Autumn Squash Soup

Have I already told you that the immersion blender is one of the greatest kitchen gadgets invented? Oh, I haven’t? Well, let me tell you… It. Is. AMAZING.


The air is chilly, everything smells like leaves, apples are fresh for the picking -- it’s officially soup season. As you know, I love a good soup. When I received a few butternut squashes in my weekly farm share I knew that there was no better way to cook than up to turn them into soup. Mmmmm.

Chopped up squash and potatoes ready for cookin'

I used to shy away from blended soups. I hated having to spoon hot chunks of squash (or whatever veggie) and broth into my blender for pureeing, all the while crossing my fingers and hoping to not have a disastrous mess. Not to mention when I made more soup than the blender can hold I would have to blend in batches – bleh! Enter immersion blender, which lets me blend everything right in the same pot I just cooked with. THE SAME POT!

The soup before blending

I was eager to put my new gadget to use for this autumn-inspired butternut squash bisque. I used my farm share goodies, as well as some potatoes that were grown by Byron’s mother in her garden.

Final product: creamy and smooth!

Overall, the recipe was pretty good. It was nice and creamy but I could have gone for a bit more flavor. It’s worth making, especially as an accompaniment to something like baked chicken, but next time I might find a way to spice it up a bit more.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Butternut Squash Bisque (recipe adapted from The Soup Bible)
Serves 4
Ingredients --

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 small onions, minced (I also threw in a bit of leeks because, you know, I had them on hand)
• 3 cups peeled, seeded, and cubed butternut squash
• 1 ¼ quarts chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups cubed potatoes
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ cup whipping cream (I used a few dashes of milk instead of cream)
• 1 ½ tablespoons snipped chives, plus a few whole strands for garnish
• salt and pepper

Directions –-

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook until soft (5 mins).
2. Add the squash, stock, potatoes, and paprika and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
3. Pour the soup into a blender (or use an immersion blender!) and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and add milk/cream.
4. Stir in chopped chives and garnish with slices.
5. Serve with toasty bread! (My own addition, I love toasty bread with soup!)

Greens with Envy

As I’ve mentioned before, I started out my summer with very little knowledge of greens. Had you asked me to name you some greens I probably would have looked at you cross-eyed and said “um, lettuce?” Sure, lettuce is green, but the category goes far beyond that. Thanks to my farm share me and greens are becoming very well acquainted. So are me and my wok.

"So what ARE greens?" you ask. They are big leafy green plants that taste delicious! Lucky for me, the farm that I chose to do my farm share with here in Massachusetts is well-versed in growing greens and I get plenty of them each week in my share.

Here are a few of the things I’ve been cooking with. Wikipedia definitions to the rescue:

Chard: Also known by the common names Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach, Spinach Beet, Crab Beet, Seakale Beet and Mangold, is a leafy vegetable, and is one of the cultivated descendants of the sea beet. Although the leaves are eaten, it is in the same species as beetroot (garden beet) which is usually grown primarily for its edible roots.

Kale or borecole is a form of cabbage, green or purple, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. The species Brassica oleracea contains a wide array of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and brussels sprouts.

Collard greens are various loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea, the same species that produces cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown for its large, dark-colored, edible leaves and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the Southern United States, many parts of Africa, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain and in Kashmir.

Callaloo: Jamaican callaloo is a Jamaican vegetable that resembles spinach. Though it tastes almost like spinach it is not as sour. Jamaican callaloo is though to have its origin in South America however it has been recorded as being in Jamaica from as early as 1752. (From www.getjamaica.com)

Bok Choy is a Chinese leaf vegetable used often in Chinese cuisine. These vegetables are both related to the Western cabbage, and are of the same species as the common turnip.

I like greens for their simplicity and ease of cooking. I’ve cooked up a few different kinds of greens so far and in different ways. I’m finding the best way to start of cooking them is to sauté them in a wok with oil and garlic for a few minutes until they have cooked down (look sort of soft and wilted and not so much like lettuce anymore) and then I add other stuff to the wok.

Lately I’ve tended not to work directly from a recipe when cooking greens, which makes the whole experience a bit of an adventure. Lucky for me, everything has turned out well so far! Things I will throw into the mix include potatoes, onions, tomatoes, spices, turnips, and all sorts of odds and ends that I’m left with from my farm share when the week comes to an end. You can also sautéed everything up and serve as is or add broth and turn the whole thing into soup or sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven for a bit to make a casserole. Really, the possibilities are endless. Not to mention, if you want to stick to real recipes there are LOADS of great recipes for greens available online which you can always tweak yourself as you see fit.

Some of my favorite creations so far have included:

• An assortment of greens (beet greens and chard) sautéed with turnips (see fourth picture)

• A kale, sausage, and potato soup

• A kale, sausage, and potato casserole (see first picture & fifth picture)

• Bean and Swiss chard soup

Greens on their own (or with a few other veggies and spices added) make a great accompaniment to a meat dish or they go very well with some rice or pasta. Tomorrow I’m going to be making Jamaican style callaloo (see recipe below) and will be serving it with some baked chicken drumsticks and steamed rice.

Cheers!

PS: If you have any greens recipes you would like to share post a comment below!!

-----------------------------------------------

Jamaican Style Sautéed Callaloo (recipe compliments of Enterprise Farm newsletter)

Ingredients --

• 1 bunch callaloo 1 large onion, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, diced 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (to taste) 
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme salt and pepper
• 1 large tomato, diced

Directions --

• Cut the bottom 1/2—1 inch off the bottom of the callaloo stems. 
• Peel the remaining stems (as you would with broccoli). 
• Slice everything into small ribbons, wash well and spin dry in a salad spinner. 
• In a large skillet (or wok) heat oil. 
• Add onion and garlic, sautee for 3-4 minutes, until onions are slightly translucent. 
• Add callaloo, season with cayenne, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and thyme. 
• Allow to wilt. 
• Add tomatoes and cook for 2 more minutes.

Swiss Chard Makes Super Soup

Oh goodness, I’m so cheesy. It must be all the Boston humidity seeping into my brain or the fact that I just spent a good 40 hours straight staring at the computer screen in preparation for my final project in my grad school publishing class. (Yes, I’m aware I should un-glue myself from the computer and go outside and play, but really, I wanted to make this post first.) Dear eyeballs, please forgive me.

In the spirit of continuing my experimental cooking with my farm share vegetables I bring you a fabulous Swiss chard soup that I took liberties with and tweaked a bit. My fridge was filled with an abundance of greens so I to searched around for a soup recipe that used Swiss chard. Swiss chard is really quite pretty, look at that beautiful big leaf over there. Unfortunately, I don’t think any food should be named “chard” as it too closely resembles “charred” which is a characteristic no chef wants their food to have. Oh well, name aside, I am a fan of said veggie.

I found recipe on epicurious called “Beans and Swiss Chard,” which sounded fab. Slight problem though: this recipe was vegetarian and my dining partner is a male who demanded meat. So what’s a girl to do? Tweak time. I bought a pound of chicken drumsticks, seasoned then, and then baked them in the oven for 45 minutes. When they cooled I pulled the succulent meat off of the bone and TADA meat for my soup! Bonus: I was able to do this a few hours before actually making the soup and then stick the chicken in the fridge until I was ready for soup prep.

The recipe I found called for 1 cup of beans but a few reviews from people were saying that they wished they had added extra beans so I decided to really beef it up and buy a can of white beans AND a can of chick pea beans so my soup would be extra bean-y. And that’s where my tweaking ends, from then on out I followed the recipe pretty closely but added some extra broth to accommodate my meat and extra beans.

Oh dear, looking back at my pictures I realize that I lied to you earlier – one more final tweak to the original recipe: I added a handful of grape tomatoes to the pot at the same time that I added the pasta.

This recipe was really great and with my addition of shredded chicken bits it was sort of a unique twist on chicken noodle soup. It was also really tasty the next day, though a bit more like a pasta dish since the little shell noodles soaked up the broth. But still quite delish!

Overall score: 7 out of 10.

------------------------------------------

Bean and Swiss Chard Soup compliments of Epicurious and with my own tweaks

Ingredients—

• ½ to 1 pound of cooked chicken (my addition) 
• 1/2 pound (225 g) Swiss chard or kale, trimmed (I used that nice red-stemmed chard) 
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt, plus additional to taste 
• 2 flat anchovy fillets 
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves or dried 
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil 
• 2 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 
• 1 cup (225 g) cooked small white beans or drained and rinsed canned beans (I used two cans of two different beans to add variety) 
• 4 cups (1 liter) chicken stock [or Garlic Broth for a meatless soup] 
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
• 1/2 cup (60 g) small shell macaroni 
• handful of grape tomatoes (my addition) 
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation —

• Season and roast ½ to 1 pound of chicken pieces in the oven until they are done (juice runs clear when poked with a fork.) I cooked mine for approximately 45 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, cook the chard with 1/2 cup (125 ml) water and the salt over medium heat until tender. Drain the chard, reserving any liquid that remains. Coarsely chop the chard.
• Very finely chop anchovies together with the rosemary. 
• In a medium saucepan, stir together the oil and garlic over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is pale gold, about 10 minutes. Stir in the anchovies and rosemary. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Discard the garlic. Stir in the chard and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to thoroughly coat it with the oil. Stir in the beans. Cook for 3 minutes. 
• Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and the stock. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir in the macaroni. Boil for 6 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. 
• Pass Parmesan cheese at the table.

Cooking with Kale

My second box of farm share veggies included kale. Commence poor veggie knowledge in 3... 2... 1. "What is kale?" I asked myself. Apparently, it's a leafy green veggie that look sort of like lettuce but isn't. It's more like spinach or chard (which I learned about last week!) It's good in soups and sauteed in a pan. Who knew there were SO MANY different veggies out there!

I hadn’t made a soup in a while so I decided to try out a soup recipe with kale. I found a recipe online for kale, sausage, and potato soup (google search to the rescue again). Since I love tweaking recipes, I decided to add an onion as well to beef up the consistency and flavor.

Since the recipe is made with chicken broth and wine I thought it would be good to use a chicken sausage (instead of pork). I found a nice spicy chicken sausage at Whole Foods –- bonus, chicken sausage has way less fat, so at only 7 grams per sausage the whole big pot of soup only had 28 grams of fat.

This soup was amazing and oh, so simple! It really only required chopping some veggies and browning sausage and then throwing it all together in a pot. I absolutely loved it. I doubled the recipe that I found online because it claimed that it served two –- and I figured this might be two servings of soup appetizer, not soup for a meal. I made a good call with this, doubling the recipe made this pot of soup perfect for two people for a whole meal. I would gladly make this recipe again and can probably think of all sorts of other ways to add variety to it and try out different veggies to add, not to mention the fact that Whole Foods has a TON of different types of sausages. YUM!

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

-------------------------------------------

Smoked Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup compliments of Epicurious

Ingredients --

• 4 ounces smoked fully cooked sausage (such as kielbasa or hot links), sliced into rounds
• 2 3/4 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
• 3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 5 cups thinly sliced trimmed kale leaves (about 3/4 of medium bunch) or 3/4 of 10-ounce package frozen chopped kale, thawed, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, lightly crushed

Directions --

Sauté sausage slices in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Add chicken broth, sliced potatoes and white wine and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes. 

Add kale and caraway seeds to soup. Simmer soup uncovered until potatoes and kale are very tender, about 10 minutes longer. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and serve immediately.

Chicken & Apple Pot

Last week was unseasonably cold in Boston –- though the tides have turned and I’m currently writing this from my sweltering 80+ degree apartment. But last week was a different story, I needed a good old warm-me-upper so I decided to make a soup/stew recipe out of my slow cooker cookbook. The choice: Chicken & Apple Pot.

As you may have heard me mention before, I don’t like cooking with chicken, and really I can’t even remember the last time I did cook with chicken. I think I might have been about nine years ago when I made homemade BBQ chicken wings and my kitten jumped on the door of the hot oven. True story. (No kittens were harmed in the cooking of the chicken wings -- he turned out to be fine.)

Anyway, I figured this recipe would be different from other chicken recipes because: a) slow cooking chicken will make it very moist and tender and b.) I don’t have to fear under-cooking as the chicken simmers in the slow cooker for nearly 8 hours. Sudden realization when it comes to chicken: chicken is cheap! I mean, really cheap! I got 5 pretty big drumsticks (the perfect amount for 2 people) at Whole Foods for a whopping $3. I think I may be welcoming chicken back into my kitchen.

This recipe was quite easy to make and tasted very good. The chicken literally fell right off the bone and caramelized apples as a garnish were very delicious. I was told however that next time I might want to think about swapping out some of the apples in favor of some potatoes –- a suggestion that will be duly noted. 

PS: It also went wonderfully with Harpoon Summer Beer –- I’m so glad summer beer is back in season!

Overall score : 7 out of 10

----------------------------------------------------------------

Recipe (Compliments of Slow Cooking by Linda Doesser)

Ingredients –

1 tbsp olive oil

4 chicken portions, about 6 oz each (I used 5 big drumsticks for 2 people)

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1 ½ tbsp flour

1 ¼ cup apple juice

2/3 cup chicken stock

1 cooking apple cut up

2 bay leaves

1-2 tsp honey

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into chunks

Garnish –

1 tbsp butter, melted

1 apple sliced and cored

2 tbsp raw brown sugar

Directions –

1. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the chicken and cook over medium-high heat, turning frequently for 10 minutes, until golden brown all over. Transfer chicken to a slow cooker.
2. Add the onion and celery to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat. Gradually stir in the apple juice and stock, then return the skillet to the heat, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the cooking apple, bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour the mixture over the chicken, cook and cover on low for 6 ½ hours, until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Stir in the yellow bell pepper, re-cover, and cook on high for 45 minutes.
4. Shortly before you are ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Brush one side of the apple slices with half the melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the sugar has caramelized. Turn the slices over with tongs, brush with the remaining butter, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Broil for a further 2 minutes. Serve the stew garnished with the caramelized apple slices.

Valentine's Day Clam Chowder

Wow, I managed to get really far behind in updating all of the wonderful creations I have been dutifully whipping up in the kitchen. But don’t fear, I am going to spend the next few days getting everything up to speed in a quick and easy manner.

For Valentine’s Day this year I decided to pull out the trusty Soup Bible and make something that I’ve never tired before: Clam Chowder. I figured, I’m in Boston after all, why not celebrate this romantic holiday like a true New Englander. I’ve never made clam chowder before, though I have made steamed clams and mussels in broth.

Everything about this recipe went fabulously. It was very hearty and delicious, especially since I used nice, fresh clams that came from Maine. Also, it was a very attractive dish in my humble opinion, since it was served with nice chunks of potato, baby corn, clams that were both in and out of the shell, and then garnished with sliced limes.

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

Moroccan Harira

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten Moroccan food before, let alone cooked it. I also don’t think I’ve ever eaten lamb before, let alone cooked it. AND had no idea what “Harira” meant. So, right off the bat this recipe was going to be an adventure. But the picture in the cookbook looked good – so I figured it was worth a shot!

According to “The Soup Bible” Moroccan Harira is a meat and vegetable soup that is traditionally eaten during the month of Ramadan, when the Moroccan Muslim population fasts between sunup and sundown. It sounded (and looked) hearty, which was great for a cold winter’s night in Boston. Before I continue I must digress… I’ve never eaten lamb before for a silly reason: I always though of them as “cute” animals. But really, I got to thinking, I find cows cute too, and deer (and I have perfectly no problem eating those) so I’m not sure why I’ve been so adverse to eating lamb. I figured this soup was the perfect opportunity to combat my weird lamb phobia.

This soup/stew was a mixture of lamb meat, chick-peas, shallots, red lentils, tomatoes, and soup noodles (I used a thin capellini). The soup was also flavored with cinnamon (a personal favorite), turmeric, and garnished with cilantro and limes (two more of my personal favorites) so I knew my taste buds were going to be in for a treat. This recipe was pretty easy to make, it took a little bit of prep work browning the meat {see picture 1: meat & onions cooking} and then adding the ingredients together at the right time, but once everything was put together it was nice to let it just sit on the stove or crock-pot (which is what I did) for an hour and a half. The inclusion of soup noodles was a great addition which turned this stew into more of a soup. The only downfall was that they soaked up a lot of the broth so I’ll probably have to add more water next time or use some vegetable broth.

All in all, I thought this soup was delicious with a great amount of spice and very tender, tasty meat.

Overall score: 9 out of 10.

Spicy Peanut Soup

Again, another one from “The Soup Bible”. (I’m really getting my money’s worth!) I picked out this recipe for a mid-week meal to accompany the current writing binge I’ve been on, plus I wanted to use up some of the carrots and shallots in my fridge that are left over from the mussels and saffron soup. My parents used to make a great spicy peanut soup with chicken but unfortunately the recipe has been lost, but this one sounded like it could probably top that one because I won’t have to cut up and cook chicken (which isn’t one of my favorite things). What this recipe lacks in meat it makes up for in veggies – it has a wonderful mixture that includes onion, garlic, potatoes, red pepper, carrots, corn, and celery, so it very much like a winter stew. (A winter stew infused with spice and peanut butter, that is.) And yes, I did really chop up all the veggies myself! The soup smelled really good and flavorful while cooking, but after it was done and I had the first bite I realized a slight problem: I seem to have underestimated the spiciness of cayenne pepper, because WHEW this soup really warms inside and out. Luckily I like spicy food and was in the mood for it and it’s not too spicy that it’s intolerable to eat (some of you would probably actually really appreciate the amount of zing that this soup has). It’s delicious though, and definitely packs a punch. Extra bonus: it’s very good the next day with some crunchy French bread! Score: 8 out of 10.

I'm looking into take a little bit of my Christmas cash and buying a new cookbook or two. Here are a few I'm considering:

Gourmet Today 

The Gourmet Slow Cooker 

The Big Book of Casseroles 

Bake Until Bubbly: The Ultimate Casserole Cookbook

A recap of the past month : Not your average mac & cheese, turkey chili, and mussels & saffron soup

I know, it has been quite some time since I posted last. But don’t fret, I have been cooking, just not writing. With the end of the fall semester of my first year of graduate school and the holidays, I just haven't had a chance to load up pictures and write about what I've cooked. But here it is -- finally! Here’s what I made before I left:

Apple-Pepper Salsa & Black Bean Soup

I tend to enjoy cooking Mexican/Southwestern food and realized that the past few meals I’ve prepared have been more Italian in variety. So I decided to sort through my cookbooks and find some Southwestern-inspired dishes. I really enjoy meat – I mean REALLY enjoy -- but I don’t tend to enjoy cooking it (unless it’s on a grill, for some reason I like slapping a burger or steak on the grill but hate cooking meat in my kitchen – especially chicken). So my home cooked meals tend to lean towards the vegetarian side, stuff my newly vegetarian little sister would actually eat! Cheers to her on this weeks creations!

Apricot Baked Brie, Italian Wedding Soup & Saffron Ice Cream

3 Weeks Ago... The recipes for this meal came out of my new “Cooking with all Things Trader Joes”.