Roasted Sweet Red Pepper & White Bean Soup With Grilled Cheese Croutons

A simple soup of few ingredients becomes outstanding if grilling is used as a preparatory technique, garnishing is done with a flourish, and the flavour is brightened with a dash of sherry vinegar.

Pureed white beans gives body and creaminess to the soup

Sunny, hot weather in the last week has brought our potager's remaining green bell and Landes peppers into the gloriously mellow realm of red.

INGREDIENTS
makes enough for a meal for two or four smaller servings
Peppers, red, sweet, large, 4
Onion, yellow, medium, peeled, diced
Garlic cloves, large, 3, smashed and skin removed
Beans, white, canned or cooked dried, 12 fluid ounces
Stock, chicken, 32 fluid ounces
Olive oil, 3 T
Vinegar, sherry, 1/2 tsp or to taste
Bay leaf, large, 1
Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns to taste
Pepper, green, a few strips for garnishing

CROUTONS
for each grilled cheese sandwich (I made four)
Cheese, grated (I used a mix of cheddar and Parmesan), 2 heaping T
Bread, slices, 2 (I used sour dough rye)
Butter, room temperature, 1 heaping T

Preheat the oven grill. Rinse and dry the peppers. Place about six inches under the hot grill, turning them on all sides until blackened which takes about from ten to fifteen minutes depending on size and type.

Peppers while being grilled ooze goo so lining the pan with foil makes cleaning a cinch

Wrinkling of the skin is a good tell that they will be easily skinned.

Pop them into a sturdy ziploc bag suitable for freezing hot food where they will steam on the counter or table for about ten minutes. If they are a bit recalcitrant than put them back in the bag until they behave.

The skin should easily be pulled off the meaty flesh.

The peeled peppers may look unappetising, but once simmered and pureed, they will impart to the soup a velvety depth of flavour. Chop them coarsely.

Saute the onions and garlic in the hot olive oil for several minutes. Add the red peppers and the rinsed beans. Cook for another minute or so while stirring.

Stir in chicken stock and bay leaf.

I used two small leaves instead of a large one

Cover and simmer for about a half hour. Meanwhile make the grilled cheese croutons. Spread butter on one side of a slice and place buttered side down in a skillet. Cover with cheese. Butter one side of another slice and place it plain side down. Over medium heat, cook til browned and crusty which should take several minutes. Flip it over.

While the other side is getting grilled, press the sandwich with a potato masher, a small plate, or a flexible metal spatula. Pressing only on the grilled sides will prevent the spatula sticking to butter and pulling out bread chunks. 

Cut into small squares.

Grilled cheese croutons are darling.

Remove the bay leaf. Puree the soup with a stick mixer or in a blender. Reheat if necessary and season to taste with sherry vinegar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Garnished with  julienne of green pepper, this soup is a lovely bowl of warm deliciousness. 

Along with mums, dahlias rule in the flower garden.

When fully opened, this variety has a diameter the size of a luncheon plate

Early fall is a good time to harvest bay leaves when they are at their most flavourful and mature. The foot-high seedling of five years ago is now nearly six feet. Prunings serves two purposes: leaves for culinary use and shoots for rooting to get more of these hardy, beautiful, evergreen, fragrant bushes.

Letting a few leaves remain on top of the cutting, remove the rest. The bush-to-be can be trimmed to a length of about four to five inches, dipped in rooting hormone, and tucked into a pot filled with a light, non-soil mix. Water it thoroughly and cover with a plastic bag which will act as a moisture-retaining tent. Keep it outside sheltered from winds and direct sunlight throughout the winter to encourage root growth and for it to be ready for spring transplanting.

The Calm One in his quest to use our oven more efficiently bought a four-tiered stand that was supposed to cook that many pizzas at the same time. The soggy results became the mother of invention as I now use it to dry herbs, and at present, specifically bay leaves which need to be crackly dry in order to eliminate any trace of toxicity. Rinse and dry them, spreading a single layer in a wicker basket or a plate and leaving them be for about two weeks until they are completely dessicated. Store in a lidded jar.

Dirac the kitten when concerned that I may be developing eyestrain, lovingly sits on the book I am reading to give me a break.

À la prochaine!

Rösti with Hard-boiled Egg and Toulouse Sausage

Two years ago during my visiting family in Britain, The Calm One's sister was embroiled in a rating war. Her kids' number seven out of ten verdict on her mashed potatoes—mine was begrudgingly granted a five—would not budge regardless of her tireless efforts. A potato ricer was hopefully bought. This past August, during their visit to our French home, I got to see that ricer again. While whipping it out from a crammed suitcase, she looked intently into my eyes and exclaimed, salt!

Hashbrowns, Swiss-style

It was not the variety of tater, if the milk was hot, or any other factor that was being considered. Once that simple element was added, everybody was happy, including moi as I always wanted to make rösti using a ricer or at least I did until my research revealed the desired texture is achieved by coarsely grating par-boiled potatoes: the rösti glows while the ricer glowers.

The forlorn ricer

INGREDIENTS
Makes 5-6 side servings or two meal-sized portions

Potatoes, 750 grams, about 4 large
Butter, 2 T
Lard, 2 T
Salt/fleur de sel
Eggs, large, hard-boiled, 2
Sausage, sweet Italian or Toulouse, 1, cooked, crumbled
Parsley sprigs for garnishing 

Potatoes that hold their shape are the best for this dish and are usually sold as salad/steaming/waxy potatoes. The night before or a few hours before making the rösti, scrub and boil them just until tender, but not soft. The fresh, smallish potatoes I used took about ten minutes.

Jeanette, a pretty mid-season variety from our potager

Put the potatoes in the fridge for at least two hours. Peel and then grate them using the largest hole of the grater. If salt is desired, then add it to taste. The purists leave it out as they are not concerned about rating wars. Fleur de sel could be sprinkled on the finished rösti by each eater instead of adding it to the grated potatoes.

Heat to sizzling hot, one tablespoon of butter along with one tablespoon of lard in a heavy-bottomed, eight-to-nine-inch skillet, preferably cast iron.

Put the grated potatoes in the hot fat and let be for a minute or two, then give the skillet a good shake to unstick the starchy mass. Lower the heat.

Using a spatula, even out and lightly press down the potatoes, while molding into a rounded edge.

Resist the urge to compress the rösti too much, as you want it to be somewhat fluffy.

While it's cooking, hard boil two eggs and reserve at room temperature. After around ten minutes check to see if the bottom has browned. If so, then the challenge of flipping awaits you.

This is the way I do it.  Holding securely a lid over the skillet, I flipped it over, leaving the rosti browned side up in the lid.

Placing a plate over the lid, I repeat the maneuver which results in having the rösti land uncooked side up on the plate. If you are still with me, and I know you are, the last step is not to collapse into a tired heap on the sofa, but to bravely finish the task at hand. You saunter over to the skillet that now has the remaining butter and lard sizzling away, with that lovely half-cooked rösti, levelling and touching the plate with the skillet in preparation for flipping. Place your thumbs under each side of the plate, with the rest of your fingers on top. Starting slowly, bring up the plate on an angle and then quickly flip it over the skillet. You can practice with an empty plate.

While it's cooking for ten minutes, re-warm the sausage and reserve. The rösti can be cut in the pan or slid out onto a serving platter. Decoratively arrange egg slices and sprinkle them with sausage. Garnish with a parsley sprig.

Yes, all that flipping was exhausting and silly, but this is what you get to eat!

Dirac the kitten is developing a keen skill for acrobatics. One challenging 'tightrope' is the rocking chair's armrests. The program has been augmented with holding a cloth puck in his mouth while balancing his furry self.

How was he able to pull off such a concerted effort? He first practiced walking on the armrest many a time and then holding a puck right above the surface of my desk, sometimes for ten minutes, before combining the two activities. Obviously a committed artist!

À la prochaine!

RELATED POSTS

La Crique Ardéchoise

Maple Spice Cake Squares & Mocha Glaze Icing

Pumpkins? Apples? Nuts? Perhaps. However, to my nose and tastebuds, there is nothing that magically transforms a kitchen into an autumnal one more than the addition of fragrant, sweet spices and maple syrup to cake batter.

INGREDIENTS
using a 9x9 inch pan, makes nine 3 inch squares, recipe can be doubled, using a 9x12 inch pan

Cake:
Flour, plain, white, 8 fluid ounces
Baking soda, 1/2 tsp
Baking powder, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 1/8 tsp
Cinnamon, ground, 1.5 tsp
Cloves, ground, 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg, freshly grated, 1/4 tsp
Butter, sweet, softened to room temperature, 4 T
Sugar, white, 5 T
Maple syrup, 4 fluid ounces
Yogurt, plain, 4 fluid ounces
Egg, large, beaten, 1

Glaze:
Sugar, icing/confectioner's, powdered, 4 fluid ounces
Cocoa, unsweetened, powdered, 1 T
Coffee, brewed, cooled, 2-3T

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For the cake, in the smaller of two mixing bowls, put all the dry ingredients except the sugar.

The spilled spices resemble fall leaves

Blend until the mixture has an even beige tone.

In the larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Using a fork, it takes about five minutes to get the fluffy consistency of mashed potatoes.

Add the maple syrup.

Blend well. The mixture will look a little curdled, but it will be fine.

Mix in the yogurt and then the eggs. Stir in the dry ingredients in several batches.

The batter will have a thick, smooth consistency.

Liberally butter the bottom and sides of the baking dish. Give the filled pan a good shake or two to even out the batter.

Bake around thirty minutes until top is nicely carmelised and sides are pulling away a bit from the pan. After a few minutes, carefully remove:  I used a thin spatula to loosen the sides and bottom, placing a plate onto the top of the pan and flipping it over while firmly holding the plate and pan together. Then I slid the cake from the plate onto a rack (I use one from the oven).

The carmelised crust will stay crisp and not become soggy as it would if cooled in the pan

When the cake is completely cool, cut into nine squares and place on a flat surface, like a glass chopping board or large plate. Make the icing.

Put the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Starting with one tablespoon of the brewed coffee, whisk all the ingredients, adding more coffee to get the preferred consistency. Using a small pitcher, I poured various patterns (lattice, circular, zigzag) onto the squares. Letting the icing stand for about fifteen minutes will allow more control of the stream.

Using a spatula, pile the squares on a serving plate. The crumb has the right amount of fluff, the spiciness is on target, and the glaze gives a smooth, additional shot to the headiness of maple. When refrigerated, the texture is more of a blond brownie.

If applying the icing before cutting the cake, you won't get this drenched effect

The onions are now in storage, there's a few tomatoes still on the vines, and the fig harvest is just around the corner. It's time to sun dry red peppers!

Drying basket hanging on a rose bush

The asters, in full flower at present, resemble soft, blue clouds shape-shifting in the cool wind.

The pink flowers are double Japanese anemones and the white are oleanders

As we live with Dirac the kitten, the more we get to know him. Funny how that works. The Calm One who handles the feline food detail--he measures out four prescribed portions each morning and then responsibly despite beguiling craftiness from a certain furry party of diminutive stature doles them out during the day--suddenly announced, our kitten's name should be Percy, Percy for Persistant! As various nicknames accumulate, mongoose mouth is for example one of many, why not another?

Dirac the five-month-old kitten

Obviously Percy!

À la prochaine!

RELATED LINKS

Lena Levin's (artist who painted the still life of strawberries on our mantle) website
The terroir of maple