Some people are just cuckoo for soup. Not me. I did make soup this season as my faithful readership knows. It even came out good, not to mention served as a perfect final resting place for some celery that was really starting to confound me. But, there's something about soup that's just so insubstantial. So... thin. I like to chew my food. So imagine my happy surprise when I discovered that a casserole is just as perfect a place for all the random tidbits in the fridge as soup is. Even more perfect, really, if you're like me and don't love to drink your meals. So the above three pictures are examples of casseroles I've made over the past couple weeks-- some were loosely inspired by recipes, but all were made mostly with what I already had on hand. By the time I got to casserole #3, I was so intrigued by the possibility of baking something delicious without doing ANY shopping, that I deliberately stayed away from the store, even though I might have thought it would benefit from some this or some that. Self-reliance, people. That's what we're going for here.Casserole #1: Rice (pre-cooked), crumbled tofu, chopped kalamata olives, spinach, some kind of cheese (I forget), a couple eggs for a binder, and chopped red onions and toasted chopped almonds both inside and reserved for garnish. Except for the garnish, mix all of the above and bake in a large dish till crispy and golden. This one got high marks for flavor, but low marks for moisture. Next time I'll add another egg, maybe some milk.
Casserole #2: This really is no different from potatoes au gratin, so I won't trouble you with how to make it, since there are probably several thousand such recipes available on the internet. Three things I did somewhat creatively, and that I'd recommend: use Fontina cheese (a whole wedge of it, half mixed with the milk and poured in with the sliced potatoes, and the other half sprinkled on top 3/4 of the way through baking); season it with pestled cumin seeds; and garnish it with salsa. It was a gorgeous, Latin rendition of a classic American dish.
Casserole #3: This one was by far the best, and I'm most proud of it because it was based on no recipe whatsoever, and like I said, I refused to shop for it. Last night I prepped everything: I made 2 cups (uncooked) rice. And the best way to make rice is to start out sauteing onions and garlic, then add the rice and water and prepare as usual. I roasted chopped carrots and, after 15minutes, added green beans to the pan. In a separate pan I roasted large chunks of tomatoes. I went to bed.
Then tonight when I got home from work, I put the rice in a huge bowl and dumped in all the roasted veggies (WITH juices!). I whisked two eggs with about a half cup of sawdust parmesan (like I said, I refused to go to the store), a half cup of milk, some cumin, oregano, s&p, and then stirred that in with the rice and vegetables. When the mixture is uniform, spoon it into your baking dish (which I deliberately hadn't washed after roasting the carrots and green beans in it). Sprinkle with Panko and more parmesan. Bake at 375 till golden! Oh, man it was good. Due to the roasted tomatoes and parmesan, it was faintly redolent of pizza, but is there anything wrong with that?
And just as an aside, I have to point out this tomato (see below). This came from one of Adam's coworker's gardens, and I used it on the 4th of NOVEMBER. This is a very late tomato, my friends. It's an Election Day tomato. Notice, too, how the tomato is in the shape of a heart. As in, I (heart) Obama.
3 comments:
Soup - you are right it can be thin and not feel like a meal. But consider adding dumplings to soup, or wantons, rice, noodle, lots of root vegetables, red lentils....Yum.
We had a bake last night - the SE put together an interesting concoction: bakes pumpkin and cauliflower mixed with sauted onion, garlic, zucchini, tumeric plus canned tomatoes and beans. Topped with potatoes that went crunchy. Interesting. But it worked!
Now, wait a minute! Soup is only thin when you make it so. I love making soup, hearty, thick and almost redolent of being a stew. Top with grated cheese after being plated, and have some crusty bread to sop up alongside...nothing could be more toothsome.
Your sauteeing onion and garlic in oil, then sauteeing the uncooked rice grains in the same oil before adding water reminds me of a similar trick I learned while taking cooking lessons in Bombay from my Indian mother. She taught me to start by making a 'vaghar' (sp?): heat ghee and add whatever spices to that (cinnamon or chilis or turmeric or whatever) and heat for a bit before adding the food. What happens is that the oil takes on the flavor of the spice and then effectively coats the food particles with the flavor. Tasty trick!
Ok, I stand corrected about soup. Soup can be has hearty as you want it to be. I had to follow the classic rules of the narrative, though: establish the problem, then describe a solution. You know, first Odysseus is lost, then he finds his way home. Same for Holden Caufield. Soup became the fall-guy for this post. But I'm sure soup doesn't mind, since he's helping to contribute to The Canon and all.
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