Tag: soup

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fava beans, four ways

How do I love thee fava bean? Let me count the ways. Sauteed, over pasta with parmesan, on pizza with onions and cream, pureed into a soup and chilled.

Jordan first introduced me to fava beans last spring with one of his favorite pasta dishes. He raved about the buttery and fresh quality of these beans. After trying his pasta, I was also hooked. This spring we’ve received several bunches of fava beans in our CSA and we’ve experimented with new recipes from a chilled soup to pizza.

Fava beans are available only in spring. They come in a large, green, slightly fuzzy pod. You need to first remove the individual beans from the pod and then remove their tough exterior skin. It is a fair amount of work to shell fava beans, but they are worth the effort. When purchasing the beans keep in mind that you should buy more than you think you’ll need since the actual size of the bean is small compared to the size of its pod. Now for the recipes!

Sauteed Fava Beans with Parmesan 

1 lb fava beans
1 clove garlic, sliced
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flake
shaved parmesan cheese (we like to shave slivers with a vegetable peeler)

Shell the beans. In a saute pan, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and chili flake. Saute briefly. Add the fava beans. Saute until the beans are crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes and add lemon zest. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with slivers of parmesan and lemon juice.

This dish is good as a side or as main course with some bread and salad.

Pasta with Fava Beans, Parmesan and Fresh Herbs
1/2 lb dried or fresh pasta
1 lb fava beans
1 clove garlic
zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flake
grated parmesean
chopped fresh herbs (we like parsley)

Boil a pot of salted water. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. If using fresh pasta, saute the fava beans first. Saute the fava beans following the recipe above. Drain the pasta, reserving a little bit of the pasta water. Add the pasta and parmesan to the saute pan. Toss to melt the cheese and distribute the beans. Top with fresh herbs to serve.

Pizza with Fava Beans, Spring Onions and Creme Fraiche 
1 ball fresh pizza dough (Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s sell fresh pizza dough that is pretty darn good and saves you an hour)
1/2 lb fava beans
1/2 spring onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup creme fraiche (you could also use marscapone or ricotta)
salt, pepper, olive oil


Heat an oven to 425 – 450 degrees. We have a pizza stone in the bottom of our oven that we cook our pizzas directly on top of, but if you don’t have a pizza stone use a baking sheet dusted with corn meal. Roll out your pizza dough. Spread the creme fraiche in a even layer, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Sprinkle evenly with onions, fava beans and salt. Bake for 8-12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Top with fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

We had our first pizza with cream at Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission. It was a life-changing experience. The creme fraiche offers subtle tanginess and richness without overpowering the flavors of the vegetables. If you’ve never had a pizza sans cheese, I recommend you give it a go. This pizza is amazing, and wouldn’t be half bad with a bit of prosciutto on top as well.

Chilled Fava Bean Soup
2 lbs fava beans
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
¼ cup olive oil
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper
creme fraiche and lemon juice, for serving

Shell and peel the beans. Peel and dice the onion. Thinly slice the garlic. In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil until quite soft, 10 – 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook for two more minutes. Season with salt. Add the fava beans and cook for two more minutes. Add just enough stock to cover the beans. Chill the remaining stock. Cook the beans until tender. Puree in a blender until smooth, adding the leftover chilled stock until the desired consistency is reached. You might not use all of the stock. Check for seasoning. Chill and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and a squeeze of lemon juice.

This soup is really simple, healthy and easy to make. We served it at our cooking demonstration a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit. We got more compliments on this soup than any other dish we prepared. In my mind, it means a lot when a chilled soup is the star of the show. This soup is not the heartiest of dishes and so it would be the perfect accompaniment to any grilled meat or fish.

Just in case it’s not totally obvious, we love fava beans in pretty much any incarnation. They are delicious and only around for a short time so go out and enjoy some while you can! I’m still brainstorming a fava bean dessert …

-Emily

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soup with lamb meatballs and winter greens

Ahhh, the last of the winter greens.  Although, I have grown to love winter greens, I admit that I am tired of them. Thanks to our CSA, over the past few months, I’ve eaten more kale than the rest of my life combined. This soup is (hopefully) our final farewell to winter greens, though I’m sure I be missing them after summer’s onslaught of tomatoes.

Soup with Lamb Meatballs and Winter Greens

You’ll want to start with the meatballs since they take about 30 minutes to cook. After they are in the oven, prepare the broth.

For the meatballs
1 lb ground lamb
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
salt, pepper, herbs of your choice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the lamb, egg, breadcrumbs and a healthy dose of salt and pepper. I also added some Italians spice blend, but I’ll leave that up to you. If you feel inclined to check for seasoning, heat a skillet with some olive oil and cook up a small bit of the meat mixture. Sample the cooked meat and adjust your seasonings. Form 1 inch balls out of the lamb mixture. Cook for about 30 minutes in the oven, or until the meatballs are firm to the touch.

For the soup
1 can crushed tomatoes (or two half-full bags of tomato sauce from your freezer)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 quart chicken stock (we used Jordan’s homemade stock, but store-bought would do just fine in this soup since the lamb is such a strong flavor)
1 cup dried pasta
3 cups winter greens, chopped (we have greens coming out of our ears!)
salt, pepper, chili flake

In a heavy stock pot or dutch oven, pour/defrost the tomatoes and broth over low heat. Add the garlic and a pinch of chili flake and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. When your meatballs have about 5 minutes left of the cooking time, add the pasta. Cook the pasta for about 10 minutes and then add the greens and meatballs. Simmer the whole mixture until the greens are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

Not only is this soup a delicious use of an excess of greens, but it is a great one-pot meal. You’ve got your meat, starch and veggie all in one dish!

-Emily

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easy noodle soup

This soup is satisfying and only takes about 30 minutes to make. If you have homemade stock, use it. The flavor of the broth is important to this soup since all the other ingredients take on that flavor. If you don’t have homemade stock, buy a flavorful chicken stock. Swanson’s Natural Goodness and Kitchen Basics are good bets.

Easy Noodle Soup

1 quart chicken stock, we used Jordan’s homemade stock. Lucky us!
1 cup mushrooms, quartered
1 cup broccoli floretts
1/2 cup baby carrots
8 oz udon noodles, or spaghetti if you don’t have udon
ginger, garlic, soy sauce, chili flake
Trader Joe’s pork dumplings, optional

Pour the stock into a large pot. Boil the stock. Add some grated ginger, sliced garlic and a pinch of chili flakes. Season the broth with soy sauce. Add the carrots.  Once the carrots have cooked for about 5 minutes, add the mushrooms and the pasta. Cook for another 5 – 7 minutes. Add the broccoli. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the dumplings. Cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. Serve with a squeeze of lime juice and siracha if you like extra heat.

-Emily

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tortilla soup

The first time that I can remember having tortilla soup was at Chili’s. Yes, the chain restaurant home to blue margaritas, hot wings and molten chocolate cake. It was called chicken enchilada soup and I thought it was good. When planning our meals on Sunday morning, I decided to improve upon my chicken enchilada soup memories. As it turns out, tortilla soup/chicken enchilada soup is pretty darn easy to make and my soup blew that one from Chili’s out of the water. Big surprise, right?

Tortilla Soup
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart vegetable stock
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
2 chipotles in adobo sauce (This is the secret ingredient that adds a smokey, spicy quality to the soup. You can find it in the ethnic section of any grocery store. These chipotles are very spicy. A little goes a long way.)
2 chicken legs and thighs
1 can black beans, rinsed
salt, pepper, olive oil
For garnish: cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crisped tortilla strips or chips, green onion

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken legs and thighs.

In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot, saute the diced onion and garlic over medium heat in a little olive oil until it starts to become translucent. Push the onions to the sides of the pan and add the chicken. Brown each side of the meat. Add the vegetable stock, diced tomatoes and two chipotles. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until the chicken has cooked through.

Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Remove the chipotles and discard. Puree the soup. You’re welcome to leave the chillis in the soup, but I found the broth was spicy enough without pureeing the chillis. Put the soup back on to simmer. Shred the chicken. About 10 minutes before serving, add the chicken and black beans to the soup.

Serve with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, crumbled chips and green onion. We also enjoyed some roasted purple cauliflower.

This soup was awesome and will become part of the permanent repertoire. I love all of these flavors. Jordan and I ate it for two days straight! The broth is spicy and tomatoey, but still creamy and viscous.  Another bonus: the soup could easily be made vegetarian – just add an extra can of black beans.

-Emily

 

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baked potato soup

I like the idea of baked potatoes, but the dish in practice is really a let down. The first few cheesy, bacony, oniony bites are delicious and then it just tastes like dry diet food. Bummer.

Thankfully, Deb from Smitten Kitchen feels similarly. I followed her recipe for baked potato soup and it was awesome. This recipe combines all of the great flavors of a baked potato but skirts around all the boring parts. Perfect!

Baked Potato Soup

2 T butter
2 leeks, halved and sliced then rinsed of their grit
1 head garlic
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/3 cup sour cream
Salt, pepper
Bacon, green onions, cheddar cheese, sour cream for toppings

Halve the leeks and then thinly slice them. Rinse them of their grit. Cut the top 1/3 off the entire garlic head. Squeeze the cloves out of the top 1/3 and mince them. Peal the thin wispy layers off the bottom 2/3 of the garlic and set aside. Melt butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute for 5 minutes, until softened. Add minced garlic and saute for a minute or two. Add the broth, bay leaves, and head of garlic. Cook over medium heat for 40 minutes or until the  garlic head is soft.

Add the cubed potatoes. Cook for another 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Remove the garlic and bay leaves. Puree the soup for a minute or two with an immersion blender. I left some potato chunks, but you can puree it as smooth as you’d like. Add the sour cream and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Top with your favorite baked potato toppings and enjoy!

-Emily

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grilled cheese and tomato soup

Yesterday was rainy here in San Francisco. I trudged home from work dreading taking Willow for her evening walk. (She hates the rain and actually pouts when we take her out in it). Fortunately, my friend Robin and her pup Honey met us for our walk, which temporarily distracted Willow from her usual pouting. As we walked awkwardly with umbrellas in one hand and dogs in the other, we discussed dinner. We were both rocking all-American classics that night – meatloaf for Robin and tomato soup for Jordan and me. It was on the Leavenworth hill, soaked from the rain, in the company of grumpy pups, that we decided tomato soup and grilled cheese is the perfect rainy day meal. And, after cooking and eating it, I can confirm that indeed it was.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese, especially for rainy days

For the soup:
2 16 oz cans of whole or crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
3 T sugar
2 T red wine vinegar
salt, pepper, chili flake, a bay leaf, thyme

In a dutch oven, saute the vegetables in a little olive oil. When they start to become tender, add the tomatoes, a pinch of each of the spices, salt, sugar, vinegar and broth. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes. Puree the soup using and immersion blender or food processor. Taste, season with salt and pepper, and let simmer until ready to serve. We served it with a little creme fraiche on top.

For the sandwiches:
1 T butter, for the pan
1/2 cup cheese, grated (we used goat cheddar)
4 slices of bread (or 10 slices if the only bread they had at your up-the-hill-market was a baguette, but you decide to make a go of it for experiment’s sake)

When your soup is finished and simmering, place a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Toss in the butter. Make the sandwiches and place them in the pan. Cover with a lid to melt the cheese. When they are golden brown on one side, flip and cook the other side. Serve hot and gooey.

Our tiny sandwiches were quite delicious, but because of the bread to cheese ratio, they lacked the gooey cheese factor one expects in a grilled cheese. While they paired well with the soup, they would not satisfy a grilled cheese craving.

-Emily

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alice’s cauliflower soup

Boy oh boy, cauliflower is in season! This week at the farmer’s market we purchased a huge head of cauliflower. It was at least basketball sized … and only cost $1. Talk about bang for your buck.

Jordan and I really enjoy cauliflower, as I’m sure you’ve noticed from prior recipes. This week we decided to fall back on an old favorite – cauliflower soup. We’ve made this recipe several times, but this is its first debut on the blog. Why you ask, if it is so delicious, has it never be discussed? Because the pictures I’ve taken up until this point have all be so ugly that I couldn’t bear to post them.

This recipe is from Alice Water’s Chez Panisse Vegetables, which is a fabulous cookbook. Each chapter highlights a vegetable, explains its taste and season, and then offers a few simple recipes for how to best prepare it.

French Cream of Cauliflower Soup, from Chez Panisse Vegetables
1 large cauliflower
1 onion
2 T butter
4 T creme fraiche
salt
nutmeg
chervil (I never can find chervil, so we’ve used parsley and chives)

Cut off the stem of the cauliflower and any green leaves. Break into florets, wash in cold water.

Peal and slice the onion thin. In a soup pot, stew the onions and florets in butter with a little water for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, without letting them brown. Add water to cover and cook for 25 minutes, covered over medium heat.

Puree the soup in a blender or using an immersion blender. Reheat gently until just under boiling. Add the creme fraiche and season with salt and nutmeg to taste. Serve very hot with herb garnish.

Yep, that simple, and it is amazing!  You don’t even need to have stock on hand (Awesome, since I more often than not forget to buy it). If any of you end up with gigantic heads of cauliflower, most probably larger than your own heads, try out this recipe. It is perfectly simple and the true cauliflower flavor shines through.

-Emily

Update: We enjoyed six meals from this single batch of soup! $1 cauliflower + $0.50 onion + $4.50 creme fraiche = about $1 per meal!

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julia child’s garlic soup and eggs coquette

I busted out Mastering the Art of French Cooking the other night. I was in the mood to cook something classic, yet more ambitious than usual. I chose two different recipes – one for garlic soup and another for poached-style eggs. I had all my ingredients, I was excited about the recipes, I felt good. And … it all went downhill from there.

A brief outline of the snowballing disasters:

The garlic soup is basically garlic, boiled, crushed and then infused into water. You turn this garlic water into a soup by adding an emulsion of eggs and olive oil. Got that far without issue. I was even proud of my very viscous emulsion. I carefully mixed the hot garlic water with the egg mixture as to not burn the eggs … another successful step. I tasted. It needed acid. I added a squeeze of lemon juice … and watched as my soup went from beautifully emulsified to curdled in seconds. Strike one.

I then decided to tackle the eggs. The idea was to bake eggs in ramekins with a little cream and butter and then top them with fresh chives and sauteed mushrooms. Delicious. Sadly, I failed to read the bit in recipe about starting the eggs on the stove to thicken the cream. Frustrated, I just tossed them in the oven in a water bath. After a few minutes they didn’t seem to be cooking at all. Strike two.

Jordan suggested we put the eggs under the broiler in an attempt to rescue dinner. It was tricky to move a small, too-full pan of water with ramekins sliding around into our drawer style broiler, but we did it. After a few minutes, we opened the broiler drawer to check on the eggs and the pan came sliding out, spilling an eggy, creamy, watery mess all over the kitchen floor. Of course, this commotion prompted Willow to come racing over to investigate. To sum things up, in our tiny galley kitchen we had myself, Jordan, a nosy dog, an open broiler door, a large eggy spill, and a pot of curdled soup. Strike three.

Amazingly, I tried to save dinner yet again by plating this disaster and serving to Jordan and myself.

We had green beans and sautéed mushrooms for dinner. I do love green beans.

-Emily

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Recipes San Francisco

fall dinner for four

Last night, my sister and my cousin joined us for dinner. It was another rainy day and I’d decided soup seemed to be the perfect cozy fit. Jordan was so sweet and did all the work for this delicious meal while I gabbed with the girls.

Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger and Garlic
Butternut squash, about 3 pounds, cut into large chunks
Small onion, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into large chunks
6 cloves of garlic
4 cups vegetable stock
1 t ginger, pealed and grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss squash, onion, carrot and garlic with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes to an hour.

Put roasted veggies in a large pot or dutch oven. Add 3 cups of stock and ginger. Simmer, covered for 20 – 30 minutes. Puree in a food processor or blender. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Season once again and serve with crusty bread and a salad.

Jordan did a beautiful job emulsifying the vinaigrette for our spinach and arugula salad. He’s such a pro!

Conclusions: Positively fall! This soup is so hearty it makes a perfectly substantial meal all on its own. The crusty caraway bread from Tartine Bakery and acidic spinach and arugula salad were perfect accompaniments. Hurray for fall and the start of squash season!

-Emily

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buttermilk reincarnated: vichyssoise

Remember that leftover buttermilk from my butter-making experiment? Well, I just couldn’t let it go to waste and so I spent a little time browsing for buttermilk recipes online. After sifting through dozens of buttermilk fried chicken and buttermilk pancake entries, I found … vichyssoise with cauliflower and buttermilk. First thought: “Yum!”. Second thought: “Thank you Martha!”.

Vichyssoise with Cauliflower and Buttermilk, adapted from Martha Stewart Living
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
5 leeks, white and pale-green parts only, thinly sliced and rinsed well (about 3 cups)
1 white potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
Freshly ground white pepper (I used black because I didn’t have white, but the white would make it a prettier soup)
Large pinch nutmeg
1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets (about 4 cups)
Coarse salt
3 1/2 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
1 cup buttermilk (ta-da!!)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks, and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Add potato, a generous grinding of pepper, and the nutmeg, and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in cauliflower, a large pinch of salt, and 3 cups stock. Simmer, partially covered, until cauliflower has softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove 2 florets, and transfer to a cutting board; thinly slice lengthwise. Set aside for garnish.

Working in batches, puree vegetable mixture in a blender (I used an immersion blender-much easier), filling no more than halfway each time. Return to pan. Stir in buttermilk and remaining 1/2 cup stock.  Season again with salt and pepper. Serve hot or cold, garnished with cauliflower slices.

Hot this is soup referred to as potato and leek soup, cold as vichyssoise … if anyone can explain this to me, I’m all ears.

Conclusions: While not the most photogenic of dishes, this soup is delicious! Quick, easy and really comforting. We ate it for three days and weren’t too upset about that fact.

-Emily