Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

Here’s a conversation I had with my parents regarding gazpacho:

“What is that,” my mom asked. “Pasta sauce?”
Me: “No, mom. It’s cold tomato soup.”
Dad: “It looks like pasta sauce to me too! Where’s the pasta?”
Me: “It’s cold soup that you make without using the stove.”
*blank stare*

After explaining that gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable soup, the idea of cold soup still didn’t make sense to my parents. But that’s ok. I know people who think it’s weird that Korean people drink cold beef broth in Nangmyun, so to each his own.

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Lately, I’ve been asking myself: do I still live in New York? We’ve gotten some combination of slow/sleet/slush every single week. I shouldn’t be complaining; I don’t have to shovel (benefits of living in an apartment), and I even got a snow day last week! I made some Bawston clam chowdah in the comfort of my warm apartment, then watched a couple of really bad daytime court shows. Ah. The joys of daytime TV.

This recipe is inspired by my friend Cate, who told me that she makes Boston clam chowder at home. I am a HUGE fan of clam chowder, and though I’m a New Yorker, the tomato based Manhattan clam chowder doesn’t do it for me. I looked up a few recipes to get a general idea of what to include, then came up with this version. Just a warning: this soup is far from healthy. My version of the soup contains bacon, half and half, and butter. This recipe is starting to infringe on Paula Deen territory, no?

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Editor’s Note: An important, updated version of this recipe can be found here.

Before we bid farewell to winter, I wanted to share this simple hot and sour recipe. This is one of my favorite soups to eat whenever I eat Chinese food, which I realize, is not very often. But now that I know how to make it, I can enjoy it anytime I want!

All of the soups I’ve had at restaurants use cornstarch as a thickener. While I don’t mind it, I didn’t want a big pot of gloppy soup so I omitted corn starch. It’s up to you!

I would recommend cooking pork on the frying pan, then deglazing the pan for extra flavor. Sorry to say that I actually ended up omitting a few ingredients that I didn’t have on hand (bamboo shoots, pork, white pepper).

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Winter is upon us. I can spend all winter eating soup, chili, fresh ramen and well, more soup. It’s hard for me to eat a meal without some kind of broth, especially if there is rice involved. How about you? What is your favorite winter food?

Miso soup doesn’t take long to make at all. It’s super easy! I originally made this to go alongside spicy tuna Kimbap. I will do a post on that later, even though I forgot to take final photos.

I’ve heard a few people ask how to make Miso Soup – so I’ll tell you!

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