Ten Thumbs Up Minestrone

That’s right – when I asked the kids to rate this meal by thumbs, they put all their digits in the air. Reluctant amateur cook mom WIN. 

(OK, so part of that might be the way I refused to let them into the kitchen and have a snack, and dinner wasn’t served until 6:30. Hunger = best sauce. But still.)

Another nod to the Daily Soup Cookbook. They have three fine-sounding recipes for minestrone. I’ve never actually made the recipes, given that I can’t plan ahead and never have all the ingredients,  but they give me a starting point and proportions, and whatever’s in the house pretty much dictates the direction from there. This recipe makes a lot of soup – half will serve 4 generously.

Ten Thumbs Up Minestrone

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 leeks, rinsed well and chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

8-10 cups of veggie broth

2  15-oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1  28-oz can whole tomatoes, drained and diced (I don’t know why, but it seems to taste more tomato-y than canned diced tomatoes)

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

½ cup savoy cabbage, chopped

½ cup small pasta for soup (I used small ditali, ditalini)

1/3 to ½ cup basil pesto

(optional) fresh-grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, leeks, and garlic and cook until tender (about 5 min.)

Add the seasonings and stir.

Add the beans, broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer about an hour.

Note – at this point the soup can be put away in the refrigerator or freezer if you aren’t serving immediately. The next few steps are for right before serving.

To simmering soup, add the carrots and cabbage and cook about 10 minutes, partially covered, until carrots are mostly soft. Add the ditalini pasta and cook partially covered about 5-7 minutes (or package directions) until pasta is al dente.   

Turn off the heat and stir in the pesto. 

Serve with grated Parmesan and garlic bread.

Makes lots of soup – 10-12 cups.

Easy-Peasy Veggie Broth

When we first started cooking mostly-vegetarian meals, I used to grumble to Tom that vegetarians and vegans must hate food. My evidence was: vital wheat gluten, seitan, and the flavor of canned or boxed vegetable broth.  Bad, bad semi-vegetarian.

But it turns out that making your own vegetable stock is easy, cheap, and relatively quick. You will never again have to pay $2.99 a box for something that tastes like boiled grass flavored with soy sauce (yes, I’m talking to you, Wolfgang Puck.) Next time you notice some wilting celery and carrots in the crisper while doing your weekend fridge cleaning, simmer up some stock for later. It will keep in the fridge for about a week, or you can freeze it for later use. Not cooking vegetarian? Honestly, I think this fresh vegetable broth will work better in many recipes than the strange flavor of most canned beef broth. Give it a try.

My version of vegetable stock owes something to both the Everything Vegetarian and the Daily Soup recipes, depending on what I have in the house and what I’m planning to use the stock for. 

Rules of Thumb for veggie stock:

1. You can make this with only onion, garlic, carrots, and celery and some sort of seasoning (salt and pepper at least – parsley, etc., if you want.) A note on celery: I don’t care for it myself, but I haven’t found anything else that provides the depth of flavor it adds to vegetable stock. 
2. Other standby additions: chopped tomato, one potato (adds body), dried mushrooms thyme, parsley, bay leaf – fresh bouquet garni if you have all the ingredients on-hand. Everyday Vegetarian likes a lot of parsley, and soy sauce. It’s the time of year to throw in what’s left of the fresh herbs in the garden before winter.
3. Don’t include strong flavors (broccoli, cabbage).

I made veggie broth last night, which will be the base for the minestrone we’re having tonight.  Doesn’t the final result look rich?

Veggie Broth

• 3 large carrots, washed well or peeled, and chopped coarsely
• 3 celery stalks, washed and chopped coarsely
• 2 medium potatoes (any style), washed well and chopped coarsely
• 1 large onion or two medium onions, peeled and chopped coarsely
• 3-4 garlic cloves (you don’t even have to peel them)
• Half yellow bell pepper, seeded, washed, and chopped coarsely (green pepper is too much flavor for my taste, but a little bit of a milder bell pepper is OK.)
• One medium yellow winter squash, washed and chopped coarsely
• Dried mushrooms, about a half-cup. (we have the cheap variety you can find in Chinatown – nothing exciting or expensive.)
  
  Seasonings (also see point 2 above. This is what I used:)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• A couple of stems of fresh oregano
• A few stems of fresh parsley
• A couple of fresh basil leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  
• 10 cups of water (or a little more if needed to cover vegetables in pan.)

Put everything in a stock pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes. An hour is even better. 

Allow broth to cool slightly. Strain into a bowl or other container using a colander or strainer. If you don’t mind a cloudy broth, you can use a potato masher to squeeze more flavor out of the vegetables as you drain the liquid. Discard or compost the cooked vegetables.

That’s it! Refrigerate or freeze and use in any recipe calling for vegetable broth. The flavor is very mild and almost disappointing if you try a teaspoonful of it, but it made a huge difference in my soups and sauces.  Next up: minestrone (which is bubbling on the stove as I type).

Mexican Chocolate Veg Chili

“Oh, man, best thing ever!”  - Milo

Since most of our meals are vegetarian, it’s no surprise that we have chili pretty often. Tom makes an especially good chili, never the same taste twice. (As he explains, it all depends on what we have in the house. Pantry chili, I guess you could call it.) Last night’s was a little picante and a bit sweet, and the kids went crazy for it. Here’s the closest he can come to capturing it in recipe form.

Ingredient note 1: You’ll find Sazón Goya on the list, which turns out to be largely MSG, oops. I’m fascinated by the concept of MSG – a chemical that makes any food taste better! How cool is that? – but that’s a topic for another post. In any case, feel free to skip it. We've been having fun with it.

Ingredient note 2:  This was pretty sweet. It skimmed the borderline for me and came in on the yummy side, but some diners may find it too much in their chili. I might cut the hot chocolate tablet amount by half next time.

Mexican Chocolate Veg Chili

Chop up all the half-used onions in the refrigerator (about half a large yellow onion and half a purple onion)

Oil for cooking

1 – 7 oz can mild green chiles

1 T paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 packet Sazon con cilantro y tomate [see note above]

1 15-oz can kidney beans

1 28-oz can pinto beans

1 28-oz can diced tomato

1/ 2 circle of Mi Abuelita Mexican style hot chocolate [see note above]

In about a tablespoon of oil, saute onions and green chiles until onions are starting to soften. 

Make a pool in the middle. Add a little more oil. Into the oil, put 1 T paprika, 1 t garlic powder, 1 t  black pepper,  1 t  cumin,  t 1cinnamon, and one packet Sazon con cilantro y tomate.  Cook in oil, Indian style

Add 1 15oz can kidney beans, with liquid, followed by a 28 oz can of pinto beans, without liquid. Add 28-oz can of diced tomato. Cook on med for 40 minutes. 

Note from Jen: I always rinse all canned beans! Tom insists on using the liquid. The experts of teh google search tell us that to avoid the bean's more unpleasant side effects, drain and rinse.

Then add a half circle of Mi Abuelita Mexican style hot chocolate and allow to soften before stirring into the chili. Cook on low for a while stirring occasionally.

We served over macaroni noodles. Also good alone, with rice, or on tortillas. Optionally, top with cheese, or hot sauce, or sour cream, or all three.

Serves 4 generously, with leftovers (or 6 without leftovers)

Yeah! Savory Spinach Without Bacon

I like spinach. I enjoy the taste and mouth-feel of the substantial, not crispy, leaves in salad. I like to add it to sauces and sneak it into pasta and egg dishes. But I haven’t been able to figure out a way to cook spinach, greens-style, without the addition of bacon. Amazing how short the distance is between sublime and soggy. If you’ve had the same dilemma, this recipe solves it. The flavor is rich and intense. You’ll find yourself going back for seconds and thirds. And it's veg/vegan.

Italian Spinach

On the kid rating scale: I can’t say they loved it. But they ate small servings and didn’t hate it. Every little superfood bit counts, right?

Tom picked up this Cook's Illustrated publication after browsing it in line at the supermarket last week. $7.95, occupies less than 1/4 inch on the cookbooks shelf, packed with 60 recipes. What's not to like about that? 

Italian Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts

(from Cook’s Illustrated Italian Favorites, 2010)

NOTE: If desired, one small red onion can be substituted for the shallots. Using a high-sided Dutch oven (rather than a low-sided skillet) makes wilting the spinach easier and faster.

¼ cup golden raisins [we used regular raisins]

¼ cup hot water

2 tablespoons pine nuts

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 (10 ounce) bags curly-leaf spinach, stemmed and torn into bite-sized pieces

3 shallots, sliced thin

¼ cup balsalmic vinegar

1 teaspoon light brown sugar

Table salt 

1. Plump raisins in a bowl of hot water, about 5 minutes. Toast nuts in Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring often, until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to plate.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add spinach in handfuls, stirring and allowing each batch to wilt slightly before adding next batch. Continue to cook until spinach is uniformly wilted and glossy, about 1 minute. Transfer spinach to colander set over bowl and press with wooden spoon to release extra liquid.

3. Wipe out Dutch oven, add remaining oil, and set over medium heat until shimmering. Cook shallots until softened, about 3 minutes. Drain raisins and add to shallots. Stir in vinegar and sugar and cook until syrupy, about 2 minutes. Add spinach and toss to coat. Season with salt and sprinkle with nuts. (Serves 4)

1.