Spring Vegetable Soup For Weekend Herb Blogging

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A direct consequence of my having gone back to work full time is that I don't cook as much (or at least not much that hasn't been done before.) Which results in my not posting as much. Which eventually results in the DT's brought on by blog withdrawal. This week then, just when I was giving myself a good talking to about getting back to cooking and posting recipes, I dislocated a tendon that runs down a groove between shoulder and elbow (the name of which eludes me), rendering my right arm useless and me in blinding pain. I didn't even know that tendon existed let alone that it could be dislocated. Moreover, I'm not really sure exactly how I did it, as the pain didn't start until long after I'd thrown my sweet horse her evening flake of hay (which I've been doing for many years so go figure.)

So now my excuse is not so much that I'm working full time, but that it's hard to cook with one and a half arms (the elbow to fingertips part works just fine as long as the upper arm is glued to my ribs.) Quel dilemma. Coinciding with this tendon fiasco is the fact that Mr CC is away at a conference, offering sympathy by phone yet unable to give any help at all.

Even with full use of body parts, there is something about being home alone that quells the more creative cook side of me. Throw injury into the mix and I definitely turn into a simpler-is-better-certainly-easier-and less-painful kind of cook. Take this soup for instance: Thawed chicken stock brought to a simmer with fresh, organically grown vegetables tossed in plus garbanzo beans and there you have a healthy one-pot meal that takes just a few minutes to prepare, with minimal clean up. If you make enough of this it will carry you into the next day's lunch when you can sprinkle it with a chopped, hard cooked egg.

I finished a book recently that talked about the need for Americans to eat less processed, packaged, refined foods and eat more whole foods, especially those containing omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seeds, walnuts and salmon are the most well-known foods high is this essential nutrient, but leafy greens such as spinach, kale and collards are also a good source as are strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower and scallops.

Chard, beet tops, broccoli and spinach came from my garden just moments before being washed, chopped or shredded and tossed into the soup pot. The rest of the vegetables came organically grown and snapping fresh from our local co-op. I had a small amount of Neiman Ranch Uncured Applewood Smoked Ham which, as you may imagine, gave the soup a lovely smokey depth. The gruyère practically begged to be added ... I couldn't say no.

Spring Vegetable Soup

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients:

4 to 6 cups home made chicken stock or a good packaged organic stock

20 shelling peas (about), shelled

1 bunch asparagus, stalks peeled if tough, cut into bite-sized pieces

Several small stalks broccoli, stalks peeled if tough, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups thinly sliced greens, such as chard, kale, spinach and beet tops

1 can organic chickpeas (garbanzos) drained

1/3 cup each uncured (no nitrites or nitrates) ham and gruyère cheese, cubed (optional)

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer over medium heat.

Add the vegetables, garbanzos and ham, if using, and simmer until just tender.

Add the cheese, if using, and allow it to melt slightly.

Ladle into warmed bowls and serve with a delicious crusty artisan bread.

Even though I didn't add any herbs to my soup, and even though I'm not showcasing any one vegetable, I'm sending this post along to my friend Kalyn as my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging - because this soup features a mix of fresh vegetables that are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, an essential and woefully lacking ingredient in so many Americans' diets. Kalyn created WHB over two years ago and it's still one of the most popular food events in the blogosphere. Click here to see how to enter, and while you're at it, peruse Kalyn's blog for some über healthy and tasty recipes. And if you'd like to see another dish that is loaded with omega-3's, look at what Kirsten of Kirsten's Home Cookingcame up with recently. Zowie!

And by the way, my arm is healing, somewhat slowly but nicely, and I should be back to cooking up a storm soon.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

No Name Pan Sautéed Potatoes

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I'm still working on a name for this dish. I'm sure it has a name (in that I'm sure it's been done before), I just don't know what it is yet and a Google search was of little help. I served this to Simona and her husband last night and got such rave reviews that I decided that even without good photos (yet), I had to get it on the blog.

Potatoes have received a bad rap from the low carb/low glycemic police. Packed with nutrients, potatoes can and should be part of healthy eating as long as the high-fat toppings and deep-fat, high heat frying are avoided. (This coming from a once avowed low carber who wouldn't have eaten a potato to save her life until recently. More coming on this subject in another post.) That is not to say that would I serve potatoes daily or even weekly as they are a high-starch food that can seriously mess with blood sugar levels, but I no longer fear them as I once did. And it has been found that purple and red potatoes especially are packed with antioxidents. So I say go ahead and enjoy a potato now and then - in its simple humble skin - the way nature intended. This is an easy and very tasty way to serve potatoes with simplicity and minimal fat. I would have sprinkled fresh chopped parsley on the finished dish but am having issues with my greenhouse parsley at the moment. If you make this dish, please have some fresh flat-leaf parsley on hand.

With apologies for the especially bad photo below (what can I say? My settings were off), here's the recipe:

(Nice photo coming soon)

No-Name Pan Sautéed Potatoes
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
3 medium sized unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes (red or purple varieties may be used instead)
5 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for finishing)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (more or less depending on your taste)
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
Preparation:
If you have two cast iron pans or other heavy skillets of the same size, prep them both over medium heat with a teaspoon each of olive oil and butter. Set one pan aside for flipping the potatoes. If you don't, be prepared to flip the potatoes onto a plate and then back into the pan.
Using a mandoline, or if you are very adept and have very, very sharp knives, slice the potatoes paper thin. I know that Yukon Golds are mostly round, but try to slice along the largest side.
If you have a handy little gadget like this, slice your garlic cloves paper thin also. If you must use a knife, slice them as thinly as you can.
After you have melted the butter and olive oil in one pan, remove it from the heat and begin layering the potato slices, beginning at the outer edge of the pan, overlapping the potatoes slightly, going around the pan and spiraling inward until your potatoes reach the center. The entire bottom of the pan should be covered with potatoes. Repeat this process two more times then sprinkle one-third of the garlic over the potatoes along with several generous pinches of kosher salt.

Continue this process until all the potatoes, garlic and salt have been used. You may also grind black pepper over these layers if desired. I chose to grind my black pepper over the whole thing when I'd finished with the layering.
Place the pan over medium heat and cook until the bottom layer of potatoes are well browned and crispy. Adjust the heat, if necessary, to avoid burning the potatoes.
Here's the fun part: Place the other skillet over the one holding the potatoes and, using oven mitts please, hold the two pans together and flip so the potatoes drop into the second prepared pan. Easy, huh?
Now put the potato-filled pan over the heat and cook until the bottoms are crispy-brown, just like the first side.
When all this is done you should have a beautiful and thin pancake-like potato dish that is crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

To serve, cover the pan with a plate that will hold the shape of the potatoes intact and again, using oven mitts, flip the pan over the plate, dropping the potatoes in one glorious piece onto your plate.
Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley, cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Having been very lax at blogging lately and sorely missing some of my favorite food events, this is my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging. The ever-popular WHB was established by my friend Kalyn over two years ago and is being hosted this week by Ramona of The Houndstooth Gourmet. Click here to read about the humble beginnings of WHB and here for how to join in the fun.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Heart Healthy Lentil Vegetable Soup

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I've got to be quick about this as I'm late for the roundup at Heart of the Matter. Brought to us by Joanna, Ilva, and Michelle, this great blog offers up healthy, low fat, good-for-you recipes from bloggers around the world. Our mission for HotM 11 was to come up with a heart healthy soup. Joanna will have the roundup posted in the next few days so be sure to visit. I know there will be some fantastic recipes there that you'll want to try for yourselves.

Lentils, one of the world's healthiest foods, celeriac, sunchokes, carrots, celery, rutabagas, onions, garlic and Meyer lemon juice for some pizazz. Fabulously healthy ingredients all gently cooked together in a vegetable stock. What more could you want on a cold winter's day? A hint of olive oil is used to sauté the onions and garlic, otherwise there is no added fat. The combined tastes of all the vegetables is so good that I didn't even add herbs - just a touch of kosher salt.

As you can see in this photo, I added some local canned albacore, a slice of whole wheat walnut bread, and topped the dish with grated parmesan but these can easily be left out without sacrificing taste. In fact if you left out the tuna and the cheese, this would be perfect for vegan friends and family.

So let's get to it. This recipe is easy as pie: You count the ingredients in the photo above and use that much for a very large pot of soup. Cut the amount in half and you will still have enough for two plus leftovers for your workday lunch.

Heart Healthy Lentil Vegetable Soup

Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
6 Celery stalks with some leaves, sliced thin
4 Rutabagas, peeled and cut into chunks
4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks
5 or so sunchokes, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
1-2 teaspoons olive oil for the pan
3 quarts good, organic vegetable stock
1 heaping cup lentils, washed and picked through for debris
1 can gourmet canned albacore tuna (optional)
juice from 2 Meyer lemons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
shavings of parmesan cheese (optional)
Preparation:
Have a heavy skillet and a large soup pot on the stove.
Put the soup pot on a back burner, put in the vegetable stock and bring it to a simmer, covered.
Heat the olive oil in the skillet over medium heat and sauté the onions until they are soft. Add the garlic and sauté a few minutes more until the aromas come up and they are softly cooked then add them to
the vegetable stock.
Add the lentils to the stock and cook for about 15 minutes until beginning to soften.
Add the rest of the prepared vegetables to the stock and bring to a simmer. Allow to everything to cook gently until all the vegetables are tender and the lentils are done.
Add the Meyer lemon juice then the kosher salt and pepper to taste

To your good health!

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Sautéed Kale With Pancetta And Shiitake Mushrooms

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In keeping with my less-is-more baby-step resolution number two, here is a light yet filling plate of healthy greens and fiber-filled lentils. The kale is sautéed until the stalks are just tender, leaving the leafy part with a bit of substance. The crisp pancetta and the softly sautéed shiitakes give interesting texture. I usually cook my own lentils but these organic, ready-cooked babies from Trader Joe's make putting dinner on the table a snap. Just heat them and serve. Perfect after a day at work.

Sautéed Kale with Pancetta and Shiitake Mushrooms
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
1 large bunch kale lacinato, washed (see Cook's Notes)
4 ounces pancetta, diced
6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup vegetable broth
juice from 1/2 of a Meyer lemon
small amount of olive oil for the pan, if needed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Brown the pancetta in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Remove to paper towels to drain and set aside.

Saute the mushrooms in the pancetta drippings in the same skillet until softened. Add the garlic and saute until the aroma comes up and the garlic is softened.

Tear or cut the kale into medium-sized pieces and throw into the skillet with the mushrooms and garlic. Stir to coat with the oil.

Add the vegetable broth and simmer until the kale has softened but still holds its shape and all the liquid has evaporated from the skillet.

Remove the skillet from the heat and squeeze the lemon juice over the kale. Toss lightly and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired.

Sprinkle the kale with the crispy pancetta and serve.

Cook's Notes:
Kale is one of the world's healthiest foods with some studies claiming strong anti-cancer properties.

Kale is growing in my winter garden right now and will be ready to cut as the days get longer, hopefully by March.

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Chicken Broth for the Flu

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Never one to state the obvious (uh-huh), I'm going to go out on a limb here and say ...

It's definitely flu season.

Nasty, achey, stuffy head, sore throat, coughing, itching, sneezing, god-would-it-please-go-away! flu season. And it seems there are several types waiting to bring even the strongest person to his/her knees. You barely get over one and another one attacks while your defenses are down. Does this sound familiar, Buckaroo?

Soup is what I crave when the flu strikes. Hot, steamy, easy to fix, immune system-boosting soup. Mr. CC made a delicious one for me while I was down, full of garlic and fresh vegetables. It pulled me through the worst days. Today I made a simpler version and decreed it blogworthy - its health factor notwithstanding. I'm not saying this will cure you instantly but, with these ingredients, I'll bet it will get you on the road to recovery a bit more quickly.

Chicken Broth for the Flu
Christine's original recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups chicken broth or stock (see Cook's Notes)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced paper thin (more is even better!)
juice of 1 Meyer lemon
1 large fresh egg
1 teaspoon or so fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped fine

Preparation:

Heat the chicken broth in a saucepan over medium high heat.

Add the garlic slices and allow to simmer for several minutes until the garlic is softened. You don't want the broth to boil at any time during this preparation so keep your heat adjusted accordingly.

Stir in the lemon juice and bring the liquid back up to a simmer.

Break the egg into a small bowl.

Stir the broth with a spoon until you get that vortex thingy going on in the center then gently drop the egg into that center. Keep stirring gently around the edge of the saucepan to keep the egg moving. Allow it to poach for a few minutes until it is gently cooked. Unfortunately mine broke, which doesn't alter the taste, just the presentation. And actually, you could break the egg up before adding it to the soup and just let it cook for a bit. Leaving all that vortex nonsense for another time.

Ladle the finished soup into a bowl and sprinkle with the parsley. Let the lemony-garlicky steam clear your sinuses as the hot broth soothes your throat. There, isn't that better?

Cook's Notes:

The chicken broth can be your own homemade stock or some good store-bought stuff. I have homemade stock in my freezer most of the time, but when you're sick, who wants to wait for frozen stock to thaw? In this recipe I used an organic, no fat, low sodium boxed broth and added a teaspoon of Organic Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base which made the broth taste richer.

If you don't have a Meyer lemon, I would use the juice from just one half of a regular lemon, otherwise you may end up with mouth-puckering broth.

Standing around peeling garlic when one is not feeling well can wear a bit thin, but if you can stand to do so, the more garlic in this broth the better.

That deep green, packed-with-vitamins parsley you see in the photo above is from a very happy plant that's growing in my greenhouse. Oh happy cook.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Eat Your Curry - It's Good For You

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Turmeric, that age-old, golden-yellow powder most often associated with yellow curry powders, has recently come under the scrutiny of western science as a possible combatant to Alzheimer's disease.

Closely related to the ginger plant, turmeric powder comes from the roots of a plant that thrives in southern Asia. Centuries ago, people there found that boiling, drying and grinding these roots produced a fragrant yellow powder with a nutty, acrid flavor which had strong healing properties.

Used in India for centuries as a healing medicine and a culinary spice, turmeric or, more specifically cucurmin, the active ingredient in turmeric, has become an item of interest and research in western medicine for its strong anti-inflammatory and anti-oxident properties.

According to the September 15, 2007 issue of Science News, Vol. 172, No. 11, "Alzheimer's... involves the steady deterioration of nerve cells in the brain ... (which can lead) to dementia." Science News goes on to say that Alzheimer's may be caused by a toxic buildup of placques in the brain which then triggers inflammation, "... a state of heightened immune system activity that can damage the body's own cells."

A number of years ago, American researchers began studying cucurmin and found it to beat out all other anti-inflammatory compounds in reducing the placque-forming proteins that can cause Alzheimer's. Later studies in Japan found that "... curcumin not only blocks placque formation but also weakens existing placques... and triggers their disintegration." (Science News)

Now understand that these studies are being conducted in research facilities using laboratory mice and researchers are quick to say that the studies are promising but non-conclusive. There is a study being conducted right now with 40 Alzheimer's patients at UCLA, the results of which are due to be published next year. Other studies have been conducted comparing the rate of Alzheimer's among curry-consuming populations and those populations that consume little to no curry and, while again not entirely conclusive, those studies do show strong evidence that regular, life-long consumption of yellow curry-containing turmeric may prevent the incidence of Alzheimer's.

An added benefit that has shown up during the testing of turmeric and its secret ingredient curcumin is that the ingestion of the powder raises good (hdl) cholesterol and significantly lowers a person's overall cholesterol levels. And that just can't be bad.

I wasn't brought up on curry dishes, more's the pity, but have been experimenting with yellow curry lately and, while I haven't made traditional curry dishes yet, I can tell you that it's wonderful when added to veggies which are then roasted in the oven, or added to root vegetable soups, or used in a spice rub for grilled chicken or fish.

Go on, experiment. It certainly can't hurt and it just may bring about surprisingly healthy results.

My good friend Simona is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week. WHB, one of the longest running events among food bloggers, is the brainchild of dear friend Kalyn who, after this week, will give WHB the vacation it, and she!, deserve. Click here to read about WHB and how to join in the fun. Check in with Simona at Briciole this coming Monday for the roundup.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved