Sopa de Mariscos (seafood soup)

Growing up I was always comfortable baking cookies from scratch but I relied on some supermarket helpers for most other things: cake and brownies from box mix, hamburger helper, Kraft Mac n Cheese.  I guess you could call it the Sandra Lee semi-homemade approach (though I should go on the record to say that woman terrifies me).  I wasn't comfortable branching out and making things from scratch until probably late in my undergrad years and then in grad school.  And then I had a lot of missteps along the way.  My early philosophy was that if I didn't have an ingredient, I'd be "creative" in substituting another ingredient in.  I found out the hard way that you should never, ever do this unless you really know what you are doing.  (I still remember the roast pork I made where I subbed white sugar for brown.  Man was that gross.)  Joe was always highly suspicious when I tried something from scratch, because I was notorious for my bad subs.

We went to Cancun in 2002 and while there I had the most amazing seafood soup, or sopa de mariscos.  Spicy, flavorful, and so delicious.  And it had baby octopus in it that I actually liked.  So a few years later, I stumbled upon this recipe on the Food Network.  It turned out amazing, and was the first thing I made from scratch that Joe said was actually wonderful.  Ironically, when I made the soup a second time I realized that I had actually messed up one of the steps - adding all of the sofrito to the soup when it says to add 1 cup.  But I really like the thickness it has by adding the whole thing so I make it this way on purpose now!   I find this recipe (making the sofrito, and then the soup) to be time consuming, so be prepared if you make it all in one night.  You can save some time by making the sofrito in advance.

So, first, the sofrito. A sofrito is a base for many dishes, including soup.

Ingredients:

1 ounce bacon (about 1 strip), torn into pieces (or you can leave this out to make the dish pescatarian)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup chopped red onion
4 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced habanero or Scotch bonnet (or other hot pepper)
1/4 teaspoon minced jalapeno
Pinch saffron (saffron can be really expensive so if you aren't willing to spring for it, leave it out or put in paprika for similar color - but not flavor)
6 to 8 ounces dry white wine
1/2 cup cream, if desired (or fat free half and half)

In a sauce pot set on medium, cook the bacon in the olive oil for 30 seconds. Add red and yellow peppers, onions, and garlic, and saute until soft. Add the habanero, jalapeno, and saffron, cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and cream if desired. Reduce by 1/4 and cool a bit.  If you have an immersion blender, it really comes in handy here.  I like to blend it so that there are still some veggie chunks in there.  If you don't have an immersion blender, feel free to use a food processor or blender but please be careful if the liquid is still really hot.  Don't need any sofrito explosions.

Then, you'll want to start making the soup itself.

Ingredients

all of the sofrito, recipe above
2-4 cups fish stock or clam juice (I really like the seafood bullion cubes for this but they are hard to find. Otherwise I just use some seafood stock and clam juice)  I say 2-4 cups because this will vary depending on how thick you want the soup, how much seafood you add, etc.
Seafood of your choice - sometimes you can find a frozen mix of seafood at the grocery - if so, great, use that. If your dining partners aren't as adventurous and don't like octopus and calamari, then you can just use all shrimp, or a white fish like cod.  Or you can be fancy and use mussels and clams.  It's really up to you.  One time I added lobster!
1 tomato, small diced
1/2 cup yellow pepper, small diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a deep saute pan or fry skillet combine sofrito with fish stock or clam juice on medium low heat whisking frequently until heated through. Add the tomatoes and yellow pepper. At this point I usually let it simmer around 30 minutes.

Then, add your seafood of choice (fish and seafood never take long to cook - only a few minutes.  If you are using shellfish, cook until they open  - and if any don't open, toss them). Just before serving, stir in lime juice, cilantro, and salt and pepper, to taste.

This soup is great with some crusty bread.  I do have a photo of the finished soup but the picture really doesn't do it justice.

Lemon sugar cookies

So I recently decided to try out a new, somewhat healthy version of a sugar cookie because I'm testing recipes for a Halloween cookie (more on that to come!).  I found a healthier sugar cookie on Eating Well and decided to give it a try.  The dough ended up puffier than what I had liked for my specialty shaped Halloween cookie idea, but was perfect just for making regular round cookies.  Here's my slightly modified version of their cookies.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 

1 large egg

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (I used two little packets of True Lemon instead)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

A few more tablespoons of granulated sugar

Directions

Whisk flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a small bowl.

Beat sugar and butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, and beat until blended. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or overnight. (Bolding because this is an important step to remember!)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

Roll the dough into 36 balls (about 2 level teaspoons each) with your hands. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.  Smash the balls down slightly and then lightly sprinkle each one with the remaining granulated sugar.

Bake, one batch at a time, until puffed and beginning to crack, 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutrition

Per cookie: 59 calories; 1 g fat ( 1 g sat , 0 g mono ); 9 mg cholesterol; 11 g carbohydrates; 6 g added sugars; 1 g protein; 0 g fiber; 36 mg sodium; 15 mg potassium.

This was from my first batch. Note that I made my dough balls a bit too big on this one so I ended up with far fewer than 36 cookies!  I'll know what to do next time...