Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Soup and Sandwich? Make it yourself!


Sometimes a simple soup and sandwich is all you want on a Sunday night. While the easy solution would be ordering in or picking the meal up from the store, there is a really easy way to make this meal for yourself so you'll have leftovers for the week and feel like you've actually done something productive with your Sunday. This is an extremely healthy and tasty meal that won't take more than 30 minutes to prep and cook. The soup I decided to make was a potato, carrot, and leek soup, and the sandwich was mushroom, spinach, pepper, and onion with boursin cheese.



The base of any soup is usually the same. You start with some vegetables for sautee, add your seasoning, broth, and whatever else you want in the soup, from potatoes to meat. You can boil the soup for 20-30 minutes, puree, and you have a tasty, healthy, and easy soup.

 
For the sandwich, I wanted to make some sauteed vegetables with boursin cheese spread. I love the rich, herb-filled taste of the boursin cheese, and with some earthy sauteed veggies, the result is a filling and healthy sandwich, that will satisfy even the heartiest meat eaters.


Ingredients:
For the soup
2 leeks cleaned and sliced
2 medium carrots peeled and sliced
2-3 medium gold potatoes peeled and quartered
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil

For the Sandwich
1 portabello mushroom sliced
1/2 bag of spinach
1 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 medium yellow onion halved and sliced
Boursin cheese
Bread
Olive Oil
1 lemon





To Cook:
Soup
  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pot on medium, add the leeks and carrots, and sautee until soft
  2. Add the spices, broth, and potatoes and bring to a boil
  3. Lower the heat the medium low and simmer for 20-30 minutes
  4. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or an upright blender and serve
Sandwich
  1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan and add the onions, mushrooms, and peppers
  2. Sautee until the ingredients are starting to brown and add the spinach and squeeze half the lemon over the mixture
  3. Cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally so the bottom leaves don't burn and seasoning with salt and pepper if desired
  4. Spread boursin on the bread, and put the vegetable on the bread
  5. Heat a grill pan or panini press and press the sandwich for about 4 minutes per side until the bread is browned
  6. Halve and serve with the soup

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is perfect comfort food. Any suggestions on variations using chicken?

Ty's Kitchen said...

You could cook a simple chicken breast, slice it, and put it in the sandwich. I would just salt and pepper the chicken, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil on medium high in a frying pan, and sear the chicken for about 5-6 minutes a side. You'll get a nice crispy brown crust on the chicken that gives a nice rich flavor and keeps in the moisture.