Quick and Easy: Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Soup

Soup. You may well wonder, as you look through my recipes, why I focus so much on soups and stews. It's really rather simple. It is inexpensive, easy, can be made to feed many people and next to pizza, is the perfect meal. Pizza? you ask. Yes, but let's be clear here. I am talking about pizza done right; in perfect balance. Where we go wrong is in our choice of pizza, how much of it we eat and how often. Otherwise, pizza in and of itself is a balanced meal choice.

When we indulge in pizza we tend to go for items such as pepperoni, bacon, sausage and extra cheese which translates into nitrates, nitrates, nitrites and fat, not to mention all the extra fillers found in dry sausage-style cold cuts and in sausages themselves. We also seem to drop the word 'vegetable' from our vocabulary when ordering our pizzas. If we choose vegetables that are as fresh as possible, meats such as chicken and ground beef and lighten up on the cheese, we can have a slice or two and greatly diminish the possibilities of another lecture on how bad pizza is for us. 

This soup packs all the flavour of a great pizza, costs less to make than it does to order a pizza and is so very good for you and not to mention but I'm gonna anyway, it is incredibly easy to make. Consider whipping up this smooth, velvety, flavour seduction for your lovely one after a romantic day of ice skating this Valentine's Day - it's one way to warm up.

If you read my previous article with the Red Pepper Chipotle Soup, you'll know a bit about lycopene in red vegetables. Sweet potatoes also have some lycopene as well as beta-carotene which is found in orange coloured vegetables. It is extremely high in vitamin C making this soup a powerhouse for boosting your immune system and the overall health of your skin and body. I attribute only suffering from a bad cold for three days to the week I've spent developing and making these soups. Not a testimonial, more of an opinion :)

What you need to know

This easy-to-make soup requires no special know-how at all especially if you've followed along so far and are clear on caramelized onions. I encourage the non-cooks who want to make something special to give this a try. Not only will you impress people with an elegant presentation of this golden yumminess, you will be able to add to your repertoire of go-to dishes and put this in a place of honour right beside PB&J's and Kraft Dinner. Of course, if making toast makes you sweat, you may want to consider going out to eat.

Putting it all together

Caramelized Onions

1/4 cup butter

1 tbsp olive oil

4 large sweet onions, chopped or sliced

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp allspice about 3 berries if using whole, crushed in mortar and pestle

pinch salt

This will have to been done in batches so make sure to divide the sugar and spices between the batches. Increase your butter/oil as needed. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes until golden brown and soft.

Soup

While your onions are caramelizing, prepare the soup pot with the following:

5 medium sweet potatoes, chopped

2 boxes of beef broth 900mL each (approx 4 cups each)

1 tsp dried thyme

3/4 tsp allspice about 5 or 6 berries, crushed

salt and pepper to taste

scallions or green onions for garnish, greens only

As the onions are cooked, add to pot. When the last batch goes in, bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Process with immersion blender. It is not necessary to add cream to this very thick soup. If you find the consistency is too thick (?!) add some hot beef broth until you're happy.

This will make enough soup for a large family to be full and satisfied so there will be leftovers if you're a couple or a single. The soup freezes, thaws and reheats well so I suggest making the recipe as is and freezing the rest but you can divide the recipe evenly in half for a smaller meal.

Coming up next is, yes, another soup that will not only tempt your tasty buds but make them want to sin again and again (naughty tasty buds), but then we step it up a bit in time for Valentine's Day with a meal that is nicely presented and manly enough to please everyone. I don't post 'gourmet' recipes often as my goal is to provide meal ideas for the everyday, but I do love to experiment on special occasions. The recipe in question was the result of a need to challenge myself to present an elegant dish with seasonal and local ingredients only. As I've only made it once before, I will be retesting this dish this weekend to ensure my memory is as good as I believe it is :)

all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

Read More

Hot Mama Burger

Holé Molé

I know. I need to get to know the fonts in Photoshop Elements… I did see the error before I posted but my evil twin forced me to keep it as it is… so ladies and  gentlemen, whet your appetites for… Mole burgers! I caught them and skinned them myself! Squirmy little buggers…

What is Molé anyway and why do you want me to eat it?

Well young grasshopper…it is a vital ingredient on your pathway to peace and enlightenment. This journey to tasty bud nirvana begins with one succulent, juicy, explosive bite of the best damn burger you ever dropped  your pearlies into!

More?

All right. Molé is the name for the sauces used in Mexican cuisine, differing greatly from each other but all usually containing chillies. It is a thick sauce made up of many ingredients such as roasted chillies and can be broken down into the following factors: chili, sour, sweet, spices and thickeners. These sauces date back to pre-Hispanic Mexico but the original sauces never contained chocolate, which was only used as a beverage at that time. Recipes began to circulate after Mexico's War of Independence in 1810 but before that we can only speculate how the original recipe came about. Chili sauces have over the years been re-invented with numerous ingredients added to them including nuts, seeds and chocolate.

While I have never had the privilege to have an authentic Molé sauce tickle my tongue, I have always loved the combination of chocolate and chillies (you should taste my triple chocolate cherry chili cheesecake - just don't try saying it without paramedics standing by).

This recipe is a marriage of Molé Oaxaca and San Pedro Atocpan, which was purely accidental and wasn't discovered until the writing of this article. I haven't come across a recipe like this anywhere before in cookbooks, restaurants or cooking shows but I am sure they're out there. I was operating on instinct, developing this recipe so it is unique and not authentic at all. It will however be reminiscent of those sauces and that is good enough for me - until I get the chance to taste the real thing!

What you need to know

This burger is made like any other so there is nothing special you need to pull off for this meal to be a success. I would like to remind you of two things -

1) if it ain't dark chocolate, it  
    ain't chocolate 
2) treat your meat gently.

The first point is rather self-explanatory but the second may need further words. The little imp in my head wants to be very naughty right now but I will refrain from indulging. It is very important to handle your meat gently by squeezing it lightly between your fingers and "massage" the meat into a patty. At no time do you want to handle your meat roughly or for longer than necessary.

See how restrained I was?

Putting it all together

 A word about spice blends:
Blends are easy to personalize to your taste as long as you stay with the same flavour profile. I personally don't like either cilantro or rosemary so I substitute with similar herbs such as parsley and thyme in recipes that call for those. They won't taste identical but there are enough similarities in flavour as well as cultural use, to carry off the substitution. As I have mentioned before, I make my own spice blends rather than use store bought. Feel free to use your own favourite blend if what I use here is not to your taste. As this recipe is Mexican based, stay with that flavour profile when you make your own substitutions.
I make the two amounts of blend separately to ensure equal measures of all the flavours. The amounts used will make more than the recipe calls for but I use it in many dishes and it won't be wasted. Don't add the chocolate if you are to store the leftover blend.

Blend
Each 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
         1/2 tsp dried garlic powder
         1 tsp dried chipotle powder
         1/2 tsp salt
         1 tsp dried thyme
         1 tsp dried oregano
         1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
         3 crushed dried d'arbo chillies
1 oz dark chocolate shaved divided unevenly between the burger and the sauce, with more going into the sauce. Precise measurements aren't necessary.

Burger
2 lbs medium ground beef - don't go lean here
1 egg
2 tbsp ground almonds
2 tbsp tomato sauce or ketchup
the one half of the spice blend, with chocolate
2 medium onions, caramelized
flatbread buns or whatever buns you prefer

Mix into the meat gently and let sit covered in the fridge for one hour. Gently shape into patties, remembering the meat will shrink upon cooking when you decide upon the size of your burger. Place onto a plate or waxed paper.


BBQ sauce
While the meat is resting in the fridge for the hour, make up your BBQ sauce in a small saucepan.

the other half of the spice blend
1/4 cup tomato sauce or ketchup
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
rest of the chocolate

Heat gently all the ingredients except the chocolate. Add the chocolate at the end of the cooking time, as the burgers have begun cooking. Remove from heat but keep warm.

Before the hour is up, caramelize your onions, if you haven't already done so.

Grill or pan fry your burgers until done - done I say, none of this medium rare business. That's raw meat and raw eggs you're messing with. Cook it. Baste liberally with the sauce. Place cooked patty on your bun and top with onions and a bit of yellow mustard.

Take a bite and say good bye to your loved ones for a few minutes. This kind of loving is private.

Those of you who have to overload your burgers with condiments…just back away slowly… put down the burger and back away.


all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

Read More