putting a gift to good use: making curried lentil soup with sausage butternut squash and kale

We took one of our homemade gifts for a test run last night. All in the interest of recipe development, of course. If you're making it along with us, in addition to the 4 cups of dried lentils and spice packet we included (which was 2 cubes of Rapunzel veg bouillon + 2 bay leaves + 1 tablespoon madras curry + 1 tablespoon of the spice rub we made), you will need:

• a large pot
• olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 2 (or more) of your favorite sausages (chicken, pork, soy, etc..), chopped
• 2 cups of butternut squash, diced
• 10 cups of water
• 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, roughly chopped
• salt & pepper, optional
• Greek yogurt (optional, as a topping)

Over medium heat, saute the onions and carrots in a bit of olive oil.

Add the sausages and butternut squash, and continue sauteing until the onions are translucent.

Add the contents of the spice packet that came along with the gift + 10 cups of water and let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes, until lentils have softened. Then remove the bay leaves...

and add the kale, stirring it in to the soup. Continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes, until the kale is wilted and lentils are fully cooked. Soup will be stew-like consistency. (I make most of my soups this consistency because it's easier for little hands to get it from bowl to mouth!!)

Serve warm, with a dollop of Greek yogurt with counterbalances the heat from the curry powder and white pepper in the spice blend. Because the soup is quite monochromatic, I recommend serving it with a bright green salad.

p.s. The soup is even better on day two, when the flavors have blended. It will freeze nicely. Simply add some fresh broth to the soup when you are reheating it. Enjoy!

homemade stock

I made a little mistake ordering the turkey this year. What I should say is that I made a mistake ordering the turkeys this year. I decided to go easy, and just order bone-in turkey breasts, versus the whole bird. I know, I know. Some of you are fainting at the mere thought of not having the big bird there on display.

This just made a lot more sense, since we all prefer my brined white meat. I didn't think to ask if they were single or double breasts. So, we ended up with 4 plump bone-in breasts. Oops (though the cook in me was secretly thrilled). We enjoyed a fabulous feast on Thanksgiving...some hearty turkey sandwiches picnicking at our local Nature Center the next day, and enjoyed a follow-up meal or two of the whole shebang. But I shredded a bunch of the turkey up and froze it along with both sets of bones, knowing that we'd tire of turkey before too long, and that I'd be inspired to cook again this week.

The urge to cook again came up more quickly than I expected. On Sunday, while my husband hung the outside lights with my dad, and the kids decorated our tree with their Meme, I made my first soup: Mark Bittman's super easy Turkey-Noodle Soup with Fresh Ginger. It was delicious, and fortuitous, since a head cold has had me sidelined the past two days. Nothing better than homemade soup when you're feeling sorry for yourself-- I mean sick.

Anyway, you can certainly make homemade soup with a multitude of good store-bought broths, but there's something special about starting with a homemade stock. So, if you tucked those turkey bones in the freezer last week like I mentioned on the FB page, then haul them out and make a pot with me. As you can see above, my turkey bones went straight from the freezer into the pot...

Homemade Stock

bones from a turkey, chicken or ham

a few stalks of celery

a few carrots

an onion if you have one, skin removed, quartered

a little garlic if you'd like, rough chopped

any fresh herbs you may have on hand

water

salt to taste

Place the bones in a large pot and fill with water. Add any vegetables or fresh herbs you would like to use to flavor the stock. Bring to a simmer and let it boil until desired level of flavor and thickness. Remove bones. You may also remove the veggies and herbs you used to flavor the broth, or leave them in. Up to you. Proceed as you would with any soup recipe. Stock freezes beautifully so if that's all you feel like cooking today, totally fine. Simply tuck it away in the freezer for a winter day when you want to make homemade soup.

homemade vegetable soup + my new food crush: wholeG bread

My husband and older son returned from their "Y Guide" camping trip, full of excitement. Really, what could be better than heading off for a special weekend with dad, filled with canoeing, hiking, arts & crafts, romping around the campfire with other kids well past normal bedtimes-- and more junk food than a 3rd grader could ever imagine eating in 24 hours? I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to end up making for Sunday dinner, but a quick trip to our local market resulted in a cart full of fresh veggies. Subconscious? Probably not. The end result was a super simple vegetable soup that was absolutely delicious...and offset some of the junky wonderfulness of the weekend camping trip with dad.

Homemade Vegetable Soup

I've listed amts of the various vegetables here but you can modify them however you'd like, depending upon your family's tastes + how much soup you'd like to make. My pot made 6 pints to share with friends or freeze + dinner for 4 two nights in a row...

5 Rapunzel brand vegetable bouillon cubes + 10 cups of water
1 pint cherry tomatoes (left whole)
1/2 large onion, minced
1 T garlic (i used Dorot brand frozen)
2 T basil (i used Dorot brand frozen)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
3 medium-sized red bliss potatoes, skin on, chopped
1 smallish butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 small zucchinis, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can artichoke hearts (in water), chopped
1 can butter beans (rinsed)
1 can white beans (rinsed)
1 head of broccoli, chopped

There's a lot of chopping involved, which takes time. But this is a great recipe to make if your kids are in the kitchen wanting to catch-up on their day.

I started by filling a large soup pot with water, the bouillon cubes, the whole cherry tomatoes, minced onion and the frozen cubes of garlic and basil. I find keeping those frozen herbs on hand convenient because I always have them on hand and can just pop them into any recipe. While waiting for that to boil, I chopped the sweet potatoes, red bliss potatoes and butternut squash into 1/2 inch pieces, because those were going to take the longest to cook. As soon as they were chopped, they went into the pot. This took some time and elbow grease, so by the time they were all in the pot the veggie broth was boiling. I lowered the heat a little bit and then added the zucchini and bell pepper, once they were chopped into 1/2 inch pieces. A quick check of the pantry resulted in artichoke hearts, butter beans and white beans, so a can of each of those went in. (I rough chopped the whole artichoke hearts before tossing them into the pot.) Then last to go in was the broccoli, since I wanted the broccoli blanched not soggy. Really, the broccoli went in right before I served the soup. From start to finish, the soup took about 45 minutes because of all of the chopping. Relatively speaking that's a long time for me to spend cooking a meal. But, it's one of those meals that just gets better with time. So, spend a little extra time making one big pot and you'll get to enjoy this soup over the next few days, or freeze it for a night when you're running around to after school activities but still want to come home to a warm, comforting, heathful meal.

That first night (and again last night) I served the soup with a variety of stinky cheeses and chunks of a local bread that I stumbled upon that immediately became my latest food crush: G Whole German Bread. Local folks can find this New Haven-baked bread at Walter Stewart's Market. It is amazing. We tried the "Fitness Bread" in the green bag (which is loaded with corn grits, oat flakes, flaxseeds, soybean bran, sunflower seeds, and more...) and the "Muesli Bread" in the yellow bag (which is made with raisins, golden raisins, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, sesame seeds and more). I am not sure how widespread their distribution is, but found this article on them if you want to learn more about this new bread company. I might just have to make more soup to go with this bread.

A New (Creamy, Smooth) Beans & Greens Soup

Last winter, I made a fabulous, easy "beans & greens" soup. Yesterday I made up another version that might have even been better. Well, maybe not better, but it was enjoyed by everyone in our family and I am thinking it was due to the last step, when I blended the soup into a creamy puree. I had green soup on my mind when I did my marketing the day before. I think it was last weekend when I read an article about one woman's venture into satisfying green soups. (I'll have to dig up the article...) We all know leafy greens are good for us. And when the weather turns brisk and drizzly there's nothing more satisfying than soup. I like soups, my kids don't love them. My motive for coming up with a health and protein-packed soup that they actually like stems from the fact that both kids have already missed a day of school because they were sick. After a summer of chicken nuggets and other junk from snack bars, it's time to get back to nourishing meals when we're at home.

The "recipe" (if you can even call it that, because it's so simple):

A New Beans & Greens Soup
(makes a giant pot, at least 12 servings)

1 lb dried navy beans, soaked*

8 cubes Rapunzel brand vegetable bouillon

16 cups of water

2 T frozen garlic, or a few cloves (minced)

22 oz (two large boxes) kale or other leafy greens**

optional: chicken sausages, sliced (see my notes at the bottom photo)

Bring the water, bouillon cubes and garlic to a boil. Add soaked beans and cook over a medium simmer until the beans are tender (about 1 hour). During the last few minutes of cooking, add the leafy greens and cover. Let the greens wilt and stir them into the soup.

The soup is done, your kitchen will smell fabulous and you can sit down and enjoy the soup as is-- very chunky. Or, as you'll see in the photos below, you can blend it until smooth. You can either do so using an immersion blender (which I don't have), or you can let it cool down and run it through a regular blender, until desired consistency. This soup freezes beautifully, so making a big pot and setting some aside for a busy night is ideal.

*I quick soaked the beans, because I had not planned ahead to make soup. The method for quick soaking beans is to bring 1lb of beans to a boil for 2 minutes, in 10 cups of plain water. Then turn the burner off, cover the pot, and let the beans soak for 10 minutes. Drain and proceed as you would with beans soaked overnight.

** Our local Whole Foods has many convenient packages of greens these days. Yes, they cost more. But....if their convenience encourages you to use them in your cooking, then I think they're worth it!

I first served the soup to the kids as is, plus I added some whole wheat rotini I had leftover in the fridge to their bowls before heating them. My little one had a hard time getting the soup from bowl to mouth without in slopping everywhere and dribbling down his chin...

I enjoyed the texture and the individual tastes of the beans and kale. But, I did wonder what it would be like pureed...

So, the next meal, I popped it into the blender...

and whizzed it around using the pulse function, stopping at this point to check and see if they wanted it a bit chunky still? Nope. They wanted it smooth.

So, this is where we ended up, and all four of us enjoyed it. I had my bowl vegetarian, or as is. For the kids and my husband, I added a few cooked chicken sausages when blending the soup. They loved this addition. It gave the soup even more bulk, protein from the chicken and a nice smokey flavor.

beans & greens soup

This is one of those fabulously simple made-up recipes that's worth passing along, especially if tomorrow ends up being a rainy day. There's nothing more comforting than a bowl of homemade soup on a rainy day, don't you think? Originally inspired by Kelley, the project manager of one of my favorite local non-profits (who also happens to be a great home cook), this is my version of "kale-white bean soup". I made a double batch last week and shared it with a few special people that could use a night of comforting food. It was a hit.

Beans & Greens Soup

(8 servings)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, diced
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pancetta, chopped
1 bag Trader Joe's Southern Greens blend (found in the produce section)*
5 (14.5 oz.) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 (32 oz.) boxes veggie broth

* this is a pre-cut, pre-washed combination of mustard, turnip, collard and spinach...you could make your own 5 cup combination of hearty leafy greens like kale instead but I love that I can save a little time by just popping this greens mixture right into the pot...


In a blender, combine two cans of cannellini beans and one (32 oz.) box of broth. Pulse until smooth. Set aside. (This is what is going to thicken the soup.)

In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, pancetta and garlic and saute 5 minutes. Add the greens and saute another few minutes. Then add the broth, cannellini beans, and the pureed beans (that you just blended). Cover the pot and cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until greens are wilted and tender. Serve warm with crusty bread and a hunk of good cheese. Freezes beautifully too.

soup swap...a night out with a delicious twist

Make one giant pot of soup...have a bunch of friends do the same...gather everyone together on a chilly winter evening...swap...and go home with 6 different homemade soups. Brilliant. Last night, I hosted what I hope will be the first of many "Soup Swaps". I wish I could say I came up with the idea but I actually read about it here. But before sharing the idea, I decided I should give it a whirl. Here's how ours went...

I sent an email to a diverse group of friends that said, "I have invited you because your either a loyal reader of Full Plate (and you give me great feedback, which I am so grateful for!), you are a great cook, or (achem) you could really use a freezer full of homemade soup to enjoy this winter. The beauty of this Soup Swap is that each person just has to make one big batch of one kind of soup…but you’ll go home from this gathering with 6 different types of soups. Fabulous, hmm? Surely you have one soup recipe that is a crowd pleaser. Chilis, stews, chicken noodle soups, mushroom medleys, a healthy puree, the alphabet soup your kids love… it need not be fancy, just comforting and delicious."

Then the morning of the big day, I made a giant pot of my soup. Each person was to bring six quarts of freezer-friendly homemade soup, packed in six one-quart containers. (Our local market generously offered up freezer-proof quart containers to all of the participants, and I had labels available.) I decided on my favorite turkey chili and made 8 quarts, so we'd have two more for our own freezer, because it's really, really good (if I might say so myself)!

I invited everyone to come by 7:30+ for a glass of wine, and let them know that the swap would start at 8:15. Everyone's soups were lined up on the dining room table, and once we were ready to start the swap, I had everyone introduce themselves and give a quick description of their soup.

Then the swap began! We had 14 participants, so I had people draw numbers to determine the order we'd go in to select our soups from the amazing array.

We went through three times, choosing two quarts each time...and I had people draw new numbers each time, so the order was switched up. (Not that it would have mattered if you went last because each and every soup sounded amazing!!)

Once all of the soups were selected, everyone stashed their own away in the shopping bag/tray/Pampers box (hilarious) they'd brought their six quarts in and...

we all went back to the living room to sit by the fire and have another glass of wine, some apps, and catch-up with friends new and old. It was such a fun idea. I encourage all of you reading this to get an evite together and host your own with fellow class moms, your neighbors, colleagues, your book club...whoever! (Oh, and yes, I will gladly make a pot of something delicious again and join you. I thought you'd never ask!)

In addition to waking up to 6 homemade quarts of soup to enjoy in days to come, I also got emails this morning saying, "what a fantastic group of women you amassed last night"..."it was great fun, nice to meet new people and catch up with some I haven't seen in awhile"...."you are so talented with coming up with ways to bring people together around food"..."loved meeting the others what a great idea!"...and "I am so excited for my freezer full of yummy soup!!"

comfort in a bowl: simple homemade soup

I caught a cold. It was bound to happen. Apparently I hadn't gotten the memo that there is no "Supermom Award", and so I was burning the candle at both ends and wham-o. Down for the count. Now that I am back up and looking at my to-do list with a more critical eye (what really needs to happen this week and what can be put off til next week...or 2011) I want to share the recipe for the soup I think did the trick:

Simple Homemade Turkey Soup

(makes plenty...enough until you're feeling well)

Carrots, chopped
Celery, chopped
Onion, chopped

Turkey (which I had leftover from Thanksgiving, shredded and frozen)*

2 32-oz containers organic veggie broth

6 cubes Dorot frozen garlic**

6 cubes Dorot frozen cilantro**

salt & pepper to taste

(frozen peas, optional)

(al dente pasta, optional)

Saute the carrots, celery onion in a bit of olive oil. Add the turkey (frozen or thawed, doesn't matter... you'll just have to cook the soup a bit longer if it's frozen) and the broth. Bring to a simmer. Pop in a couple of frozen garlic and cilantro cubes. Simmer for about a half hour or until your kitchen smells amazing and your mood starts to brighten. (Can also be frozen so you have it on hand the next time you get run down. Though, really, you should have learned your lesson this go round.)

* can always substitute a rotisserie chicken if you ate all of your turkey

** I buy this at Trader Joe's...perfect if you need fresh herbs in a pinch (or if you're feeling tired and just want to make soup fast)

Quick & Easy Bouillabaisse

I'm done with turkey. Tonight I wanted to make something that was the opposite. In a matter of minutes, I made the base for Bouillabaisse, then when my husband got home I tossed the fish & shellfish in so we could sit down to a relaxed dinner with his parents. He asked what the secret ingredient was this time...it might have been this aioli? Everyone got a dollop tonight because we can't just go from decadence to healthy in one fell swoop this week...

Bouillabaisse (a.k.a. Hearty Fish Stew)

Makes 8 servings

(can always half or quarter this recipe)

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1 fennel bulb, chopped

6 stalks of celery, chopped

zest of 1 orange

1 bottle white wine

32 oz can crushed tomatoes

32 oz diced tomatoes

parsley

thyme

3-4 lbs fish & shellfish*

aioli (optional)

crusty bread + stinky cheese (optional)

* tonight I used a combination of shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, and halibut

In a large stock pot, saute the onions, garlic, fennel and celery in a bit of olive oil. Add orange zest and white wine and boil until wine is reduced by about half. Add fresh thyme and parsley and contents of both cans of tomatoes-- chopped and crushed (not drained). Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste. At this point, you can turn the heat off and just let the pot sit covered until a few minutes before you are ready to eat...

When ready to eat, bring the contents of the pot back up to a heavy simmer and add the fish & shellfish. Let cook for about 8 minutes, or until fish is cooked through and shells have opened. (Discard any mussels or clams that do not open).

Ladle a few chunks of fish and a few scallops, shrimp, clams and mussels into each bowl, with some of the aromatic broth. My husband is convinced that the dollop of aioli made this out of this world tonight. Perfect served with some a crusty bread for dipping.

Homemade Fall Veggie Soup, also known as....

My little one cannot knock his cold. Housebound the past four days, we'd eaten through the fabulous lasagna, meatballs and lentil soup I had stored in the freezer. But today there were slim pickings so we went to the market. I popped various veggies into the cart, deciding that I'd make a colorful soup. Maybe this comforting soup will make him healthy. You can make soup with any of your favorite veggies, so add or omit to make a soup you and your family will enjoy...

Fall Veggie Soup

(will make a giant pot, enough to share with a friend or freeze)

1 butternut squash (as you see above, I bought this already chopped)

2-3 parsnips, peeled and chopped

4-5 carrots, washed and chopped

1-2 onions, chopped

6 or so pieces of celery, chopped

2 zucchinis, chopped

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

1 celery root (the gnarly thing up there in the right corner), peeled and chopped

olive oil

kosher salt

2 32 oz containers veggie stock (I used Kitchen Basics brand today)

alphabet shaped pasta (optional)

To get a nice, deep flavor, I put chopped veggies on cookie sheets, drizzled a bit of olive oil over them, sprinkled on a bit of kosher salt and roasted them in a 375 degree oven until just about tender (20 minutes or so). Then I tossed all of the roasted veggies in a big stock pot with both cartons of vegetable stock and let the soup simmer over medium-low heat until the vegetables were tender. 8 minutes before serving, I tossed the alphabet pasta in (my three-year-old's request...making the vegetable soup "exciting").

Here is the recipe in photos...

One baking sheet of "orange" veggies had a single layer of carrots, parsnips, and butternut squash. The other baking sheet of "green veggies" had the onions, celery, zucchini and celery root. (While one sheet turned out green and the other orange, it wasn't about color as much as it was combining veggies that would have about the same cook time.) Drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt...

The "orange" sheet of veggies went into the oven first, along with my new favorite frozen pizza (in case my kids didn't last until the soup was ready). Once the pizza came out, the green sheet of veggies went in. (Both sheets of veggies spent a total time of about 20 minutes roasting...)

When both sheets of veggies were just about tender,

all of the vegetables were tossed into a big stock pot.

Two cartons of vegetable stock were added, and I let the soup simmer over medium-low heat while I helped my seven-year-old with his reading homework, went through the mail and checked my email.

Just before serving the soup, I let my little one toss in a half box or so of alphabet pasta, thus upping the excitement level of tonight's dinner.

And there it is, so easy. Rich with the taste of all of those vegetables. I let them name the soup (OK, fine, it was a distraction tactic: they get to toss a name idea out after each bite. And yes, it made the soup go down the little hatches in no time.) The winning name: Orange Pumpkin Alphabet Soup Even Though There's No Pumpkin In It.

Perfect meal for a steamy week: Quick & Easy Gazpacho

Wow, this has been a hot week. The kind that keeps me away from the kitchen. It's difficult to muster up enthusiasm for cooking-- or even grilling-- when it's so, so steamy outside. And so, for the better part of this week I have been offering up dinners from the snack bar or I've popped something from Trader Joe's into the oven and cringed when I had to open the door to take it out. But, there are only so many nights when a mom should have her children's leftover onion rings with a white wine spritzer, so today was the day to figure out a homemade meal that was: quick, healthy, and didn't involve the use of the the oven or stove.

Gazpacho.

While the notion of whipping up this soup intimidates some, it really shouldn't. If you own a Cuisinart or heavy duty blender, it can literally be made in minutes. And, since it only gets better over time, make a big vat of it and serve it various ways over the next few days:

• as is (delish)
• first put croutons in a bowl, then top with gazpacho, letting the bread soak up the liquid
  
• topped with some grilled shrimp or crab meat
  
• as a side dish with an assortment of cheeses and cured meats
• topped with some chopped avocado + cilantro + sour cream for a slightly Mexican flair
  

Now that I have espoused Gazpacho's virtues, and promised it's easy to make, let's get to the recipe. I've also shared some photos for those of you who like to see the quick preparation in action.

Quick & Easy Gazpacho

Tomatoes
English or Kirby Cucumbers
Bell peppers
Jicama
Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
Sherry or Red Wine Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Tomato Juice or V-8
Mint, chopped (optional)

In a Cuisinart, chop the tomatoes, peppers, jicama, onion and garlic until desired consistency (some like their Gazpacho smooth, I prefer it chunky). Add olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and tomato juice to taste. As a basic formula, it's 1 part acid (vinegar/lemon juice) to 3 parts olive oil. Start there and you can always add more of one or the other. If you want to cut the vinegar but don't want to add more olive oil, you can always add more V-8/tomato juice. Serve the soup chilled. Will keep for a week in the fridge, and the flavor will improve over time.

Here it is in photos: I pureed half of the tomatoes, with the blade on my Cuisinart. Actually, I didn't puree them, my sous chef got in on the action.

Oh, one thing worth mentioning: you'll notice on a lot of Gazpacho recipes, you're supposed to "peel and seed the tomatoes". That doesn't happen here. I just cut out the stem, then toss them in, skins, peels and all.

This is what the pureed tomatoes looked like.

Then I switched to the shredder attachment on the Cuisinart, and shredded the rest of my tomatoes so they'd be a little more chunky.

Next up were cucumbers. I found these small ones at the supermarket, that didn't require anything but a quick wash and they fit down the chute. Brilliant.

You'll see that I am just adding each new veggie that fills my Cuisinart bowl to a large mixing bowl. No need to clean the Cuisinart bowl between veggies... they're all ending up in the same place!

Next up: onions.

Then: green bell peppers.

And last: another cucumber and a medium-sized jicama. Whoa, we have outgrown our bowl.

A few lemons squeezed into the new big pot, then a quick pour of sherry vinegar and olive oil...

and a splash or two of Low Sodium V-8.

Then my piece de resistance (since I had some in my herb pot outside): fresh mint, chopped in the Cuisinart.
Add the mint, and a sprinkle of kosher salt and plenty of fresh pepper. Give it a stir and

done! Tonight eaten as is, no fancy toppings, but I did serve it with a side of hearty whole grain bread. Perfect.