Green Bell Pepper Soup

This is an easy, but not quick recipe. be very careful with the oven!

Ingredients:

4 large bell peppers
1 Teaspoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 liter boiling water
1 can of baked beans (about 560 gr.), drained
2 chicken bouillon cubes, low fat and low sodium
A pinch of fine herbs

To begin with preheat the oven for broiling, then place the bell peppers on a baking sheet inside the oven near the top. Let the peppers broil until they blister and blacken, then turn them, using tongs, until all sides are black and blistered. be very careful, and remember to slide the oven tray out (wearing oven mitts, of course!) It's safer than sticking your arms into the oven.

When they're done, let them cool for about twenty minutes. Next you'll find the skin comes off with a little effort. Skin them. You don't have to remove the entire skin. no, let em rephrase that: I did not remove the whole skin from each. Once they're skinned, cut them open, and get the seeds and core out. You'll find the seeds may have turned brown. The peppers will be soft and easy to cut. Now chop them in small pieces.

In a soup pot heat the oil, then saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the chopped peppers and saute another 3-5 minutes. Add the water and bouillon cubes. Stir well to dissolve them. Add the beans and a pinch of fine herbs. Stir well and reduce heat to minimum. Bring to a slow boil, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Let it cool and serve.

The recipe I was originally making called for putting the thing in the blender after adding the beans. I decided to let it cook through first. When I tasted it I found it very good, so I omitted the blending step. But that's a good option for another time.

Mushroom Barley Soup

Third time's the charm, it seems.

 

The secret is to use sherry and a little flour.

Ingredients:

500 gr. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup barley
1/4 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
2 liters water
3 chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
1/4 cup sherry
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a soup pot heat the olive oil, next add the mushrooms and saute for about three minutes. Add the barley (raw), garlic and onion, keep cooking until the mushroom begin to brown, or about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir well. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are a nice golden brown, or around two minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sherry. Stir well and cook for about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add the water. Bring to a slow boil. When the water's hot, add the bay leaves and fine herbs. When it begins to bubble, add the bullion cubes.

Let the soup simmer until the barley's tender. Taste from time to time and add pepper and Worcestershire as needed.

Garlic oven-roasted potatoes

It's not easy to make nice, tasty low-fat potatoes.

Potatoes are low in fat, but the ways to making them tasty are usually not. This one's no exception, but I think it goes towards the lower range of fat content. So:

I'll post the recipe for the chicken in the photo later (that one takes some doing).

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, diced into small cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, mashed with a garlic press (I tried grating them, but the pres worked better)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fine herbs, crushed.
A few fresh parsley leaves, cut small

Place the olive oil and mashed garlic in a large bowl. add the pepper, fine herbs and parsley. Stir well and let it sit for an hour at least at room temperature. This is to infuse the oil with the spices.

Next add the diced potatoes (you may peel them or not, your choice) tot he bowl and toss until they are all covered with oil and spices. Place on a baking dish, preferably a large one so the potatoes are on a single layer. Put it in the oven preheated to 350-400 F (my oven is set to Celsius and I set it to 200 C) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked. be careful not to burn them, which is easy to do at such high temperatures.

And be very careful with the oven! Ok. I admit I'm a bit phobic about ovens. I tend to be extra careful when using them.

Re: Cabbage Soup

As I was saying, I updated the recipe for cabbage soup. This version tastes more like cabbage with chicken broth than chicken broth with cabbage.

And I took a photo:

I used green cabbage rather than red, because the red tends to dye the other ingredients. Not to mention the broth turns purple. But you can use red cabbage if you like it better. 

1/3 of a head of green cabbage chopped or 1 small red cabbage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1.5 carrots (I cut it into sticks, but go any way you like)
About 1/4 of a medium sized jicama (in sticks, too, or see about the carrot)
3/4 cup soybean sprouts
2.25 liters of water
2 cubes chicken bullion low-fat, low-sodium
1 teaspoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon fine herbs
Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

Saute the garlic and onions with the olive oil in a soup pot until the onion turns translucent. Then add the bell pepper and mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add the carrot and jicama and cook for another two minutes. Add the cabbage and soybean sprouts. Cook for about 10 minutes, don't let the veggies get too soft. While this is going on, add pepper to taste.

Lower the heat to medium and add the water. Add Worcestershire sauce, ginger and fine herbs. Stir.

When it warms up, add the chicken bullion cubes and stir until they dissolve (if possible, crumble them first). Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil. When the soup begins to bubble let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove from heat.

I do like the stronger cabbage flavor.

Bean Soup

Sorry for the delay. My day job this week was far harsher then usual for this season.

I love beans in almost every kind of way, but I love bean soup best of all. So here's my recipe:

300 grs. of beans (I used a local purple variety called "Flor de Mayo," 250 gr. worth, and 50 gr. of white beans)
1/2 liter of chicken broth
440 gr. tomato puree
1/3 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon fine herbs
3 turkey sausages sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

First you cook the beans. You can use a pressure cooker. I considered it, but quite frankly I'm afraid of all tools that require high pressure (yes, this includes the espresso machine, but there's no other way to brew espresso) So first I soaked the beans for about 18 hours (at room temperature, covering the container with a paper towel), I poured about 1.5 liters of water in a pot, added a half teaspoon of olive oil, let the water boil, then added the beans and cooked them for about 2 hours on low fire. The beans aren't quite done, but they'll cook further when making the soup.

Next, cook the onions and garlic in a skillet along with 1 teaspoon olive oil. When they're done, add the sliced sausages and let them brown a bit. 

In the bean pot, add the chicken broth, tomato pure and spices, stir well and add the onions, garlic and sausage. Add a hefty dash of Worcestershire and Tabasco to taste. Bring to a slow boil, then let it simmer for about 40 minutes covered (be sure to use a pot lid with a hole or a valve on it).

You can skip the sausages if you want, or substitute some other kind of mean, such as bacon (any kind) or chicken. When serving, you can add more Worcestershire or Tabasco, or a little lime if you like.