Farmer's Market 27 Feb 11

[crafty_packrat]

Batard of white bread, chocolate cream cheese muffin, pink lady apples, normal and seconds potatoes, red and yellow onions, white mushrooms, 2 lbs of cubed buffalo, 3 lb boneless pork loin.

I'm going to try the "Beef and Barley Soup" (a half recipe, because I do not need 8 servings of anything) and the "Pork Chili with Cumin Polenta" from Sunday Soup -- I've managed to pick up three cookbooks this week -- Everyday Harumi and Kansha being the other ones.

I just need to pick up some carrots for the beef and barley soup, and some limes for the pork chili -- if I go to the co-op today, I'll probably get some celery and leeks as well, because their is this recipe for "Celery Bisque" that sounds fantastic -- I can make it next week and buy Blue Suede Moo from Kenswick Creamery for the accompanying "Stilton Toasts".

But first, time to boil potatoes for Heisser Kartoffelsalat (Hot Potato Salad -- made with bacon and vinegar). I'm going to try adding a juniper berry or two to the recipe, since I've finally gotten my hands on some.

Comments

[laughingrat]

Will you review the Sunday Soup recipes if you have time/inclination? I've got that book out from the library and haven't brought myself to try anything from it yet.

[crafty_packrat]

Well, since I'm thawing my buffalo chunks in the fridge right now, I'll make that recipe tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it goes.

My first impression on reading through the cookbook is that I'd certainly make several of these soups (and have the ingredients for three now, so soup all week!), but the author likes canned beans a helluva a lot more than I do, and uses canned stock where I'd just use Rapunzel's No Salt Vegetable Bullion -- which I like because it really allows me to control the salt and yet does enrich the flavor soup quite well. Also, some of the recipes yield pretty ridiculous amounts of food if you're just cooking for one or two, but recipes are pretty easy to cut in half generally.

I shouldn't have any trouble subbing dried beans or dried hominy for canned. At worst, it'll just make the cooking time longer and require more water -- which is hardly a deal breaker, considering I'm making soup.

My favorite soup book is still 12 Months of Monastery Soups, if you're looking for good soups. I wondered what my sister was thinking when she gave it to me years ago, but it's really nice, and most of the recipes can be made vegetarian if not vegan (the Brother is rather fond of milk and cream for enrichment).

[laughingrat]

I hear you on dried beans/hominy etc. It does taste better, a lot of the time. Thanks for the recs, I don't really know how to make veg stock yet, and the monastery soup book looks good. I agree, Sunday Soups looked really reasonable; there was another similar book I got out at the same time, but returned ASAP because it just seemed too frou-frou.

[crafty_packrat]

As far as I'm concerned, soup recipes should be easy -- chop this and that, add it to water, simmer, maybe stick it all in a blender at the end.

Frou frou is out, as it having to get twenty ingredients before starting, three of them different kinds of *fish* -- I'm looking at you bouillabaisse.