Avocado w/ Grilled Shrimp Soup

Apology in advance and full discretion: My camera was too loved over this past weekend in Seattle and its battery just couldn't take anymore, resulting in death of battery right before my cooking session began.  The photos are post-production and I am ever so sorry...  Please and thanks continue to love me despite this irresponsible misstep.

I received a wonderful cookbook from my mom about a year ago and until yesterday I had yet to try any of the recipes.  Its The Daily Soup Cookbook, all recipes coming from the infamous soup/salad/sammy restaurant in NYC.  There were several things standing in my way... not actually owning a stockpot, not having the balls to make my own stocks (just going to the butcher and asking for "chicken backs and necks" is enough to send me straight to the soup aisle ISO neatly nicely canned chicken stock.  i mean... yikes), and some of these ingredients I've never, ever heard of which means finding this item would include a little research and a lot of wandering around already unfamiliar grocery stores.  So here's how I finally took the plunge and made my very first Daily Soup soup.  Three stars aligned: 1) freakishly hot indian summer day called for a COLD soup, 2) ventured to Berkeley Bowl for the first time and will never need to see another grocery store as long as I live and 3) I suppose I felt up for a challenge (thank god, cuz it was a lot of work...)

The soup I chose to make this fateful day was the Avocado with Grilled Shrimp.  I forgot to buy skewers for the grill because I was so in awe of the amazingness that is Berkeley Bowl so I ended up broiling the shrimpies (totally fine, equally delicious).  Note to self and all who are as inexperienced with cooking as I am - don't be an idiot!  Don't buy shrimp that have not already been shelled and deveined.  I made this mistake yesterday and as a result spent about an hour just prepping the shrimp, worrying all the while that the shrimp had already gone bad (they hadn't, I'm just neurotic) and thinking to myself "doesn't it mean they're cooked when they're pink?  they look a little pinker than grey like they were when i bought them... what does this all MEAN?!"

Everything was fine, people.  Don't get your apron in a bunch (like I did).  I did make a nice little ice bath for my shrimpies to sit in while I prepped away.  That may or may not have helped... it at least made me feel better minus the cold fingers.

 

The rest was a piece of cake.  Seeding the beefsteak tomatoes was slightly annoying but I used a grapefruit spoon to do that job and was once again glad I own grapefruit spoons (thanks Mrs. Leinss :) and also amazed at my own genius... ha.  Try this served with tortilla chips (it is a lot like salsa with an excuse to eat it with a spoon b/c its called soup) or with a yummy toasted bread of some sort.

Avocado with Grilled (or broiled) Shrimp
adapted from The Daily Soup Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Haas avocados, seeded and cut into 1/4" cubes
6 beefsteak tomatoes (about 4 lbs), halved and seeded, seeds reserved
1 cup basic vegetable stock
1 pickled jalapeno
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup parsley (totally optional)

Directions:
1.  In a shallow dish combine 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and pepper.  Add shrimp and coat well with the mixture.  Let stand 5 minutes.

2.  Preheat a grill, grill pan or broiler.

3.  Grill or broil the shrimp 2 minutes per side until they're bright red and cooked through.  Remove from heat and set aside.

4.  In a small bowl, combine avocado cubes with remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, set aside.

5.  After halving and seeding tomatoes, cut half of the tomatoes into a dice and set aside.

6.  In a blender or food processor, combine the remaining tomatoes, all of the tomato seeds, vegetable stock, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, jalapeno and garlic cloves.  Puree until smooth.

7.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in diced tomatoes, grilled shrimp, avocado mixture, cilantro and red onion.

8.  Serve chilled.  Garnish with parsley if you want, I guess... (I hate parsley).  Include a bowl of tortilla chips or toasted baguette as edible spoons.

Enjoy this dish before summer is over!  If you're one of my Minnesota loves, I'm so sorry your summer is probably over.  It'll be 84 degrees in Oakland today... I think I'll have leftovers.

mas pumpkin por favor

I have this anxiety about food going bad.  I mean it happens all the time, like all the time, but I hate it!  Wasting perfectly good ingredients that would have made perfectly delicious pieces of meals... a damn shame.  I was/am determined to not let this can of pumpkin go bad.  I don't have the slightest clue of how long it will keep in my fridge with its little plastic-wrap-hat, but until I see green, I'm gonna call it good.  Therefore, behold!  Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Goldies!!!!!!

 The pumpkin can was opened and partially used, of course, for my first food-blog endeavor: pumpkin bread pudding.  The final contents of the can may, indeed, be used for more pumpkin bread pudding.  We shall see.

I love brown sugar's packing abilities.  The person whose recipe I adapted even considers it a "wet ingredient"... weird.  As you can see from my "wet ingredient" picture below... I do not at all agree with this notion.  Hmph.

Pumpkin in a pumpkin sooooo redundant.

Yes it says "more popcorn please" in the bottom of my mixing bowl.  Hey, don't judge.

 I made a few small adjustments here due to curiosity and lack of equipment (teehe)... In my dry ingredients I subbed hot cocoa mix for unsweetened cocoa powder and I added a tsp. of instant espresso... because sometimes curiosity cured the cat of her taste for something delicious.  But in this case not so much.

Oh don't worry, those beaters got what they had coming... yep, my tongue.

 I also used an 8"x8" pan because, well, I don't have an 11"x7" so there.  As you can see the pumpkin goldies turned out just fine.  Warning: these do not really taste like pumpkin!  I even added a little more pumpkin because it didn't seem like enough pumpkin flavor.  Next time I might try pumpkin pie spice instead of all the cinnamon, allspice, espresso (ok that was my bad) etc.  It's like these couldn't figure out what they really wanted to be.  I have nooooo clue what that could possibly feel like.

So here you are!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Goldies
Adapted from Small Home Big Start 

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp hot cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp canned pumpkin
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Spray an 8"x8" pan with nonstick spray.  In large bowl, mix together wet ingredients.  In medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Using a hand blender, combine dry ingredients in with wet ingredients until completely blended and smooth.  Add chocolate chips and mix with spatula.  Empty contents into the 8"x8" pan and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.  Let cool, lick that bowl clean, and eat up!

And if anyone figures out how to make these taste like pumpkin, let me know!

fall into pumpkin season

As the very first raindrops of fall fell all day long, I longed for the heartiness of flavor that comes with the season.  So I ditched the colorful sandals of summer for my trusty fall boots, headed to the grocery store to get inspired.  Ok I'm lying, I actually knew what I was going to buy before I went to the store (who goes without a list, honestly).  After searching high and low for pumpkin, of all things, I had to settle on pumpkin pie filling (not what the recipe called for but I'm always up for a challenge).  I just love leaving the store with baguette sticking out of my bag, don't you?  Makes life feel just a little more, je ne sais quoi...

This recipe was just what I wanted today.  That is, easy.  And sweet.  Cube up the bread, mix together some yumminess, throw it in the oven and DONE.  I found this recipe on fellow food blogger site smitten kitchen.  Thank you!

As I said, I couldn't find regular canned pumpkin.  I used pumpkin pie filling instead and it worked just fine.  I think i overpoured the bourbon (it doesn't count when it's in food, right?  Right.) and I could definitely taste it!  I'd stick with 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the booze.  Unless you like your bread pudding extra boozy.

What a dork - I had to switch to a bigger bowl!!!

At this point you will want to pour the contents of this bowl straight into your mouth.  I would not recommend this, however.  Trust me it is worth the wait.

The finished product.  Mmmmmm...

So after cubing the entire baguette I realized I had some extra cubes!  What to do, what to do...  Of course, break out the garlic and herb chevre and have yourself a snack!