This post is in response to a friend who emailed me recently asking if I had ever eaten at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.  called Bootsie, Winky and Miss Maud (who could forget that name—and yes, I had!) and mentioned that she had always enjoyed their Gazpacho Soup (which I never had) and asked if I might have a good recipe for Gazpacho Soup.  I do, I do! Read more…

Many moons ago when I was a young working woman who had the good fortune to travel all over the world for her job, I had a business lunch at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.  The Biltmore in those days had recently been renovated and featured the work of the artist Jim Dine—whose work is now widely known—but then he was a hot, up and coming talent with whom the owner of the Biltmore had commissioned all of the interior art for the hotel’s public spaces and rooms.   I remember the traditional, beautiful guest rooms had  high ceilings, and what appeared at first to be classic, elegant moldings.  But when you looked more closely, you saw that the tools of the artist were imbedded into the molding—so that paint rollers, paint tubes, drip trays, spacklers, screwdrivers, hammers, rolls of tape and all kinds of other things were stuck to the molding where the eye was expecting twirly cartouches—but all painted white so as not to be easily noticed–very subtle, clever and whimsical.

But back to lunch, the gentleman I was lunching with was the Director of Marketing for the hotel.  As icebreaker talk, he gave me a big pitch about how good the avocado soup was and how I must have it as an appetizer.  Being a sport, and breaking the ice right back, I bypassed the ceviche I was craving and ordered the avocado soup.  It had me at my first spoonful.

After all that, this recipe is not from the Biltmore (I never thought to ask), but is a version of one that I found in the New York Times Cookbook that is pretty darn close.  One thing that the Craig Claiborne version didn’t include was lemon juice and I thought long and hard (is that weird?) about whether or not to add lemon.  Because when you taste it without the lemon, you get the full force of the subtle flavor of avocado.  I was worried that the lemon would taste too much like guacamole.  But when I finally decided that I really needed to do it, I added just the tablespoon of lemon juice and to my taste, this brightened the dish right to where I loved it.

This is easy to make and is a really nice appetizer for a dinner party.  Serve it in chilled demitasse cups with tiny spoons—sitting in a living room or on a patio, summer soup doesn’t get much better than this.

Avocado Soup

4 to 6 servings (6 for sure if you use demitasse cups)

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados
1 teaspoon grated onion
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup sour cream
½ cup half and half
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chives, for garnish

Preparation:

Wash, peel and cut the avocado into large pieces. Combine the avocado with all of the other ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth and well blended.  Taste and correct the seasonings.  Store the soup in a covered bowl in the refrigerator until very cold.  Taste again, correct the seasonings and serve with snipped chives on top.

We’ve been enjoying a little “cold snap” here in Florida for the past week or so, which has put us all into the fall mood.  And on the coldest day of all (the high daytime temperature was 69 degrees!) I fell into a soup-making mood.  In full nesting mode and not in the mood for a trip to the store, my refrigerator yielded a head of broccoli as my main ingredient and so I started to look for a recipe.  I found one to adapt by Barbara Kafka from her book Soup.  Served with Parmesan toast, this was just the thing for a blustery fall day.

Green Soup
Makes 6 cups

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 medium-size russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
5 cups Chicken Stock (homemade would be great, but I used commercial and it was fine)
1 small head broccoli, stems peeled and cut into pieces, tops cut into florets
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and all of the liquid squeezed out
3 teaspoons kosher salt (taste after the addition of each one to avoid over salting)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a soup pot or large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until they are soft and translucent.  

Add the potatoes and chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the broccoli and the spinach, cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until all of the vegetables are very soft.

Strain the soup broth into another saucepan and transfer the vegetables to a food processor.  Puree the vegetables until very smooth and then whisk them back into the reserved soup broth.  Season with salt and pepper.  When ready to serve, heat through again.

Parmesan Toast

2 thick slices of sourdough (or whatever sturdy bread you have on hand)
Olive Oil
Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Drizzle some olive oil onto the bread slices, and then sprinkle them generously with the grated Parmesan cheese.  Put on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, and then start watching them.   The cheese should be brown and bubbly when you take them out.  Cut into serving pieces.

Since Ted Kennedy’s death last week, I’ve been thinking about the Irish. Somewhere around half of my own heritage is Irish–and while I was watching the news coverage about the Senator and his family–it was interesting that as much of an icon of America as the Kennedy family has become–they are so frequently cited for their Irishness. I noted that Ted Kennedy was called “a great big burly Irishman”…or a “fun-loving romantic Irishman”…or his “Irish love of the sea” or “Irish sense of humor” were used to describe his nature.

And when I walked into the library this morning front and center was a display of books on the Kennedy family and in particular, Teddy Kennedy. And I thought that ever since I was a little girl, the Kennedy family has periodically become the center of our country’s attention–sometimes for good, sometimes not–but their influence on our country and our shared fascination about them is really remarkable.

So when it came time to think about dinner, I decided that in honor of Teddy, and the Kennedy’s, I would make a traditional Irish stew. Made with lamb, potatoes, carrots and onions, this famous stew is easy to make and a comfort to eat, especially with a slice or two of crusty bread to soak up the sauce.

May your day be touched
By a bit of Irish luck,
brightened by a song in your heart,
and warmed by the smiles
of the people you love.

Irish Stew

First make a Lamb Stock:

Ingredients for Lamb Stock

Bones from a 4-5 pound lamb shoulder
2 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, sliced in 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup tomato paste

Preparation for Lamb Stock

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put the lamb bones, onion, celery and carrots into a roasting pan and roast until the bone is browned and the vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes. Put the bones and the vegetables into a stockpot. Add a cup or two of water to the roasting pan and scrape up all of the brown bits. Pour the liquid into the stockpot. Add 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and add the tomato paste, stirring until combined. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour and a half. Remove the bones and the vegetables and strain the stock.

Ingredients for Stew

1 4-5 pound lamb shoulder, bones removed and reserved to make the stock
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
2 onions, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 inch pieces
8 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
1/3 cup flour
Lamb Stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 4 fresh sprigs)
1 bay leaf
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice

Preparation for Stew

Cut the lamb into cubes, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the lamb, onions, carrots, mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring for five minutes or until the onions are wilted.
Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add lamb stock to cover, the thyme and the bay leaf. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Cook the diced potatoes and turnip in a separate pot of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes. When the stew has finished simmering, add the potatoes and turnips and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Correct the seasoning and serve.