Finally did a wee bit o' cookin'...

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, I had not had a great deal of time to experiment and cook on my own lately, so my posts have mostly been cool things people had sent me or I had seen while perusing recipes. The other night I did have time to make dinner, though, and I wanted to share it because it was an experiment, and it turned out great. My wife had mentioned doing an easy dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches one night. So, I decided to go ahead and make the soup myself (as well as the bread, though we just ate it straight out of the oven and didn't mess with cheese sandwiches). It was actually tomato basil bisque, not tomato soup. Here's what I did for the soup:

3, 14.5oz cans of chicken stock
2, 6oz cans of tomato paste
2, 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 C cream
about 2 C fresh basil (roughly chopped)
about 1 T minced garlic
ground rosemary-
salt                       - all 3 to taste
garlic                  -
1/4 C flour
olive oil to coat pan

So, I realize that not all the ingredients have measurements, and I apologize for that. However, seasoning is really a "to taste" sort of thing as each palate is different. Anyway, I basically started with heating up the olive oil, and cooking the flour, then adding the cream (a basic roux), chicken stock, and minced garlic. Then I added the tomato paste, as it needs to cook a bit, as well. After that, I basically just added everything else, the crushed tomatoes, the rest of the stock, and the spices. After it had cooked down a bit, I hit it for just a few short bursts with the immersion blender. I just wanted some of the basil and crushed tomatoes a bit smaller, but I also wanted it to be somewhat thick and chunky. I let it simmer on low for about an hour, while stirring occasionally. Anyway, the family really liked it (my biggest critics), so I chalked it up as a a victory. Here are the pics:

Nothing like fresh basil, amazing (and it's from a buddy's garden)

Not promoting any particular brand, although I try to get low sodium, no msg, type of products.

The roux

Just about to immersion blend

Finito!

Just added these bread pics for the heck of it (basic recipe below)

Finito, also

Breakin' bread

As I said, it was good. Sometimes it's the simple things...

Here's the quick bread recipe I used:

2 C warm water

2 T yeast

2 T sugar

2 t salt (we have totally switched to sea salt)

6 C flour 

Optional, top with fresh rosemary, sea salt, and fresh black pepper

Add yeast, sugar, and salt to water in mixing and stir. Let it sit for a minute until it gets a tough foamy. Put bowl on mixer and add the flour, mix just until it forms a ball. Knead for a minute then put in greased loaf pans, I used 1 round, and 1 loaf pan. Bake at 325° for about 35-45 minutes.

Buon Appetito!