"Mystery Cake" for Retro Recipe Challenge #11

With my first recipe "Challenge" (Weekend Cookbook Challenge#27) under my belt, I decided I should go for #2 this weekend; Retro Recipe Challenge #11: Your Mother Should Know, hosted by Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness. It was similar to the first challenge in that it asked for a retro recipe but this one had to be from a year before your Mother was born. I thought I was set because I have several vintage cookbooks but it turns out my earliest one was published in 1933 and my Mom was born in 1931. Luckily I found an excellent resource at Amazon.com, called Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads by Sylvia Lovegren. (This is a fun book, very interesting to read and I plan to cook a few more retro recipes from it). Looking through the recipes and information on the 20's and 30's I had several contenders in my mind but it finally came down to two choices, both cakes, because this is supposed to be a challenge and once again (with feeling), I AM NOT A BAKER! I do admire bakers more than I can say and occasionally aspire to be one but frankly I am much better at "tinkering" with recipes and measurements than sticking to them to the letter which means I usually end up with about a 60% success record when baking. But enough about my issues and on to the finalists...

I was torn between two cakes; a Pineapple Upside Down Cake and a Mystery Cake by Campbell's Soup; basically a spice cake with a can of tomato soup as the secret ingredient. The Pineapple Cake sounded better, I love a good upside down cake and it provided a nice connection to my home in Hawaii but I have made similar cakes before. Although not being either a spice cake or tomato soup fan, I still could not resist the weirdness and kitschy appeal of the Mystery Cake, frosted with Philly-Vanilly Frosting so that was the winner.

Sylvia Lovegren writes about the Mystery Cake: "One of the newest and most popular cakes was a mystery or surprise cake--not surprising because everyone in the Thirties seemed to love "clever" cooking. This cake was a 1925 culinary contribution from Campbell's Soup and tasted surprisingly good. "But," said Joy of Cooking (1964) "why shouldn't it? The deep secret is tomato, which after all is a fruit." Mystery Cake was most often frosted with another brand named product--frosting made from Philadelphia brand cream cheese."

Mystery Cake
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon or mace
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup seedless raisins, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 (15oz) can condensed soup
Philly-Vanilly Frosting (below)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices together in a medium sized bowl. Toss the raisins to coat with 1/4 cup of the flour mixture. Cream the shortening in a large bowl. Add the sugar gradually to the shortening, creaming until light. Beat in the eggs until thoroughly mixed. Add the flour mixture alternately with the soup to the egg mixture. Stir until smooth. Fold in the raisins. Pour into two greased, floured 8" layer pans. Bake until cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Frost with Philly-Vanilly Frosting.

Philly-Vanilly Frosting
1 (8-ounce) package Philadelphia brand (of course) cream cheese
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the cheese until soft in a large bowl. Work in the sugar, then beat in the melted butter and vanilla. Continue beating until very light.

Both the cake and frosting were very easy to put together. The cake batter was an interesting orange color from the soup--for some reason I was expecting red?! I used golden raisins as I thought it would look better in the cake. I also checked my cake at 25 minutes and it was done--so watch cooking time. I baked the cake last night and frosted it this morning. The cream cheese frosting is good but the cake looked a little "blah". Trying to imagine what I might do if I were a typical "house-wife in a hurry" in the 20's-30's, I decided to "jazz it up" simply by zesting an orange, mixing in a bit of sugar and sprinkling it on the top of the cake, then sort of "swirling it with my knife into the frosting. I think it gave the cake a bit more visual interest and the hint of orange in the frosting complimented the flavor of the cake well and looked nice against the orange color of the cake when it was sliced.

The cake was pretty darn good actually! There was no discernible tomato flavor, just a mildly spiced cake, very moist. I don't think anyone would guess the mystery ingredient if you didn't tell them it was in there. Since I have only made and frosted one or two other layer cakes in my life, due to a traumatic cake making incident in my early teens (I'll cover that another time), I was very pleased with the results. A success for my second challenge entry!

Silky Tomato Soup with Spinach Coulis: Cool & Delicious for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Uh-oh, we are just into June and I am already breaking out the cold soups that I usually reserve for the hotter months. It's been a bit humid here, but not bad, it's just that I keep finding cold soups that sound delicious and that I want to try. This Silky Tomato Soup with Spinach Coulis is from "Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way"--a book full of quick and easy recipes. It's a great, healthy soup to make in the morning, chill, and then bring it out for a light lunch or starter for an easy dinner on the grill.

Pepin says, "The refreshing summer soup, a silky blend of raw tomato flavored with garlic and oil, is almost a liquid salad. It's excellent on its own, but when garnished with a simple spinach coulis, or puree, it is sublime. The spinach puree is an excellent addition to sandwiches or soups and is great as a dressing for cold poached fish or as a sauce for pasta."

Silky Summer Tomato Soup with Spinach Coulis

"Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way"

(Serves 4)

Tomato Soup:

3 lbs ripe tomatoes

1 sweet onion (about 4 oz), such as Vidalia, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 large garlic cloves

1/4 jalapeno pepper (or less depending on your tolerance), seeded & cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp good olive oil

1/4 tsp (or less if desired) Tabasco sauce

Spinach Coulis:

About 3 cups (loosely packed) spinach leaves

1/4 cup oil (a mixture of canola & olive oil)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

For the tomato soup:

Cut the tomatoes into 2- to 3-inch chunks. Finely puree the tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, salt, and olive oil in a blender or food processor. Push the puree through a food mill fitted with the fine screen, then add enough Tabasco to the soup to suit your taste. (You should have about 6 cups of soup.) Refrigerate until cool.

For the spinach coulis:

Pick out and discard any damaged leaves and seal the leaves in a plastic bag. Place the bag in a microwave onion and microwave the spinach on high for 1 1/2 minutes.

Transfer the spinach to a blender. Add the oil, salt, and water and process for about 1 minute, stopping the machine once or twice to push any pieces of spinach clinging to the sides down into the mixture. When it's smooth, transfer the spinach puree to a bottle or jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate.

To serve, ladle out about 1 1/2 cups soup per person. Garnish each bowl with 1 to 2 tablespoons of spinach coulis.

Note: The spinach coulis can be made up to a week ahead and refrigerated.

Notes/Results: An easy and delicious cold soup with lots of flavor and bright color. I used some local North Shore tomatoes (about 8 total) and a sweet Maui onion for the tomato soup base and some baby spinach for the puree. The recipe said to put it through a food mill, which I don't have so I started straining the soup with a sieve, and then decided that it was processed enough in the food processor and left it un-strained to give it more texture. I served the soup with some grilled bread. This is a tasty and healthy soup, I will make it again.

Now lets take a look into the Souper Sunday kitchen and see who is here this week:

Here with a recipe that isn't a Tortilla Soup (for her best tortilla soup quest), is girlichef with Mark Bittman's Soup with Poached Eggs and Greens. girlichef says, "I was looking for a tasty...and quick!!...soup for Spring that I hadn't yet tried and had the ingredients for on-hand. This soup isn't heavy or overwhelming and it's a fabulous way to pack in those vitamins from those tender Spring greens while getting protein from perfectly poached eggs...two of my favorite things."

Graziana of Erbe in Cucina is back with a thick and savory vegan Toor Dal with Aromatic Herbs to share. Made with pigeon peas (toor) and lots of herbs and spices like cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cilantro and mint, Graziana served it as part of an Indian dinner.

My friend Kat from Our Adventures in Japan has been having some cold soup weather this month. She says, "The weather last Friday was so hot that I wanted something that didn't involve standing by the stove, maybe even something "cool" for dinner. I had a lot of veggies in my refridge and decided to try my hand at something new...Gazpacho." The result? Kat says, "Even if the texture was "thick", I liked this, a great way to get in a LOT of veggies and keep cool."

Kim from Stirring the Pot was cooking up a storm with Rocco DiSpirito's new cookbook and made his Cheddar Cheese and "Potato" Soup. She says, "Rocco's "potato" soup relies on cauliflower instead of potato to make a creamy, cheesy-based soup that is low calorie. Cauliflower, milk, onion, and garlic are pureed to make a hearty and thick soup. Reduced-fat cheese is added to give it a cheesy consistency. A huge bowl of this "potato" soup comes in at only 190 calories. I found that I didn't really miss the real potato in this soup. I liked this recipe and ate it for lunch most of this week."

Thick and Creamy Tomato Soup was on the menu for Zibi at Fresh Slowcooking. She says, "An easy tomato soup made with fresh Roma tomatoes and homegrown basil. No tomato peeling, no cream and no bread required. Once the soup is cooked, it needs to be puréed and garnished with a sprinkle cayenne pepper and chives. We loved it. The flavour was rich and the texture was thick and creamy. When I garnished the leftovers, I added some crumbled feta on top too and we enjoyed the soup even more. The feta adds a nice salty bite."

So nice to welcome Carla from RecipeAddict to Souper Sundays this week. Carla made a Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup with Asian Greens and says, "I have been craving a light soup/noodle bowl for a while now. Seeing that the heat of summer has come down upon us two-fold, I didn't want a heavy, creamy soup. I saw this recipe for Vietnamese Beef-Noodle Soup with Asian Greens in the April Cooking Light Magazine and knew I had to make it. This was everything I had been craving in a light soup. I could just drink the broth straight up without even adding the beef and noodles, it was that good!"

We have Janet from The Taste Space here again this week with a Zucchini and Apple Salad with a Lemon Hazelnut Sauce (Taratorlu Kabak). Janet says, "The winner in this recipe is the lemon hazelnut sauce. It is deliciously creamy with the roasted hazelnuts ground to a thick paste with garlic, and then infused with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. It was added to baked zucchini and apples and then sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts."

Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies made a New Potato and Asparagus Salad this week and says, "This is an easy to make salad that is perfect for grill season. Wonderful new potatoes and spring asparagus in lemony union. I made it extra "grilly" (I declare this a word) by grilling the asparagus. By which I of course mean washing, trimming, oiling and seasoning and then handing off to the hubby at the fire. Hard worker, that man."

Spencer from Live2EatEat2Live is branching out into salads this week with this Ku Gua (Bitter Melon) Salad. He says, "After searching the internet, I came across this website that provided excellent direction for preparing and using raw bitter melon in a salad:I choose to use the “osmosis” method to prepare the ku gua. I didn’t use fish sauce in the dressing (just sesame oil, rice vinegar, salt, and sugar). I also did not add onions to the salad (just bitter melon and grape tomatoes)."

Christine from Fresh Local and Best made a gorgeous Pomelo Salad with Shrimp and Chicken (Goi Buoi Tom Thit) and says, "When I think of Vietnamese food, I think of fresh herbs, crisp shredded vegetables and small tender chunks of meat woven together with bright savory umami flavors. This is a salad demonstrates the versatility of Vietnamese cuisine, which incorporates citrus, carrots, jicama, shrimp and chicken among other fresh ingredients. If you can't find pomelo, pink grapefruit is an excellent substitute."

Tigerfish from Tezcape-An Escape to Food has a sandwich to share this week, this unique Otah-Egg Sandwich with Fillers of Fish and Eggs. She says, about otah (spicy fish cake cooked in banana leaves), "You can eat them straight from the banana leaves; as a side-dish to steamed rice or as a filler in your bread. Versatile, yeah? Tone down the spice by adding some hard-boiled eggs - mash Otak-Otak and Hard-Boiled Eggs to create a kid-friendly sandwich filler. Might be a good introductory way to season your kids' palates to spice."

Reeni from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice has taken meatballs to a new level with her Barbecue Meatball Sandwiches with Onions and Cole Slaw. Reeni says, "A homemade brown sugar barbecue sauce recipe with tender meatballs that can be made into sandwiches, eaten with buttered noodles, rice or potatoes. My favorite way of eating these is on a hard roll with cole slaw piled generously on top. The cole slaw is cold, milky and crunchy while the meatballs are warm, soft and richly-flavored. A recipe for success. They make a delicious, melt-in-your mouth combo. Finger-licking good comfort food."

There we go--some terrific dishes again this week. Mahalo to all who joined in. If you have a soup, salad, or sandwich that you would like to share, just click on the Souper Sunday logo on the side bar for all of the details.

Have a great week!

The Book Tour Stops Here; A Review of "Write My Name Across the Sky" by Barbara O'Neal Paired with Tangy Creamy Tomato Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Happy Sunday! Today I bring you a slightly delinquent book tour review as a stop for Write My Name Across the Sky by Barbara O'Neal for TLC Book Tours. I have had an insanely busy and hard couple of work weeks and needed the weekend to finish this book, and since I decided that my book-inspired dish was going to be a Tangy Creamy Tomato Soup, I asked if I could pair it with my weekly Souper Sundays post. Thank you Lisa for being so understanding! 

Publisher's Blurb

Life’s beautiful for seventy-something influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft with rooftop garden and scores of Instagram followers–until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft and forgery, and, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own.

Willow, overshadowed by her notorious singer-songwriter mother, has come home to lick her wounds on the heels of a failed album and yet another disastrous relationship. Sam, prickly and fiercely independent, is on the verge of losing not only her beloved video game company but the man she loves, thanks to her inability to keep her always-simmering anger in check.

With the FBI closing in, Willow’s career in shambles, and Sam’s tribulations reaching a peak, each of the three woman will have to reckon with and reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, and the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.

Hard Cover 366 pages

Lake Union Publishing (August 10, 2021)

My Review:

I have read almost all of Barbara O'Neals books over the years and have reviewed a couple of them for book tours on the blog. She's an author I like for when I want something not too heavy but  still good story telling about life, family drama, romance and second chances and creates great characters that while not always initially likable, having you rooting for them by the end of the book. Write My Name Across the Sky follows these same elements and is set in New York City, which almost is a supporting character itself. Willow Rose is a talented violin player whose first album failed and she was kicked out the Los Angeles house of the man who helped her get the contract. She's returned to New York to house-sit for her Aunt Gloria Rose, once a flight attendant and now a popular Instagram influencer in her 70s. Gloria left her glamorous life flying the globe to care for Willow and her older half-sister, Samantha, when their rock star mother, Billie Rose, died from an overdose when the girls were young. Sam is a video game designer whose company is struggling since her relationship with her business partner and best friend Asher has deteriorated since a fateful weekend at a friend's wedding. Willow and Sam have a fractious relationship as Sam struggles with people and holding in her simmering anger--with Willow being a prime target for her resentment since Sam's father left when of Billie's affair with a drummer resulted in her younger sister's birth. Gloria isn't going on a simple trip though, her involvement in her former lover's art forgery and theft ring is coming to light and so she is planning on fleeing before the FBI catches up with her.

The story is told from each woman's perspective, as each tries to figure out their next steps in life and in love. It was easiest to like Gloria and Willow as Sam, who I believe falls somewhere on the Autism spectrum spends most of the time being disagreeable, however I grew to sympathize and even like her. The romances for the sisters worked, although not at too deep level as there is a lot of story for 366 pages to cover. I loved the NYC setting and all of the art, photography, music, plants, and general creativity woven into the pages. Although the ending was a little predictable, the story was enjoyable and kept me turning the pages. This is a great book to curl up with on a rainy cool day and maybe enjoy with a cup of tea or better yet, a cup of good creamy tomato soup. 

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Author Notes: Barbara O’Neal is the author of twelve novels of women’s fiction, including The Art of Inheriting Secrets, How to Bake a Perfect Life, and The All You Can Dream Buffet. Her award-winning books have been published in more than a dozen countries, including France, England, Poland, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. She lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her beloved, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent.

Connect with Barbara on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

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Food Inspiration: 

Barbara O'Neal's books usually have plenty of food and this one was no exception. Mentions included luncheons at the Russian Tea Room, Panda Express, the smells of meat cooking and baking bread, a Rueben salad sandwich from Bloom's, potato chips, beer, vodka soda with lime, boiled eggs, coffee, pastries, soup, a bowl of deli tomato soup, cake, caviar and blinis, chicken salad, beef stroganoff, steak tartare, olives, steak, Roy Rogers, gin and tonics, milkshakes, peaches, donuts (glazed and chocolate and apple fritters), hummus, oatmeal, martinis, steak au poivre, cocktails, champagne, kofta, mint tea, buttery harcha, tussle tea, ice cream--Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and Half Baked, healthy vegetables, apple juice, yogurt, hot tea, chicken soup, bagels, cheese, cream cheese, jam, fish-and-chips, sandwiches, marshmallows, avocado, strawberry ice cream, strawberries from a bowl, fruit, toast, sweet custards, cubed watermelon, steamy chai, a rotisserie chicken made into chicken soup, root beer, banana splits, pickles, chocolate sauce, cinnamon sugar toast, a vegan cheeseburger, French bread with butter, cotton candy, gluten-free blueberry pancakes, tanginess, skewers of chicken shawarma, wine, apple pie, cookies, lemonade, and lemon marmalade.   

For my bookish dish, Willow, a good cook, is huddled over a bowl of tomato soup after returning to New York and identifying the flavors in it, "I'm enjoying the soup which is deep tomato with hints of basil, thickly pureed with plenty of onion and garlic and some spice I can't quite name that gives it an exotic undertone. Sumac, maybe? Lime? Not sure." Since I do the same thing and think about the ingredients when I eat restaurant or take out food, and because I have a big jar of sumac I am always trying to use up, I decided to make a creamy tomato soup and add sumac to it to see what I thought.

For my recipe, I just went for my favorite easy creamy tomato soup--nothing fancy but full of good flavor. I was going to add some lime juice but I think the citrusy tang of the sumac was just plenty on its own and did add a touch of the exotic to the soup. 

Easy Creamy Tomato Soup
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen 
(Serves 4)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 sweet onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 Tbsp fresh basil
1 tsp sumac (if you don't have sumac, za'atar would be nice as well)

1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp celery seed
small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
3 (14.5 oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes & their juices
2 cups non-chicken stock or light vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk or 1 to 1 1/2 cups cream or milk of choice
1 tsp brown sugar
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onions until soft and add the garlic, herbs and spices, and the crushed red pepper flakes, and cook for 1-2 minutes more, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and vegetable broth, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. 

Remove from heat, and (in batches if you don't have a high speed blender), puree in a blender until smooth.  Return soup to the pot, stir in the coconut milk and brown sugar and heat through. Season to taste with sea salt and fresh pepper as needed.

Notes/Results: The sumac makes the soup just a little lemony, tangy and exotic like Willow said, but you can't go wrong with a good basic tomato soup. I like this one for how quickly it goes together and when I don't have fresh basil, I just use dried basil, dried parsley and oregano. If you can't find sumac, try for za'atar as it us usually one of the ingredients in it, or you could just use lime juice to taste. I served mine with a pesto swirl bun picked up fro my local craft/food fair but of course any bread or a grilled cheese sandwich would work well. I would happily make this again. 

Note: A review copy of Write My Name Across the Sky was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.    

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here. 

Now let's check into the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here. 

Melynda from Scratch Made Kitchen shares two dishes this week. First, "Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili with Charred Beef is a favorite around here! It is not only delicious but spiced just right, not too hot, and not too boring! Perfect for anytime you want delicious food, made fresh, and served with love..."

Next she shared a pressure cooker stew, saying "Rich with flavors from red wine, bay leaves, and thyme. While Beef Stew from Provence does require a rest in the red wine marinade, feel free to start this dish one day and cook it the next! The orange zest and black olives round out the flavors and compliment each other."

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared her Chicken Frito Casserole/Stew saying, "We had a version of chicken frito casserole but it was more like stew.  Lots of extra broth and tomato juices helped to thin it out. Black beans, red beans, tomatoes and lots of spices helped make this a good dinner and a lunch. Optional toppings of shredded cheese, sour cream and hunks of avocado dressed it up.:

Finally, Radha from The Magic Ingredients for a Wholesome Life from the Heart of My Home brought Fire Roasted Hatch Chili and Corn Soup saying, "This is an amazing soup made with season's fresh Hatch chili and corn. This spicy soup is easy to make though it requires roasting on fire. It is worh the effort. This soup will be loved by everyone. The sweet corn, lime juice, and creamy cheese balance the heat of the chili, thereby making it very delicious one!"

Thanks to Tina, Radha, and Melynda for joining me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

Creamy Tomato 'Ketchup Soup' & Crackers for Food 'N Flix October Film Pick: 'The Terminal' and Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I wouldn't normally make tomato soup out of ketchup but this Creamy Tomato 'Ketchup Soup' is in honor of October's Food 'N Flix pick of The Terminal, hosted by Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eats. If you haven't seen it, The Terminal is a 2004 comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stanley Tucci, 

The movie tells the story of Viktor Navorski (Hanks), who is flying to New York via the JFK airport. While trying to clear customs, Viktor finds that his passport is invalid because of a civil war breaking out in his home country of Krakozhia. Because he is currently "a citizen of nowhere"--he has to remain in the International arrivals area of the airport until further notice. He is given a pager and food vouchers that he quickly loses and is left to pretty much fend for himself while the acting head of customs (Tucci) plots ways to get rid of him.  Meanwhile Viktor makes friends with some of the airport employees and meets Amanda, a romantically-challenged flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones). For some reason, I don't think I had ever seen the entire film--just caught bits and pieces of it on cable, which is a shame because it is a charming and fun film. 

"Eat to bite... bite to eat, bite to eat, bite to eat, 

bitetoeat...bitetoeat...bitetoeatbitetoeatbitetoeatbitetoeat..."  

--Viktor, practicing to ask Amanda to dinner 

Anyone who has ever been delayed in an airline terminal for any length of time will empathize with Viktor. They are not a fun place to be stuck for several hours, let alone several months. Most of the food inspiration in the film can be found in the food court, or on the trays of the airline meals that Enrique, a food service driver bribes Viktor with to gather information about an immigration officer that Enrique admires from afar. When broke, Viktor makes his own meals from the food court condiment bars, graduating to Burger King when he discovers that he can earn quarters from the cart return machine. 

I personally find most airport terminals to be freezing cold (with the exception of the airports here) ;-) so if I had to resort to making a meal from packaged condiments, I would choose something warm instead of the cracker 'sandwiches' that Viktor makes. But, I did start thinking about those crackers and ketchup packets and found some interesting recipes for 'ketchup soup'--made up of ketchup packets, hot water and often sugar, crackers, non-dairy creamer salt and pepper--if one is given a plentiful enough condiment bar. Apparently it is a good recipe to know if case you are a hobo or it is the Apocalypse. 

Rather than use ketchup packets, I decided to take it up a few notches by making my own ketchup, and I made it a creamy tomato soup (to diminish the intensity) with non-dairy coconut milk creamer. If I was a better person, I would have made homemade crackers but I went with some packaged saltines to keep with the theme--I chose locally-made Diamond Bakery whole wheat soda crackers. 

Sure, at the end of the day, it's really just a simple creamy tomato soup but one with a deep tomato flavor and very quick and easy to make once you have your ketchup of choice. ;-)

Easy Homemade Ketchup
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes about 2 cups)

2 (6oz) cans good quality tomato paste
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water + more to thin if needed
2-3 Tbsp agave syrup, or to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning 

Combine ingredients in a medium-large pan, over medium-high heat and briskly whisking to combine ingredients. Bring ketchup to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer. Stir, scraping the sides of the sauce pan frequently, until it reaches the desired thickness--about 20 minutes or so. Add additional water if mixture is too thick. If you want a smoother ketchup, you can blend in the extra water with an immersion blender. Taste for seasoning and sweetness level--adding more agave if needed.

Remove from heat and let cool before transferring to a glass jar. Refrigerate.

Creamy 'Ketchup Soup'
by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serves 1-2)

1 cup ketchup (recipe above)
1/2 cup water
1 cup non-dairy creamer or milk
freshly ground black pepper
 
In a medium sauce pan, heat the ketchup and water over medium-high heat, whisking until smooth. Bring soup up to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, stir in non-dairy creamer  and whisk until smooth. Once heated through, season with black pepper and serve with crackers (or a good grilled cheese!).

Notes/Results: There is a lot of intense tomato flavor in this soup--why adding milk or cream is needed to mellow the intensity and the tangy bite of the vinegar in the ketchup. But, it is surprisingly tasty--probably due to the flavor of the homemade ketchup--I can't imagine it being very good with packaged ketchup. I liked it even more when I ate it with the crackers and some slices of Tillamook Medium Cheddar--making me think that dipping a grilled cheese sandwich into it would be marvelous. Not my favorite tomato soup ever but, I liked the homemade ketchup I threw together and it was a fun experiment. 

 The deadline for this month's Food & Flix is tomorrow, Monday, October 27th and Evelyne will be rounding up the entries on her blog shortly after. if you missed this round and like food, films and foodie films, consider joining us for November when I will be hosting the quirky, indie Thanksgiving-centered comedy-drama Pieces of April here at Kahakai Kitchen!

 Now lets take a look at who is in the Souper Sundays kitchen and what dishes they brought with them.

It's always lovely to have Corina of Searching for Spice stop by the Souper Sundays kitchen and this week she brings a good-for-you Salmon Miso Soup with Soba Noodles. Corina says, "This is the type of meal you want to make if you are trying to be super healthy. Just eating, even slurping it makes you feel good. Healthy salmon, green vegetables and brown soba noodles in a miso broth. Of course, you could use rice noodles or egg noodles instead but there’s something about brown carbs that just makes you feel virtuous – brown pasta, brown rice, chocolate cake. Sorry, not all brown carbs, not chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits or treacle tart. Or anything with caramel in come to think of it."

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog shares her take on a gluten free Mushroom Barley Soup and says, "'Im still using mushrooms, but replaced the starchy  barley with a starchy dried bean. I used a baby lima bean. It works great and dried baby lima beans do not taste ANYTHING like a green lima bean.. trust me on that one. The soup is hearty and delicious, just like the soup my mother used to make. This soup is perfect for the colder weather and is extremely satisfying. I think it would also be a nice addition to a Thanksgiving meal."

Here's a colorful and Seriously Zesty Bread Salad from Ottolenghi from Joyce of Kitchen Flavours. She says, "Ooh, this is so good! The toasted bread is so crunchy and delicious. I cannot remember the name of the bread that I've made, but it has a light sweetness to it, and extremely delicious when used in this salad! All the veggies and the red onion are wonderfully crisp. This salad is zesty and tangy alright, from the lemon zest and juice, and with the red wine vinegar. And the sumac, I would not skip it! Simply wonderful with the sprinkling of sumac."

Janet of The Taste Space shares Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Fried Capers and Pickled Currants and says, "Welcome to my latest obsession: fried capers. If you have yet to try them yet, try to imagine how they would taste. Crunchy, salty little nibbles. It surprised me how much they taste like popcorn, I kid you not. Combined with the pickled currants (tart and sweet), and the avocado (creamy!), this salad was perfectly balanced. I know I say that a lot here, but this salad rises above its peers. It could possibly be my best salad of the year."  
 

It was a soup, salad and sandwich kind of week here at Kahakai Kitchen. This colorful and wonderfully flavored Orange & Fennel Salad with Pomegranate & Feta by Diana Henry was great on its own or a perfect partner for a piece of simply grilled salmon. I love the colors in this salad--perfect for the holidays, and the sweet, salty combination of flavors. 

I also made Isa Chandra Moskowitz's 'Chicky Tuna Salad' this week and it was fabulous-- both as a sandwich on toasted multigrain bread with creamy avocado and crisp romaine, or just enjoyed scooped onto romaine leaves. If you are looking for a protein and fiber-filled tuna alternative or just something fun and tasty for your sandwiches, give it a try.

Thanks to everyone who joined in this week. If you have a soup, salad, or sandwich that you would like to share, just click on the Souper Sundays logo on the sidebar for all of the details.

Have a happy, healthy week!