Tag: winter

Green Pea and Red Lentil Soup

pea-soup

I’m a huge fan of pea soup on a chilly day.  I make it slightly differently every time, but one thing I’ve learned is that a soup needs to be built up. When I was young, I would dump everything in the pot at once, turn up the heat and simmer, and wonder why it didn’t taste like it should. In this case, I started with the onions and gradually added ingredients until only the legumes, water and herbs remained to be added. I was happy with this particular version and thought I’d share it here.

1 spanish onion, diced
4 carrots, roughly chopped (size depends on how chunky you like your soup)
3 celery stalks, diced
4 medium red potatoes, roughly chopped
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 thick slices of ham, sliced into small cubes (again, your size preference)
1 lb dried green split peas
1/4 lb dried red lentils
10 to 12 cups of water (depending on how thick you like your soup)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp ground savory
salt and pepper
olive oil

If you have time, brown the ham in the bottom of the soup pot in a little bit of olive oil, then remove to a bowl. Add a couple tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot, and saute the onions, stirring occasionally, on medium-low heat until they are translucent and starting to carmelize. Add the carrots and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes minutes; add the potatoes and garlic (and the ham, if you didn’t brown it) and cook for another 5 minutes; add the celery and cook for another 5 minutes. During this process, stir occasionally because while a little browning on the bottom of the pan can add a nice flavor, you don’t want to go overboard and burn anything, which will ruin the soup. Stir in the ham.

Add the water, herbs and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Bring to a boil, stir the pot and lower the heat to a very gentle simmer.  Most likely you’ll want more salt, but it is better to add and taste for salt in increments and there is plenty of time ahead. I’ll cook this for a few hours, stirring every once in a while, until the legumes have completely disintegrated.  Towards the end of the cooking process, I’ll add in some freshly ground pepper to taste.

This is marvelous served with some good bread, and maybe a garnish of fresh, chopped parsley on top.

pea-soup-vert

Winter Vegetarian Stew

vegetarian-winter-stew

This vegetarian stew was completely winged tonight but I ran with the concept of trying to heighten each flavor first, and then bring things together. I loved how it came out. The idea of the turnip puree came from Kevin on Top Chef last season and I loved it — was almost like coconut milk.  It reminded another person of a chicken pot pie.  I loved how the puree thickened the meal into a great comfort dish without the need for flour.

This was a big hit so I thought I should write down my best memory of the process while it was fresh in my mind.  The amounts below are kind of rough, but it’s stew — nothing needs to be exact here!

3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup cream
1/4 tsp sugar
2 medium/large turnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 or 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb white mushrooms, halved and sliced
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 cans of chickpeas (or equivalent dried and cooked)
6 to 8 stalks of kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
5 or 6 small red potatoes
1 cup white wine or vermouth
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped (or half as much dried)
1 to 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Stage 1: cooking the separate ingredients
A. In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic in a touch of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter, and let slowly cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Add the celery and a couple pinches of salt and continue to cook.

B. Place the turnips, 1/2 cup of cream, and 1/2 cup of water in a pot and simmer until the turnips are soft

C. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a saute pan and cook the mushrooms, with a couple pinches of salt, for 15-20 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar near the end.

Stage 2: the rest!
Pour 1/2 cup of vermouth (or white wine) into the pot with the onions and celery and let it cook down a bit, then add in the kale.  Cover and let simmer for several minutes.  Once the kale has initially softened, add in the cooked mushrooms and the chickpeas, oregano, parsley. Add another 1/2 cup of vermouth and 1 cup of water and continue to cook.

Place the turnips, with the cooking liquid, in a food processor and let cool.  At this point, I rinsed out this pot, brought water to boil, and boiled the potatoes for 10 to 15 minutes to soften.

Puree the turnip and cream, and add 1/4 tsp of sugar.  Gently stir the puree into the stew, add the pepper flakes and a couple pinches worth of freshly ground black pepper, and add the potatoes when they are done.

Cook the stew for a while longer on very low heat until you are happy the flavors have all come together.  Add some water if it feels too thick.  Taste for salt and pepper.