Italian Wedding Soup

As one of this weekend's bride's relatives told me, Italian Wedding Soup or "Married Soup" is a reference to the fact that the green veggies and the meat go well together.    This soup was warming and filling with pasta, spinach, onions and meatballs.

Italian Wedding Soup with Meatballs

It's not too time consuming, a lot of times I make a version of this without the meatballs and eat it through out the week.

Meatballs:

• 1 small onion, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 16 oz. ground turkey
• Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

• 12 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution or chopped spinach)
• 1 lb. orzo or other small pasta
• 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese and turkey. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet (you can also brown in fry pan).

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs, pasta and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes.   Season with sea salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with Parmesan Cheese.

Green Beens with Garlic and Basil Sauce

This is another one of the dishes that Ed made for the wedding we catered this past weekend.  The wedding was festive and fun.  Ed cooked for 125 people on a $600 budget with vegetarian version of all the dishes.

This is a my version of basil string beans but Ed's was fantastic and when I get it I will forward it on to you!  If you are making this ahead of time, wait to toss the green beans with the sauce until right before serving.

Basil Cream Sauce

1 cup cashews

9-10 cups Basil

1 Tablespoon miso

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4-5 Spinach Leaves

1/4 cup Lemon Juice

1 1/2 lbs. tender green beans, trimmed if desired
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, minced
sea salt and pepper

(1) Grind Cashews in a food processor

(2) Add Basil, Lemon Juice, Miso and then blend until smooth.

(3) Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil and pepper as needed to make a creamy consistency and then add the fresh spinach leaves to keep the color vibrant and bright (this is equally a good trick with pesto).  Set aside.

(4) Bring a large saucepan 3/4 full of water to a boil.  Add the beans and boil until barely tender and still slightly resistant to the bite, 1-2 minutes.  Drain, immerse the beans in cold water to stop the cooking, adn drain again.

(5) In a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil, swirling to coat the bottom and sides of the pan.  When the oil is very hot but not quite smoking, add the beans and stir and toss every 15-20 seconds until they just begin to brown, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and stir and toss for 30 seconds longer.

(6) Remove from the heat, and salt and pepper to taste, toss with cream sauce to combine.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  Serve. 

Tahini Arame Casserole

This is a riff on a recipe that I learned in culinary school.  There were only a few recipes that I tested in culinary school that stood out as something I would replicate, and with a few changes, this dish is something that meat lovers and vegetarians alike request on a weekly basis.  Not only is this a health supportive recipe, but it's super tasty.

Here is the winner of a recipe: 

1 small onion, sliced in saute slices

2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 cups arame, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes and drained

2 cups vegetable stock

4 Tablespoons Nama Shoyu

1 lb. quinoa spiral noodles***note, in photo, rice noodles are pictures

1/4 cup tahini

5 Tablespoons Shoyu

1 cup breadcrumbs (optional)

(1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

(2) Saute onion in sesame oil until transparent.  Place arame on top of onions.  Add stock and cover with lid, bring to boil over high heat and then reduce to low.  Add nama shoyu, and cook about 30 minutes until liquid is absorbed.  

(3) In the meantime, cook noodles until done.  Drain and set aside.

(4) Mix together tahini, shoyu, and 3/4 cup stock until smooth.  If the sauce curdles, continue mixing.

(5) Mix onion, arame mixture, noodles and tahini together.  Cover with breadcrumbs (optional)

(6) Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

(Variation: Mix the cooked onion / arame mixture with tahini sauce and noodles and don't bake)

A Fun Twist on Mac & Cheese

Mac and Cheese Cakes

I helped a culinary school friend Ed McNamara with a wedding that he catered this weekend ... it came out smashingly and I'll highlight some recipes over the next few days.  One of the dishes that the bride's aunt made were mac and cheese cups.  She made mac and cheese, put them into cupcake tins and baked them so that they came out in little cakes.  They were delicious and make fantastic party food.  They were great at this wedding and would make great birthday food too.


You can dress up this recipe by using more gourmet and flavorful cheese (perhaps smoked gouda or goat cheese) or adding a drizzle of black truffle oil in the finished mac and cheese (thanks, Meirav Devash - not going to be able to sleep until I try that version).  A nice surprise in the middle would be to put 1/2  a scoop of the mac and cheese in the cupcake tin, add a few oven roasted tomatoes in the middle and then add another 1/2 scoop of the pasta on top.

Recipe:
1 pound elbow pasta
sea salt
5 Tablespoons + 2 tsp. unsalted butter
6 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
5 cups milk
8 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (white)


(1) For the pasta and cheese--adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and heat the broiler.  Bring 4 quarts of water to a roiling boil in a dutch oven over high heat.

(2) Add the macaroni and 1 T of salt and stir to seperate the noodles.  Cook until the pasta is tender.

(3) In the now empty Dutch oven, heat the butter over medium high heat until foaming.  Add the flour mustard and cayenne.  Whisk well.

(4) Continue whisking until the mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute.

(5) Whisking constantly, gradually add the milk, bring the mixture to a boil, whisking contstantly (the mixture should reach a full boil to fully thicken), then reduce the heat to medium and simmer, whisking occassionally, until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes.  Off the heat, whisk in the cheese and 1 tsp. salt until the cheese are fully melted.  Add the pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mxiture is steaming and heated through, about 6 mins.

Spray your muffin tin with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and scoop mac and cheese into the tins.  Bake until the cakes are crisp and remove from the oven and cool.

Enjoy!

Juice, Juice, Juice

When Joe and I first started dating, if you had told him within 6 months that he would be juicing beets, carrots, celery, watercress, ginger, apples, kale, parsley, cilantro & spinach (not all together) he would have looked at you like you had seven heads.  

Well, that's precisely what happened.  I didn't tell him: juice or else.  But, I casually made juices in the morning and he drank them and when I stopped, he started juicing himself.  Joe's juices tend to be sweeter than mine (he loves adding 1-2 apples) whereas mine are more spicy (watercress & ginger galore) but what we do agree on is the act of juicing. 

Today we went to the park, had an iced coffee and came home and Joe juiced (watercress, beet, apple and carrot).  I was interviewed by consumer reports recently about my favorite juicer considering user friendliness, ability to clean and ability to juice.  I recommend the Breville Dual Disc Juicer.  The pros are that it's incredibly easy to clean, it's great to juice berries and harder veggies with and it has a blade as well as puree function (similar to the Champion but more user friendly in my mind).  You can put whole veggies and fruits down the chute which makes juicing nice and quick.  

beets, carrot, apple & watercress

The cons are that because it's a centrifugal juicer it isn't as great when it comes to juicing leafy greens, herbs, lettuces and parsley - it's less efficient than a masticating juicer and sometimes the whole leaves shoot into the "pulp holder".  Also, the shelf life of centrifugal juicers juice tends to be shorter because of the high speed required to juice, the juice gets oxygen dissolved in the juice which causes the juice to spoil more quickly.  

 The masticating juicer extracts the juice first by crushing it and then the pulp is ejected and it's then squeezed during a 2nd pressing stage - this results in more juice (even with wheatgrass and leafy greens and drier pulp).  They are slower and generally harder to clean, but they do an excellent job juicing.  In the masticating juicer group, the Champion is definitely the way to go.

Quality of Life

Since moving to Park Slope I can say that Joe and my quality of life has greatly improved.  We live next to one of the most beautiful parks (Prospect Park), near some fantastic markets (two farmers markets and the Park Slope Coop), and next to some fabulous restaurants.  Brooklyn has a decidedly more relaxed and welcoming feel to it and after 2.5 years of living in the East Village I finally won the Brooklyn war and am back in the borough that I love so much.

Aquinnah happily swimming with her floating frisbee

Not only is the living better for Joe and I (we have a bigger apartment, a backyard and a roof to hang out in/on) but Aquinnah has the perks of living next to a dog run AND a pristine park where she can run off leash (legally before 9am, but no one has stopped us during the day).  Prospect Park before 9am is a dog paradise.  You see City dogs rolling in the grass, fetching tennis balls, and swimming.  Today we discovered a dog pond (a fenced in dog pond).  Brooklynites take their dog's well-being very seriously and I have never seen as many happy dogs in one area as I did this morning.

off 9th street entrance in the park

I like to enter at the 9th street entrance because I love my morning ritual of ice coffee from Colson's Bakery on 6th Ave. and 9th Street.  People that say you shouldn't have big dogs in the City apparently have not seen how well many dogs are treated in Brooklyn.

City dogs I've noticed bark less, get along with other dogs better and are included on more "family outings".  We often take Aquinnah out on errands, out for dinner (when it's warm out and she can sit outside with us) or out for drinks (many bars in Brooklyn allow dogs inside).  Aquinnah goes to the park AT LEAST once a day and out for a run with me a few times a week.   I wouldn't go as far as to say that our life revolves around our dog, but since moving to Brooklyn everything has fallen into place and life with a dog has become much easier.

Split Pea Soup with Sun-Dried Tomato Flatbread

Last night I made split pea soup with sun-dried tomato flatbread, it was simple and delicious.  Next time I am going to make the flatbread without the whole-wheat flour because the flatbread was a little bit dry... that said, in crumbled up in the soup gave it a great texture.

I could eat soup every night for dinner once it's cold out and gets dark at 5:30pm... it's cozy, warming filling and inexpensive...

Recipe: Split Pea Soup (adapted from the Mayo Clinic Cookbook)


2 cups green or yellow dried split peas
3 Tablespoons EVOO
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, minced
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
6 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/8 tsp. ground cloves

Place the split peas in a strainer and rinse under cold running water.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil.  Add the celery, carrots, garlic, onion, and pepper.  Saute until veggies are wilted, 5-7 minutes.

Stir in the split peas, broth, bay leaf, thyme and cloves.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally until the soup is thick and the peas are mushy about 1 hour.  If the soup seems too thick, stir in 1/4 cup additional water.  Remove and discard the bay leaf.

Recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato Flatbread (adapted from Mayo Clinic)

Instructions:
2 cups boiling water
6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (not oil packed)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoon honey
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 egg  + 1 egg white
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or 2 tsp. dried thyme
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a large, heavy baking sheet with non-stick cooking oil.

In a small bowl, pour the boiling water over the tomatoes.  Let stand until the tomatoes are slightly soft, 2-3 minutes.  Drain and pat dry with paper towels and chop the tomatoes finely.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt baking powder, and cayenne.  Add the egg, the egg white, honey and thyme and stir vigorously to combine.  The dough will be very stiff.  Add the walnuts and chopped tomatoes and work them into the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times.  Pat and roll into a 10-inch square about 1/4 inch thick.  Wth a sharp knife, cut the dough crosswise and lengthwise into quarters and place the pieces at least 1 inch apart on the prepared sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes.  Turn over and bake until dry and lightly browned, 5-10 minutes longer.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Green Curry: Thai style

I love Thai-style green curry.  The heat, the creaminess of the coconut, the veggies. delicious.  I made this curry for a client a few months ago and they loved it, so I wanted to try it for myself.  I used a green curry paste for this batch but made the curry myself for my client... I prefer home made curry, so I'll include the recipe for that.  This dish is delicious with tofu or chicken, here I used some leftover seitan.

I eat it alone, but you can toss it over some rice for a true Thai feeling.
I forgot to add the cilantro in the dish before I shot the photo, but the cilantro adds a great burst of flavor.

Thai Green Curry with Cauliflower, Potatoes and Fresh Seitan

2 Tablespoons green curry paste (some have more heat than others, so taste as you go)
sea salt to taste
2 14-ounce can coconut milk
1 large onion, sliced
6 ounces of fresh seitan, sliced (if it's packaged in liquid, rinse off the seitan first)
1 medium cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 medium russet potatoes, cut into a medium dice
squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 sticks of lemongrass, bruised

In a large dutch oven or thick bottomed pot over medium heat whisk the curry paste with the salt and a small splash of the coconut milk. Simmer for just a minute. Add the onion, cauliflower, potatoes & seitan and allow flavors to marry. Taste and adjust for flavor - add more sea salt and green curry if you'd like. Add the rest of the coconut milk, and the two sticks of lemongrass and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender (remove lemongrass before eating)

Finish the dish with a squeeze of lime and cilantro leaves. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

free range chicken, asparagus, potato, pea, basil curry

Serves 4.

* The green curry paste recipe
2 Thai hot chilies, minced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1 teaspoon chopped galangal
1/2 teaspoon chopped kaffir lime rind
1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass
1 tablespoon chopped krachai
1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon roasted coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and make into a paste - or you use a mortar in pestle if you'd like a nice arm workout - start with the first two ingredients and then add the remainders one by one.

Stew with Biscuits

Vegetable Stew with Snowflake Biscuits

Last night (sans camera) I made two beautiful dishes at a client's house: chicken stew with biscuits baked on top and a butternut saffron risotto.  Not only were they beautiful but they were delicious.  Tonight, in celebration of my boyfriend's trial ending (he's the attorney, not the criminal) and the return of his normalish hours I'm making a riff on the traditional chicken stew (peas, carrots, cubed chicken) and making a vegetarian version (mushrooms, collards, seitan, onion)

The recipe is delicious and actually quite easy.

Stew without Biscuits

Veggie Stew with Biscuits, serves 4 (with leftovers)
1.5 cups chopped collards (I used flash frozen chopped collards because the Park Slope Coop didn't have any fresh collards this morning)
1 large onion, medium dice
3.5 cups of vegetable stock, preferably home made
1 tsp. of vegetable bouillon (MSG free)
7 shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly
4 small portobello mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly
1/2 cup of seitan, finely chopped (optional)

Biscuits:
1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 stick of cold unsalted butter, diced
1/3 cup of half and half
1/4 cup chopped rosemary or parsley
1 egg mixed with 1/2 Tablespoon of water, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
For the Stew
(1) Put your stock and bouillon into a small pot and simmer (I didn't have bouillon, so I added a little nama shoyu for the added flavor)
(2) In a Dutch Oven or large pot add: 2 Tablespoons of EVOO, sauté onion and mushrooms until tender (about 10 minutes) over medium heat; after 5 minutes add your seitan
(3) Add 1/3 cup of unbleached all purpose flour and mix well, cook another 1 minute
(4) Add the hot stock to the pot and cook for another 2 minutes, at this point you can add the collards.
(5) Add 1/4 cup of cream to the Pot and mix - your stew should be thick.

Snowflake Press

For the Biscuits:

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of an electic mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas.  Add the half and half and combine on low speed.  Mix in the rosemary or parsley.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and, with a rolling pin, roll out t 3/8 inch thick.  Cut out 6 cicles with 1 2 1/2 inch round cutter

Remove the stew from the oven and arrange the biscuits on top of the filling.  Brush them with egg wash and return the dish to the oven.  Bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the biscuits are golden and the stew is bubly.  ENJOY!