It's 'Feel the Heat' week at I Heart Cooking Clubs. Well, we're sure feeling the heat in Texas this summer! We hit 106° the other day so I thought I'd make a nice hot soup; you know, just to take the chill off.
The heat never deters me from making soup; even when the soup contains a little added heat with chilis.
Chicken broth, potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, corn, poblano chile, yogurt, rosemary and cilantro all come together to produce a soup that's earthy with a hint of sweet from the corn and spiced up with roasted poblano.
At first taste, I wasn't a big fan, but my mind was completely changed after the garnish of fresh cilantro had a little time to do its magic.
Mushroom Potato Crema with Roasted Poblano
Adapted from Rick Bayless' recipe as it appears on his website
Makes a generous 6 cups serving 4
Ingredients:
4 medium (about 1 pound total) red-skin boiling or Yukon Gold potatoes (I used Yukons)
3 garlic cloves
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
1 large fresh poblano chile
8 ounces mushrooms ( I used a combination of shiitake and enokidake)
1 scant cup corn kernels (frozen or fresh off 2 cobs) (I used fresh)
1 large sprig fresh epazote (I substituted 1 sprig fresh thyme)
1/4 cup plain yogurt, heavy cream or sour cream (I used yogurt)
salt
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro, for garnish
Mise en place:
- roast poblano chile over open flame or 4 inches below a broiler then place in a plastic baggie while prepping the rest of the ingredients (I demonstrate how I roast mine in this post)
- measure out broth
- peel cloves and slice in half
- remove kernels from ears of corn (here's my handy way of coralling those kernals)
- measure out yogurt
- roughly chop cilantro
- peel potatoes and cut roughly into 1-inch pieces
- rub the blackened skin off the chile and pull out the stem and seed pod. Rinse the chile flesh to remove bits of skin and seeds. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces
Method:
Scoop the potatoes and garlic into a medium (3 quart) saucepan, pour in half of the broth and set over high heat. When the liquid boils, reduce the heat to medium and simmer briskly until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
When the potatoes are tender, use an immersion blender to puree the soup base (or blend in batches in a food processor or loosely covered blender draped with a kitchen towel and return to the pan).
Add the remaining half of the broth, the mushrooms, poblano, corn and thyme. Simmer 10 minutes over medium heat.
Just before serving, scoop out about 1/2 cup of the hot soup into a small bowl. Mix in the yogurt. Stir the mixture back into the pot, then taste and season with salt, usually about 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons. Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with cilantro.
I'm sharing this recipe at IHCC
Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that is either loved or hated. Myself, I love it. I usually toss some in a steam basket then toss with butter, salt and pepper and I'm happy. So, when I come across a recipe for cauliflower that lets me take it a little further I'm all over it.
I found the recipe on Rick Bayless' website and selected it to share for I Heart Cooking Clubs July Potluck. I really liked the ingredients in this recipe.
Cauliflower, poblanos, cream, cheese, butter, and shallots.
I would put the recipe in the easy category. You'll get to practice some basic kitchen techniques like blanching the cauliflower and roasting peppers. I like to roast mine right over an open flame on the range top. Get them nice and blistered on all sides.
Once they are nice and charred, I put them in a plastic bag, close it and let them be for about 10 to 15 minutes. They'll steam which will make them easier to peel. The skin should slide right off.
Once peeled and seeded (please wear food gloves for this) you'll pureé in the food processor until it's smooth. This is going to be a great part of the sauce and it's such a beautiful green!
To get the sauce started you sauté the shallots
Make a roux by adding the flour. Be sure to cook the flour for a couple of minutes so the sauce doesn't have a doughy flavor.
You'll slowly add the cream (I like to warm my cream first) and whisk it in until it's smooth. Then, stir in your cheese. This recipe called for a Mexican queso anejo but I could not find that specific cheese. Rick mentions that you can substitute with Romano or Parmesan. I used Parmesan.
Lastly, stir in your Poblano pureé.
Slowly let it return to a boil and continue stirring until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat and add the salt.
Gently fold the sauce into the blanched, cooled and dried cauliflower florets.
Pour all into a lightly greased casserole and sprinkle with a topping made of chopped almonds (I used blanched), panko crumbs and a little olive oil.
Bake in a 400° F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes until bubbly and the topping has browned nicely. When you take it out of the oven you get to sprinkle the top with extra grated cheese. Yum.
The gratin turned out to be creamy with a crunchy topping thanks to the panko and almonds. The hint of poblano put it over the top.
Rick suggests, and I would agree, that this would make a great dish to take to a potluck dinner because you can make it ahead of time and it only takes 20 minutes in the oven.
A couple of added notes here...
I had a bit of this for lunch today and it does great as a leftover! The cauliflower stayed nice and firm; not mushy. Also, I think I might very lightly roast my almonds before chopping them; not too much because I don't want them to get too brown during baking.
Cauliflower Gratin
Adapted from Rick Bayless' Test Kitchen
Serves 8
Ingredients:
3 pounds cauliflower
2 large (8 ounces) poblano peppers
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup diced shallots
1 Tbsp. flour
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup grated Mexican queso anejo or other garnishing cheese such as Romano or Parmesan + 3 Tbsp cheese for final topping
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1 Tbsp olive oil
Mise en place:
- Lightly oil and 11 x 7 casserole dish
- rinse and cut cauliflower into bite-size florets
- roast poblanos and place in plastic bag
- dice shallots
- grate cheese
- chop almonds (by hand or food processor)
- measure out butter, flour, cream, salt, panko crumbs and olive oil
Method:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and scoop in the cauliflower florets. Blanch for 4-5 minutes until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Spread onto towels and let the florets dry completely.
Remove the poblanos from the plastic bag and, wearing food gloves, peel and seed the peppers. Pureé in a food processor until smooth.
In a 4 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the shallots and cook for several minutes or until the shallots have softened. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 2 minutes to make sure that the flour has cooked. Whisk in the heavy cream slowly so you don't get lumps in your sauce. Then stir in the queso anejo (or other cheese) and the poblano pureé. Bring the mixture back to a boil and continue stirring until the sauce has thickened. Remove it from the heat, season with 1 tsp salt.
Place the cauliflower florets into a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over and gently toss to coat. Scrape the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.
For the topping:
In a small mixing bowl, mix together 1/2 cup panko crumbs, 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds and 1 Tbsp. of olive oil.
Spread evenly over top of casserole and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove the casserole from the oven and sprinkle top with remaining 3 Tbsp grated cheese.
I'm sharing this recipe at IHCC
