Reed's Curried Carrot Soup

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog for a while, you know that I am truly blessed with great friends who love to cook.

One couple you’ve read about before are Reed Malkin and his wife Diane Benson. In the past few months they have initiated what has become a regular affair: the Sunday afternoon dinner. Folks trail in over the early hours of the afternoon, and enjoy a glass of wine, or a French aperitif. There are always dishes of olives and perhaps a few slices of salami to nibble on, and some of the guests might bring an appetizer to share.

Around 3:00 Reed will wander toward the kitchen and start bringing out the first of what is always several courses of really yummy food. And usually the lovely Miss Benson will wind up the meal with one of her home-made desserts. By 6:00 or so, everyone heads home.

I really like this idea and may steal it for my own. It makes an easy, casual way to entertain. The hosts aren't faced with a pile of dirty dishes late at night (or even worse, early the next morning). The guests can go home and do what they need to do to get ready for work the next day, and everyone can get to bed at a reasonable hour.

A recent gathering featured a wonderful curried carrot soup to start. The main course was a marinated and grilled tuna loin that one of the guests had fished out of the sea just the day before, with an orzo risotto and a great baked dish reminiscent of ratatouille, topped with cheese. Dessert was home-made ice cream and cookies.

You know how I love dishes that can be made ahead, so I had to ask for the soup recipe. It makes a great first course in the heat of summer. With its garnish of shrimp, I think you could make a great luncheon with a big green salad. And look how easy it is!

REED'S CURRIED CARROT SOUP

1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon curry powder (see notes)
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 can (14-16 ounces) coconut milk (see notes)
Juice and zest of one lime
For garnish:
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup shredded coconut, toasted
4 to 6 large shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined
4 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves

In a heavy pot, over medium heat, sauté the green and yellow onion in the butter until starting to soften. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender.
Add the carrots and the stock. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.
With a hand blender, or in a food processor, puree the soup until very smooth. Add the coconut milk, lime juice and zest. Cover and chill .
When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and top with the garnish. Serves 4 as a main course, or 6 as a first course.

NOTES: Reed used hot curry powder which gave it a pretty good kick. If you prefer, you may use mild curry powder. The coconut milk is the unsweetened sort, found in the oriental food section, not the sweetened cream of coconut found in the beverage mixer section of the supermarket.

Be Mantia's Sandwich Chef for a Day!

  It's easy! Just submit your idea for the perfect sandwich for Mantia's. Our crew will pick the five most appealing to them, and we will feature them as sandwich specials the week of June 2. If we gets lots and lots of good ideas, we'll extend into the following week.

The sandwich that sells the most will be named after its creator, and honored with a permanent place on our rotating list of sandwich specials. The person who submits it will enjoy dinner for two at Mantia's.

Votes may also be cast on our new Facebook page in a special section. You may also submit your recipe on our Facebook page.

In addition to the fame and fortune that the winner will enjoy, Mantia's will donate $1.00 for each of the special sandwiches sold during that week to the Kidney Foundation of West Tennessee.

Ask one of our associates for an entry form and let's get rolling!

A food trivia game--for serious foodies!

My sister and I always exchange "Day After Christmas" presents, and this year she gave me a food trivia game. With a lot going on to limit my personal free time, I hadn't gotten into it until recently.

Now I can't wait to have my foodie friends over to play it. With 1000 questions in five different categories, from food history and culinary expertise to dining etiquette and famous chefs, it promises a good way to spend an evening.

It may be available locally, but you can also order it online at Sur La Table (which is where the image above came from), for $18.95 plus shipping.

How about a food trivia play-off some Saturday afternoon at Mantia's?

The world's most expensive champagne?

The world's most expensive champagne, popping the records at 4,166 euros (around $6600.00) for a personalised bottle of bubbly, were sold in March, targeting a "super-rich" global elite. There were only 100 cases available and they apparently went fast.

Each case purchaser was brought to Epernay, in the Champagne region of France, for a private meeting with the cellar master, Hervé Deschamps, where they stayed in Perrier-Jouet's chateau for the visit.

Hmm...$6600 a bottle comes out to $1100 a glass. Maybe it's just my cheapskate mentality, but it sounds like more of a vanity than a pleasure!

Asparagus: A true harbinger of spring!

I knew spring had arrived last week when I found asparagus for forty-nine cents a pound in a local supermarket. Although asparagus is available year-round, it is at its best and most affordable this time of year.

My favorite way of cooking asparagus is roasted. Break off the woody ends and save them for soup if you like. Spread the spears in one layer on a baking sheet, drizzle with a good fruity olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher or sea salt, and roast at 400o for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on their thickness. Serve warm or at room temperature as a vegetable side dish, or atop a bed of salad greens with your favorite vinaigrette.
Another thing I like to do is make a flan, sort of a quiche without crust. I recently did this for a casual supper with friends, but it would also make a lovely first course with a tangle of arugula on the side, or as a brunch main course with some sort of fruit salad.
I made individual ones in tart pans, but it is easily made in one baking dish and cut into squares to serve, if you like. You can vary the cheese to your taste. I used a soft goat cheese, but if you prefer, shredded gruyère or fontina would work beautifully.

SPRING ASPARAGUS FLAN

1 lb asparagus
1 large lemon
3 tbsp butter, plus extra for buttering the baking dishes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped, or 1 tsp dried
6 eggs
1 cup half-and-half or whole milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 cups shredded fontina or gruyère, or 6 oz soft goat cheese, crumbled
Additional tarragon springs, or minced parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350o. Break off the woody lower stems of the asparagus. Place the spears in a glass or ceramic baking dish with a splash of water. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving one corner open to vent. Microwave for 4 minutes, or until just crisp tender. Let cool.

Remove the zest from the lemon in thin strips and set aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and reserve.

In a skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter. Cook the onion in the butter until very tender, but not at all browned. Add the tarragon, stir a couple of times and remove from the heat.
Divide the onion among six buttered baking dishes.

Cut the asparagus into 2” lengths. Reserving the tips, divide among the baking dishes atop the onions. Sprinkle with your cheese of choice.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, cream or milk, reserved lemon juice, salt and pepper until well combined. Pour over the asparagus. Arrange the reserved tips on top. Place on a baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the filling is set. Garnish with the lemon zest and tarragon or parsley and serve while still warm. Serves 6.

Another Louisville restaurant

Once again my sister and I went to a new restaurant in Lousiville...well new to us at least.

The restaurant, Avalon, has been around for about 5 years, and has an excellent reputation. It is in the Highlands area of Louisville, which is the home of many original independent restaurants, cafés
and coffee shops. We were out grocery shopping for our mama's 88th birthday dinner, and stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful day, and the patio was sunny and inviting.

First, the food: I must say that the lunch menu didn't seem particularly exciting or inventive to me. We each ordered a cup of the crab & corn chowder with bacon. If there was bacon in it, the taste wasn't discernible, and the crab appeared to be the very inexpensive snow crab meat. At $6.90 for about 4 ounces, I expect a jumbo lump or two.

We split the "Shaved Peppermill Turkey Breast, Hoagie Roll, Granny Smith Apples, Bacon, Swiss Cheese, Garlic Mayonnaise." Although there was nothing wrong with it, it was indeed, pretty run of the mill. The fries were good, though, crisp shoestring fries, and plenty of them.

The service was equally spotty. Although our server was a charming young lady, she was not able to open our bottle of wine without assistance from another server. We got our food but had no napkins or flatware, and it took several tries to get her attention to bring them. We asked the young man who appeared to be the manager to take a quick picture of us on the patio. He said he was busy but would be back. He never returned.

Now I must be fair: We looked at the dinner menu and it looked infinitely more inviting than the lunch menu did. We will almost certainly go back for dinner when we have the time. I'll report back!

Please note: The patio picture came from the Avalon website, since the gentleman didn't take one of us to show you. I took the food picture. I think I had the camera settings set wrong for the bright sun that day.

Win a Prize for Pasta!

Italy Magazine, published in England is sponsoring a spring pasta recipe contest. For more information, or to post your favorite recipe, the full information is on their website.

The website is also a gold mine of information about traveling and eating in Italy. If you're planning a trip there anytime soon, you'll love this site.

I wanna be there, too!

For three days in July the Robert Mondavi Winery sponsors what looks to me like a wonderful program for lovers of food and wine, Taste3.

To quote their website: "TASTE3 brings together more than forty of the most compelling writers, thinkers, chefs, winemakers, journalists, artisans, and executives as speakers and hosts, joining 400 attendees who are every bit as tapped-in. TASTE3 will thrill, tantalize, engage, intrigue, provoke, and inspire both its audience and its speakers. The single-track program is broken into themed sessions filled with hard-hitting, engaging short-format presentations. Sessions are interwoven with breaks with networking opportunities and interactive exploration.

TASTE3 is presented by Robert Mondavi Winery. In the spirit of founder Robert Mondavi’s vision, passion and leadership, TASTE3 aims to push the exploration and marriage of wine, food and art."

You can find all the information you need, plus highlights and videos of last year's session at the Taste3 website.

A Roman restaurant to put on your list

As many of you may know, I'm heading to Italy in late September. I'll spend most of the time in Umbria but I hope to get a day or so in Rome as well. One of the things I want to do is have dinner at Montevecchio. I heard Sylvia Poggioli do a report on it back in the fall and went looking for it on the NPR website, where I found this picture and lots of information. If you're heading to Rome any time soon, you might want to check it out.

A truffle tree of your very own?

Anyone who has priced real truffles in the past few years has had sticker shock that makes gasoline prices seem reasonable. And it has become worse as the dollar skids in value on the international market. Last year they were as much as $3000 per pound on the retail market.

So why not adopt a truffle tree of your own? Risky, yes, but the potential rewards could be enough to seduce truffle-lovers who can affort the investment. Perhaps.

An enterprise in Gascony, France, has planted several hundred trees and is offering an adoption plan. You get your very own tree, and once (or if) it begins producing truffles, they are all yours, to keep or to sell on the open market. You get a picture of your tree, and can visit it any time you like.

The $64,000 question: When will the first truffles appear? How many? Some say as early as year three. Dr Khanaqa, a leading truffle expert, suggests between 150g and 450g per tree in year four, after which it should build up over the next twenty five to thirty years. A more conservative outlook goes with the majority view that harvesting should begin between five and nine years from planting. But truffles are unpredictable. One tree may produce a bumper crop while its neighbour does little or nothing. It’s this area of uncertainty that makes the whole concept intriguing.

For more information, or to adopt a tree of your very own, you can visit the truffière website.