Roasted Cauliflower, Potato, and Red Bell Pepper Soup

Nice to see you again! It's been a while!

...ok. A long while.

You know how it is, life gets in the way. I've still been cooking, but the past few hectic months, the food hasn't really been inspired, not worth posting. Just not special.

Well, yesterday, that all changed. Looking through my fridge, I had a sudden epiphany: I was going to make roasted cauliflower soup. The weather is starting to turn cool, which means pureed soups are making their reappearance. The problem was that I had only a quarter of a head of cauliflower, which wouldn't make very much soup.

And in a moment of eureka, my roasted cauliflower, potato, and red bell pepper soup was born.


Roasted Cauliflower, Potato, and Red Bell Pepper Soup
with homemade croutons

Recipe below is double what I made, since I was making it for two and we ate ALL of it, easily. Feel free to even double again if you're making for more than 4 people.

1-2 tbs olive oil
1/2 head of cauliflower
2 red bell peppers
10 small red potatoes, peeled
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbs butter
1 yellow onion, diced finely
4 cups of chicken stock
2/3 cup milk
Salt & Pepper
Homemade Croutons (optional)
Chopped Basil (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

To prepare the vegetables, cut the cauliflower into thick slices to get as much flat surface as possible; quarter the potatoes; cut the peppers into large chunks. Toss the three veggies with the peeled garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, and pepper.



Spread out the veggies on a baking sheet, turning them with a flat, cut side down. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the veggies, and bake for another 15 minutes. Look for a dark, caramelized color on the veggies. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes.


While the veggies cool, warm the butter in a large pot until melted. Add the onion and sautee until the onion starts to brown. Once the onion is slightly brown, add the chicken stock to de-glaze. Bring the onions and stock to a light simmer, then turn off the heat and let cool for 5 min.

Next, put all the veggies into a blender, and add the stock/onion mixture. Because I made such a small batch of soup, I was able to do this all in one step, but if you make the full recipe (or especially a double recipe) you may need to do this in batches.


Puree the mixture completely until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot used for the stock/onions, and put the heat on low to get warm again. Add the milk and stir to incorporate. If you feel the soup is too thick at this point (it may be depending on the size of your potatoes or cauliflower), add a little more milk or stock.

Serve topped with homemade croutons and chopped basil.

Butterflied Grilled Chicken

Per our usual weekly routine, Chris and I went to Whole Foods this past weekend to find something new and exciting to cook. Having exhausted the "unusual meats" category (bison steak, beef shank, etc.), we decided to make an effort at the one meat that has always eluded us: chicken.

In fact, one of my very first posts talked about our utter lack of skill in cooking a chicken.

So this past weekend, I went up to the meat counter, and asked for a chicken.

"Do you want that butterflied?"

I hadn't thought of that! I told him we were going to be grilling, and he suggested giving it a try. So he did a thorough job of butterflying it, removing the backbone, and removing the kill bone.

Consulting the cooking bible when we got home, we set about making a grilled butterflied chicken.

The result?

Oh. my. goodness.

Amazing.

I will never make a whole chicken any other way, ever again. It was flavorful, tender, and downright incredible.


Grilled Butterflied Chicken

Brine:
1/4 cup salt
2 tbs italian seasoning
1 tbs garlic pepper
Water

1 small butterflied chicken
Olive oil
Chopped garlic
Italian seasoning
Garlic Pepper


Mix the salt, italian seasoning, and garlic pepper with enough water to cover the chicken in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

When you're ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the brine and discard the liquid. Rub the chicken with olive oil, chopped garlic, Italian seasoning, garlic pepper, and any other combination of flavorful spices you want to use.



Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes to warm up a little.

Place chicken on a hot grill skin/breast side down. Let cook for 10-12 minutes.



Flip over and if using a grill with multiple burners, kill just the burner directly underneath the chicken to keep it from scorching; leave the other burner(s) on. Close the lid and let the chicken cook for another 15-20 minutes, monitoring temperature to keep it between 350 and 400.



Finally, flip the chicken back over again, and turn the burner beneath the chicken on. Cook for another 5 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175.

Remove from grill and let sit for 5 minutes.

Grab a fork and dig in!

Bobby Flay's Chicken Salad w/ Chile-Peanut Dressing

It's no big secret that Chris and I love Asian flavors. So when Chris stumbled upon this salad recipe with 5 stars and over 150 reviews, we knew we had to give it a shot!

The salad is definitely hearty and an entree-style salad. It makes a pretty impressive meal and is super easy! Below is the full recipe from Food Network, but I also added some notes where we strayed a bit.

Chinese Chicken Salad with Chile-Peanut Dressing
adapted from foodnetwork.com

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chipotle pepper puree (we used chipotle powder)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup canola oil (we used peanut oil since this is a peanut dressing)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 head Napa cabbage, shredded
1/2 head romaine lettuce, shredded
2 carrots, shredded (we also added yellow bell pepper)
1/4 pound snow peas, julienned
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
Chili oil, optional (in our book, this is absolutely not optional!)
Fried wonton strips (store-bought or homemade)

Whisk together the vinegar, peanut butter, ginger, chipotle pepper puree, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, chili oil, and canola/peanut oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Combine cabbage, lettuce, carrots, snow peas, cilantro, and green onion in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine.

Transfer to a serving platter and top with the shredded chicken, chopped peanuts, and fried wonton strips. Sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds.

Condo Makeover

Well, apparently I took the entire month of February off from blogging. Life has just gotten in the way, but I do have something to show for it!

Chris and I bought our condo!

The condo that we've lived in for the past year or so was available to purchase, so we took the leap and became homeowners. But with that, came the immediate desire to change absolutely everything about it.

We were so thankful then that my wonderful parents offered to fly out and help us for a long weekend!

The condo used to be very dark, with dark walls and mediocre lighting. Oh, and we can't possibly ignore the bamboo blinds.



We tackled the whole thing, ceiling to floorboards, with a brighter coat of paint. We then also installed all new lighting and blinds, and the result is incredible! It's like a whole new home!