Garlic and Leek Soup

It’s our final CSA week for 2010. Oh we will miss the weekly box. At our house we just don’t dine as well when the veggie bin lacks abundance–without the need to be aggressive about using things up. A Ranui greens salad every night–ah summer. Let’s be gluttons with the garlic and make this variation on the traditional Spanish Sopa de Ajo. I’ve been hoarding some thyme and parsley from the last couple of weeks, maybe you all have too. You can place a poached egg on top of the croutons and cheese in the bowl for a more substantial meal.

2 heads garlic, separated into cloves and peeled

8 cups vegetable stock

1 to 2 teaspoons Real Salt, depending on how salty your stock is

Pinch saffron, optional

Freshly ground pepper

2 whole cloves

2 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs fresh parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 or 5 baby leeks, trimmed, cleaned and sliced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup dried orzo or other small pasta

2 cups Garlic Croutons

1/2 cup grated queso fresco or mozzarella cheese

Add the garlic to the veggie stock along with the salt, saffron, if using, some pepper, the cloves, thyme, parsley and oil. Bring to a gentle boil, then cover and simmer for about one hour. Strain and discard the garlic, clove and herbs.

While the garlic is simmering, sauté the leeks in the butter until soft and just golden.

Stir the orzo into the broth along with the sautéed leeks. Simmer until the orzo is just cooked.

To serve, put some croutons in the bottom of a soup bowl and sprinkle with the cheese. Ladle the soup over this and the optional poached egg.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Garlic Croutons

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 baguette, cut into 3/4-inch dice (about 2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the olive oil and garlic in a bowl, add the diced bread, and toss until well coated. Transfer to a baking sheet pan and bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Return the croutons to the bowl, sprinkle with the paprika, and toss well.

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Tortilla Soup

I love the hearty warming qualities of tortilla soup this time of year. Serve it for a casual party meal, with a tossed salad of lettuce, jicama, sliced oranges and grapefruit, dressed with cumin-spiced vinaigrette. For dessert serve a tangy lime tart. If you own my Chocolate Snowball Cookbook make the Margarita Tart.

Let your guests decide which and how much of the additions they want (or don’t want) from the assortment of options you arrange on the table. Because I follow a plant-based diet, I make the soup with vegetable broth: my version uses canned tomatoes and chopped chipotle chiles to season the broth. To gratify meat eaters, shredded chicken can be one of the garnish choices.

The broth:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, optional
2 to 3 teaspoons chipotles en adobo
Sea salt
The garnishes:
6 corn tortillas, cut in strips about 3/8-inch thick
1/4 cup peanut or canola oil
1/4 pound cheese, cut in cubes or strips (queso fresco, sharp white Cheddar or jalapeno jack)
1 large avocado, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 cup shredded poached chicken (optional)
For the soup:
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Sauté the onions about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and stir until the onions are soft and translucent, a few more minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the broth and the corn, if using. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Chop the chipotles and add them. Season to taste with sea salt.
For the garnishes:
In a large skillet heat the peanut oil over medium heat. Fry the tortilla strips until they are just beginning to get crisp. Drain on paper towels. Put the tortilla strips, the cheese, avocado, cilantro and chicken in separate bowls.
To serve:
Put some cheese and tortilla strips, a couple of avocado slices and the cilantro in each person’s bowl. Add the chicken, if desired. Ladle the hot tomato broth over the garnishes.
Makes about 6 servings.

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Mess o’ Greens and Beans Soup

What a lovely Indian summer of a week this is. Jack Frost has been visiting Ranui Gardens most nights but has backed off for a spell while we enjoy glorious blue-ribbon days. Mild frosts in fact benefit kale and collards, which are in John’s mess o’ greens mix: these hardy greens become sweeter after they’ve been frost kissed. We can enjoy this substantial soup with a southern accent on our crisp-cool evenings.

It’s easy to cook black-eyed peas if you prefer them over canned: start with ½ pound of dried beans. Rinse the beans and put them in a large pot with about 4 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 45 minutes or so, until tender. If you use a pressure cooker, black-eyed peas cook in 10 to 11 minutes. This recipe is adapted from one in Moosewood Restaurant Low-fat Favorites cookbook.

8 ounces Mess o’Greens, or collard greens or kale

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, red or yellow, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups vegetable stock

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes (about 2 cups)

2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed (3 to 4 cups)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Pinch dried thyme

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon Real Salt

2 cups cooked brown rice

Rinse the greens well and remove the coarse stems. Chop coarsely and set aside.

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Stir in the onions and cook and stir until they are translucent. Add the garlic and cook and stir another minute or so. Add the vegetable stock, chopped greens, tomatoes and their juice, black-eyed peas, vinegar, brown sugar, thyme, allspice, hot pepper sauce and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the rice and simmer another 5 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and hot pepper sauce, if desired.

Makes about 4 servings.

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Lemon Pasta with Chive Oil

I have always said that when I no longer work at Deer Valley I will join Wasatch Mountain Food and Wine Society. I only want to be invited to one banquet—the annual Sunday luncheon created by Deer Valley’s most senior chefs and pastry chefs. The banquets are usually in early June, between seasons for us, and we have the time to perfect our menu ideas; I want to be seated and served because I know the effort, expense and love that goes into each course.

Last Sunday, Shane and Kristine, who in the winter oversee the Fireside Dining kitchen at Empire Canyon Lodge, served a lemon pasta roulade filled with chicken and vegetables, in a bowl of chicken broth sprinkled with chive oil and Hawaiian lava salt oil. They called it Chicken Noodle Soup!

This is Shane’s chive oil recipe with my very simple but sexy lemon pasta in broth. I have an inexpensive hand-cranked stainless steel pasta machine that I bought at a garage sale years ago—and I drag it out of the corner of my pantry when I have the time to flatter my guests with elegant homemade pasta. Truly it is not that time consuming a project—it takes me about an hour to prepare the noodles from dough to finished dish. The food processor mixes and kneads the dough in seconds. While the dough is resting, heat the broth, make the chive oil and set the water to boil.

Lemon Pasta with Chive Oil

The chive oil can garnish soup or salad (of Ranui greens), be basted on grilled meat or fish, and though I am reluctant to say it, dress up a dish of boxed fettuccini.

1 ½-1¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon Real Salt

3 cups flavorful vegetable or chicken broth

½ cup chopped fresh chives

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons chive blossoms or chopped chives, for garnish

Put 1 ½ cups of the flour in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel knife blade. Add the eggs, lemon zest and salt and process until the dough forms a ball. The dough should not be wet—if it is, add the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time and process the dough for about 30 seconds, or until it is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Chive Oil and Blossoms, Pasta resting

Heat the broth and keep hot on the back burner of the stove. Put the chives and the olive oil in a blender. Whir until the oil is warm, a minute or so. Set aside with a strainer nearby. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously—Italian cooks say it should be as salty as broth.

Divide the rested pasta dough into eight pieces. Keep them covered with plastic so they don’t dry out. With a pasta machine or by hand, roll out and stretch each piece into a rectangle about 1/16 inch thick, using flour sparingly as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the rollers. Cut the pasta on the noodle setting of the machine or about ¼ inch thick. Separate the strands and let the pasta dry, stretched out on towels or a pasta drying rack.

pasta rolling

noodle cutting

drying lemon pasta

Strain the chives from the oil, discarding the pulp. Add the lemon juice to the broth. Drop the pasta into the boiling salted water and cook it for 30 seconds after the water returns to a boil—fresh pasta cooks very quickly and you want it to be just firm to the bite (al dente).

Drain and divide the pasta into 6 serving bowls. Pour about 1/2 cup of broth over the noodles, drizzle generously with chive oil and garnish with chive blossoms or chives. Serve immediately.

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Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup

Here’s a soup for a crowd.  Traditionally made with real meat chorizo, variations of this recipe are easy to find. I found this interpretation in Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor D’Avila Latourrette. Brother Victor calls for the soup to cook two hours, but you know me, the pressure cooker is the way to go—dinner will be on the table in less than an hour, provided you have planned and soaked the beans beforehand. Lacinato kale was on sale last week so that is what I bought. Rumor has it that Lacinato or dinosaur kale is the most nutritious of kales.

Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup

1 cup white beans, either the larger Northern or the smaller Navy bean

2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

9 cups water

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut in ½-inch cubes

1 pound Lacinato kale, stems removed and discarded

12 to 16 ounces chorizo style vegetarian “sausage”, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 ½ to 2 teaspoons sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Put the beans in a bowl, cover with plenty of water, and let soak overnight.

Heat the first 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pressure cooker; cook and stir the onions over medium flame, until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook a few minutes more. Pour in the water and stir in the tomato paste. Rinse the soaked beans and add them to the pot along with the potatoes. Chop the kale leaves and add them. Lock the lid in place, and over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally for 10 minutes; then quick release as directed by your pressure cooker.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Cook and stir the “sausage” until the pieces are lightly brown on the sides. Add the browned “sausage”, the vinegar and salt and pepper. Taste, adding more salt as needed.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Hot and Sour Miso Soup

Last week, a nasty cold bug found its way into my body. It zapped my energy and made my nose drip everywhere. I drank thermos-fulls of hot herbal tea, Yogi Throat Comfort and Green Tea Triple Echinacea and laid low for the entire weekend. I wanted soup—but not Grandma’s chicken noodle, I craved my homemade comfort soup—Hot and Sour Miso Soup.

Miso soup really is good for you. It’s rich with antioxidants and protective fatty acids, and a healthy dose of Vitamin E. It also boasts protein and Vitamin B12, and a nice selection of minerals to help boost the strength of your immune system. Miso is a fermented seasoning, a staple in every Japanese kitchen; its range of flavors and colors, textures and aromas is as varied as that of the world’s fine wines or cheeses. For this soup use a deep red-brown miso, versus light, white miso.

4 dried shiitake mushrooms

8 cups hot vegetable stock

3 leeks, white parts only, sliced, or 1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1/2 pound firm tofu, sliced (optional)

2 tablespoons rice wine (mirin)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

1 or 2 jalapeño peppers, veins and seeds removed, minced or 2 pinches cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup dark miso

2 carrots, julienne-cut or grated

Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl, pour 2 cups of the vegetable stock over them, cover, and let stand 10 minutes.

In a large saucepan, cook the remaining vegetable stock with the onions, garlic, and ginger for 5 minutes. Add the tofu (if using) and simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in the rice wine, vinegar, tamari, jalapeño pepper and sesame oil.

Strain the soaking liquid from the dried mushrooms into the soup. Slice the mushrooms into slivers and add them.

Dissolve the arrowroot in the 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to the soup and bring to a gentle boil, stirring. The soup will become very slightly thickened. Place the miso in a bowl and whisk in 1/2 cup of the soup. Add the miso liquid to the soup along with the carrots. Do not allow the soup to boil as boiling destroys some of the nutrition of the miso and changes the flavor. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with more vinegar, tamari, or cayenne, as needed. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

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Cream of ‘Mess o’ Greens’ Soup

More than a dozen years ago, Deer Valley co-hosted a fundraising event for Red Butte Garden,  a part of the University of Utah. Rotating through Snow Park Lodge’s banquet rooms, turned into classrooms set with portable demo kitchens complete with mirrors and gas stoves, guests enjoyed 3 Deer Valley chefs cooking 3 separate menus, all featuring fresh herbs.

I was one of the “Chefs for All Seasonings” teaching the half-hour classes—and keeping with the herb theme, I made oatmeal rosemary scones, peppercorn and pear tart, and basil ice creams, both plain and chocolate. Another chef followed his Southern heritage and taught pan-fried catfish with cornmeal and thyme, red beans and rice and mess o’ greens. Even though I’d lived in the North Carolina mountains for 2 years, I think that was the first time I heard that term used to describe a bitter-tangy-sweet mixture of greens, like collards, mustard greens, kale etc. If you come from the South, your mother probably made mess o’ greens flavored with salt pork or bacon, cooked for hours on end.

Well I love my greens, and I always make them on New Years Day to insure a profitable year, but I cook them without meat and only until they are just tender, about 15 minutes.

Here is a warming soup to welcome the first real freeze of the fall, and to use several of our CSA veggies of the week: potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, jalapeño pepper and Ranui mess o’ greens. It’s also a vegan recipe, with cashew milk instead of milk or cream. Serve with corn muffins–I recommend the recipe from my cookbook if you don’t have a favorite corn muffin or cornbread recipe.

Cream of Mess o’ Greens Soup

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup plus 4 cups vegetable broth

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 leeks, white part mostly, cleaned and sliced into rings

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, seeds and veins removed, chopped

2 medium potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice

5 cups mess o’ greens, with the stems stripped and discarded

1 teaspoon Real Salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, optional

In a blender, whir the cashews and 1 cup of the vegetable broth until smooth, about a minute.

In a large soup pot or pressure cooker over medium flame, heat the olive oil. Cook and stir the leeks for a minute; add the onions and cook and stir another minute or so. Add the garlic and jalapeño pepper, the remaining 4 cups of vegetable broth, the potatoes and the mess o’ greens. Add the salt. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Alternately–if you use a pressure cooker, lock the lid in place, and over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 6 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally or use a quick-release method.

Stir in the reserved cashew “milk.” Remove from the heat. Puree the soup with an immersion blender directly in the pot, or in the regular blender (in batches.).

Season to taste with salt and the optional lemon juice—to intensify the flavor.

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