(could be) gordon ramsay's broccoli soup.

it's been a british kind of month. the reasons (note: only the first one approaches legitimacy):

1. i took a weekend trip to london to visit my cousin.

2. netflix has offered up instant viewing of all six seasons of gordon ramsay's kitchen nightmares.

3. i'm now on season 3 of the above mentioned show.

while there's always been a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for jamie oliver, whose endless optimism and jolly cockney slang i try and replicate in my own kitchen, i'm growing to appreciate the edgier - if not more fowl mouthed and offensively sexist - form of entertainment gordon ramsay offers. 

for those unfamiliar with his kitchen nightmare gig, it involves ramsay roaming the homeland searching for failing, disgusting restaurants on the verge of shutting down. he shows up as a charmingly sassy knight in shining armor to save the day by teaching their owners to, for instance, reduce the menu from 130 items to 15... or not to serve a dish featuring shrimp and a chocolate dipping sauce. sometimes he teaches the head chef how to make an omelette.

amazingly, through the use of simple lessons ("keep it f%#*ing simple!"), he gets them back on track to culinary success! it's inspiring, horrifying, and a great way to make yourself vow to never again eat in a restaurant with a dirty bathroom: if they can't keep that clean, then what's going on behind the scenes with your food?! 

even though i'm sort of hooked to the series (surprise surprise), the only downer is that i rarely learn any recipes or techniques from it. i mean, there are certainly cooking tips to be picked up - and my knowledge of how to run a kitchen staff has gone from none to slightly more than none - but it's uncommon that i'm brimming with new recipe ideas after an episode (or six).

that is, until a most recent episode, in which ramsay challenged some "twat" chef to a broccoli soup cook off! while his opponent whipped together some "bloody mess" using 11 ingredients, ramsay's soup consisted of a mere 3: broccoli, water, and salt. 

inspired by the simplicity, i took a gander at it the other afternoon. the only thing is that the whole sequence of him making this soup was about 20 seconds. he did explain the steps (recipe below), but details about measurements and timeframes weren't exactly explicit. which is why my broccoli soup may or may not actually be the one he was referring to. in any case, it was delicious! the broccoli flavor is bold and the soup is simple, super quick to make (tops 7 minutes!), as rich as can be in vitamin c, and surprisingly filling. while i might transform this next time into a 4 or 5 ingredient soup with a touch of garlic or a sprinkling of cilantro, i will definitely be making it again. and maybe, just maybe, dissuading ramsay from infiltrating my kitchen next season.

3-ingredient broccoli soup

1 head of broccoli, stem and all

1 large pot of water

1 tablespoon of salt (or more to taste)

chop up your broccoli. the smaller the pieces, the better. bring a pot of salted water to a boil. blanch the broccoli for about 3 or 4 minutes, until bright green. 

now here's the key part. the water you just used for blanching has formed a broccoli broth. so when you drain the broccoli, drain it over another pot where you will keep the broth. then, working in batches, add some of the broccoli and the broth (depending on how thick of a soup you'd like) to a blender. blend until smooth or slightly chunky. return finished soup to a pot to keep warm and salt.

enjoy with a chunk of toasted bread and an episode of kitchen nightmares.

greens macaroni salad. (and what to do with all that pasta).

it's common blog practice to offer the occasional post on pantry staples and standbys. i think it's common practice all around to keep a pantry stocked with some items that can be pulled out in dire culinary need or moments of un-inspiration.

the problem is that i tend to like to cook with mostly fresh produce. in case you haven't noticed, the majority of recipes here revolve around a bit of vegetables, complimented by more vegetables, and finished off with some fresh herbs. all of these things don't have the longest shelf lives. and with a fridge that doesn't always close fully, their refrigerator lives are often cut tragically too short as well. so i find myself going grocery shopping quite often and only very rarely relying on the assumption that we have backup ingredients at home.

still, if i had to mention the few items you can pretty consistently find lining the pantry shelves, it would be: lentils, chickpeas, rice, flour, sugar, (cookies), an old trader joe's rice noodle bowl that i can't bear to part with, corn kernels for popping, and: pasta. 

so. much. pasta. if we bought some other staple (canned tomatoes, quinoa, more cookies!) for every time we picked up a package of pasta, i'd be the most stocked blogger this side of the atlantic. but instead, we have about 15 packages of opened pasta at any given time, and i've turned into that sad person whose favorite monthly past time may just be organizing and grouping already opened packages...

which is why the following recipe is perfect for this household, one where short noodles flow off the shelves in their various fusilli, macaroni, and farfalle forms. any and all types of noodles can be thrown together in this green, refreshing, and slightly tangy pasta salad. i enjoyed it mildly warm on a summer evening, but chilled and at an outdoor potluck would be just as delicious.

assorted greens macaroni salad:

adapted from 101 cookbooks

300 g macaroni pasta (or a mix of short pasta noodles, as seen here!)

2 tbsp olive oil

3 bunches green onions, sliced

1 leek, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

3 handfuls greens (arugula, spinach, etc)

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

salt and pepper

10 large basil leaves, chopped roughly

1/3 cup grated parmesan, for topping

bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions. once al dente, reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain pasta and set aside.

heat the olive oil in a large pan. add green onions, leeks, garlic, and a pinch of salt. cook about 5 minutes, until the onions and leeks are soft and the garlic is browned. remove from heat and let cool. 

add in the pasta, tomatoes, greens, lemon, reserved pasta water, basil, and salt and pepper. at this point, you can either stir in the parmesan, or let individuals top their dishes themselves.

summery polenta casserole.

corn has been on my mind lately after watching the 2003 documentary, king corn. the film documents the journey of american corn from its farm origins in iowa to its feeding of cattle in colorado to its conversion into high fructose corn syrup in a disturbing number of packaged goods we consume. i'm continually shocked by the realization that the vast majority of corn grown in this country is unedible off the cob and yet ends up (in excessive amounts!) in our bodies via other things we eat (but probably shouldn't!).

when i was younger, my favorite dish was my mom's mashed potato and corn casserole. looking back, the signs of my future vegetarianism weren't all too hidden (the rest of my family's favorite meal was grilled steak...). i loved the creaminess of the potatoes and the crunch of the fresh corn. it's been years since i ate that dish, and i have to admit my love of corn has largely waned in that time. i think i may have even once heard myself claim to dislike corn!

but the thing is that there are a lot of reasons to warm up to corn: grilled corn on the cob, for one. and for anyone following a gluten free diet, there's cornmeal, or polenta (whatever you call it, it's got a ton of iron, magnesium, zinc and vitamin b6!).

with corn on the brain, i decided to try out a summery corn and polenta casserole. this dish is bursting with summer flavors, from the fresh tomatoes to the fragrant green peppers to the sizzling cheese on top. plus, it's the kind of meal to restore even the biggest disbeliever's faith in corn. while i'm still planning on keeping my distance to its canned and sweetened forms, fresh corn is getting a renewed invitation into my diet.

summery polenta bake

adapted from dana treat

oven-baked polenta (recipe follows)


1½ cups tomato sauce


2 tablespoons olive oil


3 ears of corn, kernels shaved off the cob


1 green pepper, chopped

salt


¾ pound tomatoes, cored and seeded


1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
roughly

1 chili, seeded and finely chopped


1 cup grated cheese

first make the polenta. do this early in the day (or at least 3 hours ahead of time) to give it time to harden.

heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and add the corn and pepper. sauté over medium heat just until tender, about 5 minutes. season with a pinch of salt. 

meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into chunks and place in a small bowl. toss in the sauteed corn and peppers, half the basil, and the chiles. add salt and pepper to taste.

preheat the oven to 375ºF. pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of large casserole dish. arrange the polenta triangles any way you like, using up all of the polenta. spoon the vegetables on top and into the spaces between the polenta triangles. give another slight salt and peppering, and sprinkle with the cheese. 

cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes, until the cheese is bubbly. sprinkle on the remaining basil and serve immediately! (this dish is also heavenly a day later, so don't worry for a second about what to do with leftovers!).

simple oven-baked polenta
adapted from nytimes recipe for health

1 cup polenta

1 quart water

1 teaspoon salt

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. combine the polenta, water and salt in a 2-quart baking dish. stir together, and place in the oven. bake fifty minutes. remove from the oven, and give it a stir using a fork or spatula. return to the oven for 10 minutes.

remove from the oven, and stir again. check that the grains are soft. if not, return to the oven for 10 minutes. remove and let cool, either in the same dish or by pouring it into another (lightly oiled) one. i left it in the baking dish to cool for an hour, then put it in the fridge for another hour to harden. once hard and cool, cut into squares (and then into triangles by halving the squares) and place on parchment paper for use in casserole.

foolproof banana bread.

you may have noticed that i like to poke fun at our kitchen here in bremen: from the gas oven (which notoriously decimates anything from cookies to pizzas) to our tradition of buying refrigerators which don't close... to the frying pan whose bottom looks like a chalkboard subjected to fifteen too many nails.

that said, i was still convinced that things probably weren't bad enough to earn us a spot on "ramsay's kitchen nightmares". that is, until the most recent discovery that our entire kitchen is on a slant. that's right: forget the poor equipment or the claustrophobia that comes from cooking in a closet - the actual infrastructure of this food blogger's workspace is crooked! this disturbing realization was made, by the way, while cooking the previous post's mushroom pasta as all of the oil kept falling to one end of the pan. it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out (though it did take me almost a year......).

nonetheless, there are certain things you can whip up in even the most dire of culinary settings! this banana bread is one of them. vegan, ingredient-minimal, and very flavorful when made with your most overly ripe bananas. the one featured is the bare-bones version, but feel free to add in any additional nuts, chocolate chips, or raisins as desired.

foolproof banana bread:

3 über-ripe bananas
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking power
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 325 F. lightly oil a baking pan.

in a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. in a large bowl, mash the bananas and then add the sugar, oil, and vanilla. add the dry ingredients into the wet bit by bit. fold in any add-ins at this point (blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, etc).

pour the mixture into the baking tin. bake for 25 - 30 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

cool. cut. enjoy!