*It's soup*

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Ok, I know it doesn't quite make sense in English. It's just that we have this expression in Portuguese, "É sopa", which literally translates to the title. Literally, because it actually means "It's a piece of cake!".
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Yup! Something easy, nourshing and comforting. Something to go with the cold, albeit beautiful, Sunday we were having. And I've been wanting to make this soup for a while now. Thing is, I have never written down the recipe, so usually end up using whatever I feel like at the moment. Believe me, this is good.
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Cream of Carrot Soup


700 gr. carrots
700 ml water
100 ml cream (milk or soy)
2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp thyme
pepper to taste
fried garlic and parmesan, for garnish and taste

In a pot, sauté the garlic and ginger in the olive oil. Add the carrots, peeled and sliced, the mustard seeds and the salt. Cover with water. Allow to boil for 20 minutes.
With an immersion blender/mixer, blend with cream, butter and nutmeg.
Return to low heat. Add thyme and correct spice. Allow to simmer for a while.

I like to make it even creamier by beating the soup with a whisk before serving.
Serve with fried garlic and freshly grated parmesan.
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And if you're anything like me, aiming to please, serve this for dessert:


Just the good ol' cheesecake, with a bit of brown sugar and some macadamia in the crust. To sweeten the Mister's life up. And mine.
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Have a great week!
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*Cream of Arraracha - His and Hers*

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Ah, vacation! After the stress of the semester's finals, I can finally kick back and enjoy my kitchen once again.
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In all truth, I first made this cream exactly one month ago. I was fighting off the sniffles, needing something nourishing and filling while I studied, and had some arraracha (known as mandioquinha in Brazil) begging to be used. Arraracha is the Mister's thing, not mine, but I decided to give it a try. A girly, frilly, healthy try.

Cream of Arracacha – One for the ladies
250 gr. Arracacha
2 cups chicken stock (homemade is better)
½ cup sliced leeks
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp silken tofu or soy cream
½ large red onion
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the leeks and garlic.
Peel and chop the arracacha. Add to the pot with the leeks and garlic, and cover with the chicken stock. Cook for 20 minutes.
Blend with tofu and adjust spice.
Garnish with thinly sliced red onion or shallots and freshly ground pepper.
Makes 2 servings.
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This week I bought the tubers thinking of this cream. It's been cold down here, and awfully gray and rainy. Nothing like comfort food in such weather, eh?

Or as I told the Mister when he got home, dinner was gonna rock his socks off...

Block Rockin’ Cream of Arracacha
500 gr. arracacha
3 ½ cups water
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 cup roughly chopped old Dutch master or other hard cheese
½ cup milk cream
1 tsp nutmeg
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
4 or 5 sprigs of green onions
½ cup Paris mushrooms

Mince the garlic finely. In a deep pot, sauté the garlic till golden.
Cut the arracacha in small pieces. Add to pot, salt and cover with 2 cups of water. Let boil for at least 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate pan, sauté the mushrooms with 1 tbsp of butter. Thinly slice the green onions. Reserve.
When the arracacha is done, add the remaining butter, water, the nutmeg and milk cream. With an immersion blender or food processor, blend until the mixture has become a smooth cream. Add cheese and blend. Not incorporating the old master completely gives the cream an interesting texture. You could use grated cheese instead, and skip the blending.
Taste and adjust spice.
Serve and garnish with mushrooms, green onions and black pepper.
Makes 4 servings.
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Sure, potatoes would do too... but arraracha has a distinctive strong flavor of its own, definitely worth giving it a try.
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Once again I'm tortured by all the photos of burgers and hot dogs and the description of warm picnic/grilling weather online. So even if the weather ain't right, I'll be making myself a cheeseburger and enjoying the spirit of the day.
Happy 4th of July!
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*mother knows best... and chicken soup for the soul*

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Oh boy, mothers always know best.
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Chatting to my mother this morning and while nagging about how poorly I felt, she told me to chew on some papaya seeds. Well, I had eaten some papaya with yogurt because that is supposed to be really healthy and good on the stomach but the seeds are so bitter they are something I usually just swallow or don't eat at all.
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So I ate a spoonful a couple hours ago. And I'm feeling a little better already.

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Or was it the soup?
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Because every time I'm feeling sick or down all I need is a nice bowl of Chicken Soup and then things start looking up.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

150 grs chicken breast
2 medium carrots - minced
2 medium potatoes - minced
2 medium onions - minced
4 roma tomatoes - chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped (or more if you prefer)
oregano to taste
salt to taste
a pinch of sugar (to break down the acid in the tomatoes)
1 cube of chicken stock
a couple handfuls of alphabet noodles

Chop the chicken breast into small bite pieces. Sauté with a little olive oil and the garlic and onions. Add the chicken stock (I grew up to the cube type so I prefer to use it), and cover with a little more than a liter of water. Let it boil for about 30 minutes, then add the other vegetables and wait another 20 minutes. Add the noodles in the final 6 minutes of boiling. Spice to taste and serve with a twist of lime.

Makes 4 medium servings or 6 small ones.


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When I make the soup to treat colds or fevers I usually add pepper to taste or/and ginger. Since my stomach is ill I decided to go lighter on the flavor, so it's just pure comfort.
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Also, its my soup so there MUST be alphabet pasta. Sounds silly, but I just love the child-like feel it gives and how much it makes my soup look like my moms. Comforting.
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Anyway, soon enough I'll be back to cooking lots of interesting and spicy foods. Yay!
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