Two Great Fall Recipes

2 Great Fall Recipes

Fall has arrived at the cabin!

The leaves are changing and there is a snap in the air. Surprisingly we have not had our first frost yet!  Usually it comes before fair but it didn't this year!  I think they are calling for frost tonight. With that in mind I want to share 2 recipes I love that really are old standbys in their generic form but I have tweaked them and they are now extra special!  Here they are:

My Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I guess I don't know how to make the fancy design with the cream but here is the soup!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Butter

2 Tbsp. Flour

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 – 1 ½ Cup milk

8-10 large fresh basil leaves (I just pick a handful), chopped. You can use dried basil, about 1-2 Tbsp.

1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes

1C.  Chicken Broth

Salt and pepper to taste. I use Trader Joe's Everyday seasoning if I have it. (I use it for everything--I buy several bottles every time I am at their store!)

1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese (in the can or shredded--your choice. 

*optional:  1-2 Tbsp. heavy cream. This really makes it exceptional but adds calories!

These are the ingredients you will need.  I got the tomatoes at Safeway

Here are the onions, garlic and basil.  I grow 3 kinds of basil,  I love using it!
That's one very large clove of garlic about 1 Tablespoon of minced!

Directions:

1.      Make the white sauce by melting butter in a sauce pan. Add chopped onions and sauté until transparent. Add minced garlic and sauté a minute or two. Stir in flour and stir to absorb butter. Add 1 C milk and stir constantly until your white sauce thickens. You can add some seasoning to this or wait until you taste at the end.

After sauteing the onions you add flour and stir to coat onions

Then you add milk and stir until thick and bubbly

2.     Set sauce aside in the pan while you purée the can of tomatoes with juice in a blender or Magic Bullet (I use mine almost daily for everything!). You can put your basil in with the tomatoes to chop them up a little more if you want. Place puréed tomatoes in another pan and heat to boiling. Add the chicken broth and bring to simmer.  Add the basil if you haven't already. 

I add my basil to the tomatoes as I am blending them

3.     Dip out about 1 Cup of the tomato mixture and stir into the white sauce/onion mixture and then pour this mixture back into the tomato purée. This keeps the soup from looking curdled. (Even if it does happen to do this, it still tastes the same).

I'm adding the hot tomato mixture to the white sauce mixture

Now I pour the tomato/white sauce back into the rest of the tomato mixture

4.     Stir and bring to a simmer. Be sure to stir so it won't stick to the bottom. If you think you want more milk you can add it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I like to add a little cream to my soup at the end.  It makes it smooth and rich!

5.     Stir in the Parmesan just before serving. You can garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of it on top too. As for the whipping cream, you can also stir it in at the end or add a Tablespoonful to each bowl and make a design like they do in lobster bisque in the hoity  toity restaurants!  I just stir it into my soup bowl when I'm having it for lunch by myself.

Add some Parmesan cheese and any seasonings you want and you are good to go!
Bon Appetit

This brings tomato soup to a whole new level from Campbell tomato soup!  Now next is a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich that goes with our soup!  I had this at a new restaurant in Casper Wyoming last weekend and it was delicious!  I hope my copycat version is as good as it was!

Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

MMMM! Look at all that melty cheese!  A really yummy sandwich.

I am playing with this sandwich and I think anyone can, after they try my original version.  I actually can’t get the Asian Pears here in tiny Walden, Colorado, so I am using the only pears I could find which I think are Bartlett.  They still give that nice pear flavor to pair with the creamy Swiss cheese flavor.  I also think the restaurant used some kind of fancy Swiss cheese like Gruyere that didn’t have holes.  This, of course, was not an option for me!  Any way I made it and it still tasted delicious.  One other thing, I think it mentioned in the blurb on the menu that it had some kind of jam—maybe like fig jam in it.  While I was eating the sandwich I couldn’t taste it or see it so I think the sandwich is good to go without that addition (which, of course, I couldn’t find at our grocery store either).  If you have it, give it a try if you wish!

Ingredients for 1 sandwich:

3-4 thick slices of onion—about ¼ inch thick.  They cook down a lot so use lots!

3-5 slices of Asian pear – thinly sliced—less than ¼ inch at least

2 Tbsp. soft butter

2 slices bread of your choice (the restaurant used sour dough)

2-3  slices of thick sliced Swiss cheese (enough to make a nice covering of the bread)

*Possibly some kind of fancy jam if you are adventurous or have some to use up.

The ingredients for the Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Directions:

1.     Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a small frying pan.  Place onion slices (you can separate them into rings) and caramelize them.  Toward the end add the pear slices and saute all until the pears start to get translucent but are not falling apart. 

*Please note that I learned a lot more about caramelizing onions than I ever thought I would use!  I googled it and found that it takes a long time to do it if you do what they say! I set my burner on medium and it did not take the 45 minutes the first lady said!  Anyway I will give you a link if you want it and I also did add just a touch of balsamic vinegar to the  onions and the pear slices.   The pear slices only took a couple minutes to cook in the same pan with the onions.

Here is the link:http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-caramelize-onions-step-by-step/?internalSource=articlecard&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%206

                    Caramelizing the onions and the pears

2.     Meanwhile take one slice of bread and arrange the Swiss cheese slices on it (if trying the jam you will need to spread it on the slice of bread first).

Cover your choice of bread with the sliced cheese.  Use lots so it is real cheesy.  I used Whole Wheat

3.     When the pear/onion mixture is done arrange onions and then pear slices over the cheese in layers.  Add the top slice of bread to make a sandwich.

Layer caramelized onions onto the cheese and then the pear slices.

4.     Spread the butter on top of the top slice.  Flip the buttered side down onto a griddle or frying pan and grill until lightly browned and cheese is starting to melt.  While this is cooking, spread some butter on the top of the cooking sandwich.  When ready flip it over and grill the other side.

Butter the top of the sandwich while the bottom is getting golden brown!

5.     Slice in halves or quarters and serve with your soup!  Yummmm!

I’m thinking of other combinations that sound pretty good to me.  One is the onions (which really make the sandwich), cheddar cheese (coming from Wisconsin, I love the extra sharp but use what you like best) and apple slices, I’m thinking Honey Crisp or Granny Smith possibly on rye bread or whole wheat or sour dough. I bet there are some other Adult type combos you can come up with too!