Archive for March 2009
Guinness Soup with Dubliner Toast
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Everyone is Irish today, and the Kuenn-Phipps household is no exception. Usually, we go to a Swedish bar for whiskey and free soda bread, but we went out last night (for, um, Irish pub food) and opted to kick it leprechaun-style at home instead with this very simple, delicious soup.
Guinness Soup with Dubliner Toast
Serves 4
6 stalks celery
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup water
Salt to taste
1 Potato, cut into pieces
1/2 cup peas
2 tablespoons butter
6 oz. Guinness
2 tablespoons flour
2 palm-sized slices of bread (Ideally you’d use soda bread; I used whole-grain Breadsmith bread)
4 slices Dubliner cheese
Heat oven to 450. On a stovetop, add celery, garlic and shallots to a pot and cover with water. Add salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then add potatoes and peas, and simmer for 10 minutes. In a saucepan, begin melting butter. When butter is about half melted, add Guinness and bring to a soft boil. Add flour and stir to mix. When the Guinness roux is ready, add to pot containing vegetables and bring to a simmer.
Top bread with Dubliner, place on top rack in oven for 5-10 minutes, until cheese melts. Serve soup in bowls; top with toasted bread and cheese.
This goes best with Smithwick’s, Guinness, or your favorite Irish spirit.
Avocado Cheesecake
Hell yes.
On Saturday, I realized I had two avocados I needed to use in a hurry, I’d already froze some guacamole and it turned out, Saturday was also Pie Day.
I’d been wanting to make an avocado cheesecake since eating one (well, a slice of one) at Vermilion, a Latin-Indian fusion restaurant that is a favorite of mine.
I didn’t have any cream cheese, so I decided to use goat cheese and some Greek yogurt instead. I made the Graham Cracker Crust from How to Cook Everything, and winged it on the cheesecake, after reading a few different recipes (HtCE, Joy of Cooking, AllRecipes). After it finished baking, I pulled out the chocolate glaze I have in the freezer (yes, I keep chocolate frosting in my freezer at all times), microwaved a couple tablespoons, and drizzled it on top.
It’s a pretty sweet cheesecake (avocados are sweeter than you may think), so if you wanted to make this as a savory cheesecake, I’d make the crust using crackers and omit the sugar and lemons.
All in all, it was a success, although I overbaked the crust slightly. Keith even asked when I planned to make it again. It was easy, taking about an hour total, so I will say: soon.
Avocado Cheesecake
(Serves 8 )
(I am not even going to attempt to calculate the health-consciousness of this, because then you won’t want to eat it.)
Crust (adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Filling
4 eggs, separated
4 oz. goat cheese
1/2 cup 2% fat Greek yogurt
1 1/2 avocados
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup sugar
For crust: Melt butter in a saucepan. Add graham crackers and sugar to food processor, pulse until well-mixed and turned into crumbs. Slowly add butter to mixture in processor, pulsing until well blended. Generously butter a springform pan. Using spatula, scrape mixture into springform pan, carefully press into bottom and sides. Bake at 350 until just set, about 8-10 minutes.
For filling: Separate four eggs; set aside egg whites. Using a stand mixer, beat yolks until light and slightly fluffy. Add goat cheese, yogurt, avocados, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar, beat until smooth (this will probably take awhile). Preheat oven to 450. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Using a spatula, slowly fold egg whites into mixture. Pour onto crust, in springform pan. Bake for 10-20 minutes (until filling is just set and slightly golden). Remove from oven, remove springform sides, and cool (about 20-25 minutes).
I drizzled this with chocolate glaze and served it warm. I suspect it would also be delicious if you refrigerated it for an hour or so.
