City Chick Cooks

do you remember the first time you tried an avocado? i do.

trying something new with the new layout 🙂

last night i tried to make a cooking show for one of my friends back home in NC. she would have loved it 🙂 i figured it couldn’t be so tough to talk on camera, since i blab so much on this thing. man, was i wrong. i’d say one thing, start chopping, and then get so into cooking that i forgot to talk. its tough! then some friends came over and that was the end of trying. i’ll try the show again – this time with somewhat of a script!

last night was somewhat of a mexican night – avocado sincronizadas (supp to be a mexican tortilla sandwich, im translating it as a thick quesadilla) and roasted tomato jalapeno soup.

i did an adaptation of tyler florence’s roasted tomato soup recipe. i recommend sticking close to his proportions. i didn’t have enough good tomatoes (one bunch went bad 😦 ) so i had to put in a good amount of tomato paste to compensate.

rub a dub dub

i used about 9-vine ripened tomatoes. not sure how many pounds that is. quarter them and (as ina would say, clean hands!) remove the bulk of seeds from them. this took a while! you can leave the seeds in, but im not sure they would be pretty in the soup.

also peel, or crush and peel, some cloves of garlic. i used like 5 cloves. does anyone else find it tough to just peel garlic without whacking it first? not sure if it’s just me.

also cut off the stem from your jalapeno and cut in half down the middle, exposing the seeds and all, and then across so you have 4 big pieces. if you don’t like spicy, use less jalapeno and remove the seeds and membranes. i left it all intact. it was pretty hot.

deseeding takes longer than you think!

oh yeah, peel and chop 1 sweet onion. large chunks 🙂

toss this with some olive oil and salt and pepper. shove it into a 400 degree oven (tyler’s 450 kinda scared me) until there’s a slight char on the veggies.

meanwhile, assemble the sincronizadas and get them ready for the oven.

i was 6 when i first tried this fruit/vegetable. was not amused.

im sure most of you know how to cut an avocado. just in case you don’t and are interested, i’ll tell you how i do it 🙂 everyone does it differently, i learned from dean and deluca when i worked there as a teenager. ahh the days of useless jobs.

1. cut the avocado in the middle around the seed, twist to separate
2. jab the seed with your knife so its stuck, twist it out
3. if you want slices, just cut lines along the legnth of the avocado. cubes, cut lines both ways – like checkerboard
4. take a spoon and scoop the whole thing out!
5. i almost always squirt some fresh lime juice on it to keep it green and pretty

i just put in sliced avocado, some frozen roasted corn kernels, a bit of taco seasoning and mozzarella. i used mozz because i wanted something really mild to go with the soup, which was not.

i went back and opened it up to take a pic... just for you 🙂

brushed both sides with butter, and slid it in the oven while the tomatoes were finishing up.

about 5 min later, i pulled out the tomatoes…

and moved the sincronizadas to the middle rack and hit it with the broiler until the top crisped up.

butter + flour tortillas = 🙂

i cut one with a pizza cutter into quarters for us to nibble on while i finished the soup.

for a nice, super easy dipping sauce, just mix salsa with cream cheese or sour cream. sooo good. i took a pic of my perfect bite for you 🙂

come to momma

ok back to the soup. just pour all of the roasted veggies into a pot, juices and everything. pour enough chicken stock to cover, throw in some salt and pepper, 2 bay leaves, tomato paste (if you didn’t use enough tomatoes), butter, and i added a bit of oregano to this as well. you can add some cumin if you didn’t use much jalapeno for a bit of heat. let it simmer for a good 15 min or so.

pre-disaster

after its done simmering and reducing a bit, pull out the 2 bay leaves, and let it cool off. i failed to do this, and ended up with boiling hot roasted tomatoes splattered on me. i was ok though, it wasn’t enough to hurt 🙂

after the steam has subsided, then ladle it into a blender, in batches, and blend till smooth. or if you have an immersion blender, go crazy.

pour it all back in the pot and stir in a spoonful of sour cream. taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

easy peasy!

it wont be completely smooth. this is not campbell’s.

plate it up with some strips of sincronizada if desired, and have at it!

spooncam

promise, i’ll post the recipe later!

the day after –

made the soup into a pasta sauce! it tasted even better. just heated up some soy crumbles with some olive oil, chicken stock (to keep it moist) and salt. threw in the leftover soup with some thyme, oregano and basil and heated it all through. added some cooked ziti regate, amazing! great way to use up the leftovers 🙂

leftovers!