More soup for me! And you, if you’re up for it. This is a smooth and soothing soup I made with butternut squash and apples, two things I’ll be lugging home from the farmers’ market every week. It’s a little sweet and a little tart (depending on how sour you like your apples), and the sage leaves add that woodsy “ahhh… fall” finish.
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small leek (white and light green parts) chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
about 3 cups of cubed butternut squash
2 medium apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
about 2 cups vegetable broth
milk, cream, or creme fraiche if you wanna get fancy
salt and pepper
fried sage leaves
Add butter and oil to a medium-sized pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, leek, celery, and garlic. Sprinkle on some salt. Cook until onions are translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Add butternut squash and apples, and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Add just enough broth to cover the vegetables, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. The squash and apples should get really soft. Let it cool for a little bit, then puree with a blender (carefully! it’s hot!). Pour it all back in the pot and add more broth if you want a thinner soup. Season with salt and pepper (white pepper if you don’t feel like seeing little black flecks) to taste. Heat everything back up, then stir in as little or as much of your dairy product of choice.
Serve topped with fried sage leaves. To make them: heat a thin layer of oil in a small pan over medium heat, then fry fresh sage leaves until they turn dark green and get nice and crispy. Drain on a paper towel and season with a little salt. Use the leftover sage oil for dressing or bread-dipping or something.
I may be getting into homemade soup these days, now that autumn is in full swing and now that this recipe has won me over. It’s the most velvety smooth soup I’ve made in awhile. I think it looks fancy and tastes expensive (John’s palate puts a flattering but outrageous $10 price tag on it), but is good and unfussy enough for everyday dinners (using an immersion blender helps). You can make a big batch and save the rest for later. My favorite-smelling part of the whole process occurs at the beginning, when leeks, onions, and garlic cook in butter. I modified the recipe a bit by using milk instead of cream (and more of it) and adding a few squeezes of lemon juice.
Sunchokes, by the way, are also called Jerusalem artichokes. Guess what: they’re not from Jerusalem and they’re not even artichokes. The sunchoke is a sunflower tuber whose Italian name (Girasole) sounds like “Jerusalem” and whose taste resembles that of the artichoke. I found mine at the farmers’ market for a few bucks a pound.
And finally, a warning: sunchokes may give you (rather horrible smelling) intestinal gas. Plan accordingly.
I came home from a 2-week-long vacation to a freezer full of food. Before leaving, I cooked as much as possible to use up all our CSA stuff and froze the leftovers. We missed Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Potential All-Around Shitstorm Irene, but if we had been stuck in the apartment we would’ve eaten quite well (and probably would have cleaned out the liquor cabinet). Sadly, the storm caused horrendous flooding at many local farms, including the one that serves my CSA (Stoneledge Farm). I’m wishing them the best and looking forward to seeing them back up and running next season.
Anyway, this carrot soup is nice and simple, and it’s topped off with a pesto made from the carrots’ greens. It was my take on “root-to-stem” cooking, which I of course appreciate (previously: radishes sauteed with radish greens). I can also say from personal experience that the pesto is a good thing to smear on tomato and cheese sandwiches, stir into salad dressings, and mix into pasta or grain salads.
To make carrot top pesto:
Put carrot tops, whatever other fresh herbs you might have/like (I added parsley and thyme), garlic, toasted walnuts, and salt in a food processor. Press the button. Then drizzle in olive oil while the thing is still running. Add grated Parmigiano cheese (optional).
To make carrot soup:
Cook chopped onion, chopped celery, minced garlic, minced ginger, and a lot of carrots in a bit of oil in a pot until onions are translucent. Pour in enough vegetable or chicken broth to fully submerge the vegetables. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped herbs (I used savory, but sage, thyme, and/or rosemary would’ve been nice too). Cover and simmer until carrots are soft. Puree mixture, then return it to the pot. If it is too thick, add more broth. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Taste and adjust seasonings. Stir in carrot top pesto right before serving.
Bonus point: stick a piece of beer bread cheese toast in the bowl.
The weather report for today was fraught with words like “icy,” “sleet,” and “freezing rain.” Meaning the weather really sucks. On the bright side, this is exactly the kind of day for a homemade version of that canned kiddie favorite, tomato soup. With a plain grilled cheddar sandwich, of course. It’s a winter version of a favorite summer combination: bread, tomatoes, and cheese.
At its simplest, all it takes to make tomato soup is canned (home-canned or otherwise) tomatoes, a little bit of chopped onion, water or broth, and salt and pepper. If you want to get un-basic, you can take it in all kinds of directions: fresh herbs, other vegetables (celery, peppers, carrots, garlic), spices like curry powder or cayenne pepper or cumin, creme fraiche stirred in at the end. I also found that a pinch of sugar is exactly what tomato soup needs to round out all that acidity. To make it: soften the onions (and other vegetables, if using) in a little bit of oil or butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer. Give it all a quick whirl (carefully and messily) in a blender or food processor (or with an immersion blender), then return it to the pot to heat it through.
In addition to the KitchenAid mixer I mentioned in my previous post, I’m also enjoying a hand blender from the one and only Hayes Shair (anyone out there need an architect?). All of a sudden I’m doing smoothies (yogurt and over-ripe peaches) and smooth vegetable soups. This one was made with some sweet late-summer corn and delicate summer leeks. Procedure: cook chopped leeks (white and light green parts) and a bit of garlic in olive oil, until soft. Add fresh corn kernels, salt, and pepper. Add vegetable or chicken broth, and bring to a simmer. Puree all, part, or none of it with a food processor, blender, or hand blender. Briefly return to heat and add milk or cream, being careful not to let clumps form.
New favorite summer food: chilled soups. They’re like cold smoothies you drink with a spoon. Or out of a glass with a straw, I don’t see anything wrong with that. And they’re great when you feel like eating your fruits and veggies in something other than a salad.
Chilled Watermelon and Cucumber Soup
Kind of like gazpacho, but not completely. I blended chunks of watermelon, peeled cucumber, orange bell pepper, and red onion with salt, pepper, lime juice, and mint, then drizzled a little olive oil on top.
Summer Squash and Buttermilk Soup
Found this one on 101 Cookbooks. A nice way to get some extra squash and leftover buttermilk off your hands.
Cold Borscht
Classic! Simmer some chopped beets and onions in broth, then let it cool down. Add matchsticks of cucumbers and radishes, along with some yogurt or sour cream, fresh dill, parsley, and scallions.
I happen to like making my own chicken stock at home. My CSA sells chicken necks and backs for cheap, and I like putting the remains of Sunday supper roast chickens to use. I save scraps of things like onions, carrots, celery, fennel, and parsnips in a sealed plastic container with said chicken bones in the freezer. On broth day, I dump everything in my trusty stock pot and fill it up with water. Add salt, peppercorns, and some herbs, turn up the heat, and you’re ready to go. I let everything simmer for at least 3 hours, remove the bones and vegetables with some tongs, and strain the stock through cheesecloth.
For a more spelled-out, articulate guide to making your own chicken stock (I am not at my most coherent today), check out Simply Recipes.
As for the leftover mushy boiled vegetables and bits of meat, I like to chop them up and pan fry them with some boiled potatoes, whatever spices and fresh herbs are around, and other leftover stuff (in the photo below, what remained of an opened can of garbanzo beans) to make a delicious-smelling hash with a side of eggs. Waste not, eat well.
This is one of those simple, healthy, satisfying meals I make when I remember that there are lentils in the pantry. You can add pretty much whatever vegetables you want, and substitute other leafy greens for the kale. I made a meatless version, but this stuff is also very, very tasty with bacon, ham, Spanish chorizo, kielbasa, or other things made from cured smoked pork. Worcestershire sauce and Maggi seasoning sauce add that much-touted flavor element known as umami. (Whether I’m browsing Serious Eats or studying the physiology of gustation, I cannot escape umami.) Tomatoes and vinegar get added toward the end of cooking because acid slows down the cooking process for legumes.
olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1-2 celery ribs, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small potato, diced
1/2 small bunch kale, chopped
1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
about 4 cups (more to make it soupier) broth (vegetable, chicken, ham… whatever you feel like)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
15-ounce can of whole or diced tomatoes with juice
salt, pepper, red chili flakes
a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (optional; feel free to leave it out if you’re a strict vegetarian)
a few dashes of Maggi seasoning sauce
about 1/2 teaspoon vinegar (any kind)
Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add garlic, potatoes, kale, lentils, and broth. Cover partially and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and cook about 25 minutes, or until lentils are soft but still have some bite to them. Add tomato paste and tomatoes. Bring back to a simmer and add Worcestershire sauce, Maggi, and vinegar.
