Easy Pickling: Delicious, Fermented Pickles for Idiots

Little pickled tomatoes on the left, and Anahiem peppers on the right.

First off, I am not going to tell you that you'll be healthier, your gut will function better, and your immune system will flex its muscles all winter if you eat fermented foods. I will tell you that they are one of the best things you'll ever eat, and that you can probably get a big jar of pickled carrots or green tomatoes, or baby cukes going in about 5 to 10 minutes.

You don't need any fancy crocks, special jars with airlocks or any thing other than kosher salt, a clean quart canning jar, water, some spices and garlic you probably already have, and enough clean, firm smallish or sliced vegetables to fill a jar. It's been done for centuries, and trust me, our grannies didn't buy pickling tools off a fancy website. They used what they had, and so should you. They used fermentation for two reasons: it preserved the harvest, and it tastes good. This easy method I'm showing you is lactic fermentation in its simplest form. Idiot proof.

Right before our first frost, I picked of a lot of too small green tomatoes, and Anaheim peppers. Not good to eat or cook with as is, but waste not, want not… They are now becoming wonderful, easy, fermented pickles and I just use whatever I have in my kitchen: kosher salt, water, jars, coriander seed, garlic…don't let the food gurus scare you off. Pickling is pretty much idiot proof. Carrot sticks, baby cukes or sliced cukes, whatever you have can become something entirely new. If you can stir salt into water, you can do this. I'm sure, once you make your first batch, you'll be hooked. Just remember you can double, or even triple your batches, using the proportion of 1/4 cup of kosher salt  to 4 cups of water.

Here's how:

Into a bowl, measure 4 cups of water. Dump in 1/4 cup of kosher salt, and stir furiously until it dissolves. You just made a brine.

 Into a clean quart canning jar, pack your sliced carrots, or baby green tomatoes, hot peppers or whatever you want, tossing in the occasional peeled garlic clove, and a few pinches of your favorite spices, like coriander seed, dill seed or cumin seed and even a few cloves or bay leaves between the layers of veg. You can layer in a few small, hot peppers if you like spicy. The veggie pieces should be bite size.  Pack it full, right up to the shoulder of the jar. If you put the smaller pieces in the bottom, and the bigger at the top, fewer of the small pieces will float up out of the brine. Go find a smaller jar, or a bowl or a ramekin that will fit into the mouth of the jar and give it a good scrub.

Place the jar in a coolish spot, and set it in a pan or a tray to catch any overflow. Now, pour in the salt - water mixture-- your brine, right to the tippy top, and set the little container you scrubbed into the top to keep your vegetables submerged. If you have extra brine left, keep it in a jar to use to top up your pickle if it evaporates too much.

Check your pickle jar every day, and it should be sour enough to eat in a couple of weeks…or wait longer. remember that the colors of things will change a bit, green vegetables will dull a bit. Remember those wonderful sour pickles in the barrel in your favorite deli? Make sure the vegetables are always submerged. A little mold  floating on top is OK,  you can skim it off and top up the jar with the leftover brine. If it really smells awful, or goes moldy down in the jar, toss it all and chalk it up to experience. Use common sense; if it looks or smells bad, toss it. I like to label my jars with the start date, nothing elaborate, just a piece of masking tape and a waterproof marker.

I generally go about 3 weeks before I screw the lid on the jar and pop it in the fridge. I like my pickles cold, and it's all I can do to wait to taste the results. So freaking good!

Zucchini, Fennel and Spinach Soup with Basil: Another 5:2 Soup

Sorry for not having been posting for a few days. I do have an excuse; I have had shingles. While I am on the mend now, the last couple of weeks have been spent attempting to get some  sleep (highly unsuccessful) and smearing various goos all over the sore parts of me. Even considering cooking was more work than I could handle, although I did go in to my regular job more often than not. At home we ate from the freezer and takeout. Try to avoid getting shingles if you can. Painful, to say the least. Okay, VERY painful.


So this first post back isn't a Meaty Monday post, but a Fast Diet, or a 5:2 recipe for a soup I am planning to have today, and share with Donna at work. Takeout isn't good for my figure. Ahem.


This soup is deeply flavorful, but fresh tasting, quick to make, and partly stolen from a Rachael Rae recipe. It uses things you can still find in the farm markets and grocery stores in late September. It is also under 50 calories per serving, plus it is gluten free and vegan, unless you use a meat stock.

Zucchini, Fennel and Spinach Soup with Basil

Zucchini, Fennel and Spinach Soup with Basil

With a nod to Rachael Ray, as I saw a good-looking recipe in her magazine for a zucchini - fennel soup recently. My version still tastes rich, but will fit easily into your Fast Diet or 5:2 Plan.

1 lb. zucchini , diced (about 2 medium)
8 oz. fennel bulb , cored and sliced (about 1 small- medium)
2 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups baby spinach (85g)
2-4 Tablespoons sliced basil leaves
(optional: 1 tsp. chicken stock base)
few grinds of nutmeg and white pepper
sea salt

Place the zucchini, fennel, shallots and garlic in a large saucepan, and cover with water.  Add the stock base if you are using it. Salt lightly. Bring to a boil, cut back to a simmer, and cook about 10 to 12 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Add the spinach, basil, nutmeg and pepper, and cook an additional 2 minutes or so until the spinach has wilted and is bright green. Taste for salt  and pepper and add if needed. Puree with an immersion blender, or a regular blender and serve hot. Makes 4 hearty servings under 50 calories each.

Meaty Monday: Grilled Chicken Paillards with Corn, Green Beans & Basil Drizzle

Certain foods, I think, are etched into our national psyche as symbols of things near and dear to our heart. If you are eating cotton candy, chances are there's a Ferris wheel not far away,  and if you're munching a corn dog on a stick, there is probably a heifer wearing a blue ribbon in her halter within spitting distance. Corn, tomatoes, basil and green beans scream "Summer!" to me in a not so subtle way. If there is ever a time of year when these foods have reached their pinnacle of perfection, it is now.

Chuck likes grilled chicken. Actually he loves grilled chicken. Really loves grilled chicken. Really thin grilled chicken. If I was willing to serve it at least once a week on a regular day (have I told you about our Tuesday burger night....?), he'd be thrilled. Me, I like change. Especially different dinners.

Since I do like to make dinners that will make us both happy, I came up with this combo that even I could eat once a week...at least during the Summer. The chicken is a simple as can be, "paillards" is just a way to describe very thin pounded slices of meat -- and the drizzle is somewhere between a pesto and a vinaigrette. This can become one of your favorite do-ahead meals. Add the two, to the corn, fresh beans and tomato, and the whole thing just sings. If you need a vegan or vegetarian (or if you are doing a Meatless Monday side dish), just replace the butter in the corn dish with evoo.

Yes, it's every bit as good as it looks. Yes, I did lick the plate.

Grilled Chicken Paillards with Corn, Green Beans & Basil Drizzle
Serves 4

For the chicken:

1/4 cup low sodium gluten free tamari soy sauce
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 garlic cloves, crushed (jarred equivalent is fine)
2T olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (paillards)

For the drizzle:

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
3 garlic cloves, (jarred equivalent is fine)
1/2 cup evoo
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the vegetables:

1 tablespoon butter or organic corn oil
4 ears of fresh corn, shucked and kernels cut off the cob
1/2 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and broken in half
1 small fresh tomato, diced
a few basil sprigs for garnish


Instructions:

1. Early in the day, mix the first 4 ingredients and pour into a zip top bag. Add the chicken and chill until dinner.

2. Place all the ingredients for the drizzle in a blender or a mini processor and puree. Place in a covered container in the fridge until dinner time.

3. At mealtime, heat the butter or oil in a medium saucepan, over medium heat, and add the corn and the green beans to the butter. Stir to coat and sauté for a few minutes. Add 1/3 cup of water to the pan, cover and let steam for about 3-4 minutes until the beans are tender. Remove the lid and cook away all the water. Turn off the heat and stir in 3 Tablespoons of the drizzle. Cover and set aside.

4. Heat your grill to medium high, remove the chicken from the marinade (discard the marinade) and grill the chicken about 3-4 minutes per side depending on how thick it is. Place on a platter and drizzle lightly with a bit of the basil drizzle to serve. Pass the extra basil drizzle on the side.

5. Turn the vegetables into a bowl. Sprinkle the tomato over the top and garnish with a basil sprig.

Delicious corn, green beans with basil drizzle and chopped tomatoes,
easily made vegan...

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup No Added Sugar

Sometimes I'm just being so good about what I'm eating I can't stand myself; and then I find the cookies. Last night I had a nice grass-fed burger on one of my Funky Flax buns, with some smoked bacon on top and it was delicious. I also had this wonderful sweet, spicy ketchup and a pickle on it. Would have had red onion, but had none. I really do try to avoid grains,  sugar and its evil cousin, HFCS. Problem is even the organic ketchups, while they don't have HFCS in them, or even GMOs, they are full of sugar, and  not for me because I am not a modest ketchup user.  One serving? Hell, I just slather it on. I love the tangy flavor of homemade far more than the ubiquitous commercial stuff, although if that's what's available...

Now, last year I gave you a stove-cooked version of no sugar added ketchup, but when you are going to eat in an hour or so, it just won't be ready to eat in time. Hence this high speed version that you microwave for just 3 minutes. It's actually delicious still warm, but even better after it stands about an hour or longer.  Will keep about 2 weeks, covered in the fridge.

Oh, and I was so good about dinner last night, and then I DID find the cookies.

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup with No Added Sugar

Speedy Natural Microwave Ketchup with No Added Sugar

Note: if you can buy tomato products in glass containers, I highly recommend you do so as the linings of many cans still contain BPA. Read the label, it will usually tell you if the lining is BPA-free.

Makes about a cup.

6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2T rice wine or cider vinegar
1teaspoon Cholula or other hot sauce
Liquid or powdered Stevia  (two servings worth depending on brand)
black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a 2-cup or larger microwave safe container.

2. Cove and microwave for 3 minutes. Remove and stir. Serve warm or chilled.

All Purpose Sauce: Simple Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Mystery meat with all-purpose sauce. That pretty much sums up what was on the menu at our cafeteria back when I was an undergrad. There were far, far cruder names for it, but it was basically a slab of non-denominational meat with brown stuff ladled over it. Explains why the endless fried clam strips at the local HoJo was so wildly popular. Don't make me explain what HoJo is/was. Go ask your mother.

What I have here for you is ANOTHER kind of all purpose sauce, that while it IS brown, is probably one of the most wonderful food inventions for which we can thank our friends in Japan. Teriyaki sauce is probably one of the most versatile, easy-to-prepare concoctions you can have in your kitchen arsenal. You can use it as a marinade, a sauce for dipping, in a stir-fry, or with a little oil added, a dressing.  This version is totally bastardized; there are as many versions of this as there are fish in the sea and most of them are delicious. Some recipes are quite elaborate, but this simple recipe is one I've been making for years and have marinated just about every savory food that exists in it. You can double or triple it and it keeps in the fridge just about forever. The real thing will usually have mirin in it, and will omit the garlic and ginger. Mine is closer to the bottled stuff we suburban American kids grew up eating. This past weekend, I made a double batch and marinated a flank steak, and some boneless chicken breasts. Cold teriyaki grilled chicken breast has to be the best addition to a lunch salad ever. Learn to make this and I promise you never have to have lunch at HoJo's. Unless you want to.

Teriyaki Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast. Best Lunch Ever!

Note: if you use wheat free Tamari sauce, this sauce is gluten free. If you substitute agave nectar for the honey, its vegan.

Simple Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

1/2 cup wheat-free Tamari or regular soy sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
3T honey or agave nectar
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 teas. powdered ginger
(dash of sriracha or hot pepper sauce, optional)

Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan, mix and bring to a quick boil. Cool and use as needed. Store covered in the refrigerator. Double or triple as desired. A single recipe will marinate a single flank steak, or about 2 pounds of chicken parts.

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots

I've been looking for reasons to run my oven lately. It's been so damned cold here that the warmth and aroma of slowly cooking food appeals to something primal in me, I think. I wouldn't mind camping out in front of my oven the way our elderly cat is camped out in front of the heat vent in the living room. Now, you can certainly braise food on top of the stove, or even in a slow cooker, but neither of them give you the same cozy, warm home. And once everything is in the oven, there's not so much for the cook to do but have a glass of wine, or a nap.

Braising involves cooking food partially submerged in liquid at a simmer. A pot roast or meat stew is a braise, but some of my favorite braises involve vegetables. Braised vegetables become meltingly tender, and absorb all the flavors they've been bathing in. Wonderful cold weather food.

Last week's recipe for Butter Braised Asparagus is a quick braise without much prep needed on your part. This braise of Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots takes a few more minutes, but the resulting dish is luscious, with great depth of flavor and it reheats beautifully. I always pray for leftovers. It's one of my favorite dishes to serve beside simply baked chicken or fish, which can, incidentally, be popped into the oven next to the zucchini at the right time.

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots

Ready for the oven, just needs to be covered and baked.

Note: This is vegetarian and gluten free as written, if you prefer a vegan version, use all olive oil instead of the butter and oil, and use the basil and oil puree carried in many supermarkets, instead of traditional basil pesto, as it usually contains cheese.

Ingredients:

2T unsalted butter
1T extra virgin olive oil
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into sixths (reserve some fronds for garnish)
3 small to medium zucchini, cut in half through the middle, then halved lengthwise
8 large shallots, peeled and halved
2T basil pesto
1T lemon zest
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water or stock
salt and black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Lightly oil a shallow 2-3 quart oven-to-table baking dish.

2. Heat the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat. as soon as the butter begins to brown very slightly, add the fennel, with a cut side down. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the fennel is browned on one side, then flip and brown the other cut side. Cook about 10 minutes total. Remove the fennel to the prepared baking pan.

To get the fennel browned you may have to turn it a few times.

3. Add the zucchini to the oil in the pan, and raise the heat if necessary to brown the cut side quickly. You want the zucchini to be mostly raw. Remove the zucchini to the baking pan, and then arrange the zucchini and fennel alternately, and tuck in the cut shallots in between. Salt and pepper liberally.

4. Add the pesto, the zest, the wine and the water to the frying pan, swirling to blend. Bring to a simmer for a minute, and pour it evenly over the vegetables in the baking dish. Cover with a lid or foil, and bak for about 1 hour, or until the fennel is tender. Test it with a fork or the tip of a paring knife. garnish with the reserved fennel fronds if you wish.

Pesto Braised Zucchini & Fennel with Shallots in
my favorite baking dish from Kitchen Kapers

Serves 6.

ToFaux Mayonnaise: Light, Vegan & Tasty

In my last lifetime, a just few members of my household were vegetarian. The rest were firmly entrenched in the carnivore camp. Generally it worked out fine, as there are a lot vegetarian dishes that the carnivores were happy to eat --like vegetarian chili, spinach lasagna, or felafel. And luckily for me, the chief cook and bottle-washer, there were no vegans --not that I couldn't have accommodated them, but omitting dairy, eggs and cheese would have made it so much harder to please the whole family. Back in the 1990's, there weren't so many vegan or  even vegetarian choices in the market. No overhead signs pointing to a plethora of frozen vegetarian choices in the freezer case. Because there weren't any, except for a few sad veggie burgers.

Every now and again, though, a couple of American friends, Dale and Sue, who lived most of the year in an ashram would come home to visit family and friends. Vegans. One year they came at the height of garden tomato season, and we were wallowing in tomato sandwiches... some of us with bacon, some with cheese, all slathered in homemade mayonnaise. Rich with eggs and olive oil. Hoo boy.  Since I had already been pureeing tofu into things to sub for cream to save a few calories, I figured, why not try pureeing it, and seasoning it the way I would my homemade mayo? It worked, and beautifully. Tomato sandwiches with grilled onions and Tofaux mayonnaise with basil. A hit!

It's a wonderful vegan substitute for traditional mayonnaise, except where you need the egg to thicken, because while tofu does emulsify a bit, it's not the same as a regular old chicken egg. Also grain free and gluten free, and if you cut the oil back to a couple of teaspoons, very low in calories. Great if you are allergic to eggs. Otherwise, its good in egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad and in dressings, too. It's also MUCH cheaper than the vegetarian/vegan mayonnaises in the store.

Note: This is really delicious with fresh herbs, like basil, chives or tarragon added, or a smidge of crushed garlic. Just be aware that adding any fresh, raw ingredients will greatly shorten the time it will keep in the fridge. My solution is to add the herbs to just what I'm using for each meal. My prefernce is for safflower oil, olive oil has an assertive flavor, which depending on how you want to use it, may be great or not so wonderful. If you choose canola oil, please only buy organic. Regular canola is made from genetically modified seed.

Tofaux Mayonnaise.
Vegan, egg free, dairy free, gluten free, delish.

ToFaux Mayonnaise

Approx. 12 servings 

Ingredients:

1 (12.3 oz) block extra firm or firm silken lite tofu 

1 T. Dijon mustard 

1 T. lemon juice 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. Sugar or sweetener of choice  

2 T.- 4T.  Safflower, organic Canola or extra virgin olive oil 

Instructions:

1. Place tofu, mustard, lemon juice and salt in a food processor or blender. 

2. Blend or process until smooth. 

3. Drizzle in oil with motor running. 

Keeps about 2 weeks refrigerated. 

Quick, Easy, & Gluten Free: Homemade Polenta in the Microwave

For years I made polenta the traditional way. Cornmeal stirred for a long time in a big pot. It's how my Grandma taught me. One day I noticed, in a cookbook by Barbara Kafka, a method for making polenta in the microwave, read it over and mentally filed it away for nearly 10 years. Couldn't be as good as Grandma's, I reasoned. 

And then, in the late 90's when I had to produce a gluten free Italian meal for a friend with celiac disease, with less than a half hour to spare, I remembered. Somehow the neurons in my brain sent me back to Kafka's book "Microwave Gourmet Healthstyle Cookbook". And there it was. Soft Microwave Polenta. I was saved, because it was fast, easy and crazily delicious. No sweating over a steaming pot of bubbling cornmeal for too long. While I quickly cooked up some Italian sausage from the Italian Market down on 9th St. and added a couple of jars of tomato sauce from last summers garden, my polenta cooked away happily in the microwave with almost no attention from me. And it was good, really good. No gluten, and no sweat. Sorry Grandma.

Honestly, I haven't made polenta any other way since I found this recipe, and I have fooled with it a bit (or a lot) over the years. While we don't eat a lot of grains at our house, this is so good as the base for so many saucy dishes, and as a hot cereal, that when I need a tasty go-to, this is it. nice as the base for vegetarian  and vegan stews, using just olive oil, and water or vegetable stock. I use Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal / Polenta, and have noticed that in a thick, broad pottery casserole dish it takes a few minutes longer to cook than in a 2-quart heatproof glass batter bowl. I also use an 1100 watt microwave to make this while the original recipe from 1989 uses a smaller wattage machine. Your cooking timing may differ, depending on your microwave and container. 

Such good polenta, you may be able to fool an Italian Grandma!
Just don't tell how you made it...

Oh, and check out the little bonus recipe below to make a single serving of fresh, homemade polenta...try it with a bit of butter and maple syrup for a quick breakfast...

And a note to Ms. Kafka: Please, if you ever decide to reissue either Microwave Gourmet or Microwave Gourmet Healthstyle Cookbook you will make one of your big fans VERY happy!


Microwave Soft Polenta
Adapted from Barbara Kafka


Ingredients:
3 qt. microwave-safe container  
3/4 cup Polenta or Cornmeal  
4 Cups water, any stock, or replace 1 cup of water with milk  
1/2 tsp. Salt
2T extra virgin olive oil, butter, truffle butter or any delicious fat you like
Black pepper to taste
(Parmesan, Gorgonzola or Romano)

Instructions: 
Mix the dry polenta into the water with the salt. Microwave on High, uncovered for 6 - 8 minutes. Stir. Microwave 6 - 8 more minutes. Remove from the microwave, stir in the olive oil or butter, the black pepper, and cheese if using. Cover and let stand, 3-5 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

Looks easy; it is, and relish!

Single serve Polenta

Ingredients:
3/4 cup water or ff stock  
1/4 Cup Polenta or cornmeal  
1/4 teasp. salt

Instructions:
Place all in 2-3 cup microwave safe container. ( I use a 2- cup Pyrex glass measuring cup) Mix well. Microwave on High 3 minutes. Stir. Cook on High about 2 minutes longer, let stand for a minute or so...enjoy. 1 serving.

My favorite, and available just about everywhere.

Curlicues in the Garlic Garden: Simple Garlic Scape Pesto

Love equals garlic scapes.

Summer is rushing in and I am rushing around in the garden. It's already garlic scape season and I am not ready! I'm hurrying to plant the last of the summer seeds I want this year, like more chard, and mulching against the onslaught of weeds and dry weather. While we had a warm winter, a cold, damp spell in the early spring put the kibosh on some of my garden seeds. First time in more than 3 decades of vegetable gardening I had bean seeds rot in the ground. Minor disaster. So to be safe, I waited until much later to get a second batch going. I'll be canning and freezing a lot later into the summer than I'd like, but it can't be helped. At least the garlic, planted last October is behaving nicely. Beautiful garlic scapes are rising and beginning to curl.

Garlic scapes are the flower heads of the garlic plants and come from hardneck garlic; you'll see them looking like something from outer space at the farm markets now through the end of June, depending on where you are and what variety of garlic the farmer has planted. Longish green sticks with curly ends. Try if you can, to get the less curled scapes as they'll be more tender than the prettier curlicues. Most farmers lop them off as letting them develop can sap the strength from the garlic bulb, and also reduce their size when harvested. Lucky us. We get to enjoy the scpaes, and the garlic a few weeks later.

Just picked and at their peak this week
and for a few more weeks in June.

Do not pass them up in the market, or you'll be sorry. They have a fresh, green, sharp garlicky flavor like nothing you've ever tasted. If you buy some or are lucky enough to grow some garlic, you can store the scapes in the fridge for a few days in a zip bag. There are certainly plenty of recipes around for using the garlic scapes in sautes and stir fries, as well as various forms of pestos, with all sorts of cheese and nuts added. Personally, I just like to puree it with some high quality extra virgin olive oil so I can use some of the puree fresh immediately, and freeze the rest for when the tomato season begins in earnest.

Keeping it simple allows me to add other things to it as I please, at serving time, like cheese, nuts or herbs. Or I can add it into other recipes where the usual cheese and nuts would be out of place. Nothing like a warm garden tomato with garlic scape puree and some fresh ricotta cheese. Spoon it over pastas, roasted vegetables or cooked new potatoes. Dip your bread in it. Wallow. The season is SO short.

There is no recipe, per se. Cut the scapes into 1/2" pieces and place in the bowl of your food processor or blender container. Add enough oil to barely cover them. Process to a paste. Add more oil until it's a thick sauce consistency. Use immediately, or store frozen. To keep the bright green color, press some plastic wrap onto the surface before sealing the container for the fridge or freezer.

Easy Chick Peasy: Garbanzo Beans or Chick Peas for Beginners

I eat a lot of hummus. A lot. I love it. Loved it since I was a kid. I buy organic hummus and it just kills me to pay $4 or $5 for about fifty cents worth of ingredients in a little plastic tub.  I also like chick peas in salads, soups and curries but cans of organic beans aren't cheap, and really, it's just BEANS. Hello? What's even worse, is I know how to cook dried beans. Perfectly. If you can turn on the tap and fill a pot worth water you can cook your own chick peas or garbanzo beans, too!

Yours will look like this after a nice 8 hour+ salt water soak.
Bean Spa.

This is hardly a recipe, but my feeling is to start with organic products wherever and whenever possible. While organic beef may be hard on the budget, organic beans aren't.   So ante up get yourself a pound of organic dried chick peas. Haul out the box of kosher salt.  Dump the beans out and look them over for any field debris (like dirt clumps or pebbles) or funky looking beans and toss those. Rinse them well and place in a big bowl. Dissolve a tablespoon of kosher salt in two quarts of water and pour the salted water over the beans and soak them overnight or while you are at work. They'll be fairly well hydrated in 8 hours or so, and will cook quickly as long as they aren't old beans. Remember to buy your beans in a place that sells plenty and turns them over fast. Drain the beans and rinse. The salt added in the soaking water helps flavor the beans without toughening them up. 

Put them in a big pot, cover by about 2" with fresh, cool water and bring the pot to a boil, then turn the heat to a simmer. If you want to really dootz the flavor up in this, before you put the soaked garbanzos and water in the pot, saute some onions, garlic , celery and carrot, all minced in a bit of olive oil until slightly softened, then add the beans and water and proceed. But you'll be fine without. 

See the little edges curling up? These beans are done.

Let cook about a 40 minutes and then check the beans. Taste one and it should be easy to break apart in your mouth but not soft. Add about 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt to the simmering pot, and cook up to another half hour until, when you lift the beans from the pot and blow on them, the thin skin lifts away from the bean. See the picture? Taste. They should, at this point be soft and perfectly seasoned. 

A head start on work lunches? No?

Let them cool in the bean broth, then place in a covered container, pour in enough of the cooking broth to cover them, seal the container and store in the fridge to use as you wish. Fast, fresh, easy, cheap. Like some people I used to...excuse me, Hahaha! Anyway, these are ready to eat. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, grain free, and utterly delicious. Will keep about a week refrigerated, if they aren't eaten long before that.

The Beautiful Bowl: Shrimp & Asparagus Soup

Shrimp & Asparagus Soup

There is a collection of recipes, each neatly written out by hand on card, in plastic sleeves, in a box in the hallway bookcase.  Old School. Quaint. They’re mine. I wrote them out, one by one, as I tried the recipes as a bride, back in the last century. It just kills me to say that.

If I hadn’t accidently knocked the box over, and picked this recipe for Shrimp and Asparagus soup up off the floor, I’d have probably passed from the planet without having made it again. That would have been a loss, we loved it so much, I probably served it as a first course for every holiday meal for two years straight.

The original version of this uses frozen asparagus cuts, half & half, and two cans of Cream of Asparagus soup. I have no idea where I found the original recipe (it has to date from the late 70’s) but it was so delicious, I knew I could remake it and still get all of the flavor. Actually, this version is better, and the flavor is brighter since it uses fresh asparagus, and doesn’t have that pasty taste you get from canned cream soup. I’ve replaced the canned soup, and the half & half with silken tofu. It adds no taste, but makes a thick, creamy substitute for the dairy and the flour. This soup is dairy free, gluten free, and if you want to leave out the shrimp (and its good!) vegetarian / vegan.

The big thing here is making a quick stock from the scraps and trimmings of the ingredients. There is HUGE flavor in them, and it really boosts the taste into the stratosphere. I do it all the time with vegetable bits and keep some in the fridge to use to pump up the flavor of soups, sauces or just to cook rice, pasta or other vegetables in it.

Shrimp & Asparagus Soup

Serves 4

Two Versions: the slightly fussy, pretty version, and the less pretty, less fussy version. The first version actually doesn’t take long to make, and the result is a gorgeous spring green soup studded with pink shrimp. You do eat with your eyes, after all. It makes for a beautiful bowl.  The less fussy version isn’t a really pretty green as is the version with the blanched asparagus. Both taste great!

1 lb. fresh asparagus, woody ends broken off, and reserved

¾ lb. Extra-Large Shrimp, cleaned, shells and tails reserved

1 bunch scallions, keeping the white and light green part, reserve the green tops and roots

1 Tblsp kosher salt

1 Tblsp safflower or canola oil

2 tsp mild curry powder

1/2 cup dry sherry

1 box shelf stable silken tofu (firm or x-firm)

Kosher salt

1. Make the stock from the trimmings: Place the woody asparagus ends, the shrimp shells and tails, the salt and the scallion trimmings in a small saucepan. Add water to just barely cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil, stir well, and then lower the heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 10 minutes.

Flavor boost: Quick stock from shrimp and vegetable trimmings

2. In the meantime, trim the tips off the asparagus, and set aside in a small bowl, then cut the remaining stalks into 1/3” to ½” pieces. Set aside in a separate bowl. Cut the scallions into ¼” rounds and set aside in another small bowl. 

3. Bring about 6 cups of water in it to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Salt it heavily— 2-3 tablespoons. Fill a medium bowl with half ice, half water and set near the stove. Drop the asparagus tips into the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or a skimmer to the bowl of ice water. Now drop the cut asparagus stalks into the boiling pot and cook for 3 minutes. While it cooks remove the tips from the ice water and put back into their bowl. This is your pretty bright green garnish for your soup.  Remove the asparagus cuts from the boiling pot, and shock in the ice bath. Remove the asparagus cuts to another bowl, and cook the shrimp in the salt water for 3-4 minutes, until they turn pink and opaque. Remove to a separate bowl and set aside.

4. Drain the hot salt water, rinse and dry the pan, and place over medium heat. Add the safflower oil and heat for a moment or two then add the scallion rings and the curry powder. Cook until fragrant and the scallions begin to soften. Add the sherry. Bring to a simmer.

5. Carefully strain in the stock from the pot with the shrimp shells into a bowl, and measure out 2-1/2 cups (add a little water if needed). Add to the scallions. Put in the asparagus cuts and cook until they begin to soften, also about 3-4 minutes. Carefully put the mixture into a blender container and add the drained box of tofu, and puree until smooth. You may also use a stick blender in the pan if you have one.

6. Taste for seasoning, add the shrimp, and serve immediately, garnished with the reserved asparagus tips. If you must reheat this soup, heat it very gently, just to serving temperature-- do not boil, or the tofu will curdle.

Note: You can “rescue” the soup if it curdles by skimming out the shrimp and asparagus tips, puree the hot soup again, and then add the shrimp and asparagus tips back in.

Serves 6

The much less fussy version:

Do steps 1 and 2 as above. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, and cook the scallions and curry powder, add the sherry, and 2-1/2 cups of the shrimp shell stock.

Bring to a simmer, and add  the shrimp. Remove the shrimp when they are pink and opaque and set aside. Put in all the asparagus, tips and all and cook until it’s softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the tofu, drained and broken up, and puree either in a blender or with a stick blender in the pot.

Taste for seasoning, place the shrimp in the bowls and pour over the pureed soup. If you must reheat this, do not boil or the tofu will curdle. If it does curdle, see the Note above about rescuing the soup.