Vermont Cheddar Soup

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know a bit about my love and affection for Vermont, and if you don't and really want to know you can click here and here.  And love it I do...but I love it most of all when the wildflowers are blooming, the corn is in the meadow, and it's warm enough to dance on the top of your car.

Disclaimer: that is NOT me.  It may or may not be someone who is related to me who got bored while I was shooting pictures on the side of the road, put some Aerosmith on the car stereo and entertained herself while at the same time thoroughly confusing all the cows in the vicinity.

I promise I am getting to the point.

The point is that for much of the year in Vermont, you don't want to be anywhere near the top of the car.  You want to be inside with a fire in the woodstove and a pot of nice warm cheese soup on the table.  Made with Vermont cheddar cheese, please.  We like Cabot cheddar and have gone to buying it in big (of course) chunks at Costco.  This quick and easy soup involves sauteeing just a little bit of onion and garlic in a little butter, adding in some flour as a thickener and a mixture of chicken broth and milk as the soup base, and then a nice helping of that shredded cheddar.  Done!  Now all you have to do is think up some garnishes...I used some roasted cherry tomatoes and some croutons.  Bacon would of course be fabulous.  (Because bacon on anything is fabulous.)

I think that's all I have to say about this one, except give it a try asap!

Vermont Cheddar Soup, adapted from Simply Elegant Country Foods : Downhome Goes Uptown 

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespooons chopped onion
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 4 cups milk
• 3 cups grated Vermont cheddar
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcerstershire sauce
• Pinch dry mustard and salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Croutons

1. Melt butter in soup pot and add onion and garlic.  Stir for 3 minutes.

2. Add flour and whisk until mixed, then slowly pour in broth and then milk, whisking until blended.  Bring to a slow boil and cook until slightly thickened, 5-10 minutes.

3. Add cheese, Worcerstershire sauce and mustard, stirring until cheese is melted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Now either carefully pour into a blender and puree, or even better, puree right int the pot with an immersion blender.

4. Make roasted cherry tomatoes by tossing with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, spreading on a baking sheet lined with foil, and roasting in a 425 oven for 10 minutes.

5. Ladle into bowls (heating the bowls beforehand in a 200 degree oven is nice!) sprinkle with paprika and garnish with the roasted tomatoes and some croutons.

Click here for printable recipe

Cheddar Jalapeno Huevos Rancheros in Tortilla Cups

Here's one of the many things I love about my little blog...one thing leads to another and I end up getting ideas and recipes from the most unexpected places. Take this little number, for example. Where would you expect something that has the words "jalapeno, huevos, rancheros" and "tortilla" to come from? Someplace south of the border, right? Someplace warm and sunny?

Someplace like this?

If you guessed tropical, sultry Vermont, you would be right. I wish I had a picture of it with a little more snow...this is actually what our cabin view will look like in the spring when things thaw out a little...but you get my drift. So here's what happened....I was singing the praises of Cabot cheddar recently in my post on Butternut Cheddar Soup. That particular recipe came from an ad for the wonderful Vermont Cabot cheddar, and the great folks at Cabot liked my post. They sent me a groovy package of stuff, including a recipe booklet full of things that you can make with Vermont cheese and Vermont sour cream and Vermont butter...including a recipe for Huevos Rancheros. Vermont style. Which means you need to use Cabot sour cream, and Cabot pepper jack cheese.

So before we get to this seriously wonderful recipe, just a little bit about Cabot. They are a farm family-owned dairy coop located in Cabot, Vermont, and they make some of the best cheddar cheese you will taste anywhere. You can find it in most supermarkets, and in wonderful giant hunks at Costco. They also make butter, sour cream, yogurt, and probably some other stuff that I don't even know about. Check them out here:

Cabot Vermont

Now on to the main event. You take some nice corn tortillas -- I used the 6 inch round guys -- and soften them up in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Tuck them into whatever nice round oven-safe dishes you have -- I have these little Pyrex bowls that are about 4 inches across. Just big enough to put a tortilla into and have it fit with just a little bit of nice curving along the sides. Now drop a good-sized handful of grated Cabot pepper jack in there. Be generous. Pop the tortilla bowls in the oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is just a bit crispy.

Meantime you are going to throw together a quick salsa of chopped tomato, chopped red onion, jalapeno, a little honey and some lime juice. Mix up a little cumin with some Cabot sour cream. Poach yourself some eggs. Still with me? Now you are ready for The Assembly.

1. Drop a good dollop of cumin sour cream on the top of the melted cheese inside the tortilla.

2. Line the inner edge of the tortilla shell with sprouts. (Now, I am of two minds about the sprouts. They certainly tasted fine, and they made a lovely contribution to the picture. But I did roam around the supermarket for an extra 10 minutes hunting them down, and they are a little pricy for being basically a garnish. Sorry, sprouts. If you want to use some chopped lettuce, feel totally free -- it will work out just FINE.)

3. Tenderly lay a poached egg in the center of the shell.

4. Put as much salsa around the egg as you need and want. Put a spoonful on top of the egg for good measure.

That's it -- you are ready to roll. I served these up to the Southern husband with a fork and knife, but we looked at the tortilla cups, looked at each other, looked back at the cups, and picked them up with our hands. It was messy and delicious and fun.

So the next time you are looking for great Mexican recipes? Vermont. Of course.

CHEDDAR JALAPENO HUEVOS RANCHEROS

2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon honey
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup Cabot Sour Cream
1 teaspoon ground cumin
6 corn tortillas
8 ounces Cabot Pepper Jack, grated (about 2 cups)
6 large eggs
1/2 pint alfalfa sprouts

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. In medium bowl, combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, honey, jalapeno, and lime juice. Season mixture with salt and pepper and set aside. In another bowl, combine sour cream and cumin and set aside.

3. Place one tortilla between two sheets of paper towel and microwave for 15 seconds to soften; Press into large custard cup or ramekin to form into bowl shape. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

4. Place cups or ramekins with tortillas on baking sheet and sprinkle one sixth of cheese in each. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

5. Meanwhile, poach eggs in pan of simmering water to desired degree of doneness.

6. To serve, place sour cream and some of sprouts in each tortilla cup; top each with poached egg and spoonfuls of tomato mixture.

Click here for printable recipe.

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

Every once in a while I get a pancake craving, and interestingly it is usually at dinnertime. I am not a big breakfast eater (although I will never ever turn down poached eggs with corned beef hash at the local diner), but the whole concept of breakfast for dinner is appeals to the simple comfort food way that my brain is wired. I don't go for the whole "stuff in your pancakes" approach -- no blueberries or bananas or chocolate chips for me, thank you very much. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I know my dear friend Lynne enjoys a good blueberry pancake for lunch every now and again. But I do like experimenting with the basic pancake itself, and so I have recipes for sourdough pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, and of course there is the good old Bisquick variety. (ah, Bisquick. I heart you.) So when I saw this recipe in a recent edition of EVERYDAY FOOD I knew I had to give it a shot.

First of all, it features two of my favorite taste sensations: cinnamon and oatmeal. Good and good for you. Second, it calls for making the pancakes in nice little rounds - only 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake, which is SO much easier to deal with on the griddle and nicer on the plate as well. So we broke out the griddle and
gave it a try.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Is all I have to say.

Except for this: pancakes must always be anointed with Vermont maple syrup. None of this Canadian stuff, please. Vermont. If you happen to be running low on it, which never happens to me thanks to the fact that my Vermont relatives keep us happily supplied, here is a place you can get it.

Maple Syrup from Middletown Springs, Vermont

If I catch you with Mrs. Butterworth on your table...well, don't let me catch you. Anyway, here's how you make some great pancakes, and don't skimp on the maple syrup:

CINNAMON OAT PANCAKES

Makes 20 pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ONE cup of the oats. Pulse to coarsely grind oats.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, eggs and oil. Add flour mixture and remaining oats and whisk until moistened.

3. Heat nonstick skillet or griddle over medium. Oil skillet. Using 2-3 tablespoons batter per pancake, ladle batter onto skillet and cook 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 1-2 minutes until golden.

4. Serve with butter and Vermont maple syrup. From Vermont. The Green Mountain State.