Snow Day Soup: Bleu Cheese and Leek

Worked from home today to avoid the snow - or more specifically the traffic mess caused by the snow. Two years ago I spent four hours getting home from work in snow storm, meaning average speed was about 2.5 mph.  So I make sure I have my laptop at home when snow is forecast.

So I got to play in the kitchen a little today. For breakfast, made my favorite smoothie (frozen berries, banana, orange juice and yogurt thrown into the blender - delicious), and for lunch I made Bleu Cheese and Leek soup. Trader Joe's now offers a bag of sliced leeks in the frozen vegetable section. I've been using the frozen artichokes and frozen onions and frozen peppers for awhile - love to saute a few artichokes or peppers and throw into the middle of an omelet. But I hadn't seen the leeks before so I snagged them. The soup took about 15 minutes to make AND i got to use up leftovers.

2 tablespoons  Butter

1 cup chopped leeks

3 cups water - added 2 veggie bouillon cubes and minced garlic cloves

2 cups chopped cauliflower (we had leftover broccoli and cauliflower medley from dinner)

sprinkle of dried tarragon leaves

1 or 2  ounces Blue Cheese, crumbled

pepper to taste

Instructions:

Melt butter in pot over medium-low heat. Add leeks; cook until tender. Add cauliflower, tarragon, garlic and  stock; simmer until cauliflower is tender, 12-15 minutes.

Scoop the cooked veggies out with a slotted spoon and place in a blender. Add the crumbles of blue cheese to the blender and blend. Once it is pureed, pour it back in with the broth and stir it up.Simmer it a little more, then ladle bowls. Grind a little black pepper over the top if desired.


Eat with some buttered french bread and an apple.
While saute-ing the leeks, Jackie called to discuss christmas presents, I got lost in the moment and over-browned the butter and the leeks, causing the soup to turn into an unappetizing  mushroom color. But it was delicious. The bleu cheese added a little twang over the oniony taste of the leeks. Perfect for a cold winter day.

Nicola's

Christmas Shopping at Costco last year included a gift card for ourselves for either Via Vite / Nicola's. $75 cost for $100 card. I had heard that Nicola's was really good and seemed like a chance to branch out a little from our dining-out rut. And $100 would certainly cover an extravagant meal for two? Right on the 'really good'.  Extravagant was actually over $100.


We were Saturday choring most of the day, actually digging up a bunch of dirt to make a stone patio. The stones came with the house and there is a small space in the yard that seems perfect for a stone patio, so we'll see how it works out in the long run. Anyway, it was dusty work but the day was beautiful, and I realized that it was probably one of the last patio-dining opportunities of the season. So we opentabled a reservation for 8:30 pm and made our way downtown.


Patio-dining must be formally over; they weren't seating anyone on the patio but the tables were still set up. The hostess said sure why not? so it was just us and about eight empty tables. Cool! Very Lady and the Tramp feeling, with the diners all visible through the windows and us by our lonesome. 


We've been to Italy just once, and what I recall most vividly is ordering at restaurants. Invariably, the waiter would look at us quizzically after we place our order with an "And?".......   Antipasti, pasta, first plate, second plate - three or four courses were expected. The last night we were there, we starved all day, then went to a restaurant and told them we would like to eat a full Italian meal. I fizzled out about halfway, but the waiter and the cook were enjoying our effort. One table over, a father and son duo were eating their way through the menu. At one point, the waiter wheeled out a cart with a gigantic crown roast of pork. The father thereupon stood up, stripped down to his tee shirt, returned to his seat with knife and fork in hand, and dug in. Eating is hard labor in Italy, and I could not compete.


So we tag-teamed the menu. Ralph had an appetizer, Mushroom soup with roasted chicken breast, puffed semolina and  Porcini oil, which he loved. I ordered a salad -  Belgian endive and pears with walnuts and shallot sherry vinaigrette, delicious, very crisp and light - little matchsticks with just a smattering of walnuts. Next, I ordered a pasta, Crispy potato gnocchi with four cheese fondue and truffle shavings. The gnocchi was toasted, crispy on the outside and potato goodness within. Ralph had the Arctic Char, with sautéed rapini and olive oil whipped potatoes for a main course. I bypassed the main course and went straight to dessert: tiramisu with coffee
creme Anglaise and zabaione gelato. really good stuff.

All of this, along with a bottle of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, was well over $100 once the tip was included.  It was a great evening. Was it worth the cost? My meals fall into about four categories: bad, acceptable, good and really good. and this was really good. But I also think Mio's pizza is really good. Point being, I'm not enough of an aficionado to catch the finer points of the meal. I can buy acceptable gnocchi in a plastic bag from Trader Joe's for $1.99. Was Nicola's 12 X better? Probably. But I'm  as happy with something 3 X as good, ignoramus that I am. 


However, my daughter lives right across the street, so maybe we'll come back when they are in town and we'll have some more of that delicious gnocchi! wonder if lunch menu is cheaper....

caramel sauce with apple pie and ice cream

no pictures because we immediately ate it.

aglamesis vanilla ice cream

apples from Findlay Market apple guy: Northern Spy & Johnathon combination.

directions

make the pie.

put warm pie slice on plate.

add a scoop of ice cream.

douse it with caramel sauce.

delicious.


HOT CARAMEL sauce

1/2 stick of. butter
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. half and half
Pinch salt
Vanilla extract

Put butter and brown sugar in heavy saucepan. Stir on low heat until
butter melts and mixture is smooth. Add half and half and salt.  Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. 
Sauce takes approximately 5 minutes start to finish.