Summer Soup and Trail Mix Cookies

You may recall this post, and remember I've wanted to make this soup for many moons. The season and my periodic persusal of The Olives Table conspired. I made the soup last night. I delivered some to friends who needed dinner. I kept some. It is very nice (especially lukewarm) and quite different for a tomato soup. I have also made grilled cheese sandwiches twice this week with white Cheddar and fancy bread: lemon pugliese and a seedy whole grain. I put sliced tomatoes in the sandwiches. As the recipe alludes, it should be excellent with grilled shrimp. I've also made granola (for the umpteenth time) and cookies (for the third time). Super good.


Lauren's Trail Mix Cookies

Adapted from Love Soup by Anna Thomas

Makes about 4.5 dozen cookies

3/4 C white flour

1 C whole wheat flour

3/4 t baking powder

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t sea salt

1 C unsalted butter, softened

1/4 C white sugar

1.5 C packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 ripe medium banana, mashed

2.5 t vanilla extract

3.5 C rolled oats

1 C raisins

3/4 C chopped walnuts

3/4 C bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the white and brown sugars until it looks fluffy, then beat in the eggs, mashed banana (you should have at least 1/2 cup), and vanilla extract. Stir or beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well combined, but do not overbeat. Stir in the oats, raisins, chopped walnuts, and chocolate, until everything is well mixed. Scoop up rounded tablespoons of the dough and use a second spoon to push them off onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. Another way to do this is to scoop up a rounded tablespoon of dough and shape it into a ball with damp fingers, then place it on the parchment. Leave at least 2 inches space between cookies. Bake the cookies for 16 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges, and reverse the position of the pans halfway through. Transfer the cookies to a rack while they are still warm and allow them to cool.

Seasonally Speaking

If you are like me, you have bookmarked and torn-out recipes you must make. Some of these recipes insist on perfectly seasonal ingredients—ripe tomatoes and pears, the roots of winter, fresh berries. And, if you're like me you don't use enough Spanish onions. As I often comb through a stash of recipes (which I've tried without success to keep to three notebooks), I find I've missed the season. Again. From The Olives Table, I have for a minimum of 8 years running missed the window of opportunity (late summer and early fall) for Carl's Pagoda-Inspired Tomato Soup. But, this fact is good luck for the coffee cake, pork loin with pear and cranberry pan sauces, chocolate crunchies, and any iteration of fudge or cinnamon. Heather brought me this bottle from DC. I often walk by, unscrew the lid, and inhale.

Carl's Pagoda-Inspired Tomato Soup
Makes about 8 cups

1 T olive oil
2 Spanish onions, roughly chopped
8 to 10 medium beefsteak tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 C soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
2 T toasted sesame oil
1/2 t to 1 t chopped Scotch bonnet, jalapeño, or Thai chile pepper
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C chopped scallion greens, for garnish
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Place a large skillet over medium-high flame and when it is hot, add the oil. Add the onions, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic, stirring well after each addition, and cook until the onions and garlic are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chile, and sugar, stirring well after each addition, and cook until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes. Transfer the soup to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until smooth. Strain and discard the seeds and pulp. Reheat if necessary. Garnish each serving with scallions and cilantro.

Chocolate Crunchies 
Dorie Greenspan
Makes 24

1/2 C toasted walnuts or pecans
1/2 C soft raisins
1 C corn flakes
1 C semisweet chocolate chips or 6 ounces finely chopped semi- or bittersweet chocolate
Fleur de sel, optional

Finely chop the nuts and toss them into a bowl along with the raisins and corn flakes. Gently melt the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a microwave oven on low power. Pour the chocolate into the bowl and stir until all of the ingredients are evenly coated. Drop mounds of the candy mixture into paper petit-four cups or onto a sheet of wax paper. (She uses a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to do this, but you can divide the candy by heaping teaspoonfuls.) Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.