When I was a little girl, I lived in Seoul, South Korea for some time. My family sometimes ate at the Italian restaurant at the Seoul Hilton–foreign food was a delicacy to us back then (early 90′s), and sometimes real cravings surfaced. Since my mom is a pretty accomplished home chef (and has managed some pretty amazing multi-course 12 person dinner parties on her own!), she, over the course of some months or years, befriended the chef of the restaurant, an Italian man named Chef Bosco (I heard he now has a restaurant somewhere near the heel in Italy).

I loved Chef Bosco’s tomato soup. For a kid who loved sugar and chocolate more than anything, the amount that I loved this soup really cannot be communicated. I craved it. My family would eat a 3-course meal at this restaurant, and I’d order this soup for appetizer, main course, and even dessert. I couldn’t get enough of it. After 3 years, when we were moving away from Seoul, Chef Bosco was kind enough to share his recipe with my mother. I have modified it slightly to recreate it most suitibly to ingredients available in the US.

600-800 grams canned San Marzano Tomatoes**
3 medium carrots, peeled
1 large onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick (or just scant) of butter
4+ C home made chicken stock
1 pint heavy whipping cream
4-6 T Parmesean cheese, grated
salt & pepper
Crusty bread for making crutons
Chives for garnish

Melt butter in large sauce or saute pan. When melted, add onion, garlic, and carrot. Add salt & pepper. Sautee until soft and bright in color.

Add tomatoes, and pleanty more salt. Let cook, break down, simmer and incorporate. When thickened, place into food processor, in parts if necessary. Blend until very smooth.

Add to pan large enough for all soup. Add the chicken stock (heat it/warm it first!). Mix, let come to boil. Add in heavy cream just before serving. (If you increase the batch or otherwise wish to freeze or preserve the soup for more than 3 days, do not add the cream. Add the cream before serving.) Add the parmesean cheese, let incorporate.

Serve with crutons on top, a crack of fresh ground pepper, whole or diced chives, and optional creme fraiche.

For Crutons: Dice bread. Spread evenly and in one layer on baking sheet, bake at 315-325 for 15-20 minutes, until darkened and dry. When almost done, heat 1-2 T butter in saucepan. Add 1 clove minced garlic. Let soften. Toss diced, toasted bread, turn off heat, let sit in butter.

**Tomatoes – make sure they are real and imported from the Napoli area, with the DOC identification on the can. Alternatively, use canned tomatoes from other areas of Italy that are the PLUM variety, for example, a brand from Bolghari in Tuscany has some that compare). This is VERY IMPORTANT to the quality and flavor of the soup.

For Two:
Italian style loaf bread, sliced thick
1/2 lb rare roast beef
1/4 large onion
pesto
Swiss, Leerdammer, or Bleu Cheese (Blue d’auvergene, St Agur, etc)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat your panini machine, slice the bread. Dice the onion and place into hot sautee pan with olive oil, adding salt & pepper. Cook until translucent.

Assemble sandwiches–Spread blue cheese on one side of the bread (alternatively layer your cheese), smear pesto on the other peice. Add hot onions against the cheese side, then add roast beef slices. You could also add arugula. Brush the outer sides of the bread with olive oil and grill at medium heat until heated through and golden outside.

Roast Vegetable Ragout
2 large heirloom tomatoes, preferably green/purple variety or other rich color
2 large carrots, peeled & trimmed
1/2 medium onion
6+ garlic cloves, peeled & trimmed
1/2 red bell pepper

Cut all vegetables into chunks; carrots diagonally. Put into baking dish, toss with 1/4-1/3 C olive oil, pleanty of sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook for 45-90min until soft and rich in color. Add 2/3rds mixture to food processor or blender, pulse until coarsely incorporated. Mix with left over whole vegetables. Reserve to place on bread, eat with roast meat, etc.

Alternatively, roast these vegetables with a london broil steak or other cut to roast; the juice from the meat will enrich the flavor, or add your own beef stock (1/3 cup) before roasting.

Place on toasted baguette that has been rubbed with a fresh, uncooked garlic clove.

Coconut Macadamia Green Beans
3 spring carrots (small with tops on) trimmed, peeled
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup halved macadamia nuts (roasted & salted)
1/2 medium size hot pepper, small diced
2 cloves garlic
1 handful fresh pea shoots, washed & drained
3 T unrefined raw coconut oil (looks for lack of better description like large chunks of crack cocaine, with lots of actual coconut pulp left in it)

Cut green beans into 1-inch segments, cut carrots into 1/8th inch thick segments (or thinner). Mince garlic. Smash macadamia nuts unevenly to have mostly small pieces and some larger ones.

Heat non stick pan to medium heat, fully. Add coconut oil, let melt a little. It will retain some uneven chunks of coconut, don’t worry about this. Just make sure the heat is not so high it wil burn the coconut, though browning is OK. Add the carrot, hot fresh pepper, and garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until slightly softened/brightened color. Add cracked pepper, and a small amount of salt.  Next add the green beans. Reduce heat after 2-3 minutes to medium low. Let cook until beans slightly softened and much brighter in color. Add macadamia nuts, cook several more minutes, tossing as you go. Add the pea shoots at the end, raw on top.