Perfect Soup Day

Winter will come with many perfect soup days and today seems like one. It's a little icy outside, mainly overcast with a peak of sunshine. I'll probably venture out later in the day -- nothing too strenuous -- but it would be nice to come home to a nice bit of weekend puttering about the kitchen.

This soup is perfect for the kind of weekend where you feel like spending all day in the kitchen with the oven on, baking something, cooking something and being relaxingly busy. This soup reminds me of one that I had on a kind of day like this, where the sunshine is deceiving and the wind is sharp and cold. I ordered it at one of our favourite brunch restaurants, and enjoyed it with a large chunk of toasted eggy-bread dipped in home-made ketchup. Since I don't feel like lining up for an hour to have soup at that restaurant, I'll try to make it at home instead.

 This is a easy-going soup, with mellow flavours, pantry staples and vegetables easy to find in the deepest, darkest days of winter. It is imperative that you roast the squash first -- the roasty toasty flavour it gives this soup is hard to substitute, and it would help if you had a nice homemade veggie stock as well. Other than that, it comes together quickly, and is even better the next day. Perfect to come home to after long day at work, and just the thing to make you feel better if you're under the weather, which, let's face it, happens to the best of us.

Stay warm.

Roasted Squash, Leek and Potato Soup
serves 4-6

1 small sweet potato squash or pepper squash
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 small-medium carrots, diced
half large leek, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 large, russet potato, cut into small cubes
1/2 bunch of swiss chard, stems diced, leaves shredded
2 teaspoon of herbes de Provence
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup of red lentils, rinsed
5 cups of veggie stock or water (I used a mixture of both)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the halves cut side up on roasting tray and roast for about 45 minutes, or until the flesh is soft. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

2. In a large pot, sweat the the leeks for a minute. Season with salt, pepper and herbes to provence. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the celery, carrots, chard stems and potatoes, and stir well. Let the vegetables cook for another few minutes. While you're waiting, scoop out the flesh of the roasted squash.

4. Add the squash and lentils and stir well. Add the veggie stock and bay leaf, stir and turn up the heat.

5. Bring your soup to rolling boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook for 12-15 minutes, or until the lentils break down and thicken the soup, and potatoes are tender. Add more liquid if necessary.

6. Stir in the chard leaves and cook for another 5 minutes, uncovered. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Happy Miso

Barbecue season is upon us. We had our first barbecue last weekend, and then near the end of the week, the weather got chilly again and we immediately hid under a blanket of soup. So hopefully I'll write about my barbecue adventures next week if the temperatures behave.

This weekend, I'm peaking out from below the sand to share a very simple recipe using one of my new discoveries this past month -- miso. I've always loved ordering miso soup at restaurants, but I've never actually bought a tub of miso -- too intimidated by the intensity of the paste and the fear that I won't use it up (like what happened to my kimchi ...). Anyway, when I spotted this recipe for body nourishing wraps over at Good Things Grow, we broke down and bought some miso. The recipe included a carrot miso paste that totally blew me away. I've made this recipe many times since, and loved every bite.

Today, I'll leave you with a simple miso soup, sans seaweed but boosted with lots of ginger, shallots, scallions, tofu, baby spinach and mushrooms. We shared a bowl for a perfect mid-afternoon snack, but it would be totally awesome as a meal for one, and would be even awesomer and more substantial if you added some soba noodles, udon or vermicelli. Think of it as a base. Now go get some miso!

Happy Miso
makes one bowl perfect for sharing

1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of shallots, minced
1/2 teaspoon of ginger, minced
2 teaspoons of organic white miso paste (add more of less to taste)
2 cups of vegetable broth of water
4 small dried chinese mushrooms, rehydrated in water for about 30 minutes, then sliced
a small chunk of tofu (I used a silken, extra firm) cut into small cubes
1 large handful of baby spinach
1 small green scallion, chopped
freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a small pot, sweat the shallots and ginger in the olive oil over low heat, until things start to get soft and fragrant, but not brown -- about 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms.

2. Add the miso paste and a splash of the broth and mix until the miso has kind of combined with the liquid. Add the rest of the broth and stir well.  Let your soup simmer for about 5-7 minutes over low heat.

3. Add the tofu and spinach, mix well, and let it summer for another 5ish minutes.

4. Serve immediately and garnish with the scallion and a good grinding of black pepper.

Trending: #Cauliflower

Don't get me started on how much twitter is a waste of time. I know. It's ridiculous. But I've braved through report card season with a twitter browser in front of me, refreshing every 5 minutes, and I still made it on time. It's also a great news source depending who you follow. Ahhhh! I've jumped on the twitter wagon and it's hard to jump off.  Help.

In other matters, I've noticed that awhile back, everyone was making cauliflower. 'Tis the season, I suppose, and I joined right in. I made this lovely, bright yellow stew that I've bookmarked for more than a year. The original recipe calls for farrow, which was out of my reach at the time, and so I made do with some Nishiki rice, a medium-grain sushi-type rice. It has a lovely nutty, sweet flavour, and plumps up nicely in the stew, giving it bulk and texture. I also added some fennel, which gave it a lovely, warm fragrance. This is a real meal in a bowl. I added chopped spinach, but any green will do. I also added red lentils because I wanted a nice creamy broth, and they did just the trick -- turned it from soupy to stewy and creamy in minutes. Perfect.

 In my mind, I'd like to make the cauliflower recipes mentioned above really soon -- especially the cauliflower with pasta -- but in reality, I'll probably be eating pureed squash soups and squares of tofu for another little while. In my mind, I'll make a beautiful wild rice and mushroom pot pie, something I've been wanting make for a while, but in reality, I'll probably be making this lentil soup for the 50th time this year. In my mind, I'll get up next Saturday morning and post about an exciting baking adventure I had in the middle of week, but in reality, I may not get to posting until much later.

I hope this soup hold you over during this unsettled time. Be well!

Curried Cauliflower Stew with Brown Rice and Lentils
adapted from Leek Soup
makes a big pot


1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1/4 bulk of fennel, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 hunk of ginger (whatever you can handle!), minced
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of tumeric
1/4 cup of red lentils, rinsed well
1/4 cup of Nishiki rice, rinsed well
4 cups of vegetable stock of water (or a mixture of both)
1/2 head of cauliflower, broken into florets
1/2 bunch of spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a big pot, heat the olive oil, and add the onion, carrot, celery, fennel, ginger and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until the veggies are glistening and starting to soften.

2. Add the spices, salt and pepper, and stir well. Cook for about a minute, until things start getting a little sticky at the bottom of the pot. Add the lentils, rice and stock/water, stirring well to pick up all the fragrant bits from the bottom.

3. Simmer, uncovered for about 15 minutes, or until the lentils have melted away and the rice is almost all cooked.  Add the cauliflower, cover the pot and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the cauliflower is gender.

4. Stir in the spinach, and simmer again for another 5 minutes, to let the liquid reduce a little.

5. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve and be comforted.

Happy Cauliflower!

This Soup ...

This soup .. yes, this soup. This soup reminds me of my very first experience cooking for real in my parents' kitchen, with my sister beside me and my grandma watching. This soup has old familiar flavours and wraps itself around me like a warm knitted scarf on the first breezy, chilly day of fall. This soup isn't by any means a gooey chocolate cake, a wholesome banana bread or a zippy, lemony treat. But this soup welcomed me back into the school year and eased the pain of summer holidays ending and work beginning.

This soup begins with humble ingredients.. ginger, garlic, lentils, greens... and is finished with a whisper of summer -- a big squeeze of lemon juice and a many sprigs of fresh thyme from my balcony garden. Although I could have began this soup in a classic way -- chopped onions, celery carrots -- I didn't, simply because I was tired and I wanted as much reward for as little work as possible.

This soup is the answer to your weeknight dinner problems, and is also the good idea of staying in on Saturday night and curling up with dinner on the sofa. This soup is zingy from the spices and lemon and creamy from the red lentils, cooked until almost completely dissolved. I chose rainbow chard -- stems and leaves -- to put into this soup; the stems add nice bulk and the leaves turn velvety in the broth.

I think if you wanted to add to this soup, a cup of cooked chickpeas would do the trick, or even a few cubes of tofu sprinkled on top when serving. If you're the type, some crusty bread would probably be nice with this soup ... if you're the type, but I'm not really. I enjoyed this soup straight up, piping hot, curled up on the couch on a Saturday night when I should have been out dancing the night away, or enjoying a movie and popcorn. But dancing and movies aren't what I need in September when the winds are trying to change but the seasons won't let go, when that sneaky feeling of something ending and responsibility sinking in makes its way from my mind to the pit of my stomach; what I needed was this soup. And now, I can enjoy my September.



Lentil Soup with Greens
serves 2

olive oil
a chunk of ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minces
juice and zest of half a lemon
a bunch of swiss chard -- stems diced, leaves chopped into ribbons (spinach, kale would be great too)
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1 cup of red lentils, rinsed
3 cups of water or vegetable stock (I used a combination of both)
salt and pepper to taste
a splash of light soy sauce (if desired)
a few sprigs of thyme, leaves removed

1. In a soup pot, cook the ginger and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for about a minute, or until things start getting really fragrant. Careful not to burn the garlic!

2. Add the lemon zest and spices and cook for a minute to let the spices toast. Add in the chard stems, lentils and vegetable stock and stir well. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the chard leaves and cook, covered, for another 10-12 minutes, or until the greens are tender, the lentils and cooked and almost dissolving, and the broth is slightly thickened.

4. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and fresh thyme. Stir well. Taste and add a splash of soy sauce if desired. Serve!

So NOT Soup Weather

It's a been a steamy past few days here in Toronto, and I know the last thing you want is a bowl of hot soup to make you even hotter. But trust me; this is worth the pain. In the scorching feels-like-41-degree weather during the middle of this week, we made a soup so delicious that is was worth the minor discomfort of eating hot foods on a hot day.

Here's the story: I wanted to make this soup when I first saw the post. I love lentil, I love beans and I wanted an excuse to use my hot smoked paprika again. Then, I saw this lovely spring minestrone and I was intrigued by the addition of fresh pesto stirred into the soup at the very end to give it body and a kick of flavour. My idea to combine the two soups came when I was staring into the fridge at some leftover pesto I had made (which by the way, is so much better when you make it yourself!) and wanting to do something with a beautiful bunch of spinach that was sitting in the crisper. It worked out beautifully. It was a great way to use up a few purple potatoes I had hanging around for a couple of weeks, plus use some of Ontario's first batch of spring asparagus.





This soup is the perfect opportunity to experiment with different vegetables. I don't think you could mess it up, even if you wanted to! It's hearty with beautiful earthy lentils and chickpeas -- winter staples that you probably still have hanging around, but also fresh and spring-y from the veggies and fresh herbs. Whatever you do, don't skip the pesto. It's the secret that makes this soup a definite winner.

Spring-Winter Minestrone
inspired by kickpleat on poppytalk and Simple Recipes

1 medium carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
a handful of button mushrooms, sliced
a handful of baby potatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon of hot smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of green lentils, rinsed
1/2 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups of water or vegetable stalk, plus more if needed
a small bunch of spinach, roughly chopped
a small bunch of asparagus, trimmed and halved
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of fresh pesto

1. In a large pot, sweat the onions, garlic, carrots and celery with some olive oil for about 5 minutes until they start to get soft and fragrant. Season and add dried oregano and smoked paprika.

2. Add the mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, lentils and chickpeas and give it a good stir. Add the stalk and bring up to a boil. Cover and let simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost tender.

3. Add the asparagus and put the lid on for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the chopped spinach. Simmer, uncovered for 10 more minutes, or until the asparagus and potatoes and fully tender and the liquid has reduced.

4. Turn off the heat and stir in the pesto. Serve with something over ice!

To Your Health

Happy 2011! I really hope your 2010 ended and your 2011 started better than mine. In the midst of a post-Christmas pre-New Year's party at my best friend's house, right in the middle of a crazy game of Cranium, while everyone else was just starting to feel their vodka-cranberry buzzes, I started to feel a sore throat coming on. By midnight, it had worsened, and by the time a woke up in the morning, I could barely swallow. Yuck. Despite my strengthening workout, Listerine rinses, chugs of orange juice and endless pieces of Fisherman's Friend, by the 11am, I had crawled back into bed. My body couldn't make up its mind as to whether it was hot or cold, and somehow, my legs were aching like crazy.


It's now the 2nd of the month in a brand new year, and the pain in my throat has moved to my chest and I'm constantly coughing into my sleeve (sorry to anyone who has to ride public transit beside me!). Geeze! How did I even make it through a New Year's celebration game of Monopoly and a sip of iced wine champagne at midnight? Caffeine, cold + flu medication, and a restorative soup, made with love. It was a soup of easily digestible lentils and veggies simmered in homemade broth and sipped slowly on the couch covered in blankets. I ate this lovely soup three days in a row. By the third day, I was feeling slightly better, and decided to participate. We added a few more veggies and even some yellow split peas for a little extra texture.

There are probably an endless number of ways to flavour this soup: crushed fennel seeds and basil, cumin and lemon, coriander and lime ... the possibilities are exciting. But what I've been wanting is something easy to taste, something familiar and warm, something soothing and friendly to help me get through my cold. So we settled for simple salt and pepper, a few sprigs of thyme, and the help of some homemade, flavourful stock. I'll try those other combinations when I feel better. For now, I'll go back to my soup and hope that tomorrow, my cold + flu pills will be enough to hold back 150 excited students.

Get Well Soup
serves 4

3/4 cup of red lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup of yellow split peas, rinsed
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small can of tomatoes
2 sprigs of thyme
4 cups of flavourful stock

1. In a large soup pot, saute the onions, celery, carrots and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until things get fragrant and start to soften. Add the lentils, split peas and tomatoes and give it a good stir.

2. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until the tomatoes form a yummy, sticky coating at the bottom of the pot. Add your stock and scrape up the bits from the bottom. Throw in your thyme sprigs and turn up the heat.

3. Bring your soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Cook, uncovered for about 20 minutes. The lentils should have broken down and the peas should be tender. Serve with bread for a nice, comforting meal.

A Lobster Tale

Ok, so you know that trick with making iced tea so that summer would last longer? Yeah, I don't think that's going to work, but thanks for helping me out anyway. I've come to accept that fall is coming and I've even psyched myself up to be excited, even if it means work starting again and summer holidays ending. I've realized that as long as my summer memories are vivid in my mind, I can relive them, even after a long day of trying to tame and teach adolescent hormones. This blog is helpful because it means I don't have to dig out USB keys and memory cards to look at pictures -- my memories are just a click away. Whew!



Speaking of summer fun, I recall promising you a lobster tale. I'm already getting giddy remembering the story, so I'm sure that re-telling this tale in this post will solidify it in my mind, thus keeping it in the front of my memory for as long as possible. So here goes; I'm just going to say it. We made lobster bisque in a motel room. Details? Why, of course! Remember that beach lobster that we had on one of the last days in Moncton? Well, we saved the shells and some of the meat, with the idea of making bisque as a last dinner on our vacation. However, we ran into some roadblocks along the way. Our "kitchenette" at the motel was nothing more than a counter with a sink, a microwave and a hot plate. There were a few bowls and a shallow Pyrex glass dish. No pot. Did this put an end to our lobster plans? Nope. My ingeniously culinary partner pressed on. A quick trip to Sobeys for vegetable broth, potatoes, garlic butter, onions and tomatoes and the adventure began. This first part went smoothly. He sweat he veggies and set them aside (inside the ice holder!) and proceeded to pan roast the shells using the pyrex dish and hotplate. The smell was so wonderful. Then, stuff happened. As we were pouring the broth into the roasted shells, we heard a crack. Yup, we overheated that Pyrex dish and it cracked. BUT .. we poured the shells and broth into three bowls and .... yes ... we... microwaved it. A quick strain using a three dollar coffee strainer, a little mix with the veggies and into the microwave it went again. When we heard the final "ding!" we stirred in a little cream, topped it with leftover lobster meat and proceeded to taste. Oh .. my ... god. I would never have thought that it would taste so good. Very lobster-y, al dente potatoes, rich tomato flavour .. it was the perfect adventure to end our vacation.









But that's not it! Did you know that you can buy LIVE lobster at the airport in Moncton and FLY IT HOME? It was ingenious! They packed the lobsters with vaccum sealed frozen veggies and they stayed lively all the way to Toronto. A nice surprise for my family. That very night, we cooked it and the next day we took it over to my parents' where we made a lovely lobster soup/stew. It was wonderful, simple, yet unconventional. Simple veggies get sauteed, just like in the motel, and mixed with a touch of paprika. The lobster shells are roasted in the pan, and get some simmer time with water and broth. When everything gets put back together, it's thickened with rice. Twenty minutes later, you have a rustic, hearty, healthy very lobster-y stew that's rich without needing artery-clogging ingredients. I also have one more recipe to leave you with -- linguine with lobster meat. It's a simple pasta toss -- the sauce kind of coming together with a combination of tomatoes, lemon juice and pasta cooking liquid. It's fresh, tasty, and a lovely way to use up the lobster meat after you've used the shells to make the soup. So, if you ever find yourself indulging in lobster, please try these recipes and seriously consider visiting the east coast of Canada .. although before hand, make sure your "kitchenette" has an actually stove ... oh yeah, and pots and pans would be helpful too!

Lobster Soup/Stew

the shells of 1 medium-sized lobster
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 new potatoes, diced
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
4 cups of vegetable broth
3 cups of water
1 cup of jasmine rice
olive oil, salt and pepper

1. In a large pot, sweat the shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes and paprika and cook on medium-low heat until the carrots, celery and potatoes start to soften and the tomatoes start to break down a little. Season with salt and pepper. Remove this mixture to a bowl and set aside.

2. In the same pan, roast the lobster shells in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 7-10 minutes. Add the broth and water and simmer for 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat, covered. Make sure you scrape the brown lobstery bits from the bottom of the pan.

3. Strain the shells and put the liquid back into the pot. Add the reserved vegetable mixture and rice and bring the liquid up to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for another 20 minutes, uncovered until the veggies become tender, and the rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered for another 10 minutes, or until the rice has exploded and the liquid has thickened up nicely.

4. Season to taste, take a bite, and pretend that you're in Moncton.

Lobster Linguine

250 grams of linguine
a handful of grape tomatoes, quartered
1 shallot, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
the juice and zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons of chili powder
the meat from one medium lobster, chopped
a bunch of spinach, roughly chopped
a handful of fresh herbs, chopped (I used basil, lemon thyme and parsley)
olive oil, salt and pepper

1. Boil the pasta according to package directions in large pot of salted water. Set aside 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid for later.

2. Cook the shallots and garlic in olive oil until soft and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and add the chili powder. Cook for about a minute and then add the tomatoes. Cook for another 3 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to release their liquids.

3. Add the pasta, reserved cooking liquid, lemon juice and zest and toss. Add the lobster meat and spinach, and cook for another minute or so, just until the spinach has wilted and turned bright green.

4. Finish with fresh herbs, and more pepper if needed.