Cucumber Soup

I absolutely love soup, and ever since we moved to NYC from Florida I've been experimenting with hearty soups during the winter. This year, I haven't felt compelled to making any soup aside from the standard chicken noodle soup when I got sick last month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but its been such a mild winter I haven't even craved hearty soups at all!

Growing up in Puerto Rico, we didn't eat soup often as the weather was just too warm for it. But when my mother would make soup, this was a often the preferred choice of soup that paired well with the tropical weather in Puerto Rico, as it satisfied the craving for soup, while still being incredibly light. This cucumber soup is wonderful when piping hot, but its also great cold or even room temperature, similar to a gazpacho.

I recently made this it as I was nursing my second cold of the season, but paired it with a grilled cheese sandwich just to give it a more "comfort food" feel. Since its texture, nor ingredients (don't even think about the heavy cream) is nothing like thick, creamy bisque or cream based soup, which makes this cucumber soup guilt free too!


Ingredients:
2-3 large cucumbers
1.5 cups of water per cucumber
1/4 cup of chopped onion
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube
1-2 tbsp heavy cream

Peel and chop the cucumber and set aside.  (I always like to keep 1/3 of the cucumber with the peel on to enhance the color, but you can peel if you prefer).

Set aside about 1/4 cup of chopped cucumber to add as a garnish. In a soup pot sautee the onions and garlic until they are fully cooked and lightly transluscent. Add the cucumber and sautee for a few minutes then add the water. Add the salt, pepper and bouillon cube and bring water to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 40 minutes.

With a hand immersion blender, blend the soup until smoothe. Add the heavy cream and heat for another 5 minutes. Serve in bowl with some of the un-cooked cucumber you set aside, and pair with your choice of grilled cheese sandwich.

Caprese Sandwich with Spinach Pesto

A few weeks ago we opted for fancy sandwiches as dinner since we had a surprise party we had to be at. We wanted something fun and simple, so we decided to make a sandwich out of a Caprese salad. We replaced the basil for spinach and made a quick spinach pesto. This is a great simple recipe that you can make in a matter of minutes, and is really very satisfying.

Ingredients: 
1 Ciabatta Loaf
4-6 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
1 tomato sliced
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 tbsp pine nuts
1 large garlic clove
1 /4 cup olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp pine nuts



First we start off by making the spinach pesto. In a food processor add about 1 1/2 cup spinach. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, and garlic clove and pine nuts and pulse until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next we assemble. Slice the bread in half and spread the spinach pesto on both cut sides of the bread. Next you want to add a layer of sliced tomatoes. Next we slice the fresh mozzarella into about 1/4" thick slices and place over the layer of tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil, and a little balsamic vinegar over the mozzarella, then add a layer of fresh spinach. Close sandwich and press down. You want to cook this for several minutes on each side so the bread gets nice and toasty and the mozzarella starts melting.

Zucchini Asparagus Salad

With the unbearable heat in NYC the last few days, I've been making lots of salads in lieu of side dishes. So I've been itching to make a fresh salad that was different than mixing some romaine or arugula with some other veggies and toppings.

I love zucchini and asparagus, and normally I eat these veggies cooked, but had recently seen this recipe on the food network and knew I had to try it out. It's so simple to make, as long as you have a little patience to get the zucchini shavings right.

Ingredients:

2 Zucchini

6 asparagus stalks 

Shaved Parmegiano Regianno

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tbsp of Champagne/white wine

Wash and slice the zuchinni in half, length-wise. With a vegetable peeler, cut thin ribbons of zucchini until almost at the skin. With the asparagus, break off the ends. (Rule of thumb, to see where to cut the end of the asparagus hold with both hands, and put pressure on the end side of it. Where it snaps off is where you want to cut the remaining asparagus stocks). Cut on a diagonal to thin strips, maybe 1/4" thick. Mix with zucchini strips.



To make the vinagrette, add the vegetable oil, lemon salt & pepper to a small bowl and mix well until slightly emulsified. Then add a tbsp of champagne, or white wine (whatever you have handy works) and mix again until fully blended. Pour over salad, and finish with fresh shavings of Parmegiano Regianno.