Continuing with the theme of “OMG is it cold in New England”, here is a bowl of homemade hearty winter Minestrone with Tortellini and Turkey Meatballs, sure to warm you up and fill you up. It’s delicious. Also, coincidentally, February 4 is National Homemade Soup Day. Yeah, not joking, but coincidental because I made the soup first and then I heard about the “holiday”.
Something a little different today: a Blueberry Lemon Soufra. What is a soufra, you ask? It’s a Greek and Middle Eastern filo souffle pie. You fill the pie dish with buttered filo dough layers, folded or ruffled together, toast in the oven before pouring/ladling on custard. They can be savory (skip the sugar and vanilla in the custard) with spinach and feta or walnuts for example, or sweet as in this one with lemon and blueberries, or dates and walnuts, or any fruit or even chocolate chips. I made it for brunch (and truth be told, added some maple syrup over the top), but also would be a nice breakfast or lunch. Tastes best right out of the oven, and eaten the same day for sure.
So Hasselback Potatoes…. I think that most of you know the story (and the reoccurring results) of my Hasselback Potato Skillet Bake winning the Idaho Potato Recipe of the year about a million years ago (back in 2015). The recipe resurrects itself every now and again and I make it for myself sort of often. Many of you also know that I spend a lot of time randomly pondering “How can I make this recipe better?” for lots of my recipes. Well, I got to thinking about that this afternoon, after finding some perfectly sized russet potatoes (on the small side): How do I make Hasselback potatoes even better? They are already sort of like a baked/jacket potatao meets potato chips/crisps, so why not not go all in: bacon (and the bacon fat)…. cheddar … scallions. Yup, these Bacon + Cheddar Hasselback Potatoes are sort of a love child between baked potatoes, potato skins and chips. Serve with sour cream. Add on some pickled jalapenos and serve with guacamole. Simply to die for.
winter is soup season, and this one turned out great: Carrot and Smoked Gouda Bisque. It’s sweet and savory at the same time, righ and smokey too. Might even be healthy, except for the rich cream. Either way, it was delicious.
It is, however, hard to photograph. You might have heard me complain before: soups and chowders aren’t fun to photograph — monochromatic, often light colored liquid. [Yawn]. This time, I went for adding a few carrot swirls, just to give it some contrast in the picture. Totally unnecessary for the recipe though. 🙂
And what would a CSPS Christmas be without some dressed up nuts? This year, I made Honey gingerbread ones, with almonds, cashews and pecans (but any combination of nuts will do). These are a little sweeter than some of my sweet and spicy ones, but still very delicious. Let them absolutely cool completely before bagging them up, otherwise they will stick together and get totally hard.