For many reasons, cooking is a source of therapy. When you live in New England, there are many winter weekends you become a captive of the snow and ice. You can read, watch TV (how much of that can you do in between shoveling out?) , and then, when all else fails, you can cook.
After several snowstorms pummeled us, I decided I was going to buy a new cookbook and turn my humble digs into a virtual test kitchen. So, while perusing Amazon for a cookbook that captured my fancy, I ran across:
Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics
This recipe is a strong contender for soup of the year for me:
ROASTED POTATO LEEK SOUP
Serves 6 to 8
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
4 cups chopped leeks (4 leeks), white and light-green parts, cleaned of all sand
1/4 cup good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups baby arugula, lightly packed ( I didn’t even bother – I just needed straight carbohydrates)
1/2 cup dry white wine, plus extra for the cook serving
6 to 7 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy cream (I used half and half here…)
8 ounces crème fraiche (and I used some sour cream here…)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Roasted Potatoes and Leeks - right out of the oven!
Combine the potatoes and leeks on a sheet pan in a single layer. Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and toss to coat the vegetables evenly. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, turning them with a spatula a few times during cooking, until very tender. Add the arugula and toss to combine. Roast for 4 to 5 more minutes, until the arugula is wilted. Remove the pan from the oven and place over two burners. Stir in the wine and 1 cup of the chicken stock and cook over low heat, scraping up any crispy roasted bits sticking to the pan. In batches, transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor fitted with the steel blade, adding the pan liquid and about 5 cups of the chicken stock to make a puree. Pour the purée into a large pot or Dutch oven. Continue to purée the vegetables in batches until they’re all done and combined in the large pot. Add enough of the remaining 1 to 2 cups of stock to make a thick soup. Add the cream, crème fraIche, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and check the seasoning.
When ready to serve, reheat the soup gently and whisk in 2 tablespoons white wine and the Parmesan cheese.
The finished product!
I also tried the extremely addictive Pecan Sticky buns:
This Celery Root and Apple Puree was a hit side dish with a pork tenderloin one night:
After all my cooking and taste testing, I decided to balance out things a bit by trying this:
As you can see, the results were mixed.
