Kitchenography

Fennel Leek Soup

 

The last few days have been unbelievably beautiful -- warm, with soft golden light, and the leaves which have just begun to color slowly drifting to the ground. More of the same is predicted for tomorrow and the next day. Not really soup weather at all. However, cold and rainy weather is out there somewhere in our not too distant future and I look forward to making this again.

I suspect fennel of having some sort of addictive quality because I've yet to find a fennel soup that I didn't immediately love and crave. I've had fennel and squash soup, and fennel and tomato soup, but my favorite so far is fennel with leek soup.

This also happens to be the easiest soup ever:

Fennel Leek Soup   (adapted from the wonderful and highly recommended Herbfarm Cookbook)

4servings

1 large fennel bulb
1 leek
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon Pernod (optional)
2 cups of chicken broth
Salt

1. Clean, then dice the leek. (Although I usually end up chopping it, and then washing it; it seems easier to get the grit out that way.)

2. Trim, then core the fennel. I find it easiest to do this by quartering the fennel lengthwise. It's then easy to see what's core and what's not. Dice the fennel quarters.

3. Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the leeks and fennel. Salt lightly. Cook, stirring occasionally until the leeks are translucent. This will take between five and ten minutes.

4. Add the broth (and Pernod if you're using it) and simmer until the fennel is soft. This will take about half an hour.

5. Let the soup cool a little and then transfer the soup to a blender and blend until the soup is smooth. (I tried blending this with an immersion blender but thought it wasn't as effective as the regular blender. Fennel is fibrous stuff.) Remember to be careful whenever you blend hot liquid: Hold down the top of the blender using a folded dish towel.  

6. Return it to the soup pot and reheat. Taste, and add more salt if needed. Serve.

Two other favorite fennel soups:
Squash and Fennel Soup
Tomato Fennel Soup

And some more from elsewhere:

Carrot and Fennel Soup
White Bean and Fennel Soup
Potato Fennel Soup with Apples
Roasted Red Pepper, Fennel, and Lentil Soup

Tomato Tart

I find myself in the same situation every year. While everyone else seems to be looking forward to crisp fall air, wearing sweaters, and making big pots of soup, I'm trying to delay the passing of summer any way I can.  

It's October and I've yet to buy a single winter squash, apple, or pear. The farmers' market has been full of  fall fruits and vegetables for weeks now but as long as there are still tomatoes, or peaches, or raspberries in the market, I can't bring myself to buy anything like winter squash. Winter is long and we'll be eating stuff like that for months.

Where I live the first frost doesn't usually occur until mid-November and the leaves don't begin to color until mid-October or later. It's an area of long, lingering summers. Tomatoes, peaches, raspberries, and other summer produce are abundant in September and the quality is still good; eggplants and peppers are at peak. I never buy chrysanthemums in the fall because September is when my impatiens plants finally begin to look luxuriant. 

But by the beginning of October even I have to admit that summer is really over and fall is here. The evenings have a noticeable chill, the days are noticeably shorter, and signs saying things like "last week for peaches" have begun to appear in the market. My tomatoes have stopped producing and this past weekend my sister-in-law dropped off a bag of beautiful tomatoes grown in her Eastern Shore garden and told me that it was her last batch.

So this is a good-bye to summer tomatoes. It's the sort of thing I would never do with tomatoes in July or August -- it feels too heavy and besides at that time of year I'm always trying to keep from turning the stove on. But in early October, it fits.

The tart is adapted from a recipe I found in the Hors D'oeuvres volume of the Time-Life The Good Cook series which was edited by  Richard Olney and published in the late 70s and early 80s.  The tart dough is from a Martha Stewart recipe.  

I've mentioned before that I'm pastry-challenged, and I continue to speculate that there's a pastry gene which I was born without, however this was one of my most successful pastry forays to date. The tart shell was actually flaky and crisp, and the combination of the tomatoes and Gruyere cheese was delicious. Maybe I'm overcoming my pastry disability?

Tomato Tart

For the tart shell:

1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons butter, in 1/2 inch pieces
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons ice water

1. Combine flour and salt in food processor. Process for a few seconds to combine and distribute.

2. Add butter to food processor and pulse until butter is combined with flour -- about 20 pulses

3. Whisk egg, and then whisk in ice water. With the food processor running, add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and process only until it comes together. Gather into a disk, wrap with plastic, and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough, and fit it into an 11" tart pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork, wrap with plastic wrap, place the tart pan on a baking sheet or a plastic cutting board and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Turn the oven to 400 degrees to preheat.

5. Cover the tart with parchment paper, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool on a rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling:

3 to 4 tomatoes, preferably in a range of colors
3/4 cup of grated Gruyere cheese, divided
1/3 cup of heavy cream
Fresh nutmeg
1 tablespoon of a combination of chopped fresh parsley, chives, thyme, rosemary

1. Slice the tomatoes about 1/4" thick. Salt them and set them aside to drain.

2. Mix 1/2 cup of grated cheese with 1/3 cup of cream and a dusting of nutmeg. Spread on the bottom of the tart shell. Layer the tomatoes, sprinkling herbs over each layer and salting each layer of tomato lightly. Sprinkle the last layer with cheese.

3. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes until the top is bubbling and the cheese is golden brown. Let the tart sit at least 15 minutes after coming out of the oven to firm up.