teacher by day - chef by night
Dad’s birthday is reason enough to celebrate – but we have another reason to celebrate here at Teacher by Day – Chef by Night! One year ago: August 17, 2010 I posted my very first blog post. I have come so far in this year… taking the plunge getting pictures posted on FoodGawker, gaining readers, being willing to experiment more, and the list goes on.
WARNING: You house will smell AWESOME while this is cooking, so you will be hungry while this bakes
I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again: NOW is the Season of Garden Fresh Veggies!
If you have a garden I’m sure your are rolling in it’s bounty and if you are shopping for your produce than I am sure that you love the seasonal prices and the awesome tastes you are currently enjoying!
We have been on the receiving end of lots of garden goodies from our neighbors. I wanted to take some of my bounty and try to experiment with a Chilled Soup. I’ve never really had a chance to explore these before (and only had one chilled soup that I have ever enjoyed – it was on a cruise when I was about 18, but I don’t even remember what flavor it was).
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This Chilled Cucumber Soup seasoned with a hot pepper and mint is a nice balance of sweet and salty. The texture reminded me of a liquid that has ice chunks in it (granular?) even though I never had it in the soup. Overall the flavor was enjoyable but the texture I would have liked a little smoother, so maybe a blender would have worked better than the food processor. Enjoy & let me know what you think!
(adapted from Food and Style)
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor with 1/2 cup of the spring water. Pulse a few times so the ingredients are coarsely chopped, then process until soup is very smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. If necessary, thin with the remaining water to the desired consistency.
Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight, until well chilled. Place the soup in the freezer for 30 minutes before serving OR let it set in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to get totally chilled. Ladle soup in chilled soup bowls or cocktail glasses. [Drizzle a little lemon oil in the center of each bowl.] Garnish with a mint leaf, curl of cucumber, and serve immediately.
And I leave you with today’s Question of the Day… what is YOUR favorite way to enjoy a good cold soup?
This is the season of carefree entertaining and although I love me some roasted veggies (the house smells awesome from roasted veggies right now – look forward to those posts in the coming days & weeks) we don’t always want/need to heat up the house! This recipe easily serves 1 or 2 as an appetizer, but is obviously very easy to adapt for more. Just count (about) a whole cucumber person as you adapt this for your next gathering.
Stuffed Peppers – I am sure that many of you have a go-to recipe for these. How many of you have a Stuffed Pepper recipe that would help you use up some of the over-abundance of Zucchini you are now faced with!? Well, this recipe …
Who needs to plant your own garden when you have good neighbors! I know that this time of year many people feel they are over-run with Zucchini – if you find yourself in this situation, then I am sure you are already being a good neighbor (as well as experimenting with lots of new recipes and growing tired of old favorites).
Our wonderful neighbors gave us quite a few zucchini last week (with more to come this week, but don’t worry – I’m prepared). I came across Just Putzing‘s recipe for Zucchini cakes & I love Crab Cakes (remember I even made those Asian Inspired ones recently) and decided this recipe would be a hit. She suggested serving it with some Ranch and to my delight, I stumbled across Brook’s awesome Jalapeno Ranch dressing.
These cakes were a little soggy, but I think the giant zucchini I was working with might have prevented me from squeezing enough liquid out – so I plan to make these again with the addition of some flour to soak up some of the moisture. Then the ranch has the flavor of the hot peppers, but not the heat so it is an awesome family-friendly variation on ranch (to which Rich added almost a whole habanero on his plate, you know – he is one of those type people!)
So get out in the garden and use some of those veggies for this figure-friendly vegetarian garden meal!
