Jan 1, 2009
Dec 23, 2008
christmas eve soup
As an experiment I am concocting a new dish for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. Because we have church services at 7 p.m., the plan was to keep it simple and make some sort of a soup. As I was deciding what ingredients to include, I noticed that, quite by accident, the colors of my vegetables were traditional Christmas colors. I immediately decided to limit my color palette to these colors. Can you identify my ingredients?
My red ingredient is sweet red bell pepper. Green veggies include broccoli, brussels sprouts, and the white colors come from cauliflower, leek, fennel, and garlic. These are all tossed together with olive oil, herbs de provence, and salt and pepper, and then roasted in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees. (Next time, however, I will roast until the pepper skins are crackled--for easier removal.) Below you can see the oven-roasted vegetables.
I could have just used the food processor to chop everything, but I decided to do things as slowly as possible--very uncharacteristic of me--so I hand chopped the veggies and then put them in the food processor.
I added four containers of homemade turkey broth, which I had frozen in margarine containers--they hold about one cup.
Below is the pot of soup so far. I plan to set this outside in the garage overnight. Then I will continue "building" the soup. I've read that layering the ingredients in several steps creates a much more complex flavor. I am hoping that these subtleties will be . . . not so subtle!
Here is my dilemma: what else to add to this recipe? I am planning for this to be a cream soup, so I will be adding that, as well as some cheese. What kind of cheese? Well, in keeping with the color scheme, it needs to be white. I have parmesan and gruyere. But it seems to me that these flavors might conflict with those of the oven-roasted olive oil base.
Another consideration is thickening. Of course, the veggies themselves will provide that function, as I have pureed them. Since there will be cream, I'm going to make a little roux out of butter and flour to assist in the thickening--or maybe not.
Also, I am tempted to add in some roasted turkey that I have in the freezer, but Colin says no. Hmmmmmm. He must have watched the same FoodTV show that I did regarding the warning that too many ingredients make the soup's flavors . . . "murky."
My red ingredient is sweet red bell pepper. Green veggies include broccoli, brussels sprouts, and the white colors come from cauliflower, leek, fennel, and garlic. These are all tossed together with olive oil, herbs de provence, and salt and pepper, and then roasted in the oven for one hour at 350 degrees. (Next time, however, I will roast until the pepper skins are crackled--for easier removal.) Below you can see the oven-roasted vegetables.
I could have just used the food processor to chop everything, but I decided to do things as slowly as possible--very uncharacteristic of me--so I hand chopped the veggies and then put them in the food processor.
I added four containers of homemade turkey broth, which I had frozen in margarine containers--they hold about one cup.
Below is the pot of soup so far. I plan to set this outside in the garage overnight. Then I will continue "building" the soup. I've read that layering the ingredients in several steps creates a much more complex flavor. I am hoping that these subtleties will be . . . not so subtle!
Here is my dilemma: what else to add to this recipe? I am planning for this to be a cream soup, so I will be adding that, as well as some cheese. What kind of cheese? Well, in keeping with the color scheme, it needs to be white. I have parmesan and gruyere. But it seems to me that these flavors might conflict with those of the oven-roasted olive oil base.
Another consideration is thickening. Of course, the veggies themselves will provide that function, as I have pureed them. Since there will be cream, I'm going to make a little roux out of butter and flour to assist in the thickening--or maybe not.
Also, I am tempted to add in some roasted turkey that I have in the freezer, but Colin says no. Hmmmmmm. He must have watched the same FoodTV show that I did regarding the warning that too many ingredients make the soup's flavors . . . "murky."
Dec 22, 2008
Dec 21, 2008
holiday living room
In our household, our decorations for the holidays have always been "understated." For the first time, we have the Christmas tree upstairs, instead of downstairs by the fireplace. So far, we like it very much because we spend most of our time in this room.
two days after the ice storm
The ice is still here exactly as it was on Thursday evening because temps have never risen above freezing.
Finally, the sun is out; however, it is brutally cold (2 degrees with a windchill of -15) Even as I type this, I am hearing the sound of tree branches breaking and falling to the roof and the ground.
Finally, the sun is out; however, it is brutally cold (2 degrees with a windchill of -15) Even as I type this, I am hearing the sound of tree branches breaking and falling to the roof and the ground.
Dec 19, 2008
comfort food
Fair warning: this dish has an obscene number of calories per serving. And, in case you're wondering, Bill and I finished this 9x13 pan within 18 hours. Everything is from scratch and . . . I used heavy cream for the sauce. Yep.
Here are the ingredients in order from most to least: cream, potatoes, ham, sharp cheddar, leek, butter, pepper/salt.
Here are the ingredients in order from most to least: cream, potatoes, ham, sharp cheddar, leek, butter, pepper/salt.
ice storm
Christmas vacation began a day early this year. Schools are closed for probably 100 miles in all directions! When we woke up, here is what it looked like around our house.
Nov 29, 2008
season's greetings
Well, aren't we on top of things this year? November not even over and we've already taken the holiday picture this afternoon. Depending on how this looks as a print, we may (or may not) use it as our Christmas card.
Sep 12, 2008
scenes from childhood
I put together this photo montage for Colin's high school graduation party (2006). All of the early black and white photos were originally developed and printed in my own darkroom. The rest are digital.
scenes from childhood from Jennifer DeJong on Vimeo.
scenes from childhood from Jennifer DeJong on Vimeo.
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