Cauliflower and Potato soup

This post has been way overdue and the reasons are too many to elaborate. My sister was visiting from India, work was crazy, was trying to run too much, etc etc. All of which translated to me not cooking a whole lot and blogging even lesser. I missed both so I am trying my best to get back in the groove. 

We have been getting a lot of great produce from our summer CSA, which we have been cooking in the fastest possible way by sauteing it in some olive oil and keeping the spices to the bare minimum. This has been very tasty and efficient however I would like to be more creative and come up with some interesting ideas. That being said, simple meals are currently the norm in our kitchen. The cauliflower and potato soup which I am blogging today is one such recipe. This was actually inspired by my sister who made a great potato soup when she was here. My sister was not much of a cook when we lived together. But now that she has married a pastry chef, the tables have turned, much to our delight! I absolutely loved her soup and decided to changed it only a wee bit to include cauliflower. The result is delicious, creamy and velvetty.

It is also super easy to put together. The main flavor ingredient here is the browned garlic so be careful not to burn it (especially if you are prone to burning things like me). Here goes then, thanks to my lovely sister who I wish was here longer.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
1/2 medium sized cauliflower (florets separated)
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped into chunks
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Heat the butter and olive oil in a stockpot.
- Add the garlic cloves and saute till light brown.
- Add the onion chunks and also saute till soft and light brown.
- While the onion is browning, cook the potato and cauliflower till soft (I cooked them in the pressure cooker).
- Add the potatoes, cauliflower and onion garlic mixture into a food processor along with some cooking liquid from the boiled vegetables.
- Blend till smooth and return to the stockpot.
- Add milk, more water if required (depending on the consistency), salt and pepper.
- Bring to a simmer and serve hot with some extra cracked pepper on top.


Makes 4 side servings.

Carrot, ginger and peanut soup

Summer is without doubt my most favorite time of the year and I know that even though its still spring here in North Carolina, its been feeling kind of like summer already. Other than the warm weather, there is much to love here. Open air farmers markets, tons of fresh produce, outdoor meals and drinks on the patio. All in all it just makes me feel like good times are in store.

Summer is also a great time to start being more of a 'locavore'. There is an abundance of fresh produce in the various farmers markets around the area and they provide a great opportunity to try stuff you might have never tried before. Eating locally and eating seasonally will almost always guarantee that you are eating well.  If you are in the Triangle area and are looking for a farmers market close to you, here is a list that might help.
- State Farmers Market
- North Raleigh Farmers market
- Midtown Farmers Market at North Hills
- Five Points Community Farmers Market
- Durham Farmers Market
- Cary Farmers Market

Summer here though does get quite hot so my focus this season will be on recipes that require none or very little "on the stove" time. I am also hoping to experiment with some cold soup recipes, mainly because I like soups way too much to relegate them only for cold weather. This recipe here is one step in that direction though it does taste just as good when served hot. This recipe like quite a few here was inspired by a recipe for carrot and ginger soup that I saw in the latest issue of the Bon Appetit magazine. The original recipe was served with a chile butter and topped with peanuts. I omitted the chile butter and gave it a little bit of an Asian twist by adding some peanut butter, mixed with honey and red chili flakes. If you are not a big peanut fan, I think using almond butter would work just as well. The result is a smooth and velvetty textured soup with just a hint of sweetness and spice. Topped with some fresh cilantro and accompanied with toast and salad, it makes the perfect summer meal.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger
1 potato, diced
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 teaspoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt (or lesser depending on the salt in the vegetable broth)

- In a heavy bottom stock pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion, minced ginger, diced potatoes and carrots. 
- Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and saute for about ten minutes or until they are slightly softened but not browned.
- Add the broth and water, bring to a boil and cook covered for about 20 minutes or till the vegetables are cooked through.
- Cool slightly, then puree in batches. Return blended soup to the stock pot.
-  Whisk peanut butter and honey with the red pepper flakes. Add to the soup and stir well, avoiding any lumps to form with the peanut butter.
- Bring to a simmer and get off the heat. Serve warm or cold topped with chopped cilanto and toasted peanuts.

Makes 6 side servings.

Pasta and bean soup with pesto

Pasta, beans and pesto are three of my favorite foods. Last night I had a brainwave! Use all of these in a single soup. Why didn't I think of this earlier? The best part of this soup? It can be made start to finish using ingredients from the pantry or refrigerator. That is if you are a good grocery shopper and have pasta, beans, canned tomatoes, pesto and assorted spices in your fridge or pantry. I am not, so I did have to make a grocery store run but I thought I would mention it for the benefit of all of you good grocery shoppers.

The combination of pesto and tomatoes was inspired by this Spaghetti recipe on one of my favorite blogs, The Perfect Pantry. Actually, ever since I saw this recipe I couldn't wait to try out these two flavours together. The rest of the ingredients were only an excuse to bulk up the soup. I used Trader Joe's Genovese pesto (some of you know my obsession for this) but I think any store bought or fresh homemade pesto would work great, which reminds me that making pesto from scratch is high on my list this summer, when basil is in abundance. So if any of you have a good tried and tested pesto recipe, I would love to try it. I might even send you a container :).

Coming back to the soup, it was quite easy to put together. Other than pesto, I used oregano and crushed red pepper flakes for extra flavour. I was quite thrilled at the result, which had nice hints of pesto combined with the heat of red pepper and the tartness of tomatoes. Also the beans and pasta made it a satisfying one dish meal. It even tasted great cold! Now thats a winner.
Now that you are done reading the post, I would urge you to look around and ask yourself does the blog look different? We just redid the design and would love to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1 can of cannellini or white kidney beans
1 cup of any small pasta (I used shells)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 and half tablespoons of pesto (fresh or store-bought)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon red chili flakes

- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or stock pot.
- Add chopped onions, minced garlic and chopped carrots. Saute till soft.
- Add the pesto and saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes, followed by oregano and red chilli pepper. Add salt to taste (adjust the quantity as per the salt in the pesto and canned tomatoes).
- Add the beans and saute for a couple of more minutes.
- Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Check seasonings.
- Add pasta and cook for 7-8 minutes till pasta is tender.

Makes 4 main servings.

Green pea soup

This post is going to be a short one. There are the Oscars to watch and Sunday chores waiting to be finished as I write this. Has this ever happened to you? You think you have the whole weekend for getting all these things done besides getting some rest and recreation and before you know it, its Sunday evening and you have got your rest and recreation but none of the chores done. It happens to me a lot and as I write this I am mentally jotting down lists of things I have to get to. Phew, next weekend will be different. Hmm that sounds familiar.

Anyways getting to the recipe for the day, its a green pea soup. I originally saw this recipe on Sanjeev Kapoor's website which I was quite delighted to come across. For those of you who are not familiar with Sanjeev Kapoor, he is a celebrity chef in India (very popular and one of the first to have a cooking show on Indian TV). Anyways me and my Mum used to be huge fans of his show and actually wrote his recipes down as he showed them. So I was quite pleased to find his website recently and bookmarked several recipes to try. This green pea soup was one of them. The original recipe called for heavy cream which I substituted with a combination of avocado and yogurt. I also added some white pepper for a little extra spice. It worked quite well in giving the soup the creamy texture originally intended for with the cream. Here goes:

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
7 white peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon butter (I used Smart Balance)
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 ripe avocado
2 tablespoons non-fat plain yogurt

- Heat butter in a saucepan and add cumin seeds, white peppercorns and bay leaves. Saute till fragrant.
- Add onion, ginger, garlic and saute till the onion is soft and transparent.
- Add the green peas and salt, followed with 2 cups of water. Cook covered till peas are soft.
- Move the mixture to a blender bowl, add the avocado and yogurt and blend till pureed.
- Add water if required to thin the soup a little, reheat and serve with a little squirt of lemon.

Makes 4 servings.

Spinach and Potato soup

We have had a completely white weekend. 3-5 inches of snow for Raleigh means a grinding halt to life as you know it and also a raid on the milk and bread racks of grocery stores. In the news frenzy preceding this snow storm, I particularly liked the advice of this one radio host who insisted on Friday evening that we make sure we are at a place we want to be for the rest of the weekend. My question is as opposed to?

Anyways I do like the snow. Atleast watching it from the warm insides of our house. Having grown up in Mumbai where winters bring in "cool" temperatures of 70F, being out in the snow is not one of my favorite things. And even though our house always maintains Mumbai-esque temperatures, the outside freeze inspired me to cook up a warming soup.

This one was quite easy to put together with spinach and potatoes being the star ingredients. Topped off with a little bit of parmesan it warmed us enough to endure the snowy outsides for the rest of the weekend.

Ingredients:

1 pack of frozen spinach/1 pound of fresh spinach

2 medium sized Yukon Gold or any white potatoes, peeled and diced

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

4 cups water/vegetable stock

1/4 cup milk (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

shaved parmesan to top

- Heat butter in a heavy bottom pan.

- Add the onions and garlic and saute till the onions are soft.

- Add the diced potatoes along with some salt and mix well.

- Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook covered till the potatoes are cooked.

- Add spinach and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

- Blend to a smooth puree and return to heat.

- Check for seasonings and add more salt/pepper.

- Add milk if using and keep on heat for a couple of more minutes.

- Serve hot, topped with some parmesan. Stay warm!

Makes 4 side servings.

A very simple vegetable soup

I also call this Mommy B soup, dedicated to my mum who came up with this recipe. It is the simplest soup to make and it has an instant wellness feeling associated with it. While growing up ,my mum made it for me and my sister when we were sick or we had an exam or any occasion which needed some amount of comforting. And it never failed. Today I made it for A, who is a bit under weather with a sore throat. I can't say it cured him completely but it did make me feel a lot better :)

While making this soup you can be creative and use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The recipe I have below has the combination I use most frequently. The nice part about this soup is its packed with everything thats good for you and is pretty much fat-free.

This is my entry no. 6 for the Recipe Marathon on One Hot Stove. I can't believe that this marathon ends tomorrow, I have had a lot of fun blogging every day and also reading what the other runners are cooking up.

Ingredients:

- 2 medium size beets

- 2 carrots

- 1 large tomato

- 2 small potatoes

- 2 garlic cloves

- 7 peppercorns

- 1 tablespoon yellow moong dal (optional)

- Peel beets, carrots and potatoes and chop them into chunks.

- Also chop the tomato into chunks.

- Combine all the vegetables with garlic, peppercorns and moong dal in a pressure cooker and cover with just enough water.

- Pressure cook till all the vegetables are soft.

- Blend into a puree and reheat with salt (to taste) and more pepper if required.

- Serve with some hot buttered toast.

Makes 4 side servings.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cheese toast

I have never been a big fan of the squash family. In fact I quite disliked them while growing up. My Mum who was well aware of this dislike made me eat squash saying it will make me smarter. I am not really sure if this worked since I believed her every single time and I still think there is some connection between squash and brain cells.

Anyways I have always liked Butternut Squash soup but I hadn't found a recipe which I liked. Some were too sweet, some were too much like baby food. After some trial and error I got to this one. Its quite simple and makes a ton of golden orange colored soup. The perfect meal for any Fall day.

Butternut squash soup:
1 tablespoon
4 cups of butternut squash chopped into cubes
2 large/4 baby carrots chopped
1 yellow onion chopped
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
7 peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

- Heat butter in a heavy bottomed stockpot
- Add the chopped onion and cook for 2-3 mins
- Add the chopped carrots and cook for another 2 mins
- Add the cubed butternut squash and saute for another minute
- Add the vegetable broth, peppercorns and cinnamon stick
- Bring to a boil and cook covered till the vegetables are tender
- Remove cinnamon stick, blend soup (after it cools down a bit)
- Add the milk, followed by salt and cook for a few more minutes
- Serve with extra crushed pepper and cheese toasts

Cheese toasts:
2-4 Baguette slices
1 teaspoon Butter
1 Garlic clove split into half
2 tablespoons grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese

- Rub garlic on the slices and butter them
- Sprinkle cheese followed by pepper
- Broil in a 350F oven for 2-3 mins

Makes 4 main size servings.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

I have a special inclination towards spice. Almost every single time I have to pick a dinner place, I suggest spicy Asian. Or spicy Mexican. Spicy soup is option no. 3. This vegetarian tortilla soup falls into this category. And its very convenient. Its a meal in itself which lends to a lot of customization. I have used beans and corn here but you can use greens or squash too.

Btw there are no tall claims about the authenticity of this soup. I call it so because it has everything I imagine a Mexican styled soup topped with tortillas would have. Almost all tortilla soups have quite a bit of cheese, I choose to skip that in mine but you can always add in as per your preference.

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans/ black beans
2 ears of corn or 2 cups of canned/fresh corn
3 cups veg stock
3 cups water

1/2 - 3/4 teaspooon of cayenne
3/4 teaspoon of paprika
1/8th teaspoon ground cinammon
3/4 teaspoon of cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

8-10 corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced
juice of 1 lime

For the tortilla garnish:
- Heat oven to 350F
- Cut the tortillas into thin strips
- Toss in a foil lined pan with a dash of olive oil and salt
- Bake for around 35-40 mins

For the soup:
- Heat oil in a large stockpot
- Add minced garlic and saute for a min or two
- Add chopped onion and cook till soft
- Add diced tomatoes and the spices (cayenne through cumin) and salt. Adjust salt amount as per the salt in diced tomatoes and stock. Cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the beans and corn and mix well.
- Add stock and water and bring to a boil. Taste and adjust spice/salt.
- Cook covered till beans and corn is soft.
- Add lime juice.

Serve hot topped with the tortillas and avocado slices.

Makes 4-6 main size servings.

Greek Lentil Soup

Earlier this month, my husband A and I traveled to Greece. We landed in Athens after a very long red eye flight. Excitement was paramount as we had been planning this trip for months. However as we started walking around Athens for first explorations, jet lag and exhaustion started catching up. A lunch stop was deemed necessary.

We had been following Matt Barett's guide for Athens quite religiously and found ourselves to be in the same area as this lunch place he highly recommends, Oinomagerio Paradosiako. So we walked around a bit more, trying to look like we could easily read Greek road names. Then eventually decided we do need to ask for directions and finally found the place.

A quick look at the menu led to a choice of lentil soup and the mixed grill platter. And then the soup arrived. A big bowl of steaming hot goodness accompanied by crusty Greek bread (that has to be another post). The taste was so simple yet comforting. By the time I decided to take a picture, we were half way through it. (Note to self: I need to remember taking pictures before eating now that I am writing a blog.) By the time we were done, the soup had restored us completely. (The grill platter was quite good too).

We were in Greece for a week after that and then for a few days in Turkey. We had lots of great meals in both places. But for me this first lunch in Athens was the most memorable. Just for the simplicity and comfort of this lentil soup. So I tried to recreate it as soon as I got back. After a couple of tries I think I got pretty close to the original. At least A seems to think so.

The key here is lots of garlic and really flavorful oregano. I used Greek oregano (which is a bit like Thyme, per the locals) but you can try this with regular Italian oregano too. Here is my attempt at this recipe. Folks at Oinomagerio Paradosiako, if you ever do read this, please feel free to correct me.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2-3 bay leaves (fresh or dried)

6-8 cloves of garlic (peeled and halved)

1 medium yellow onion chopped

1 14 oz can diced/crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoon Greek oregano (substitute with any oregano you have)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

salt according to taste

1 cup brown lentils

4 cups veg/chicken stock or water

Juice of half a lemon

- Heat a stock pot and add olive oil.

- Add bay leaves and saute for around 30 seconds.

- Roughly crush the halved garlic cloves, add and saute some more till fragrant.

- Add the chopped onions and cook for another 3-4 mins till the onion is soft.

- Add the diced/crushed tomatoes and cook for another minute or two.

- Add paprika, black pepper and oregano, salt if the tomatoes/stock don't have it already. Mix well so that tomatoes and the spices are nicely combined.

- Add the lentils followed by the stock/water and bring to a boil.

- Reduce heat to medium/low, cook covered till lentils are soft.

- Stir in the lemon juice before serving.

Makes 2-3 main size servings. You can also double this recipe and eat it all week. A crusty Italian loaf makes a great accompaniment.