Broccoli Soup For Two

I wanted to make a soup to counter act the cold weather, but since I am often home alone or left with my sister. I decided to make a very small amount so it doesn't go bad because there would be no one to eat is.

I got my recipe offline from the taste of home website

Recipe Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• Dash pepper
• 3/4 cup 2% milk
• 2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• My additions to the recipe were
•  a pinch of : salt, nutmeg, and crushed red chili flakes and  a teaspoon of butter
• Using a mix of Monterray jack and Parmesan cheese instead of cheddar

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/broccoli-cheese-soup-for-2

Preparation:

I placed a teaspoon of butter in to my sauce pot and let it melt.

I then added the dicd onions and let them cook until soft but colourless.

Add minced garlic and allow garlic to soften as well. Stir so it doesn't burn because garlic burns very quickly.

Once the garlic has softened enough that you can easily mash it with our spoon. Next add the flour mix in immediately and fast making sue to watch the sides of the pot that all the flour is incorporated in to the mix.

The flour acts as an additional thickener to the soup. The flour forms a roux with the butter. A roux is a cooked paste made of fat and flour, used to thicken something. This is a white roux because I didn't allow i  brown and cook for too long.

Next add in the the chicken stock, slowly but whisk quickly so no lumps form from the roux not mixing in properly. Now allow to come up to a boil,

Once Boiling, now add the broccoli and mix

I then now added Ground black pepper and dried thyme as well as freshly ground nutmeg, salt, and crushed red chilli flakes

 All the soup to come up to a boil again and the add milk. Allow to simmer and at this point broccoli should be soft enough to blend

Pour mix into blender. If Blender does not have a vented lid remove lid center. This allows the pressure that is built up to be released other wise the mix will explode because the mix is still hot. Cover the top with a clean rag or towel and blend on low speed to begin to break down the broccoli and then on high until  smooth.

  

 If you have a blender like mine. I  found that he closest thing to actual staged settings was you to chop for a few seconds ans then puree the mix, and then liqueify the mix until smooth.

Although this is pureed and does thicken some because of this it is still considered to be a cream soup which are soups thickened with roux, beurre manié (an uncooked at and flour mix) or other added thickening agents, plus milk and/or cream. So it needs be put back in the pan allowed to to simmer. The soup thickens considerably after this  as seen that when I ran a line on the back of my spoon it didn' close up.

Lastly I added 3/4 of my cheese and mixed it well into my soup  and i is complete and the whole thing took about 40 minutes to start to finish.

Garnish at bowl with the remainder of cheese. The recipe makes about 500mL or 2 cups of soup


Overview:

The soup overall had a nice feel and texture. The colour was a pale green. It smelled like broccoli. The soup on its own is slightly bland bu with the addition of the cheese garnish it was much better and the flavours of nutmeg and thyme were more pronounced. The flavour of the broccoli wasn't overwhelming.

I got my sister to taste it as well she stated that it lacked flavour but she agreed that he cheese brought the other milder flavours out from under he broccoli

My biggest challenge was following the recipe. I had been looking specifically for a recipe for broccoli soup and I found many different ones but I chose this one because of its size and I was able to make a small portion sized. But I found the recipe needed more flavour that I feel like the mirepoix usually offers. It may be because I haven't developed my palate for simpler foods but I found it lacking even after my additions. Besides this I feel like my soup was success and I feel ,ore open to trying new things because this is my first time ever making this soup. I will apply my knowledge of making a soup to everyday things like making sauces and when ever I need to thicken liquids.

Pickled Carrots and Diakon Radish

I don't really enjoy pickled things but after trying daikon radish for my sensory analysis and seeing it used in recipes I decided to try and make it. My recipe is based off of a website called Simple Recipes a personal blog /website, created and maintained by Elise Bauer. Below I have a screenshot of the recipe webpage as well as a link to the website and original recipe and methodology.

Vietnamese Daikon and Carrot Pickles Recipe

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Yield: Makes approximately 5 pints.

For a lower glycemic option, you can substitute the 1 cup of sugar with 3/4 cup of agave syrup.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds carrots (about 5 medium sized carrots), peeled
• 2 pounds of daikon radishes (about 2 large daikon), peeled
• 1 cup plus 4 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 2 cups warm water (warm enough to easily dissolve sugar)

• About 5 pint jars

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/vietnamese_daikon_and_carrot_pickles/#ixzz3KIb5d7AW

Since it was my first time making this recipe as well as my first time trying anything like it so I decided to half the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pound carrots ( I used one really big carrot), peeled
• 1 pound of daikon radishes (about 1 large daikon), peeled
• 1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 cups white vinegar
• 1cups warm water (warm enough to easily dissolve sugar)
• pinch of ground black peppercorns

Equipment

• Tongs
• Measuring Spoons
• Measuring Cups (Liquid and Dry)
• Towel
• Ladle
• Madoline Slicer
• Cutting Board
• Vegetable Peeler
• Knife
• Pots (1 Large and 1 small)
• 
  

Preparation:

First, I removed the tops and bottoms of the radish and carrot. I peeled them and segmented in to about 3 inch pieces.

Change the blades on the mandoline slicer, to make match stitch cuts from the usual flat blade that would be used to cut things like potatoes for scalloped potatoes thinly or chips.
Slice the carrots and daikon segments. This can be done by hand like in the original recipe but I found the mandoline to be much quicker and precise.

Mixed the measured out 2 tesapoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Then toss with the daikon radish and carrot s and leave into rest for about 3 minutes. Water is drawn out of the carrots and daikon radish and once you are able to bend the vegetables without them breaking they are ready. At this point drain the liquid that was released and rise and strain the vegetables removing any excess salt and sugar.  Set this aside.

This was my first time ever canning/jarring anything. My sister does it yearly and I've always found the process interesting. Since I about halved the recipe I used only 3 jars.

 I  placed the jars, lids and screw top rims, that I had wash in hot water with soap and dried in the pots of water. the lids and rims in separate pans from the jars. I made sure that they were covered by at least an inch of water, faced upwards and put the heat on medium so they wouldn't go into shock and break. Making sure the jars are not too close together the boiling water will push them around and they can hit each other and break. Next I allowed the water to come up to a boil and let it boil for at least 10 minutes to make sure the jars are completely clean and sanitized. I do the same for the pot with the lids and rims. I removed the jars carefully from the hot water with clean tongs and set them on a waiting cloth.

Fill each mason jar with even portions of the carrots and daikon carrot mix. Taking care that it doesn't pass the fill line so there is enough space  for the pickling liquid

Mix together the measured  out vinegar, warm water and remaining sugar. Mix well so all of the sugar is completely dissolved. I had trouble with the measures of my liquid I didn't have enough so I made more following the concentration amounts of the original recipe

I added some crushed black peppercorn to the pickling liquid as well as in each jar.

Pour the pickling liquid over the vegetables in the jars all the way to the rim of the jars. Take a skewer or spoon and stir to make sure that there are no air bubbles. Then place the lids on and tighten just enough so liquid can not be lost or can not enter the jars but not completely tightened because the pressure when they are being sealed can cause the  jars to explode.

Then place the jars now full and closed back in the pot of water that is already on the heat on with the water almost boiling and at least an inch above the jars and let boil for at least ten minutes. Again, making sure the jars are not too close together the boiling water will push them around and they can hit each other and break. Then remove them from the hot water carefully and return to a towel or cooling rack. once each jar makes a popping noise  you know that the jars have been correctly sealed.

WOOT WOOT THE HOMEMADE PICKLED CARROTS AND DAIKON RADISH IS COMPLETE!!!

Overview: 

Raw Ingredients: Carrots and Daikon Radish
Preservation method: Pickling and Jarring/Canning
I got my information on how to pickle from my sister who cans and pickles the produce from her garden and small plot of farm land yearly.
Overall I feel like I did pretty well for my first time preserving something in this manner. I was super excited for the while process and I was proud that I correctly managed to seal my jars on my first try. I am happy with the overall outcome of my carrots and daikon radish. 

Greatest Culinary Experience

I would have to say my greatest culinary experience has been trying lots of new desserts and sweets on a tour of Europe I went on in March of 2012.

I have a huge sweet tooth so just trying new snacks and treats not readily available here in Canada was really cool.

Intro...

Hello my name is Fiona. N. F. Antwi. I am 18 years old and fresh out of high school. I love baking and I enjoying cooking. I hope to one day become a pastry chef.
My culinary inspiration is Anna Olsen. I used to watch her show “Sugar ” before school everyday when I was little and I figured I loved cooking and food and more specifically baking by trying to recreate her recipes. After that instead of going straight to cartoons when I watched TV I always went straight to Food Network.

I loved the challenge and I loved being able to just be creative and allow myself to free just express my feelings.

To me food is love and life 

BIO....

Hey Welcome to my blog 

1. My name is Fiona Antwi
2.  I want to become a chef or more specifically in my case a pastry chef because I  love food, art, and being able to express myself, and I feel like I could do these things and feel happy and satisfied with life. Plus its super fun
3. I am not currently working in the industry. My only industry-ish experience you could say is assisting in small catering events at school
4. My personal philosophy of cooking is just relax and go with the flow. I have never really considered what my philosophy to cooking or baking is so this is really just how I feel when i’m in the kitchen
5. What I hope to gain from this experience is a broadened view of the culinary world. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to become a pastry chef, and  to own my own baker,I have never really considered life as just a chef and this experience would allow me to have the opportunity to grow and learn the culinary skills and aspects of being a savoury chef.

pictures; #1- me (Fiona.N.F.Antwi)