Three Sisters Stew

• 1 pound trimmed pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
  1 teaspoon ground cumin
   Kosher salt, as needed
   Black pepper, as needed
  2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola
  1 large yellow onion, diced
  3 garlic cloves, minced
  4 cups turkey or chicken stock, preferably homemade or low-sodium
  1 medium yellow squash, diced
  1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained
  1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
  1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
  2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
  1 (4-ounc) can roasted green chiles (1/2 cup)
  ½ bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
  Preparation: 
  1.    Season pork with cumin, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add pork, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned on all sides, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer pork to a bowl and set aside.
  2.    Add onion to pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until lightly colored, 2 to 3 minutes. Return pork to pan, along with stock and squash, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.
  3.    Add beans, tomatoes, corn and chiles and cook, uncovered, over medium heat until stew has thickened, about 40 minutes. Add cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  
  
  Adapted from “A Taste of Wyoming: Favorite Recipes From the Cowboy State,” by Pamela Sinclair, via the New York Times, here.

Summer Squash Soup with Pasta and Parmesan

From Cooking Light, and found online here. This soup makes the most of fresh summer herbs and squash.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 2 cups)

Ingredients

• 6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 2 1/4 cups uncooked farfalle (about 6 ounces bow tie pasta)
• 2 cups finely chopped yellow squash
• 2 cups finely chopped zucchini
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

Bring broth and water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add pasta, and cook 8 minutes or until almost tender. Add squash and the next 7 ingredients (through pepper). Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until pasta is done and squash is tender. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

We liked but didn't love this, but it might have paled in comparison with the tomato bread pudding from the same meal.

Tom yam kung

Tom Yum is one of my favorite soups. It's actually pretty easy to make if you have the right ingredients on hand. Now that we have a Kaffir lime tree in a pot, we always have fresh lime leaves, and we can harvest lemongrass from the pot on our deck. We always have chicken stock in the freezer, and shrimp is easy to keep there as well, so we really only need to make sure we have chillies, limes, and mushrooms around to be able to make this. I'm sure it took longer than the 5 minutes prep and 5 minutes cooking that the recipe claims, but not by much.

600ml (1 pint) chicken stock

1 lemon grass stalk, chopped into 4 pieces and slightly crushed

4 Kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped

2 small fresh red chillies, finely sliced

8 small button mushrooms, quartered

8 raw king prawns, peeled and de-veined

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon sugar

Coriander leaves, to garnish

In a saucepan, heat the stock to boiling point.Add the lemon grass,

Kaffir lime leaves, chillies and mushrooms and bring back to the boil.

Add the prawns, Fish sauce, lime juice and suger and simmer for

about a minute or so, unit the prawns are cooked.

Turn into soup bowl and garnish with coriander leaves

From Stylish Thai in Minutes

Betsy Zimm's Cream of Carrot Soup

In the depths of Lyme disease despair one time, I drove over to meet Sarah in Minneapolis and stayed a few days. Betsy made this soup. I've no idea if it's a regular recipe of hers, but that's how I forever think of it. I also have no idea where the recipe came from.

1 cup chopped white of leek
2 large yellow onions, chopped
4 T. butter
~2 lb. sweet carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups water
3 cups vegetable broth
5 T. uncooked white rice
pinch of sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. crushed dried thyme
1 small bay leaf
pinch of cayenne
1½cups milk
⅓ cup cream
dash of nutmeg

Saute onions and leeks in butter until golden. Add carrots, water, broth, rice, sugar, salt, thyme, bay leaf, and cayenne. Cover and simmer approximately 40 minutes, or until carrots and rice are completely mushy soft. Remove bay leaf. Puree in blender or food processor until velvety smooth. Can be refrigerated or frozen here.

Return to saucepan, stir in milk, cream and nutmeg, and heat through, stirring gently. Correct seasoning with pinch of salt or nutmeg. Sprinkle each serving with chopped fresh chives. Makes 8 to 10 generous servings.

The Soto King's Chicken Soup

This was a very nice, fragrant soup. I didn't top it with fried shallots & celery leaves, which would be good, I'm sure. I used macadamia nuts from Hawaii- although we saw candlenut trees there, we didn't bring any home with us.

THE SOTO KING'S CHICKEN SOUP
Makes 4 or 5 servings without rice, or 6 servings with rice

• 2 tablespoons Crisp-Fried Shallots (see Note)
• 1 whole free-range chicken, 3 to 3 1/2 pounds, quartered
• 2 quarts water
• 2 thick stalks fresh lemongrass, each tied into a knot
• 6 whole fresh or thawed, frozen kaffir lime leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

FOR THE FLAVORING PASTE:

• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 5 shallots (about 3 3/4 ounces), coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 3 candlenuts or unsalted macadamia nuts
• 1 piece fresh or thawed, frozen turmeric, 2 inches long, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 teaspoons), or 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 piece fresh galangal, 2 inches long, peeled and thinly sliced against the grain (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 piece fresh ginger, 2 inches long, peeled and thinly sliced against the grain (about 2 tablespoons)

FOR THE REST OF THE DISH:

• 3 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 small package glass noodles
• Boiling water to cover the glass noodles
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped Chinese celery greens or regular celery leaves
• 3 limes quartered

Prepare the fried shallots and set aside.

Combine the chicken, 2 quarts of water, lemongrass, lime leaves and salt in a 4-quart saucepan, Dutch oven or soup pot. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a roiling boil. Using a large spoon, skim off the foam that rises to the top. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the liquid cook at a lively simmer until the chicken is tender, about 45 minutes. Continue to skim off the foam every 10 minutes or so to yield a clear broth.

Meanwhile, make the flavoring paste. Place the peppercorns, coriander and cumin in a small food processor. Pulse until the spices are ground to a dusty powder, about 2 minutes.

Add the shallots, garlic, candlenuts, turmeric, galangal and ginger to the ground spices. Pulse until you have a smooth paste the consistency of creamy mashed potatoes. If the paste won't puree properly and repeatedly creeps up the side of the processor instead of grinding, add up to 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon at a time, periodically turning the processor off and scraping the unground portions down toward the blade.

Heat the oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Test to see if the oil is the right temperature by adding a pinch of the ground paste. The paste should sizzle slightly around the edges, not fry aggressively or sit motionless. When the oil is ready, add all the paste and saute, stirring as needed to prevent scorching, until the paste begins to separate from the oil and the aroma of coriander and cumin takes over, 5 to 7 minutes.

By now the chicken should be cooked through and just beginning to fall away from the bone. If it isn't, allow it to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Remove and discard the lemongrass and lime leaves from the stock. Set the stock in the pot aside (don't discard it). Transfer the chicken quarters to a bowl and set them aside until they are cool enough to handle. When they are, tear the flesh and skin -- discard the bones -- into the finest pieces you can manage; this works best if you tear with the grain of the flesh, not against it. (You can discard the skin if you like, though it is traditionally used in soto.)

Add the flavoring paste and the chicken pieces to the stock and stir well to combine. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer until the essence of the flavoring paste begins to bind with the stock, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the glass noodles in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let the noodles soak until they soften, 10 to 15 minutes. Once they're soft, hold the noodles in a tight bunch and, with a pair of kitchen shears or a knife, snip or cut them into pieces 4 to 5 inches long (longer pieces can be tricky to eat, as the noodles are quite slippery). Drain the softened noodles into a colander and set aside.

Taste the simmering soup for salt, and add a pinch more if needed. Remove the pan from the heat, add the lime juice and stir to combine. Taste once more for salt.

To serve the soup, you can divide the glass noodles among shallow, wide soup bowls, ladle the soup over them and sprinkle the fried shallots and celery greens on top just before serving. Or, add the noodles to the soup while it's still in the pot, and then transfer the soup to a tureen and garnish with shallots and celery just before serving. In both cases, put the lime quarters at the center of the table for guests to squeeze into the soup as desired. Serve the soto warm, not piping hot, which will allow guests to discern its layered flavors more clearly. It will taste even more delicious reheated the next day.

Note: You can buy fried shallots in bags or plastic containers at Asian markets. To make your own: Cut 7 shallots (about 6 ounces) into paper-thin slices. Pour peanut oil to a depth of 1 inch into a 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking. Add as many shallot slices as will comfortably fit in the pan. Using a slotted spoon, move the shallots around until they turn a uniform light-gold color, about 2 to 3 minutes. When ready, remove from oil and drain on paper towels. They will crisp up after a minute or two.

From Cradle of Flavor by way of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Scallop and Bacon Chowder

This recipe is from Bon Appetit, and I only modify a little bit. Found on epicurious. I only sometimes make the parsley oil to top it.

1 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley
¾ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon salt

8 ounces bacon, coarsely chopped
2 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2½ cups frozen corn kernels
1½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 8-ounce bottles clam juice
8 oz. water
1 cup whipping cream
1 pound bay scallops, connective tissue removed

Blend parsley, oil, and salt in blender until smooth. Pour into small bowl. (Parsley oil can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Cook bacon in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pot. Add leeks, garlic, and thyme to pot and sauté until leeks begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add corn and sauté 2 minutes. Add potatoes, clam juice, and water; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add cream, scallops and bacon and simmer until scallops are just opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle chowder into bowls. Drizzle 1 teaspoon parsley oil atop chowder in each bowl and serve.

Cassoulet

More good elite election party food. This is from epicurious as well. It is extremely rich if you actually cook up the duck skin into cracklings.

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Active time: 1¼ hr
Start to finish: 12 hr (includes soaking beans)

1 lb dried white beans (preferably Great Northern)
8¼ cups cold water
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chopped onion (¾ lb)
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic (6 large cloves)
1 (3-inch) piece celery, cut into thirds
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 Turkish or ½ California bay leaf
3 whole cloves
3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs plus ½ cup chopped leaves
¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 (14-oz) can stewed tomatoes, puréed or finely chopped with juice
4 confit duck legs (1¾ lb total)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (if necessary)
1 lb cooked garlic pork sausage or smoked pork kielbasa, cut crosswise into ⅓-inch-thick slices
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a baguette)
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Soak and cook beans:
Cover beans with cold water by 2 inches in a large bowl and soak 8 to 12 hours. Drain in a colander.

Transfer beans to a 6- to 8-quart pot and bring to a boil with 8 cups cold water, broth, tomato paste, onion, and 2 tablespoons garlic. Put celery, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley sprigs, and peppercorns in cheesecloth and tie into a bundle with string to make a bouquet garni. Add bouquet garni to beans, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until beans are almost tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in tomatoes with juice and simmer until beans are just tender, about 15 minutes more.

Prepare duck and sausage while beans simmer:
Remove all skin and fat from duck legs and cut skin and fat into ½-inch pieces. Separate duck meat from bones, leaving it in large pieces, and transfer meat to a bowl. Add bones to bean pot.

Cook duck skin and fat with remaining ¼ cup cold water in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until water is evaporated and fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until skin is crisp, 3 to 6 minutes more. Transfer cracklings with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, leaving fat in skillet. (You should have about ¼ cup fat; if not, add olive oil.)

Brown sausage in batches in fat in skillet, then transfer to bowl with duck meat, reserving skillet.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make bread crumb topping:
Add remaining tablespoon garlic to fat in skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and cracklings.

Assemble casserole:
Remove bouquet garni and duck bones from beans and discard, then stir in kielbasa, duck meat, remaining teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Ladle cassoulet into casserole dish, distributing meat and beans evenly. (Meat and beans should be level with liquid; if they are submerged, ladle excess liquid back into pot and boil until reduced, then pour back into casserole dish.) Spread bread crumb topping evenly over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, in lower third of oven, until bubbling and crust is golden, about 1 hour.

Cooks' note: Cassoulet can be assembled (but not baked) 1 day ahead. Cool casserole before adding topping, then top and chill, loosely covered. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.

Broccoli Potato Soup

From Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love, abbreviated.

2 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 head broccoli, florets only, in 1.5-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
1 cup part-skim ricotta
6 cups chicken stock
1 T. kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steam potatoes until soft, about 25 minutes. Set aside. Steam broccoli until soft, about 10-13 minutes. Transfer potatoes to a food processor and puree until smooth. Pour into a medium saucepan. Transfer broccoli to the food processor and puree until smooth. Add the ricotta and pulse until just incorporated. Add 2 cups of stock and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan. Add remaining stock. Heat over medium heat until hot. Season with the salt and pepper.

My comments: first, my Mom taught us all the hard way once that it's just a really tragic idea to food process potatoes to mash them. You make an approximation of wallpaper paste. So I gamely went along and did it and made the requisite gloop, which was really hard to scrape out of the food processor into a saucepan (starch taffy, anyone?). I then proceeded with the recipe and added the broccoli mix to the same saucepan, heating and smooshing and stirring, and eventually stick blending to try to get the gloop to mix in. Even that didn't work completely. (Kels tried to make Kloese once and made potato soup--I try to make potato soup and get Kloese. Go figure.) So here's my question. Why do it this way? Susan? Can you think of any reason not to just throw everything in a pot with the stock and then stick blend it?

Is there something else I missed? I have reproduced the recipe as directed in the cookbook, and you'll notice that it never actually tells you to do anything with the potatoes again (i.e. it does not tell you to put the broccoli mixture in the same saucepan, I just assumed that's what they meant but it's not how it's written). Is that because they're so awful after you've food processed them that you throw them out and simply make broccoli ricotta soup? Is it because they meant to tell you to throw them back in with the broccoli/ricotta/stock mixture and process them together there, before returning it all to the pot? Next time I will try stick blending it all in the pot.

I used 4 cups of Kels stock plus some water, and even then only added 2 tsp. salt. I think a T. is too much, but since this isn't in the potato section of the book, it's only got 1.5 times the salt you'd want, as opposed to 4x or so. Also, I peeled and chopped broccoli stems and included them.

Okra-Free Gumbo

Inspired by an article from the Sunday New York Times, I thought I'd try to turn some of our abundance of greens into gumbo. This recipe sounded interesting, and uses lots of random greens instead of okra. I used spinach, bok choy and arugula. We didn't have collards, and threw out our turnip and beet greens last week, or I would have used them.

It was very good, but could have used a little thickener. I added some chicken stock, sausage and frozen shrimp to the base and served it over rice. I would try filé powder next time. We have 6 cups of the base frozen for future use.

I used some cajun seasoning mix instead of the paprika, cayenne, cloves and allspice, and green Tabasco instead of Pickapeppa sauce. the seasonings were about right, but there is a lot of room for playing with them.

Gumbo Zeb from The Passionate Vegetarian

Roux:
½ c mild vegetable oil
½ c unbleached all-purpose flour

Vegetable Saute:
4 T margarine
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
½ bunch celery with leaves, chopped
½ large bunch scallions, chopped

Seasoning Puree:
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T Pickapeppa sauce
2 T tomato paste
2½ t Tabasco
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried thyme
½ t paprika
¼ t cayenne
¼ t ground allspice
¼ t ground cloves
3 to 4 good grinds of fresh black pepper
1 can (8 oz.) whole tomatoes, drained, coarsely choped, the juice and tomatoes reserved separately
½ bunch Italian parsley, leaves and stems, rinsed and coarsely chopped

Stock and Greens:
Cooking spray
3 c any well-flavored vegetable stock
1 c tomato juice or V8 juice
½ t salt
2 bay leaves
3 bunches assorted greens, well washed and cut into ribbons

Make the roux with the oil and flour: Pour the oil into a large skillet or pot. Turn the heat to medium and immediately whisk in the flour. Stir frequently as the roux changes color from white to yellow to fairly brown. While the roux cooks, proceed with the other steps, but be sure to keep an eye on it, stirring very frequently. Warning--this is a long, slow process requiring attention.

Prepare the vegetable saute: In a heavy cast-iron skillet, melt the margarine over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bell pepper and celery, lower the heat slightly and continue sauteing for another 10 minutes. (Don't forget the roux--keep stirring it while the vegetables saute.) Add the scallions and saute until limp, about 5 minutes more.

Meanwhile, between the sauteing and the roux-stirring, you will have time to prepare the seasoning puree. Place all the ingredients for the seasoning puree except the tomatoes and parsley in a food processor. (Pause to stir both roux and vegetable saute.) Buzz the puree ingredients until the garlic is finely chopped.

Check the roux again, then add the tomatoes and parsley to the food processor. Chop coarsely.

Pause to take note of where you are, and go stir the roux and vegetable saute (By now you have three mixtures: the roux, the sauteed vegetables, and th spicy, chunky paste in the food processor.) When the vegetables have softened, remove from the heat and set them aside. Keep working on the roux until it has reached a nice toasty brown. It may be ready now, or it may take a little longer.

Now prepare the stock and greens into which the other three mixtures will eventually go. Spray a large soup pot with cooking spray. In it, bring to a boil the stock and 1 cup of tomato juice (from canned tomatoes). Add the salt and bay leaves. Drop in the fresh greens. Bring back to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered for about 30 minutes.

Stir the roux. By now it should be dark caramel brown, but if it isn't, continue to cook it, stirring. When the roux has browned, remove it from the heat nad let it cool for a few minutes. Drain off any excess oil that has separated out, but be sure to leave every bit of the browned flour. Vigorously whisk in the 1 cup tomato or V8 juice. It will be smooth and thick and a pale orange paste.

When the greens have finished their 30-minute simmer, remove them from the heat. To the stock pot, add the roux mixture, the vegetable saute, and the seasoning puree. Give a taste and adjust the seasoning, set the pot back on the stove, and let simmer over the lowest possible heat, covered, for 15 minutes. Stir often.

Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

(found here, with some typos corrected, but recipe referred to in the NY Times is in The Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread by the same author)

Lentil Soup with Chard and Lemon

Found in James Beard's American Cookery, according to this blog where I found it.

We ate it warm, because we were hungry by the time I got to the last step where it says "serve chilled", and because it sounded better anyway. We tried it chilled for lunch the next day, and it was OK. I can't say it was a favorite for either of us, but it managed to use up two weeks worth of chard. Not as good as the chard tart we got as a recipe with last years vegetables (I'll post the recipe here eventually).

Lentil Soup with Chard and Lemon

1½ cups lentils
2½ lbs fresh Swiss Chard
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup chopped onion
3 to 4 garlic cloves
Salt
1 Stalk celery, chopped
¾ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon flour
Chopped chives for garnish

Wash and pick over the lentils. Cover them with fresh cold water, and cook, covered, until tender. Wash the Swiss Chard leaves and chop them. Add these and a cup of water to the lentils. Continue cooking until the Swiss chard is done, adding more water if necessary. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped onion. Crush the garlic cloves with salt, and add these and the chopped celery to the onion. Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender and blended. Add to the lentil mixture. Mix the lemon juice with the flour and stir it into the soup. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the soup is rather thick. Taste for seasoning. Serve chilled with chopped chives in soup bowls, and pass crusty French or Italian bread to sop up the juices.

Cold beet borscht

This is our favorite summer soup, and a reason we've been looking forward to beet season. It's hard to save any of the beets we get from the farm for anything else. This week we got less than half a pound, so only two large bowls came from them.

1 lb. beets
2 tsp. white vinegar, or to taste
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice
¾ tsp. citric acid powder [I skip this]
½ cup plus 1 tbl. sugar
1½ tsp. kosher salt
½ cup sour cream
2/3 cup heavy cream
Ad-lib toppings: chopped onion, chopped cucumber, chopped fresh dill, lemon wedges, sour cream, heavy cream, reserved grated beets, chopped hard-boiled egg, coiled boiled very small waxy potato

In a small saucepan, bring the beets and water to cover by 2 inches to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the beets are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 30 to 45 minutes (depending on the size and age of the beets).

Drain the beets in a sieve lined with a damp cloth; reserve the cooking liquid. Run the beets under cold water to cool, then peel. In a food processor, grate the beets with the grating disc (this can also be done with a box grater).

Return half of the grated beets to the cooking liquid. Reserve the rest of the beets for topping or for another use. Season the soup with the vinegar, lemon juice, citric acid, sugar and salt and stir until everything is dissolved. Chill.

Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream and heavy cream. Pass small bowls of the ad lib toppings.

Makes 7 cups; serves 6 as a first course.

from Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka.

Julienne of Five Lettuce Soup

Still looking for new and creative ways to eat lettuce, without a salad every night. This was OK. Made about a half recipe, with the varieties of lettuce we happened to have (3 different ones), and no chicory.

1 cup packed romaine lettuce leaves
1 cup packed Boston lettuce leaves
1 cup packed leaf lettuce
1 cup escarole leaves
½ cup packed escarole leaves
2 tbl. unsalted butter
5 cups chicken stock
½ cup heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

Wash the lettuces and dry well. Cut into ⅛ inch strip: This is easiest to do if you stack several leaves at a time, roll into a tight wad and slice them accross. You can also use the medium slicing disk of a food processor.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the lettuces and toss with the butter. When the lettuces are wilted, add the chicken stock and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the toughest leaves are tender.

In a small bowl, mix the cream with the egg yolks. Gradually stir in a small amount of the hot soup into the cream mixture to slowly raise the temperature of the egg yolks. Keep adding soup until the mixture is warm. Whick the egg yolk mixture into the soup and cook, stirring constantly, without letting the soup boil, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Season with the salt and pepper.

Serves 6 to 8 as a first course
from Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

Black Bean and Hominy Stew

Last night (from Heather and Andrew)

Very good and hearty! Be careful adding salt, the ham adds plenty.

2 tbl. olive oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion
1 large garlic clove
½ lb. smoked ham, cubed
½ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. coriander
1 canned chipotle chile in Adobo (1 tsp.)
2 15 oz. cans black beans
2 15 oz. cans hominy
1 ½ cups chicken broth (homemade or low sodium)
¼ cup chopped cilantro
salt & pepper
½ cup shredded cheddar

In large saucepan, heat olive oil, add bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook until browned. Add ham, cumin, coriander and chile and cook until the ham is browned. Add black beans, hominy, and stock and bring to boil. Simmer stew until thickened. Add cilantro, season with salt & pepper. Top with cheddar.