Tag Archives: Cooking

Off to Oklahoma to meet the Pioneer Woman

Well, for those of you that I haven’t called while screaming hysterically or who haven’t seen my facebook update, I might as well tell you: I am going to the Pioneer Woman’s house this weekend. In fact, I will shortly be on my way to the airport, to a plane that will whisk me away to a magical place in Middle-of-Nowhere, Oklahoma. A magical place of cooking, chaps, cows, and no traffic noises.

The Pioneer Woman had a holiday baking weekend giveaway, inviting 4 lucky gals to her house to be fed, drink coffee, feed the cows, learn about baking, and sleep in.

Among those lucky gals are longtime friends Jennifer and Ann. After checking out their blogs, I can’t wait to meet them in person.

Prior to this I had never won any lottery-style thingamaging in my life . . . but I had a little itch when I entered, and even thought to myself, “man, if I win I have to make sure I can make it back by Sunday night” (for that gig at the Red Line Tap). Then I told myself “This is ridiculous. Don’t even worry about that–it’s not like you’re going to get picked! Not with those crazy odds! Heck, half of the female population in America is entering this giveaway!”

But the itch persisted.

I was comment #16,128, and I was picked. From about 40,000 entries. With only 4 winners, that was a 0.01% chance. If you’re having trouble even believing the words that I’m saying to you (I’m having trouble believing them myself), you can check out my name emblazoned for the world to see on her “holiday baking weekend winners” post.

I found out on Friday November 5th, and my first reaction was honestly to start laughing hysterically. Thankfully my boss wasn’t in the office to witness the insanity. I laughed for about 15 minutes, on and off, with tears in my eyes. I also screamed multiple times. I had to verbally instruct my own self to calm down. Then I called my sister, called my Mom, and texted my other sister (sleeping soundly in Alaska).

Ree allows everyone to bring a guest, so I’m taking my Mom with me, since Heidi will be too pregnant to fly in from Alaska, and Erica’s husband-man gets deployed that same month . . . for a year. Incidentally, this is why we’re voting for the P-Dub to do an army wives weekend. So Erica and Heidi can go.

Leading up to this weekend, I’ve been having the craziest dreams. In one of them, Ree had a heavy Eastern European accent and a smoker’s voice, and told us she was going to die of cancer by age 49. I immediately started crying, and realized that her blog would now go from a happy, cheerful place, to the diary of a dying woman.

In another dream, I kept trying to take pictures of the sunset on the ranch, but my camera’s memory card was malfunctioning and didn’t save any of my amazing photographs.

In yet another, when we arrived at the guest lodgings, there were cats, mice, and other animals everywhere, and there was a pile of cat poo in the shower. Oh, and a dead mouse had been skinned and gutted by some cowboy in the middle of the carpet. Thankfully in this dream I had the sense to bring my Mom and Erica and Heidi, and they promptly cleaned it all up for me.

I don’t want to sound like a crazy obsessed fan, but I love this woman. I love her humor, I’ve cooked (and loved) over 30 of her recipes (seriously, I’ll make you a list some day), I learned the rudiments of photography and Photoshop from her, and I’ve admired her site for over a year. In fact, it was her blog that taught me what a blog even was!

At this point, baking isn’t my forte. But after this holiday baking weekend, and after absorbing the magical skills which will undoubtedly be in the air, I should be set.

Just look at the sinfully delightful things she cooks up. I dare you not to salivate.

The cry that has been ringing in the back of my mind for weeks now betrays the fact that I am a girl, through and through:

But . . . I don’t have anything to weeeeeeeeaaaar!

I will be blogging all about the experience, make no mistake.

*both photos courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com

Garlic Gruyère Soup

If you’ve looked at any of my recipes at all, you know one thing: I love garlic.

And I love cream. So that’s two things.

We could also add mushrooms in there for number three . . . and how could I forget rice?? So if you’ve looked at any of my recipes at all, you actually know four things. *Insert clever statement of your choice referencing Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition skit*

This garlic soup recipe came to me from on high. It came via Tasty Kitchen, Pioneer Woman’s recipe sharing site. It came with angelic choruses singing in the starlit sky. It came with blazes of glory, strings of diamonds and pearls, and ribbons in its hair.

It is g-e-w-d. That means ‘good’ in case you’re a step behind things this morning.

I’m a step behind things this morning. But that’s another story, which my next cup of coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer should put a lovely ending to–a lovely ending such as: “and then the girl with the saggy eyes poured herself a cup of office coffee laced with Peppermint Mocha creamer and she lived happily! Ever! After! Her eyes went from saggy to bloodshot! Then she started typing at 1,000 WPM and cranking out her morning’s work! And the people rejoiced!”

It’s the power of caffeine on a grey morning, folks.

Anyway, enough falderal. We’ve got to get this thing started or I’ll just keep jibber-jabbering all morning long and we’ll never get to the part with the soup in it. Let’s boil it down to the bare facts: cream. Garlic. Wine. Garlic. Cheese. Garlic.

Ingredients

1 TBS olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

16 cloves garlic, smashed

1 c dry white wine

4 c chicken stock

1 Bay leaf

2 cups French bread, torn into pieces

3/4 c heavy whipping cream

½ cups shredded Gruyère or Parmesan

First things first: slice your onion and smash your garlic.

You can see my container of pre-peeled garlic lurking there in the background. It’s one of the many delights provided by my local Asian grocery store.

Now heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion and garlic.

Cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, by the end of which they will start to get goldeny brown. It’s called caramelization and it’s the greatest culinary technique in creation.

Make sure your wine bottle is open. This funky opener was made for girls like me, who have broken corks untold with traditional bottle openers. It’s called a rabbit, and it would be a great Christmas gift for the struggling wine-opener in your family.

Add the white wine and cover the pot.

Reduce the heat to low, and cook for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then.

It’s now looking something like this, and smelling like your wildest dreams come true.

Pour in the chicken stock and the bay leaf–you could easily use vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian.

Bring it to a boil . . .

. . . then cover the pot and simmer it over low heat for 30 minutes.

I used this time to tear up my bread, grate my Parmesan, and measure out my cream.

Yes, it’s my Parmesan and my cream. Not the cream. Mine, mine, mine!! All mine!!! Though I will kindly share the cellulitis with you.

Yes, I cheated and used Parmesan even though I specifically used ‘Gruyère’ in the recipe title. But have you seen the prices on Gruyère these days? Have you seen them? And the Parmesan was on sale for $3.49 a wedge! They made me do it!

Try not to consume all the bread and parmesan before its time.

After those 30 minutes are up, turn off the stove and add the torn bread pieces . . .

. . . cover the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes. The bread will get mushy and schmushy–don’t question the process. Just believe.


Take the bay leaf out and try not to wonder why it’s glimmering like gold. Is it a leaf from Loth-Lorien?

I think Galadriel would totally dig this soup, yo.

Now put your immersion blender in and puree this baby.

You can also pour the soup into a regular blender (working in batches) and whizz it there, but make sure not to hurt or burn yourself in the process. I’ve heard stories of exploding soups and I want to make sure those do not take place in your life or kitchen.

Puree the soup until it’s nice and smooth, then stir in the cream . . .

. . . and add generous amounts of black pepper, and salt to taste. Taste it a few times. And then a few more. I know I certainly did.

Garnish each bowl with a hefty sprinkling of cheese. I added green onions for color.

Enjoy!

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