Green Tomato Vegetable Soup

Tomatoes went in late this year so we ended up with a lot of green fruit left on the vines as the days got shorter and colder this fall. Oh, green tomatoes. I’ve dutifully tried frying them and have tasted pie made with them, but just haven't developed a taste for them. At least not until I played with some recipes and came up with this last weekend. It’s on the light side but more flavorful than I expected from a simple and quick soup. Because of the cumin it smells like chili on the stove, but ends up tasting like - well, like delicious vegetable soup. The cumin does lovely things for the slightly-acidic green tomatoes.  

Green Tomato Vegetable Soup 

2-3 Tblsp. olive oil

1 onion chopped
1 ¼ cups chopped carrots
1 ¼ cups chopped green beans
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tsp. ground cumin
¾ tsp. oregano
¼ tsp marjoram
Pepper to taste
4-5 green (unripe red) tomatoes, chopped into small dice (I left skins on)
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes (or equivalent fresh red chopped tomatoes)
1 - 15 oz. can corn, drained
1 - 15 oz. can black beans, well-rinsed
8 cups vegetable broth
Salt (to taste if needed)

In a medium sized stockpot heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion  and carrots and sauté about 3 minutes. Add the green beans and garlic and sauté about 2 more minutes. Add the spices, tomatoes, black beans and corn. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes. Stir in the vegetable broth and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook about 20 minutes until all vegetables are cooked and flavors have blended. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve with sourdough bread or garlic crostini or tortilla chips. 

The kids were meh on this dish but didn't hate it. Recipe above made enough for dinner for 4 with generous leftovers for the next day's lunch.

Mujadarah (Middle-eastern lentils, rice, and carmelized onions)

This hearty, flavorful dish has become a staple at our house this year. We have it a couple of times a month and the kids are big fans. This is a great choice for anyone who wants to try something a little different or skip meat once in a while. It’s very “meaty,” and lentils are fast-cooking and uncomplicated to work with. The flavors of cumin and cinnamon are a little bit different but this version of the dish does not have flavors that seem exotic to a picky eater. 

I have most of the short ingredient list on hand most days in my kitchen. One drawback for weeknight meals is that it takes about 40 minutes to make. I sometimes cook the lentils the night before or earlier in the day and just refrigerate until I need them. 

Mujadarah (Middle-eastern lentils, rice, and carmelized onions) 

1 cup brown or green lentils, sorted and rinsed
1/3 cup olive oil (or other  vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

3 turns of the pepper mill (or about ¼ tsp pepper)

4 medium/small or 2 large onions, sliced thin (rings are pretty but I’ve started using a food processor with the slicing disk.)

½ tsp. salt

3/4 cup rice (white)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or similar dried ground pepper)

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Juice of ½ lemon, or about a tablespoon of bottled lemon juice

Optional plain yogurt or sour cream for serving

Cook the lentils. Pick through the lentils to remove any non-lentils first, and rinse.

Spread dry lentils on a white plate to quickly sort

Put lentils in a medium saucepan. Add 2 cups water (or more – it won’t hurt anything). Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Drain. 

While lentils are cooking, cook the onions. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and pepper. Heat the seeds about 1 minute. Add all of the onions at once. Cook over medium heat, turning every so often, until the onions are mostly brown and carmelized (but not overcooked/burned). This always takes longer than I think – 20-30 minutes.

Remove about half of the onions from the pan and set aside (on paper towels to soak up oil.) Add the cinnamon, cumin powder, and cayenne pepper to the onions in the pan and stir. Add the rice, lentils salt, and 3 cups water and stir. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover and cook until rice is cooked – about 20 minutes. Add water if needed. 

When rice is cooked, turn off heat and stir in the lemon juice. Taste to see if more salt is needed. Top with the onion you set aside (reheated as needed.) 

Optionally, serve with yogurt or sour cream. Serves 4 generously.

Potato Fritters, Indian style

This is sooo delicious. I’m sure it’s not especially good for you, but luckily the Stuff My Kids Will Eat Kitchen does not have the scientific instruments that would allow us to confirm that.

We served these fritters as a starter for family favorite chana masala, which bubbled on the stove while I cooked the fritters. The extra potato-ends (too small for fritters) got diced and added to the main dish. The fritters made with white potatoes were OK, but the sweet potatoes were divine. I didn't add the serrano chiles called for in the recipe.

We served store-bought coriander chutney for dipping. I think this would also be good with mango chutney, or the mint chutney suggested in the cookbook - or just eaten plain like French fries, as my kids enjoyed it.

Speaking of French fries, one of my favorite things about exploring the simpler dishes of other cuisines is learning how much they have in common across cultures. The seasonings change, but comfort food is comfort food (and everyone likes a fried potato.)

Potato Fritters Appetizer
Adapted from “Vegetarian for All Seasons,” Williams-Sonoma
1 cup chickpea flour (also called besan or gram flour)
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1 Tblsp. peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
Oil for frying
1 Tblsp. garam masala
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp. baking powder
2 green onions, minced (note: I substituted finely-diced yellow onion)
(optional) 1 serrano chile, minced
2 Tblsp. minced fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large sweet potato
1 large baking potato


In a bowl, combine the flour, stock, 1 tblsp. oil, garam masala, turmeric and baking powder. Stir until well mixed. Stir in the green onions, chile, and cilantro. The batter should be thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes. The slices can be as much as ¼ inch thick and will still cook through, but taste-test your first batch for doneness.

The original recipe calls for deep frying in an inch of oil, but I'm a hot oil wimp, so I used a large (12”) non-stick skillet and generous dollop of oil, adding more oil every batch or two of fritters.  Heat the oil to medium-high or high temperature. Working one batch at a time, dip slices into the batter to coat and place immediately into hot pan. Fry a single layer at a time, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to paper towels to drain. While cooking the next batch, you can keep the fritters in a warm oven.

When all potatoes have been cooked, serve with the chutney.


February is Cheap Eats Month
Headlines say to expect high grocery prices during the next few months. I thought it would be fun to devote a month to cheap eats. They say food doesn’t have to be costly to be fresh and delicious. (Will the Kids agree? Will they notice any difference?)

What’s your favorite inexpensive main dish? How do you stretch your weekly purchases across a week of menus? Add your comments, favorites or requests below.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht

Friends sometimes say that my kids are easy in the variety of things they will eat. And I’ve kind of brushed that off – after all, James doesn’t eat meat, which is not especially easy, and Milo ate no fruits or vegetables at all except broccoli, apples and bananas, for years.

But then there was soup night potluck. When we brought out the borscht ,and James told the neighbor kids, eagerly, “Borscht! This is soo good!” and filled his bowl, and they looked on in faint stupefaction before turning to their hamburgers. Purple soup, who can blame them? Maybe my kids are a little odd. 

But if you get past the purple, this really is one fine and delicious dish.

Borscht isn’t a family dish for either of us, so we’ve tried a few different recipes along the way. My grandmother made a borscht that was more like a cabbage and tomato soup. The version Tom made for soup fest has a lot of beet flavor, no cabbage, and vegetables that are roasted adding richness. That, and the beets, also make the soup kind of sweet. Not sweet like dessert, but sweet like roasted onions and beets. 

Also on the menu was creamy squash bisque and chicken and kale soup. Look at these colors!

Add a little crusty bread and a peach cobbler made with the last of the frozen Michigan peaches, and you have the perfect winter potluck.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht

6 medium red beets, scrubbed and peeled.

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

1 shallot (can substitute onion)

1 onion

½ tsp thyme

2 Tblsp. Olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

5 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Garnish: sour cream, parsley or chives

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Serves 4

Cut 5 of the beets into medium dice. Coarsely grate the other beet and put aside.

Toss diced beets and diced potatoes, shallot and onion with the oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheets. Sprinkle with thyme. Roast about 45 minutes.

Bring broth to a simmer in a large saucepan or stockpot. Add the vegetables. Mash about half of the soup with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Add the vinegar, salt, pepper, and the grated beet. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add additional broth or water if needed. Taste and add more vinegar if needed.

Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream topped by the parsley or chives.

New World Skillet (Cheap Eats)

Around the beginning of the recession, our grocery store started featuring $15 dinner specials. Buy these 4 items totaling under $15 and you have dinner for four. Of course like any cheapskate worth the label, I scoff at that. I can make dinner for four for $5 without breaking a sweat! (leaves more in the checking account for splurging on the $50 dinners.)

The following dish is improvised, mostly pantry-based, and cheap as heck if the squash is on sale. It’s also fast and simple to throw together after work. I called it New World Skillet because most of the ingredients (corn, squash, tomatoes) are native to the Americas. An interesting name encourages kids to give it a try (or at least provides some dinner conversation). We served over rice, but it could also be a burrito or enchilada filling. Actually, I had the leftovers for breakfast and that was pretty yummy too.

New World Skillet

1 tsp. vegetable oil

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into about ½ inch dice

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can corn

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (if you don’t rinse, everything turns gray, ick.)

28-oz can diced tomatoes

Chili powder, about 1 tsp or to taste

Oregano, about ½ tsp

Cumin, about ½ tsp or to taste

Tabasco sauce or similar, to taste (2 shakes is good for my kids.)

(optional) red pepper flakes, for adult diners, about ¼ tsp.

Salt and pepper

Heat oil in large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium or med-low heat. Add squash and sauté about 3-4 minutes. Add onion, chili powder, oregano, cumin and oregano. Cook a couple of minutes more and add garlic. Continue to cook until squash is soft. Add corn, reserving the liquid to add moisture to skillet if needed, beans, and tomatoes. Add optional red pepper flakes. Cover and cook about 10 minutes until flavors are blended. Taste and add Tabasco, salt and pepper. Cook another few minutes to blend flavors.

Serve over rice or with corn tortillas. Kids may want to add sour cream.

Serves 4.

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).

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)

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