

About those potatoes... Different potatoes have different flavors, and textures, and juiciness. So I'm recommending good old fashioned brown skin potatoes. Whatever potatoes your region has in knarly shapes with thick skins and clumps of dirt hanging onto them. Apparently, they're a dying breed. The farmers are planting fewer brown skinned potatoes because the stores are ordering more white skinned potatoes because the consumers don't want to get dirt in their SUVs! So let's get our priorities straight. Stop making decisions based on which potato leaves less dirt in your car and start making decisions based on what tastes good. (Let's face it you could stuff those potatoes into a paper shopping bag and save yourself the vacuuming if you really wanted to - you are using paper right?) In this case I used potatoes from my friend's garden so they were quite tasty.

Hachis Parmentier

4 russet potatoes
2 turnips
---
1 lb (.5K) ground beef
1 small onion
5 tb (càs) butter
5 tb (càs) flour
1 1/4 C (30cl) cold milk
salt & pepper
1/2 c (12cl) dry white wine, cold
---
1 baby zucchini
---
4 tb (càs) milk
2 portions of laughing cow cheese
salt & pepper

Let's begin...
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C)

Put your pot of water on to boil. While the water comes to temperature peel and quarter the potatoes and turnips. Drop them in the hot water, add a dash of salt, and let them boil until they're tender.

Meanwhile, sauté your beef in a large skillet. Don't let it get too crispy. You'll cook it again when you put the dish in the oven later, so the goal here is that the beef turns that white-grey color that's no longer pink, but not quite yet brown. Remove the meat and use the meat drippings to cook the onion, butter, flour and milk. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Salt & pepper to taste. Add the cold wine, heat until warm. Add the meat, toss until evenly covered. Distribute into a deep baking dish.

Choose a young tender zucchini (5in /12cm) Slice very thin leaving the skin on. Layer the zucchini slices over the beef.

Strain the potatoes and turnips. Mash by hand leaving large chunks of potatoes. Add creamy cheese and several tablespoons of milk so that they don't get dry. If you can't find laughing cow cheese you are welcome to replace it with philly cream cheese, or you can substitue both the milk and cheese with 1/4 C (6cl) sour cream (so either sour cream or the cheese + milk combination). Layer the potatoes over the zucchini.

Put the Hachis Parmentier in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden on top.