Friday, February 26, 2010

Sopa del mezcolanza

...or, "hodgepodge soup".

Yeah, I've already failed at meeting my once-a-week blogging quota. And I don't fucking care! God, it's so liberating to just admit that instead of apologizing and making excuses. I have been cooking here and there, but nothing new or interesting. I can't be a genius all the time.

I made a vat of jambalaya with arborio rice on Monday (not even with any interesting meats, just chicken, andouille and shrimp). Oh, last night I fried some salmon croquettes and made some arancini with leftover jambalaya. That was pretty good. I did have a few failure piles that you would've enjoyed laughing at, but I really just didn't want to go through the rigmarole of the whole food blogging-it thing. One was frozen homemade chili on a pile of boxed mac and chee (hurried together after amateurishly burning the original dinner: linguine with what would've been a carbonara with caramelized onions and collard greens). The other was, in retrospect, eerily similar to Oswalt's original failure pile (served aptly in a sadness bowl): a blob of mashed potatoes topped with a slurry of gravy, shredded chicken and mixed vegetables (the canon Flav-R-Pac mélange of corn, pea, carrot, and lima bean niblets). That the chicken was not in "popcorn" format and lacked a cloak of grated cheese was the only detail that separated this dinner from that KFC abortion.


This is, for all intents and purposes, minestrone. But I wanted to tweak things a little by going Spanish with the flavors instead of the classic (read: run-of-the-mill) Italian minestrone. I used my canned homegrown heirloom tomatoes (supplemented with a bit of leftover arrabiata sauce), so it's even got a little hoity to go with my as-of-late, lackluster toity. I rendered some linguiça (yeah, yeah, but I didn't have any chorizo) in a little olive oil with diced carrots and a sofrito of garlic and onions, my aforementioned tomatoes and some piquillos that were on the brink of growing a beard in the fridge. I dusted the whole lot with some pimentón and some thyme. In went a handful of Trader Joe's Harvest Blend (a melange of Israeli couscous, baby garbanzos, orzo and red quinoa) to soak up some of the flavorful orange grease. A glug of budget tempranillo supplemented the chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste, and away we go.

Serve with a tempranillo and some appropriate toasty, cheesy bread product (ours was a cheesy breadstick, similarly procured from Trader Joe's).

9 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Blogging is supposed to be fun, no pressure to post "pure genius" recipes, every day or even every week. Keep it enjoyable and post when you want to. Take care of that little bundle of joy...BUT don't forget about us entirely:D

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

'Fusion' (I REALLY don't like that word) cooking at its best. A bottle of tempranillo in the sopa, and another bottle to serve. Of course it works. ;)

Peter G | Souvlaki For The Soul said...

I think Val summed it up best! Yu do what you want-that's what's important. As usual I love this dish...your ability to blend ingredients and make them "genius" is a gift!

Nicebroom said...

I love the TJ Harvest Blend -- I throw it in all kinds of stuff. Haven't tried it spicy, though. This sounds heavenly.

Ken Albala said...

This Trader Joe's Harvest Blend Couscous stuff keeps appearing in my house somehow, and I'm growing to like it. But please tell me what the hell a baby garbanzo might be?? It's urad dahl. In the vigna genus. Please cry out you botanists!

Peggy said...

definitely love the spicy variation! can't wait to try this out!

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

I understand the posting thing. I have trouble coming up with recipes and I don't have a new baby at home.

Maybe you didn't consider them blog-worthy, but I was amused at some of your attempts adn failures. Maybe if you want to post more, you should mention those!

Manggy said...

Yikes! We must never compare your food to KFC. We must never come close. Well, unless you were doing fried chicken, then there's that comparison, but only by the name. Even on your worst day you are always far more awesome.
You reckon if I threw some rice in, it would turn into jambalaya? Hee hee. But seriously, line me up for this minotstrone! (minestronot? Some things must not be forced.)

We Are Never Full said...

don't fucking apologize cause then i'll have to apologize. it's not a job but, believe me, sometimes it feels like one. we'll be here waiting whether it's once a week or once a year. this looks nice too - and i like that bowl.