recipes
for glacier grist issue #11
tomato soup
This soup is yummy, creamy and rich without any cream or butter in it! It’s based on a recipe in Peter Berley’s book The Flexitarian Table
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced onions (3-4 medium)
sea salt or kosher salt
1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
2 medium carrots (peeled if the skins are tough), sliced
large pinch of red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
28-ounce can of whole plum tomatoes or diced tomatoes in juice
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water (I use broth left over from cooking white beans with onion and garlic)
two 2-inch strips of orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 teaspoon dried sage
Garlicky Croutons (recipe follows)
1. I slice the onions and carrots in the food processor—this is especially time-saving if you’re doing a double batch. Just cut off the stem end of the carrots and push them down through the narrow feed tube, pushing with the pusher cup.
2. In a heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, until the onions have softened—5 minutes or so. Add the garlic cloves, carrots, and pepper flakes, lower the heat, cover, and cook until the vegetables are sweet and juicy and tender, but not browned, 20 minutes or so. Check and stir occasionally, adding a few tablespoons of water if the vegetables are dry.
3. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the stock or water, orange zest and sage and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the pot from the heat and discard the orange zest. Puree the soup with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender. It’s easiest to do this if you’ve let the soup cool for a while first. Season with salt if you like, but I didn’t find it necessary because of the salt already added to the onions and in the canned tomatoes. Reheat the soup before serving, and add water to thin the soup if it seems too thick.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with bread or toast on the side.
Garlicky Whole-Grain Croutons
5 slices hearty whole-grain bread (preferably whole-wheat sourdough)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the garlic with the salt in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Cut the slices of bread into ½” cubes and toss them in the garlicky oil until the oil is thoroughly absorbed and distributed. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown. Cool on the baking sheet.
Indian diced potatoes with greens
I’ve made and loved this recipe for years—it’s a variation of a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking
2 pounds waxy potatoes (e.g., Yukon Gold)
sea salt and kosher salt
1 to 2 pounds greens: kale, collards, chard, or spinach
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon whole black or brown mustard seeds
1 to 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon garam masala (Indian spice mixture)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Garlicky Yogurt Sauce (optional; recipe below)
1. Bring 2 ½ quarts of water to a boil. Peel potatoes if you like (I don’t bother) and dice into ¾-inch cubes, then add to boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil again. Cover, turn heat to low and cook potatoes until they are tender—about 6 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain. Spread potatoes out and leave to cool.
2. If using kale or collards, bring a large pot of water to boil, and salt it well.
3. Cut the long stems away from the kale leaves. Stack the leaves on top of each other and slice the leaves into 1-inch wide ribbons.
4. Plunge the kale into the pot of boiling salted water, and cook until tender. This could take as long as 8 or 10 minutes, but could be much shorter. Start tasting after 5 minutes. Drain the kale and set aside.
5. If using fresh spinach or chard…, wash carefully and drop into large kettle of boiling water to wilt. Drain. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from spinach and chop fine.
6. Heat oil in a heavy, 12-inch, preferably nonstick skillet over a medium-high flame. When very hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds begin to pop (this just takes a few seconds), add the onion and the garlic. Turn heat to medium and fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Onions should turn very lightly brown at the edges. Now put in the chopped greens and keep stirring and frying for another 10 minutes.
7. Add the cooked potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, the garam masala, and the cayenne pepper. Stir and mix gently until potatoes are heated through. Serve with garlicky yogurt sauce!
Garlicky Yogurt Sauce
2 cups plain yogurt
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 small cloves garlic, mashed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
Put the yogurt in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, taste for more salt, and chill until needed.
acorn squash filled with wild rice, golden raisins, and pine nuts
This wonderful recipe is one of my very favorite things to do with acorn, delicata or sweet dumpling squashes. If you have fennel, add it to the recipe—but if not, celery is wonderful with the fennel seeds.
This stuffed squash recipe is based on one from Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens
Note: If you don’t want to make the wild rice filling, and you just want a really easy squash recipe, just continue baking the squash until completely tender, as shown below. Then sprinkle the flesh with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little maple syrup at the table.
The Squash
2 acorn squashes, or 3 or 4 medium sweet dumpling or delicata squashes
olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly-ground pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse the squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. Brush the flesh with olive oil and place the squash halves cavity side down on a baking sheet.
2. Bake for about 20 minutes, until just tender. (The squash will cook a little more after it’s filled.) Remove the squash from the oven, turn it cavity side up, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. While the squash is baking, prepare the filling.
The Filling
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried currants
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 cup wild rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red or yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
4 stalks celery, diced, or 1 bulb fennel, cored and diced
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted over low heat in a small skillet
zest and juice of one orange
1. In a small bowl, combine the golden raisins and currants; cover with boiling water and set aside to plump.
2. Bring 1 quart of water to boil in a medium-sized saucepan. When it boils, add ½ teaspoon salt and the wild rice. Lower the heat to a gentle boil; cover and cook until the grains are tender but still chewy, about 30 to 35 minutes. Drain the rice if necessary.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan; add the onions and ½ teaspoon salt. Saute over medium heat until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic, fennel seed, and celery or fennel. Cook until the celery or fennel is tender, then add the wine and simmer until the pan is nearly dry.
4. In a medium-sized bowl, toss the rice with the sautéed onion mixture; add the plumped fruit, pine nuts, and orange zest and juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. The filling should be very well seasoned.
5. Divide the filling among the squash halves and place in a baking dish with ¼ inch water in the bottom. Cover with foil and bake until the filled squash is hot and steamy, about 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Serve hot or warm. These make fantastic leftovers, too, heated in the microwave.