For the two years I’ve been cooking full time for myself, I’ve always thought it ideal to buy precisely what I needed to cook whatever I planned on cooking. I’m now realizing that while that makes fiscal sense, it doesn’t provide any opportunities for creative cooking. Lucky for me, the other night I did have a few scraps floating around: frozen halibut, a walla walla onion, some baby carrots, cream cheese, fresh thyme, and chicken broth. I’d been craving soup, so it was a pleasant coincidence when I discovered those ingredients.
Homemade halibut soup
I started by sweating the onion and carrots in a bit of olive oil and salt. I then tossed in the halibut and gave it a quick sear. Finally, I put in the chicken broth that I’d had warming up in a pot nearby, plus the cream cheese and fresh thyme. I mixed the cream cheese in, threw the lid on, and cooked the puppy for about 30 minutes.
While the soup was cooking and I was steaming broccoli, Anne came up and said, why don’t you put the broccoli into the soup? ”Genius,” I said! The result was money.
All said in done, it was one of the best soups I’ve ever made (and I think I make some damn good soups), and I was darn proud of myself for finally concocting a creative, homemade dish.
October 20, 2009 at 4:06 am |
that sounds good..too bad it’s impossible to cook for yourself in nyc. maybe i can order this for $25 from a speakeasy
October 20, 2009 at 4:11 am |
yea, i hear ya. at least you’re not there forever.
October 20, 2009 at 5:06 pm |
Charlie, I am really proud of you for being adventuresome in your cooking. This is exactly what you need to do, and that’s one of the reasons I like having leftovers around that you can concoct things with (not that your ingreds. were all leftovers). When you have learned the basics of cooking, as you have, then you can experiment more and more.
So the next thing you need to do is learn that even AB’s recipes are simply jumping-off points. Next time try Eggplant Parm without deep frying the eggplant…..just bake it or microwave it to soften it up, or put in the oven with the sauce and cheese and bake till it is soft and the cheese is melted and maybe crispy browned on top.