More food pictures!

So as promised here are the remaining photos from my winter feast. Though to be honest I made these yesterday.

The first is the prep and finished product for the garlicky, carrot ginger soup. And then the "kitchen-sink" quinoa. I didn't have all the ingredients I wanted originally, but luckily had some other items on hand...

First I cut and trimmed the carrots. So yummy. I find that organic carrots always taste a bit sweeter...If I'm just eating them I don't always peel them, and will just give a through washing. When cooking for aesthetics I tend to peel them though,

 

Then I chopped some garlic. Every time I chop garlic I think of the scene in Goodfellas where the guys are in jail and they slice the garlic super think, with a razor blade. I love how certain scenes and moments ingrain themselves so much into ones mind...So yes, paper thin garlic...

  

Then as you can see below there is a ginger root that I freshly grated to give the soup that wonderful warmth and bite that ginger give to everything. A helpful hint, to keep fresh garlic from going bad, you can wrap it in a piece of tin foil, and put it in the freezer. It keeps amazingly well and for a very long time. Also, investing in a microplane is not only amazing for zesting citrus fruit and grating nutmeg and other spices, it works WONDERS on ginger. I used to peel it, and try to fine dice it- Meh, what a waste! Now I just use the microplane and it's wonderful!

  

Into the pan everything goes! I sautee with some walnut oil, and let everything come together. Not pictured was the additional spices I added: -cumin-clove-dried ginger (b/c you can never have too much!), salt and pepper to taste-smoked spanish paprika.

  

Once the flavors had mingled, I added some vegetable stock and let it cook down and concentrate. After about an hour I used a hand blender until it was smooth.

  

...Garnished with my carmelized balsamic onions from the other day...and voila! Yum! It was perfect and really delicious. I was really happy that I made this.

  

Then I prepped for the quinoa...More paper thin garlic! (you can never have too much garlic!)

Below are the beautuful button mushrooms...They're so cute. Is that bizarre to refer to a mushroom as cute? 

And my modified mirepoix (which is usually carrots, onions and celery)- I've modified it to be red peppers, onion and carrots. Also some garlic.

 

Originally I had wanted to add some olives and sage to my quinoa, however my sage didn't look so great so I opted not to use it, and I had 3 olives left so I didn't even bother. Instead I opted for some pine nuts,apricots and figs. I'm really happy that I did that because it added a great contrast in flavor and texture. 

  

Aprictots always reminded me so much of jewels (when they're sulfured, when they're not they're still delicious, however they take on ear-like-properties look wise...). Below is a photo of the fig that I cut into. Looks just like a heart! Just another reminder that LOVE is everywhere.... :)

  

So I toasted my pine nuts, the flavor is almost three times what it is when they aren't toasted. There is something that heat does to a lot of nuts and the oils that brings out such magnificent flavors when they're toasted. 

  

Toasty....

  

So then I sauteed my mirepoix, and mushrooms until they were nicely cooked- As you can see this pan that I was using is quite seasoned. It was the hubs pan from when he had his deli. Amazing the abuse kitchen supplies take! I digress...

  

I decided to sautee the garlic sperately so that it could get the attention it deserves. Often I find that when you just throw garlic into a pan with other ingredients it doesn't always get to brown and get nice and sweet. Usually b/c of onions and mushrooms that have a lot of water that gets released. 

  

  

Then in another pan I toasted my quinoa. A lot of people just cook it as is, however when you toast it, there is another level of flavor thats added. Really delicious. 

  

So once the quinoa was toasted, I added 2 c of water (to 1 c. dry quinoa) and a tsp of salt and pepper, and I let it come to a boil. After it boiled I brought the temperature down to a simmer and covered for about 16 minutes. After it was cooked I combined the rest of the ingredients, and there you have it.

 

                  Yum!

Once and a while I go on these cooking jags and I can't stop. So from time to time there are going to be heavy picture posts with food and recipes. I love cooking for people, and having get togethers- Which is a main reason why I a) want a restaurant and b) can't wait to have a home large enough to host dinner parties and causal get togethers. One of these days soon!