I don’t know if I’ve ever made an easier soup.  And, oh yeah, it’s absolutely wonderful.  Thick, rich, loaded with protein and flavor, and lots of fresh, local ingredients.

Just think…tomatoes I harvested from the garden last September.  Fresh oregano growing in a pot in the office.  Dried basil from last year’s crop in the herb garden.  Just a little vegetable stock from the freezer–have we talked about stocks yet?

Soon.

Anyway, the world’s simplest tomato soup.  With a shout-out to Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. A wonderful cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 teaspoon chopped or dried oregano

1 teaspoon chopped or dried basil

2 cups vegetable stock, reduced to 1 cup

4 1/2 cups pinto or Roman beans (3 15.5-oz cans)

4 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (or 1 28-oz. can and 1 15.5-oz can)

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or more or less, to taste)

Grated Parmesan cheese and whole oregano leaves to garnish

Preparation:

Rinse and drain the beans.  Warm the olive oil in a heavy-bottom soup pot.  Add the onions and saute on medium-high for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they just begin to brown.  Stir in the oregano and basil, add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer about 5 minutes, until the onions are very soft.

Add three cups of tomatoes, 3 cups of beans, and the salt, and mix well.  In batches in the blender, puree the onion, bean, and tomato mixture, and return to the soup pot. (Alternately, use an immersion hand-blender–a newly acquired but ridiculously invaluable tool–and puree in the soup pot).  Stir in the remaining tomatoes and beans, and add the black pepper.  Return to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and heat about 10-15 minutes longer, storring often.

Serve topped with a sprinkle of whole fresh oregano leaves and a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese.

And a fresh, hot bread.

If you wish to play with this recipe, you could blend all the tomatoes and beans and add a half-cup of whole milk or half-and-half to make a thick, creamy soup.  Or you could add 3 tablespoons of dry sherry or Cognac.

But do try it.  It’s so simple on a night that promises several inches of snow.

Grow your own sprouts for Thai salad

Sunday News
Jan 20, 2011 14:15
Lancaster

By JEFF THAL, Talking Fresh

Peanut butter and sesame noodles combine with bean sprouts in this hefty salad, served cold.

* Peanut butter and sesame noodles combine with bean sprouts in this hefty salad, served cold.

Even though there’s 3 inches of snow on the ground as I write this, it’s still important to do whatever we can to cook with fresh and healthy ingredients.

Today I’m making a salad. Not a traditional one, but rather a cold, main-dish pasta salad that’s loaded with nutrition and flavor. It’s a salad that has been drawing raves for more than 30 years. I call the dish “Vicki’s Noodles,” named for a long-time friend from another time in my life (and she’s still a friend–thanks to Facebook.  HI, VICKI!).

The dish is a peanut butter and sesame noodle salad, a bit like Pad Thai, but easier to make, and served at room temperature. The essentials of the dish are noodles, sauce and fresh bean sprouts.

I’m enamored of fresh bean sprouts, which we make ourselves right in the kitchen. They’re tasty and nutritious; and easy and fun to grow — watch them grow right on your kitchen counter (a great winter project for the kids). Also, when you grow your own, you ensure their freshness; you get them at the peak of crispness and flavor. Just eat up what you make within a day or two.

Simply put, sprouts can be made in two to five days from beans, soaked overnight, and rinsed and drained twice a day. For complete instructions, see my blog (www.jeffskitchen.net); browse at www.sprout people.org; or type “making bean sprouts” into your favorite search engine.

I usually make the dish as outlined below, but I have also included chopped snow peas or sugar snap peas, which we grow in our garden. We’ve also added slices of grilled chicken or flank steak; or with cubes of premium dry tofu, lightly grilled. Play with it and see what you like. There’s almost no ingredient you could add that wouldn’t make it better.

The sauce is sweet and tangy, but it doesn’t get in the way of additional ingredients. You also can give it a note of Thai by adding some fresh chopped Thai basil and a bit of fish sauce. This recipe has just a hint of heat, but if you like your food spicy (as I do), simply increase the amount of hot chili oil, or add a teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes to the sauce.

As for the noodles, I’ve most recently been using protein-enhanced linguine. But you can also make it with whole wheat or Asian buckwheat noodles, rice noodles, spaghetti or whatever pasta you prefer.

Finally, a word or two about peanut butter.  Good, healthy peanut butter is one of nature’s perfect foods.  Emphasis here on “good, healthy.”  Most store-bought peanut butters are loaded with extra ingredients, such as salt, sugar, honey, emulsifiers, chemicals, palm oil or coconut oil (and what’s with THAT???–not enough oil from the peanuts???).  But I’m here to report there is a product out there that really is peanut butter the way God intended it to be.  Peanuts.  Mashed up into a paste.  No artificial anything.  Not even salt (and what other food manufacturer can survive in the marketplace without adding salt).  Here it is:

Crazy Richard’s peanut butter.

They make it creamy and crunchy.  And Oh, what a product.  Read the label.  Ingredients: peanuts.   PERIOD!  No nothing else.  And the creamy? Man, oh man, is it creamy! Sure it’s got some oil at the top, and I hear from folks all the time that they won’t buy peanut butter with oil at the top.  Huh?  Peanuts have oil. Get over it.  Just don’t buy a product that adds other oily stuff.  Like palm oil.  Or coconut oil. Or any oil.  Don’t like the oil? Turn the jar upside down in you cupboard for a few days.  It mostly goes away.  Back into the peanuts.  Or, mix it well once and put it in the fridge.  I guarantee you it will spread easier than any other peanut butter kept in the fridge.  Don’t want to keep it in the fridge?  That’s okay too.  It will just separate again.  No prob.  Mix it again, or turn it upside down every few days.

Think about this…the peanut butter you now use won’t separate.  Why do you think that is?  The manufacturer puts nasty stuff in it to keep the oil in suspension.  Artificial  stuff.  Want that in your body?  I don’t.

Crazy Richards.  Peanut Butter.  Available in smooth and crunchy at Giant now.  If you live in the midwest, look for a brand called Krema.  Same stuff, same company.  Just a different brand name and label for that region of the country.  And, if it’s not available where you live, check out their web site, http://www.kremaproducts.com/Crazy-Richards-Peanut-Butter/products/1/.

Best stuff on earth.

Now go make some peanut noodles, and thank Vicki for her fabulous recipe.

VICKI’S NOODLES
1 pound noodles

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon hot chili oil

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

1 cup shredded red cabbage

1 finely grated carrot

1/3 cup chopped scallions (just the green tops)

Prepare the noodles al dente, according to the package. Rinse under hot, then cool running water until they reach room temperature. Toss the noodles with 2 tablespoons sesame oil and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the next six ingredients (peanut butter through chile oil) with a whisk until smooth and completely blended. Set aside at room temperature.

A half-hour before serving, combine noodles with the peanuts (reserve about 2 tablespoons), bean sprouts, cabbage, carrot and half the scallions. Add the peanut sauce and toss to coat all the ingredients with sauce. Allow to rest for a half hour, sprinkle the rest of the peanuts and scallions over the noodles, then serve.

If you plan to add chicken, steak or tofu, they should be grilled ahead of time and chilled. The noodles and the sauce can also be made ahead of time and refrigerated. If you do, allow the ingredients to return to room temperature and whisk the sauce well before combining.

Jeff Thal’s column appears every other Sunday. E-mail him at talking.fresh@yahoo.com or visit his blog at talkingfresh.typepad.com.

Pity the poor pumpkin.  Unappreciated, disrespected, ignored, except at Halloween and Thanksgiving.  They’ve been growing all summer, not looking much like pumpkins, but now they’re in season and adorning fields all over Lancaster County, reminding us that fall is upon us.

Riding along Route 340 to the east or north on Route 501, we see pumpkins piled up on tables at the roadside stands.  Most of us think of pumpkins as jack-o-lanterns, and most of the pumpkins we see along the roads are the large, round “jack” pumpkins into which we carve scary faces, but which are mushy and tasteless.

Then there is the Sugar Pie.

Smaller, sweeter, denser pumpkins with fewer seeds and no hollow space, Sugar Pies have flavor that almost explodes in your mouth.  Sugar Pies are available at many local farm markets, or they are easy to grow yourself (but that’s a topic for next spring).

There are some who will tell you that pumpkin is one of those foods that is better (read: easier) from a can. I don’t buy that.  Cooking a fresh pumpkin is as easy as, well, pie!  Simply split the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and strings, rub the skins with olive oil, and roast for an hour.  Scoop out the flesh, allow it to drain in a colander lined with a dish towel for an hour, and then puree in a food processor. A 4-pound Sugar Pie pumpkin yields about 4 cups of cooked pumpkin. You can even do it ahead.

Bug don’t just make a pie–do something wild.  Search your cookbooks or the Internet for a tasty main dish.  We’ve used this one, Pumpkin-Mushroom Lasagna, adapted to our taste from The Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates cookbook, several times.  It is a sweet and savory dish that is earthy and fragrant, a great dish to serve to company, and, the leftovers are amazing.

Pumpkin-Mushroom Lasagna

4 cups chopped onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups chopped portabella or other mushrooms

¼ cup chopped fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup Marsala wine

½ cup vegetable stock

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 ½ cups cooked and pureed pumpkin

3 cups ricotta cheese

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ pound uncooked lasagna noodles

1 ½ cups crumbled feta

½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1. In a large pot, sauté the onions in the oil for 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and sauté another 5 minutes, until the mushrooms begin to wilt.  Add the sage, ½ teaspoon salt, wine and stock, and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, eggs, ricotta, pepper, nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon salt.  Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish.
4. Dip out a bout ½ cup of the liquid from the sautéed mushrooms and pour into the prepared baking dish. Cover the bottom with a layer of noodles, arranged closely together.  Evenly spread half the pumpkin mixture. Spoon on about 1/3 of the mushrooms and sprinkle on ½ cup feta.  Repeat this with another layer of noodles, pumpkin, mushrooms, and feta.  Finish with another layer of noodles, the remaining mushrooms, feta, and top with grated Romano.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove  the cover and  bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the lasagna is bubbly, the noodles are tender, and the top is browned. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes covered before serving.

Serves 8-10.

Finally, don’t neglect the seeds. They’re rich in fiber, vitamins B and E, and make a great snack.  Roast them in the oven with a little olive oil and salt or get fancy and use a chili rub or other seasoning you have on hand. Roast for 40 minutes in a 325 degree oven, stirring occasionally.

Friday afternoon. I just arrived home from work. Today, I’m the chauffeur — one daughter to swim practice, the other to her voice lesson, I’ve got to make dinner and we won’t shop for groceries until Sunday. A quick look and I discover some unfinished broccoli in the vegetable bin. Excellent! I can whip up something tasty and healthy with just the broccoli and my cupboard staples. And I can do it quickly.

We have this thing we call “cream of anything” soup. It can be made from whatever veggies are in season. This week it’s broccoli, and right now it’s at its very best. The local markets are loaded with it, and as for healthy? Hey, it’s broccoli!

We’ve all heard, over and over, how good broccoli is for us. It’s high in fiber, low in calories, loaded with vitamins, its calcium level rivals that of milk, and there is some research that suggests that broccoli, a member of the cabbage family, may also be anti-carcinogenic.

So, if you want all that good stuff, but don’t have a lot of time, try this simple, creamy soup that is healthy and tastes great. Your kids will ask for seconds. It comes from the classic Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, which isn’t really new — it’s been around since 1930, but it’s still one of the best cookbooks around.

And here’s a really cool thing about this recipe: You can make it with whatever vegetables you fancy, or what you have on hand. Just change the vegetable and the seasonings. I’m posting to my blog, talkingfresh.typepad.com, a chart that shows how to adapt this recipe to a wide variety of vegetables, from A (asparagus) to Z (zucchini), and many more in between.

CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup chopped onion
4 cups cut broccoli
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced fine
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 cups milk

In a saucepan, combine broth, onion, garlic, broccoli and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the broccoli is tender. Remove the bay leaf.

Place half the broccoli mixture in a blender, cover and blend until smooth, 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat with the remaining mix. Set the blended mix aside.

In the same saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour, salt and pepper and stir until a smooth paste forms (in other words, a roux). Add the milk, and cook and stir until the sauce is thick and bubbly (in other words, a white sauce).

Add back the blended vegetable mixture, cook and stir until the soup is heated throughout. Season with additional salt and white pepper to taste.

Garnish with some fresh-chopped parsley and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 6.

We’re serving the soup with simple and delicious Parmesan popovers (also made using cupboard staples) from a recipe at Cooks.com. The kids jumped with glee when they heard about these. The popovers are a perfect complement to a warm fall vegetable soup.

PARMESAN POPOVERS
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with rack on lower shelf.

Spray 6 large muffin or custard cups with non-stick spray or brush with butter. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

In a medium bowl, stir together milk, flour, butter, and salt. Beat in eggs only until combined. Divide the mixture evenly into the 6 cups.

Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20 minutes. Brush with butter and serve while still warm.

Here is a chart taken from the wonderful Good Housekeeping Family Cookbook with amounts and yields for making a cream soup out of any vegetable.

Recommendation:  double any of these recipes.

I had this request the other day, and I remembered that it’s time to put up my hot cherry and jalapeno peppers. This is the simple method for preserving those hot beauties. I love having them around all winter, to eat with sandwiches, or stuff with cream cheese or ham to serve at a party.

Pickled Peppers

* 5 pounds cherry peppers, or a mix of your choice of peppers
* 1 Jalapeno per jar (if desired for hotness)
* 1 clove garlic per jar
* 6 cups vinegar
* 2 cups water
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pickling salt
* 1 tablespoon sugar, if desired

*Note: May use a variety of peppers to equal 5 pounds (4 quarts).

Yield: Makes 7 to 8 pints

Procedure: Wash peppers. I like to leave my peppers whole, and cut a small “X” across the bottom of each pepper. Stem and core large peppers. Pack one clove garlic and whatever peppers you have tightly into clean, hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Combine vinegar, water, salt (and sugar). Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Pour hot pickling solution over peppers, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Push the peppers down firmly in the jar to remove all the air bubbles. Work the hard in the jar to get the brine inside the peppers, and keep pushing until no more bubbles rise to the surface. Readjust headspace to 1/4 inch. Wipe jar rims. Add pre-treated lids and process in boiling water bath. For best flavor, store jars five to six weeks before opening.

In the Lancaster Sunday News on August 8 we ran a piece on a fabulous Panzanella (tomato and bread salad). It occurred to me today that while the recipe is fabulous, and easy to make, what it begs for, and wasn’t mentioned in the article, was that it would be even better with a homemade bread.  Now I recognize that making bread is not everyone’s cup of tea, mostly because it isn’t an easy thing to do for a novice, we have for years made a wonderful crusty white bread from a recipe published in the New York Times in November of 2006.  The beauty of that bread is that it requires no kneading.  Just mix the ingredients, show some patience during two rise periods, and discover the easiest bread this side of an electric bread maker, but so much better.

The Times’s recipe is great, but the results can be less than perfect and the product inconsistent if the baker varies even a tiny bit from the original recipe.  There have been numerous bakers who have taken the challenge of making the bread better and easier to make.  I have found one that I adore, and while it does require just a bit of kneading, it is about the best bread I know, is truly easy to make–even for a beginner–and works perfectly every time.  It comes from one of my favorite cooking resources, Cook’s Illustrated (I’ve implored you several times to pony up the fee to subscribe to their web site; it’s the best cooking site on the Internet.  Do give it a try), and it is the best bread match for the panzanella recipe I wrote about in August.  That recipe is linked here, and is worth your time.  And if you’re really ambitious, bake the bread as well.  It’s a winner.
 

Almost No-Knead Bread

I promised a second peach ice cream recipe, one with eggs.  Here it is.  This is incredible.  Make this, and follow the recipe exactly.  As I suggested in the “no-egg” ice cream recipe, follow your ice cream freezer maker’s directions exactly. If the instructions say 20 minutes, don’t do it for 21 or 22.  Freezing the ice cream longer than recommended makes it icy.  I know.  I’ve tried doing in longer and shorter.  The ice cream freezer maker (in my case Cuisinarts, spent millions on research to develop a perfect product.  They know whereof they speak.

Both the cooked peaches and the custard mixture must be cooled to 40 degrees before you churn them. Since they are fine in the refrigerator overnight, you may want to prepare them the day before you plan to churn and serve the ice cream. You’ll get the very best results from using in-season, fully ripened peaches, and for a terrific treat, replace the vodka with peach-flavored liqueur or Amaretto. The ice cream is at its peak when eaten within four hours of churning, although covered, it will keep in the freezer for up to two days.

Ingredients

Instructions

1.    1. Stir peaches, lemon juice, a pinch salt, and 1/2 cup sugar in medium-size nonreactive saucepan to combine; let stand until a pool of syrupy liquid accumulates and peaches soften slightly, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

2.    2. Position sieve over medium bowl set in an ice-water bath; set aside. Heat milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar in medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until steam appears, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn off heat. Meanwhile, whisk yolks and remaining 6 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until pale yellow. Stir half the warmed milk mixture into beaten yolk mixture until just blended. Return milk-yolk mixture to saucepan of remaining warmed milk mixture. Heat milk-yolk mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon until steam appears, foam subsides, and mixture just begins to thicken (see illustrations below) or instant-read thermometer registers 180 degrees (mixture must not boil or eggs will curdle). Remove from heat, and following step 3 in illustration, immediately strain custard into prepared bowl. Cool custard mixture to room temperature, stir in vanilla, then cover and refrigerate until instant-read thermometer registers 40 degrees, at least 2 and up to 24 hours.

3.    3. Meanwhile, heat softened peaches and their liquid, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat until peaches are tender and flesh has broken down, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl, stir in vodka, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 and up to 24 hours.

4.    4. Strain chilled peaches, reserving liquid. Stir reserved peach liquid into chilled custard mixture; pour into ice cream machine canister and churn, following manufacturer’s instructions, until mixture is frozen and resembles soft-serve ice cream, 25 to 30 minutes. Add peaches; continue to churn until combined, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer ice cream to airtight container. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

Makes about 1 quart.  

Peaches are ripe and bursting right now, and I’m always on the lookout for out-of-the-box recipes to post for whatever is in season. I was treated the other day to a homemade salsa that was fresh and tasty, and, having enjoyed variations of mango salsa, I suggested that one might try making a salsa with peaches.  My friend looked stunned, but was willing to consider the possibility. So I said I’d find one and give him the recipe. Here is one that looks pretty good:

Ingredients:
6 medium-size ripe peaches, peeled and chopped
4 Roma tomatoes, skinned and chopped (do you know how to skin tomatoes?  I’ll remind you at the end of this post)
2 serrano chiles, seeded and finely chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped

Peach salsa

1 firm avocado, skinned and chopped
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fine
juice of 1 lime
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine peaches, tomatoes, chiles, onions, and avocado.  Stir gently to blend.
In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, and the citrus juices.  Pour over the vegetables and toss.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with tortilla chips.  Blue corn chips are even better, and look great!

Skinning tomatoes:
Prepare a large non-reactive bowl with water and ice.
Bring 6 inches of water to a rolling boil in a large stock pot.
Cut a small, shallow X on the bottom end of the tomatoes (opposite the stem end), barely piercing the skin.
Carefully place the tomatoes into the boiling water for exactly one minute.
Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and drop them into the ice water. Allow the tomatoes to cool completely.
You can now easily peel the skins off  the tomatoes.
Compost the skins!

Here is a link to the best farm market I know.  Brook Lawn Farm Market, in Lancaster ,PA

.Brook Lawn Farm Market

Peach ice cream

I had a request recently for an ice cream recipe that contained no eggs.  There are two main kinds of ice cream in the U.S., custard-style ice cream and Philadelphia-style ice cream.  So that it is clear what the differences are, think of it this way:  Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s ice creams and gelati are custard-style frozen desserts, and Breyer’s and Turkey Hill Philadelphia-style are “Philadelphia-style ice creams. Since Breyer’s mint chocolate chip and vanilla are my two favorite ice creams, I guess I like this one better.
I was discussing ice cream the other day with my peaches purveyor the good folks at Brooklawn Farm Market, and the subject of peach ice cream came up.  One of the girls in the store asked me if I knew a good peach ice cream recipe, since she is allergic to eggs. So I went to work, and came up with this little gem.  Try this for a wonderful treat. The key here is to follow your ice cream maker’s instructions exactly.  If I’ve learned something from making ice cream, it’s that my ice cream maker, the Cuisinarts (Cooks’ Illustrated’s favorite one) recommends freezing for 20 minutes, and doing it longer makes the finished product worse, not better.  So try this and let me know how it works out.

Philadelphia-Style Peach Ice Cream.Prep Time: 15 minutesCook Time: 5 minutesTotal Time:20 minutesFreezing time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large, sweet peaches, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup peach nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Preparation:

Heat the cream in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear around the edge. Do not let the cream boil. Remove from the heat and add the salt and sugar, stirring until they dissolves completely. Cool to room temperature. Cut the peaches into eighths and place in the blender with the peach nectar. Blend until the peaches are almost pureed, but leave some small pieces of peach. Stir the peach purée and vanilla into the cooled cream. Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap rests directly on the mix and refrigerate until cold or overnight. Freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. It’s wonderful that way, but to make it even better, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours. Makes about 6 cups