Yam and Peanut Stew with Kale

Around our house we've been feeling pretty uninspired to cook lately.  And there's one big culprit - we bought a house! So that means finding time or energy to think about or do anything has pretty much gone out the window.  Honestly even I get bored of how much we talk about house stuff but still we're super excited that we finally made this dream a reality.

When we have busted out with some cooking it's been for simple and healthy things to make up for all of the eating out we've been doing lately.  Up here in the PacNW we are also in between seasons weather wise so it can change daily what we're in the mood for.  We hit a cold and rainy spot earlier this week and that sent us hankering for some soup.  But healthy soup...and cheap soup...and quick soup.  So I found this recipe and it called my name immediately.

I really liked this soup but next time I'd pureed the whole thing and then add in the kale.  The texture was a little weird to have it a little of both.  Flavor wise this soup was top notch.  You may think, peanut butter in soup?  Are you sure?  And yes, I am sure - it's delicious!  Another thought is serving it with a nice lemon yogurt sauce on top to brighten it all.  Enjoy any which way you serve it.

Yam and Peanut Stew with Kale
found here

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger, minced
1 cup dried red lentils
2 lbs of yams, peeled and cubed
3 ripe vine tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
dash of cayenne
5 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 head of curly kale
salt and pepper to taste
chopped green onions and peanuts for garnish, optional but highly recommended

1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and sautee until translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and ginger and sautee until fragrant.  Add the lentils, yams, tomatoes and spices and stir to combine.
2.  Add stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce soup to simmer and cook until yams are tender, about 35-40 minutes.
3.  Add peanut butter and stir well.  Puree soup with an immersion blender.  Add kale and cook until wilted.
4.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper.  Serve and garnish with peanuts and green onions, if using.

Stuffed Eggplant with Pork

This is not exactly a summer meal but it turned out so good I decided to post it anyhow.  My mom and I have a standing Saturday date at the farmer's market and this time of year in the PacNW it's a bounty that is all for the taking.  Every single stand looks like a picture out of a cookbook.  I had a hard time restraining myself.  One of the things I did end up with in my basket was some beautiful small eggplants. I always feel good buying these because they are DP's favorite vegetable.  To which I had two people exclaim to me on that same day, "Who's favorite vegetable is eggplant?!?"  He's an odd bird that one.  Fortunately, I like eggplant too so I was on my way to something good for dinner.

In the summertime I feel you can't go wrong with veggies and protein so I thought a meat stuffed eggplant sounded great.  I ended up finding a recipe out of the beautiful cookbook Jerusalem.  This one was for lamb stuffed eggplant and I'm not such a huge lamb fan, unlike Michelle.  So I substituted ground pork in its place.  I made a few other small adjustments.  Next time I think this would be even lovelier with a nice yogurt sauce spooned on top.  Come fall I'll be giving it another go around. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Stuffed Eggplant with Pork
adapted from Jerusalem cookbook

• 3 small eggplants, halved lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon hungarian paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
•  1/2 ground pork or any other ground meat you prefer
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 3/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425.  Place the halved eggplants in a roasting pan with sides and brush with 2 tablespoon of the olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and let roast for 20 minutes, until golden brown and then allow to cool slightly.

While the eggplants roast start making the filling.  Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Mix together the cumin, paprika and cinnamon and add half of this mixture to the pan, along with the onions.  Cover over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes. stirring often.  Add the ground meat, pine nuts, parsley, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of the sugar and salt and pepper.  Continue to cook and stir for another 8 minutes or until meat is cooked through.

Place the remaining spice mix in a bowl and add the water, lemon juice, tamarind paste, cinnamon sticks, a sprinkle of salt and the remaining sugar.  Stir well.

Reduce the oven temperature to 375.  Pour the spice mixture into the bottom of the pan.  Spoon the meat mixture into each eggplant, heaping.  Cover tightly with foil and return to the oven for 1 1/2 hours.  Twice during cooking baste the eggplants with the sauce and add more water if it starts to dry out.  The eggplants should be completely soft at the end.  Serve warm or even at room temperature.



I totally failed at taking a final picture - whoops.

Turkey Green Pepper Chili with Masa Dumplings

For some reason that's never been explained to me DP is constantly suggesting chili when I ask him what he wants for dinner.  I guess when I think about it it doesn't need much explaining other than chili is a delicious thing to eat.  However, it does leave me in the position of needing to come up with different ways of making chili, which I'm all too happy to be tasked to do.

So on such an occasion of a chili suggestion I decided that I'd made this dish often enough to not need a recipe for the base of it.  That I could wing no problem but what I did need was a clever pièce de résistance.  So having a huge bag of masa in the cupboard from a recent tortilla making spree I went in search of a masa related idea.  I had heard of adding masa to chili before to thicken it up but making a masa dumpling was so much more interesting and happened to thicken the chili at the same time.  It was certainly a win-win.  I also used turkey instead of beef to lighten the caloric intake.  Add in some veggies, beans and tomatoes and you're on your way to a great chili night.  I hope it's one of many for you just as it is for us.

Turkey Green Pepper Chili with Masa Dumplings
chili improvised. masa dumplings from here

• 1 lb. ground turkey (or any other ground meat you fancy)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tblsp. olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno, de-seeded and minced
• 2 (15 oz.) cans of cooked black beans, rinsed
• 1 (15 oz.) can of pinto beans, rinsed
• 1 (28.5 oz.) can of diced tomatoes with juices
• 1 (15 oz.) can of roasted tomatoes with juices
• 1 tblsp. cumin
• 1 tblsp. ground ancho chili powder
• water
• salt and pepper
• cilantro for garnish (optional)
• 3/4 cup masa
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Heat olive oil in large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add chopped onion and saute until translucent.  Add garlic, bell pepper and jalapeno and saute until bell pepper is soft.  Add turkey and break up into small pieces with spoon until most of the pink is cooked out of the meat.  Add cumin, chili powder and S&P until fragrant.  Add black beans, pinto beans, diced and roasted tomatoes and cover with just enough water that all veggies and beans are submerged.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer until soup thickens just slightly.  Check seasonings and adjust if necessary. 

While that simmers make the masa dumplings.  In large bowl combine masa, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add butter and work into flour mixture with a pastry cutter (or fork) until butter resembles corn meal with a few large chunks.  Stir in buttermilk just to combine.

Add dumplings by the tablespoon to the simmering soup.  Cover with a lid and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve soup with a dumpling or two in each bowl and garnished with cilantro.  I also slipped in a few avocado chunks and some cotija cheese I had on hand for good measure.  Enjoy!

Quatro of Smooth Soups with Grilled Cheese

Quatro? Quartet? It doesn't matter. The point is that we made four soups at once and dunked grilled cheese into them and they all were tasty.  I had this idea buzzing around in my head for quite a while after visiting the Picnic House in SW Portland last year, where they serve a trio of soups with little grilled cheese slices.  I have not really ever been a fan of pureed soups, but I enjoyed the dunking aspect and taste comparisons of having multiple soup options for dunking. 

It was kind of a crazy idea to make four soups at once, and V also commented as such, but I stuck to it and I am glad I did. I am also so glad I enlisted V to help me with this because otherwise I probably would have pulled out my hair or given up.  Also, since V gave me an immersion blender for my birthday, it was the perfect chance to put it to use!  Another total bonus about making four soups at once is that now my freezer is stocked full of soups for rainy days to come! 

Vanessa, Matthew, and I all had different rankings of these soups, and even the expectations of which we would like best turned out to be wrong. This was a fun experiment, but I won't be making four soups at once again anytime soon!

My rankings: Curried Butternut, Tomato/Pepper, Zucchini Basil, Roasted Cauliflower. I expected to like the Cauliflower the best.
Vanessa's rankings: Curried Butternut, Tomato/Pepper, Cauliflower, Zucchini Basil.  V expected to like the Zucchini soup the best.
Matthew's rankings:  Tomato/Pepper, Cauliflower,Curried Butternut, Zucchini Basil.  Matthew ate the zucchini one first and said it was great but then each one he ate after that he liked more.  (It's nice to cook for this guy, he loves everything!)


(Please forgive the super 90s food styling here, I didn't really plan that out and these are the only dishes I had that were appropriate!)

I pulled these recipes from various sources, and chose recipes with few ingredients and that did not use cream, as we intended to dunk grilled cheese into them and why add extra cream?  We used chicken stock that I made a couple weeks ago, but these could all easily be vegan by simply using vegetable stock.  I cut a couple of the recipes in half and one I cut into thirds, and there was still way more than I expected of each.  We made simple grilled cheese sandwiches on a foreman grill I forgot I had, since all the burners on the stove were being used by soup!

Here are the recipes as we made them, along with our notes on each.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Roasty Onions and Rosemary from The First Mess

*Various taster comments: "More manly (than the zucchini)," smoky, charred, "too roasty."
*Note: I would use less potatoes next time and not let the veggies get as browned as they did.  Maybe bigger cauliflower florets/onion chunks. 

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, diced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
Olive oil
salt and pepper

3 cups chicken stock

1/2 of a lemon

lemon zest 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.

2. Remove the core from the cauliflower and chop it into florets.  Chop the potatoes into pieces about the same size. Chop the onion into rough 1-2 inch pieces and toss all of the veggies onto a rimmed cookie sheet or other roasting pan. 

3. Remove the leaves from the rosemary sprig and chop them up. Sprinkle the rosemary over the potatoes and cauliflower.  Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper until evenly coated with the oil, rosemary and S&P.

4. Roast vegetables for about 20 minutes flipping and tossing them here and there with a metal spatula/spoon to promote even browning. 

5. When the vegetables are soft, remove from the oven and squeeze the 1/2 lemon over the hot vegetables (drop the lemon into the warm pan too so that it can release some oil too). Toss the vegetables with the lemon juice, scraping the browned bits off the bottom.

6. Once the vegetables are slightly cooled, put them into a soup pot and add a cup at a time of stock. Purée until smooth and cntinue blending in batches until you’ve used up everything. Heat the large soup pot full of purée over medium heat until it boils. Add more stock or water to thin the soup out if necessary and adjust seasoning to taste by adding lemon zest, more lemon juice, salt and pepper.

7.  Keep on low while you make the grilled cheese.

Zucchini Basil Soup from Cooking in Red Socks

*Various taster comments: "Tastes like summer," fresh, light.
*Note: This soup was tasty but in comparison to the rest it was just a little too simple and light. Maybe more basil or more red pepper flakes, or adding another veg to it might have been good. This soup may have benefited from a squeeze of lemon, I wish I had thought of that!  The original recipe had some cream added but I don't think that is necessary.  

Ingredients:

4 large zucchini, ends chopped off and diced

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

⅔ cup fresh basil, packed and roughly chopped

2 cups chicken stock

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.  Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and the zucchini, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Saute for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions start to become translucent. Add the basil and cook another 3 minutes.

2. Add the chicken stock to the pot, cover, and cook for 15 minutes on a low simmer. 

3. Once the vegetables are all soft, carefully blend until the soup is completely smooth.  Add more stock if necessary (or you can add a touch of cream at this point for extra creaminess). Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

4. Keep on low heat while you make the grilled cheese. Garnish with basil.

Roasted tomato and red pepper from Vegetarian Times

*Various taster comments: "Delightful."
*Note: I was excited about this soup because I am obsessed with red peppers and we added more of them than the original recipe called for. I felt that the soup was slightly too acidic in the end and a touch of cream might be good in this one. I will try it with the leftovers!  Also the original recipe said to just half the tomatoes and quarter the peppers so they would get more browned, and I would do that next time for the slight roasty flavor and to contain the juices somewhat.
 

Ingredients:

2 ¼ lb. ripe tomatoes, diced

3 large red bell peppers, seeded and diced

1 onion, diced

4 large cloves garlic, peeled

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cupchopped fresh basil

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves or ½ tsp. dried thyme

2 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2.  Place all tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic on a large baking sheet (or two).  

3.  Toss with olive oil, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. 

4.  Roast until brown and tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool slightly.

5.  Transfer vegetables and any juices to soup pot. Add basil and thyme leaves. Purée soup, gradually adding enough stock to thin soup to desired consistency.

6.  Heat through, stirring occasionally.  Keep on low while you make the grilled cheese. Serve hot. Garnish with fresh thyme.

 

Curried butternut squash and apple soup from Ina Garten

*Various taster comments: "The ginger was a great addition!" 
*Note: This soup was incredible.  I added ginger because it sounded like it would go well and V and I agreed it really made this soup extraordinary.  This one surprised us both!  

Ingredients:
1.5 lb pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded, diced
1 yellow onion
1 red apple, peeled, cored, and diced

3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon good curry powder 

1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger 

Scallions

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

2. Cut the butternut squash, onions and apples in 1-inch cubes. Place them on a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread in a single layer. 

Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, until very tender.
3. When the vegetables are soft, put them into a soup pot.  Add stock 1 cup at a time and blend with immersion blender.   Add more stock as needed to reach desired consistency. 

Once blended, Add the curry powder, ginger, and salt and pepper to taste. Be sure there's enough salt and pepper to bring out the curry flavor. 

4. Keep on low until ready to serve. Top each serving with chopped scallions.

No video for this post because it was a little too chaotic!  Happy souping!