So yesterday night, I told myself that I had to use up the celery I had bought before it went bad, so I ended up running to the store to buy some things for some minestrone soup and some dumplings. I really wanted to try this dumpling/biscuit recipe I had found online. I've been eyeing it for quite some time actually.
A couple of things went kinda wrong though.
First I cooked the soup so long that a lot of the veggies were super duper limp and - to make it worse - I hadn't stirred it enough so it kind of burned the entire bottom. -_- Burned minestrone is not so great. Burned kidney beans are almost worse.
The sad thing is that this isn't even my first attempt on the soup. It's my second or third and it still turned out kinda eh. I think I need to use more water or something.
The dumplings though... I was stupid and didn't read the comments of the recipe which said that pretty much everyone cut down on the salt and the herbs. Stupid stupid stupid. Sigh. So my dumplings turned out really really salty (but still edible).
I want to experiment with these though, like try mixing in cheese or something or pepper cause I think it'd be tasty. The recipe is a good base though. I'll post it below.
The only thing that kept this from being a real cooking disaster was the fact that everything was still pretty edible, albiet kinda salty and not the tastiest. Adding cheese also makes it taste better, but nothing can make the dumplings not super salty. Sigh.
Okay, random, but Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell" has amde the top 5 songs in Japan on tv. I don't understand.
Also, acoustic guitars are sweet. I found this artist called DERAPEPE and he's kind of awesome.
Alright, recipes:
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
1/2 onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1000 cc water + 1 can of water from the tomatoes
2 beef boullion cubes (you can use any flavor, but since I throw in ground beef, eh, might as well)
1.5(ish) diced/cubed carrots
5 cloves of garlic
Red kidney beans
1 stalk of celery
~ 500 cc/2.5 cups of choice pasta. I used penne. I also used a little more than this and it was too much. But yeah, most people use elbow or shell or something small.
200 g ground beef
1/2 of a half a head of cabbage. So like, 1/4 cabbage.
Parmesan cheese
Spices:
Oregano, Basil, Bay Leaf (x2), Parsley, Salt and Pepper
Dash of tabasco
Other possible ingredients:
frozen/fresh spinich
eggplant
potato
bell peppers (green, red, yellow~)
zucchini
squash
Cheese (to be added when the soup is nearly finished)
Note, you can pretty much substitute any ingredients you want/have in this soup :) and also adjust the amount. Usually, I try to have equal parts of veggies, maybe a smidge more onion than carrot. Except garlic. I have a ton of that stuff.
Steps:
1. Get a large pot. Toss some oil in the pot. For the sake of the pot, if you can use something that's not a pasta pot, it's better I think. Heat until oil is warm.
2. Toss in ground beef, onions, and garlic. Cook until onions are kinda translucent or until beef is brown.
3. Throw in your hard veggies. Carrots, potatoes... anything that'll take a little longer to cook. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
4. After a little bit, add in the tomatoes, beef stock/boullion cubes and water, beans, celery, cabbage, and the rest of your soft veggies. Also add in your spices. I used like... two shakes of basil (since my basil comes out fast) and a few shakes of parsley and oregano, a round of salt, and lots of pepper. :D I love pepper.
5. Cover and cook at a simmer for at least 30 minutes, though you can go for longer.
6. About 20 minutes before you want to eat, throw in the pasta, unless you don't care if your pasta is soggy or you're using pasta where it doesn't matter much. If you pasta is in for too long, then you have sad, waterlogged pasta. D:
7. Taste, and season as you see fit. Generally I end up adding more basil and more salt, but that's because I like my minestrone really savory. If you stick with Italian herbs (or you have the Italian herb blend) you can't really go wrong. :)
8. Put into bowls. Top with copious amounts of parmesan cheese.
9. OMNOMNOMNOM.
It even has like, all the different food groups so you can eat this as a delicious meal. :D
Herbed Dumplings
From Allrecipes.com, adjusted for less salty/herby dumplings
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (depending on your taste)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, thyme, parsley, and oregano. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add milk, using just enough to form a thick batter.
Drop by rounded tablespoons into your simmering soup or stew, cover, and allow to cook 15 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid while they cook, otherwise yours won't end up fluffy.
Jess' notes: Baking soda is kind of hard to get here in Japan, but baking powder is readily available so I just used that instead. I pretty much used double the amount of baking powder (10g) since most online advice on using baking powder as a substitute calls for 2-3x the amount of baking soda needed. And they turned out fine. Seriously, these are tasty tasty dumplings.
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