I have tried out some new recipes this week and because they turned out pretty good, wanted to share them with you.
The first is Tomato Basil Soup. This recipe is from LaMadeline's restaurant. I have never actually eaten there but heard their soup was really good. So I thought I would give it a shot. It's very similar to a similar recipe I made years ago. It was a little rich for my taste and would probably change to half and half instead of whipping cream next time.
Ingredients
4 cups tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice
12 - 14 washed fresh basil leaves, plus additional for garnish, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sweet, unsalted butter, softened (I used half the amount of butter and I always have salted butter so that's what I used)
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Crusty bread (optional)
Directions
Combine tomatoes and juice in saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes over
medium-low heat. Cool slightly, then place in a blender or food
processor. Add basil and process to puree; this will have to be done in
batches.
Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and butter. Stir over low heat
until butter and cream are incorporated. Stir in salt and pepper before
serving. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve with fresh, crusty
bread. Makes 8 servings.
The second recipe I tried was stuffed portobellow mushrooms. This came from a magazine but I can't remember which one off the top of my head. I adjusted the recipe to suit my taste and this is what I came up with:
Ingredients:
two large portobello mushrooms
half an onion chopped
one zucchini shredded
one carrot shredded
half a bell pepper (I used green one day and red the next) chopped
olive oil to saute veggies in
a few fresh basil leaves chopped
one tsp lemon juice
two palmfuls of seasoned bread crumbs
two palmfuls paremesean cheese or asiago, ramono, blend
two slices of provolone cheese
Directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse off mushrooms and remove stems. Chop stems if desired. Saute onions, zucchini, carrot, pepper and mushroom stems until slightly tender. Add basil, lemon juice and stir. Remove from heat. Add bread crumbs and parmesean cheese and stir until well mixed. Line mushrooms with provolone cheese. Add veggie/breading mixture to inside of mushroom caps. With flat part of mushroom facing down, place stuffed mushrooms onto a foil lined baking sheet or silicone baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Mushrooms will water out some. If desired, top with parmesean cheese and cook for additional two minutes. These are yummy if you like mushrooms. If you try them, let me know how you like them :)