Blomkål- og ostesuppe (Cauliflower and Cheese Soup)

It's my turn to host, as it were, Soup Saturday Swappers.   I wanted to ask other participants from our group to make a soup from their cultural background and then one of my fellow Soup Swappers managed to say it much better than me.  She said to make a soup "Celebrate your Ancestry "   

Well, duh!!! She said it so much better than me.

We're a group of bloggers who blog about soup once a month.  We have a theme and make a soup that fits into that theme.  I've had a lot of fun with different soups.  I've stretched my 'soup' wings and made some that were great and others, well, so so. 

Well, you know me, I'm a proud Dane.   And I've managed to share a lot of Danish soups with you already, so I basically had to go searching for a new soup, one that not only spoke Danish, but did it fluently, without an accent. 
 

I found one and can I just say WOW, was it delicious.  

I personally love cauliflower.  Didn't always, it used to be the only way I liked it was drowned in cheese sauce.  I do mean DROWNED!!!! Anything to hide the flavor of the cauliflower.  

This soup also has some cheese, blue cheese that is,  and it pairs beautifully with the Cauliflower and enhances the flavor. 

I got the recipe out of my Danish Flavor Cookbook, and modified it a touch.  Not much, but I had to make it my own.

I used some home made chicken stock, cause I could.  I also bought some Blue cheese crumbles, and did not grate the cheese.   

The recipe says it serves 4-6 people and I guess it could.   I made some 'strimler' or strips of some of my toasted Veggie Bread.  Which if I say so myself, was a brilliant move on my part.  The pretty flowers on the soup are called Spiderwort, and they are totally edible, and delicious in their own right.

Fair warning, if you're not fond of Blue Cheese, you probably won't like it. It is very strongly flavored and I think it's perfect as a starter soup to a meal. 

This became a lovely sipping soup, one of my favorite kinds. I love to have a mug of soup at hand to sip on when I'm writing. I also like sitting at the table with not only a bowl of soup but a slice or two of home made bread to go with the soup.   The bowl was a gift from a dear friend, the maker is Dansk, and is called Mesa Sky Blue. 

 

Blomkål- og ostesuppe (Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup)

Yield: 4-6

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - Adapted from a recipe from Cooking with a Danish Flavor

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min

This is a richly flavored soup, perfect as a starter or a light meal accompanied by some home made bread and a salad.

Ingredients

• 25 -50 g. Blue Cheese - grated or crumbled (1-2 oz)
• 1 medium sized cauliflower
• Tennis ball size chopped onion
• 6 cups Homemade chicken stock
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon Flour 
• Fresh Ground pepper

Instructions

1. Wash the cauliflower and cut into florets. Chop one onion. 
2. Add the vegetables to the chicken stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked and softened. 
3. When the cauliflower and onion is cooked, use an immersion blender and process it until smooth.  Leave on low heat. 
4. Melt the butter and stir in the flour until it is a smooth paste.   I use a small bowl for this and melt the butter in the microwave.   Whisk the roux into the cauliflower puree and let cook for around 3 or 4 minutes. This will thicken the soup a lot.  After it has simmered and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the blue cheese.   Depending on how much you like blue cheese, stir in 1 ounce to begin with, taste and then add more. 
   
5. Serve with some home made croutons, and a good grind of black pepper.
   

Notes:

If you're not sure about the blue cheese, add half the amount and taste before adding the rest.

This can also be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of the chicken stock.

You can omit the roux if you wish this to be totally keto. The soup will not be as thick however.

 Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sidsseapalmcooking on instagram and hashtag it #Sidsseapalmcooking

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

• Apong Meling's Sinigang from Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Blomkål- og ostesuppe (Cauliflower and Cheese Soup) from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Chach- A Dessert Soup - East Indian from Sneha's Recipe
• Cock-a-leekie Scottish Chicken Soup from Making Miracles
• Mulligatawny Soup from Magical Ingredients
• Scottish Red Lentil Soup from Pandemonium Noshery 
• Scottish Tattie and Spent Grain Soup from Palatable Pastime
• Ticinese Minestrone from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Tacos de Jocoqui al horno (Baked Sour Cream Tacos)

 It's time for Baking Bloggers again.  I love this group, I get to stretch my culinary wings out a little. 
The only requisite, and this is a firm one, is that what we share has to be baked.   Sue of Palatable Pastime is our hostess. 

This month we're concentrating on Mexican food.  

Hey, if you've followed along with me for any length of time, you know I love my South of the Border food.  

We do Taco Tuesday every single week.  Without fail. 

And I like to play with my food, so I'll do something a touch different almost every week for myself. I've made Margarita Shrimp Tacos, Grilled Fish Tacos, Cantalope Salsa to top the Fish Tacos, and even made Cauliflower Tortilla shells, (which are amazingly AWESOME!!!)

  This past week, I made these 'baked' tacos.   I would have called them enchiladas but the references I found called them tacos. So I'll go with that.  

And I'll be doing a repeat on them. 

Here is how they came together, at least the pictures of how they came together. 

 

and topped with some Créme Fräiche. 

And on my plate.  Fair warning, I'd already devoured one.  

Tacos de Jocoqui al Horno

Yield: 6 servings

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - Adapted from recipes on Big Oven and Recipe Lion

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min

This is a fun take on tacos. They're baked and are vegetarian as well. An did I mention totally delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs oil
• 12  corn tortillas
• 2 T. Salsa - your favorite brand
• 1 lb Monterey Jack or Colby Jack  cubed or cut into strips
• Oil for frying
• 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes or a 15 oz. can solid pack tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dry oregano, rubbed
• 1 small onion, chopped (half way between golf and tennis ball size)
• 1-2 cups Sour Cream or  Créme Fräiche ( I make my own)
  

Instructions

Assembly

1.  Fry tortillas lightly in oil, put some of the sauce and a piece of cheese onto each tortilla and and roll up . Arrange in a buttered shallow glass baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over tacos, top with cheese and spoon sour cream over all. Bake at 325 F. for 25 to 30 minutes.  Check after 15 minutes to make sure that all that cheese is not escaping.
   

Sauce

1. For the sauce, wilt the chopped onion in hot oil. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salsa, and salt. Cook for 15 or twenty minutes. Set aside.  Since I used fresh tomatoes, I ended up letting them simmer for 20 minutes.
   

Notes: 

Do not skip 'frying' the corn tortillas to save some calories. By frying them a little, they tend to hold together better and can withstand the baking without falling apart.

I did do some with flour tortillas, but they did not turn out as well, at least to my taste-buds.  The corn tortillas had a richer taste.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sidsseapalmcooking on instagram and hashtag it #Sidsseapalmcooking

Created using The Recipes Generator

Baking Bloggers (April 2021): Baking of Mexico

• Baked Pork Enchilada Salsa Verde Casserole from Sneha's Recipe
• Bolillos from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Capirotada de Leche from Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Corn Dip from Magical Ingredients
• Chicken Chili Tortilla Casserole from Food Lust People Love
• Mexican Chicken Bake (DASH Friendly) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tacos De Jocoqui (Sour Cream Tacos) from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Telera Rolls from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Tomato Tart with Balsamic Glaze

 I don't participate often enough in the Improv Cooking Challenge, but had to do it this month.

This month it's all about Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar. 

Let me tell you a little about the Improv Cooking Challenge.  It's hosted by Nichole of Cookaholic Wife

She likes to throw out a challenge for anyone who cares to participate. Nichole will suggest two ingredients for us to use, and make something delicious from.  

She calls it the Improv Cooking Challenge. 

I call it fun.

I've participated in it a few times, and have had a blast.  I've made a Candied Carrot Coffee Cake, which was pretty darn tasty.  I made a taste from my home town, Almond Chicken, I've used Lavender and Lemon in these Lavender and Lemon Scones.  I've been a long time fan of Chopped on the Food Network and this is just my little way of playing along.  There are more, just click on the Improv Cooking Challenge in the cloud to the right. 

I happened to run into some incredible tiny heirloom type tomatoes at Trader Joes, and well, gee, magic happened. 

At least my mouth said it did. 

I do love my puff pastry, and combining tomatoes and balsamic together is magic.  At least in my book. 

I had a little bit of a Fig and Strawberry Balsamic glaze left and it was the perfect foil for the Tomatoes and Puff Pastry. 

I also had fun with the Puff Pastry trying out something I'd seen on Instagram.  I made some little boats for the tomatoes, and they were fun to make. 

Here are the photo's I took of the process, and guess what, they were actually fairly easy.  And it makes the tarts look really special, like you took hours and hours to make them.    😜 

Start with a sheet of puff pastry, that has been thawed in the fridge.   Cut each third of the pastry (you know where it folds) into two pieces.  

Then cut two slices into each side of the pastry like the picture below.

After you cut it. Pick up one side, like so.

Then fold it over, tacking it down with a little water to make it stick.

Then take the other side, and pull it through.   This makes a nice little boat.  As you can see, I had a couple of eager little tomatoes in there. They had their turn to shine, a little later on. 

And after you've got it done, fill with some sliced cherry tomatoes or whole ones, if you like. But I wanted the sliced ones which I then adorned with some chopped chives from my garden.  You can use any kind of fresh herb you like.  I like chives.  Recognize the tomatoes that were so eager to be a part of the dish? No?, well, they're in there, or in one of them.

I added a little of my Fig and Strawberry Balsamic Glaze to them before they went into the oven to bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.  

I also employed a trick my mother taught me.  After they were baked, I turned off the oven and placed the pan of tarts back in. This 'dries' them out, and in effect bakes them a little longer so that when you bite into the tart, it flakes apart.  

After they baked I added a little scootch more glaze and then proceeded to demolish eat a couple.  

If I bake it, I'll eat it.  

It was lunch... and a snack...

Improv Cooking Challenge:April 2021

Tomatoes & Balsamic

• Stuffed Caprese Chicken by Making Miracles
• Tomato and Balsamic Pasta by Sneha’s Recipe
• Tomato Tart with Balsamic Glaze by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Balsamic Braised Chicken Breasts by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Whole Wheat Sun-dried Tomato Pasta and a Salad by Magical Ingredients
• Asparagus Bacon Caprese Salad By Cookaholic Wife