Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Its been a long time since I posted. Since my last post (which was apparently on December 6th) I managed to fly home for Christmas, fly back to California for a week, pack up my life, and drive it half way across the country to Minnesota.

I had a moving company move all my stuff for me. After I'd been in Minnesota for about two and a half weeks, my stuff arrived. As you can imagine, sleeping on an air mattress and sitting on my living room floor to watch TV had gotten old, fast. So, I was VERY excited for my couch to arrive. When the moving man saw the layout of the apartment, he said there was no way they were getting my couch in. I was devastated (and of course didn't believe him - he'd only been moving furniture for 20 years. How could he know?).

So, I had him put the couch in my garage while I figured out a plan. Luckily enough, Kimba was coming to visit two weeks later. Aside from all the cooking and eating we were planning on doing (posts on that to come...soon?), I told Kim to prepare for a couch moving adventure as well. The couch was heavy and bulky and we we looked like ridiculous fools trying to get it in the house, up my narrow stairwell and into the living room. Basically after a half hour of trying different couch manipulations, we gave up (but we DID at least get it into the kitchen!). I sadly posted the couch on craigslist and started my search for a futon - which I found later that week. Despite thinking (knowing?) that I have super woman strength, I was still going to need help getting this futon in my house. So, I solicited the help of two of the guys I worked with. This banana bread was my thank you to them for the help. Unfortunately, the only picture I took of the bread was with my cell phone...

Adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 C amaranth flour
• 1 tsp baking soda (I like my boy Bob)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C butter
• 1/4 unrefined coconut oil (good oil should smell like coconut)
• 1/2 C cane sugar
• scant 1/4 C maple syrup
• 2 beaten eggs
• 2 1/3 C mashed, really really ripe bananas (I think I used ~6 bananas)
• 3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Recipe

1. Grease a loaf pan (butter + flour, or my girl Pam). Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Combine the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl.
3. In a medium sized bowl, cream together the wet stuff (butter, coconut oil, sugar, syrup). Add in the eggs and bananas.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and nuts. Combine until just mixed. Pour into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick/knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

If you're not crazy about using the flours, oils, etc. you can just use 2 C flour, 1/2 C butter, and 3/4 C sugar.

Servings 10-18 servings (depending on slice size, obviously!)

Chocolate Cookies

These are "the cookies."

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 ozs unsweetened chocolate
7 tbs butter
1 tsp coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Melt chips, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in double boiler. Remove and set aside to cool.

2. Stir coffee powder and vanilla together until dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar. Add vanilla-coffee mixture. Add melted chocolate mixture.

3. Whisk flour and baking powder together. Fold flour mixture and additional chocolate chips into batter. Let stand for 20 mins until batter firms up. (Looks like brownie batter).

4. Roll cookies into 1 tbs balls. Bake 350 F for 11 to 14 mins.

Tomato Soup

Serves 6 to 8

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus more for drizzling
1 medium onion , chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
Pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 large slices good-quality sandwich bread , crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes (if using), and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Using potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain. Stir in sugar and bread; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

2. Transfer half of soup to blender. Add 1 tablespoon oil and process until soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and repeat with remaining soup and oil. Rinse out pot and return soup to pot. Stir in broth and brandy (if using). Return soup to boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup in individual bowls. Sprinkle each portion with pepper and chives and drizzle with olive oil.

New York Style Crumb Cake

CRUMB TOPPING

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

8 tbs butter

1-3/4 cup cake flour

CAKE
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 cup cake flour
6 tbs butter

1. For the topping: Whisk sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter in bowl. Stir in flour until dough-like. Set aside.

2. For the cake: Whisk flour, granulated sugar, and baking soda, in large bowl. Beat butter into the flour mixture using an electric mixer. Beat in egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk until combined. Beat the batter until smooth.

3. Place batter in 8-inch sq cake pan. Break apart crumb mixture into pea sized pieces and layer on top of batter.

4. Bake 35-40 mins at 325 F.

5. Let cool for 30 mins and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Banana Bread Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Crystallized Ginger

I have been posting so many sweets lately. I think it is because it was the holidays and winter but also because it is so much easier for me to post baking recipes. When I cook I fly by the seat of my pants, rarely measure, substitute like crazy and rarely remember what I do. I actually prefer cooking over baking for precisely those reasons, although it makes it a little challenging to post the recipe. We hosted a beer tasting evening this weekend where people brought all different beers to try. Although my food choices weren't necessarily beer food, they were designed to be bite size party food. I made nutcups which were tasty but nowhere near as good as my moms; pizza with caramelized onions, goat cheese, and artichoke hearts; and mini banana bread muffins follow a recipe from the book I am currently reading by Molly Wizenberg, who has a Seattle based food blog. I didn't make any changes to the recipe except I added some pumpkin pie spice and made mini muffins instead of bread but the bread would be delicious too.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups flour (I think I put 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 eggs
3 large mashed bananas
1/4 cup well-stirred whole-milk plain yogurt (the recipe notes - not low fat or nonfat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Grease a loaf pan (9 by 5 inches) or mini muffin pan or muffin pan.
3. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly.
4. In a large bowl - mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and crystallized ginger.
5. In another bowl - mash the bananas and mix in eggs (beat eggs lightly together before mixing with the rest of the wet ingredients), yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla.
   
6. Add wet ingredients to the dry and gently stir until just combined. Careful not to over mix.
7. Pour batter into your baking dish of choice.
8. Mini muffins took about 10-14 minutes (lightly brown around the edges and clean toothpick - unless you stick the toothpick into a chocolate chip)
9. Loaf pan - bake 50 minutes to 1 hour.
10. Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then cool completely out of the pan. Be careful - melted chocolate is hot.
    

Chocolate Mousse

My friend Arti came over for dinner on Sunday with the promise of making chocolate mousse if I cooked some dinner. She also made some delicious bruschetta too. She had gotten the chocolate deck for Christmas, a set of 50 recipe cards for decadent chocolate desserts. I encouraged her to go all Julie and Julia and try to make all the cards. The chocolate mousse was pretty easy although it suggests you chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. We did not have 4 hours so we cheated and threw the bowl in the freezer for about and hour and a half. It seemed to do the trick although some parts seemed to be getting a little more solid than mousse consistency. We were also a little worried when we were mixing the chocolate to the egg white and they seemed to be not stiff enough but it all turned out great at the end. It says it serves 4 but those four people better be ready for chocolate overload - 6 smaller portions seem more appropriate.

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (we used semisweet but I think
bittersweet would be good too)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
pinch salt

Melt chocolate with cream in a double boiler (i.e., a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Whisk until smooth. Add half the sgar and whisk until blended. Add the rest of the sugar and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in one yolk at a time.

Beat eggs white and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed just to stiff peaks. Fold in 1/3 of the chocolate, repeat with the second 1/3 and then the rest until just blended.

Transfer to serving bowl, cover and chill for at least 4 hours if you want to do it right or cheat if you are not patient.

Nutcups

These are pretty much my favorite Christmas cookie that my mom makes. It really isn't even a cookie, but it is oh so delicious. It is like a small pecan pie but with a better filling to crust ratio. It is a little bit of a tedious process to make 4 dozen mini 'pies' shaping each one in a mini muffin tin but it is so worth it. The dough is a super simple cream cheese dough and can be made in advanced and left in the fridge for a few days. For a savory alternative skip the sweet filling and instead make mini quiches, caramelized onion tarts, or what ever else you can think of.

The Dough:

2 cups flour

1 cup butter/marg.

1 8 oz. cream cheese

Sift flour. Blend butter and cream cheese together. Blend into flour. Shape into ball, Wrap in wax paper, Chill.

The Filling:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 T melted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 t vanilla

Beat eggs, add sugar, melted butter. Stir in nuts and vanilla.

The Process:
Preheat oven to 375.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Work with 1 section at a time and refrigerate rest. Roll into 1 foot log. Cut into 12 equal parts and make each into a ball. Press each ball into a mini muffin pan cup (here is where my mom uses a fancy pampered chef tool, but I have found that a champagne cork also works well).

Fill each 1/2 full with nut mixture. Bake 20 min until golden brown. Cool 2 min then remove from pan, put on their bottoms on wire rack to cool. Continue with each 1/4 until done.

Makes 4 dozen. Best when eaten warm.

Granola Bars

I eat too many pre-made, overly packaged, expensive granola bars, luna bars, cliff bars etc. In an effort to curb this habit and because I love Alton Brown I have tried both his protein bars (totally forgot to post it) and most recently his granola bars. The granola bars turned out great. I was afraid they weren't going to stay together but that wasn't the case at all. Since it isn't really a "baked good" with scientific principles governing the outcome you can sub out different nuts, toss in a little whole grain flour, add shredded coconut, chocolate chips, you get the idea. I didn't have enough honey so I replaced half of the honey with coconut butter. I looked into some variations after I made these and it seems as though you could get away without baking them at the end and it might result in a chewy version. I might try that next.

recipe adapted from Alton Brown

~2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
~1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
~1/2 cup raw pumpkins seeds
~1 cup sliced almonds
~1/2 cup wheat germ
~1/2 cup honey
~1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
~2 tsp unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
~1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit, any combination (I used cherries, golden raisins, blueberries and cranberries)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Butter 9x11 baking dish and set aside.
3. Spread the oats, seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Be careful not to burn these)
4. Combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat the brown sugar has dissolved.
5. When the oat/seed/nut mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F.
6. Immediately add the dry mixture to the sugar/honey mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine.
   
7. Dump the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press down.
8. Bake for 25 minutes.
   
9. When done, remove pan from the oven and allow to cool completely. (This is very true I tried to cut one early and it fell apart)
   
10. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

This recipe came in the farm notes with my November holiday share from my CSA. They adapted the recipe from The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld. I added a shallot to the recipe which worked really well. The shallot I used is bigger than any shallot I've even seen in the store. You could use an onion or a few smaller shallots. This dish makes about 4 servings but I think it should reheat well or be a good addition to a frittata. The sugar and vinegar gave the dish some sweetness but not too much. Other root vegetables would substitute well, although I've found that not all root vegetables need the same cooking time, sweet potatoes for example seem to cook faster than their counterparts when everything is equally sized.

1 lb parsnips, scrubbed
1 lb carrots, scrubbed
1 large shallot
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tbs dark brown sugar
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 tbs coarsely chopped fresh thyme (mine was more like dried because it had been hanging out for a few weeks)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cut the parsnips and carrots into similarly sized pieces. Cut the shallot(s) into chunks, these can be larger than the other vegetables. Combine veggies in a bowl and toss with salt and pepper. Melt butter and add the brown sugar and vinegar. Pour over vegetables and toss to coat. Put coated vegetables in shallow baking dish - hopefully in one layer. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring half way through. Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the thyme. Bake until the parsnips are lightly browned and fork tender, about 10-15 minutes longer.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I received two small sugar pie pumpkins in my CSA back in October. So, I baked them, pureed them, and went searching my favorite food sites for pumpkin recipes. Joy the Baker had a handful of recipes that looked amazing. I made two. This was the first one.
The bars came out great. If you can get past the artery clogging aspects of this recipe, you will thoroughly enjoy it (e.g. eat 5+ bars/day). I couldn't always taste the butterscotch chips in this recipe. So, if you're a bitgbutterscotch fan, you might want to leave the chocolate chips out.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar, divided
• 1/2 C brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 Cc butter (~1 1/2 sitcks)
• 1 C oats, uncooked
• 1/2 C walnuts, chopped
• 1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
  
• 3 eggs
• 15 oz pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (recipe to follow)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• handful of butterscotch and/or semi sweet chocolate chip

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, F. Line an 9"x13" pan with foil and butter/flour or spray with Pam baking spray.
   
2. Combine flour, 1/4 C of sugar, and brown sugar. Add butter and cut into mixture (I tend to use a fork - a pastry cutter works well too). You want the mixture to be crumbly looking. Add oats and nuts.
3. Add 1 C of oat mixture (Step 2) to the baking pan. Press down evenly over the entire surface and bake for 15 mins.
4. In a separate bowl, combine remaining sugar, cream cheese, eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and vanilla. Mix well and pour onto pre-baked crust. Sprinkle the stop with butterscotch/chocolate chips (I used both!).
5. Bake for 25 mins and let cool for at least 10 mins.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix equal parts of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

I can't quite remember where I got this recipe from. I am pretty sure it was from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics book. It is written down in this notebook where I wrote recipes from the cookbooks I would get from the library in grad school. It following some other recipes from that book so I am assuming it came from there. Either way it is a excellent cookbook and this is a delicious recipe. Tonight we used it as a pizza sauce on homemade pizza dough with goat cheese and artichoke hearts. I would also be good on crackers by itself or served on brie or another soft cheese. I imagine it would also be good mixed with pasta.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted lightly
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 tbs olive oil
pepper

Directions:
1. Cover sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water and let soak form about 15 minutes.
2. Drain tomatoes but reserve soaking water
3. Combine all ingredients plus 2 tbs of the soaking water in a food processor and process to combine

Cheddar Cauliflower Soup

I have been very neglectful of the whole blog posting thing. I have some excuses - moving, internet issues, laziness. I have a large backlog of things to post. This was the first meal that I cooked in my new apartment. I had cauliflower, leeks, and carrots left over from the last of my summer CSA and I wanted to make a soup with them, preferably the cheesy kind. With a little help from google I found an appropriate recipe from Food in Jars to use as a starting point. The soup turned out delicious. I used the vegetables and quantities that I had on hand. One of the best things about soup is that it is flexible and forgiving. Think about vegetables that would blend well with a creamy cheddar sauce - onions, broccoli, potatoes.

recipe adapted from food in jars

1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
2-3 large carrots, diced
3 leeks, well-washed and sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup white wine
~1 quart vegetable stock
pepper
salt

3 tablespoons butter
3 heaping tablespoons flour
3 cups milk/milk alternative
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
freshly grated nutmeg
pepper
salt

• soak chopped cauliflower in cold salted water for 30 minutes (this gets rid of all the bugs - I think bugs are more of an issue with organic cauliflower/broccoli and less of an issue with their conventional counterparts)
• saute vegetables in the oil/butter mixture until soft and browned, be careful not to burn the butter
• deglaze pan with the wine, making sure to get all the brown bits off the bottom
• add enough stock to cover the vegetables, cover and simmer until veggies are soft (10-15 minutes depending on size)

while veggies are simmering make cheese sauce

• melt the butter in a medium sauce pan
• add the flour and stir to blend, cook until color darkens a bit
• slowly add the milk and whisk until smooth (maybe helpful to remove from heat)
• cook milk/flour mixture until it begins to thicken
• add the cheese and stir until blended
• add salt/pepper and freshly grated nutmeg

hopefully your vegetables are soft when you are done with your cheese sauce

• blend vegetable mixture (immersion blender, food processor, etc)
• add cheese sauce and mix
• add salt/pepper to taste
  

Pasta With Walnut Sauce and Broccoli Raab

I really liked this recipe. The walnut sauce is very rich and nutty and so easy to make in my food processor. I used orecchiette (hat) pasta which was what was used in the original recipe. The problem with that kind of pasta is that it ends up spooning (for lack of a better word) with itself and the sauce doesn't get into all the nooks and crannies. I would recommend something like a spiral pasta or elbows - basically just something with a lot of surface area.

This is another recipe that was brought to my attention by Laura (GFFy!). She came across it in the NY Times under the Heath/Fitness & Nutrition section back at the end of September. I don't think she even knows that I actually made it!

Ingredients

• 1+ cloves of garlic, halved (depends on how much you like garlic)
• 3/4 C shelled walnuts
• 1 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1/3 C ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp warm water
• 1/4 C freshly shredded parmesan cheese (plus more for sprinkling on top at the end)
  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  
• 1 tbsp walnut oil (which I didn't have, so I just used more EVOO)
  
• salt to taste
• 1 bunch broccoli raab, stems removed (can also use regular broccoli florets)
• 1 lb pasta
• ~1/2+ C pasta cooking water

Recipe

1. In a food processor (or blender) first chop up the garlic. After it is finely chopped, scrape down the sides with a spatula. Add the bread crumbs and walnuts and process until paste-like. Add and mix the ricotta, warm water, and parmesan cheese. Finally, add the oils and mix until creamy. Taste and add salt if needed.
2. To cook the broccoli raab, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Also prepare a bowl of ice water on the side. Once boiling, add the broccoli raab to the water and cook 4 - 5 minutes (until cooked, but still retains bright green color). Remove broccoli raab from hot water and place in ice bath until cooled. Drain, dry, and finely chop.
   
3. Bring water to boil again (same pot or a new one). Add pasta and cook until done (according to instructions) while maintaining a 1/2+ C of pasta water before draining. Slowly add pasta water to ricotta/walnut paste until creamy in consistency. Place all ingredients (sauce, broccoli raab, pasta) in a large bowl and mix. Serve with freshly shredded parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Servings 6

Whiskey Crab Soup

I’m brand new to this online recipe blogging and wanted to start with something that will sure be a hit in the coming winter months!

I first tried this soup at a local seafood restaurant in Bellingham, WA and knew at that moment I NEEDED to learn how to make this recipe! After an extensive search on the web, I finally found a base recipe from All Recipes and started modifying and tweaking from there. So I can safely say this is my own near and dear creation…

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Ready: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

• 2 T extra virgin olive oil or 2 T salted butter
• 4 shallots, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 - 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
• 1 - 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (or your own canned tomatoes)
• 1 to 2 cups of heavy whipping cream
• 3 1/2 T flour
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like a little more bit!)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 - 6 oz cans of fancy white crab meat, un-drained
• 1/4 cup whiskey (I use Jack Daniels)

1. Heat the olive oil/butter in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the shallots and garlic until tender.
2. Pour in the chicken broth, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes and bring to a boil.
3. In a small bowl, mix the heavy cream and flour (to avoid clumping).
4. Stir the mixture into the pot, and continue cooking until the soup is slightly thickened.
5. Season the soup with cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste.
6. Mix in the crab and whiskey, and cook until heated through.

Quinoa and Black Beans

This recipe is courtesy of my wonderful and fabulous friend Laura, aka GFFy, who actually found it on All Recipes. Every week a group of 10 or so of us get together for dinner. The dinner is on a rotating schedule so that each person/household has the opportunity to host and make the main dish. Laura hosted dinner 2 weeks ago and made this dish. I have only made quinoa a handful of times and have had trouble making it with much flavor. This dish has great flavor and is easy to make. Thanks GFFy!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3/4 C uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 C vegetable broth
• 3-4 tsp ground cumin (probably will need to add even more)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt, pepper to taste
• 1-2 C broccoli, chopped
• 1 C frozen corn
• 1-2 (15 oz) cans black beans
• 1/2 C fresh cilantro, chopped

Recipe

1. In a med-large pot heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cooked until onions are translucent without burning the garlic.
2. Rinse quinoa under running water.
3. Add remaining ingredients to pot, except corn, black beans, and cilantro. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the frozen corn and keep pot over low heat until heated through.
5. Remove from heat. Add black beans and cilantro.

Servings 6ish

King of the Soup Onions (Leek) and Potato Soup

Potatoes and leeks both in my CSA this week, so this soup was an obvious dinner choice. I started with a recipe from How to Cook Everything and doctored it up a bit. It really is a simple soup though. (A cook book I have informed me that leeks are the "king of the soup onions.")

potatoes - I had about 10 or 12 smallish
leeks - 3 large
apples - 1 or 2 (this was my addition, there are so many apples in my kitchen, they are a required addition to every meal)
butter (or oil) - 2 T
veggie stock - I used 8 C but wished I used about 6 C - warm/hot saves time
cream - 1 C
salt and pepper
savory (I also added this to the recipe, came in my CSA right before I left town a couple weeks ago so I shoved it in the freezer for future soup)

1. Rinse and chop potatoes, leeks (white part only), apples.
2. Melt butter in soup pot.
3. Add chopped veggies from step one, salt and pepper, savory, stir and cook for a few minutes
4. Add stock and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until everything is soft (depends on what kind of potatoes you are using).
5. Remove from heat, add cream.
6. Process in food processor in batches or use immersion blender if you've got one.
7. Return to pot and heat until steamy but not boiling.
8. Serve with salad and crusty bread, yum!

Corn Chowder

I am discovering a new love of corn. The second time we got corn in our CSA there was a corn chowder recipe adapted from Simply Recipes another food blog I love so I decided I had to try it. Conveniently almost all the other needed ingredients were also in the box that week or left over from the week before, I think all I needed to by was a bell pepper. The original recipe calls for bacon or bacon fat which was obviously not used, but I did sprinkle some fake bacon I chopped up to add some smokey flavor, tasty but not necessary, I didn't add to any of the left overs. You could add more or less of the veggies, definitely not a recipe where exact science is needed. Garlic would be good sauteed with the onion/carrot/celery.

recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
  
• 3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs , cobs reserved
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 1/2 cups milk (I used rice milk which I think added a pleasant sweetness)
  
• 1 potato, peeled and diced (I used a few small knobbly potatoes from our CSA - possible Rose Finn)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves

1. in a large sauce pan. saute onion in butter until soft about 5 minutes. add carrots and celery and cook about 5 more minutes.
2. break the evacuated cobs in half and add to sauce pan. add milk and bay leaf and bring to boil.
   
3. reduce heat to a bare simmer. heat should be as low as possible to maintain a gentle simmer but prevent scalding (I don't know if scalding is as big of a concern with rice milk). cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. discard cobs and bay leave. raise heat - add potato, pepper, salt and pepper. lower heat once a low simmer is reached again. simmer 15 minutes or under potatoes are almost fork tender.
5. raise heat - add corn and thyme. lower heat again to maintain a low simmer. simmer for 5 minutes.

makes about 5 servings

Curried Singapore-Style Noodles

Every time I post a blog entry, I feel like I need to have a story to go along with it. This one is short and simple. I asked Jordan to cook something for dinner while I was at gym boot camp one night and this is what he came up with. Its really tasty and delicious. He made it with chicken, but I think it would taste great with shrimp too.

Adapted from Hannaford Fresh (March-April 2009)

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb angel hair pasta
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 C low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/4 C low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 C carrots, julienned
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 medium zucchini, julienned
• 2 medium leeks, white parts only, sliced into thin rings
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tsp asian-style hot chili sauce

Optional Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 8-oz. packages of super-firm tofu, drained, patted dry, and cubed
• 1 lb large shrimp (41-50 count), peeled, deveined, tails removed
• 1 lb chicken, cubed

Recipe

1. Cook pasta in salted water until al dente (~4-5 minutes). Drain. Return to pot and toss with sesame oil.
2. In a small bowl, mix vegetable broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar. This will be the sauce to add later.
   
3. Prepare optional ingredients over med-high heat with 2 tsp oil (chicken (~10 mins), tofu (~5 mins), shrimp (~2-3 mins)). Set aside when done and tent with aluminum foil.
4. In same or different pan from chicken, add the leeks, carrots, bell pepper, and zucchini. Cook and continuously stir for 4 minutes.
5. Add remaining ingredients (scallions, garlic, ginger, curry powder, hot chili sauce). Stir in and cook for 1 minute.
6. Add optional ingredients.
7. Pour vegetables over noodles and mix until evenly distributed.
8. Pour sauce over noodles, stirring once again until evenly distributed. Re-heat mixture over med-high heat and serve.

Servings Original recipe says 4, I say 5-6.

Fresh Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad

adapted from smitten kitchen

I am a little late in posted this recipe. It is no longer summer and it is no longer pea season. Peas became my new favorite vegetable this summer. I don't think I had ever had fresh shell peas. The ones from our CSA were amazing. The recipe calls for blanching the peas, I did, but I think it would have been fine just using them raw. If you do blanch them you can save the blanching water to boil the pasta.

• 1 lb small pasta
• 1/2 cup snow peas
• 1 cup fresh peas (shelled)
• 3/4-1 cup roasted red pepper dressing
• feta cheese

If blanching - boil snow peas for two minute then add to ice bath, boil peas for seven and add the ice bath. Boil pasta. Slice snow peas into slivers. Toss peas, pasta and as much dressing as you want. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
I found this recipe as part of a pea pasta salad. I made twice as much as it called for and made a giant pasta salad later with all the extra CSA veggies I had hanging around. This dressing was pretty darn tasty. I slow roasted the peppers in the oven (350 deg for one hour - giving them a quarter turn every 15 minutes or so) as recommended for the original recipe and it was totally worth it.

-2 roasted red peppers (skinned and seeded)
-4 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup chopped onion

-up to 1/4 cup olive oil

-salt and pepper to taste

Puree roasted peppers, vinegar, onion until smooth in blender or food processor. Stream in oil with machine on if possible or just add a bit at a time and blend until you have a good consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. More vinegar can be added for a more tangy dressing. I stored mine for a week in the fridge and had no problem, not sure exactly how long it will last.

Makes about 2 cups of dressing.