Dutch Potato Soup

I'm back! I'm here, home, and I survived Costa Rica.

Boy, do I have some interesting food to post about. I never knew rice and beans could be served so many times in a single day. Week, even. I think I consumed an average of 15 meals featuring rice and beans per week. Maybe more. And fried plantains? Oh boy. We United Statesians don't know what we're missing.

But I'm not here to talk about rice and beans. Not today. I just want to present to you, my delicious (albeit a little plain looking) soup. And tell you that I'm becoming more of a locavore! If there's one thing I learned abroad, it's that food doesn't have to come to you from 1000 miles away. So I've been haunting the farmer's markets, running around Puget Consumer's Co-Op with my little pad of recycled paper and a pen, jotting down prices and names of local producers.

So when my dad and his wife presented me with the Cafe Flora Cookbook, I was delighted - a cookbook from one of Seattle's own vegetarian restaurants. YAY! Seattle food. Local food.

I know, I know. Bear with me. I go on these kicks sometimes. You know, gluten-free, vegetarian, organic... local...

So I found an awesome-looking potato soup recipe in this book that used relatively few ingredients, was pretty cheap to make, and I substituted some things for what I could find that was available this time of year, and used what I already had on hand. It turned out quite yummy. Especially since I (sorta) made my own vegetable stock. Except it was a little too salty. But that's not the point.


DUTCH POTATO SOUP
from Cafe Flora Cookbook, at least mostly, and tailored to what I had available

2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch (about 3 small) fresh bulb onions with the green part still there, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 head fresh garlic, minced with greens removed
1 1/4 lb russet potatoes, sliced but not peeled
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and ground
3/4 cup lager
1 cup heavy cream
6 oz smoked gouda, grated
salt
black pepper

1. Heat up your oil in the bottom of a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and salt. I used both the green and white parts from the little onions I had, and it worked out fine. It hurt my eyes less, too. The recipe calls for a medium yellow onion, but... I like my way. Saute this for about 10 minutes, until the onions turn translucent, and stir it frequently to keep them from browning. Or, if you're me, forget to stir them and have half of them browned and the other half crunchy and undercooked. It's really a matter of taste.

2. Add the garlic, all chopped up. It should smell really good right now. The garlic I found was fresh - not the kind with the dry papery outside. It was all usable, the skin and everything, it was firm and evenly hydrated. I couldn't have separated the cloves if I'd wanted to. Cook this for another minute.



3. Dump in the sliced potatoes and stock. You'll be lucky if your stock is as good as mine. Mine was pretty awesome. I made it with kale and carrots and the tops and hearts of celery and carrots and onion and garlic skins and fresh thyme and dried oregano and salt and pepper and a little paprika and tomato paste. But that's beside the point. You can just use one of those aseptic packages of Pacific vegetable broth. It's delicious. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. You should be feeling pretty good about yourself. At least I was.



4. Meanwhile, ready your food processor/blender and a separate container for the soup. When the potatoes have cooked, remove from the heat and let cool off for about 10 minutes with the lid off. When it is less hot, puree it in batches in your appliance of choice. Just don't fill it more than halfway, or it will start to leak. That's not really what we want. While it's blending, grate yourself some cheese.



5. Return the pureed soup to the heat, add the caraway seeds and beer, and bring back to a boil. Slowly stir in your heavy cream. And oh gee. I had some good heavy cream. Courtesy of Golden Glen Creamery... it was so rich and white and non-homogenized, and came in this adorable little glass bottle. It made me grin. Stir your concoction constantly until it comes to a simmer again.



6. Add cheese, a little at a time as you stir, until it melts completely. Season to taste. ¡Buen Provecho!





PROS: flavorful, rich, filling and warm
CONS: a tad bit fattening, plain-looking

So there we have it. Maybe my next post will have something to do with gallo pinto. Or a restaurant review. You'll just have to wait it out.

Pasta e Fagioli

You know, I get a certain satisfaction out of trying something new. Food-wise, anyway. For the longest time I couldn't really stand to eat pasta without some kind of tomatoes or tomato sauce... but I'm expanding my horizons. Slowly. I still can't eat it with just plain olive oil. Too... pasty.

But I like pasta, and I like beans, so I thought I'd try this one out. Apparently it's an Italian classic... but not being Italian, or a foodie, I wouldn't know. Hits the spot on an icy January evening, though.

I got this recipe from the Joy of Cooking - 75th Anniversary Edition, but I made a few modifications to suit my diet. This is the version I made.


PASTA E FAGIOLI

1/2 lb dry cannellini beans
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
(2 tbsp minced parsley - didn't have this, but it would have been awfully pretty)
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cups vegetable broth or stock, or more as needed
1 cup gluten-free quinoa-corn elbow macaroni
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, or more as needed

1. Rinse beans and pick over for shriveled or broken beans and little pebbles. My dad always used to bite into really hard things in his food at dinnertime and then frown and try to figure out what it was. I wonder if they were pebbles.

2. Cover with an inch of water and let soak for up to 8 hours. It's supposed to improve digestibility for those with bean-sensitive guts. My gut is quite accustomed to beans and it makes no difference, so I just soaked them for three hours to see what would happen. They just got wrinkly.



3. Discard soaking water and cover again with an inch of water. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat to medium-low or low, partially cover, and let simmer for an hour and a half. Test them after about 70 minutes for doneness (ie: you can mash them easily and they're not crunchy). Drain and let cool.



4. Heat oil in a stockpot over medium or medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add onion, carrot, celery, and parsley (if you're using it). I wish I had parsley :-(

5. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion is golden-brown. Well. My onion never turned golden brown, even after 15 minutes. So when it started to get soft I just proceeded. Sigh.



6. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Stir and add beans, mashing lightly and stirring to incorporate. It should look all soft and mashy. Yum.



7. After about a minute, pour in the broth and increase heat to high. Bring just to a simmer, then turn heat to medium-low. Partially cover, and let cook for five minutes.

8. Add macaroni and salt to taste, and stir lightly to incorporate. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes, or until the macaroni is al dente (cooked through, but gives some resistance to the teeth). Add about a cup more broth, or however much you need to get the consistency you want.

9. Lighly stir in black pepper and cheese, and serve with a little more cheese on top. Oh, it would look so much prettier with parsley. But you know what? It tasted good anyway.



PROS: Warm, chunky, thick, healthy, filling
CONS: very yellow... and a little bland

I apologize for not updating very often. I have a very busy schedule. I'm going to try to get in at least one blog per week though, at least for the quarter. I've penciled it in :-)

Of course, I am not sure if anybody is reading this because nobody comments. Fortunately, my plight is an easy one for you to remedy. So go ahead... make my day.

Black Bean Chili and Cornbread

I had a hankerin'. From the moment my mind slogged out of the murky recesses of my well-earned slumber on Saturday morning, I was in the mood for chili. Chili and cornbread.

I had to work in the evening and certainly wouldn't have time to slave over a stove and oven. Normally, this would pose a problem, as my cravings are not easily subdued. But fortune smiled down on me on this particularly Septembery day. Robert cooked.

What he created was a delicious vegetarian chili with no tomatoes, kidney beans, or anything else I really associate with chili from my childhood. It's light and healthful, yet hearty and flavorful enough to fill your stomach and please the palate.

BLACK BEAN CHILI
cooking oil
1 cup diced onion, 1/2-inch dice
1 cup diced carrot, 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup diced celery, 1/2-inch dice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ground ancho chili
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp dried crumbled Mexican oregano (or 1 tsp ground)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cans black beans with juice
1/2 cup water, as needed

1. In a stockpot or large saucepan, sweat onions, carrots, and celery in a little cooking oil.

2. When soft, add garlic and seasonings. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Add beans, along with their juice. Pour just enough water over chili to barely cover. Simmer gently, covered, for 30 minutes.

4. Serve hot with cornbread. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

PROS: healthy, hearty, vegetarian, tasty
CONS: simplistic, needs seasoning


This here is gonna be a two-recipe post! I just can't help myself. Chili and cornbread were made for each other.



The beauty about this cornbread is that it's gluten-free and tastes like corn. Not falsely fluffy and wheaty, but dense and mildly sweet and just plain corntastic. It makes a golden crunchy, crusty addition to a meal. It can be made sweet or savory by adding blueberries or jalapeño peppers to the batter.

CORNBREAD
1 cup medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup coarse-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup corn flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Warm 2 9"x5" cast-iron loaf pans, a 12" cast-iron skillet, or 12-cup cast-iron muffin pan in oven for 10-15 minutes.

2. As your bakeware warms, combine dry ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.

3. Add oil, blending well. Whisk egg together with milk, and fold into other ingredients until barely incorporated. Let sit for 5 minutes.

4. Butter preheated pan liberally. Pan is hot enough if butter sizzles and browns lightly. Immediately scrape batter into pan (or pans) and return to oven.

5. Reduce oven temperature to 375º and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown and edges begin to pull away from pan.

6. Cool in pans 5 minutes, then remove to wire cooling rack and serve warm or at room-temperature.



PROS: corntastic, versatile, gluten-free
CONS: ...