From Chinese New Year to Chowdah

Posted on 2 . 13 . 2013 by Marina Chotzinoff

We feasted at our house again this Chinese New Year and while the meal and company was delicious, the leftovers were the bonus treat. Aside from a platter of soup dumplings (which still tasted good but had absorbed their soup), tofu fritters, tasty riblets a friend so kindly brought, tangerine fried ribeye and crab noodles was a vat of jellied, gingered fish stock. Once the guests had left, we had thrown the remains of the picked-over yelloweye which had been steamed with chilis, ginger, garlic and green onions into a pot to simmer with some remaining aromatics. Once strained and … Continue reading →

Mushroom Broth with Smoked Eggplant Dumplings

Posted on 2 . 4 . 2013 by Marina Chotzinoff

Years ago I had a bowl of dreamy soup at Aqua in San Francisco. It was a lightly-hued lobster broth with eggplant dumplings, peas and tiny, perfectly round carrots. While I don’t remember exactly what the eggplant flavorings were, I do remember that the earthiness of the filling paired so nicely with the slightly sweet broth and I am pretty sure I made happy noises through that entire bowl. I have often wanted to try to recreate that dish, or at least make something similar. And in looking through the vegetable bin I opted for a mushroom broth which I … Continue reading →

Sweet Potato Hummus Soup with Gremolata and Lamb Sausage

Posted on 1 . 24 . 2013 by Marina Chotzinoff

If I were a cartoon, I think I’d be depicted walking around, living life, sleeping, with various ingredients and recipe ideas fluttering around my head like a swarm of butterflies. With all the cooking magazines, cookbooks and social media feeds I browse, these butterflies carry ingredients, methods, and techniques and often collide into what eventually becomes our next dinner. And that is exactly what happened last night. It started with a slow stroll through Whole Foods looking at produce and pondering a couple meals for the week. I passed some sweet potato hummus and was tempted to get it for … Continue reading →

A Return to the Mundane

Posted on 11 . 7 . 2012 by Marina Chotzinoff

All hail November 7th! Though I am still getting just as many political emails as ever (ignoring) it is nice to have the elections behind us. A friend on Facebook pleaded for a return to the mundane. Photos of kids in silly outfits, cute baby animals, food we are cooking or eating. Anything but red and blue maps, infographics, finger-pointing, bragging and blaming. I hear that loud and clear and so here is what I ate today (so far)… Breakfast: cracker eggs. A weird “specialty” my Uncle Herb used to make for me when I was a little kid visiting … Continue reading →

Earthy White Fall Soup

Posted on 10 . 2 . 2012 by Marina Chotzinoff

From my office window I see Fall the way Colorado does it best. Vibrant blue skies, trees covered in amber and copper leaves and a chilly, crisp, beautiful morning turning into an 80 degree day. It’s that last part that can mess with you and it happens in every season. You can sit comfortably in a t-shirt on a sunny day following a blizzard, have it dump snow the day before your wedding in May (yup, that was us) and approach Fall and Spring in a zig-zag of temperatures. And I love it. Even if it means hunkering down to … Continue reading →

Roasted Cauliflower Farro Chicken Soup with Kale

Posted on 9 . 25 . 2012 by Marina Chotzinoff

Last year, my friend Andra of Fork and Pen (and momma to my daughter’s BFF) decided to host a soup swap. The idea was to gather six moms who would each bring six servings of soup to swap for our kids’ lunches. As a bonus, we each got to meet a couple new lovely ladies and spend some time once a month sipping cocktails, nibbling hors d’oeuvres and commiserating or celebrating as life dictates. Summer brought a bit of a hiatus, but with school back in session and some fall crisp in the air, Wassoup was back and I was … Continue reading →

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Eggs

Posted on 9 . 17 . 2012 by Marina Chotzinoff

I opened the latest Saveur magazine which was featuring 101 classic dishes. The very first recipe was salmorejo, a chilled, blended tomato soup topped with chopped, hard-boiled egg and serrano or ibérico ham. I knew immediately I would be making a version with sweet potatoes to go with that night’s brined, grilled chicken. I did not even read the ingredients, but went straight downstairs and began peeling sweet potatoes. As I was peeling, and then chopping them into large chunks, I was remembering a few other memorable sweet potato soups. The first was a sweet potato, chipotle soup I had … Continue reading →

Satisfying Summer Soup

Posted on 7 . 17 . 2012 by Marina Chotzinoff

I had a ripe plantain. I had black beans. It seemed obvious to pair them in fried and soupy matrimony. But then I browsed the garden and came in with a zucchini and arm load of kale. Once the notion of soup fluttered through my brain, there was no more brainstorming. I envisioned caldo de bolas, a complex, brothy soup with plantain dumplings stuffed with richly seasoned beef. But it is too summery for something that brown and beefy so I decided to lighten it up with chicken and lime and green vegetables. And this is my not-very-good photo of … Continue reading →

A Week of Soup, Day 3 (and the last day of soup week apparently)

Posted on 8 . 26 . 2011 by Marina Chotzinoff

On this day I had grand plans for a vichyssoise. A cold, creamy potato leak soup that I’d top with radishes and chives. I had yet to come up with the accompanying meal when Ryan called to say we had been invited over for dinner at a friends. So naturally I offered to bring a vat of soup and set about cooking it. I cut up about 6 leeks, finely slicing a fair amount of the white parts, then reserving 3″ chuncks of the pale to medium green. I threw the slices into a pot with olive oil and butter … Continue reading →

A Week of Soup, Day 2

Posted on 8 . 25 . 2011 by Marina Chotzinoff

All day long I considered the cantaloupe. It was going to be the star player in a soup that night and never having made cantaloupe soup before I was weighing my options. Prosciutto or pancetta seemed like natural pairings in some sort of crispy state, though I didn’t have any so I’d have to buy it if I went that direction. I thought about smoked paprika, shrimp, maybe even a cotija sprinkle. On the way home I stopped to get some pancetta and decided I’d grill some giant shrimp and have them lounging on the edge of the soup bowl. … Continue reading →