CK Food Links--Friday August 22, 2008

Here's yet another selection of particularly interesting food-related links from around the internet.
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Tomato Soup Week at I(heart)Kale:
One of my very favorite food blogs did a series this week on raw tomato soups, and each recipe was more amazing than the last! Phoebe and Hannah have a real gift at combining simple ingredients into simple recipes in unusually creative ways. Here are my three favorites:
Tomato and Tahini Soup
Potato Gazpacho with Avocado
Gingered Raw Tomato and Coconut Soup

The Frugal Whole Chicken at the Simple Dollar
Trent shares his infectious enthusiasm for how he exploits one of the best deals in all of food. Whole chickens are among the least expensive of all meats, and this post gives ideas for using every part of a whole chicken across several meals. That's the true Casual Kitchen spirit. Oh--and Trent tweaks some whining complainer in the grocery store for good measure too.

German Roasted Potato Salad from Use Real Butter
I'm going to be a bit longwinded with this link, but I wanted to share it with you for two reasons. First, the recipe (it's at the very bottom of the page) is delicious and easy to make--a perfect recipe for CK readers. But the real reason I bring it to you is to illustrate a brilliant example of recipe modification by the very talented blogger Jen Yu.

If you click the link on her page where it says "based on Authentic German Potato Salad" it will take you to Allrecipes.com and the original recipe that Jen draws from. Flip between the two recipes and you can see her highly creative modifications:

1) She substitutes 3 lbs of unpeeled potatoes for 3 cups boiled and peeled potatoes (cuts out a lot of prep work, plus potato skin is highly nutritious anyway),
2) She uses shallots in place of onions, and she roasts the shallots with the potatoes instead of boiling the potatoes and frying the onions in bacon fat (three benefits here: it removes a process step, roasted potatoes taste better than boring boiled potatoes, and roasting the shallots instead of sauteing them in bacon fat cuts some 75% of the fat out of the recipe).
3) Finally, she triples the fresh parsley and doubles the bacon (more fresh greens means a more invigorated recipe, and because she's not frying things in bacon fat, she can double the bacon yet paradoxically have a lower-fat recipe).

The result is recipe that's easier, healthier and better-tasting. This is such a good illustration of recipe modification that I just had to share the mechanics and details with you.

Finally, let me close with two (actually three) more delicious recipes that really caught my attention:

Sweet Chili Lime Tofu from VeganYumYum
Thanks to Jaime at CheapHealthyGood for finding this one. If you can't find (or don't want to use) quinoa, rice or brown rice will nicely suffice.

Two Simple Salsas from Well Fed
Recipes for Chipotle Tomatillo Salsa and Roasted Jalapeno Salsa, for when you're sick of typical tomato-based salsa.

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