An easy spin on Miso...

So, to counter my devilish New Years recipe, I thought I would offer something lighter and healthier.

Ozoni is a traditional breakfast/brunch food fed to Japanese families on New Years Day. It has a history of being served to the elite in historic Japan - offered to Samurais and royalty alike. Today, commoners and elite share in the tradition as it is served in the hopes of bringing prosperity all year long. As a point of interest, many New Year's Day foods are served in Japan for reasons other than taste.

However, my reasons are found in the flavor. It's similar to miso, but has more vegetables. Moreover, it is often served with an un-sweet mochi that I just LOVE. I also have a bit of a confession - while I love the stuff on New Years, I usually get on a kick and make this throughout the colder months of January and February. It's simple, and fast. Now, I will admit that this is not traditional - but it is adopted from a family friend of Japanese ancestry. I say adopted because some of the "traditional" vegetables are hard for me to come by, and I don't add the chicken. Here's the "available in Florida" recipe (and I'll point out where the chicken comes in):

Ozoni Soup:

Per 3 cups of water in a pot (double and triple as necessary), add 1 teaspoon dashi, and one tablespoon of soy sauce. Bring to a boil in a pot big enough to add the following vegetables (pick and choose with your tastes) -

mushrooms (shittake - but I cheated and added baby portobellos)
scallions
julienned carrots
Daikon (Japanese radish)
Napa Cabbage
And really just about any other kind of vegetable that suits your fancy.

Now, if you want to add chicken, you should add and boil for about an hour BEFORE the vegetables - until the chicken is completely falling apart and easily broken up into pieces. If you're making this for a crowd,I see nothing wrong with making a whole chicken. But, if you're making it for a few, feel free to add a breast or a couple of thighs.

Let cook to desired tenderness (I let mine just barely Blanche, as I like crunchy veggies).

Serve as it is, or with savory mochi. To cook mochi, you can boil (my usual choice) or grill. I have to warn you, this is a very difficult ingredient to find online. You want to find a Japanese food store. The mochi pieces are shelf-stable, individually wrapped, and very hard. It has no bean paste inside, just plain mochi. If you're really stuck, and you want the full experience, ask the store owner for mochi used for ozoni. Otherwise, you can easily (and authentically) substitute tofu or serve with nothing at all!

I also should add that traditional ozoni is served with kamaboko, which is a difficult ingredient for me to find. If you can manage it - it should be included for authenticity!

And, just because I hate to leave you here without at least the knowledge of TRUE Ozoni (as in, made from someone who has had the recipe handed down to them), here are some links:

http://www.champuru.net/blog/2008/12/31/easy-ozoni-recipe/

http://1tess.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/ozoni-new-years-day-soup/

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/12/29/ozoni.soup/

Happy and healthy 2009!

When Tomato Met Orange.

They fell madly in love.

Or maybe I fell madly in love. Whatever. During our summer Portland trip, we went on a food tour, and on it visited a deli that served tomato soup. The first sip was one of those where an amateur foodie furrows their eyebrows. The taste was not a problem - it was divine. The problem was that I wanted to identify the flavor. It was something citrus, but I had a hard time pinpointing it. Thankfully, the tour guide knew, and directed me: Orange. I was told that the recipe was online, but could not find it. So, I did some research and found that it was as simple as adding some orange juice to a tomato soup recipe. I have an standby I use often, so I figured a variation wouldn't be difficult. My variety is a slight be different - improved for my palate. If you're after a knock-off, I would suggest flying out to Portland and getting some there.

Softly Spicy Tomato Orange Soup

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil.
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 pounds of tomatoes, diced
zest of one orange
1/2 teaspoon garam marsala
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 6 oz can of tomato paste.
1 carton of vegetable broth
1-1.5 cups FRESH SQUEEZED orange juice
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped into small pieces.

To cook, start by sauteing the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat.

When the onions are softened, add the tomatoes. If you are feeling so inclined, and like a thicker soup, you can seed and juice the tomatoes. This will change the proportions of things like paste and broth, but you won't have any seeds in the soup. I never do this, but you certainly can.

Cook the tomatoes for around 5 minutes. Add zest, garam marsala, and cardamon. Let cook for another 5 minutes. Reduce heat if necessary.

Add broth and paste, Let cook together for around 10 minutes or so - you want the flavors to meld.

Add soup to a blender or use an immersion blender. When it comes together, add the cilantro and orange juice. Now, I know one question is "can I use store bought?" The answer is "I suppose," but I find store bought to be MUCH stronger. It makes it very easy to overdo the orange flavor in the soup. Even with the fresh, I would also suggest adding just a cup of the OJ. Then cook for a few minutes, and taste. Assess to see if you want to intensify the orange flavor or not. A fresh orange is not a standardized product - depending on the freshness, season, and ripeness, you could get an entirely different flavor. You can't un-add something you've added, so it's better to add slow, taste, and add again.

Simmer for as long as you want to reduce, thicken, and meld. Let sit in the pot for 10 minutes or so off the burner to continue the flavor union.
Season with salt and pepper, garnish with additional cilantro, if desired. Serve with crusty bread.

What do you do with a dead tomato?

As I typed that, I couldn't help but sing it to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?"

But, I digress.

Let me ask you, have you bought some nice, fresh, firm but juicy, positively perfect in every way, tomatoes - only to have them become mush within 24 hours?

This is my life.

As I am with bananas, I am quite particular about tomatoes. I cannot STAND them when they get grainy and mushy. Blech. They must be perfectly firm, but ripe and juicy.

There are 4 ways that I enjoy a fresh tomato:

(1) Slice and top with soft goat cheese and heat, just slightly, in the microwave.

(2) Alternate slices with fresh mozzarella and sprinkle fresh basil. Drizzle EVOO and balsamic vinegar over the top.

(3) Chop and enjoy over some black beans, cilantro lime rice, along with avocado and sour cream.

(4) Chop and enjoy over the top of a Mexican salad with Newman's Own Lime Vinaigrette.

So, the question becomes - what do you do with a not-rotten-but-not-fresh-tomato? I used to toss them, but then I came across this fantastic recipe for Tomato Soup. I got this from a creative Mommy who makes her own slings. I almost always double or triple this recipe when tomatoes go on sale, and then stick leftovers in large bags in the freezer. You also have this option if your tomatoes are about to go bad, but you aren't prepared for tomato soup for dinner.

Tomato Soup

1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb fresh tomatoes, chopped, or 1 lg. (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream or half & half
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp. chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil until soft. Add tomatoes and cook over med. heat for 10 minutes. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, cream and 1 Tbsp of the basil. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Process with hand blender or in blender jar until smooth. Return to pan and add remaining basil, salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Some additional thoughts:

I have omitted the sauce and added more tomatoes. This worked fine, just reduce the amount of broth by a little.

I also replaced the half-and-half with 2%. I didn't notice a difference.

I also use vegetable broth with great results.

Make sure you use very little salt, as this salts up unexpectedly quickly.

I topped with mozzarella instead - and it melted nicely into the soup.

A very nice savory tomato soup. Not at all sweet. It's also hardy like a bisque.

I used my immersion blender right in the bot to blend. Perfecto!

Here's a picture of the soup in our freezer, waiting to be eaten.
If you're more Classico than Campbell's...you might be more interested in making tomato sauce with your elderly tomato.

I did this the other night. Dice up an onion, mince some garlic (I put in 3 full cloves - I LOVE garlic). Throw down some EVOO and get them all nice and cooking. Then add in some chopped tomatoes (water and all) and let it cook down for 10 or 15 minutes over medium heat. I then added some red wine and fresh basil, and let things cook for another 5 minutes or so. I blended things up a bit more with my immersion blender, which made a very thin sauce. If you like chunky, skip the blending step. Top your favorite pasta (I had linguine), add some cheese, and you are in buisness!