Bell[e of the Ball] Pepper Soup

A note by the author suggested one serve this soup alongside the Whole Wheat Penne with Cabbage and Cumin. Done and done. My husband enjoyed the soup even more than the main dish, which--since it was fabulous, means this was even more so. Mmmmm.

Bell Pepper Soupfrom Diana Shaw's Almost Vegetarian

• 1 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 large red pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced
• 1 large yellow pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced
• 1 small round red or white potato (1/4 lb), peeled and sliced
• 3 cups vegetable broth, homemade or canned

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrot, and celery, turn the heat down to medium and saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the bell peppers and potato, and stir to coat with the other vegetables. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, cover, and lower heat to medium-low. Simmer until the potato falls apart when you pierce it with a knife, about 8 minutes. Puree the soup (using a stick blender in the pot or by transferring the soup to a food processor). Serve hot.

I used four peppers instead of just the two that were called for (why not?) which gave this soup a very peppery taste. I'm not usually a "blend everything together" soup fan, but in this case it was fantastic.

Red Lentil Soup

My copy of Moosewood is secondhand, and over this recipe the previous owner wrote in "****". Who am I to ignore four stars? I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I made it for lunch. My three year old wasn't so interested, but my husband and I loved it. Four stars indeed.

Red Lentil Soup from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

• 1 1/2 cups red lentils
• 6 cups water
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped [I substituted garlic scapes from my CSA]
• 2 slices fresh ginger root, each about the size of a quarter

• 2 medium carrots (1 cup grated)
• 1 cup canned tomatoes, or 1 medium fresh tomato, chopped (undrained)
• 1 small red or green bell pepper (1/2 cup finely chopped) [I left these out]

• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 2 Tbls olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• pinch cayenne
• 2 Tbls fresh lemon juice
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• dollop of plain yogurt (optional)

     Sort and rinse the lentils. Put them in a soup pot with the water, bay leaves, garlic [scapes], and ginger. Cover and place on high heat.
     Prepare the carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers, and add them to the pot. Bring to a boil, stir, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 mins, until the lentils are tender.
     While the vegetables simmer, saute the onion on medium heat in the olive oil in a heavy skillet for about 10 mins or until browned. Add the cumin, coriander, and cayenne and saute for another minute, stirring to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat. When the lentils are tender, remove the bay leaves and ginger from the soup pot. Stir in the sauteed onions and the lemon juice. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Top each bowl with a spoon of yogurt, if desired. 

I served this with the carrot herb salad from the same cookbook, using cilantro instead of parsley, and adding the teaspoon of cumin noted as a variation.  Seemed to make sense, serving them together;  if you use a food processor it's no more trouble to grate ten carrots than two.

Matzo Balls

No need to head to the deli, you can get your matzo balls right here. Not even kidding. I have awesome matzo skills.

For the first time ever, and for no apparent reason, I merged two recipes into one, using most of the ingredients from one and the general directions of the other. Two cookbooks, one dish. I don't even know why. Thankfully, it turned out. Below are both recipes.

First, the one I used mainly for the ingredients:

Matzo Balls
from Sara Kasdan's  Love and Knishes: An Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking

6 eggs, separated
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup matzo meal
2 Tbls melted schmaltz 

Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat egg yolks until light. Add salt, pepper, and melted schmaltz to beaten yolks; fold into egg whites. Fold in matzo meal one spoonful at a time. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Wet hands and form batter into balls the size of a walnut. Drop into rapidly boiling soup or water. Reduce heat and cook slowly, covered, for about 30 minutes. Serves 12.

Next, the one I used mainly for the instructions:

Matzoh Ball Soup
from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan with a Vengeance

1 1/2 cups matzoh meal
3/4 tsp salt, plus extra for the boiling water
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 (12-oz) package firm silken tofu
8 1/2 cups or so Rich Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup plus 3 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
1 carrot, peeled
A handfull fresh dill, coarsely chopped
Fresh parsley for garnish

   In a mixing bowl, combine the matzoh meal with the salt and pepper; set aside.
   Crumble the tofu into a blender or food processor, add 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth, and puree until smooth. Add the oil and blend again.
   Mix the tofu mixture with the matzoh meal, making sure that everything is moist. Grate half the carrot into the mixture and mix until it's well distributed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight. you can't skip this step; it's important in making sure that the matzoh balls will not fall apart when boiled.
   When you are ready to form the balls, fill a large stockpot with enough water to fit all the matzoh balls with minimal touching. Salt the water generously, cover, and bring to a boil.
   Set out a cutting board upon which to line up the formed matzoh balls, and cover it with parchment paper if you have any, to prevent sticking. Also have handy a wet rag to wipe your hands on between forming each matzoh ball.
   Remove the matzoh mixture from the fridge. Form into tightly packed, walnut-size balls and place on the prepared cutting board. When all the balls are prepared, drop carefully into the boiling water, one or two at a time, with a spatula or slotted spoon. Take your time and be careful not to plop one on top of another; they need to remain separate. When all the balls are in the water, cover the pot and DO NOT LIFT LID FOR FORTY MINUTES! Sorry for the caps, just had to stress it. When 40 minutes is up, you can remove the lid. The matzoh balls will have floated to the top and will drop back down when the lid is lifted. This is fun to watch.
   Now they are ready to serve; however, to make them even lighter, you can turn off the heat, cover the pot again, and let them sit in the water for another hour or so. This way they absorb more water and expand a bit more.
   (...) [There's more about making the broth/soup itself, but I didn't use it.]

As I said, I mostly made my matzo balls using Kasdan's recipe (I used eggs) but I didn't use the chicken fat (schmaltz); instead, I felt totally okay substituting with olive oil, since that's what Moskowitz does. And when it came time to mold and cook the balls I appreciated the blow-by-blow instructions (and the CAPS) of the vegan recipe.

We still have matzo meal left over. I'm thinking a few matzo balls might be in store for us this weekend...

Squash Soup (two variations)

After receiving a windfall of veggies today I knew it was time to get cookin'! I decided to focus on the butternut squash, and I picked up my copy of Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World; paging through, this recipe caught my eye. Though its name calls for pumpkin, the ingredient list allows for butternut squash as well.

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup

from Olive Trees and Honey by Gil Marks

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 leeks (white & light green parts only) or 2 onions, chopped

8 cups vegetable stock or water

2 to 3 lbs pumpkin, butternut squash, or other winter squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (5-6 cups)

3 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 cup dried yellow split peas

2 carrots, cut into chunks (optional)

1 to 4 Tbls packed brown sugar

2 cinnamon sticks or 1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground tumeric or saffron thread

1/8 tsp ground allspice or freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

parsley or cilantro or toasted pumpkin seeds or sauteed mushrooms

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute until soft, about 5 mins. Add the stock, pumpkin, chickpeas, optional carrots, sugar, spices, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the pumpkin is very soft, about 50 mins. Discard the cinnamon sticks.

2. To serve, garnish with parsley or pumpkin seeds, or top each bowl with a little mount of sauteed mushrooms.


Variation: 

Fiery Pumpkin Soup

Make the recipe above but omit the cinnamon, ginger and allspice. Add, with the onion, 1 minced clove garlic and 1 minced small hot green chili or Scotch bonnet chili, or add about 1 tsp cayenne and 1/2 tsp ground cumin with the pumpkin.

I had one Georgia Flame pepper and wanted to make the spicy option, but because my toddler doesn't always enjoy spicy foods I decided to make the basic recipe as well. I divided the onions, squash, carrots, lentils and liquid between two pots and added the sweet spices to one pot, garlic and the diced pepper to the other.

Extremely Delish! Would be a great dinner for company this autumn. Serve with green salad and hearty bread with butter.

I Cooked Borscht!!!

That's right, I actually got myself into the kitchen and cooked something from one of my cookbooks! I think it was the scent of woodburning stoves permeating the neighborhood this morning; just seemed like a day when one should be in the kitchen, making something warm and nourishing.

I chose to make borscht, since we have a garden full of beets and onions and received even more beets and onion--not to mention tons of raw garlic--in our CSA this weekend.

What I like about this recipe is that it uses the entire beet--root with peel and leaves and stems--not just a peeled root. Waste not, want not!

From The New Laurel's Kitchen

Whole Beet Borscht

• 1 small onion [I used two]
• 1 clove garlic [I used three!]
• 2 tsp oil [I used extra virgin olive oil]
• 2 Tbls flour
• 5 cups stock or water [I used some of the frozen stock we still have saved from this spring]
• 1 bunch beets and their greens (3 large or 6 small) [I tossed in a few extra]
• 1 potato
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 Tbls tomato past or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped [I used the fresh option, since I had them on hand]

Chop onion and saute with garlic clove in oil. Mash garlic clove when onion is translucent and browning. Stir in flour and cook gently for a minute. Add stock or water and bring to a boil.

Meantime, trim roots of beets, saving the good leaves and stems. Grate beets, potato, and carrot, or slice them thin. Slice celery thin. Add these and simmer 10 minutes while you shred the cabbage and chop the beet leaves and stems small. Add these and bay leaf, salt, pepper, honey and tomato to the vegetable mixture. Simmer until all vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf.

Makes 10 cups.

Mmmm. Nothing quite like beets. You either love 'em or you hate 'em. You've probably already figured-out which side of that fence my family and I are on...

Carrot Soup

I found a 5lb bag of organic carrots on sale for $3 last week and snatched that deal right up. My husband tells me I'm crazy, but I swear I will cook wonderful things with those roots before they spoil. I swear it!

My first creation is from Laurel Robertson's The New Laurel's Kitchen

Carrot Soup
Makes 8 cups

• 5 medium-large carrots
• 2 small potatoes (or 1 large)
• 1 bunch leeks (or 1 large onion)
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1 teaspoon dry tarragon leaves or 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Cut carrots in 1" chunks, quarter the potatoes, and place both in a 2-quart sauce pan. Add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender. Remove and discard potato peels.

Meanwhile, wash leeks thoroughly and chop them coarsley. If they are very muddy, chop them first and rinse well in a sieve after chopping. Saute in butter along with the tarragon. Use blender or food processor to puree the vegetables in batches, adding the milk, stock, and salt. Return soup to pot; add pepper and wine, and reheat.

My concern/confusion about this recipe:
I covered the carrots and potatoes and cooked them. But then, though it says to discard the potatoes peels, it doesn't actually tell you to drain the water. I was faced with a dilemma. Toss the carrot/potato water and then add new milk and stock and heat or keep the water and add the milk and stock to it OR keep the water, add the milk and don't add any additional stock because that would be too liquidy.

I chose door number three. I kept the water in which I'd boiled the roots, added everything to that pot, and then used an immersion blender to blenderize the carrots and potatoes and onions. And it worked really well! I'm not sure my soup turned out just as it was intended to, but I (and my husband and my daughter) were happy with the results. Mmmm, carrots.

P.S.  Is it ridiculous that I don't take pictures of anything I cook for this blog? I just keep forgetting...

When life gives you lemons...

...make lentil stew!

It's not intuitive, no.

I don't remember why I was stockpiling so many lemons. But there they were Wednesday night, begging to be used for something spectacular. (Note: lemonade is not spectacular--it is disgusting.)

I thought briefly about plopping them into a bowl and dubbing them our new centerpiece; however, after considering that the cats chew on everything and not relishing the idea of soggy moldy lemon pieces spit out across the dining room, I focused on this blog's challenge.

I remembered reading an interesting recipe involving lentils (check) and lemons (triple check). After searching through several books' indexes I found it again, nestled away in what surely is one of the most famous vegetarian cookbooks:


Anna Thomas' The Vegetarian Epicure

You know the one. Cute line drawings, intriguing recipes, and several references to the social smoking of marijuana (she wrote the book while in college. in the 70's. Hello.).

Blonde Lentil Soup <--- click here to see the official recipe via Google Book

My slightly altered version:

Make 5 cups of broth (I had homemade broth in the freezer--go me!)

2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs. butter
1 tsp lemon rind, grated
1 bay leaf
1 cup dried yellow lentils
juice of 1 lemon
sweet basil
salt & pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter. When the onions begin to turn brown, add them to the broth along with the lemon rind, bay leaf, and lentils. Let it cook for about 40 to 60 minutes, adding water to maintain the same consistency. Now add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, a little crushed sweet basil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer another 20 minutes or so and serve.

The dish was described as "exotic," and I suppose it was. You don't normally think "citrus-y zest" when you're slurping up legumes. But maybe you should.

My verdict: awesome dish. And it wasn't just me, the baby girl adored it too (she ate a ramekin full). My husband wasn't as thrilled, but I suspect it had more to do with the fact that dinner was 90 minutes late (the world's best time manager I'm not) than how it tasted; he told me he wasn't a fan of lemony stew but then ate three bowls. I'm chalking his grouchy food comments down to his being out-of-his mind starved.

Because I'm telling you: it was good.

~Thomasin