Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach: Recipe Evolution

Kasha, aka, The Farm Girl Cooks, posted a link on FB to an absolutely delicious-sounding recipe on the blog Three Many Cooks called "Curried Cream of Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach". I had everything in the house to make it. Perfect lunch for these damn cold, not-quite-spring days. Then I saw just two things I would need to change. My lactose intolerance won't allow me to use that much canned evaporated milk comfortably in my own food, and adding baking soda to acidic foods tends to reduce some of the  available vitamin content. 

I thought I'd just sub some of my coconut based coffee creamer for the evaporated milk and that would allow me to skip the baking soda too, since coconut products don't curdle in the presence of acids. Done, right? Wrong. While poking in the pantry for canned chickpeas I spied a can of light coconut milk, and a jar of Thai green curry paste. Hmmmm. Different flavor profile? Going to need to follow a Thai-ish line here, so will need to check out what else I have on hand to flesh out a variation. Maybe some basil and ginger? Not even close to authentic Thai, but wonderful, filling and healthy. 

While the "bones" are the same as the original recipe --tomato puree, chickpeas and spinach, the finished product is a very different soup. The result?  A recipe evolution.A dreamy, creamy, spicy, warming soup that, if your pantry and freezer is fairly well stocked, you can make from what you have around. Don't be afraid to change up the spices or sub good stock for the milk. A good madras curry will work here too, if you have some in your spice cupboard. It's by far the best lunch I've had all week--so good the girls at work were dipping their spoons into my bowl, too. Quick and easy deliciousness.

I'd like to thank the gang over at Three Many Cooks for the inspiration, and Kasha for pointing it out. This version is vegetarian,  vegan in fact, and dairy-free and gluten free. Maybe your version will evolve this recipe another fabulous step?

Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach

Curried Creamy Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach

Ingredients:

1T safflower oil or olive oil
1 small onion, diced fine
1 T minced ginger (from a jar is fine)
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 T Thai green curry paste
1 13.5 oz. can light coconut milk
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (organic if possible)
1 heaping T dried basil
1T  sugar or granular Erythritol
1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups  baby spinach, packed, or 1 cup  frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3T minced fresh cilantro, or frozen cilantro
Kosher or sea salt

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil until it thins and ripples, and then add the onion, ginger and garlic. Turn the heat to medium, and sauté until the onion begins to soften. stir in the green curry paste and cook for a minute longer.

2. Stir in the coconut milk and the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add the basil and the sugar or erythritol, and let simmer for 5 minutes. 

3. Stir well, and then add the chickpeas and the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, about another 3 minutes. Taste for salt, and add as needed. Stir  in the cilantro and serve.

Serves 3 - 4 

Another Green Smoothie: The Great Green Morning Goo

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my little red Subaru, stopped at a traffic light, when I notice a kid up in the big SUV beside me staring intently at me. What the heck??? After the light changed, and the vehicle sped off, I realized the kid wasn't looking at me, he was looking at my bright green breakfast, the green smoothie, AKA the Great Green Morning Goo I was sipping while stopped. Nothing like grossing out a kid first thing in the morning. Made my day.  I drink one of these virtually every day, because, well, as the day goes on, my eating gets worse. From my healthy start in the morning, I'm usually eating chocolate by bedtime. And it's something I can consume on the way to work. It gets in a good dose of all sorts of nutritious things, it's quick to make and it tastes won-der-ful. 

Seriously, though, most of the Green Smoothies I see are nothing but a giant carbohydrate load, generally having too much fruit in them just hide the flavor of the added leafy greens. It's a lousy way to start the day, because in order to be sustained for a few hours, i.e., until lunch, you need some protein, fiber and fat, not a bunch of carbs your body converts quickly to sugar. A standard fruit and greens smoothie is not an adequate meal replacement. Somehow, the delivery system for nutritious greens has turned into a sugary drink.

While a Green Smoothie, or a Green Monster is a great way to get a good dose of healthy greens, the rest of it is pretty much, like it or not, sugar in the form of fruit. All fruits and vegetables are carbohydrates, but the ones most commonly used in these drinks are especially high carb ones --bananas, orange juice and pineapple.

The one I like to make in the morning is delicious, relatively low in calories and carbs, and high in protein and fiber. It's a real breakfast. Keeps me going for a good 3-4 hours, and I work on my feet not sitting at a desk. I do use fruit, but always berries, which, besides being considered super foods, are lower carb choices. Greek yogurt (2%) is included for both its high protein, and some good fat, and it makes a really rich, creamy tasting drink. Rather than load it with bananas for sweetness, a packet or two of vanilla stevia makes this pretty green drink both sweet and healthy. As the Goo stands for a few minutes, usually while I look for my keys, it actually changes to a very pretty color green, from dull green, as the acid in the berries makes the green "greener".

Just like for any sort of green smoothie, you need a blender for the great Green Morning Goo, and if you are neurotic like me, a scale, as I weigh all the ingredients right into my blender container. And yes, if you have a VitaMix, this is a perfect drink to make in it.  The more powerful your blender, the smoother this will be. I get my psyllium powder at Trader Joe's, and my vanilla stevia at Whole Foods Markets. And if you like my BPA free travel cup, you can get it here--it can handle either cold OR hot drinks...

Keys, check, purse, check, Green Goo, check...ooops, where
are my sunglasses??!!

Great Green Morning Goo

1 cup (140g) frozen strawberries
2T (12g) psyllium powder
6 oz. (3/4 cup) 2% plain Greek yogurt
2 cups packed baby spinach or baby kale
1-2 packets of vanilla stevia powder
8 -10 oz water or unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Place in the blender in the order given, and puree until smooth. Pour into a glass, and enjoy.

Serves 1

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata

As most of you know, I work in a kitchenware store, and the long hours coming up for the next couple of weeks are keeping me from experimenting in the kitchen. So what you'll find posted here is just like TV in the summer: reruns. I'll be posting some of my more popular and interesting posts for the next couple of weeks, and will be back with new recipes and rants in the New Year. May you all have all the best and happiest things in your life for the Christmas Season and in the New Year. And thank you for coming along for the ride with me so far.


Sometimes, I get lazy. Even though I love to cook, often I'd rather hang out with a cup of coffee in the morning, or with a glass of wine in the evening and not have to fuss much over a meal for the assembled family. This usually happens over the holidays or on vacation. Unfortunately, I also have a solid case of Italian Guilt, instilled most thoroughly by my mother years ago that I haven't been able to shake. Its forced me to find something delectable to serve the gang that won't force me to run around the kitchen at the last moment. Usually it ends up being a make ahead dish, and a good one. A strata.

In case you aren't up on just what a strata is, I'll explain. A strata is a layered dish, involving bread, eggs and usually cheese, plus whatever other goodies (generally pre-cooked) you want to add in. As it bakes, it puffs, almost soufflé-like and then settles into a rich, puffy, creamy dish that you can have for pretty much any meal. You can make them savory or sweet, both versions are great additions to your cooking repertoire.

The nice part is that a strata is much better if you assemble it hours in advance, or the night before, and let it set in the fridge until baking time. It bakes in about an hour, which gives the cook time for that second cup of coffee, or glass of wine. For breakfast or brunch with a savory strata, all you need is some fruit on the side, and maybe some pastry; for lunch or dinner, a good salad or a side vegetable, or a cold soup before the strata  is nice. If you choose to make a sweet one, it makes a wonderful breakfast  or a fabulous dessert for a light meal. I promise to give you a sweet strata recipe later into the Autumn.

I've been making this version for years, but I've adopted a technique from Cook's Illustrated recently that adds some weights on top of the casserole while it chills. I think it really does improve the texture. I always chill the assembled strata at least 8 hours before baking to be sure all the stale bread has had a chance to soak up the eggs and cream. I just make it up before I go to bed, and let it rest while I do.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Strata
Serves 6-8

Spinach, Mushroom & Bacon strata. Cheesy and easy to make ahead, 
and so delicious1

Ingredients

8 slices of stale Italian bread, sliced 1/2" thick
4T unsalted butter, softened
6 slices of smoked bacon, roughly chopped
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
6 large eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. kosher salt
ground black pepper
cooking spray or butter for pan

Instructions

Spray an 8" square baking dish with cooking spray or butter liberally. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a half tablespoon of butter, and set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon until just crisp, and then remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the onions and mushrooms to the fat, and cook until the onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes over medium high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and stir until heated through. Turn off the heat, and mix in the bacon. Set the pan off the hot burner.

Place 4 slices of the bread in the bottom of the prepared pan, buttered side up. Distribute 1/2 of the spinach mixture over the bread evenly, and then sprinkle over 1/3 of the shredded Gruyere. Arrange the remaining 4 slices on top of the cheese, more or less in the opposite direction from the bottom slices. Top with all the remaining spinach mixture, and then 1/2 of the remaining cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, the milk, the cream, the nutmeg, kosher salt and black pepper to taste, and por the mixture carefully over the top of the bread and spinach mixture in the baking dish. Place a large  sheet of plastic wrap flush on top of the top cheese layer, and place a small, heavy frying pan ( or as Cook's suggests 2 1-pound boxes of sugar) on top of the plastic wrap to weigh down the bread. Chill it weighed down for at least 3 hours, or overnight. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 325ºF, remove the weights and the plastic wrap and sprinkle over the remaining Gruyere cheese and bake for 55-65 minutes, until browned and puffed.  Serve hot or at room temperature, and remember, it will deflate just about as soon as it comes out of the oven, and that's supposed to happen...

Sweet Corn, Spinach & Bacon Hash with Garlic Scapes and Basil

A few weeks ago, I was flipping through a cookbook at work, when a recipe caught my eye. Specifically, "The Mom 100 Cookbook" thinking, that Ann Workman really cut herself short using the word "Mom" in the title, since these recipes were so spot-on that there are many other segments of the population who could really use this book. And many of them won't pick up a book with "Mom" in the title. Heaven knows I show the book to almost every customer who asks me about good cookbooks...but I digress. There is a recipe in there called "Sauteed Corn, Spinach, Bacon and Scallions". Took me by surprise. My own mother used to make a similar dish with leftover cooked corn cut from the cob, red onions, bacon and zucchini. It was the only way she ever got my Dad to eat zucchini without his making faces so I'd laugh. Mom called it "Corn Hash". So do I. I was a picky, rotten eater as a kid, but this sweet summery dish disappeared from my plate pronto. Still soooo good.

My Mom was a nice Italian girl raised in a mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and German area, and bacon found its way into a lot of things she cooked. I actually don't remember ever having this with any corn but a white shoepeg variety called Country Gentleman.  Tiny, sweet kernals would just pop as you ate it from the cob. Didn't need butter or salt. I don't think anyone ever grows it anymore except on a few old farms out in Lancaster and Berks counties, in Pennsylvania. Shame how some good things just disappear.

I've made it a few times over the years with leftover boiled or grilled corn (my favorite corn is a bi-color called Mirai) and my own smoked bacon, and, about three years ago, added garlic scapes from the first hardneck garlic I'd ever grown with a big handful of fresh basil. This year, thanks to Ann, it has a boost in both beauty and nutrition from adding spinach. Good thing there's a few weeks left of spinach out there in the yard unless the rabbits finish it off. We just gobbled this down.

Sweet Corn, Spinach & Bacon Hash with Garlic Scapes and Basil

I think it's interesting how a pretty basic recipe goes from cook to cook, and generation to generation, each one putting her own touch on the dish before passing it on. Thank you for the spinach idea, Ann, its perfect. Next batch may have some feta cheese or cubed Haloumi, and that version will be dinner and not a side dish. And if there are any ripe tomatoes in my garden, one of those, diced at the end and added after the spinach. So many possibilities, so little Summer.

Please try this, it's that good.

Notes: If you really can't get good in-season corn, look for a frozen super-sweet variety, and thaw under running water in a colander before using. The bacon is important in this dish. Get a double-smoked or farm-made (or your own) if you can. Thick cut. Supermarket bacon doesn't taste nearly as good in this. Don't salt, if needed at all, until the cooking is complete, the bacon and spinach may contribute enough--usually it needs none.

My new pet knife, sharper than a razor and fun to use,
 a Ken Onion design knife from Shun.

Sweet Corn, Spinach & Bacon Hash with Garlic Scapes and Basil
Adapted loosely from Ann Workman's "The Mom 100 Cookbook" and my Mother.
Serves 4-6

1/4 lb. thick cut, smoky bacon
1 cup water
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/4 cup minced garlic scapes, tender green parts only
4 cups sweet white corn cut from cob (about 4-5 large ears)
6 cups of loosely packed baby spinach, about 5 - 6 ounces
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut in thin ribbons
Fresh ground black pepper
(kosher or sea salt)

Place the bacon slices and the water in a large nonstick skillet, bring to a simmer over medium heat and let the water cook away. When the water is gone, raise the heat slightly, and continue to cook the bacon, turning frequently until brown and crisp. Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain, and add the chopped onion and garlic scapes to the bacon fat in the pan. Cook over medium heat until the onion is soft. While the onion mixture cooks, crumble the bacon and set aside. Add the corn and crumbled bacon to the skillet and cook, stirring over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the baby spinach and the basil, and continue to cook until the spinach just wilts. Add a few grinds of black pepper, and stir well. Taste for salt and add if needed.
Devour.

  

Food my Husband Hates: Smoked Salmon, Goat Cheese on Rye with Onion

Smoked salmon, red onion, spinach, goat cheese on rye. Oh my!

I get plenty of nights where I don't have to cook, since my husband likes to go out to eat. But less often, I get to eat at home alone. This may not sound like a big thing, but since he's a fairly picky eater, when his work keeps him out past dinner, I get to eat things that he wouldn't touch with a 20 foot pole. His pickiness extends into a lot of food realms: fish, offal, raw vegetables, condiments, salads in general, dark poultry...you get the picture. Even the sight or smell of some of these foods can drive him from the house. I eat everything, so having these foods at home, for me, is a big deal. Yes, I can order it out, but it's not like eating at home with your shoes off.

Robin, at work yesterday, laughed at me singing the praises of the smoked salmon sandwich with RAW onions, spinach and goat's cheese I was planning for MY dinner. She, obviously doesn't live with anyone with so many food phobias. Lucky girl. But I did hustle home and make my savory, smoky, stinky, oniony sandwich. It was wonderful. I hope he's gone for dinner again every now and then, because while I missed him, there will be more fish and Brussels sprouts in my future.

This is hardly a recipe:

Mix an ounce of soft goat's cheese with an ounce of softened cream cheese. Spread thickly on two slices of your favorite bread. My choice is thin-sliced rye. Add a layer of raw red onion.

Next layer on 3 ounces of smoked salmon,  a few grinds of black pepper and a handful of baby spinach. Top with the second slice of bread. Eat. Enjoy.

Homemade Spinach Fettuccine with Mega Mushroom Sauce, Meatless or Not

Homemade Whole Wheat Spinach Fettuccine

Every now and then, an old memory comes up and smacks you on your head. You know the kinds that say ”Hey, you know it’s a long time since you thought about me, so now DO something!” This is one of those thoughts that just happens to have a recipe or two attached.

About 10 years ago, during a long drive home from an auction with a couple of friends, the conversation turned to what each of us was going to fix for dinner that night. One said she was going to make something her mother used to make often when she was a kid, and that she hadn’t made in quite a while. A pasta dish made with ground beef, sliced mushrooms and a packet of onion and mushroom soup mix. You could have knocked me down with a feather, because my Mom used to make this too, and I’d thought she’s invented it. I hadn’t had it in years. It was a rich, woodsy, mushroom-y dish that was not tomato based, a thing practically unheard of back in the 1970’s when my mother served it. It’s also fast and really easy.

Of course I had to make it as soon as I could. With a few, ahem, changes. You can use a packet of soup mix, which is the easiest and original, or the substitution (which I use) since I try to avoid processed products loaded with things I can’t pronounce. This, easily and deliciously, can be made without meat and also gluten free, especially since many folks are vegetarians, or simply abstain from meat for Lent or during this Easter week. Just see the note at the top of the recipe.

Serve over wide whole wheat pasta, brown rice or wild rice, unless you want to serve it my favorite way, over fresh, home made, wide whole wheat-spinach fettuccine.  The recipe for the fettuccine follows after the mushroom sauce. Oh, it's so good, I can’t wait until dinner!

Mushroom Lover's Mega Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom Lover’s Mega Mushroom  Sauce

Note: The dried porcinis need to soak for 30-60 minutes, prior to cooking the sauce. If you would like to make a meatless version, omit the meat, and use 1-1/2 pounds of sliced fresh mushrooms, water or mushroom stock, and be sure your mushroom base is vegetarian /vegan and gluten-free, if you need it to be.

2T olive oil

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup water for 30-60 minutes, then chopped (reserve liquid)
8 oz sliced white or baby portabella or cremini mushrooms
1 packet onion and mushroom soup mix (OR 2 teaspoons of natural mushroom soup base, and ¼ cup dried minced onion)

1-1/2 TBS Italian Seasoning or 1 tsp. each: oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary
2 c low-sodium stock of choice, or water
1/4 c dry sherry or dry vermouth

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup fresh, minced parsley

Salt if needed

Grated pecorino for the table, if desired

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan on medium-high. Brown the meat with onions and garlic, breaking up meat. Add all the mushrooms, reserving the mushroom soaking liquid. Add the mushroom liquid, discarding the sediment at the bottom of the cup. Mix in the soup mix or the alternative, and the Italian seasoning, and then add the stock and sherry or vermouth and black pepper to taste.


Reduce the heat to medium and boil gently until thick enough that you can make a path with a spoon to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the parsley. Taste for salt and season if needed. Can pass grated Italian cheese at the table, if you want.

Serves 4-6

Eggs, spinach, salt and oil to start...

Whole Wheat Spinach Pasta

Note: I’m using white whole wheat flour from the King Arthur Flour company here as the lighter color gives a prettier green finished product. You may also need more or less flour depending on variables like the humidity, how you’ve measured it, and how much moisture there is in your eggs and spinach. The hand-cranked pasta machine you’ll need for rolling and cutting is available from Kitchen Kapers; mine came from them at least 20 years ago and it’s a very handy little kitchen slave.  The finished pasta freezes extremely well, but will also keep in the refrigerator, dusted with flour and gently coiled in a zip top bag.

3 large eggs

Big pinch of kosher salt

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed really dry

1T extra virgin olive oil

2-1/2 (approx.) cups of white whole wheat flour (King Arthur is the most widely available.)

Extra flour for rolling, cutting and storing

1-2 quart sized zip top plastic bags

Place the eggs, salt, the well-squeezed spinach and the olive oil in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel chopping blade. Process for about a minute to 1-1/2 minutes until the mixture is homogenous, and the spinach is minced. If the spinach pieces are too large, it’ll be hard to cut the rolled pasta sheets.

Looks like just enough white whole wheat flour now...

Add 1 cup of flour and process until mixed. Add another ½ cup and process for about 15 seconds. If the dough looks pebbly, squeeze some together and see if it holds, it’s likely very sticky at this point, so add another ½ cup and process until a ball of dough forms on one of the blade. There will probably be some crumbly dough in there as well.  Feel the dough; it should be soft and moist, but not very sticky. Add more flour as needed, this time a tablespoon at a time and process between additions.

When the dough is soft and pliable, but not overly sticky, process it for about 10 seconds, then carefully remove the dough, form it into a flattened ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Let it rest at least a half hour or longer before proceeding to roll and cut.

Let that dough rest...it's tired!

Divide the dough into 4 pieces, and rewrap  three of them back into the plastic. Flatten the small piece of dough a bit and dust lightly with flour if it’s sticky. Set the rollers on your pasta machine to the widest setting, and feed the dough through. Fold the sheet in half and repeat. Then, make the opening one notch smaller. Repeat the process until you are down to the next to the narrowest setting, run the dough through, and then run it through the fettuccine cutter. 

Rolled, cut and ready to cook.

Dust the strands very lightly with flour, spread them out on a clean kitchen towel, and dust lightly again with more flour. Toss the strands every once in a while you make the rest. Repeat with the remaining three lumps of dough. Let the past dry slightly for about an hour, tossing occasionally to keep the strands from sticking together.. To cook, bring a big pot of well-salted water to a boil, drop in fettuccine, and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain and serve. If you are not going to cook immediately, toss again lightly with flour, slip into a zip top bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze.

Makes 6 servings