Gazpacho

This is my favorite summertime soup! A friend's husband made it for dinner one night and reminded me of how much I love it!!! He put corn and sea food in his which was yummy too. I did steal his idea of garnishing with avocado, YUM!

I grated the cucumber into the soup. It worked out better than I thought it would. I also used my hand blender to zip it up a bit.

INGREDIENTS

28 or 32 oz can of peeled San Marzano tomatoes, chopped with juice

2 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup diced celery, english cucumber, & onion

2 cloves of garlic, I grate it in with a microplane

4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons of worscestershire

salt, pepper, and tobasco to taste

The longer this soup chills the better. ENJOY!

San Marzano Tomato Soup

Having a craving for tomato soup and no can of Campbells in sight I figured I would make my own. I googled a few recipes and checked my Joy of Cooking for some ideas. I didn't have all the ingredients for the recipes, but I would have to, as Tim Gunn says, "make it work". My father once told me some things aren't worth making from scratch, he said tomato soup was one of them. I have to disagree!INGREDIENTS3/4 cup onion1 rib celery1 bay leaf28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes15 oz can of tomato sauce2 cups chicken bouillon (stock, broth, whatever)1 cup instant rice1/2-1 cup of milk1 teaspoon of baking sodasalt & pepper to tasteMETHOD3/4 cup chopped onion1 rib chopped celerya bay leafSautee the above in vegetable oil until everything is soft, remove the bay leaf.Add one 28 oz can of San Marzano (DOP) tomatoes, I used peeled plum tomatoes.Use your spatula to chop up the tomatoes in the pot. Cook the tomatoes down until you can draw your spatula across the pot and the tomatoes leave a "path".Add the tomato sauce, bouillon and rice. You don't have to add the rice, but I thought it would be a nice touch. Once the rice is cooked then add the milk. You can leave this out too if you want. Lastly I added some baking soda to cut the acidity.I don't have a picture, but it is yummy!

Corn Chowder by eye

When I bake I measure, when I cook I throw things together until it looks/tastes good. While I was preparing this chowder I knew I was going to put it in my blog, that forced me to measure, a little. Since I cook by eye I also end up with lots of whatever it is I'm making, that is what happened here.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 pound salt pork fat back
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
5 small/medium potatoes, I scrub them and leave the skin on, cubed
1 14.5 oz can of white corn, save liquid
1 14.5 oz can of yellow corn, save liquid
1 14.5 oz can of creamed corn
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of cream
1 teaspoon of chives
1/8 teaspoon of dill

METHOD
I began by rendering the salt pork. Cook it in a stock pot over medium heat until it is golden brown, drain it on paper towel. Add a bit of vegetable oil and saute the onions. This will help to get the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. If you have some white wine you might want to add a bit of this too.
Once the onions are soft add your garlic and your cubed potatoes, stir. Add the broth and the liquid from the corn, the potatoes should be covered, if they aren't add just enough water to cover them. Turn the heat to high and boil the potatoes, cook until they are just tender. Add milk, cream and the spices, along with salt and pepper to taste. I let this simmer for another 15ish minutes. Serve with corn bread and butter.