Post Irma Party - Chilled Romaine Soup, Mixed Greens & Sausage and more...

Sally and I hosted a party for the folks who stayed at her house while we were in Scotland avoiding the hurricane.  I served this chilled soup and told them that this is what they'd have been eating if the power had stayed out another day or two!

Chilled Romaine Soup 
This recipe was made famous in Florida at Chalet Suzanne in Lake Wales, Fl.  It was also featured in the 1961 NY Times Cookbook.  Sally had sampled a canned version of this soup at a bridal shower recently.  Chilled (or at least room temperature) soups are popular here in Florida because our warm temperatures aren't often conducive to the usual hot soups.

2 Tbsp Butter
1  Onion sliced or diced
3 heads of Romaine lettuce, chopped
2 cups Stock or Broth (I used vegetable as we had vegetarians at the party)
Salt and White Pepper to taste
Croutons, Sour Cream and Bacon Bits to garnish

In a large skillet, saute/sweat the onion in the butter over medium heat until it starts to soften.  Add the lettuce and cover until it starts to wilt.  Add the broth and cook until the lettuce is very soft. 

Season with salt and pepper.  Working in batches, puree the lettuce/onion mixture in a blender or food processor -- you want a silky consistency.  

Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream (or plain yogurt), croutons, and bacon bits.

This soup, unlike many chilled soups, is equally good when heated before garnishing and serving.


Mixed Greens & Sausage
For the main course of our luncheon, I served a variation on the Swiss Chard & Rhubarb Skillet I wrote about sometime back.  The ingredients below will serve 2-4; I made more than double this for the party...

Sausage (2 per person)  I had Mild Italian, Chicken Andouille, and Apple Sage meatless sausage
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 small bunch Kale
--  try for an equal volume of the two greens
1 small Red Onion, diced
4-6 oz Rhubarb (fresh or frozen) sliced 1/4" thin
1/4 cup raisins or currants
1-2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1/4 tsp Garam Masala spice blend
1" finger of fresh Ginger, minced

Cook the sausages until nicely browned  While that is going on:

Disassemble the greens -- cut the leaves away from the stems, but save the stems apart and cut them into 1/4" slices.

In the same skillet where you cooked the sausage, saute the onion and stems until they start to soften.  Add the rhubarb, maple, raisins, spice and ginger, and cook (~10 minutes) until the rhubarb is softening.  Add water as necessary to prevent sticking.

Now add the greens, cover, and cook until they wilt.  Toss everything together to mix well.  Put the sausage on the bed of cooked greens and warm them through before serving family style with the skillet at the table.

Doesn't that look good?

Shakshuka For Two
Earlier this year I experimented with making Shakshuka for our Cabana guests as a breakfast option.  Making and serving the dish in matching 8" skillets was just a bit much, but the result is sure tasty.  Then recently I was given half a dozen individual casserole dishes

Baking poached eggs in Florida is an exercise in energy waste -- heating the house for 20 minutes to cook eggs for 6 minutes!!

Then I discovered you can microwave-poach eggs  Works especially well if you use the Defrost function -- the cycling, lower power, keeps the yolks from exploding all over the inside of your microwave!

So here's what I did.  Each casserole (breakfast for 1) gets 3/4 cup of "Petite Cut" diced tomatoes, either canned, or chopped from fresh by yours truly.  They will cook down somewhat in the poaching process.

Use a spoon or something to make a pair of divots in the tomatoes, and carefully crack an egg into each divot.

I used the Time Defrost function and started with 5 minutes.  Then added 1 minute at a time until I got pretty darn good looking poached eggs at about 8 minutes.  Your mileage may vary depending on your microwave.

Breakfast for 1, Shakshuka style.