The Prancing Pony's Soup of the Day

My goodness. I was on a roll there for a while. But, as summer came, writing was the last thing I wanted to do. Besides, my hard drive failed and I am currently sans laptop. Nevertheless, I am still cooking (unfortunately at times) and still experimenting.

I am making soups for a local business in the small town I call home and today I made something different. In this part of the world, some people like to cook to season. Sometimes I do. In this case, asparagus has come to town from local farmers and so I am obliged to help out the local economy and use what they grow.

Asparagus is my favourite vegetable. It has a nice natural tang, it goes well with everything, it looks great on a plate (height, contrast, appearance) and it's really easy to cook. On top of that, you can eat raw, steamed, blanched, sautéed or cooked and served cold. Brilliant.

This soup (another soup I know) is essentially a variation on the standard theme. I imagine you may start seeing a reoccurring theme.

With the asparagus, trim only bit of the woody part. After liquefying the soup, it adds to the flavour and helps thicken the soup.

Asparagus Purée with the Village of Brie

2 Shallots, roughly cut
1 Clove of Garlic, crushed
2 Bunches of Asparagus, roughly cut (save one spear for garnish)
1 Sprig of Basil
3l Vegetable Stock
20g Brie (basically two slivers; one for thickening, one for garnish)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a soup pot, sauté the garlic and the shallots until golden. Add chopped asparagus and cook for one minute. Add stock and basil. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for ten minutes.

Add half of the brie and stir. With a hand blender, liquefy the soup until desired texture. Season to taste.

In a separate pan, sauté the remainder of the asparagus and add so the soup. Chop up remainder and add to the soup.

Serves 6.

A Humble Chef's tip: Don't forget to not cover the vegetables when they're cooking through.

Variation: If brie is unattainable, go ahead and use camembert (everybody has camembert in their fridge for back-up).

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Chocolate Wrapper

Ever try to make phyllo pastry? I'll be honest here. I haven't. Even in cooking school, we used store bought. I cannot imagine a reason to justify me making this pastry from scratch. I imagine some readers may be disappointed by my honesty but here I have to be. If someone asked me for a recipe, I would look foolish.

For this recipe, I strongly recommend using the finest chocolate available to you (I used Milk Chocolate Pyramids from a great chocolatier downtown) and of your preference. White, dark, milk, whatever.

Keep this simple and you'll have no trouble at all.

Milk Chocolate Pyramid Wrapped in Phyllo with Strawberry and Blackberry Coulis

8 Milk Chocolate Pyramids
3 Sheets of Phyllo, cut in 16 rectangles
10g Unsalted Butter, melted
Icing Sugar for Garnish


Preheat oven at 325 celsius.

On your countertop, lay out 1 sheet of phyllo. Using a pastry brush, apply small amount of butter. Lay another sheet and lightly brush some butter. Place chocolate in center and fold up pastry to cover. Place on some parchment on a cookie sheet.

Repeat with other chocolates.

Back for 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown on top edges. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Dust with icing sugar and serve with coulis.

Serves 8.

Strawberry and Blackberry Coulis

1 pint of strawberries, washed and trimmed
1/2 pint of blackberries, washed
40 g sugar
Splash of Vanilla Extract
Splash of Maple Extract (optional)

In a small sauce pan, heat berries and sugar and extracts. Add splash of water and cover. Bring to boil on medium high heat. Remove cover and let cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Using a blender, purée until smooth. You can strain through a fine mesh chinois to remove seeds though not completely necessary.

Let cool completely and place into a sqeezee bottle.

Serves 30 desserts.

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16 Bean Ham Bone Soup

The other day my mother in law Joy called me to remind me that I had a ham bone in the fridge left over from Easter. Spiral cut ham is one of the many features of our annual Easter Brunch, and we always reserve the bone after we are done to make a soup.

We usually have 25-30 people show up which means we are dead for at least the next week, so making some soup is a nice simple way to enjoy some home cooking after the leftovers are gone.

This year while perusing the food aisle of the local Jewel-Osco I spied bags of a dried 16 bean mixture. Usually I go with traditional split pea, but I decided the cornucopia I ran into was worth trying instead this year.

I start up by boiling the ham bone in water with some salt, pepper, diced onions, carrots, celery, shallots, and minced garlic. For convenience sake I just reach into the fridge and use a scoop of the pre-chopped garlic.

I bring this mixture to a boil and let it simmer for 3-4 hours in a stock pot. When the water gets a little low I add some more. Once it is done simmering I remove the bone and dice up the ham and add it back to the mixture, be sure to remove all the bone.

The beans are simple, you either soak them over night, or you bring them to a boil and cover them for an hour so they soften up before you use them which works just as well. An hour in to simmering the bone and stock just add the beans, let them cook till they soften up to the consistency you prefer, and you are ready for some good eating. Oh ya, make sure you rinse the beans well before, and after cooking.

When the water gets a little low I add some more. Once it is done simmering I remove the bone and dice up the ham and add it back to the mixture, be sure to remove all the bone.

One thing I noticed was how expensive dried beans were, I mean $2.59 for a small bag? These things used to cost as little as .49. I guess if you like beans, and you have a dry place to store them like a bucket, you can buy them in bulk which seems to be the best way to shop these days. The chain super markets just kill you on most items. I mention this because back in college we could whip up a big batch of this soup for under a buck since they used to almost give away ham hocks and dried beans.

Meaty Ham Bone, or Ham Hocks
Water
2 bags of dried 16 bean mix
Diced Onion
Diced Carrots
Diced Celery
minced garlic
Seasoning Salt
Pepper
Dashes of tabasco

No exact recipe measurements?

Thats right, just season and add ingredients to taste. Not smoky enough? Add a dash of liquid smoke.

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