The secret with the immersion blender is to fully immerse it first and not to lift it while it is on. Otherwise you might be finding little bits of soup, etc.. for months all around your kitchen.
Posts: 690 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 14 January 2005
... and always unplug it before trying to take away that little bit of something stuck in it... yes, I did it once and my finger looked like one of those "flowers" made with tomato peel... I had never had any soup spread on the kitchen walls though.... Giulia
I'm so happy to amuse. *grin* Honestly, I should not be allowed to use anything more complicated than a spoon.
Yes, the soup was delicious. Roasted butternut and delicata squash, roasted onion, a touch of curry powder and cumin. Followed it with roasted chicken and a big salad with pecans and apples. Yum!
What's an "immersion blender"? It sounds scary. Whatever happened to you, Ay, sounds a little like my mother's mishap with a pressure cooker when I was three or four years old. She was cooking fava beans--not the fresh ones, and not the already peeled dried ones, but those formidable, tough, dried ones with the leathery skin still on. All I remember is that the pressure cooker blew up, shooting brown muck onto the ceiling. I don't think she ever made fava beans again, though I think they had been somewhat of a staple. It instilled in me a lifelong fear of pressure cookers, and I won't attempt to cook dried fava beans unless they are the already peeled ones that cook quickly.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Airone verde,
Posts: 318 | Location: NJ, USA | Registered: 18 November 2003
All I remember is that the pressure cooker blew up, shooting brown muck onto the ceiling
Try to picture the same thing happening with a mini lawn mower blade on the end of it.
An immersion blender is a blender blade at the end of a "stick". You hold it in your hand and place the blade end into the mixture you want to blend. They are really great little gadgets to have around the kitchen. You don't have to dirty another object, as opposed to a regular blender where you actually pour the food into the blender. With the immersion blender you just stick it into the pan, bowl, pot, etc..
Posts: 690 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 14 January 2005
My house smells wonderful. I finally got around to making Krista's soup using an acorn squash and a carnival squash. I roasted some garlic along with the squash for the heck of it.
Had to put it aside while we went to piano lessons but it's warming on the stove now. I'm going to toast up some polenta for croutons; yumm!
Sorry to come to this thread so late, but my favorite fall soup is a chestnut soup. I breezed through this thread, and I don't see that anyone mentioned it, so forgive me if they have.
The recipe I use has sherry in it, which gives it an elegant, distinct flavor. Other than that, it is mainly chestnuts and chicken stock. If anyone is interested, I could post the recipe. It's quite filling
Posts: 917 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 03 August 2005
Originally posted by Sopranolands: Sorry to come to this thread so late, but my favorite fall soup is a chestnut soup.
I would love the recipe!
I made onion soup on Sunday.
Onion Soup--a two-day process if you use homemade stock.
1. Make a stock-- Put the following into a roasting pan, and roast at 450 till well browned. 8 marrow bones, with some meat 2-4 chicken legs 2 carrots 2 onions, unpeeled but washed 2 celery stalks
Put the browned bones, chicken and vegetables into a large stockpot, and cover with water. Add some peppercorns and coarse salt. Bring to the boil, spoon off any scum, and let simmer 3-4 hours. Strain and refrigerate. Remove fat from the top.
2. In a large wide soup pot, melt some oil and butter. Add 8-9 thinly sliced large onions. Let cook till a light golden brown--this may take 45 minutes or so. Add a teaspoon sugar, and let caramelise a bit. Add 1 tsp. dijon mustard, some salt, pepper, and some dried thyme. Pour in half a bottle dry white wine and a shot of cognac. Bring to the boil (be careful if the alcohol flames), then turn to a simmer. Add the stock, and let simmer for a good hour. Don't taste till it's almost done--it needs time to get the nice deep flavor. Add salt to taste, and add another shot of cognac if desired.
3. To serve, ladle into deep ovenproof bowls, top with toasted sliced baguette and a mix of shreddded gruyere and emmenthaller cheese. Run under broiler till cheese melts and browns.
When guests arrive in the Fall and I know they are coming toward the evening, I prepare roasted chestnuts and a glass of Prosecco for the room. There is something about chestnuts that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I have a great chestnut and sausage stuffing recipe from my grandfather's restaurant, but I don't have one for chestnut soup!!
Diana... chestnut and sausage stuffing.... mmmmmmm.... could you please post the recipe too??? (by the way...it seems to me that you really spoil your guests!!!) Giulia
Regarding chestnuts, I have never seen so many chestnuts in my life as I saw in Visso, Italy a few weeks ago. I parked my car in a large area outside the centro storico, and it was like walking across a field of golf balls to get to where I was going. They were all so beautifully brown and polished, and nobody wanted them!
I didn't think much about it until a few days later when we visited friends in Maremma, who roasted chestnuts for us as a treat. I was sorry when I found out she'd bought them, because I could have brought her several bags full.
I had a delicious chestnut pasta at Nene near Urbino. Sorry I don't have a recipe for that! It had a naturally sweet flavor, and it was served with a ricotta based sauce. It was a bit like eating dessert first, but I liked it very much.
Posts: 917 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 03 August 2005
Sopranolands: Thank you for the recipe! I will give it a try as soon as I can cook for myself instead of for guests! ...I trust your recipe... I promise! ... but I think it's nicer to try it personally first....
About chestnuts... are you sure that those in Visso streets were "chestnuts" and not "horse chestnuts" Aesculus hippocastanum (we call them castagne matte, crazy chestnuts ). They look quite similar but they're usually bigger and the husk is green and less thorny than the real chestnut. I always thought that it's a pity that they're not edible as they look gorgeous: huge and shiny! ... I can't believe that in Visso they waste real yummy chestnuts... Giulia
I'm really late to this, but I want to add this recipe that my neighbor made and delivered a bowl of to me. Wonderful!
Zuppa de Zucca
3 pounds squash, peeled and diced 2 leeks, chopped 1 onion chopped fine 3 ounces butter 1 Tablespoon of flour Just shy of a pound of potatoes, peeled and diced 6 1/3 cups of broth good olive oil
Sauté ½ of the butter with the onion and leek until softened. Add the potato and leeks, sauté until it begins to become golden. Sprinkle the flour over, and stir in and let cook a minute or two. Add the broth and stir in. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until the potatoes and squash are done. Pass through a food mill or use a stick blender to puree. Add the rest of the butter and stir in. Serve in soup plates. Drop a bit of oil on the surface, and use a skewer to draw it into a circle on the surface. Last Saturday my daughter called and chirped, "Guess what I'm making?" This soup, but she mistook squash to mean zucchine. So she added some thyme and a pinch or so of cayenne and said it was still very very good.
Thank you Sopranolands, the chestnut soup recipe sounds very very good.
Yes, Giulia, when I lived in Germany, we had lots of trees with those horse chestnuts, beautiful for a bowl on a table, but more like a tease because they could not be eaten.
Judith, this is a lovely recipe, very nice and pure with good tasting ingredients. Thank you... I will make it this weekend!!
I'm very intrigued that so many of you find the stick blender so useful. I got one, thinking I might be able to use it to froth hot milk for my coffee. It doesn't perform that trick, and I don't know what else to do with it.
What do you use a stick blender for, besides splashing soup all over the kitchen?
Charity
Posts: 1486 | Location: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: 11 May 2003
Charity.... I bought my first one on the same premise and to do egg whites, which also does not work!!
But now, I have learned a few things.... like,,, for pureeing jam. If I am making cherry jam, I put 1/4 of the boiled cherries/syrup to the side, and the other 3/4 I use the stick: I keep it close the bottom, but with a bit of one corner of the base off the bottom, so that the pureed cherries can have an exit place. Don'T angle the thing too high, because you will end up with a red kitchen. THen I can recombine the whole cherries with the puree, boil it into a jam and it has a fantastic texture.
WIth really thick things like potato soup, I start by jabbing at the very soft potatoes, and add more liquid as I go. It takes time and a bit of patience, but eventually, the same thing happens as with the jam---the soup starts to go through those little holes near the bottom.
For a quick smoothie, just do milk (or soymilk), a banana, some honey, a bit of yougurt, some fresh or frozen berries in a large beverage container and use the stick, lifted from the bottom a bit.
I don't use it for alot of things, but for a couple of things, it works really well....
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