Chorizo, Savoy Cabbage and White Bean Soup

Hi all! I think every time I update my blog I am having a flu. This goes for today as well. Me and S made a trip to Madrid this week, I caught cold on the second day of it, and the rest of the stay I operated more or less with ibuprofen and paracetamol. We returned home two days ago and S was already sick when we flew back to Helsinki. Today I got a diagnosis of influenza, which I heard might take even more time to heal than it already has… Now we’re both in bed, trying desperately to get rid of this virus as this was our only week of holiday during the winter/spring. What a luck!

So yes, we were in Madrid, and it was the first trip for the both of us in the capital of Spain. I had an idea to photograph each and every portion of food I had during the trip, but some of them I forgot and some of them I could not photograph due to the lighting conditions or such. But I will post here some pics later on.

For now I share with you a recipe, that despite looking absolutely delicious was actually not that great in flavor. I say this so that you will not be disappointed, haha. I found the recipe in a Finnish food magazine Glorian Ruoka & Viini, which I am a fan of. It was called caldo verde, “the green broth”, but as S is Brazilian with Portuguese origin he could tell this was not actually THE Portuguese caldo verde it said it was.

The strong flavor of chorizo definitely makes a difference, so use good quality one. I don’t eat red meat myself so I substituted half of the chorizo with soy chorizo, which was a delicious surprise in taste! Other than that this simple soup consisted of large white beans, savoy cabbage and vegetable broth. I added later on some sriracha as it gave a little bit of edge and sweetness to the otherwise mild soup.

Have a great weekend and don’t catch cold out there! :)

Caldo Verde or Soup with Chorizo, White Beans and Savoy Cabbage

1 onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, sliced

1 tablespoon cold pressed canola oil

1 liter vegetarian broth

250g chorizo, sliced

2 cans large white beans, drained

200g savoy cabbage, coarsely chopped

parsley and good olive oil for serving

Heat the oil in a casserole. Sautee the onions and garlic over a low-medium fire until almost transparent.

Add the broth and bring to a boil.

Roast the chorizo slices on a dry frying pan over high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add sliced cabbage, chorizo and drained beans to the casserole. Let simmer for 5 minutes and spice up with salt and pepper if needed.

Serve with chopped herbs like parsley, and some splash of good olive oil.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup and Basil Oil

Since last autumn I have felt a need to start eating lighter meals and less calories. I have always had a tooth for food that could perhaps contain a little less cream, cheese, sugar and chocolate. I think lately as I passed the border of 30 years I have also started to notice my eating in my body. Not anymore I can simply eat what I want and not think of the consequences. Actually, I’ve been quite active gym-goer for most of my adult life, but now it seems I should be even more.

So, as kind of a new year’s resolution me and S decided to start eating lighter in the dinner time during the working days. We both eat lunch in restaurants near our offices every day, so we found it quite a good idea to lighten up the evening meals mainly to soups and salads. 

For the following cauliflower soup I got an inspiration from the newest edition of a Finnish food magazine Kotiliesi. I however made some changes in the original recipe, like added cheese, haha! Actually, in this soup I again used a cheese product I have been discussing in my earlier post of Swiss rösti. I still don’t know what is the name for this product in English, but here’s a photo of how it should look like. In Finland we call it melted cheese, and for all the Finns: in this recipe I used the one in the pic, Koskenlaskija strong.

Here it goes, probably the best cauliflower soup I have ever had.

Cauliflower Soup with Basil Oil

900g cauliflower head, washed and cut in florets

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek, well washed, green parts cut out, white part chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 liter light chicken/vegetarian broth

100 ml cream

150g processed cheese/cheese spread

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of white pepper

salt to taste

Basil Oil

2 handfuls of fresh basil leaves

3-4 tablespoons good olive oil

pinch of pink Himalayan rock salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sautee leeks and garlic for a couple of minutes until the leek starts to get color. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as it gets a bitter flavor.

Add the cauliflower florets and broth. Bring to a boil and let bubble until the cauliflowers are completely cooked. Lift the soup off the fire and puree using a hand blender. Add water if needed.

Lower the fire to low and place the pan back on the stove. Mix in cream and the cheese. Let boil gently until cheese has melted completely. 

Spice up with white pepper, smoked paprika and salt.

Prepare the basil oil. Place the oil and basil leaves in a high edge container and puree using a hand blender (you can also do it with a regular blender). Season with pink Himalayan chrystal salt.

Top the soup with basil oil and enjoy!

African Sweet Potato, Peanut and White Bean Soup

Today I woke up early, as normally, did my morning routines, took a shower, brushed my teeth, made and drank coffee, did some pinteresting and browsed the news online. I was about to leave home when I started to check my shifts, in order to be sure I had the morning shift. The amazement was huge when the list said “free”! I had to call my colleagues at the office and ask them to check if that was really true.

And it was, so me and S decided to clean up the apartment, I planned to go to the supermarket to get our weekly stuff and S was going to spend the evening at the Finnish language course, where he’s doing really well (I’m so proud, as anyone who has ever tried to learn Finnish knows it’s one of the hardest languages in the world, alongside of Hungarian and Estonian). So when we were waking up in bed very late this afternoon S made me a riddle by drawing…which I had to solve to find out he wished me to bake a chocolate cake.

So after his daily dose of Finnish there was a chocolate tart waiting for him. The recipe will follow, but first I want to tell you what I cooked for dinner tonight.

The soup was so hearty, so flavorous and so good. The recipe is adapted from Vegetarian Times. The original calls for spinach, but I forgot to buy it. Instead I used some baked white beans, as I guessed S would like some protein in the soup. It worked fine, but I am sure spinach would have been lovely too!

A word about harissa paste too. This North African delicious spice paste is so rich in flavor, that I just love it. However, I’ve noticed some brands are hotter than others. So I have decided to use the mildest one I’ve found, so that I can use it in quite large amounts and get all benefits of the wonderful flavors. 

African Sweet Potato, Peanut and White Bean Soup (serves your whole family)

2 large sweet potatoes, washed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small leek (white and light green parts), halved and washed

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 heaping tablespoons harissa paste

750ml light chicken stock

1 can baked white beans, drained

salt to taste

peanuts, fresh coriander and Turkish yogurt to garnish

Place the sweet potatoes in a microwave and cook in full power for 10 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, and cook for 10 minutes more, or so long that they are relatively soft.

Cut the meat off the potato skins with a spoon.

Heat the olive oil in a medium/large saucepan or a Dutch oven. Chop the leaks and sautée them over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic, turmeric and cumin, and keep sauteeing for 1 minute more. Add harissa, peanut butter, sweet potatoes and chicken stock and let simmer for 20 minutes, half covered.

Take the pan off the heat and puree the soup by using a stick blender.

Put back to heat and add the beans. Add some water if the soup is too thick. Season with salt if needed.

Serve with some yogurt, coriander and peanuts.

Fresh Pea Soup

It’s officially the last day of this semester for me. On Monday I’m moving from the small student city of Jyväskylä to Helsinki. These last days are really busy for me, therefore this post today will be short. But this recipe will be great for you, who wants to prepare something simple (all my recipes seem to include the word simple, heh) and summery in the weekend. Just head to the nearest market, or market place if you’re lucky to have one near, get a lapful of fresh peas, take some time to shell them, and prepare this soup.

This time I didn’t use anyone else’s recipe, but improvised. The soups are one of the easiest dishes to improvise, aren’t they? I am not so accustomed in kitchen that I could easily prepare any dish without using a recipe, but I do that with Italian and Mexican food, like pastas, pizzas, risottos, enchiladas, quesadillas…and soups. I guess by doing you learn, right?

Have a sunny Friday!

Fresh Pea Soup

400-500g fresh peas (the weight after shelling), you can also use frozen peas

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

400-500ml light chicken or vegetable broth

half teaspoon dried marjoram

1 small bay leaf

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

50ml heavy cream, whipped and spiced with a pinch of salt

Heat up the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook until soft and transparent.

Add the peas, marjoram, chicken or vegetable stock and the bay leaf. Let boil gently until the peas are cooked, but be careful with overcooking so that they won’t lose their beautiful green color.

Take the soup off the heat, remove the bay leaf and puree using a stick blender. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste.

Serve with a spoonful of lightly whipped cream and a pinch of black pepper. And better, with freshly baked sour dough bread, which unfortunately we didn’t have.