Vegetable Barley Soup with the Taste of Little India (whew)

So far, the soup project has been a success. It's a good way to build new recipes into my schedule. It has not (so far) been easy to do the same with the blog updates; for that matter, I have made quite a few new recipes that aren't soups, some of them quite good, and they haven't even gotten a mention here. But hey--baby steps.

It has been a bit of a difficult month. January is a tough nut any year; this one has seen an astonishing amount of snow for our locale, which makes getting out and about seem like more of an effort than it's worth, and of course there's l'enfant to rob us of sleep. I veer back and forth between thinking that I'm depressed because I'm not getting anything done and because I'm trying to do too much. It's pretty annoying for someone like me to feel both harried and unmotivated. Here we are on Saturday morning, not even 7 a.m., and my weekend is full. Do I need down time, or time that produces something other than a momentary pause in the flood of disorder? I did do a lot of baking last weekend, and that felt good. It has been too long since this place smelled of fresh bread.

Back to the soup. This is a good one. I have not historically used barley all that much, but I should do something about that. It's a hefty soup, brimming with the good things of winter, and you could easily add a few more if you wanted to--some ribbons of kale, or a potato. I love Indian spices and probably used a full teaspoon of each of those indicated. I like a thicker soup, and used less broth and a bit more barley than she suggests.

1 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2-3 onions, chopped
3 big carrots, trimmed, peeled, and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled, cored if necessary, and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric, plus more to taste
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp garam masala, plus more to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
6 c chicken broth
1/2 c pearl barley

1. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the onions, carrots, parsnips, garlic, and ginger. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook about five minutes on low heat. Add the spices, cover, and cook gently, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft but not colored, about 15 minutes.

2. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then stir in the barley. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the barley is tender, which can take from 15 to 40 minutes depending on the type of barley. Adjust seasoning.

Does it get any simpler than that? My only real quibble was with the lack of leftovers; next time I may make a double batch and freeze some.

Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup

All this babbling about writing lately, I never got around to posting last Sunday's soup recipe. This is definitely one that I want to keep. You can make a perfectly acceptable squash soup with many fewer ingredients, but this one is really good. The hint of ginger does wonders.

A note about garlic. Dorie subscribes to the French theory that you must split the clove and remove the green germ, because it's bitter. I tasted the green part when I made this, out of curiosity, and found it didn't register as bitter at all, so from now on I'm not going to bother. You may now cast stones.

Yet again, I failed to take a picture. It's squash soup, you can probably guess what it looks like.

Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup
Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table

3 lb whole squash (Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, acorn or butternut) or 1 1/2 lb peeled and cut
about 3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
1 spring onion or 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and sliced
2 celery stalks, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 large garlic clove, sliced
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
fresh ground pepper
5-6 c chicken or vegetable broth
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
2 strips orange or tangerine peel, pith removed
1-2 lemons
creme fraiche or heavy cream for serving (optional)
toasted salted pumpkin seeds for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with foil. If using a whole squash, cut it half, scoop out the seeds, and rub with olive oil. If used peeled and cut squash, toss with a little oil. Sprinkle squash with a pinch of salt and roast until tender (45 minutes for cut, longer for whole). Cool, peel, and cut into chunks.

Warm 2 Tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over low heat, then stir in the onion and spring onion or shallot. Season lightly with salt and cook 5 minutes until starting to soften but not color. Add fennel, celery, garlic, and a pinch more salt, and cook, stirring often, 5-10 minutes or until soft but still pale. Add spices and roasted squash. Pour in 5 c broth, increase the heat, and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Add pears and orange peel. Partially cover the pot and simmer about 20 minutes or until soft enough to mash with a spoon.

Puree (blender, food processor, or immersion blender). Adjust salt and pepper. Add more broth to thin if necessary. Reheat until hot.

Ladle into bowls and finish with lemon juice, garnish with creme and pumpkin seeds.

Out with the Old...

... holiday catalogs, and 500 first-grade math worksheets. Out with the tree, having served its purpose. Out with toys no longer played with ("out" meaning "into storage until Mimi is old enough for them"). Out with the old ownership of my company, and in with A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Oracle, Inc. Out with cold, grey days, in with more of the same for three more months.

Out with 0-3 month clothes, in with 3-6 month. They do grow quickly. She's found her hands; last night I saw her staring at her fist with an expression I can only call astonished.

Dave took the kids out to a museum in the afternoon. I cleaned the kitchen, put together dinner, and played Super Mario Brothers while Mimi napped.

This is the recipe I intended to make, Braised Beef Short Rib with Salsa Verde and Feta. I was planning to cheat on the salsa, mind. At the last moment I decided that there was no reason to dump salsa on these lovely ribs, and served them as they were, with the vegetables from the sauce (which I rough-chopped in a manner that would have gotten me thrown out of Ms Goin's kitchen at once) and a simple risotto. I love risotto, and I never get around to making it so often that I get tired of it. I'm sure the sauce would have been better had I done it her way, but the ribs were gorgeously silky with their big chunks of carrot and onion, and I have no regrets.

Gearing Up for the New Year

The office last week was tomb-like, a handful of us sprinkled through the big room, trading "sure is quiet" "yep, sure is" comments when we passed. I have been tidying up old projects and giving some thought to new ones. Home has been noisier, but with nothing much going on in terms of the holiday. It's been an exciting year, and we just weren't ready yet to go out and do anything major.

The Weekly Recipe Project is giving me trouble; when I look at it under that name, it seems impossibly limited. Only 52 recipes? I probably have that many online recipes bookmarked, never mind a hundred-odd cookbooks and binders of clippings. How to approach the task of selecting my pool? I browse through blogs, look at files I have saved for years, visualize my bookshelves. Perhaps I should restrict the project to soup recipes, or bread, or desserts? Take one recipe from a different cookbook every week?

I was up early New Years day--for creatures that sleep so damn much themselves, cats don't grasp the idea of sleeping in--and decided to get the grocery list/menu planning out of the way. I already had one new recipe lined up for later in the week, but in the spirit of starting the new year right, I grabbed my new copy of At Home with Madhur Jaffrey and started with the fish chapter.

I made this pretty much as written, except I don't have any asefetida and my fenugreek is ground, not whole. I added more cayenne than specified, but that was by mistake--the result was intensely hot, and made me wish I had some naan. I served this with rice alone, but it would make a nice component in a multi-course meal. It came together quickly and without much fussing, and made a nice change from my usual fish standbys.

Fish and Peas in a Fennel-Fenugreek Sauce

1 lb fillet of cod, hake, or halibut, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
1 tsp salt, divided
pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne, divided
1/8 tsp ground turmeric
3 Tbsp mustard, olive, or canola oil
1/8 tsp ground asafetida
1/4 tsp whole mustard seeds
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
1/8 tsp whole fenugreek seeds
3 Tbsp plain yogurt
4 medium tomatoes, coarsely grated (I used a can of tomato sauce)
1 c fresh or frozen and defrosted peas

1. Sprinkle the fish on both sides with 1/4 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and the turmeric. Set aside 30 minutes or longer, refrigerating if necessary.
2. Put the oil in a frying pan and set on medium-high. Put in the asafetida, then the mustard, cumin, fennel, and fenugreek seeds. 
3. As soon as the mustard seeds start to pop, add the yogurt. Stir until it almost disappears.*
4. Add the tomatoes, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and more pepper if desired. Stir and cook for five minutes, until tomatoes thicken slightly. 
5. Add the peas, stir, and continue to cook another minute on medium heat.**
6. Lay the fish down in the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the fish and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and poach fish on medium-low heat until just cooked through, 7-10 minutes. Add water if the pan dries out.

* Mine did not disappear, but left little spongy bits like tofu behind. I used Greek-style yogurt, so maybe it had more solids.
** I added the peas near the end. Why would you cook peas for 10 minutes?

No pictures because my five-year-old camera died last week. I am trying to decide between size and features with a new one.

I am in the middle of a four-day weekend, trying to get the place back to some semblance of normality. More tidying than cleaning, trying to find homes for new things and continue whittling down the old.

On other resolution-related fronts, I sent Empire off to Dragon Moon Press, which was having an open sub month, and have put together a list of agents to query. The first chapter of Fury's Flight went to the writing group for crit, though I haven't psyched myself up sufficiently to read the feedback yet.

Garlicky Tortellini, Spinach & Tomato Soup

Since it's the last day of the month (already!) I guess I'd better catch up here. Two recipes today, the first of which is this lovely little soup, an excellent addition to anyone's repertoire. It's easy, and like many soups, can be put together largely out of pantry-friendly, low-cost ingredients. And it tastes divine, even with dried basil.

Can't ask for much better than that.

2 Tbs. unsalted butter
6 to 8 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups (1 qt.) homemade or low-salt chicken broth
6 oz. fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
14 oz. canned diced tomatoes, with their liquid
10 oz. spinach, washed and stemmed; coarsely chopped if larger
8 to 10 leaves basil, coarsely chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. 
2. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 min. 
3. Add the broth and bring to a boil. 
4. Add the tortellini and cook halfway, about 5 min. for frozen pasta, less if using fresh. 
5. Add the tomatoes and their liquid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook just until the pasta is tender. 
6. Stir in the spinach and basil and cook until wilted, 1 to 2 min. 
7. Serve sprinkled with the grated cheese.

From Fine Cooking

Saffron Scallops on a Bed of Noodles

This was a spur of the moment selection, and I am happy to report that it turned out very well indeed. It is a simple recipe that takes little time to give you extremely flavorful results. I found mine enhanced by a sprinkling of sea salt at the table.

This is also my "cook from a book" recipe for the week, from Cara Hobday's 100 Great Noodle Recipes. I bought it remaindered, almost certainly more than ten years ago, so it's not something you're likely to find on a shelf these days.

1 tsp saffron threads, lightly crushed
2 Tbsp warm water
8 oz medium egg noodles
2 oz butter
16 large scallops
1 scallion, finely sliced
3 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and chopped
3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
pinch of salt

1. Combine the saffron and warm water, and leave to infuse.
2. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Drain well and keep warm.
3. Melt the butter in a pan just large enough to hold all of the scallops. Stir in the saffron liquid. When the butter is medium-hot, add the scallops, scallion, tomatoes, and chives. Cover and cook over moderate heat for 7 minutes. Season with salt.
4. Serve the scallops and sauce over the noodles.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Curry Condiments

This was an excellent if not particularly memorable vegetable soup. She must have some sort of secret, however, because the one in her picture is a vibrant reddish color, and mine always turns out to be sort of muddy. Possibly the type of curry powder she uses is more red than mine? Some of my onions got quite black in the course of roasted, too, which may have been more caramel than intended. Possibly my different method of preparation is to blame -- since I don't have a food mill, I put the vegetables into the broth and used my immersion blender to whirl it all up.

Regardless of its looks, the soup tasted great, and you can hardly beat it for easy preparation. I made this to serve with her Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts on a cold, cold January day when we had lunch guests. I did not do the condiments. I hate coconut, and banana on a soup is too weird for me.

She has taken to specifying "good" in her ingredients lists, as in "good olive oil" and "good curry powder." I'm ignoring that in my transcriptions because, well... duh. What, are you going to use bad ingredients?

3-4 lb butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 yellow onions
2 MacIntosh apples, peeled and cored
3 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-4 c chicken stock
1/2 tsp curry powder
For serving: Scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and sliced diagonally; flaked sweetened coconut, lightly toasted; roasted salted cashews, toasted and chopped; diced banana

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Cut the squash, onions, and apples into 1-inch cubes. Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Divide between two sheet pans and spread into a single layer. Roast for 35-45 minutes, until very tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill fitted with a medium blade.
4. Place the vegetables in a large pot and add enough stock to make a thick soup. Add curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Serve hot with condiments.

Serves 4-6

Italian Wedding Soup

First new recipe of the new year! One week in and I have kept at least one goal, that of making at least one new recipe a week, and using a cookbook for it. This week's cookbook is Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. I selected this soup with some hope that the children would like it, as they have been known to go for some similar efforts on occasion, but no dice this time. It's an excellent soup, though, one I would not hesitate to make again. The leftovers were fantastic. I wasn't sure what shape of pasta to use, but I quite unexpectedly found some organic whole wheat acini de pepe at our supermarket and they worked very well. I don't usually like whole wheat pasta, I find the flavor sometimes over-assertive, but for this use and in such a small size, it didn't bother me at all. I thought the dill would be weird, but it actually added a great, fresh flavor (I did have to use dried).

Meatballs
3/4 lb ground chicken
1/2 lb chicken sausage, casing removed
2/3 c white bread crumbs
2 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 c minced yellow onion
1 c 1/4-inch diced carrots
3/4 c 1/4-inch diced celery
10 c chicken stock
1/2 c dry white wine
1 c small pasta such as tubettini or pastini
1/4 c minced fresh dill
12 oz baby spinach, washed and trimmed

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Place all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl and combine gently. Form into 1 to 1 1/4-inch ball on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (NOTE: Do not skip the parchment. These critters stuck even to my nonstick pan where it wasn't covered.) Should have about 40 meatballs.
3. Bake 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
4. Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes. 
5. Add the stock and wine and bring to a boil. 
6. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook until tender. 
7. Add the dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute.
8. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach and cook just until wilted.

Serve with additional Parmesan if you like.

Much as I liked this, I did have a few tiny quibbles with the recipe. I am glad that Ina has discovered the effortless joy of baked meatballs, but while the mixture of ground chicken and chicken sausage tasted fine, the mix of ground chicken and sausage resulted in a somewhat visually off-putting two-tone effect. The amounts indicated left me with some hard-to-use remnants. Even though I used "hot" sausage, I thought the meatballs could have been spicier--I might add some red pepper flakes or something next time to take them up a bit. The baby spinach, while readily available and easy to use, did not seem to have a sturdy enough flavor for this soup. I might try kale next time.

Overall, though, this is a good soup to have in your repertoire at this time of year. 

Fresh Sweet Corn Chowder and CI Drop Biscuits

Friday was about 55 degrees and raining out. I took half of the day off so that I could get a few things done, one of them being a visit to the farmer's market that didn't have to be rushed, but given the weather we hurried anyway. I had already loaded up at Kendall Square on Thursday, so I didn't find myself getting much. There is still corn, though it won't be around much longer, and I have been meaning to make something with it other than straight up on the cob. I picked up a half dozen ears, some beets and garlic, some eggs and ground beef from Shady Pine.

I have been craving bacon lately, and my searching turns up this recipe from a site called grouprecipes.com, with which I am not familiar. This is light, straightforward, and on the sweet side. In a brain-dead moment I used chicken stock at the end rather than milk, but it tasted very good regardless, just less, er, like a chowder.

I'll re-learn how to cook one of these days, I guess.

4 ears sweet corn, husks removed

4 slices bacon

½ medium onion, finely diced

1 medium baking potato, peeled and cut into small dices

dash of dried thyme

salt and black pepper

1 cup milk or half-and-half

1. Remove corn kernels from cob by running a sharp knife from top to bottom of cob – rotate cob, cutting kernels off all sides.
2. Use a spoon to run down the sides of the stripped cobs to extract as much of the "milk" as possible from the cob, letting the milk fall into the corn kernels. For soup stock, break the stripped corn cobs into thirds and place in a medium saucepan with 3 cups of water.
3. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer and cook cobs for 20 minutes. Remove cobs from pot and strain the liquid – you should have about 2 cups of corn stock.
4. In a medium saucepan, cook bacon until crisp; drain bacon and crumble into small pieces.
5. Remove bacon, leaving 1 tablespoon bacon grease in pan (if you don’t use the bacon, add 1 tablespoon butter to pan).
6. Saute onions in grease (or butter) until translucent, about 5 minutes.
7. Add the diced potato, corn kernels and any "milk" that you extracted from the cob, 2 cups corn stock, thyme, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Bring to a simmer; cook, partially covered, skimming any foam as necessary, until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
9. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
10. Add milk or half-and-half.
11. Heat through (don’t boil).
12. Serve, topping each bowl with some crumbled bacon.

With the soup we had a green salad, and I made drop biscuits. Since the whole idea was to make something new, I went looking for a recipe instead of turning to one I had already used.

Unlike a lot of people I know, I am not a big fan of Cooks Illustrated. I actually find their attitude kind of irritating, and I don't normally want an entire page of backstory on how they found their idea of the perfect recipe for X. But these are really good biscuits, light and flaky, and incredibly easy to make, so I will give them this one. Grudgingly.

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475°F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.
2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale

This is a simple recipe and absolutely perfect for a weeknight, since it takes almost no time to put together; waiting for the water to boil is the most arduous part. It is also, dare I mention, cheap to make. We'll be having this again, no doubt.

Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale

I used half a box of cellentani that needed using up, rainbow chard since the kale looked a bit dodgy, and sweet chicken sausage with some crushed red pepper sprinkled over it. L ate some pasta (under duress), a couple of teensy bites of chard, nibbled a piece of sausage, then demanded toast. *sigh*

Today is feeling somewhat bittersweet. For the past 11 months, ever since I came back to work after JJ's birth, I have schlepped two backpacks to the office. One of them holds my laptop, and the other is my Medela breastpump. For the past couple of days, I haven't used the latter, and today, I left it at home altogether. There have certainly been many days when I resented the extra weight on my mile-long walk from the parking lot to the office, chafed at the time it took out of my day (and D's, since he had to clean everything at the end of the day), and looked forward longingly to weaning. But there's always a bit of sadness in these transitions, particularly since this expected to be a final retirement, and I find myself thinking mostly about L's first two weeks in the world, when we nearly despaired of feeding her, and the pump was all that rescued my intent to breastfeed.

But hey--I did it! Two kids seen through their first year on the recommended mommy-based menu. I'm fortunate to have worked at companies that recognize the importance of these things, and to have been able to arrange my schedule to make it all work out. It wasn't convenient and it wasn't always fun, but it was wondrous in its own small way, and I'm going to miss it at least somewhat.