Summer Squash Soup

For me, soup has always been the girl that got away (disclaimer: not in the stalker/rapist sense). I can't count the number of times I've walked into a restaurant and enjoyed the most flavorful soups, then attempted something similar in my own kitchen that ended in a texture disaster or flavor crisis. It's just never the same.

I was browsing through Thomas Keller's (French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Per Se, etc.) book, Ad Hoc at Home, the other day and was struck by his thoughts on soup. He mentions something to the tune of every home cook having one or two great soup recipes they can rely on for summer and winter seasons. Soup has always been the hole in my recipe arsenal; I have my go-to's for meats, veggies, salads, breakfasts, and desserts, but soup has been elusive. Sure, there have been some good attempts, but nothing that I would ever serve to anyone besides myself and my wife (read: guinea pigs).

Mal and I have been enjoying the Upper Haight farmers' market on Wednesday evenings for a couple months now. The last few times we've been, some pretty incredible summer squash was just begging to be taken home and put to good use. A couple weeks ago, I tried out a summer veggie carbonara that was pretty good, but didn't quite make the cut. Besides, it's tough to get the stamp of approval from Mal on bacon dishes.

How could I say no?

That brings us to the wonderful recipe below: healthy, delicious, cheap, seasonal, easy, and makes a ton of soup. It's a winner, and I finally have an excellent soup recipe! (Note: since discovering this soup, I've actually made an excellent broccoli cheddar soup and chicken tortilla soup that I'll have to post later).

Summer Squash Soup with Parsley-Mint Pistou

Adapted from Gourmet, September 2006 and Smitten Kitchen

For Soup

3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 lb yellow summer squash, halved and thinly sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 yellow-fleshed potato (1/2 pound), peeled, halved, and thinly sliced

4 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth

For Pistou - the green swirly. Mal hated it, I loved it. Soup is great either way.

3/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs

1 large scallion (green onion), chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbs water

1/4 teaspoon salt

How To

Melt butter in a 6 quart wide heavy pot over medium heat, then cook onion with salt, stirring occasionally until softened, about 8 minutes. Add your squash, carrots, potato, and stock and bring to a boil. If the stock doesn't quite cover the veggies, then add some water. The size of the veggies is less important in this recipe as far as overcooking and undercooking goes since we're pureeing at the end. Just make sure they all get cooked. Reduce heat, then simmer, partially covered, until veggies are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and then cool the soup for 10 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, food processor, or use a hand blender (easiest). Do it in batches if needed, and be careful since it's hot. Return the puree to the pot and add water if you need to thin it out. At this point, season generously with salt and keep tasting until it gets to the flavor you want. I used A LOT of salt to get the flavor to really pop, especially since the chicken broth I used was reduced sodium. Don't feel guilty, just do it.

If you want to do the pistou, make it while the veggies simmer. Pulse the mint, parsley, and scallion in a food processor until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a stream, and then add water and salt until it is all incorporated.

Swirl 1 tablespoon of pistou into each bowl of soup. Enjoy!!!

For me, soup has always been the girl that got away (disclaimer: not in the stalker/rapist sense). I can't count the number of times I've walked into a restaurant and enjoyed the most flavorful soups, then attempted something similar in my own kitchen that ended in a texture disaster or flavor crisis. It's just never the same.

I was browsing through Thomas Keller's (French Laundry, Ad Hoc, Per Se, etc.) book, Ad Hoc at Home, the other day and was struck by his thoughts on soup. He mentions something to the tune of every home cook having one or two great soup recipes they can rely on for summer and winter seasons. Soup has always been the hole in my recipe arsenal; I have my go-to's for meats, veggies, salads, breakfasts, and desserts, but soup has been elusive. Sure, there have been some good attempts, but nothing that I would ever serve to anyone besides myself and my wife (read: guinea pigs).

Mal and I have been enjoying the Upper Haight farmers' market on Wednesday evenings for a couple months now. The last few times we've been, some pretty incredible summer squash was just begging to be taken home and put to good use. A couple weeks ago, I tried out a summer veggie carbonara that was pretty good, but didn't quite make the cut. Besides, it's tough to get the stamp of approval from Mal on bacon dishes.

How could I say no?

That brings us to the wonderful recipe below: healthy, delicious, cheap, seasonal, easy, and makes a ton of soup. It's a winner, and I finally have an excellent soup recipe! (Note: since discovering this soup, I've actually made an excellent broccoli cheddar soup and chicken tortilla soup that I'll have to post later).

Summer Squash Soup with Parsley-Mint Pistou

Adapted from Gourmet, September 2006 and Smitten Kitchen

For Soup

3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 lb yellow summer squash, halved and thinly sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 yellow-fleshed potato (1/2 pound), peeled, halved, and thinly sliced

4 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth

For Pistou - the green swirly. Mal hated it, I loved it. Soup is great either way.

3/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs

1 large scallion (green onion), chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbs water

1/4 teaspoon salt

How To

Melt butter in a 6 quart wide heavy pot over medium heat, then cook onion with salt, stirring occasionally until softened, about 8 minutes. Add your squash, carrots, potato, and stock and bring to a boil. If the stock doesn't quite cover the veggies, then add some water. The size of the veggies is less important in this recipe as far as overcooking and undercooking goes since we're pureeing at the end. Just make sure they all get cooked. Reduce heat, then simmer, partially covered, until veggies are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and then cool the soup for 10 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, food processor, or use a hand blender (easiest). Do it in batches if needed, and be careful since it's hot. Return the puree to the pot and add water if you need to thin it out. At this point, season generously with salt and keep tasting until it gets to the flavor you want. I used A LOT of salt to get the flavor to really pop, especially since the chicken broth I used was reduced sodium. Don't feel guilty, just do it.

If you want to do the pistou, make it while the veggies simmer. Pulse the mint, parsley, and scallion in a food processor until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a stream, and then add water and salt until it is all incorporated.

Swirl 1 tablespoon of pistou into each bowl of soup. Enjoy!!!

Grandma's Baked Oatmeal

Copy this one down and enjoy it while you can! I'm not quite sure what the legal ramifications are for giving away family secrets, but I may receive a cease and desist in a few days for giving away my grandmother's recipes :) She and Grandpa figured out the internet a few years ago, so when she is not updating her geocities page, I'm sure she's just waiting for a family recipe to leak on here.

Joking aside, the best part about recipes from someone who has lived through the Great Depression and raised five children is that 1) the recipes are always simple, 2) the food is always delicious, and 3) all the ingredients are things you already have in your cupboard.

Baked oatmeal has been a breakfast staple for the Clark family for as long as I can remember. The dish is golden, crumbly, with subtle balance of sweet and salty. The recipe is versatile as you can add a 1/2 cup of craisins or chopped walnuts, pecans, etc. to mix things up a bit. I prefer my baked oatmeal plain, with some frozen raspberries served on top *mouth waters*.

Without further delay...

Ingredients (For 8x8 or a bread pan. For a 9x13 pan, double the ingredients below)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cu. milk
- 1/3 cu. oil (canola)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cu. brown sugar
- 2 cu. oats
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk, oil, salt, and brown sugar and mix well. Add in the oats and baking powder. It shouldn't be watery, but it's ok if it looks a little thin. If it is really thin for some reason, just add a more oats to round things out. Pour the mixture into a greased pan or baking dish. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until set and lightly browned.

I took a picture above, but it was on the hipstamatic app. I don't know what I was thinking...the app does a good job for friends and narcissistic self portraits, but not so much on food. Just imagine less red, and more golden brown goodness. Enjoy!
Copy this one down and enjoy it while you can! I'm not quite sure what the legal ramifications are for giving away family secrets, but I may receive a cease and desist in a few days for giving away my grandmother's recipes :) She and Grandpa figured out the internet a few years ago, so when she is not updating her geocities page, I'm sure she's just waiting for a family recipe to leak on here.

Joking aside, the best part about recipes from someone who has lived through the Great Depression and raised five children is that 1) the recipes are always simple, 2) the food is always delicious, and 3) all the ingredients are things you already have in your cupboard.

Baked oatmeal has been a breakfast staple for the Clark family for as long as I can remember. The dish is golden, crumbly, with subtle balance of sweet and salty. The recipe is versatile as you can add a 1/2 cup of craisins or chopped walnuts, pecans, etc. to mix things up a bit. I prefer my baked oatmeal plain, with some frozen raspberries served on top *mouth waters*.

Without further delay...

Ingredients (For 8x8 or a bread pan. For a 9x13 pan, double the ingredients below)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cu. milk
- 1/3 cu. oil (canola)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cu. brown sugar
- 2 cu. oats
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk, oil, salt, and brown sugar and mix well. Add in the oats and baking powder. It shouldn't be watery, but it's ok if it looks a little thin. If it is really thin for some reason, just add a more oats to round things out. Pour the mixture into a greased pan or baking dish. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until set and lightly browned.

I took a picture above, but it was on the hipstamatic app. I don't know what I was thinking...the app does a good job for friends and narcissistic self portraits, but not so much on food. Just imagine less red, and more golden brown goodness. Enjoy!

la blogotheque

La Blogotheque is a wonderful site from a small group of French guys who shoot impromptu music videos of great bands playing on the streets of Paris, Montreal, etc. These little bits of joy are titled les concerts a emporter, or the takeaway shows.

I recently found that the group shot three songs for local natives during their time in st. malo - "wide eyes" on a carousel; "airplanes" at the ocean; and "stranger things" in a small pub. The "stranger things" segment of the video is particularly beautiful. Check it out!

(Sorry the video is so small...had to shrink it down to fit the blog. Just make it full screen to get a better view)

La Blogotheque is a wonderful site from a small group of French guys who shoot impromptu music videos of great bands playing on the streets of Paris, Montreal, etc. These little bits of joy are titled les concerts a emporter, or the takeaway shows.

I recently found that the group shot three songs for local natives during their time in st. malo - "wide eyes" on a carousel; "airplanes" at the ocean; and "stranger things" in a small pub. The "stranger things" segment of the video is particularly beautiful. Check it out!

(Sorry the video is so small...had to shrink it down to fit the blog. Just make it full screen to get a better view)

beer batter bread

A few nights ago, Mal and I cooked up a large batch of our dear friend Jenna's famous kale and white bean soup. The recipe is actually from Real Simple, but might as well be canonized as a family recipe given the depth of flavor, the honesty of the ingredients, and the simplicity of preparation. If you haven't yet, check out Jenna's blog, google kale so you know what to get at the store (I accidentally bought butter lettuce the first time), and make this delicious soup for your friends and family tonight!

The problem I run across with hearty vegetarian soups is what to serve with them. In this case, the soup might as well qualify as a salad with all the leafy, green-y goodness. The recipe calls for relatively little pasta, so I suppose the carbohydrate department was hiring for dinner. To complement this relatively simple soup, I baked up an even simpler bread with the one ingredient to rule them all - BEER!



This quick bread is easy to make and tastes delicious with a thick layer of butter, making it the perfect partner for hearty soups, stews, and braises. The recipe comes from the Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, which has pretty consistently delivered fantastic recipes with varying degrees of difficulty and time consumption. The recipe below makes one 9-by-5 inch loaf.

Ingredients

- 3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
- 3 tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 bottle (12 fl oz) beer, unopened and at room temperature
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Open the beer and add it all at once; it should foam up. I used a bottle of Negra Modelo, as it was all I had on hand (besides one can of Tecate, but who really wants their bread to taste like Taco Tuesday?) The flavor turned out really well, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has a good experience with a bit more unique beer. IPA? A nice red (I'm thinking Bear Republic Red Rocket for my next round of this bread)?

Stir the batter quickly until the ingredients combine (about 20 strokes). Note: at this point in the recipe, I had less of a better and more of a dough. I was well on the way to making beer dough bread, as I was literally kneading a ball of dough rather than mixing the ingredients in the bowl. I don't know whether to attribute this to slightly cool beer or a general lack of wet ingredients in this recipe, but it still turned out great. Either way, your batter (or dough) should be a bit lumpy. Pour (or place, in my case) into the greased loaf pan and drizzle with the melted butter.

Bake until the top is crusty and a cake tester comes out of the center clean, about 35-40 minutes. Let the bread rest in the pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. The bread is best served warm or at room temp the day it is made. Cut thick and put plenty of butter on this baby to really make this bread stand out.

Thoughts on leftovers: Just reheated some bread for breakfast this morning with kerry gold irish butter and my homemade raspberry jam. Just as good as the night before! A few nights ago, Mal and I cooked up a large batch of our dear friend Jenna's famous kale and white bean soup. The recipe is actually from Real Simple, but might as well be canonized as a family recipe given the depth of flavor, the honesty of the ingredients, and the simplicity of preparation. If you haven't yet, check out Jenna's blog, google kale so you know what to get at the store (I accidentally bought butter lettuce the first time), and make this delicious soup for your friends and family tonight!

The problem I run across with hearty vegetarian soups is what to serve with them. In this case, the soup might as well qualify as a salad with all the leafy, green-y goodness. The recipe calls for relatively little pasta, so I suppose the carbohydrate department was hiring for dinner. To complement this relatively simple soup, I baked up an even simpler bread with the one ingredient to rule them all - BEER!



This quick bread is easy to make and tastes delicious with a thick layer of butter, making it the perfect partner for hearty soups, stews, and braises. The recipe comes from the Williams-Sonoma Baking Book, which has pretty consistently delivered fantastic recipes with varying degrees of difficulty and time consumption. The recipe below makes one 9-by-5 inch loaf.

Ingredients

- 3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
- 3 tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 bottle (12 fl oz) beer, unopened and at room temperature
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Open the beer and add it all at once; it should foam up. I used a bottle of Negra Modelo, as it was all I had on hand (besides one can of Tecate, but who really wants their bread to taste like Taco Tuesday?) The flavor turned out really well, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has a good experience with a bit more unique beer. IPA? A nice red (I'm thinking Bear Republic Red Rocket for my next round of this bread)?

Stir the batter quickly until the ingredients combine (about 20 strokes). Note: at this point in the recipe, I had less of a better and more of a dough. I was well on the way to making beer dough bread, as I was literally kneading a ball of dough rather than mixing the ingredients in the bowl. I don't know whether to attribute this to slightly cool beer or a general lack of wet ingredients in this recipe, but it still turned out great. Either way, your batter (or dough) should be a bit lumpy. Pour (or place, in my case) into the greased loaf pan and drizzle with the melted butter.

Bake until the top is crusty and a cake tester comes out of the center clean, about 35-40 minutes. Let the bread rest in the pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. The bread is best served warm or at room temp the day it is made. Cut thick and put plenty of butter on this baby to really make this bread stand out.

Thoughts on leftovers: Just reheated some bread for breakfast this morning with kerry gold irish butter and my homemade raspberry jam. Just as good as the night before!

this past week...

things i enjoyed...

1) growing closer to God
2) spending the weekend with Mallory
3) the shack
4) brooks brothers 3-pack slim fits
5) my first musical
6) fixing up an old victorian chair
7) long convos on the 5
8) weekend plans with good men
9) checking twitter for the umpteenth time
10) 3-day weekend
11) blue skies and crisp air
12) new TOMS
13) engagement photos things i enjoyed...

1) growing closer to God
2) spending the weekend with Mallory
3) the shack
4) brooks brothers 3-pack slim fits
5) my first musical
6) fixing up an old victorian chair
7) long convos on the 5
8) weekend plans with good men
9) checking twitter for the umpteenth time
10) 3-day weekend
11) blue skies and crisp air
12) new TOMS
13) engagement photos

words

have you ever been in a situation where you know something is true with all your heart, but it never really hits home until its spoken aloud?

i think a lot of things in life are like that, and i wonder at the power words have to both comfort and disillusion.

in a good sense, i know that the first time i told mallory that i loved her, she experienced the confirming power of spoken word over all that she had grown to know and feel. in a sense, speaking those beautiful words made the reality more tangible to me as well.

tonight i experienced that same power of word in a different sense. tonight words confirmed something i had long known, but never accepted. I suppose that is a large part of love though...knowledge and acceptance that is...and love grows to encompass both. have you ever been in a situation where you know something is true with all your heart, but it never really hits home until its spoken aloud?

i think a lot of things in life are like that, and i wonder at the power words have to both comfort and disillusion.

in a good sense, i know that the first time i told mallory that i loved her, she experienced the confirming power of spoken word over all that she had grown to know and feel. in a sense, speaking those beautiful words made the reality more tangible to me as well.

tonight i experienced that same power of word in a different sense. tonight words confirmed something i had long known, but never accepted. I suppose that is a large part of love though...knowledge and acceptance that is...and love grows to encompass both.

transition

i've been thinking a lot about the transitions that i've gone through in my life to date, and more specifically, the transition that i'm passing through right now. it's actually a little bit overwhelming if i try to sit back and digest it all at one moment. there have been so many different kinds of transitions in my life, many of them simultaneous, overlapping, ebbing and flowing at various intensities, that reflecting on all this really moves me past the scope of my understanding as i look at the man i've become today.

for instance, there are the locational transitions...living in danville, moving to denver, moving to malibu, moving to florence, moving back to malibu, and finally landing back in the bay area; each transition with its own set of challenges and joys.

there is also the physical transition from childhood to adulthood. each stage has made its own unique mark on my life: my the pure joy of my youth, the seemingly "tortured" moments of my pre-adolescence which i would later find was quite wonderful and blessed, the awkwardness and confusion of adolescence, the exhilaration of reaching young adulthood, and the excited sense of content, assurance, and hope i feel as i step forward into the unknown as an adult.

oh and there are so many other transitions...the intellectual transition from pre-school to institutions of higher education and beyond...the spiritual transition from the faith of my parents to a dynamic relationship with the Lord...the relational transition as friends have come, gone, or continue to stay...i've really only touched on some of the most basic transitions, but i believe these are the most essential...you can weave the story of one's whole life when you layer these transitions upon each other, and if you pick up nearly every book, it is likely a story of transition and change.

i write this now because i want to reflect and slow down. i am now betrothed to mallory, and i think it almost goes without saying that behind my journey with the Lord, this is one of the most important periods of transition in my whole life. can i really say that though? who would i be today if not for every little transition, every change, every movement, every friend, every hardship, every loss, every triumph, every joy? the truth of the matter is that life is all one transition, one movement, moving in the same direction, never ceasing, never slowing...i find myself so buried in the minutia of the day that i've almost lost the beauty of this grand movement. imagine...the whole world, every person, moving, changing, coming, going, passing through, staying (but only for a while), and one day, at the end of our time, we meet the One who knew us, who loved us, who walked with us, who spoke to us, and who held my hand and guided my step through every change along the way.

God, to YOU be all the glory as i wake and sleep each day. please guide my steps as I pass through this life. i want to live every day to the fullest and richest, not in fear of transition, but loving the people and embracing the opportunities you've put in my life now. i love you with all my heart. i've been thinking a lot about the transitions that i've gone through in my life to date, and more specifically, the transition that i'm passing through right now. it's actually a little bit overwhelming if i try to sit back and digest it all at one moment. there have been so many different kinds of transitions in my life, many of them simultaneous, overlapping, ebbing and flowing at various intensities, that reflecting on all this really moves me past the scope of my understanding as i look at the man i've become today.

for instance, there are the locational transitions...living in danville, moving to denver, moving to malibu, moving to florence, moving back to malibu, and finally landing back in the bay area; each transition with its own set of challenges and joys.

there is also the physical transition from childhood to adulthood. each stage has made its own unique mark on my life: my the pure joy of my youth, the seemingly "tortured" moments of my pre-adolescence which i would later find was quite wonderful and blessed, the awkwardness and confusion of adolescence, the exhilaration of reaching young adulthood, and the excited sense of content, assurance, and hope i feel as i step forward into the unknown as an adult.

oh and there are so many other transitions...the intellectual transition from pre-school to institutions of higher education and beyond...the spiritual transition from the faith of my parents to a dynamic relationship with the Lord...the relational transition as friends have come, gone, or continue to stay...i've really only touched on some of the most basic transitions, but i believe these are the most essential...you can weave the story of one's whole life when you layer these transitions upon each other, and if you pick up nearly every book, it is likely a story of transition and change.

i write this now because i want to reflect and slow down. i am now betrothed to mallory, and i think it almost goes without saying that behind my journey with the Lord, this is one of the most important periods of transition in my whole life. can i really say that though? who would i be today if not for every little transition, every change, every movement, every friend, every hardship, every loss, every triumph, every joy? the truth of the matter is that life is all one transition, one movement, moving in the same direction, never ceasing, never slowing...i find myself so buried in the minutia of the day that i've almost lost the beauty of this grand movement. imagine...the whole world, every person, moving, changing, coming, going, passing through, staying (but only for a while), and one day, at the end of our time, we meet the One who knew us, who loved us, who walked with us, who spoke to us, and who held my hand and guided my step through every change along the way.

God, to YOU be all the glory as i wake and sleep each day. please guide my steps as I pass through this life. i want to live every day to the fullest and richest, not in fear of transition, but loving the people and embracing the opportunities you've put in my life now. i love you with all my heart.