Blizzard Zuppa!

So, we're all snowed in, right? I had the idea earlier in the week to make a gigantic pot of vegetable soup and eat it all week long. Weight Watchers has a cabbage soup that's really simple and completely fat-free. What a great idea to have a hearty bowl of soup and eat as much as you want, without a worry! That recipe/idea has been around for years, I believe. I remember a "cabbage soup" diet from the 80's. Anyway, that was partially my motivation. The other part is that I really love a bowl of spicy and flavorful soup, brimming with vegetables and beans, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with freshly grated cheese. It's warming, satisfying and simply delicious. So, during the storm, I was storming the produce department to stock up on color. I was short on everything, so, I picked up the following vegetables:

Onions

Celery

Carrots

Parsnips

Kale

Cabbage

Red Bell Pepper

Jalapeno Peppers

Red Potatoes

Unlike the Weight Watchers soup, I like a little more flavor and a little more fat. It's all healthy, no matter what. It's kind of a vegetarian (not vegan because of the chicken broth) minnestrone without the pasta. I used all of the above vegetables, plus the following ingredients which I had in stock:

Garlic

Cannelini Beans

Light Red Kidney Beans

Garbanzo Beans

Black Beans

Swanson 100% Fat Free Chicken Broth

Passata di Pomodoro*

Bay Leaves

Olive Oil

Kosher Salt & Pepper

Chili Powder

Red Pepper Flakes

Ground Red Pepper

Adobo Seasoning

So, I coated the bottom of my 16 quart pot with olive oil and then sauteed these chopped veg: onions, garlic, carrots, celery, parsnip, red bell pepper and jalapeno peppers...... in quantity! Then, salt, pepper, a couple of bay leaves and red pepper flakes. Then I added the kale (ribs removed, chopped coarsely) and the cabbage (chopped coarsely). If you make this (or something similar), just add, stir and cook. Then, I added the chicken broth and the passata di pomodoro* (you can also add canned whole tomatoes, broken up, or tomato sauce, or fresh or canned chopped tomatoes or whatever you like). Season with your favorite seasonings. I used chili powder, ground red pepper and some Adobo seasoning. Use whatever makes you happy. If you don't add enough salt and seasonings, your soup is going to be bland. So, don't be shy. Once the soup simmers for awhile, the vegetables become tender and the flavor develops. Then, add peeled and cubed potatoes (red potatoes work well since they're waxy, they won't disintegrate . . . what potatoes? lol) and also add the beans, rinsed and drained. I always rinse and drain canned beans because I find that the liquid is sometimes salty and kind of gooey. I do believe that canned beans are a great product and one of the few canned items (plus tomatoes, for sure) that I have the utmost faith in....

OK... Taste, Taste, Taste. Adjust. You don't want to end up with a huge pot of bland and boring soup. I love the way ground red pepper and fresh hot peppers plus the tomatoes add zippiness to zuppa! Don't forget the salt because the broth is low sodium and it's up to you to flavor your food : ) : ) : ).

Barley or farro would be an outstanding addition to this soup, but be careful not to add too much or all of your flavorful broth will be absorbed and it won't be soup anymore. : )..... Pasta is always great. Make it separately and add it when you reheat a small pot or just add it in the bowl..... Ditalini or orzo would be great if you want to add more carbs and make it really filling. In any case, here's the best way to serve it up:

Drizzle with olive oil

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan, Romano, Grana Padano or aged Asiago

Add freshly ground black pepper

Crusty, chewy, fresh, rustic bread on the side ~ buttered and ready to dunk

*Passata di Pomodoro - Try some! Super-fresh tasting, seeded & sieved tomatoes, imported from Italy. You can find them in bottles at your local Italian import store. Just tomatoes and salt. Really a nice addition for soups or even for a really fresh and simple pasta sauce.

Um, I'll ttyl. I'm gonna go eat another bowl. One of the bowls most people use as a serving dish. LOL.

Love ya,

Enjoy the snow and the soup,

Love,

Katie

Ciabatta!

Flour, yeast, salt, water, time, heat.

Almost no effort. Crusty, chewy, heartwarming. No-knead Ciabatta.

Nothing beats fresh bread just out of the oven.

Video coming soon . . . because I want your kitchen to smell like my kitchen.

Love,

Katie

The Staff of Life

A few years back, I gave up bread for Lent. That'll never happen again.

My name is Katharine Fioretti and I am a . . . breadaholic.

Please return to KPK for my upcoming article about bread . . . baking it, loving it, buying it, reading about it, writing about it and eating it!

No carbo-phobes please.

Secret note: There is a big bowl of dough rising and doing it's thing on my kitchen counter right at this VERY MOMENT ! ! ! ! Yippppeeeeeee!

ttyl,

katie

KPK Holiday Cookies 2010

Happy Holidays Friends & Fam!

This year's holiday cookie lineup:

Macadamia Nut Cookies with White Chocolate ~ click for the recipe

Mocha Pecan Balls rolled in Confectioners Sugar ~click for the recipe

Toasted Coconut Thumbprints Cherry, Apricot & Chocolate

Espresso & Chocolate Mini Chip Cookies with Cassia Cinnamon ~ click for the recipe

I will post the recipes eventually, lol..... If you'd like a recipe sooner than later, please send me an e-mail and I'll rush it to ya! 12/28/2010 - 3 recipes posted . . . 1 to go!

Happy Crazy Season!

Enjoy the excitement!

Best Wishes to all for a lovely and passionate holiday season . . . from Katie's Passion Kitchen.

Love,

Katie

French Onion Soup Gratinee'

For this recipe, you will need four* soup bowls, each with a capacity of about 12 ounces and preferably, with a lip or rim around the edge that the cheese topping will stick to as it melts to form a beautiful crust on top of the soup. *I believe I adjusted the recipe for the batch shown here (six bowls).

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 onions (about 12 oz.) cut into thin slices

About 7 cups of good quality chicken stock or a mixture of chicken and beef stock

About ½ teaspoon salt, more or less, depending on the saltiness of the stock

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

16 slices of baguette, each cut about 3/8” thick

About 3 cups grated Swiss cheese, preferably Gruyere, Comte’, or Emmenthaler (abut 10 ounces)

Process: Melt the butter in a saucepan and saute the sliced onions in the butter over medium to high heat for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the stock, salt and pepper and boil gently for 15 minutes. How easy is this?

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the bread slices in a single layer on a tray, and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are nicely browned. Divide the toast among the bowls, and sprinkle ¼ cup of cheese into each bowl.

When the stock and onions have cooked for 15 minutes, pour the soup into the bowls, filling each to the top. Sprinkle on the remainder of the cheese, dividing it among the bowls and taking care not to push it down into the liquid. Press the cheese around the rim or lip of the bowls, so it adheres there as it cooks and the crust does not fall into the liquid.

Arrange the soup bowls on a baking sheet, and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a glorious brown, rich crust has developed on top. Serve hot right out of the oven.

KPK Notes: Cover your sturdiest baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Use good cheese. If you use the already shredded Swiss/Gruyere artisan combo by Sargento, I would add some Emmenthaler or Gruyere on the very top. For this recipe, I once used two packages of the Sargento stuff (for speediness) but I also grated a $9.00 chunk of Emmenthaler which I think melts and browns much nicer and forms a better crust on top. Use your grater with the largest holes. Bon Appetit!

This recipe is OUTSTANDING and simple! It was adapted from Jacques Pepin's recipe which was featured in his wonderful autobiographical book, "The Apprentice, My Life In The Kitchen". A MUST-read for anyone interested in the fascinating life of this great chef!

Upper left photo - Budding chef, Sam Fioretti, ladles the steaming onion soup over the crusty baguette slices . . . Lower right photo, Sam shows off the finished products in all of their bubbly, oozy, crusty, molten, cheesy glory! AAAhhhhhhhhh! Life is good.

Make this for yourself and for your family and friends ASAP. Drop everything, LOL.

Love,

Katie

Happy Holidays from Katie's Passion Kitchen

Stay Warm - Eat Soup

Cookie Season Is Upon Us

Katie's Passion Kitchen wishes you a sweet holiday season with just a little time to bake something special for the ones you love............


I will share this year's holiday treats with you as they come out of the oven! Love, Katie

Elegant Special Occasion Cab Franc

Mount Veeder Cabernet Franc 2006

From the mountain vineyards of the Napa Valley to your table. Smooth, silky, supple . . . elegant. We really enjoyed this wine from the first sip to the last. Did you know that Cabernet Franc is one of the five noble red varieties of Bordeaux? In France, it's called Chinon, the red grape of the Loire region. Apparently, there's not much of this stuff planted in California, so it's really special. As a wine club member of "Expressions Of The Vine", I received this wonderful bottle as one of their featured wines for November, 2010.

Order a bottle today by clicking here.

Less than 300 cases made. $45 a bottle.

Be Well~Red,

Love, Katie

Fresh Pear Cake

Delicious, moist and irresistible. Perfect for the season. Definitely
 a new favorite. Made from pears freshly picked
 from the Brenner Ranch.

The Ingredients

4 cups finely chopped fresh pears

(peeled and cored)

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Glaze ~ 1 cup of powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoons of cream, and a dash of pure vanilla extract. Combine all ingredients, adding a little cream at a time until the glaze is the right consistency for a beautiful drizzle.

The Process

Combine the pears, sugar and nuts in a large bowl. Mix occasionally and let stand for one hour. The mixture will become more syrupy as the sugar melts and the pears release their juices. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan. Now add the dry ingredients to the pear mixture. No need to sift. No need for an electric mixer. Simply add the dry ingredients to the pear mixture and stir to combine. Now, this seems weird, but next, add the liquid ingredients. The oil, eggs and extract. Honestly, it just does not seem right, but you will have to trust me on this. It will look strange and it will seem that the oil won't blend into the batter. But you will find, voila'! . . . It blends nicely. Don't overmix. Just stir well until blended. Spoon or pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Start watching closely after one hour. I actually took mine out after 1 hour and 5 minutes and it was perfecto. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for awhile. Maybe 20-30 minutes or so. Invert it onto a wire rack and then, turn it right side up again. Poke holes into the cake with a wooden skewer or a fork or a toothpick. Drizzle the glaze over the warm cake and let it drip down the sides. Don't you just LOVE that? Allow it to cool a little further before digging in. Everyone will love this cake and it's baker. Enjoy! Click HERE for the printable version of this recipe!

Peace & Pears, Love, Katie 

Orange Cranberry Walnut Bread Circa 1979

Last weekend, I made a pre-Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night. A whole turkey breast on the grill, homemade stuffing, sweet potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. I guess I was just in the mood, right? The cranberry sauce triggered a memory of my mom's cranberry nut bread from "back in the day". Turns out to be over 30 years ago. She liked to serve each slice with a generous smear of cream cheese and it was soooo delicious! So, yesterday, I asked my mom if she could retrieve the recipe and she immediately pointed to the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook on the second shelf of her armoire. I was so happy that she knew exactly where the recipe came from. She assured me that it was the right recipe because she had just recently picked up the same cookbook (about a week ago), and re-read it, cover to cover. The corner of page 223 was folded to mark the page of this recipe. We perused the book for other old recipes, one of which was a classic sour cream pound cake that I definitely remember being buttery, dense and wonderful. Over a cup of tea and some sweet treats, my mom pulled out yet another favorite pan for me . . . her tube pan for the sour cream pound cake AND . . . her deep springform pan with the removable bottom for her infamous lemon glazed cheesecake. She washed and dried both pans and sent me home with them to enjoy with all of the other vessels, tools and utensils and countless kitchen items she has gifted to me over the years. My collection is growing. This recipe (adapted and shown below) produces a moist and delicious quick bread with very little preparation and few ingredients. The tartness of the cranberries combined with the nuts is of course, a classic and winning combination. The cookbook is a 1979 printing of the first edition 1978 Better Homes & Gardens "COMPLETE STEP~BY~STEP COOKBOOK".

The Recipe

Orange Cranberry Walnut Bread Circa 1979

3 medium oranges

1 beaten egg

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

Zest one orange. Reserve. Juice all three oranges. Measure 3/4 cup orange juice. Reserve remaining juice. Combine 3/4 cup orange juice, 1 teaspoon of the zest, the egg and the oil. In a separate bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the orange juice mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir to just combine. Don't overmix. Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Turn into greased 8x4x2 or 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool. Prepare glaze by adding 2 to 3 tablespoons of orange juice to powdered sugar until it becomes smooth, and of drizzling consistency. Drizzle onto cooled loaf and sprinkle with additional orange zest.

Click here for printable recipe

KPK Notes-n-Tips: If you don't own a juicer, feel free to use good quality orange juice (I love Tropicana NOT from concentrate with extra pulp). If you do have a juicer, use it! I did. (Don't hate - Appreciate). It only takes a minute to juice three oranges, folks! If you don't have a Microplane zester, buy one, ok? You won't be able to stop zesting. Next note: I used canola oil with excellent results. Timesaver note: Trader Joe's sells sliced sweetened frozen cranberries! Talk about convenient. You can throw this loaf together in NO time. Planning note: I tend to toast a good quantity of nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts - separately) when I have time. Then I keep them fresh in ziplock bags in the freezer. That way, I always have toasted nuts on hand for baking. Grease tip: Use a bit of oil to grease the pan or a non-stick cooking spray. Cooling tip: I cooled the loaf in the pan on a rack for awhile. I then transferred the partially cooled loaf to the rack and glazed it while it was slightly warm. Line a sheet pan with parchment or wax paper underneath your rack to catch the drips for easy cleanup. Let the glaze cool completely on the cake. Simple and delicious and perfect for the season. Secret Note: While writing this post, it occurred to me that I am quite sure that I did not add salt to the flour mixture when I made this today, LOL. It was still great! Haha. Make one today and let me know how you like it. I made this one when I woke up this morning and brought it to work for my taste-testers. I couldn't wait to call my mom and tell her when it was in the oven. She was so happy that I baked it and she was like "Did you put it in your blog?" . . . I did now!

Great reviews. 1979 & 2010.

Thanks, Em. Love you.

From Amelia's Kitchen to mine to yours,

Love, Katie

Gourmet Caramel Apples 2010