Beans'n'shoots make for a great soup!

Finally, it feels like summer out here! The weather over the last couple of weeks has been sheer bliss - warm and sunny, clear skies ... can't help but walk around with a smile :)


So, what else is awesome right now? The bounty that is coming from my veggie patch! Everyday yields a handful of tomatoes, a slew of greens, some squashes, maybe some chard, a motley assortment of herbs, all goodness! And today, as I was puttering around the patch, fighting those damn slugs, Alice Waters came to mind. Funny how I often think of some of my favourite chefs when I'm down and dirty in the veggie patch :)

So, with Alice on my mind, I ended up grabbing a slew of pea vines - I've eaten these in salads at several restaurants, but never cooked them up, so today was going to be a first - *so* exciting! Vodka didn't quite share the excitement - I couldn't quite get him to nosh on a few leaves. He cocked his head with the "You're crazy!" look and ran off to get his ball :)

Chez Panisse Vegetables has a killer recipe for a Pea and Pea Shoot Soup - except I didn't have enough peas to make this :) So, I went with fava beans instead (sadly, frozen, but they tasted pretty good!) and decided to let the soup stay thick and smooth instead of straining it.

[I feel like I'm tainted for life - as much as I absolutely *love* fava beans, I can't think of them without remembering Hannibal Lecter's quote from Silence of the Lambs! *grrrrr* ... and no! I refuse to quote it here :) ]

Fava Beans and Pea Shoots Soup
Green is *good*!

Servings: 2

1/2 large red onion
3 cups shelled fava beans
2 handfuls pea shoots
10-12 leaves of spanish mint
4 cups of water (or 2 cups stock + 2 cups water)
1 t olive oil
1 t ghee (clarified butter)
salt for seasoning
freshly ground pepper
grated aged cheddar for garnish

Peel and thinly slice the onion. Heat the olive oil in a pot and saute the onions till translucent.
Add the mint and saute for another minute.
Throw in the fava beans along with 2 cups of water/stock and cook partially covered, on medium, for 6-8 minutes till the beans are cooked.

Set aside a few pea shoots for garnish and toss the rest into the soup. Cook for a few more minutes till the pea shoots are wilted before taking the pot off the heat.

Once the contents have cooled a bit, puree the soup to a relatively smooth consistency - the pea vines may still remain stringy/chopped up, that's totally fine - it actually adds a neat texture to the soup.

Season with salt and a slew of freshly ground pepper!
Heat the ghee in a pan and lightly saute the leftover pea shoots till wilted.

Ladle the soup into a bowl and garnish with the crispy pea shoots and some grated aged cheddar cheese.



Opinion?

We wolfed up this soup with some toasted whole wheat pita bread - an earthy and chewy complement to the fresh, smooth soup. The fava beans lent a creamy, nutty flavour to the soup. And the pea vines made it taste really fresh - all that green goodness!

Ok, so this *has* to go to the current edition of Weekend Herb Blogging (Kalyn's brainchild) - hosted this week by Zorra from Kochtopf - thanks to both of you for starting/hosting this event!

Magical 'shroom soup

Well, hello! Magical 'shroom catch your eye? :)

As tantalizing as that sounds, we're really talking about the soup here. Fabulous tasty mushrooms that made for a magical soup!

So, the mushroom love is stronger than ever around here - even Vodka is on mushrooms now! His holistic vet suggested, no, insisted that he start consuming a medicinal mushroom mix - beefs up the immune system, restores body balance, support natural killer cell activity, all that good stuff. In fact, there are volumes of research about medicinal mushrooms here, here ... and here. I'm sure there are a zillion other sites out there talking about similar stuff.

So, I'll eventually get around to talking more about holistic meds and pooches and immunity and chinese herbs and all that good stuff pretty soon. In the meantime, let's just focus on this simple and delightful mushroom soup :)

Deborah Madison has a yummy Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone - sounded a tad bit heavy, so I decided to rework it a bit. Obviously, the white mushrooms were replaced by criminis - so much richer and earthier, don't you think? And the cream was quickly replaced by some fabulous Quark.

Quark is pretty prevalent in Europe, but is still hard to come by in the U.S. Luckily, for us in the Pacific Northwest, we have Appel Farms in Ferndale, WA - they sell their Quark at PCC. This midly, creamy curd cheese is so flavourful and makes for a fabulous cheesecake [take that as an impending recipe warning! :)] Plus, Vodka is pretty much hooked onto it, what with its high protein content and anecdotal cancer-fighting properties when combined with flax-seed oil [take that an impending pooch-nutrition blog warning!]

Finally, a handful of fresh herbs perfectly complimented the 'shroom flavours and balanced out the earthiness.

'Shroom Soup with Curd Cheese
'Creamy shroomy goodness!

Servings: 4-6

1 lb crimini mushrooms
1 t butter
1 cup chopped leeks
4 garlic cloves - chopped
4 sprigs of lemon thyme - stripped from the stems
1 T flour
1 quart of water (OR water+nonfat milk OR mushroom stock)
1/2-1 cup nonfat Quark cheese
Finely chopped parsley and chives
1 T goat cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix up the goat cheese with the chives and parsley and set aside while the soup is being made. This gives the goat cheese enough time to absorb the flavours of the herbs.

Coarsely chop the lot of mushrooms, after setting a few aside for garnish (if desired).
Melt the butter in a soup pot and lightly sauté the leeks, garlic and thyme in it for a few minutes.
Throw in 1/2 t salt and 1/2 cup of water and cook covered over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

Raise the heat, throw in the chopped mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Now, stir in the flour, add the water (or stock) and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 15-20 minutes.

Coarsely puree the soup, return it to the pot and stir in the Quark cheese. Season with salt and pepper while keeping the soup warm.

If you set aside some mushrooms for garnish, now is a good time to sauté them over high heat in a bit of butter - it should take 4-5 minutes for the mushrooms to get colored and mildly crispy [this is seriously tasty stuff!]

Check for seasoning before serving topped with the herbed goat cheese.



Opinion?

A plain-looking soup that explodes with flavour! I can see this being a great winter warmer when made with cream, but the lighter, thinner version was the perfect warmer for a rainy Seattle evening :)

I'd love to say I grew the mushrooms, but I obviously didn't! But I did get the chives and parsley from my veggie patch! Which means I get to ship this post off to Wiffy of Noob Cook for this round of Grow Your Own [that happy event started by Andrea!]

Mushroom Lemongrass Soup (Tom Yum Het Mangsawirat)

No, I did not know the full name of that soup. Like most other people, all I call it is Vegetarian Tom Yum. I just looked up the name so I could increase my coolness factor tenfold :)

I've often felt like writers' block is nonexistent when it comes to talking about food. Except for today. I read Mele Cotte's post about her Cooking to Combat Cancer event a few days ago and finally figured out a recipe I wanted to try out in honour of it. But attempting to write about it has been insanely difficult. As I've sat here typing/editing/erasing sentences over and over, I've can't stop thinking of people I've encountered who have battled the disease - some survived, others didn't, in all cases the disease seemed to take a toll on everybody involved. And, in all cases, the indomitable strength displayed by everybody involved is just phenomenal. The will to live, to battle it out, the will to stand by friends or family - it makes for amazing stories of humanity.

****

Mushrooms - apparently, they're a powerfood when it comes to foods that fight cancer.

• All wild mushrooms ostensibly contain the complete natural range of trace ingredients (72+).
• Several mushrooms contain polysaccharides, especially Lentinan - that help build immunity. They also contain lectin, which attacks cancerous cells and prevents them from multiplying.
• Mushrooms that contain thioproline can stimulate the production of interferon in the body.
• Extracts from mushrooms have been successfully tested in recent years as an adjunct to chemotherapy.

Feeling empowered by all this new found knowledge, I marched off to a couple of stores determined to find atleast one mushroom variety that I wasn't familiar with! Well, that's a pretty easy task - there are probably a zillion that I've never eaten before :) The booty for the day ended up being a pretty fun stash:

Enoki - These insanely cute looking mushrooms have a delicate fruity flavour and are usually served raw.
Clamshell - Apparently, these have a taste evocative of shellfish (I wouldn't know anything about that!). They're best when blanched or cooked.
Brown Beech - Also known as hon-shimeji mushrooms, these are highly esteemed in Japan. These are often grown on wood, especially beech trees hence the common name beech mushroom.
Crimini - Probably the most familiar of all - apparently, these are portabellos that are harvested real young! They tend to retain their firmness with cooking and work great in sauces and soups.

End-of-Botany-Lesson :)

****

So, in spite of the disappointing adventure with drunken noodles last week, the craving for thai flavours has not mellowed in any way. Tom Yum flavours are always so light and comforting, and with the mushroom booty on hand, how could one resist trying out this soup?

TYHM is the vegetarian version of Thailand's most popular soup - spicy and sour, it is usually served scalding hot in a pot with a fire underneath - very exciting! :) Well, we didn't quite go for that ultra traditional effect, though the spice in the soup more than made up for the flames! :)

The original recipe was for a clear soup with just mushrooms and tomatoes. I went for a couple of variations - some shallots, a slew of grated carrot and a few spoons of coconut milk. Also, we ground the thai chillies so the spice blended in a little more - which it totally did, the last batch of bird's eye chillies from Uwajimaya pack a whopper!

Tom Yum Het Mangsawirat
Oodles of mushroom goodness!

Servings: 4 cups/2 bowls

2 small shallots - sliced long and thin
3 cups water
1 lemongrass stalk - cut into 4" pieces and smashed
4-6 whole torn lime leaves
3 slices galangal (about 1 t)
8-10 crimini mushrooms - sliced
4 small thai chillies (Prik Kee Nuu Suan)
2 cups of mixed mushrooms (enoki, brown beech, clamshell)
1 medium carrot - grated
1 tomato - cut into eighths, lengthwise
3 T coconut milk
2 T white soy sauce
1 t sugar
3 T lime juice
1-2 stems cilantro
1 t sesame oil

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the shallots till lightly browned.
Add the water along with the crimini mushrooms and boil covered on medium-high (6-8 minutes).
Once the mushrooms are completely cooked and soft, remove them from the water.

[We only want the "mushroom stock" flavour from the crimini - I have a couple of ideas on what to do with the cooked crimini, I'll try to post about it in the next week.]

Crush the lemongrass in a mortar and add it to the water. You could alternatively just shred/separate the lemongrass if you don't want to deal with fishing out small pieces from your soup later :)

Add the torn lime leaves along with the galangal.

Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, for about 5 minutes - to release the flavours of the herbs. The water should be murky brown/green when done.

Add the mushrooms and ground chilli paste. Boil for 2 minutes till the mushrooms are just starting to get soft.

Add the tomatoes along with the coconut milk and cook for another minute.

Take the soup off the heat and stir in the soy sauce and sugar. Add the lime juice just before serving - you want to hold off on this till the end since lime juice loses its tartness when boiled.

Check the flavours before serving - tom yum is traditionally served *hot* and is insanely spicy and sour!

Transfer into bowls and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

****

Opinion?

Yum! This was exactly what I wanted tonight. Simple, flavourful, elegant, insanely spicy. If someone threw me into a giant bowl of tom yum, I could just swim around and drink it forever!

I'm sending this to Chris for her awesome event - Cooking to Combat Cancer - Stay strong and healthy, Chris!

This is a shout-out to all those incredibly brave survivors and fighters out there - we raise a toast to your strength and hold many good thoughts for you as we revel in this simple and healthy meal.

Mélange - Soups

Wow! This is the longest blogging break ever. Long enough that I started going into withdrawal! Guess that's what happens when work mania takes over. Long hours, little sleep, and not enough cooking - that does not bode well for me!

Guess given how the drafts are piling up, it is time for another Mélange post. This time about a certified favourite subject - soups. We love soups - chunky, pureéd, spicy, hearty ... just bring it! And these bowls of goodness end up being even more appetizing on those cold snowy or rainy days - nothing like a cup'o'soup to warm the soul, huh?


I'm actually having to rack my brains about these recipes as I start to type them up - we made them a few weeks ago and I never did get a chance to write about any of them. Guess that's just one more reason why this whole blogging mania is so awesome - the e-trail that I can use to look up recipes!

All 3 soups featured here are relatively chunky or thick - guess that was a sign of wanting to warm the insides on a cold evening! And all of them have a zing - be it cayenne or green chillies or a healthy dose of garlic. So, if you're hankering for a read about some spicy healthy goodness, you're home!

***

Spiced Cauliflower Soup

I'm sure cauliflower soups and bisques are a favourite in most households - who can resist the creamy, yet light flavours of this insanely cute looking vegetable? Yes, call me crazy, but I really think the cauliflower is a hottie in the world of vegetables! And this simple soup totally showcased the cauliflower - one of those recipes that completely relies on the quality of the vegetable rather than trying to force a plethora of flavours on it.


Servings: 4

1 small cauliflower - chopped
1 onion - chopped
1 T safflower oil
1 garlic clove - crushed
1 T grated ginger
2 t turmeric powder
1 t cumin seeds
1 t black mustard seeds
2 t freshly ground coriander
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup nonfat yogurt
salt and freshly ground pepper
cilantro or parsley for garnish

Put the cauliflower and onion in a large saucepan with the oil and 3-4 T of water.
Heat till bubbling, then cover the saucepan and turn the heat down.
Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes.
Add the ginger, garlic and spices and stir occasionally for about 2 minutes.
Add the stock (or water) and season with salt and pepper.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Once cooled, puree the liquid to a coarse texture.
Stir in the yogurt and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro or parsley before serving.

Opinion?

Pretty good! We skipped using any potatoes, so the soup was not quite as creamy as we liked, but it ended up being much lighter - which was a good thing. Next time we make this, I think I want it chunky, not pureed - I'm a big fan of cauliflower chunks :)

***

Vegetable Curry Soup

One fine evening, we were hankering for desi flavours, but nothing too heavy or intense. After poking around some, we decided to go for a light soup-like version of a sambar - we skipped several of the traditional sambar seasonings, even the tamarind and instead settled for the earthy flavour of freshly ground coriander. And the sweet-tart Meyer lemon totally completed the flavours of this soup!


Servings: 4

1 cup red lentils (masoor dal)
2 scallions
3 cloves of garlic - crushed
1" ginger - grated
1 red onion - sliced long
2 carrots - sliced long
1/2 red bell pepper - sliced long
1 cup fresh (or frozen) peas
1 T freshly ground coriander
juice of 1 Meyer lemon
2 bay leaves
1 T olive oil
1 t cayenne pepper
salt

Wash the lentils and put it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water.
Cook covered on low for about 15 minutes till the lentils are cooked, but not mushed up.
In the meantime, heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onions, ginger and garlic along with the bay leaves.
Chop the whites of the scallions finely and add them to the saucepan.
Add the carrots, bell pepper and peas and saute for 4-5 minutes.
Add the cooked lentils along with the spices and seasonings.
Simmer covered for another 4-5 minutes.
Once the soup is off the stove, stir in the lemon juice and check the seasonings.
Garnish with the chopped scallion greens before serving.

Opinion?

Simple and tasty- the perfect quick fix soup that makes for a lighter version of comfort flavours. And Autumn made a fabulous veggie roast - parsnips, carrots and potatoes from her PO box - the perfect complement to this soup.

***

West Indian Peanut Soup

Groundnuts - also known as earth nuts, goober peas (That's right!!!), peanuts ... Mmm! I can't imagine a life without these - they're ubiquitous in tropical foods, especially in stews and sauces. I love natural peanut butter over the commercial one which contains salt, sugar and several additives. This soup, often known as a Groundnut Stew, is a great showcase of tropical flavours - we replaced the potato with a turnip and skipped the okra - I'm sure traditionalists will cringe at that, but it takes a *lot* to make me eat okra :)

We adapted this soup from Jay Solomon's recipe in A Taste of the Tropics - a fabulous book, replete with mouthwatering Pacific and Caribbean recipes. Another favourite book of his is the truly brilliant Great Bowls of Fire.



Servings: 4

2 t safflower oil
1 medium sized onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 cup of turnip - peeled and diced
5 cups water
5 T unsweetened chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes
2 cups shredded kale
2 t dried thyme
2 t ground cumin
1 t freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a stockpot and saute the onions, ginger and garlic.
Add the turnip and water and cook for 10-12 minutes till the turnip is softened.
Throw in the peanut butter, kale, crushed tomatoes and seasonings and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.
If the peanut butter clumps together, whisk it to blend it into the soup.
Remove from the heat and run a blender through the soup to make a coarse mixture.
Garnish with cilantro before serving.

Opinion?

*wow*! This is seriously one of my favourite soups now. I can't wait to try the chunkier stew version. *drool*! I might even throw in the okra next time around. Cyn, if you're reading this, you better tell me more about variations I can try here - I'm seriously hooked! :)

Bread, Soup and happiness

Sometimes, that's about all that's needed to put a smile on the face! A bowl of hot soup, some crusty bread to mop it up and soon life is all goodness.


I was wandering around Columbus Foodie's insanely fun blog - brimming with a wide variety of recipes that I could pick from for T&C VII. Just as it seemed like I was going to drown in eternal indecision, I saw this recipe for beer batter bread. Whoa! That sounded really delicious. Plus I've been hankering for more baking lately, so this sounded perfect. And the plan was to try this recipe out right away - how insane would it be if I posted a recipe for an event a couple of weeks in advance? Do things like that ever happen?!!

The Abster was coming over for dindin and said she was hankering for a soup. And when I mentioned bread, I could pretty much hear her jumping around on the other end of the phone line! But wait ... she *hates* onions! Well, the recipe could be reworked to use garlic instead, can't go wrong with that! And then she said she wanted swirly soup. Hmm ... I was kind of hoping to kill 2 food events with one meal here :) If we made a spicy soup instead, I could totally ship it off for March's edition of No Croutons Required!

Yay for food agendas :)

We poked around several cookbooks and the Pupp found a really simple and elegant spicy soup - a plethora of veggies, some marjoram, kicked up with some cayenne ... sounded pretty good!

We also ended up reworking the bread recipe to use whole wheat flour. And we made some muffins and scones instead of a big loaf - worked out pretty well.

Beer Batter Muffins and Scones
Mmm ... garlic! Mmm ... cheese!

Servings: 12-14 muffins/scones

2 heads of garlic - peeled and chopped into bits (not minced, unless you don't want to feel the yummy sticky garlic chunks in your mouth!)
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 T olive oil
3 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup grated light cheese
1 12 ounce beer (we used amber ale)
3 T butter - melted

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the garlic until lightly browned.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the cheese, beer and garlic.
Stir/knead until the mixture is just moist and well-mixed.

Grease palms with cooking spray before taking handfuls of the mixture and plopping them onto a greased baking tray.
Another option is to drop dollops of it in a muffin pan.
(We did both!)

Drizzle 1.5 T of butter over the muffins/scones and set in the oven.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the muffins/scones, drizzle the remaining 1.5 T of butter over them.
Set back in the oven for about 12-14 minutes till they are lightly browned.
A toothpick or knife inserted into the muffin should come out clean.

Cool the muffins and scones on a wire rack.

Opinion?

Weeeeeeee! Enough garlic to chase all those vampires away! The scones were chewy and tasty. We did think that maybe they needed a little zing - think we'll add some minced jalapeno next time around. And they tasted better today than yesterday - seemed moister than ever! And the beer definitely gave the bread a yeasty flavour - very appetizing.

Thanks Becke for this recipe, we're definitely going to try it out again!

***

The Drunk Muffin
Photo Courtesy: Abbie

***

While the bread was baking, we started the soup. We were a little dubious about how hearty this soup would be - it didn't seem to ask for a lot of ingredients, but my fears were totally unfounded. Simple is good, especially in soups.

Spicy Chunky Vegetable Soup
*so* fresh and happy!

Servings: 4

1 red onion - chopped
4-5 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 small carrot - diced
1 large potato - diced
4 oz green peas (we used frozen petite peas)
2 cups of drained tomatoes
1 L reduced sodium vegetable broth
2 scallions - sliced diagonally into thin pieces
1 T butter
1.5 t dried marjoram
2 t cayenne
salt to taste

Saute the onion in butter till browned.
Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes, garlic and marjoram. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the carrots, peas and potatoes along with the cayenne and salt.
Cover partially and cook on medium for 10+ minutes till the potatoes are cooked.

Opinion?

The recipe had likened this soup to minestrone, but described a much lighter flavour. We didn't quite grok that when we first read it, but one spoonful and we knew exactly what that was about. The consistency was just right, the drained tomatoes were *perfect*, the soup tasted *so* damn fresh! Like if I was running through a garden and noshing on all the veggies! Well ... no, not quite like that. But you know what I mean - it just felt ... so right. And spicy too.

Eat (bread), drink (soup), make merry!

***

Off this goes to Ms. Tinned Tomatoes for No Croutons Required.

Many thanks to Nicole for another fun edition of T&C.

***

And I'll leave you with a snapshot of the craziest cat around hereplace :)

Swirly 3-Greens soup

What do you do when your fridge seems to be bordering on empty and you're too hard-pressed for time to contemplate going shopping?

(1) Call a friend or sibling and shamelessly pile on for dinner
(2) Run to the first restaurant you can think of
(3) Order delivery
(4) Force yourself to drag your lazy ass to the grocery store
(5) Close your eyes, make a wish and check the contents of your fridge again :)

Guess which one I picked? Yep, #5 it was! I closed my eyes and willed my fridge to become a cornucopia! I opened my eyes and dug around the fridge again ... well, it didn't quite become a horn of plenty, but I did remember to check my freezer this time. Lo! An assortment of frozen greens left over from an overabundant PO delivery! Weeeeee!!! Could I ask for more?

So, the fabulous freezer of plenty had 3 varieties of greens - kale, collard and beet. Hmm ... a green soup? And I found one plump juicy heirloom tomato waiting to be eaten ...

Swirly 3-Greens Soup
A red swirl ... a white swirl ...

Servings: 2

Soup

1 cup chopped collard greens
1 cup chopped beet greens
1 cup chopped kale
1/2 granny smith apple - chopped
1/2 cup dry curd cottage cheese (I used Sunshine)
1 t olive oil
1 t cumin seeds
1 t cayenne powder
salt

Heat the oil in a saucepan and roast the cumin seeds till browned.
Add the chopped greens and apple bits along with 1/2 cup of water.
Cook covered on medium-low for 8-10 minutes till the vegetables are softened.
Once cooled, puree the mixture along with the dry curds, adding enough water to get the right consistency.
Bring the mixture back to the stove, add the salt and cayenne and simmer for another 1-2 minutes.

Swirly drizzle

1 small heirloom tomato
3 cloves garlic
1 T persian saffron
1 T lemon juice

Coarsely grind the ingredients to make the red drizzle. I used a spoon of buttermilk for the white drizzle.

To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and top with the tomato and yogurt drizzles.


Happy?

*very*! This worked out way better than I expected! Lots of yummy green flavours, pungent seasoning, and a load of protein - those dry curds are pretty awesome!

This goes off to Zorra from Kochtopf for WHB (that fabulous Kalyn creation!)

Roasted Bell Pepper'n'Squash Soup

In the social state to which we have come today, it is hard to imagine a nation which would live solely on bread and vegetables.
- Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savari
The Physiology of Taste (1825)

If tonight's meal was any indication, Monsieur Brillat-Savarin is totally in the wrong! Well, I'm not sure if a whole nation could survive just on flavourful soups and some tortillas, but I think I could.

:-P

Simply the thing that I am shall make me live.
- William Shakespeare

And so said the bell pepper to the squash :) And the squash nodded vigorously as she said "Me too! Me too!" And then, both of them jumped into a pan, got roasted and ended up living in this fabulously tasty soup.

Roasted Bell Pepper'n'Squash Soup
I'm easy, I taste good, what more could you ask for? :)

Servings: 2 as an entree (or 4 as an appetizer)

2 red bell peppers - quartered
4 yellow squashes - sliced long and cut into chunks
1 t thyme
1 t marjoram
1 t olive oil
1 t red wine vinegar
1 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t honey
1/2 cup yogurt
salt'n'pepper to taste

Toss the bell pepper and squash chunks in a large bowl along with the herbs, pepper flakes, oil, honey and vinegar.
Pour the vegetables into a pan and broil them in the oven till the veggies just start to get charred.
Once cooled, puree the vegetables after adding the yogurt and some water.
Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with a few drops of yogurt.



Opinion?

*bliss* The pepper and squash truly came to life in this soup, with the herbs making for a nice, mild seasoning. The soup was a happy dip for some whole wheat tortillas.

Erin, you got to have this one for WHB :) Thanks Kalyn for starting this trend!

'shroom soup

Earthy, pungent, nutty, meaty, garlicky ... the range of adjectives go on! Yes, we're talking about mushrooms here - that whole world of dark, dingy fungi that taste *so* good!

I've never been a big fan of mushroom soups - most of them seem so creamy and heavy, a few spoonfuls and I'm sated. But Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking made me think again. As I was flipping the pages, this homemade mushroom soup recipe caught my eye. It looked pretty light and flavourful, so I had to go for it. With a couple of variations of course!

The original recipe called for white mushrooms as well as shiitake - I skipped the white mushrooms since I wanted my favourite shiitake to dominate the flavour of the soup. Also, instead of using rice, I went for a bunch of grated toasted tofu instead - this served as the perfect base for the soup! And yes, I skipped the celery -wouldn't be caught dead eating it!

Homemade Mushroom Soup
A whole lotta shiitake love!

Servings: 2

1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 t safflower oil
1/2 white onion - chopped
2.5 cups of water or vegetable stock
1 T soy sauce
1 cup tofu
1/2 cup milk (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Garnish

chopped fresh cilantro
sliced almonds


Grate the tofu, place it in a baking pan, spray with oil spray and broil till the tofu gets browned.

Put the mushrooms in a large saucepan with the oil and onions.
Heat until sizzling, then cover and simmer for 7-8 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.
Add the stock or water, soy sauce, broiled tofu and seasoning.
Cover and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked.
Run a blender through the soup mixture and coarsely process it leaving small chunks behind.
Stir in the milk (if desired), reheat until boiling and taste for seasoning.

Serve hot, sprinkled with some cilantro and chopped almonds.

We ate this with a light salad of spicy rocket, apples and walnuts in a sesame-soy-orange dressing.

Variation
An alternative is to strain and reserve the soup liquid and process the chunks in a food processor before adding it back into the saucepan - this will make for a much smoother soup.



Was it any good?
Mmmm ... mushroom love all over again! And the tofu was really a killer idea - the slightly charred tofu perfectly complemented the delicate flavour of the shiitakes.


Related posts:
Mushroom Sabji
Mushroom and Asparagus Pulao

Middle Eastern Greens Soup

As part of the ongoing greens craze, we made this soup a couple of times in the last week - it was *so* good the first time around, it totally warranted an immediate repeat :)


The recipe that we adapted from is Mollie Katzen's Middle Eastern Spinach Soup from the kick-ass Still Life With Menu cookbook.

I loved Mollie's recipe, but sometimes spinach seems a little wimpy. It seemed like this recipe warranted stronger greens - chard, collard, the works :) So, we added a variety of greens and let them work their mojo.

The original recipe also asked for rice or potatoes, but in an ongoing effort to skip carbs where possible and focus on fibre instead, I went with garbanzo beans instead - think I'll stick with that as a permanent alternative.

The net result was quite fabulous, especially the way the yogurt accentuated the flavors of the greens. We ended up with this really thick soup that could be slurped up or dipped into or even eaten with rotis like daal!

Middle Eastern Greens Soup
Thank you, Mollie Katzen

Servings: 4

1 small bunch of spinach
4 leaves of collard greens
4 leaves of rainbow chard
4-5 cloves of crushed garlic
1 cup of chopped shallots
2-4 cups of water
1 T olive oil
1 t ground cumin
1 t freshly ground cinnamon
1/2 t turmeric
1 t cayenne
1.5 cups of cooked garbanzo beans
1 cup firm yogurt - room temperature
salt to taste

Garnish:
1/2 cup of shredded mango

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic and shallots along with the salt and spices until tender - about 10 minutes.
Add the greens and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Toss in the garbanzo beans along with the water and cook for 12-14 minutes.

At this point, the soup can be left as is or pureed. We ended up running a hand blender and making a coarse puree.

Stir in the yogurt along with the cayenne and maybe even a dash of black pepper.

Serve topped with the shredded mango - the mango was semi-ripe, so it added a sweet-tart flavour to the soup - turned out to be the perfect garnish.


This soup was divine (think I said that already!) - the funny thing was how cinnamon totally defined the flavor of the soup, even more than the cumin. I'm not usually a big cinnamon person, but this was really flavourful - a definite win.

In honor of the positive cinnamon effect, this has to go to Sunita for her fabulous Think Spice event - the theme for the month is cinnamon. Sorry this is late, Sunita, but I think you'll like it anyway :)

Short'n'sweet post: Hot'n'Sour Soup

Too much cooking, too much to write about, not enough time! Guess I first need to catch up on posts before starting work on the new look for 2008.

Winter begs for warm comforting food. For me, that often translates to soups - thick chowders and bisques are often the norm, but every once in a while a lighter soup makes me quite happy. In lieu of the continuing green craze, this soup is along the lines of the yummy sweet'n'sour soup we used to eat at Cascade in Madras. A ton of shredded cabbage, onions, some corn kernels, some spices, that's about all it took. I will admit that freshly roasting and grinding the spices made a *huge* impact on the flavor of the soup!

Hot'n'Sour Soup
That indo-chinese favourite!

Servings: 4

1 small cabbage - cut into long shreds
1 bunch of scallions - chopped
1 cup of corn kernels
2 T grated ginger
5-6 cloves garlic - crushed
2 T soy sauce
2 cups of vegetable broth
3 cups of water
5 T white vinegar
1 t freshly ground white pepper
1 T ground mix of cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel
1 T canola oil
salt
4-5 fresh red chillies - sliced lengthwise

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the scallions, ginger and garlic till they start to brown.
Add the cabbage and cook covered on low for 5-6 minutes till the cabbage starts to wilt.
Add the corn, broth and water along with all the spices.
Cook covered for another 10-12 minutes.
Add the soy sauce and vinegar and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Top the soup with lightly toasted red chillies before serving.

What did we think?

*Very* good! Especially if it feels like we're sitting at Cascade slurping the soup there :)

Winter warmer soup

Well ... yes, it isn't officially winter yet, but it is *so* damn cold outside! And yet, there isn't enough snow in the mountains! Where's all the fresh powder, huh? *grumble* *grumble*

Cold weather often brings nostalgic cravings for warm and cozy food - a cup of piping hot chai (like Nags' daily drink :)), yummy onion pakoras, my mum's rasam or maybe a bowl of thick soup replete with late fall flavors!

Well, the last is what I settled for, especially with all the yummy bread left over from the Daring Bakers' Challenge. An old favorite cookbook - the Complete Encyclopedia came to the rescue here with a fabulous sounding smooth soup - just the ticket to warm the soul!

The original recipe called for potatoes and turnips - well, the bread was teeming with potato flavors, so I chose to skip that. And I was sans turnips, so that was out too! Instead, I went with some extra parsnip and some garlic.

Winter Warmer Soup
Perfectly legal on a cold fall day! :)

Servings: 4

2 carrots - chopped
1 large parsnip - chopped
1 medium onion - chopped
4 cloves garlic
1" ginger
1 T olive oil
1 t red pepper flakes
3/4 cup of milk
1/3 cup yogurt
freshly ground pepper
salt
1 t fresh lemon juice
a handful of chopped basil

Heat the oil in a stockpot and lightly roast the vegetables (other than the ginger) along with the red pepper flakes for about 3-4 minutes.
Once you can smell the roasted veggies, especially the parsnip (trust me, you can! :)), add about 1 cup of water and cook partially covered on low for about 20 minutes.
Strain the veggies (retain the water in the stockpot) and puree them along with the ginger in a food processor.
Add the puree back into the stockpot and mix it with the residual water.
Add the milk, heat gently and stir for about 2-3 minutes.
Take the soup off the stove and stir in the yogurt along with the pepper, salt and lemon juice.
Stir in the chopped basil before serving.


A few slices of the potato bread topped with tapenade was the perfect accompaniment to this yummy winter soup. I used a couple of variations here - one was to use minced olives with bell peppers and feta cheese. The other one was chopped eggplant, zucchini and peppers marinated lightly in an olive-oil/wine vinegar reduction.

Happy! Very Happy!

I think Kalyn will like this for her current Weekend Herb Blogging event - basil is always a favorite - especially with all the cultural associations. I love memories of the tulsi plants in our backyard - my mum would do the puja for it everyday while my sis and I nibbled on the leaves! *so* delicious :)


This soup is totally in honor of Bindu - a true reminder of all the fall days we spent together eating, talking and hanging out.

Delightful squash bisque

One of the best things about Fall - squashes! So many varieties, so many of them, makes me so happy! This was something I cooked up for Stephanie & Shawn a few days ago and never got around to posting. Which would be a crime of sorts since the bisque turned out so rich and flavorful, it deserves a post! :)

The last batch of squashes I got were from (surprise!) Fred Meyer - it was an emergency pitstop for some fruit and I just happened to (literally!) stumble upon this motley assortment of squashes of all shapes and sizes! I ended up buying several delicata squashes that day, one of which went into this bisque that I adapted from a recipe from Best-ever Soups by Anne Sheasby.

Roasted Squash and Garlic Bisque

Servings: 4

1 medium sized delicata squash
8 -10 cloves of garlic
1/2 vidalia - chopped into big chunks
a few fresh thyme sprigs
2 T olive oil
1 T fresh ground pepper
1 t fresh ground coriander
a few orange mint leaves - chopped
kosher salt

Heat the oven to 400 F. Cut the squash in half and rub inside of squash halves with olive oil. Take a piece of foil and place the garlic cloves along with the thyme and close the foil. Place the squash, garlic foil and onions (drizzled with olive oil) in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Once roasted, scoop the squash out of its skin into a saucepan. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and throw them along with the onions into the saucepan. Add about 4-5 cups of water (or vegetable stock) and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pepper and salt and simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Let the soup cool before pureeing it in a blender or food processor.

Once the soup is ladled into bowls, garnish with the orange mint.

*so* much of flavor - sweet squash, pungent garlic, fragrant thyme, coriander, orange mint ... Yum!

P.S.: This was my submission for Julia's (http://asliceofcherrypie.blogspot.com/) fun seasonal event: In The Bag!

Mmm ... bowl of spicy soup

After the long, tiring week that was, I felt like starting this week's cooking adventures off with a soup. So, we started perusing one of my favorite soup books Best-ever Soups by Anne Sheasby. We landed upon this spicy moroccan lentil soup - actually an old-time favorite, but I figured we'd make it a little differently this time using some of the ideas from Anne's recipe. We chose to skip the garbanzo since it often tends to overwhelm the flavors and I really enjoy the dominant flavor of puy lentils in a spicy soup. The whole process took us only about 30 minutes, cooking the lentils (20 minutes) just happened in parallel with the cooking of the veggies.

Simple, straightforward, stellar flavor!

Spicy Moroccan Lentil Soup

Servings: 3 giant bowls


1.5 cups of dried puy lentils
1/2 red onion - sliced
1 carrot - diced
2 medium tomatoes - chopped
1" ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
1 t olive oil
1 t cinnamon powder
1 t fennel seeds
1/2 t turmeric powder
1 t lemon juice
2 T chopped fennel
kosher salt

Cook the lentils in 3 cups of water in a pressure cooker. If cooking them on the stove, use about 3.5 cups of water.
Grind the ginger, garlic and jalapeno into a fine paste, adding water if needed.
In a large saucepan, saute the fennel seeds and onions in the olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, carrots, ginger+garlic+jalapenos. After about 2 minutes, add the turmerc, cinnamon and salt. Stir occasionally and simmer covered - for about 15 minutes.
Once the lentils are done, throw them in, stir for a couple of minutes before taking off the stove. Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with the chopped fennel and a few drops of lemon juice.

And if you love the spice (like I do!), maybe you'll add a dash or two of hot sauce! :) We had some onion pita bread from Trader Joe's on hand - we toasted these for dipping in the lentil soup. Got to love that TJs!


With all the fennel that this soup has plus the fact that it came from my veggie patch, it has got to be a Weekend Herb Blogging entry! (WHB #103)

Chowder?

What could be better than a bowl chowder to welcome fall? Though I'm not quite ready to admit that summer is over as yet (I'm still hitting the farmers' markets seeking out summer vegetables!), nothing quite like a chunky corn'n'leek chowder to embrace autumn!

Seriously, this is one of my best soup recipes *ever*. I pored over my Soups book hoping to find the perfect chowder recipe that I could use with the leeks and tomato from my veggie patch. Hmm ... couldn't quite find the right recipe, so I morphed several ideas together and came up with this:

Fiery Leek and Corn Chowder

6 leeks (small)
corn kernels scraped off from 2 ears of shucked corn
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 green bell pepper - finely chopped
1 medium ripe tomato - peeled and chopped
3-4 thai chillies - sliced lengthwise
1/3 cup of nonfat milk
some chives

Chop off the greens from the leeks and cooked them for 3-4 minutes in 1/2 cup of water. Once wilted, puree these along with the tomato pieces and half of the corn kernels. Chop the rest of the leeks and saute in 1/4 T of butter - I've noticed that just a teeny bit of butter brings out the smell and flavor of leeks so much better than oil! Throw in the garlic, thai chillies, bell pepper and the rest of the corn. Cook for about 4-5 minutes before adding the leek-tomato-corn puree. Cook covered on low for about 10 minutes after seasoning with salt. Finally, simmer the chowder for 1-2 minutes after throwing in about 1/3 cup of milk.


Hmm ... seasoning? Snipped chives from my veggie patch :) And a few gratings of oaxacan skim cheese. *wow*! Seriously, this was the perfect way to welcome fall! The chowder was warm and comforting, yet had a zing to it courtesy of the thai chillies!