Blue Cayenne

Soup is good for you in cold weather.

Soup is good for you in hot weather.

Soup is good. 

This Minestrone is substantial with big delicious chunks of carrots and potatoes and end-of-the-season zucchini.

The recipe is welcoming to endless variations making it a perfect (and delicious!) dish to assemble with whatever you have in your refrigerator crisper.The original recipe, for example,  included pasta and meatballs.  I especially enjoyed the big chunks of potato, but, then, being of proud Irish descent, I’ve never met a potato I didn’t adore. 

This recipe is from Lee Koenig’s Portico. You can order Portico through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than five hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldies But Goodies recipe is for Asparagus In Puff Pastry.

Here is the link: Asparagus In Puff Pastry.

Want to dive deeper into our archive? Just click one of the categories at the top of this page or use the category search drop down menu on the right side of this page.

And…here is a link to Blue Cayenne’s main page:Blue Cayenne Food and Photography Blog. . If you are in the mood to cook (or eat!), we hope you will take a moment to look at the many excellent recipes we have featured.

They’re ooey and gooey and delicious.

This brownie recipe is from David Leibovitz’ updated The Great Book of Chocolate cookbook. You can order the book through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

According to Lebovitz, this recipe originated with The Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, California,  under its founding owner Kathleen Stewart.

Ahhh chocolate! Did you know it is a fruit grown mostly in the hot and humid rainforests of Africa, Central and South America? Being a fruit makes it a healthy indulgence. Right? Let’s agree on that.

In his book about chocolate, Lebovitz has an interesting discussion about the provenance of chocolate. He writes:

“Every step–from growing and harvesting, fermenting and drying to blending, roasting and conching–affects the flavor of chocolate. Most beans are processed far from their place of origin. With that in mind, resist the urge to assume that, say, Belgian or French or Swiss chocolates are better than chocolates made elsewhere. While those countries have well-known traditions of producing excellent chocolate, it’s better to look beyond the country of manufacture as a barometer of quality. Much depends on the quality of the beans, how they are treated, and how the chocolate is made, rather than the country where the chocolate-making facility is located.”  (Note: Conching, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is the part of the treatment of cocoa beans where the liquified chocolate is kneaded by granite rollers. This refining of the crushed chocolate particles improves the texture of the chocolate and also removes some of the acidity and astringency from the chocolate thus improving its flavor.)

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.