Fresh Spinach Soup!

spinach soup. go ahead, make fun of the color, but this is soup is a hug in a bowl. super quick, ultra airy, velvety smooth and fresh. start with butter and onions, add flour to make a velouté then use a blender to chop and aerate. easy. here’s how martha taught me to do it:

you’ll need:

2 bunches spinach, ends removed, washed
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
5 tablespoons butter
white pepper, finely ground
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon flour
stock (chicken or veg)
cream (totally optional)

boil a large pot of salted water. blanche spinach for 30 seconds, remove with spider and place directly into a salted ice bath. swirl with your hand. when spinach is completely cooled. remove from ice bath and squeeze out excess water.

in a dutch oven, add butter, when butter melts add onions. sauté for at least 6 minutes do not brown. salt and pepper the onions. when tender, add flour and stir for at least 1 minute. do not brown flour. add stock until the consistency of heavy cream. bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. there’s your velouté. put velouté in a blender with the center of the blender cap removed. if you choose not to remove the center piece of the blender top, you will have a mess on your hands, try it and see. add velouté to blender to fill blender about ⅓ full. add ⅓ of the spinach and blend. repeat until all velouté and spinach are blended. add soup back to dutch oven and warm through. adjust consistency with stock. serve with a splash of cream. FRESH.

note: after you blend the soup, warm gently and do not bring back to a boil that will darken the green color. don’t do it! you want it fresh green!

i don't get it.

freebies! i stopped by whole foods to buy something i normally do not: boneless, skinless chicken breasts. the norm is to buy a whole chicken and part it out. there they were, all 14 dollars and 34 cents of them. hmmm. wait, i see a sign, buy ‘em and get a 6 pack of everyday soda free. cool, that’s one of my staples anyway. ok. i am in the check out and the cashiers says: “you’re missing some stuff.” i said, “the sodas are there, don’t they count?” “yes, they do, but you also get deli veg macaroni salad ($9.98, huh?), a bottle of marinade ($2.99) and fresh deli made salsa ($4.99) along with your soda ($2.50). whoa. for the $14.34 chicken breast pack, i rec’d gratis: $20.46 worth of merch. i don’t get it, but, i’ll take it. go do it too!

Whole Foods
10700 North Rodney Parham Road
Little Rock
(501) 312-2326
note: the free veg macaroni salad is better than expected! chock full of red pepper, celery, green peppes & purple onion in a creamy canola oil mayo, with rice wine vinegar, cayenne, sugar, salt & pepper. yeah, i called and asked b/c the mayo dressing tasted light and creamy and not a bit heavy, gloppy or greasy like other deli mac salads around. YUM.

Little Rock Appetite

little rock appetite. when you're in dining limbo, head for little rock appetite to show you the way. this site lists area restaurants and has 8 menus to peruse. yeah, 8, that part is sad. just go.

recycle those garden containers!

plastic garden containers. ever wondered a good green thing to do with the abundance of plastic plant containers you inherited from garden planting? take 'em to the little rock zoo. read the e-mail:

We can use the containers, or see that they get used. The best thing would be to bring them to our service entrance, on the east side of the zoo (facing Ray Winder Field). There is a call box mounted on a post in front of the gate. Tell the receptionist that you are there to see Tom, and they will open the gate for you. The greenhouse is directly to your right as you come in the gate. I’m normally at the Zoo from 7:00 to 3:30, Monday through Friday. If I’m not there for some reason when you come by, you can leave the containers anywhere near the greenhouse. Thank you for thinking of us.

Tom Frothingham
Horticulture Foreman
Little Rock Zoological Gardens
1 Jonesboro Drive
Little Rock, AR 72205
661-7227

note: now that you have tom's schedule, please don't rob or kill him. thank you.

hot sausage & peppers!

sausage & peppers. ask me where i got this. ask me where i got this. a super tasty and super delicious lunch! chicken italian hot sausage and a mix of vidalia onion and red & yellow peppers simmered in white wine. come on, ask me where i got this! i made it. ha. and you can too. here’s how:

you’ll need:

4 sausage links
veg oil
1 vidalia onion, sliced
2-3 peppers, mixed, sliced
2 cups white wine
hoagie buns
butter
maille mustard

you’ll do:

add a tablespoon of veg oil in a cast iron skillet on med-high heat, when hot add sausages. brown on all four sides. this will take a while. be patient. in another sauté pan, add enough veg oil to have a thin layer of oil covering the bottom of the pan, when hot, add onions and peppers. sauté on medium until soft, this will take a good 20 minutes. when the sausages are browned on all sides and the onions and peppers are getting a touch of brown, add wine to the onions & peppers and increase the heat to high. add sausages to the onions & peppers and cook uncovered until the wine cooks out. butter & griddle hoagie buns. serve with maille mustard. YUM.

chang thai & asian cuisine

prawn crackers

meing kham

chicken pad thai and condiment caddy

chang thai & asian cuisine. check out this small restaurant with a charismatic matriarch. lunch buffet for $6.99 or $8.99 for dinner. we passed up the buffet to order off the menu. first up, complimentary prawn crackers, these are light and airy and much like styrofoam - in a good way. i tried the meing kham ($4.50) - a delicious and very sweet appetizer of ginger, toasted coconut, dried shrimp, cashew nuts, shallot, lime and a tamarind coconut sauce served up beautifully on a betel leaf (which resembled a common philodendron house plant leaf). next up was the chicken pad thai ($7.99). i liked the sauce caddy of sambal, fish sauce, salt, dried chiles and fresh, sliced, red & green hot peppers spiked with vinegar that was delivered with to decorate the dish. this pad thai is the best i’ve had in the area.

changthai & asian cuisine
9830 hwy 107
sherwood501-835-4488

watermelon juice!

watermelon juice. super refreshing and super satisfying. if you have a juicer, you simply must juice a watermelon; with or without the rind it’s delicious. if you include the rind the juice will separate - no worries, a quick stir solves that. do it, you will thank me. add a piece of mint for a sensory treat.

tip: if you drink it all; i will love you.