In The Kitchen: Lemony Zucchini Soup with Crispy Shallots

Yes, yet another soup post...after this I promise this blog will be soup free, for a few weeks at least.

Soup is my ultimate lazy meal. When it's rainy and I don't feel like walking through the flooded Charleston streets to the market, I dig around in my fridge and see what I can add to the stock that is always crowding my freezer. In this case just a few veggies, herbs and some wine made a delicious meal on a cold, rainy day.

Lemony Zucchini Soup with Crispy Shallots

• 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 1 whole Sweet Onion, Diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 whole Zucchini, Peeled And Diced
• ½ cups White Wine
• 4 cups Chicken Or Vegetable Stock
• 1 whole Lemon Zested
• 1 teaspoon Fresh Dill
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 whole Large Shallots, Sliced Thin

Melt the butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened but not browned, 8–10 minutes. Add zucchini and cover the pot. Cook until soft, another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Once the zucchini is soft, stir in the wine, stock, lemon zest and dill. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes or until all the vegetables are very, very soft and the soup is fragrant and lemony.

While the soup is simmering, heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until browned (but not dark brown, as they will become bitter). Remove shallots from the pan and place on a paper towel to cool. They will crisp as they cool.

When the soup has finished simmering, take the pot off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. With an immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor or blender, puree the soup until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the soup into bowls and top each serving with a tablespoon of the crispy shallots, and some lemon zest if desired.

Antiquing (and a Shop Preview too!)

Suitcases stuffed with small vintage goodies, a doctor's bag, an old time card holder, vintage silver serving pieces and a 3 tier pie crust table, 
all fresh from a Virginia barn sale!

I am off on an antiquing trip, stocking up on tons of new items for the etsy shop and my new shop on Queen St. opening this summer (hooray!). I'll be out of town until the 29th, or until our cars are full, visiting tons of antiques sales, flea markets, barn sales and auctions. All orders placed in our etsy shop during this time will ship the Monday or Tuesday after I return, and everyone who patiently waits for an item during this time is getting a coupon to use with their next order as a thank you!

I'll be posting photos of finds here on the blog throughout the trip, meanwhile I'll leave you with a preview of our shop space in Charleston (none of the badly needed gardening had been done along the path at this point...think of this as a "before" shot)!

In The Kitchen: Leek and Potato Soup with Dill Oil and Goat Cheese

Leek and Potato Soup with Dill Oil and Goat Cheese

This soup is like the love child of 101 Cookbook's Leek Soup with Dill Oil and Smitten Kitchen's Baked Potato Soup; with carrots, white wine & goat cheese tossed in there too.

• 1 bunch of fresh dill
• 9 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small head of garlic
• 4 large leeks, washed well & chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled & sliced thin
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 very large or 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled & sliced thin
• 4-5 cups chicken stock, warm
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• sea salt

Roast your head of garlic however you're used to doing it (I chop the top off mine, drizzle with olive oil, wrap tightly in foil and roast at 350 for an hour). While the garlic is roasting, use a hand blender to puree the dill and olive oil until creamy, set aside.

When the garlic is finished roasting, take it out of the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes, then pop the garlic cloves out of their skins and set aside in a small bowl.

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the butter and 5 tablespoons of the dill oil over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the leeks and carrots, and season with sea salt. Stir everything together so all the vegetable are coated with the butter mixture. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very soft (about 8 minutes). Add the potatoes and roasted garlic and cook, covered, stirring often so the leeks & carrots don't burn, for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and add 4 cups of the stock & wine, cook uncovered for another 10-15 minuted or until the potatoes are so soft you can mash them with your stirring spoon.

Turn heat down to low and puree the soup with a stick blender right in the pot, or in batches in a food processor or blender. If the soup seems too thick add more stock 1/3 cup at a time. Stir in the sour cream and goat cheese until it melts into the soup.

Spoon soup into bowls and top with extra goat cheese & dill oil.

Around Town

It's officially Spring in Charleston! One of my favorite things about springtime here in Charleston is all the gardens in bloom, and I really love being able to sit in my office with the windows open and smell these flowers all day long.

Sunday Shopping: Black & White

 Ruffled Linen Bag

Summer Grazing

Porcelain Bowls

Vintage French Shell Mold

Herkimer Diamond Ring

In The Kitchen: Blueberry Lavender Yogurt Cake

I have finally used the yogurt machine that I've had since Christmas, and like I tend to do with all new kitchen gadgets, I've become a bit obsessed.  I strained some yogurt to make tzatzaki, last night for dinner there was Farfalle with Yogurt and Roasted Broccoli (recipe coming soon), and this morning I made a breakfast cake to enjoy with tea...

Blueberry Lavender Yogurt Cake 

          Cake

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
•  2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/4 cup lavender sugar
• 3 large eggs
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract; or 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries 

 Grease and flour a loaf pan, then preheat your oven to 350°F.

In one bowl whisk together the yogurt, lavender sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture. Toss the blueberries with a bit of flour to keep them from sinking, then fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for approx. 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely.
 

An Auction Surprise

Recently I attended an estate auction where I bought a little display case for the shop (coming soon to downtown Charleston!), a set of antique apothecary glass jars and some old victorian silver pieces. I love to buy "surprise" lots or boxes sometimes, because you never know quite what you're going to get.


This time I bid on a box of what was described as "paper ephemera," which appeared at first glance to be a pile of Victorian calling cards and old receipts. I was bidding for the calling cards, and ended up getting the box for $8, two dollars less than the $10 limit I had set for myself (score! now I could use my $2 buy a root beer from the creepy guy selling hot dogs in the parking lot!).

I'm very impatient, so I began digging through my box as soon as I got back to the car. I picked out those calling cards, some old receipts, tags & greeting cards, nothing I was too thrilled with; and then I found this sign! Underneath this sign was another one that read "60 cents each or 2 for $1," and under that the greatest treasure of all...

...nearly 100 original, unmounted cut paper silhouettes and about a dozen mounted silhouettes that had been signed by the artist & dated!

That $8 box turned into my favorite find of the entire antiquing trip. I've been playing with these silhouettes for the past two weeks, scanning them in so I can use them as inspiration for Curiosity's new logo, and in the shop signage and on the new website (also coming soon).

Once I'm done scanning all of these, I'm going to mount them and put each one in a vintage frame. I'll be keeping a bunch of them myself so I can put a big grouping of silhouettes above my bedroom mantle, but there will also be many silhouettes added to the shop in the coming weeks and available in my Charleston shop when it opens this summer!