Eggplant Soup

As I write this, I'm curled up in my pjs, with a heating pad against my back, eating a bowl of soup. Don't be too jealous. Fall has arrived with a vengeance and my back is just aching, so I needed some comfort food and clothing.
I saw this soup recipe last week and was immediately excited. Eggplant's one of my favorite vegetables, and I love soup. I don't know why I didn't look for a soup like this one before.

As much as I was really wanting to make this soup, I was also very afraid of making it. Sometimes eggplant disappoints me. It has so much potential and I love it so, and sometimes it doesn't live up to the hype for me. I know, it's weird. I think it's just that I want it to be perfect every.single.time and sometimes it doesn't work. That scalloped eggplant I made a few months back? Just one example.

How glad I was that this time, my eggplant did not disappoint.

For starters, I mostly just waited for this soup to be done. No dicing of vegetables, just slice in half, roast, and then put together with some broth, cook some more in the pot, and blend the whole thing together. If I had the energt to do it, I might have tried to be productive while it was simmering and done some of the work I brought home with me today. Instead, I did some online Christmas shopping and watched Modern Family and The Middle on my DVR.






Okay, that's kind of productive. I cleaned out some of my DVR...

Anyway, I feel like I could have eaten the entire pot of this. There was all of the taste and virtually none of the work (I totally love those recipes). It was hot, filling, full of flavor and completely different from any kind of soup I'd had before (I totally love that combination). Best of all, it didn't even use up a lot of dishes (I've had a certain someone tell me that I definitely know how to use every pot, pan, and dish in the kitchen to make one dish. It's completely true and I won't lie-I will very often use everything I have and run the dishwasher several times over at the expense of one main course. A good main course, mind you, but still, only one!). I had two sheet pans, two knives, a pot, a ladle, and an immersion blender. By my standards, practically nothing. :)





Though I understand that a lot of people actually don't care for eggplant, I ask that you give this recipe a chance. If it still doesn't sit right with you, I'll give you a brownie from a batch I made on Tuesday night (although I'll admit-you can have one even if you do like it. I did!). The original recipe says to play with the spices, so I did, and I was not sorry. I added in pepper, thyme, and smoked paprika-a spice I think everyone should have in their spice cabinet. I got it based on comments I read from the very website where I found this soup recipe, and I swear I use smoked paprika with just about everything I eat nowadays. If that's not your thing, though, just look through what you have and add some of this or a pinch of that. Keep working on it and taste until you're happy with it!



Eggplant Soup (recipe obtained from The Smitten Kitchen)
3 medium tomatoes, halved (I went with four, because I had just a small one leftover, and you can't just not leave it out!)
1 large eggplant, halved lengthwise (I used 3 small to medium sized ones, as there were no large eggplants at the store)
1 yellow onion, halved
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried
4 c. chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional-I used half and half, as that was what I happened to have on hand)
3/4 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese (all I had was feta, so I used that instead)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on baking sheets, and don't worry too much about overcrowding. Brush or drizzle vegetables with oil then roast them for 20 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves, set aside, and put the sheets back in the oven for another 25 minutes. Remove from oven and scoop eggplant from skin into a stockpot. Add the rest of the vegetables, the thyme and the chicken stock and bring to a boil, then bring down to a simmer. Cook until onion is very tender, roughly a half hour to 45 minutes later.

If you choose to puree the soup in the blender, try to let it cool down first-I've had the unfortunate experience of hot soup exploding in a cool blender. If you have a hand blender (otherwise known as an immersion blender), you can puree it in the pot while it's still hot (but be careful!). Either way, puree it as chunky or as smooth as you prefer. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with either goat cheese or feta cheese.

Cider Donuts

Okay, kids. I promised.

Ah, cider donuts. Or, in this case, the ever so elusive cider donut.

Cider donuts remind me of college. About ten minutes down the road from us was this farmstand called Atkins. Oh, how we all loved Atkins. Sometimes our parents would send us care packages from there during finals. Sometimes we'd go there to wander. But always, always, we came out of there with an Atkins cider donut. This past fall, a friend of mine brought me a half dozen, which were promptly consumed (I actually don't think they made it past the next day, actually.). There's also Wilson Farm, a place I hold near and dear to my heart that also makes exceptional cider donuts, and sometimes on the weekend will actually set up a table and make fresh donuts to order-so for about a dollar or two you can eat a hot fresh donut. Heavenly.

For years I've wanted to make donuts. Seriously. Why I never tried before is beyond me-although I probably was worried about how much time it would take to make them. Up until about two years ago, I also didn't have a fryer. I know, I could have used a pot and a candy thermometer, but I never did. Ah well.




This weekend, I decided it was time to go forward and make the little buggers. I got myself some apple cider and set up the dough. I let it chill overnight and yesterday I got to work.

And that's when I realized why I had waited for so long. It is incredibly difficult to make an authentic looking donut. I tried with the first batch and the dough fried itself onto the bottom of my fry basket. The second go-around I just dropped them in the well and let them fry kind of like fritters. Cutting them was a whole other story-it was damn near impossible to get the dough to come out with my circle cutter, so much so that I just wound up dropping spoonfuls in. Some of them were slightly larger than I anticipated, making some donuts the size of my fist. An authentic looking donut these certainly weren't. I also made a mistake with one or two and pulled them out early and set them to dry on a paper-towel lined plate and found later that the inside was still raw, and oozed out. Sigh.



I did wind up with about eight donuts though, and am pleased to say that all hard work and oversized amounts aside, they were quite incredible. Much better hot and fresh, but still okay a day later (I just had one for dessert). With practice, I think these can get much better looking-but the taste is spot-on. Maybe not a Wilson's or an Atkins' cider donut, but pretty damn close.





Cider Donuts (recipe from The Phantom Gourmet)
4 c. flour
1 c. plus ½ c. sugar (separated)
2 tsp. plus 1 tsp ground cinnamon (separated)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. apple cider
¼ c. milk
2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ c. (4 TB) butter, melted
Canola oil for frying


In a medium sized mixing bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together, save for ½ c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. In another bowl whisk the eggs, then add all of the remaining wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix well to create a thick dough. Line a baking dish with parchment paper, and evenly spread the dough into the dish. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight. Mix the remaining ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, and set aside for rolling the donuts after they are cooked.

When ready to cook the donuts, heat an inch or two of oil in a medium sized saucepan or a deep fryer to about 360F. Cut donuts using a knife or a circular cutter, or even scoop it using an ice cream scoop, and carefully place in the oil. Fry for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, roll in cinnamon sugar, and eat up!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's fall. I love fall-related recipes. Bring on the pumpkins, apples, and cranberries!

This recipe has been a long time coming. A friend of mine from high school saw a picture of these a long while ago (last Christmas, I believe), and asked me for the recipe. I told her of course, it would be posted on the blog soon.

Does "soon" count if it's within a year? Then if so, I'm golden.

At any rate, this is one of my very favorite cookie recipes. It's really hard to screw up, for one. For two, it's great for fall, with all the pumpkin, and really makes me feel like curling up on the couch in front of the fireplace with a bunch of them and a hot cup of coffee. Thirdly, there's the perfect amount of chocolate all tied into a very neat little package. As it turns out, I felt the need to make them and bring them to work. I swear I never saw cookies disappear so quickly.



The weird thing about these are that they are so soft. Like Toll House Soft Baked soft (are those even carried anymore in stores or have they been discontinued?). They have a bread or cake-like consistency and the addition of chocolate chips sends them straight over the edge. I will go so far to say that I will always choose this over my beloved chocolate chip.





Okay, almost always. But the ease of this recipe combined with the sheer desire to inhale the entire batch in one sitting makes the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie incredibly difficult to resist. If you make them, set aside one or four for me, okay?



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe obtained from boston.com/food)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bag (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (optional-I never find I need them!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and beat just until blended. Then mix in the dry ingredients.

With a spoon or a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips or chunks and nuts, if using. Do not use the mixer to do this task (I promise. I almost broke my mixer once trying that stunt.)

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.