Cream of Potato Soup with Garlic Scapes and Swiss Chard

I mentioned in my last post that my favourite son in law will occasionally send me an email asking for new recipes.  I'm glad that he enjoys cooking and actually he's pretty good at it.  What I particularly like about R's style is that he doesn't cut corners.  He reads the recipe, gives it consideration, makes sure he has all the ingredients and if he doesn't, goes out to get them and spends the time and gives the energy into creating his works of art.  A good attitude goes a long way so I'm always happy to help resource what he's looking for.

This time R sent out an SOS because they had an overabundance of scapes.  I went through my Pinterest boards and sent him about 6 or 8 links to chose from.  After consideration, he chose
Cream of Potato Soup with Garlic Scapes and Swiss Chard.

Now, in my last post I also mentioned that R goes to great lengths to get to me.  For That Girl's sake
I'm sharing R's response to me after he sent me a link and a picture and suggested I post it on the blog..

Your last post was mediocre. It didn't capture the emotion or the spirit of the salad. In order to mitigate the the risk of another mediocre post, I am instituting creative control on all future posts about my meals. Please prepare the post for my approval within three working days. Also, I want 80% of the revenues related to posts about meals I prepare.

In spite of the fact that I'm leaving the country tomorrow for a couple of weeks I did promise R to have this up before I left.  When he told me that this soup was a total keeper I was thrilled and am happy to share it with you.  It does look pretty delicious, if I say so myself.

Sorry R, I don't have 3 working days for you to execute your creative control .  AND, you can have 100% of all the revenues since there aren't any.

2 Tablespoons Butter (or olive oil for vegans)

5-6 Garlic Scapes

2 cloves regular garlic, minced

3 russet potatoes unpeeled, diced

4-5 Cups homemade vegetable stock (enough to cover potatoes)

1 bunch of Swiss Chard, stemmed

1 stem of fresh Oregano

1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

1/2 of a Lemon

Kosher Salt to taste

Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/4 Cup of Sour Cream (optional, but highly recommended)

Saute Garlic Scapes in butter for about 2 minutes. Add minced Garlic and diced potatoes. Stir and saute in butter or olive oil another 2 minutes, add some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Add vegetable stock, bring to boil. Turn to low and cover- let simmer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, check to see if potatoes are done. They should easily be pierced with a fork. It's okay if they are a little over cooked because they are going to get pureed anyway. Add fresh Oregano, parsley, and chard. Let simmer on low another 5 minutes. Turn off heat. 

With an immersion blender, puree the potato soup, leaving some lumps. 

Season with Juice of 1/2 a lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1/4 cup of sour cream.

Garnish with any combination of the following: fresh parsley, chive flowers, fresh ground black pepper, crispy bacon crumbles, or crunchy onions.

The picture would look even better if you used the good camera and not your Iphone :)

Quinoa Chickpea and Feta Salad

My favourite son in law "R" (he's also my only son in law) and I have this rather interesting relationship.  The banter between us (zinging is probably a better word) is pretty ongoing.  He loves to get to me and two of his favourite topics are usually around our well known mayor Rob Ford or how dedicated we are to posting on the blog.  He probably cares very little about each topic and when I give it right back to him, he'll turn to whoever happens to be in the room and say "you see what I have to put up with".

Occasionally I'll get an email from him asking if I have any good recipes.  He's always attracted to the healthier vegetarian recipes and he'll review what I send him and surprisingly will find something that interests him and he goes ahead and makes it.  Pretty impressive.

Recently he went on one of his rants saying he'll be doing a guest post and make sure he puts both Psychgrad and me to shame.  The rant goes something like this:

R:  I haven't seen you post anything lately.  What's going on???

Me:  I posted not long ago.

R:  I take pictures and nobody ever puts up what I make.

Me:  You want me to put up something you made?

R:  Well, don't you think you should be? .... you get the idea.

I recently sent him a blogpost for Quinoa Chickpea and Feta Salad and he made it.  I asked him where the picture was and he actually had taken a picture and sent it to me.  WOW!!  So "R" here's your post. Your salad looks pretty darned amazing.

1 cup quinoa (beige or red or black)

1 cup water

1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained

1 1/2 chopped unpeeled cucumbers

1 pint cherry or baby heirloom tomatoes, halved

1 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 cup sliced baby spinach leaves

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

1/3 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika

To taste Salt and pepper

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, simmer until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, spinach and about half of the feta.

Gently toss in the cooled quinoa; do not overmix or stir.

Whisk vinegar, salt, honey and smoked paprika in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle over the combined salad ingredients; toss gently. Add vinaigrette; avoid overdressing. Top with feta; serve immediately.

Tuna Patties

Norene Gilletz's  The Pleasures of Your Processor is only one of the "Norene" cookbooks in my collection.  I've said it before - I raised my kids on her recipes and I can't remember ever having a fail. Her recipes are easy to follow and easy to execute (not the killing kind).

The hardest part of this whole recipe is opening the cans of tuna.  For meatless Mondays this is a treat and also approved by "baba" who has sworn off meat.  I've actually heard alot of my contemporaries tell me their parents have more difficulties digesting meat.  Try these as an alternative and the great thing is that they're freezer friendly.


1 medium onion, halved
2 - 7 oz tins tuna, drained
4 eggs
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
oil for frying

Process onions until minced, about 6-8 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients except oil and process until mixed, about 10 seconds.

Shape into patties.  Heat oil to a depth of about 1/8" in a large skillet.  Brown on all sides over medium heat.  Drain well on paper towels.

Yield:  6

Note:  If you want to avoid the oil, prepare in a teflon skillet and a little spray.