Tortellini Soup

• 1 cup thin sliced carrots
• 1 minced onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 8 oz, chopped mushrooms
• 1 lb pork sausage
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 lb. tortellini (I use 4 cheese tortellini)
• Broth (chicken or veggie)-1-2 quarts
• cream
• Spinach (optional)

Sautee the onion, carrot, garlic and mushroom until they brown slightly. Set them aside. 

In the same pan, cook the sausage until it browns slightly- breaking it into small pieces as you go. 

Add in the flour and stir into the sausage for about 1-2 minutes. 

Slowly pour in the first quart of broth, stirring as you go. Put the veggies back in and add in more broth until everything is covered and there is plenty of liquid (the tortellini will soak up a lot of liquid). 

Simmer for at least 20 minutes. 

When you are nearly ready to eat, add in extra broth (if needed) and pour in the tortellini. Simmer the tortellini until cooked. 

Add in cream (and spinach) at the end. Stir until the soup is hot again (and spinach has wilted). 

Gumbo

• half pound pork sausage
• 1 carrot-diced small
• 1 onion-diced small
• 2 sticks celery-diced small
• 1 bell pepper-diced small
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1/2 pound link dinner sausage cut into slices
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup oil
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. creole seasonings (salt, black pepper, red pepper, chili powder, garlic)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. thyme

Start by browning half a pound of pork sausage. Remove the meat from the pan but leave the fat. Put in a large bowl to the side

Saute the onion, celery, carrot and peppers until soft in the fat. Add it to the bowl with the sausage. Put the chicken and sausage slices in the bowl too.

Melt the butter and add in the oil then  flour. Stir and cook the roux (flour butter mixture) until it turns brown. Most gumbo recipes say you want it a nice dark brown. this can take 20 minutes or more. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock so there are no flour lumps. 

Add back in the bowl with veggies and meat. Add in the spices. Simmer for about 2 hours. Serve over rice in a bowl.

Roasted red pepper bisque

• 4 roasted red peppers (see previous week for how to make)
• 3 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 5 oz grated cheese
• 1/3 cup cream

Combine your peppers and broth in a pot on low and simmer for 1/2 an hour. Make sure not to over reduce. It will lose some volume but not much.

Blend this mixture in a blender or food processor. 

Add in the seasonings and simmer for another 10 minutes on low. Add in the cream and cheese. Cook till the cheese is melted and the soup is hot. 

Serve with croutons, salad shrimp, or orzo pasta.

Homemade Tomato Soup

•  3 fresh tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 cup cream

This is a pretty simple dish. Start by dicing up the tomatoes and onion and seasoning with salt and pepper and sugar. Saute with the garlic in oil (about 1 tbs) for 5-7 minutes. Put them in a blender with the cream and blend till smooth. Put it back in a pot to heat up. 

OPTIONAL: add in a 1/2 cup of grated mozzarella when you blend to make a cheesy tomato soup.

The acid level of this dish will depend entirely on which type of tomato you choose. Experiment with different types to find your favorite. 

Beef soup

• beef shank- about 1.25 lbs
• 2 cans beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 Tbs. soy sauce
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1/4 onion diced
• 1/2 package udon noodles

Start by seasoning and searing both sides of the beef shank and sauteing the onion and carrot in a large pot. Once everything starts to brown, add in the water and stock and soy sauce. Simmer over medium low heat for about five hours. If the liquid reduces too much, add a little more water. About halfway through, cut the meat into large chucks and let it keep simmering. Before serving, remove any large pieces of fat and the bone from the pot and start breaking up the meat. It should just fall apart. Then add in the udon and cook for how long the package directions say.

Creamy Clam Chowder

• 4 red or gold potatoes-diced into small bite size pieces
• 1 potato minced in a food processor until very fine
• 1 onion, minced finely
• 2 cans clams with the juice
• 1/2 package bacon, cut into small pieces plus half a slice
• 1/2 pint of cream

Start by sauteing the onion to  in your medium pot with a little bit of oil. Once they have just started to brown, add in the potatoes, clams and juice, and enough water that everything floats a bit. 

Simmer on low for at least 1 hour or until the potatoes are cooked through and the liquid has thickened. Stir often. The finely minced potatoes help thicken the soup without using a flour base. Place the half a slice of bacon in the soup to help give the soup a bacon flavor without letting the bacon you will eat get soggy. 

While the soup is simmering, cook the bacon until crispy and set it to dry out of the oil on a paper towel off to the side. 

Discard the piece of bacon that has been simmering in the soup. Then add in the half pint of cream and stir until the soup is heated through again. 

Serve the soup and top with bacon. Butter crackers or rolls make a great addition.

Fresh Corn

This is going to be a combination of two recipes to make using fresh corn on the cob

First is a corn salsa

• 4 ears corn on the cob-corn kernels sliced off (or 1 lb frozen corn)
• 3 small avocados-diced
• 3 diced tomato-chopped
• 1 bunch of green onion-chopped
• 1 bunch of cilantro-chopped
• 2 can black beans
• 4 lime-juiced
• 3 tbs apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion-diced
• 1/2 jalapeno diced (more if you want it spicier)
• 1 bell pepper-diced

Mix everything together in a bowl and serve as a salsa with chips or a side salad.

Recipe number 2- Taco Soup

• 1 lbs. ground beef
• 2 ears corn-corn kernels sliced off
• 1/2 can black beans
• reserved green onion
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 avocado, diced
• reserved cilantro
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Start by taking the corn cobs (without the corn) and simmer them in a pot of water just big enough to hold them all. After about 30-45 minutes, you can throw away the cobs. Keep the corn broth.

Brown the ground beef. in a pot.

 Drain the fat then put the meat back in the pot. Add in the corn broth, corn, green onions, black beans, and taco seasoning. If there isn't enough liquid, add in a can of broth.

Simmer together for about 1/2 an hour. 

Serve up and top with fresh cilantro and avocado and fresh squeezed lime. 

The corn broth adds the flavor of corn throughout the soup. This method also provides a great base for a corn chowder. 

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

This is the other half of my favorite meal from Zupas.

• ·         1 medium Cauliflower- chopped into small pieces
• ·         1 can chicken broth
• ·         1 cup water
• ·         1 cup cream
• ·         8 oz grated sharp white cheddar cheese
• ·         Salt and pepper, 1 tsp. each
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1/4 tsp .paprika

Place the cauliflower, broth and water in a pot. Add salt and pepper. Simmer with the lid off until the cauliflower is soft. Then blend with the liquid until smooth. Return the cauliflower mixture to the pot and slowly add in the grated cheese and cream, stirring often. Add cayenne and paprika.

Alternatives: Cheesy Cauliflower Mash

Boil cauliflower in salted water till soft. Drain, Blend with ½ cup cream and ½ stick of butter till smooth. Place in a baking dish and top with cheese and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Picky kids option: You can also add some peeled golden potatoes in with the cauliflower. This helps hide the flavor of the cauliflower so kids think it is just mashed potatoes.

Lobster Bisque

Lobster Bisque

This recipe was inspired by the soup from Montana Coffee Trader’s which I reviewed in my post Kalispell Trip. Like theirs, this bisque does not have any tomato paste. This version turned out a little thinner and it doesn’t quite have as much lobster meat in it but the flavor is very rich. If you want more lobster meat, it will only take more lobster tails. 4 would give the soup a lot of meat but 2 gives it plenty of flavor and is a little better on the budget. This soup makes about 6 servings.

2 rock lobster tails

1 onions

1 carrot

2 sticks celery

2 green onions

1 can veggie broth

½ lemon sliced

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sherry

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 Tablespoons Butter

6 tablespoons flour

1.5 cups cream

Half onion

Dice half the veggies (onion, carrot, celery and white part of green onion) and place to the side.

Slice the green part of the green onion and place in a separate dish to top the bisque at the end.

Chunk up the other half and put in a large stockpot with the water, salt, and veggie broth and sliced lemon. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat till it just simmers. In a steamer pot, place the lobster shell side down and steam for 3 minutes.

Then remove the meat and dice the tail meat and keep it in the fridge till later. The easiest way to remove the meat is to crack top of the tail and peel the shell off. That way you can get the tail out intact. If it falls apart for this, no big deal. Place the shells in the stock pot and simmer this all together with the lid off for about ½ an hour. Then strain all the veggies and shells out and reserve the stock. 

Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the now empty pot on medium heat. When the oil is heated, add the diced veggies from before. Cook until they have started to brown and soften, stirring occasionally. Then add in the butter, once it is melted, add in the flour and whisk until it is all incorporated and the flour starts to cook (about 3 minutes).Then slowly add in 3 cups of the stock from before whisking as you pour it in. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, whisking often. This is where the bisque will reduce and thicken.  Add in the lobster tail meat, juice from the half lemon, and the cream then heat through. If you like a thicker soup, add less cream or simmer longer before adding in the cream and meat. Top with the sliced green onions. Serve with rolls or toast.

 

Kalispell Trip

I recently went back to where I attended high school for an awesome week of fun and food. Hello again to the beautiful Kalispell Montana. Here are a few of the food highlights from my trip.

Montana Coffee Traders

328 W Center Street

Kalispell, MT 59901

$5 Bowl Lobster Bisque: This item is a special that is not always available, but it is well worth checking in for. It has a lovely flavor with large chunks of lobster throughout. I would definitely order this again. Look forward to a coming post with my version of lobster bisque.

$8 Trader’s Traditional Breakfast with Bacon: The traditional breakfast comes with two eggs cooked any style, hash browns, two triangles of buttered toast, a small section of fruit and the optional meat. In my case I chose bacon but ham and sausage were other options. The eggs were cooked exactly the way I ordered (over easy) and the hash browns were nice if a little underwhelming. The bacon was cooked perfectly though. It was a good thick sliced bacon that was crispy and delicious. Overall, a filling breakfast that was a better choice than many national chains for both flavor and price, but nothing incredibly special.

Midori

2835 Hwy 93 N

Kalispell, MT 59901

$10 Teriyaki Beef lunch special: It was a nice dish that included a cup of miso soup, a small salad, and the main dish with teriyaki beef, white sticky rice, and tempura veggies. The veggies were good and I liked the batter but they tasted a little oily. They didn’t feel oily but there was an oil flavor to them. The miso was a touch bland but still good. The salad had a great strong flavor but was slightly overdressed so it ended up a little overpowering. The rice and meat were cooked well and the sauce was just right, not too sweet.

Alley Connection

22 1st St W,

Kalispell, Mt 59901

$3 Wonton Soup: This soup comes with pork, and fried and boiled wontons in a nice broth. The broth was just a touch bland but with a tiny bit of soy sauce added it was really good. The bowl is actually quite filling for the size.

I have eaten other dishes at Alley Connection in the past and enjoyed them as well.

Bullman’s

175 Hutton Ranch Road # 107

Kalispell, MT 59901

$19 Large Bitterroot Pizza with Prosciutto: This is a thin crust pizza cooked in a wood fire oven. It has an olive oil and sea salt base with mozzarella cheese, pistachios, red onions and rosemary. On its own it is delicious, but adding prosciutto takes it to another level. This is a pizza that I crave and I have yet to find a similar one elsewhere. Look forward to my version of this pizza coming up in a future post.

$7 Cheese Sticks: The cheese sticks are a simple pizza crust with tons of seasoned cheese cooked in the wood-fire oven. Delicious, I order it every time.