A Life, Lived

Lentil and Sausage Soup with Cabbage

In winter if it is the weekend there is most likely a pot of soup on the stove at our house. A huge pot will provide lunches for the week. Leftovers are frozen. At this point our freezer is starting to be overrun with soup.

I was looking for a cabbage soup recipe (yes, lots of cabbages in our CSA recently) and found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen. She suggested using pre-cooked sausage links and to be honest I am not sure what that it. We used kielbasa.

The end result was a hearty, delicious soup. In fact, the other day I had just finished a bowl at the office when a colleague walked in and asked what smelled so amazing. When I told her it was lentil soup she refused to believe me - presumably lentil soup has all sorts of connotations of boring, blandness and there is none of that with this one.

This recipe makes a lot of soup  . . . 8 - 10 large servings. You could cut it in half but why bother- it freezes well and will provide you with warm, delicious soup for weeks.

I was a bit worried about the amount of water in the soup thinking, erroneously it turned out, that it would result in a soup with no taste. I should have known to trust Kalyn!

Lentil and Sausage Soup with Cabbage

6 cups water
10 cups homemade chicken stock
3-4 links precooked sausage, cut into small pieces (about 2 cups diced sausage) - I used diced kielbasa
2 cups brown lentils
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
3 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
2-3 bay leaves
2 T minced garlic 
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 T tomato paste (I used the type from a tube)

Put water, chicken stock, bay leaves, garlic, thyme, cumin, tomato paste, and lentils in large soup pot and start to simmer. Cut sausage in fourths lengthwise, then into small pieces and add to soup. Add finely chopped onion, celery, and carrots and coarsely chopped cabbage. Let soup simmer on low 2-3 hours or more, until lentils are starting to dissolve, and some of the vegetables have been incorporated into soup. Serve hot.

Photo Hunt - Quick

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'quick'.

Aqua Alta in San Marco Square, Venice. It is amazing how quick the water rises. People quickly clamber up on the raised walk ways to avoid walking in the water. Once you are up on the walkway there is NOTHING quick about your journey until the water recedes.

Curried Sweet Potato & Apple Soup with Curry-Fried Shallots

This was another one of those meals that satisfied a number of needs - it was cold outside so I needed soup. Our CSA had been slamming us with apples and sweet potatoes so it helped use those up. I was craving something delicious but didn't want to cook for hours.

Don't you just love it when something checks off all the boxes?

I didn't make the curried fried shallots and I am glad of it - the soup had a beautiful, delicate curry/apple flavour. I think the curry fried shallots might have overwhelmed that . . . of course, without actually trying it to compare what the hell do I know?

 

Curried Sweet Potato & Apple Soup with Curry-Fried Shallots

One small onion, peeled and finely chopped
Two small carrots, peeled and finely chopped
One large stalk of celery, finely chopped
2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 TB butter
1 large Granny Smith apple (or other tart apple), peeled and finely chopped
4 cups of peeled, chopped sweet potato
2 3/4 cup chicken stock
2 small shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 TB all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
dash salt

To make the soup: melt butter in a large pot over medium heat, then cook the onion, carrots, garlic and curry powder until onion is softened.

Add apple, sweet potato & chicken stock, and bring to a simmer until sweet potato is soft, 15-20 minutes.

Using a blender or food processor, puree the soup in batches until smooth, placing pureed soup back into pot. Reheat soup and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and curry powder. If soup is tasting a bit heavy, add in a splash of apple cider vinegar.

To make garnish- toss the curry powder in the flour with a bit of salt, then toss the shallots in the flour.

Heat up a pot of oil, and fry the shallots a few at a time until crispy, then set on a plate with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt right as they come out. Sprinkle over soup right before serving.

A Way to Live . . .

Indeed . . .

Travel Tuesday - Rome

A friend of ours just returned from Rome. Viewing the stream of pics she posted got me thinking about our last trip there...

 

 

Spinach and Feta Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust

Every week we've been receiving 3or 4 sweet potatoes in our CSA. That is a lot of sweet potatoes for two people to eat. Needless to say we have been searching for ways to use them up.

This recipe, from the folks at Cooking Light certainly helped with the 'using up' bit! This Sweet Potato Crusted Spinach Quiche is a fresh new take on the classic quiche recipe. The sweetness of the sweet potato, rather than your traditional buttery crust, compliments the savory spinach and eggs perfectly. The feta cheese adds just the right amount of saltiness that makes this dish particularly delicious.

Because it doesn't contain the regular crust it is quite low in fat and calories. Of course, just let people think you were being inventive. . . if they suspect you were going for healthy they may claim to not enjoy their portion! :-)

Spinach and Feta Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 (5-ounce) bag baby spinach
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1.5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 350°, then peel and slice sweet potatoes. I sliced mine using a mandoline, but a knife works great as well. The mandoline speeds up the process significantly and gives you even slices. Coat a pie dish with cooking spray, then fill the bottom of the dish with a layer of sweet potato slices. Cut the sweet potato rounds in half and fill around the edges of the pie dish; round side facing up. Once the entire dish is filled, coat one more time with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn heat up to 375°.

For the filling, heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add spinach; sauté 3 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Combine milk and next 5 ingredients in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Arrange spinach mixture in crust; pour egg mixture over spinach. Sprinkle with feta. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes; cut into 4 wedges.

 

Green Mango Salad

Yesterday I posted the chicken satay which we made for New Year's Eve. We served the satay over mango salad which seems to be the way most Thai restaurants locally serves things up. This is not a traditional presentation but it's one we enjoy so we often will follow suit at home.

Thai green mango salad (Som Tum Mamuang) is my favourite Thai salad, filled with a burst of tropical flavours – fruity, hot, sweet, sour and salty. This recipe is no-cook, so it is truly fuss-free and convenient.I'm not sure mom would agree about the fuss-free part as she slaved for 90 minutes to get the salad ready. . . no doubt because she had already had a drink or two at that point. :-)

The recipe didn't call for carrots but we like to add some in for colour and texture.

Green Mango Salad

1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped cashews or peanuts
2 unripe mangoes, 2 lb/1 kg total
1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped fresh coriander
1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped mint
2 tbsp (25 mL) lime juice
4 tsp (18 mL) granulated sugar
4 tsp (18 mL) fish sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
1/4 tsp (1 mL) Asian chili sauce or hot pepper sauce
1 sweet red pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup (250 mL) thinly sliced red onions

In skillet or toaster oven, toast cashews over medium heat until fragrant and golden, about 8 minutes; set aside.

Cut pointy ends off mangoes. Set each mango on cut end. Using serrated knife, cut off peel. Cut flesh on either side of flat pit into thin slices; stack and cut into thin strips.

In bowl, whisk together coriander, mint, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, oil and chili sauce. Add mangoes, red pepper and onion

 

Butternut Squash Risotto

We have had a butternut squash sitting on the counter for the past few weeks. It was starting to take on the look of a science experiment so I thought I had better use it up. It was a wet and cold day so I thought a risotto might be the way to go.

Risotto on its own is delicious enough: tender, delicious rice slow-cooked until the texture is creamy and perfect. But add in cooked butternut squash, in all its natural creaminess and perfection? Awesome.

The recipe I used was from Martha Stewart. It was different than most in that it cooked the squash with the rice. Normally cooked squash is added in at the end.I figured this technique would yield a better flavour so I went with it.

There was a curious thing though - the recipe called for no onion. Just about every risotto recipe I've ever made calls for some finely diced onion to be sautéed in butter first. I've been doing this for years. Chefs in Italy showed me how to do this during cooking classes. Needless to say I added this step.

The end result was amazing!

 

Butternut Squash Risotto

1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth, mixed with 1/2 cup water and heated
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish

In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add squash; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until edges soften, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add rice; stir to coat. Add wine; cook until almost all liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low; add 1/2 cup hot broth mixture. Cook, stirring, until almost all liquid is absorbed. Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding more, 35 to 40 minutes total.

Stir in Parmesan, sage, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Serve immediately, garnished with more Parmesan and sage, if desired.

Photo Hunt - Cat

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'cat'.

Paul making a new friend in Rome . . .