Potato and Poblano Pepper Soup

The weather is cooler, so it's time for more experimenting with food.

I recently went to a cute little restaurant with a friend. We had this amazing Potato & Poblano pepper soup, that I wanted to try recreating. So here goes! (Note this recipe makes about 4 large servings of soup. If you want more, this is an easy recipe to double.)

Potato & Poblano Soup

·         1 poblano pepper

·         3-4 potatoes skin removed

·         ½ cup onion finely chopped

·         4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable)

·         ½ cup finely chopped celery

·         ¼ cup butter – NOT margarine

·         1 tbsp lemon juice

·         1 clove garlic

·         1 cup cream (I used 5%, but higher fat content would also be good)

·         Salt & Pepper to taste

·

Roast the pepper until skin is blackened and pepper is soft about 10 minutes.

Let cool completely, then remove skin and all the seeds. Chop finely.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes until fork tender.  15-20 minutes

In large pot melt butter.

Cook onions and celery until translucent, add garlic and cook until tender.

Add chicken stock, potatoes, lemon juice and pepper until well combined. Let simmer on stove for about 20 minutes.

Add cream and blend in blender or immersion blender until smooth.

I decided to put the picture up un-garnished, but adding a little dollop of sour cream or a little bit of grated cheese, would also be good. 

 There is a little bit of a "kick" in this soup, but it just adds to the taste. I'm not good with truly spicy food, so this is perfect for me. And amazing for a nice Wintry lunch or pre-dinner soup. Enjoy!

Ginger Snaps without molases

As in a previous blog I mentioned that I needed Graham cracker crumbs for a cheesecake I was making, but I didn't have any. Decided to use gingersnap cookies, crushed into a crumb instead. If you are in this situation you can use store purchased gingersnaps, or you can quickly use this easy recipe below. Pardon my lack of along the way pictures, but they are really so simple it's not really necessary.

Gingersnap Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves (I had whole cloves so ground them with my mortar and pessel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350

In medium bowl add all dry ingredients, and sift.

Add butter, sugars and egg in a mixing bowl and mix with mixer until soft.

Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

The mixture will be quite dry, but you should be able to roll into walnut sized balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Press down slightly.

These don't spread very much, so they don't have to be very far apart.

Bake for 12 minutes. (If you like softer cookies, bake for only 10 minutes).

Cool on cooling rack, and enjoy!

If you are wanting to use them as a cheesecake crust as I did. Let them completely cool and harden slightly Then crush in a food processor.

For small cheesecake - mix 1 cup crumbs and 2 tbsp melted butter and press down into pan. For regular sized cheesecake, just double the above. 

Instant Pot Carrot Cake Cheescake

****Update this recipe at the bottom of page***

My husband loves carrot cake. He particularly likes the cream cheese icing. So when recently searching for recipes for my Instant Pot that I was gifted at Christmas, I found this Carrot Cake Cheesecake combo.

I always want full transparency with my recipes, so below are my conclusions if this recipe works or not. Here is my recipe and my results.

Instant Pot Carrot Cake-Cheesecake

Cheesecake Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 cup grated carrot (two medium carrots)
• 1/4 cup walnuts

Cooking Directions

1. Prepare 6" spring form pan by greasing with butter. If no spring form available, line 6" cake pan with aluminum foil and grease.
   
2. Mix all cheesecake ingredients together until smooth on medium speed of an electric mixer. Set aside.
   
3. In another bowl combine oil and sugar and mix until blended.
   
4. Add remaining ingredients except pineapple, carrot and walnuts. Mix until well combined.
5. Add carrot and pineapple until well incorporated.
   
6. Add walnuts to batter and stir by hand.
7. Pour 2/3 of cake mixture into pan, then gently pour 2/3 of cheesecake batter on top. Pour remaining cake mixture on top of that, then remaining cheesecake batter. Spread gently to cover completely.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Add 1 cup water and trivet to Instant Pot.
   
9. Tightly seal top of cake pan with tin foil.
   
10. Set pan on top of trivet and set Instant Pot to 35 mins.
    
    
    
    
11. Let naturally steam vent for 10 minutes.
12. Remove cake pan and tin foil. Let cool on counter, then refrigerate. Best if left for at least 2 hours in fridge.
13. Top with cinnamon or plain whipping cream if desired.
14. To make cinnamon whipped cream, add 1/4 tsp to cream while whipping.

CONCLUSIONS:

After letting the Instant Pot naturally release the steam for 11 minutes, I removed the cake from the pot. It was very, very underdone.

Decided to put in the regular oven to finish baking.

Baked a 350 degrees for 45 minutes. And it was perfect.

This is a great recipe, I just wouldn't use the Instant Pot to cook it in. My suggestion is to make the recipe as above, only instead of using the instant pot, I would bake in a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes.

***Here's the update***

I realized that I did not mention starting with a graham cracker crust.

Mix one cup of graham cracker crumbs with 2 tbsp melted butter. Press down into the bottom of the pan, and refrigerate until ready to put cake batter into.

Important note: The second time I tried this recipe, I didn't have any graham cracker crumbs, so used the same amount of gingersnap cookies. The ginger flavour really works well with this recipe. Will post the gingersnap cookie recipe I used on another blog, but you can also use store purchased gingersnaps.

Since this second time around I'm not using the Instant Pot, I used parchment paper to line the dish rather than tinfoil. This will make a tidier cheesecake in the end.

The end result baking entirely in the oven, is a much higher, richer cheese cake. With these lovely defined lines. Conclusion: Do not try in the Instant Pot. This is a fabulous cheese cake, but bake it in the oven.