Smokey Potato and Spinach Soup

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Ari

What most people think about bacon:

What I think about bacon:

I recently opened my fridge and was confronted with an ultimatum – accept that bacon is a viable ingredient and use the leftover bacon sitting in our fridge OR throw out good food. As I am not someone who throws away food unless it has begun growing little mold babies (and even then, if I can cut off the mold, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll still eat it), I accepted the challenge and committed myself to make something that even I, the bacon meh-er, would love.

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

  • 3 sweet potatoes, in 1/2 inch cubes
  • 3 yukon potatoes, in 1/2 inch cubes
  • 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (do not strain out extra juice)
  • 6 slices of bacon, chopped
  • 10 oz frozen spinach (one “block”)
  • 4 cups chicken/veggie broth
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp salt
  1. Sauté bacon and garlic in olive oil in a large soup pot.
  2. Add the tomatoes and extra tomato juice to the pot, being sure to break up the whole tomatoes (by squeezing them) before adding them to the pot.
  3. Add the potatoes, broth, spinach (no need to defrost before adding), oregano, garlic powder, rosemary and salt and stir.
  4. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
  5. If you want a thicker soup, blend 3 cups of soup and then add back to the pot.
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Posted in Non-Vegetarian, Soup | 3 Comments

Spicy Pumpkin, Squash and Apple Soup

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Ari

And so we continue on our tour of the many uses of pumpkin purée…

Today I present you with a sweet and spicy soup – perfect for the chilly weather than has decided it’s here to stay.

Also, if you’re bored, you should take a second to watch, like, and share my sister and her friends’ hilarious youtube video titled The Only American in Hogwarts. I know this is totally unrelated to the soup, but I just couldn’t help but brag about my sister…

Ingredients (makes about 5-6 servings)

  • 2 butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cut into small cubes)
  • 2 tart apples (peeled, cored and cubed)
  • 2 cups pumpkin purée
  • 6 cups vegetable/chicken broth
  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1-2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs sriracha
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup half and half
  1. In a large soup pot, sauté the onions in olive oil.
  2. Once the onions begin to soften, add the garlic and continue sautéing until the garlic becomes fragrant.
  3. Add the squash, apples, pumpkin, broth, sriracha, honey, cumin, chili powder, crushed red pepper, and salt to the pot.
  4. Bring to a boil then simmer on low for 30 minutes.
  5. Once the squash is soft, remove the soup from heat and and purée in a blender 2-3 cups at a time, or with a immersion blender.
  6. Return the puréed soup to the pot, add the half and half and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes.
  7. Let cool, serve and enjoy!

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Posted in Pumpkin, Soup, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Warm Fall Salad + Radiolab

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Anita!

The importance of storytelling has been one of the great surprises of adulthood.  When I was small, it was the way I drifted off to sleep or how I successfully made it through grade school recess without ever touching a ball.  Twenty years later, it’s the only way to make friends and have influence.  The person who can take the driest political agenda, the most esoteric scientific data, and turn it into a digestible morsel is the person who brings order to a chaos of information.
Listening to Radiolab is like sitting down to a three course meal of recipes from this blog — each episode is approximately two thirds curation and one third creation.  The two thirds are delicious tid bits from books on human behavior, adapted with with the enthusiasm and spin of Radiolab’s hosts.  The one third is pieces they have made themselves, experiments that resemble an interesting hash of pantry staples.  All of the stories are savory and relatable, and I find myself repeating one a day to whomever will listen.
Anyway, I wanted to share an episode with you to show you what I mean.  The shows are always about science, psychology, ethics, and/or statistics — sort of a Malcom Gladwell meets Bill Nye the Science Guy.  I promise you, once you’ve tasted this one you’ll be asking for more.

Recipe

Speaking of curation, this recipe is actually from Smitten Kitchen.  I’ll tell you what I did below so that you can modify her recipe if you would like.
I suggest using a small butternut squash…if I use a big one I always have squash left over (not a tragedy) and it’s a harder gourd to wield in general (and my knife is a little underpowered).
I like to cut my red onion into wedges and bake it along with the squash instead of mixing raw red onion dice into the salad.
It’s a really nice salad to have alongside fish or chicken…a bread or pasta entree has a consistency that is a little too similar.

 

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Posted in Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Pumpkin Ricotta Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Ari

As promised, here is the first recipe featuring homemade pumpkin purée. This is inspired by one of my favorite Cleveland restaurants – Sweet Melissa. While I don’t for a second claim that this recipe is quite as good as their Pumpkin Sage Gnocchi, it’s nevertheless pretty darn tasty.

(Adapted from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients (makes 8 servings)

  • 2 cups pumpkin purée (homemade or from a can)
  • 1 1/2 cup ricotta
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan
  • 5-6 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup butter + 1 tbs for mushrooms
  • 2 tsp dried sage
  • 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 16 oz sliced mushrooms
  • Goat Cheese (as much as you like)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, ricotta, eggs, salt, and parmesan.
  2. Add 2 cups of flour and mix well. Continue adding flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is manageable but still pretty sticky (it took me 6 cups of flour).
  3. Coat the dough with flour, knead into a large ball and cut it into 7-8 even pieces.
  4. Roll each section out into a long rope about 1 inch in diameter, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
  5. You can either freeze the uncooked gnocchi on a cookie sheet (make sure they’re not touching) or cook them right away by adding them to boiling water and letting them cook until they all float to the top (cook 1/3-1/2 of the total gnocchi at a time).
  6. While the gnocchi are cooking, sauté the mushrooms in 1 tbs butter…when it comes to adding the mushrooms, butter and garlic to the gnocchi, I recommend cooking everything in 2 batches (as described below).
  7. In a cast iron skillet, slowly brown 1/3 cup butter.
  8. Add 1 tsp sage and 1/2 of the garlic, and sauté until fragrant (be sure not to burn the garlic!).
  9. Add the salt, pepper, 1/2 of the cooked gnocchi and 1/2 of the mushrooms to the butter and garlic and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes.
  10. Serve the gnocchi and mushrooms topped with crumbled goat cheese.

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Posted in Freezer, Pasta, Pumpkin, Vegetarian | Leave a comment