Garlic Fest in My Soup

Man did the farmers market have such a nice variety of goodies this week. The greens were out of this world. I had a huge bunch of kale that was screaming to be used. I thought about kale chips, I though about just sauteing them up. But I just wasn't feeling it. I love the cooler days of winter...soup weather, so that's what I decided to do.

I wanted a lot of flavor and not a lot of ingredients. Something really tasty and special but not overly complicated. Something anyone could make on a weeknight. Now I have to tell you no vampires will come near you after this one! My house is still full of the beautiful smell of garlic. I had some leftover butternut squash and the kale both from Horny Toad Farms. The earthy mushrooms and thyme combine with garlic and marsala give this soup a very special flavor.

Garlic Wonder Soup

Makes 6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small white onion, roughly chopped
10 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup marsala wine (not sweet)
1 cup butternut squash, 1/2 inch dice
4 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound kale, ribs removed chopped, about 2 1/2 cups after ribs are removed
1 can navy beans with liquid

In a 4 quart heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, saute onion, until slightly golden, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in thyme, black pepper and salt and saute for another minute. Pour in marsala wine to deglaze pan, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pot. Saute for another minute or two until liquid is reduced by half. Reduce heat to low. Add cubed butternut squash and saute until it is just starting to slightly caramelize, about 3-5 minutes. Add vegetable broth and bay leaf. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Turn heat back down to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until butternut squash is al dente. Add mushrooms and simmer for 5-10 more minute until mushrooms and butternut squash are soft. Add kale and simmer for about 5 more minutes. Add navy beans with their liquid and simmer until they are heated through. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread and feel the wonder! Oh yes and don't forget to brush your teeth after :)

Farmers Market Featured Ingredient - Tatsoi

A couple of weeks ago Farmer Stella from Horny Toad Farms introduced me to a green I had never seen before: Tatsoi. It may just show up in the Horny Toad farm CSA this week. If you are looking for a good way to use this interesting green, keep reading.

When Fred asked me what it was I told him that it reminds me of a cross between spinach and bok choy. Funny, when I looked it up on wikipedia it said it was also called spinach mustard, spoon mustard or rosette bok choy. So I wasn't too far off. This lusciously dark green sautes up like a dream. The stems stay slightly crunchy which is beautiful with soba or udon noodles. They have just the slightest mustard-like bite to them. Quite lovely in the recipe below.

Miso Ginger Grilled Tempeh with Tatsoi and Soba Saute

1-8 oz package tempeh

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon red miso

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

6 oz. soba noodles

1 tablespoon, toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry sake or mirin

1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

1/4 teaspoon five spice powder

3 bunches tatsoi roughly chopped, about 10 cups

Cut tempeh into 8 triangles 1/4" thick. Steam tempeh for 10 minute. While tempeh is steaming in 8 x 8 baking dish mix water, miso, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame oil until completely mix. Marinate for at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside.

To cook tempeh:

Heat a grill pan or grill to approx. 350 degrees. When grill/pan is hot, grill tempeh for about 3-4 minutes per side, brushing each side with marinade. Tempeh should have nice grill marks and be heated through. 

While tempeh is cooking prepare the greens.

In a large saute pan over medium high heat, saute ginger and garlic in sesame oil for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Deglaze pan with sake/mirin stirring to remove stuck on bits. Add soy sauce, five spice powder and stems of tatsoi. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add remaining tatsoi and saute for about 3-5 more minute until greens are tender and just slightly crisp. Toss in soba or udon noodles and heat through. 

Divide noodle mixture evenly among 4 plates. Top with two pieces of grilled tempeh. Serve immediately. 

Winter Vegetable Wonderland

Root vegetables. They spend their growing days in the dark like a bear hibernating for the winter. That is until the day they are released from their earthy cave by the scruff of their stems. After a good scrubbing, they are ready for some love and oven time.

There has been a mother load of root vegetables at the farmers market for the past few weeks. It's so that time of the year. I grabbed some beautiful, bulbous, colorful magnificence in the form of golden and red beets, sweet potatoes, turnips and parsnips (ok the last two aren't so colorful, but whatevs).

To me root vegetables scream "roast me!". I love to roast them until they are golden and caramelized giving them that earthy sweetness and nice slightly chewy texture. Oh man, that is winter cooking at it's finest.

We had lots of people coming for Thanksmas and I thought a root vegetable roast would be a fabulous way to show them how much I love them.

Root Vegetable and Fennel Roast

2 lbs golden beets
2 lbs red beets
3/4 pounds turnips
1/2 lb parsnips
1 lb orange sweet potatoes or garnet yams
1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced, about 1 cup
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
6 cloves garlic, one minced, 5 thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Peel beets, turnips, parsnips and sweet potatoes. Cut into 1/2" dice. In a very large 1 inch or deeper pan, toss all ingredients together.

In a very large baking pan lined with parchment toss all ingredients together. Roast uncovered for about 40 to 50 minutes turning once or twice until softened and caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste.

Vine and Dine - Candle 79 - Chile Grilled Tofu with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce

The title of this post alone pretty much says it all: chile avocado tomatillo. My passion for southwestern ingredients has been fully satisfied. I could just stop here and be done, but I won't.

As a HUGE fan of most things southwestern and chile related it was not surprise that this version of Vine and Dine would make me very happy. The biggest bummer was that I totally spaced out that is was V & D week. SO I did not get to marinate my tofu for any length of time. I did simmer it for about 45 minutes hoping to speed the process. I think it was fairly successful. I'm certainly not going to complain.

This is the third recipe I've made from Candle 79. This book is really growing on me. One thing that often throws me with many recipes is the measurement of fresh herbs. I am never 100% sure if they are measured before or after chopping. I usually guess well, but still, I would like to make sure.

I'm still in heaven from the intermingling flavors of the dueling sauces. Guajillo chiles are a beautiful smoky wonder. The chile sauce is divine in its own, but pair it with the Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce...bliss. The smoky earthiness of the chile sauce and the bright, slightly acidic Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce combined to make a perfect party in my mouth.

I chose Wildwood tofu for this dish. It is a very firm tofu that holds up well on the grill. I tend to use this brand mostly when I know it will be served with a very flavorful sauce as it doesn't really absorb marinades  as well as some other brands. It was a dream on the grill, perfect for this dish. I had some left over black beans simmered with tomato and cumin. I combined them with some quinoa and made a little quinoa cake for the base. I loved the texture with the tofu. Wow I'm chatty tonight. I better stop so you will hang in there to read Fred's wine review! But just look at those vibrant colors!

Here's Fred!

I showed my wine guy, (one of many, I feel like such a wine tramp) tonight's recipe and he said this is a no brainer. A semi-dry Riesling would be soft with the avocado and just sweet enough with the chili. We chose a "Jean Baptiste 2009 Riesling Kabinett (German)". It is definitely a fun wine but after the first bite the wine became sweeter, really too sweet for this dish. I said wrongo bongo, I ran to the wine cellar (small fridge in front room) and grabbed a French "Trimbach Riesling, 2008". This is from the alsace region in France. It borders France and Germany in a mountainous region that compares with Napa Valley in that it also is on a fault line with a a lot of different soil types in a small area. It is known primarily for its whites, so there you go. Although this wine was much drier, it became sweeter after another bite, niccccce... What a complimentary wine, floral, minerals, fruitier smelling than it tasted, yeah!! I know, unsweet Riesling, hot cold, bitter sweet, but I gotta say this worked great. The Jean Baptiste was fantastic as a desert wine for this venue. One thing that I have learned, in my research for "Vegan" wines it is hard to find the association between centuries old wineries and please don't kill our animal friends. Start from the basics, don't use words like vegan, fining, or processing. Keep it simple and use "filtering" when asking questions to the winemakers,  this does not confront and make it an attack on age old processes. I have found many more sites available to me this way when I search with filtering as the term. Cheer on! 

New Year's Eve - Course #1

We started out our incredible dinner with an outstanding appetizer. This was a ricotta and spinach fritter with frizzled spinach and a fresh tomato sauce. Ladies and gentlemen, I could have stopped right here. I desperately wanted to eat more than one, but I knew there were 3 more courses on the way. My friends have promised to share the recipe with me. As soon as they do, I will post it. I do know that they used a variation of the tofu ricotta from Vegan with a Vengeance, breadcrumbs made from their own home made bread and panko. The rest is still a mystery...a delicious, tantalizing mystery.

New Year's Eve - Course #2

For the second course I chose the Mediterranean Salad with Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette from Candle 79. What a wonderful salad! We used fresh herbs from our wine barrel planter for the dressing and tender nutty arugula fresh from our garden in the salad. The creamy roasted yukon fingerlings were a perfect complement to the slightly bitter arugula. I've made a couple of things for Candle 79. It's a really nice book. I am looking forward to many more delicious culinary treats from that one!

The Entree from New Year's Eve

In part two of our four part series of NYE dinner we are featuring the entree of the evening. This incredible dish was made by the team effort of my awesome friends Beth and Jerry. Kindred foodie spirits with one another and me, they assembled a most scrumptious ravioli. Beth has promised to share the recipe. When she does, I will post it here with her permission. In the mean time, I will tease you with photographic evidence of the awesomeness we got to experience.

Wild Mushroom Ravioli with San Marzano Ragout