Potato corn chowder with fennel, dill, and caraway

I've been taking advantage of the end of the summer corn for the last few few weeks. We ate our way through a huge batch of summer chili, some of which is still waiting patiently in the freezer for future dinners. I also froze a bunch of farmer's market corn to store for the winter, and made a bunch of beautiful light yellow broth from the cobs. So far, so good.

Then I discovered Use Real Butter's chanterelle bacon corn chowder. Yes please!

We don't have any chanterelles to forage in Silicon Valley -- and even if we did, I'm the only person in our house who voluntarily eats mushrooms. So those were out. Bacon was similarly out, since we wanted a vegetarian chowder. But corn, potato, and fennel? That sounded like an amazing combination. I punched it up with fennel fronds and toasted caraway seeds, and our potato corn chowder with fennel, dill, and caraway was born.

This chowder turned out a little sweet for my tastes, largely because of the combination of super-fresh corn kernels and corn broth. If you're using frozen corn, I imagine that problem will not come up. But otherwise, there are a couple ways to combat the sweet. I added a few drops of liquid smoke to a serving, and that was very good. Hot sauce or cayenne pepper would also be great if you like the spice. Or go the other direction and add some grated parmesan cheese or other hard grating cheese.

And a crunchy, tart, or bitter salad of arugula or massaged kale and apples would be a perfect contrast on the side.

Potato corn chowder with fennel, dill, and caraway
Inspired by Chanterelle bacon corn chowder
Serves 4-6

1 tbsp butter
2 small or 1 large leek (or use 2-3 shallots)
1/2 large bulb fennel
1 small or 1/2 large carrot
1/2 cup white wine/dry vermouth
3 cloves garlic
3 large boiling potatoes
3 cups veg broth or corn broth
3/4 tsp dried thyme
2 ears corn/approx 1 1/2 cups kernels
3/4 cup milk/cream
salt, pepper to taste
~2 tbsp each fresh dill, fennel fronds, and parsley
lemon wedges, 1 per serving
toasted caraway seeds, 2 pinches per serving

Melt your butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Trim, clean, and chop your leeks, and cut your fennel and carrot into small pieces. Add them to your soup pot along with a generous pinch of salt, stir, and let cook for about 5 minutes to soften.

While you're waiting, finely mince your garlic. Scrub and cube your potatoes.

When your vegetables have become soft and aromatic, deglaze the pan with your wine or vermouth. Scrape the bottom of the pan as needed to remove the fond. Then add your potatoes and garlic to the soup pot, along with your thyme, and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

Next, add your broth to the soup pot. Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat, put on the lid, and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until your potatoes are completely cooked through and ender. You can test this by smashing a piece of potato against the side of the pot.

Husk, de-silk, and slice your corn kernels off their cobs. Scrape the cobs with the back of your knife to get out as much fresh corn action as possible. Add your corn kernels and milk or cream to the pan. Season well with salt and pepper, and simmer gently for another 5 minutes or so.

Chop all your fresh herbs finely and stir them into the soup, reserving a pinch or two for final garnish if you so desire. Taste and correct seasonings.

Keep your pot of soup warm while you toast your caraway seeds. To do this, put a teaspoon or two of caraway seeds into a small, dry frying pan over medium heat. Toast for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Don't go anywhere, because seeds burn very easily. When the seeds have just barely turned a darker shade and they are very aromatic, turn off the heat.

Serve your soup with reserved herbs and a few pinches of caraway seeds scattered over the top. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over each bowl, and eat with plenty of hot toast. Rye or pumpernickel would be ideal, but sourdough is also good.

This made a delightful and comforting dinner, and was a great way to switch up our usual corn menu.

How are you eating the last of the summer corn harvest?

Samosa soup

We've been eating a lot of pinto beans lately. This is a thing that happens when you buy a 5-lb bag of said pinto beans and cook huge batches of them in your pressure cooker on a regular basis, both of which I absolutely do.

Refried beans are already on the table two or three times a week at our house, whether they're made from pintos or black beans. I also recently made a double batch of Good Good Things' bbq pinto bean burgers (along with a vegetarianized batch of Joy of Cooking bbq sauce to put in them). We now have a lovely stock of 11 burgers stashed away in the freezer for future consumption. But I still had quite a few beans in their broth hanging around waiting to be eaten afterward.

We'd more or less exhausted the classics, so I wanted to make something different. Soup is always good. Why not mix up a basic bean soup with the spices usually used in making samosas?

I looked up a couple of samosa recipes and went to town.

This soup is lovely and warming, with a hint of heat that can be increased as much as you like. The garam masala makes it a bit sweet, especially when eaten plain. Add a handful of crackers (or naan, if you're feeling semi-industrious) and a few salad greens, and you have a complete and very satisfying meal. The leftovers freeze very well.

Serves 4.

Samosa soup

oil of choice
1 large yellow onion
2 carrots
1-2 stalks celery
1-2 boiling potatoes
1 jalapeno or serrano
2 cups cooked pinto beans (in 2 cups of their broth if homemade, drained if not)
2 cups veg broth (+2 more cups if using canned beans)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp amchoor powder (or sub lemon juice)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
1 tsp garam masala
immersion blender or other pureeing device
plain yogurt/sub of your choice and cilantro to garnish

Warm a couple slugs of oil over medium heat in a large soup pot while you chop up your onion, carrots, and celery. When the oil is hot, add the chopped vegetables to the pan along with a shake of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, or until the onion is beginning to turn translucent.

While you're waiting, chop up your potatoes and chile. Then add them to the pot, stir, and continue to cook for another five minutes.

Next, add your pinto beans and broth to the pot. Add all the spices except garam masala (and lemon juice, if you're using it). Bring the pot to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about ten to fifteen minutes, or until your potatoes are entirely cooked through. This may take a bit longer if your potato pieces are on the large side.

Take your pot off the heat and puree your soup using an immersion blender. Taste and correct the seasonings. Then return the soup to the heat and cook it down until it reaches your desired texture.

When you're happy with your soup, turn off the heat and stir in your garam masala (and lemon juice). Serve plain, with chopped cilantro, or top with plain yogurt. Voila!

If you want more vegetables, you can saute some peas in olive oil with a little salt and put a big scoop of them over the top of your bowl of finished soup. Or put a handful of spinach or mesclun leaves in the bottom of each bowl before serving. Or have an actual salad on the side! It's all good.

What's your favorite thing to cook with pinto beans?

Carrot pinto bean chipotle soup

Because there's no reason to stop eating soup just because it's May.

I am doing nineteen things at once lately, so soup is actually one of the better choices I could make. It's super easy to make, delicious, cheap, and stores well in the freezer for future nights when I don't want to do anything but collapse into bed. Put some soup in a bowl, throw some lettuce on a plate (or into the soup), and you have a full dinner.

This particular soup is lovely and spicy and delightful. I will eat plenty.

Carrot pinto bean chipotle soup

olive oil or butter
1 onion
6 carrots
2 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic
1 boiling potato
2 cups cooked pinto beans
4 cups veg or bean broth
salt, pepper, bay leaf, cumin, oregano
1-2+ chipotles in adobo & sauce
optional garnish: green onion, cilantro, yogurt, etc.

Warm your oil or butter in a large soup pot while you peel (or scrub) and dice your onion, carrots, and celery. Add the vegetables and a pinch of salt to the pot, stir, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until softened and beginning to brown.

Mince your garlic and dice your potato. Add these to the pot and continue to cook for another minute or two. Then add your beans and broth, season to taste with salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano, throw in a bay leaf, and bring the whole business to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until all your vegetables are cooked through.

At this point you'll want to pull the pot off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and puree the soup to your desired texture with an immersion blender. I like a completely smooth soup, but it's fine to leave yours a bit chunky if you prefer.

Check out the texture of your soup. If it's too thick, add some water or broth. If it's too thin, put it back on the heat and simmer to reduce to your desired texture.

When you're happy with your soup's texture, taste and correct any seasonings. Then, off the heat, stir in as much finely chopped chipotle pepper in adobo as you desire. The amount can vary quite a bit depending on your spice tolerance, so it's a good idea to start off slowly and taste as you go. We like spice, so I used about 2 tablespoons of chopped chipotle and sauce.

Serve your soup with your choice of garnish. Chopped green onion works exceptionally well here, as does cilantro or fresh oregano. If you happen to be making this at the height of corn season, a handful of kernels fresh off the cob would be an excellent idea. You may also want to have some toasted corn tortillas or chips available for dipping.

What's your favorite thing to eat after a busy day?

Simple ravioli soup with handfuls of herbs

Because you can't just make one thing with a big bunch of dill.

And since egg salad is not exactly the optimal thing to eat in winter (not to say that stopped us), I went on the lookout for more ways to use up my bountiful dill. The answer? Well, besides some very dilly schmears and a few simple salads, a soup seemed like a really good idea.

This soup takes very little time to make and produces a seriously warming and delicious meal. It's an excellent reason to keep ravioli (or any fresh filled pasta you like) in the freezer.

I happened to have a ravioli filled with havarti and dill on hand, so fresh dill was a perfect addition. However, it would be hard to go wrong using any filled pasta you like. Ravioli or tortellini with ricotta, spinach, chicken, beef, or even a delicate shrimp could all be delicious. So could pierogi or pelmeny filled with hearty potato, cottage cheese, or cabbage.

All you'd need to do is adjust the type of herb and the broth for optimal flavor combinations. Shrimp ravioli? Use chives and tarragon, plus fish stock. Beef? Use parsley and beef stock, with a splash of tomato juice for good measure. Tomato would be a great addition for nearly any pierogi as well -- and I'd wilt in some shredded cabbage right before turning off the heat. And a little dry vermouth or white wine would be an excellent addition to nearly any of these.

Simple ravioli soup with handfuls of herbs
Serves 2.

olive oil/butter
3-4 scallions
1-2 carrots
3+ cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 servings frozen ravioli or other filled pasta of your choice
salt, pepper
plenty of dill, parsley, or another fresh leafy herb

Start by heating your oil or butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Trim and chop a handful of scallions, separating the whites from the greens. Add the whites to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes. Set the greens aside.

Scrub or peel one big carrot or a couple of smaller ones. Slice into the bite-sized pieces of your choice. I made thin quarter-moons. Add your carrots to the pan, season with a little salt, and cook for another few minutes to soften. If you want to add any more chopped vegetables, like celery or mushrooms, now is the time to do so.

Add a good three cups of broth to your pan. You can make up the difference with water if you don't have quite enough broth. Season with salt and pepper and bring the pan to a boil.

Add your ravioli, stir, and bring the pan to a boil again. Reduce the heat to simmer; a full rolling boil will tend to split your ravioli.

Simmer for five to eight minutes, or until your ravioli are completely cooked through. They will float to the surface of the pan when they're ready. Your timing will depend on the size of your pasta.

While you're waiting, chop up a large handful or two of the herbs of your choice. I used dill, because we had lots of it and my ravioli were filled with havarti and dill anyway, but parsley, chervil, chives, tarragon, or a mix of whatever leafy green herbs you like can all work well. Think about your ravioli filling and decide accordingly.

When your ravioli are done, correct the seasonings and turn off the heat. Stir your chopped herbs and green onion greens into your finished soup. Serve with a few extra sprigs of herbs for garnish.

Eat and feel better.

Which hot and hearty soups are you cooking this winter?

Yellow split pea soup with kale and quinoa

We are just barely back from a whirlwind trip to a family wedding on the Florida panhandle. We flew into New Orleans, stayed for a day of beignets, coffee, and wandering around, and then set off for that most traditional of American pastimes: driving for several hours across several states to get as many family members as possible into one place at one time.

The wedding -- on a blindingly white and lovely beach -- was tiny but very happy, with toast after toast in both Spanish and English stretching on into the night at the reception. Yay!

We had a great time.

That said, do you know how much vegetarian food there is in the tourist areas of NOLA and the beach (and also the airport)? Not much. Almost not at all. I ate several platters of fish with fried shrimp garnish, a plateful of veal, and an excellent sausage with caraway, but the vegetables were few and far between, and the beans practically nonexistent, except in dishes that also contained large chunks of ham. There were multiple bags of delicious Michigan apples, however!

So when we got home John and I (especially John -- I like meat, even if my digestive system is not happy with me after I eat this much of it) were ready to get some beans and greens into our mouths as instantly as possible. We dug some split peas out of the freezer, got our hands on a big bunch of kale, and went to town.

The secret to making a delicious yet vegan split pea soup is liquid smoke. Well, liquid smoke and plenty of other herbs and spices. Actually, the use of herbs and spices is possibly the secret of vegan and vegetarian cooking in general. You don't have meat flavoring everything automatically, so spice application is super important.

Yellow split pea soup with kale and quinoa

1 cup yellow split peas (green will work too)
oil of your choice
1 yellow onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1 leek
~4 cups vegetable broth
salt & pepper
marjoram, paprika, smoked paprika, cayenne, red pepper flake
bay leaf
optional splash of dry vermouth or white wine
1 bunch kale
handful of fresh parsley with stems
1 cup quinoa
10-15 drops liquid smoke

Start by covering your split peas in plenty of hot tap water. Leave them to soak and begin softening for 15 minutes or more before you start cooking. This quick soak will help reduce the overall cooking time.

Warm a slug of oil on medium heat in the bottom of a 3-quart pot. Chop your onion and add it to the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until your onion has begun to soften.

Mince your garlic, scrub and chop your carrot, and wash and chop your leek. Add each vegetable to the pot as you finish chopping it.

Season your vegetables with a few shakes of salt, as well as some marjoram, paprika, smoked paprika, cayenne, and red pepper flake to taste. Toss a bay leaf in there too. If you don't have every single one of those spices, you can always rely more heavily on what you do have. I just like to use smaller amounts of a variety of different peppers for a nice depth of flavor.

Stir everything together and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes. When all your vegetables are nicely softened, drain your split peas and add them to the pot, along with your vegetable broth. If you would like to add some vermouth, now is a great time to splash some in.

Bring the pot to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until your split peas are completely cooked and soft.

While you're waiting, wash, destem, and roughly chop your kale. Chop up your fresh parsley as well. Put your quinoa on to cook, so it'll be hot and ready when your soup is done.

When your split peas are cooked, take the pot off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and puree your soup to the texture you desire with an immersion blender. Or leave it chunky if you prefer. It's all good. If your soup is too thick, this is a good time to add some more broth or water to thin it.

Stir your chopped kale and about half of your parsley into the hot soup. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until all the greens are well wilted.

For the final seasoning, add your liquid smoke. This stuff is very potent, so be careful and add a little at a time. This is also the time to add pepper and correct any other seasonings.

To serve, add a scoop of hot quinoa to the bottom of a soup bowl. Top with a ladleful of soup and garnish with the extra parsley.

Hooray! Beans (or pulses anyway), greens, and quinoa, together at last.

Needless to say, we both felt miles better after eating this delicious veg-heavy dinner in our own house.

What's the first thing you want to eat when you get back to your own kitchen after a few days (or weeks) of traveling?

Lamb meatball soup with somen noodles, cabbage, and carrot

I don't know about you guys, but I am SO GLAD August is over. Now that September is here, I feel like I can take a deep breath and get on with my life. And I say this as someone living in a state without fall and everything.

Anyway. Guess what I made for lunch today!

I made soup with lamb meatballs, somen noodles, and shredded cabbage and carrot, and it took maybe fifteen minutes, start to finish. You heard me. It was easy and fast and delicious and totally appropriate for the very first days of not-quite-fall. SOUP, you guys.

Okay. How do you make a complete meal like this in fifteen minutes? By being prepared and having things previously stashed in the freezer, that's how. I had both broth and lamb meatballs just waiting for me to throw them into a pot and heat them up, and you can too!

I also kept things quick by using somen noodles instead of a longer-cooking noodle like udon. Somen are very, very thin Japanese noodles that are usually served cold with a dipping sauce. But you know what? They are also excellent hot, plunked into a pot of soup.

If you are not in the meat-eating boat, fear not. You can absolutely use the frozen dumplings or won tons of your choice in place of the meatballs and somen. I do that very frequently when we have dumplings or won tons in the freezer, and it is just as delicious. Give it a try!

I ate this entire recipe's worth of soup myself, but it would be totally feasible to divide it up into two portions if you are planning on adding a side or two to the meal.

Lamb meatball soup with somen noodles, cabbage, and carrot

~2 cups veg broth (or chicken broth)
6 precooked and frozen lamb meatballs
~1 cup shredded cabbage
1 small shredded carrot
1 bundle somen noodles
handful chopped fresh cilantro
soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar

Start by heating up your broth. I used a mixture of ordinary vegetable broth and tomato broth, both of which were previously homemade and frozen in convenient puck form. I popped them out of their containers, put them in a pot with a little water, and brought them to a boil, covered. This took about five to seven minutes. If you are using liquid broth, it should take even less time.

When your broth is hot, add your meatballs and continue cooking for another three to five minutes, or until hot through. This will take longer if your meatballs are frozen and shorter if they are not, shockingly enough.

While your pot bubbles away, shred your cabbage and carrot and chop your your cilantro. When your meatballs are hot, add the cabbage and carrot to the pan. Stir to mix and cook for another few minutes, or until your vegetables have wilted.

Add your somen noodles to the pot and stir to submerge. These guys are so thin that they will only take a minute or two to cook. When your noodles are tender, immediately remove the pan from the heat.

Season your soup to taste with cilantro, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar. Make it as hot and spicy as you like. Yeah! Then serve in a big bowl with both chopsticks and a soup spoon.

Hooray! Instant food-preparedness lunch!

What delights do you have stashed away in your freezer?

Classic potato leek soup for the win

It's supposed to be 85F out today, so why don't we talk about soup? That sounds totally rational, right?

We got a huge bunch of amazing leeks in our latest CSA box. And yes, we could have made so many different things from leeks. Leek gratin! Simple leek and cream sauce for pasta! Tiny leek quiches! All of those sound really good, actually. But we decided to go for the most traditional leek dish of all, and made a huge vat of potato leek soup.

This soup is excellent because it lets you use 100% of the leek to make a delicious, exciting, filling dish. The greens go into a very leeky vegetable broth while the whites melt down into delicious oniony shreds. It's super satisfying if you want to prevent food waste. And the soup itself is not only DELICIOUS but so, so cheap to make. Such a good idea.

This is almost a classic potato leek soup, with a few tiny twists. First, I made my soup subtly spicy with jalapeño, red pepper flake, and smoked paprika. Second, I added more veg, because what on earth does one do with a handful of turnips? Well, one probably roasts them, but I have yet to do that. The turnip is actually a really nice addition here, since it adds a touch of spice and some interesting vegetable complexity to the finished product.

I didn't take any pictures of the leek-prepping process, but Elise at Simply Recipes has a great post on how to clean leeks if you want some more detailed info. Or watch Jacques Pepin prep leeks! That's always fun.

Potato leek soup

3 leeks with greens
additional veg scraps for broth
lots of water
butter/oil of choice
1-2 carrots
1-2 sticks celery
1 small turnip (optional, depending on whether it came in your CSA box)
1 jalapeño (optional, depending on your spice preference)
~5 potatoes
salt, pepper, bay leaf, red pepper flake, smoked paprika, thyme, sage, marjoram
milk, cream, or plain yogurt of your choice
fresh parsley to garnish

Start by trimming your leeks. Cut off the darkest greens one at a time, keeping the core of lighter green leaves intact. Rinse your trimmings well in cold water. Then add them to a 3-quart or larger pot along with a few handfuls of mixed vegetable scraps (from the stockpile) and a bay leaf. Cover the whole business with lots of water, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer while you're making the rest of your soup. Your broth will be done after about 15 minutes of simmering. Strain out the solids and have it ready to use.

Of course, if you have vegetable stock already made, you can use that instead and freeze your leek greens for future broth application.

Next, clean your leeks. Keeping the root end intact, slice down the stalk toward the greens to split the leek in half. Rotate 90 degrees and slice again to create four quarters of leek. Wash extremely well under cold water. Be diligent here, because leeks are almost uniformly FILTHY and need real attention. Then trim off the root ends and slice your leeks into 1-inch pieces.

Melt some butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add your leeks, stir, and let cook for 5 minutes or so while you prep all the rest of your soup veg.

Scrub and chop your carrots. Rinse and chop your celery. If you have a turnip hanging around, scrub or peel it (depending on age) and cube it up. If you like spice, dice a hot pepper of your choice. Put all of these into your soup pot, add a sprinkling of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.

You can add other sturdy vegetables too if you have them hanging around. If you want to add greens, you'll need to reserve them and wilt them in quickly at the end of cooking. One of the greatest things about a soup like this is that it can take practically anything you throw at it.

Next up: potatoes. I used yukon gold, but any boiling potato should be good here. Scrub your potatoes well and dice them into half-inch cubes. Add them to your softened aromatic veg. Season with pepper, red pepper flake, smoked paprika, thyme, sage, and marjoram, stir everything together, and cook for another five minutes or so.

Now is the time to add your strained broth. You'll want to add at least four cups or so, or enough to cover all your vegetables by a finger's width; top it up with water if necessary. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until your potatoes are cooked through. This should take about 20 minutes, depending on the size of your potato pieces.

When your potatoes are tender, pull the pot off the heat and puree your soup to the texture of your choice using an immersion blender. Then return the pot to the heat, taste and correct the seasonings, and continue to simmer gently until your soup has reduced to your desired texture.

Add the milk, cream, or yogurt of your choice off the heat, or even to individual bowls. I kept the main body of the soup creamless since I wanted to freeze it; if you do this, which I definitely recommend for future ultra-fast and delicious meals, you can just add your dairy at the end of a simple reheat. Super easy.

Hooray! It's soup! Garnish each bowl with parsley and serve a giant crispy salad on the side.

What ridiculously inappropriate food are you eating lately?

Other people's recipes

Fear not--we have been eating things other than pie occasionally.

First, an amazing mung bean dal! We've had a big bag of whole mung beans hanging out in the freezer for way too long. I knew we needed to do something with them, so I scanned the internet and came up with this Indian style mung dal from Lisa's Kitchen.

I added in a chunked Asian eggplant, and the results were PERFECT. They were excellent over a bowl of brown rice, reheated very well, and were stuffed full of flavor and vegetables along with the hearty beans--yes please. I made a double batch and we ate for days before stuffing the last few cups in the freezer for future emergency dinner application.

Needless to say, this will definitely be on the menu again.

Once pi day was over, I needed cake for some reason. Why? I don't know, since I pick pie over cake 100% of the time, but still. So I went through the cupboards and emerged with the ingredients for Cookie & Kate's orange poppyseed yogurt cake, minus the olive oil. I've just never gotten into the olive oil flavor in cakes thing. But the rest of the cake is definitely an excellent plan!

A little grapeseed oil and a whole lot of orange zest later, I was pulling this beautiful loaf out of the oven. So good.

This is exactly what I want out of a cake: a punch of barely-sweet citrus and wheat flavor featuring no frosting whatever. You can eat it for breakfast (with more yogurt on top) and it's no big deal, have a slice or two in the middle of the afternoon with a big mug of tea, or go for the classic dessert option. I did pretty much every single one of the above.

Whose recipes have you been cooking this week?

Toor dal and spicy sambal cabbage

In the interest of cleaning out our food stash while also eating a variety of delightful dinners, I made some toor dal the other day. This fulfilled several criteria at once.

First, we had toor dal already in the freezer. I wanted to get things out of the freezer. Win!

Second, I didn't want to leave the house for any other ingredients. Fortunately, we have a well-stocked spice cabinet and pantry, so that was also a win.

Third, we wanted to eat delicious things. Toor dal is aromatic, full of flavor, and certainly delicious. Another win.

Fourth, we've been wanting to learn to make more Indian food at home. A new dal--generally defined as a lentil or pulse-based soup with spices--definitely qualifies there.

And fifth, I thought it was about time for me to actually try to cook something besides plain dried beans in the pressure cooker. This recipe called for turmeric and ginger in the pressure cooker as well. I tried it out, and lo! Everything worked perfectly.

In conclusion, win win win win win. Yeah!

If you aren't aware, toor dal = dried split yellow pigeon peas. This one combined them with a chonk--a heated oil or ghee with lots of spices--flavored with cumin, mustard seeds, bay leaves, asafetida, dried red chilies, and paprika. That sounds good already, doesn't it? But when you add in some garam amsala and amchoor--dried green mango powder, which serves as an acid punch--you get a really excellent finished product.

I followed Manjula's toor dal recipe, because, as we all know, Manjula's recipes are great. You should go try some of them if you haven't yet. I can't say I bothered clarifying my butter, but otherwise, I followed her basic recipe completely.

The dal was really, really amazing: super delicious, fragrant, hot, but not too spicy. I had some yogurt and cilantro out for garnish, but I ended up not using them at all. The dal itself was already too good. That is really saying something.

We had our dal with brown rice (currently hiding under the dal) and some sambal-sauteed cabbage of which I took zero pictures. It was super easy and tasty, though. This method should work for most hardy winter greens, no problem.

Sambal-sauteed cabbage

white cabbage
vegetable or peanut oil
salt
sambal oelek to taste

Warm a slug of oil on medium-high in a saute pan of your choice. While your oil is heating, core half a cabbage and slice it into whatever shape you like best. I made large, rough strips about 1 inch wide and 2 inches across, but you can cut yours however you like.

Add your cabbage to the pan along with a pinch of salt. Saute, stirring frequently, until your cabbage has mostly wilted. This should take maybe five to seven minutes. Toss in a spoonful or two of sambal oelek or the other hot chili paste of your choice and continue to cook for another minute or two, or until the cabbage is done to your liking. Taste, correct seasonings, and you're done. Simple.

Eat your cabbage with dal or top it with a fried egg and some slivered toasted almonds for a full-meal experience. Hooray!

What hearty soups and winter vegetables are you eating lately?

Sweet potato soup with black beans, corn, and jalapeno

It has actually started to get chilly here in scenic NorCal! You know what that means: SOUP. On the other hand, "chilly" in NorCal really means "highs of under 80F during the day, with lots of sun," so while the fall vegetables are certainly emerging, we still have tomatoes and corn and zucchini and hot chili peppers everywhere. Okay! Let's make a hearty soup full of both late summer and fall produce!

I took some inspiration from Joanne's sweet potato corn & jalapeno bisque and made this soup. The catch is that we needed protein, but that was easy enough to fix with the addition of bean broth and black beans. It also balanced out the serious sweetness of the potato and corn.

So, to sum up: this is an easy, delicious, filling, spicy vegetarian main dish soup with protein and seasonal vegetables. And if you use oil instead of butter, it's vegan! Convenient as hell.

I wanted a big vat of thick, creamy puree studded with bits of barely-cooked corn, so I reserved the corn to add at the end. If you want a more highly textured soup, you can always add the whole black beans to the pot after your puree the potatoes and broth, or you can just hold off on pureeing altogether. It's delicious in every case.

Sweet potato soup with black beans, corn, and jalapeno

butter/oil of your choice
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2+ hot peppers
cumin, oregano, red pepper flake
salt, pepper
2 big sweet potatoes
3-4 cups veg and/or bean broth
2 cups black beans, refried or whole
2+ ears fresh corn (frozen also ok)
lemon or lime juice to finish
garnishes of your choice: curtido de repollo, sour cream, cilantro, green onion, lime wedges, corn tortillas, avocado...

Start by warming a good slug of oil over medium-high heat in the large soup pot of your choice. Dice up your onion and add it to the pot, stirring to coat with oil. Smash and mince your cloves of garlic and add them as well.

Destem and mince your hot peppers. I used one garden jalapeno and one random red hot pepper from the farmer's market; you can use whatever combination you so desire. I imagine these hot peppers would be a particularly great addition if you roasted them and flaked off the skin beforehand, but I was in the WANT FOOD NOW zone and so didn't bother.

Add your hot peppers to the pot. Season with cumin and oregano to your taste, and add a sprinkle of salt. If you want extra spice, you can add in some red pepper flake as well. I used some hot red hatch chile flake, because that's how we roll, and also because my parents brought us a gigantic bag of it last year, and we're still nowhere near making a dent even though we use it all the time.

Stir everything together and cook, lowering the heat a bit if necessary, to soften. In the meantime, peel and cube your sweet potatoes.

When your vegetables have softened and the onion is golden brown, add your broth to the pot. I used a mix of frozen pinto bean broth and vegetable broth; the bean broth adds protein and the veg broth adds flavor. If you're on the meat boat you can use chicken stock, but it's really not necessary. (Now I'm having a horrible flash of what "the meat boat" might look like. Curse you, personal slang!)

Add your sweet potatoes and black beans to the pot and bring everything to a boil. Cover, lower the heat, and simmer until your potatoes are cooked through. This took about 20 minutes for me, but the time will vary depending on the size of your potato cubes.

Pull your pan off the heat and puree with an immersion blender until the soup reaches your desired texture. Taste and correct the seasonings. You may want to add some more broth or water if the soup is too thick for your tastes.

Put the pan back on the heat and let it simmer gently while you husk your ears of corn and cut the kernels off the cobs. Add the corn to your soup, stir, and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes, or until your corn kernels are hot and delicious. Take the pan off the heat, add any final sprinklings of pepper, and mix the juice of a lime or half a lemon into the pot. Done!

Serve your soup with the garnishes of your choice, preferably of the "fresh and crispy" category. We had ours with big whacks of well-drained curtido de repollo, which provided an excellent crunchy contrast plus some extra acidity. A wedge of extra lime and a stack of corn tortillas charred over the gas flame are also good ideas.

The best part? We had enough soup to feed us for two dinners, plus a few extra servings to stash in the freezer. Hooray!

How are you bridging the gap between summer and fall?

Black bean cauliflower soup

It's been a crazy week. I've been working setup for Stitches West, a gigantic yarn convention, and am going to at least one yarn-related party this weekend before working teardown Sunday night. That means many hours of physical labor. Personally, I'm used to sitting in front of a desk or videocamera for the majority of my workday, so this is a huge and exhausting (although fun) change. It does mean I'm getting the best sleep I've had in ages, though.

Thank you all for your camera recs! I did a good bit of additional research, especially since I decided a smaller and more portable form factor was important to me. So I decided to take a step back from the ubiquitous Canon and go for the Panasonic Lumix GF3. Hey, why not learn to use a different camera interface while I have the opportunity? And a small DSLR with pancake lens seems to offer the best of both worlds.

So here's the situation. I have the camera in hand, but I haven't been in the kitchen since Tuesday, and all I want to do is lie on the couch and eat delivery pizza.

It's a good thing I'm the type of person to stash homemade soup in the freezer.

I make this same kind of simple pureed veg and bean soup over and over, as you may have noticed. It freezes beautifully and defrosts to an unchanged texture. By keeping the main base free of dairy, you can not only avoid any separation or crystallization in the freezer, but also feed vegans. Hooray!

Black bean cauliflower soup

olive oil
onion/garlic
celery
carrot
cauliflower
dry vermouth
cooked black beans
bean/veg broth
salt, pepper, thyme, sage, red pepper flake, bay leaf, etc.
typical garnish of cilantro, yogurt, and sriracha

If you're starting from dried beans, sort them, soak them overnight, and boil them in a fresh change of water for about an hour, or until tender. This will give you both beans and black bean broth. I was starting from previously cooked beans in their broth, which I had frozen into a 2-cup block. Yes, the freezer is my prep kitchen.

If you're using canned beans and thus need veg broth, start a pot of that first.

Okay. Chop up an onion and a couple cloves of garlic. Saute in some olive oil in a reasonably sized soup pot. While the onion is softening, scrub and chop a carrot and dice a stick or two of celery. Throw them into the pot, add a bit of salt, stir, and let cook on medium for about five minutes, or until tender.

While this is happening, tackle the cauliflower. Cut off any dark bits and chop the rest of the head (or as much cauliflower as you want) into florets. Add them to the pot, season with the herbs and spices of your choice--I used thyme, sage, red pepper flake, a bay leaf, and maybe some marjoram too--and cook for another five to eight minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the cauliflower to soften and also to pick up a bit of browning. Deglaze with vermouth when the pan gets too dry.

Next, add your black beans and broth. Since mine were frozen, I just threw the blocks into the pan and let them melt. I used about four cups of beans in broth, so that's roughly 2 cups apiece.

Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a good ten minutes. Puree off the heat with an immersion blender. Cook down to your preferred texture, correct any seasonings, and you are good to go.

Eat with the garnish of your choice and some delicious pita or toast. I obviously really like yogurt, sriracha, and cilantro as soup garnish, but I think a squeeze of lemon and a scattering of parsley would also be delicious. Also: cashew cream. I'm just saying. I may be needing some cashew cream in the next few days.

Put the ungarnished leftovers in the freezer for the next time you come home with absolutely no desire to spend any time over the stove. Hooray!

What foods do you store for emergency dinners?

Typical weeknight dinners

I seem to have been making and eating the same things over and over. Don't we all do that sometimes? I propose that the answer is yes.

Hey, it's another plate of fried rice! Guess what this one is made with? That's right--leftover Chinese takeout, in this case the chef's special chicken and leeks. No eggs, but I added a handful of supplemental garlic and bell pepper. It was so good.

Hey, it's another bowl of noodles! This one is almost exactly the same as my previous ramen with oyster mushrooms. The only different bit is some lemongrass in the broth. Delightful.

Hey, it's another plate of migas, finished off with half an avocado and a liberal sprinkling of hot sauce! Oh man, migas are good. OM NOM NOM.

What foods do you cook and eat over and over and over?

New year's ramen noodles with oyster mushrooms and cabbage

John and I really like noodles. Our pantry has prominently featured an assortment of noodles, from somen to rice sticks to soba, for years on end. We also live in an area with a preponderance of ethnic foods available. Why, then, are we just now starting to cook with fresh Asian noodles?

An excellent question.

So we went to our closest big Asian market and stared at all the fresh noodles in the case, wondering what to try first. It turned out that we wanted ramen. So we bought a pack of four wodges of fresh ramen noodles and brought them home, where they disappeared in short order. Several days later, I went back and got a pack of eight wodges of fresh ramen. Half have vanished so far. If this trend continues, we're going to be buried in fresh Asian noodles for months on end. Are you ready?

You may be familiar with dried ramen in instant soup form; fresh ramen is not even vaguely similar. Instead of being overly salty, either too crunchy or too mushy, and awkward to eat, it's perfectly chewy and silky and amazing for slurping up. You want some of this ramen.

I went simple to start, with ramen and vegetables in broth. This soup is perfect for January--clear and hot and spicy, with fragrant herbs and onions and pepper assailing your sinuses. It's an amazing (not to mention vegan) alternative to the traditional flu season chicken noodle.

This is exceptionally easy to make. All you really need is twenty minutes and a pantry stocked with the right seasonings. And if you do have the flu, it also helps to have someone else cook it for you. I'm just saying.

Fresh ramen noodles in broth with oyster mushrooms and cabbage

peanut oil/veg oil of your choice
garlic
green onion
ginger
hot pepper
oyster mushrooms
green cabbage (standard, Chinese, savoy, or sub bok choy et al)
optional soft tofu
fresh ramen
vegetable broth
soy sauce, mirin, sriracha sauce or sambal oelek, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil
black pepper & cilantro to finish

If you need to make vegetable broth, start with that. Also, put a separate pan of water on to boil for your noodles. It can sit on the back burner until you're ready to cook them.

In a soup pot of your choice, warm a slug of peanut oil. Add minced garlic, sliced white of green onion (keep the greens for garnish), and minced ginger.

Slice or mince a hot pepper and add it to the pan, including the seeds or not at your discretion. I used a red fresno pepper--conveniently also available for next to nothing at the Asian market--but jalapeno, serrano, or whatever other hot pepper you have on hand would also work well.

Stir it all up and let cook for about five minutes, or until everything is amazing and fragrant and you essentially just want to dive into the pan.

Cube some oyster mushrooms and shred a wedge of cabbage. The sizes and shapes don't really matter that much here; just cut them however you like. It's also fine to use button or other mushrooms if you have them on hand.

Add the mushrooms to the pan, stir, and cook for several minutes before adding your cabbage. Give the cabbage five minutes or so to wilt.

Next, add vegetable broth, bring the whole business to a boil, and reduce the heat to simmer. If you want tofu in your soup, cube some up and add it to the hot broth. Since soft tofu is fragile, try not to whack it around too much. Now is also a good time to cook your ramen. Mine took about four minutes, but timing will depend on the brand.

When your ramen is cooked, add it to the soup, turn off the heat, and start seasoning. I tend to add small amounts of soy sauce, mirin, and rice wine vinegar, a larger amount of sriracha or other hot pepper sauce, and just a few drops of sesame oil. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Start small and add more gradually, being especially careful not to oversalt via an overabundance of soy sauce.

Serve your soup with chopped green onion greens and cilantro scattered over the top. You can always switch out the cilantro for basil or just eliminate it if you think it tastes like soap. You can also grind some black pepper over your bowl if hot pepper plus sriracha sauce is not enough of a spice kick for you. I have definitely been known to do this on occasion, but I also have a fairly high spice tolerance.

Now drink up your bowl of hot soup and eat your ramen and veg. You might need both spoon and chopsticks for this one.

Pass the kleenex. Feel better, whether you have the flu or not.

What new ingredients have you discovered lately?

Cauliflower leek soup with smoked pepper flakes

Let's continue the new year by catching up on something I made before we even flew out to Michigan, okay?

The night before we left, we were doing the responsible thing and trying to eat everything perishable in the refrigerator. This included a cauliflower, a couple leeks, a potato (okay, that was in the cabinet), the tail end of a loaf of sourdough, and an entire head of red-leaf lettuce. Clearly, this called for soup and salad.

You'd think a soup created from a random assortment of veg on the turn would not be that interesting. NOPE. This was one of the best dinners we'd had in ages.

The key was smoked pepper.

My friend Gus just moved overseas, which is very sad, and we will miss her. Actually, two different sets of my friends have moved overseas within the past 6 months. Boo! But one side effect is that I was one of the lucky recipients of half a kitchen's worth of various food and spices. And that's how I came to own a grinder full of Trader Joe's South African smoke seasoning--which is to say, full of paprika flakes (have any of you even seen paprika in flake form?), sea salt, garlic, and basil--with an unmistakable smoke scent and flavor.

Why have I never eaten such a thing before? I mean, in our half-vegetarian household, bacon has never been a particularly viable flavoring agent. So we've had to get our dose of smokiness through bottled smoke seasoning or smoked cheese. But now? Now there is a third way. I'm SUPER EXCITED.

So I made cauliflower leek soup with smoked pepper flakes, and it turned out to be amazing. While the soup was cooking, John made the sourdough into garlic toast fingers. Those were also amazing. Then we tore up the lettuce and made salads with homemade vinaigrette. In short, it was just about the best possible clean-out-the-fridge dinner ever.

Cauliflower leek soup with smoked pepper flakes and garlic toast

olive oil
leeks
potato
cauliflower
vegetable or bean broth
smoked red pepper flake, marjoram, thyme, sage, salt, pepper
if I'd had any dry mustard I would totally have added some of that too
dry vermouth
yogurt, sambal, and/or parsley for garnish

Start by warming a slug of olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot. If you don't have any veg broth, start up a batch in a separate pot.

Split a couple leeks lengthwise and wash them thoroughly under cold running water. Trim them, chop them into inch-long pieces, and add them to the soup pot with a pinch of salt. Stir to distribute the oil. Cook for a few minutes while you prep all the other vegetables.

Notice the ethereal glow of slowly melting leeks. NICE.

Scrub, halve, and slice a potato or two. Core a cauliflower and chop it into small pieces. Don't worry about keeping the florets intact; you're going to puree the finished soup anyway.

When your leeks have softened, after about five minutes of cooking, add your potato and cauliflower to the pot. Season with smoked red pepper flake, marjoram, thyme, sage, and a bit more salt. Stir it all up and cook for another five minutes or so. Deglaze as needed with the dry vermouth (or dry white wine if you happen to be drinking some).

Next, add broth to cover. Bring the pot to a boil, lid, lower the heat, and simmer until all your vegetables are cooked through. Our soup probably took ten or fifteen minutes.

Take the pot or soup off the heat, puree with an immersion blender, taste, and correct seasonings, adding black pepper if nothing else. Cook your soup down a bit if you want a thicker texture. Otherwise, go ahead and serve it.

I think a garnish of additional smoked pepper flakes would go pretty well here. I had mine with a big spoonful of plain yogurt and one of sambal oelek, which, as you may have noticed, are a couple of my default soup garnishes.

We ate our soup with the aforementioned garlic toast. It was super simple.

Garlic toast

sourdough
clove of garlic

Toast sliced sourdough until deep golden. Let it rest and harden up for a minute while you peel a clove of garlic and cut it in half. Rub each slice of bread with the cut side of the garlic, covering one entire side. The garlic will grate a bit against the rough toasted texture of the bread.

Cut your slices of bread into little strips to serve. Dip them into your hot soup and eat them all.

Which hot, comforting winter soups are you guys eating this January?

Purple carrot soup

Look what was at the farmer's market this weekend!

That's right: purple carrots. But stick with me; my story gets better. You know how cutting open a purple carrot usually reveals a slightly streaked but overall normal orange core?

Not these guys.

It's like working with beets. The juice is actually blue.

Obviously we needed to eat these carrots in one of the most pure and carroty forms possible. This means carrot sticks soup.

This is a pretty standard vegetable soup. Soften alliums; soften veg; season; deglaze; add broth; simmer; puree. Voila!

While it's obviously more than possible to use regular grocery store carrots, the fresh farmer's market variety are super exciting to work with. They're also a bit sweeter and taste more intensely carroty. However, I find that even the worst, most shriveled and ancient carrots--you know, the ones you find under a deflated eggplant when you clean out the the crisper--can still make a very tasty soup. It's all good.

Purple carrot soup

butter/olive oil
onion
shallot
optional hot pepper
celery
lots of carrots (purple or mixed colors)
sage, thyme, marjoram
salt, pepper
dry vermouth
veg or bean broth of your choice
garnishes: parsley, yogurt, etc.

If you don't have broth, start a batch of it first.

Peel and chop a small onion and a shallot. Soften them in a soup pot over medium to medium-high heat with a slug of olive oil or some melted butter. I actually used both butter and oil, so I'd get butter taste with a higher smoke point. Yay!

If you like the spice, finely mince a hot pepper of your choice and add it to the pan. I used a not-very-hot jalapeno, but it's totally fine to leave the heat out altogether.

Give the onion mix five minutes to soften. While you're waiting, scrub and chop a handful of carrots and a stick of celery. I used three orange carrots and only one of the super purple kind, and yet the end result was still ultra-purple 3000.

Add the carrots and celery to your softened onions. Season with salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and marjoram. As always, I don't measure; use as much as tastes good to you.

Also, be advised not to accidentally grab the cinnamon and dump some into the pan, even if it has the same lid as the thyme and generally lives in the same quadrant of the spice cabinet. A swift and frantic internet search didn't reveal any spice blends that worked with both sage and cinnamon, so I had to start over. Boo! At least I didn't have the carrots in the pan yet when that happened.

Anyway. Cook your vegetables, stirring occasionally, for another five to ten minutes. When the vegetables are soft, deglaze the pan with a bit of dry vermouth or white wine. Then add your broth. I used about four cups of black bean broth, which added protein and contributed to the overall purpleness of the end product. Any kind of vegetable or bean broth that you think sounds good with carrot should work out fine.

Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about ten minutes, or until the soup gets close to your preferred solid/liquid ratio. Then take the pan off the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender (or, you know, an actual blender. Whichever).

Taste your soup for seasoning and adjust as needed. If you want to tweak your finished texture, go ahead; add more broth or water if it's too thick, and cook it down a bit if it's too thin.

Serve your finished soup with chopped parsley and your choice of other garnishes. I tend to go for yogurt, sriracha sauce, and chopped cilantro, which work surprisingly well, since the soup itself is mostly centered on straight carrot flavor. Other garnishes that might be good include croutons, garlic-sauteed winter greens, toasted sliced almonds or pumpkin seeds, or sour cream and dill. It's definitely a good idea to have toast or a sandwich on the side. We initially had ours with hummus lavash rolls, which worked out very well.

Hooray for purple carrots! What interesting winter vegetables are you guys cooking with lately?

Red curry broth with tofu, vegetables, and somen noodles

There haven't been a lot of vegetarian recipes around here lately, largely because twenty different "I had another burrito" and "I put some veg dumplings in broth again" posts would be so thoroughly uninteresting as to be almost unbelievable. However, rest assured: we've certainly been eating them.

For instance, we had a block of soft tofu that I bought for instant miso soup purposes. Then we wanted a more substantial dinner than miso soup. A good rifle through the cupboards produced some coconut milk, curry paste, and somen noodles. Okay! Let's make curry broth!

Needless to say, this is not remotely authentic. It is delicious, however. It's also fast and easy, which is great, because I am somehow STILL NOT QUITE DONE with my release, and therefore have no brain or energy left to deal with much of anything else. Um. Hooray?

Red curry broth with tofu, vegetables, and somen noodles

olive, peanut, or neutral oil of your choice
garlic
ginger
carrots
green onion
red cabbage
veg broth
Thai red curry paste
coconut milk
soft tofu
somen noodles
rice wine vinegar or lime juice
cilantro & green onion greens to garnish

Okay! If you don't have any veg broth, put a pot of that on to cook first. It should be ready by the time you want to add it.

Get out a large soup pot and soften a handful of minced garlic cloves, a knob of finely chopped ginger, and the whites of a green onion or two in the oil of your choice. Scrub and chop a carrot; add it once the green onion and garlic have had a few minutes to soften. Cook together, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes.

Shred up some cabbage with a sharp knife. I used about a third of a red cabbage, which gave the overall broth some exciting purple overtones, but green would also be fine.

By this point your veg broth should be done, so strain it and add it to your pot of ginger & garlic. I used about three cups.

Bring the pot to a boil and add your cabbage, coconut milk, and red curry paste. The amount of curry paste is totally up to you & your spice preferences. I used a good three tablespoons. Since I don't go for super-creamy coconut broth, I used a small 6-oz can, but you can use more if you prefer. Stir, let the pot come to a boil again, and reduce the heat a bit to simmer. Give it about five minutes for the cabbage to soften.

Cut your tofu into half-inch squares. I don't think I've ever actually worked with soft tofu before. It was a little awkward, but no big deal.

Add your tofu to the pan, stirring gently to incorporate. Cook until hot through, and then add your somen noodles. These will cook in one minute, literally, so don't add them until you're sure everything else is cooked.

When your noodles are done, take the pan off the heat. Stir in a teaspoon or so of rice wine vinegar or the juice of a lime. Serve in big bowls with a garnish of chopped green onion tops and cilantro.

Feel better.

I love you, freezer.

It has not been the easiest few days. Good thing I have a bunch of soup in the freezer.

This one was a basic lentil soup with potato, carrot, and onion. I defrosted it on the stovetop with a little water. In the meantime, I loaded the rice cooker with quinoa, pulled some sungold tomatoes and scallion greens out of the garden, and excavated the fridge in search of plain yogurt and sambal oelek.

Voila: lentil soup with hot quinoa, tangy yogurt, spicy sambal, and delicious fresh vegetables.

Everything seems much more doable after a lunch like this.

Soupe au pistou at Eating Appalachia

Today, gentle reader, I have the honor of sharing my recipe for soupe au pistou in a guest post over at Jes's beautiful blog, Eating Appalachia.

Do you have zucchini, tomatoes, basil, or green beans bursting out of your kitchen? This is the perfect way to use them. Hop on over!

Carrot-pinto soup with herbed couscous

On Yarntaculon VII, planet of fiber arts, an individual's supply of yarn (or other raw materials) is called their "stash." Why? Well, knitters and crocheters don't necessarily buy yarn because they want to use it immediately. Sometimes they buy yarn because it's soft, pretty, on sale, rare, their favorite color, or available at some large event they're attending. Then they take the yarn home and stash it away for use at some indefinite point in the future. It may be months or years before they actually make something with stash yarn. In the meantime, the stash provides a ready supply of raw materials for them to pick from when they want to make a sweater, scarf, or hat.

I knit, so I have a yarn stash. Of course, I also cook all the time, so I also have an ingredient stash. Granted, the turnover is much higher with food than with yarn, considering spoilage, shelf stability, and the need to eat three meals a day. Still, the concept remains the same. I choose appropriate materials from my stash and use them to make delicious food.

So last night I took advantage of my glorious kitchen stash to make an excellent and easy dinner.

In the cabinets, I found onion, olive oil, and dry vermouth. In the fridge, I found carrots, celery, and parsley. In the freezer, I found pinto beans in broth, my stockpile of broth veg, and a container of couscous. About 45 minutes later, I had a finished pot of carrot and pinto bean soup, and a bowl of herbed couscous. Not bad!

Carrot soup is definitely one of my favorites, as you may have noticed. I make carrot soup with beans, greens, potatoes, grains, or just carrots, and flavor it with fresh dill, cumin, ginger, cilantro, hot chili paste, or--hey, I haven't done a carrot-miso! I need to get on that one. Carrot-miso with seared tofu cubes and maybe some sesame cabbage or soba noodles--yes please.

This particular carrot soup was filling, smoky, and a touch spicy: a good all-round version.

Carrot-pinto soup

olive oil
onion
jalapeño
celery
carrots
dry vermouth
pinto beans (or other beans of your choice)
veg broth
paprika, smoked paprika, marjoram, oregano, cumin
salt, pepper
couscous & sambal oelek for garnish

If you need to make vegetable broth, start there. Just simmer several handfuls of vegetable scraps of your choice in water for about 15 minutes. Simple.

In a large soup pot, soften a chopped onion and a minced jalapeño pepper in a slug of olive oil. You can leave out the jalapeño or remove its seeds if you aren't into spice.

Wash and dice a couple ribs of celery and add them to the pot. Scrub and similarly dice a handful of carrots and add them as well. I used six carrots, but the amount you need will depend on size. Season to taste with paprika, smoked paprika, marjoram, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Then stir everything together and sweat over medium heat for about five minutes. Deglaze the pot as needed with a slug of dry vermouth or a couple spoonfuls of broth.

When your vegetables are tender, it's time to add beans and broth. I was using a block of pinto beans frozen in their cooking liquid--maybe a cup of beans and another cup of broth--so I just stuck the entire thing into the soup pot. If you're using canned beans, drain their liquid before you add them. Pour in a few cups of vegetable broth--mine was freshly boiled, so I poured it over my frozen bean block to melt it a little faster--and bring the entire business to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about ten minutes, or until everything is cooked to your liking.

Next, take the pot off the heat, let it cool for a minute, and puree it with an immersion blender. Or don't puree it if that's how you roll. It's all good.

If your soup is too thin, put it back on the heat and simmer it down until it reaches your desired texture. If it's too thick, add more broth and heat to warm. When you reach a good texture, taste your soup and correct any seasonings; cook for 2-3 minutes more to eliminate any raw spice issues.

When everything meets your satisfaction, you are done. Hooray! Serve it up.

This soup is good by itself, but I think it's much more interesting with the addition of couscous.

Ordinary couscous is kind of a surprise to see around here, considering how frequently I've bypassed it in favor of the Israeli variety. I actually love both kinds of couscous. I used to bring dry instant couscous and chopped or shredded raw veggies to work for summer lunch. I'd make the couscous with boiling water from the instant tap in our cooler, add salt, pepper, and butter, let it all steam for five minutes, and eat it with the veg. It was one of the best lunches ever: filling, cheap, easy, tasty, and--most importantly--freshly made.

Herbed couscous

boiling water or veg broth
instant couscous
olive oil/butter
fresh parsley & chives
salt, pepper

The proportion of liquid to couscous varies by recipe. I use about a 3:2 ratio: 3 parts liquid to 2 parts dry couscous. Of course, since I don't measure--I can always add more couscous or liquid, right?--I usually just add liquid to come about 1/4 inch above the couscous. This time, I made about a cup of dry couscous, which meant I used roughly 1.5 cups of broth.

First, put your cooking liquid on to boil. I used vegetable broth because I had some left over from making the soup. While your liquid is coming up to a boil, prepare your other ingredients. Measure out your couscous and chop up a handful of parsley and chives. Also, if you're going to use a pyrex bowl to make your couscous, warm it with tap water. You don't want boiling liquid hitting cold glass, ok?

When your liquid has boiled, take it off the heat and let it cool slightly. Put your couscous, a couple teaspoons of olive oil or a pat of butter, and some salt and pepper in a large bowl. Pour your liquid--which should be hot, but not actively boiling anymore--over the couscous.

Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let it sit and steam for about ten minutes. Then take off the towel, add your chopped herbs, and mix, fluffing the finished couscous with a fork.

Add a generous spoonful of couscous to each bowl of soup. If you like spice, add some sambal oelek or other hot pepper business of your choice. If not, you may want to add some more parsley or chives. A spoonful of plain yogurt is good too.

Hooray! 100% kitchen-sourced dinner!