Corn and Tomato Soup

My daughter Gabrielle has been cooking up a storm lately.  Recently she made a delicious and healthy Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup from the Our Best Bites website.  It was early in April so fresh corn wasn't available but it was still very tasty using frozen.  I can't wait to make it with fresh, sweet corn, right off the cob when the summer season arrives!  Along with the topping of corn kernels, paprika and herbs you could also sprinkle grated cheddar cheese and minced sweet green pepper on top.  Use minced jalapeño or serrano chili peppers for a spicier rendition.  If you want to keep it vegetarian, just substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.  Enoy!

Roasted Sweet Corn and Tomato Soup
Recipe by Our Best Bites, inspired by the Sussman Brothers

3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 cobs)
10 ounces cherry tomatoes (abt 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, any color, diced
8 ounce jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
32 ounces chicken broth (4 cups)
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
optional: chopped herbs for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place corn, tomatoes, and garlic on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with 2 teaspoons olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.  Gently toss with hands and then arrange in an even, flat layer.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tomatoes are crinkled and burst.

While vegetables are roasting, heat a stock pot to medium high heat on stove top.  Add remaining one teaspoon olive oil and diced onion.  Saute about 5 minutes, or until tender.  Add roasted bell peppers, chicken broth, smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder.  Add a light sprinkling of kosher salt and black pepper (I add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few cracks of pepper at this point and then season to taste at the very end.)

When corn and tomatoes are done roasting, add them to the pot*, making sure to scrape off all of the bits on the pan.  (*If desired, reserve a couple spoonfuls of roasted corn for garnish.)  Bring soup to a low simmer and cover.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Use an immersion blender, or transfer soup to stand blender and puree until smooth.  Taste, and add additional salt and pepper (and chipotle chili powder if you want a little more heat) to taste.  Divide into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika, a few corn kernels, and some chopped herbs if desired.

Yields about 6 cups of soup.

BEVERAGE PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:

This soup is a little spicy, depending on how much chipotle pepper is used, so beer would always be a great choice.  For wine, I would stick with fruit driven white wines such as a Chardonnay, a Spanish Albarino or a South African Chenin Blanc.  For reds, a fruity French Beaujolais Cru or an Argentinian Malbec would be a great choices .  These fruit forward wines will hold up to and complement the spice in the soup.  And, for Cinco de Mayo, why not a margarita?!  Cheers!

Sweet and Spicy Salmon

Many people are intimidated to cook fish and have told me they usually just wait to order it in a restaurant, rather than preparing it themselves. They're afraid of ending up with an overcooked, dry and chewy filet. Yet there are so many simple ways to cook fish:  broil, bake, grill, sauté, fry, roast, and if you follow one general rule of thumb, moist and delicious fish will be yours!  

The rule is to cook the filet 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness, keeping in mind that there are exceptions, such as for salmon and tuna, which are usually served rare in the middle and therefore require less cooking time.  But for most other fish, the rule works beautifully.

Below is one of my favorite recipes for cooking salmon which needs only about 6 minutes per inch of cooking time.  This preparation is so easy to make and you can either broil or grill the fish.  

Serve with a dry but fruity white wine like a Finger Lakes Riesling (Dr Konstantin Frank is one you can’t go wrong with) or with a California Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley (Gary Farrell is a favorite producer).

Slightly rare in the center, this salmon is perfectly cooked! 

Serves 2

1/8 cup (2T) honey

1T coarse grained mustard

1 & 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 lb. salmon fillet

1) Mix together honey, mustard, vinegar, cumin, coriander and chili powder.

2) Lay salmon fillet on a foil-lined baking pan, skin side down and brush marinade all over the top of the fish.  It should be a fairly thick coating.  Marinate 20 minutes to one hour.

3) Broil or grill salmon without turning, until opaque and slightly rare in the center, about 5-7 minutes.  Serve with rice, quinoa or couscous and sauteed vegetables, such as these simple but fabulous Sugar Snap Peas.  

BEVERAGE PAIRING SUGGESTIONS:

A medium bodied, refreshing beer such as a lager or an IPA is one sure way to go when eating dishes with flavorful spices like cumin, coriander and chili powder.  As for wine, spicy food pairs well with white wines that have a bit of residual sugar such as a German Riesling. Or you could pair the rich, oily salmon with an equally rich white wine like Enrico Serafino’s Grifo del Quartaro Gavi di Gavi.

If you prefer red wine,  I would suggest a light to medium bodied, fruit forward, low tannin wine such as a Beaujolais from France or an Italian Barbera D'Alba or even a fruity Zinfandel from California.  Other great choices would be a light-bodied Pinot Noir from Loire Valley’s Sancerre region or a Provencal rosé, preferably a fuller-bodied one from Bandol.  

Banana Bread With Dessert Wine

A good banana bread recipe is something that will serve you and your loved ones well over the years.  When my youngest daughter was little she could hardly wait for me to miscalculate (sometimes on purpose) the amount of bananas that we would eat that week. That meant that there would be two or three overripe, mushy bananas, perfect for banana bread.  For breakfast, she loved a warm slice with a little butter or cream cheese melting on it. She still loves banana bread, and at any time of day.

The Late Harvest Grand Cru 2009 Pinot Gris from the Alsacian producer Francois Baur was the perfect accompaniment to a warm slice of Banana Bread heaven!

When a friend of mine was in college, his mother mother once sent him a loaf of banana bread to help get him through those long nights in the library.  Little did she know, on the way to the library, he ran into a buddy holding a full pitcher of beer (don’t ask!) and within a few minutes, the two of them were sitting in the warm autumn sun devouring banana bread with beer.

Most recently, I discovered the delights of drinking wine with banana bread, specifically a Vendange Tardive (which means late harvest) from Alsace in France.  The grapes used for this type of dessert wine are left to hang on the vine until they start to dehydrate and shrivel up. The grapes’ juice becomes very sweet and concentrated, and the flavors become more intense. Serving the banana bread with a late harvest pinot gris makes it more like an evening dessert, rather than a breakfast item or an afternoon snack.  You could even toast a slice and serve it with vanilla ice cream with any number of dessert wines: port, sauternes or cream sherry. 

No matter how you eat it, or what you drink with it (perhaps an ice cold glass of milk?), you will be left with a big smile on your face, along with a glow from the love that was put into it.

MY FAVORITE BANANA BREAD RECIPE

I discovered this recipe several years ago in Martha Stewart's Entertaining Cookbook.  Over the years, I have adapted it and made it my own.

Makes one loaf

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 medium sized bananas, mashed with a potato masher

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1) While preheating oven to 350 degrees, cream butter, sugar and eggs.

2) In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix together well with butter, sugar and egg mixture.  Stir in bananas, sour cream, vanilla and walnuts.  

3) Pour into a buttered 9x4x3 inch loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes.  Test for doneness by inserting a bamboo skewer or wooden toothpick and checking that it comes out clean.  You may need to bake an additional 10-15 minutes.  The loaf should be lightly browned.  

4) Turn out onto a wire rack.

Wine Pairings:

In additon to the Francois Baur late harvest Pinot Gris, following are a few other suggestions for sweet wines to go with the banana bread:

Lustau "Solera Reserve" East India Sherry - $27

Fonseca 10 year tawny Port - $30

Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes - $75

Graham'sVintage Port 2000 - $125