Q. I’ve misplaced a recipe for cream of broccoli soup using potatoes instead of cream. I would appreciate it if you would print one.
Lue Carlino, Melrose Park
A. Cream, a common thickening agent in soups, tastes great but adds a tremendous amount of fat. Many cream soups use 1 cup whipping cream in a four-serving recipe. This adds 20 grams of fat to the soup–per serving–as well as 200 calories.
Potatoes, with their high starch content, are a good thickening substitute for cream in soups (though admittedly they won’t replace the rich flavor). Simply boil the potatoes until tender. Put the potatoes in the soup and puree in either a food processor or blender until smooth. The starch from the potatoes will break down, which in turn thickens the soup.
The recipe here, with less than 1 gram of fat and only 127 calories per serving, can be made with other vegetables too, such as cauliflower or asparagus, or with a combination of vegetables.
CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
5 cups chicken broth
2 large bunches broccoli, stems lightly peeled
3 medium red potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup minced green onions
1 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1. Combine broth, broccoli, potatoes and green onions in Dutch oven. Simmer, covered, over medium heat until vegetables can be pierced easily with a knife, about 30 minutes. Puree in food processor fitted with metal blade, or blender, until smooth. (You may need to do this in two batches. If using a blender, be sure to vent lid slightly to keep the hot soup from splashing out.)
2. Put puree back in pot. Stir in milk, basil, lemon rind, salt and pepper. Heat through and serve.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories …… 225 Fat …………. 3 g Cholesterol .. 1 mg
Sodium … 1,335 mg Carbohydrates .. 38 g Protein …… 17 g
Q. I read a recipe that called for searing the meat. What does this mean? Also, when should I use the following when frying or sauteing: butter, lard or non-stick cooking spray?
Joe Marino, Glendale Heights
A. Searing meat is a preliminary step that browns the outside very quickly, adding flavor to the meat. Place the meat in a hot skillet, under the broiler or even in a very hot oven.
Which fat you use depends on what you want from your finished dish. A non-stick vegetable oil spray, such as Pam, is used when little or no additional fat or calories is desired. A one-second spray adds only 7 calories to the dish. (It also ensures easy removal of food from the pan.)
Butter, because of its milk solids, adds flavor and aids in browning. Butter is wonderful when sauteing fresh vegetables or anything with a milder flavor because it provides a fresh cream taste. It will, however, add 100 calories and 11.4 grams of fat per tablespoon to the finished dish, as will margarine.
Lard, rendered and clarified pork fat, has lost favor in American cooking and mostly is used in pastrymaking. It makes very tender pastry because it is richer and higher in fat than butter. Processed lard, which is what can be purchased in stores, has a slight nutty-pork flavor. When storing lard, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or in an airtight storage bag because it picks up flavors from other foods very easily. One tablespoon has 115 calories and 12.8 grams of fat.
Flip side to foil
I was recently asked why aluminum foil has a shiny side and a dull side, and whether there is a difference when cooking with it. Representatives at Reynolds Metal Co. have a simple explanation: “That’s how it comes off the roller after being processed.” The company doesn’t recommend one side over the other for cooking purposes.
However, there may be a very slight variance. The dull side absorbs slightly more heat than the shiny side, because shiny metals reflect heat and light more than dull or dark materials. The difference would be slight in aluminum foil, but if you want the optimum browning, have the dull side facing out. When wrapping up food for storage, have the shiny side facing out.
