A taste of Spring

After a long cold winter, it's nice to start to see the first signs of Spring. My very favorite part of Springtime is watching the flowers start to bud and the cherry blossoms and dogwoods start to bloom. In the market, peas, pineapples, and young greens start to appear.

Even though, when I made these dishes, peas hadn't quite appeared in the market yet, but frozen peas were a decent substitute... which means you can have spring green any time you want.

Pea soup

This isn't a recipe as such as I kind of just made it up as I went along.

Ingredients:

4 T butter, unsalted.

3/4 c. shallots minced

4 c. vegetable stock

1 10 oz package of petit peas, thawed--or similar amount of freshly shelled peas

2 T of fresh herbs (I used a combo of thyme, tarragon and mint)

1/2 c. cream

salt & pepper to taste

Method:

In a saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter and sweat the shallots. (You're looking for them to soften, not brown). Once the shallots are starting to appear translucent, add a healthy pinch of salt.

Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.

Add the peas and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until bright green.

Add the herbs.

Use a stick blender, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. (If you want it really smooth, put the soup through a strainer. I didn't really have the patience to do so.)

Stir in cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately, or chill and serve cold.

Danish Apple Soup (Æblesuppe)

This soup is an intriguing mix of sweet and savory. The curry powder hints at Indian cuisine, but the apples and white wine keep it squarely in the European camp. One of the things I appreciate about Scandinavian cuisine is how familiar flavors are combined in a way I never thought of before, and this soup is a perfect example of that.

From Scandinavian Cooking by Beatrice Ojakangas (1983)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds cooking apples (6 to 8), such as Granny Smith or Golden Delicious
• 5 whole cloves
• water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups white wine, white grape juice, or water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Wash and peel apples, reserving peel. Immediately combine peelings, cloves, and water to cover in a large saucepan. Over medium-low heat, simmer 30 minutes.
  
• While peelings simmer, core and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent darkening.
• Place a strainer over a medium bowl. Pour peeling mixture into strainer. Discard peelings and cloves; return broth to saucepan.
• Add apple slices and 2 cups wine, juice, or water. Simmer over low heat 30 minutes or until apples are tender.
• Puree apple mixture in a blender, adding cornstarch and curry powder during processing.
• Pour pureed mixture back into saucepan. Stir in cream, sugar, butter, and salt. bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve hot.

Makes 6 (very generous) servings.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

My neighbor Mary gave me a copy of a magazine page with a recipe for a Thai-style pumpkin soup that she loves. This recipe is on the same page, and while I haven't yet made the pumpkin soup, I've made this one a number of times (including for dinner club when I made the butternut squash lasagna). I made it again today for my dear friend Doris who is having her wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow. I'm not sure what the magazine this is from, but it credits Anne Graziano of Buffalo, NY, for this recipe - so thanks Anne!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots (I use baby carrots and cut them in half)
1 T olive oil
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
5 plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), halved
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups veggie broth (a 32 ounce box)
1 cup cubed baking potato
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Combine onion, carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, plum tomatoes, and garlic in a jelly roll pan; toss to coat. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until veggies are tender.

3. Combine broth and remaining ingredients in a large dutch oven; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender.

4. Add the roasted veggies to the potato mixture. Use immersion blender to blend until smooth.

Indian inspiration

I was the host of our most recent girls' dinner. I have always loved the flavors and scents of Indian cuisine. I even bought an Indian cookbook several years ago, but was intimidated by the ingredient lists and many components to an Indian dinner, so the cookbook sat fairly untouched on the bookshelf. So, for this dinner I decided to buck up and at least attempt an Indian dinner. The sources for the menu came from Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

So, after I planned my (ambitious) menu I needed to gather some of those specialized ingredients. I found my treasure trove at the Indian Supermarket in Silver Spring, MD. Pictured here are just a sampling of the many spices and legumes that I picked up.
In the next few days, I'll be posting some of the recipes that came from this dinner, but for tonight, here's the recipe for the soup course: Curry-Laced Tomato-Lentil Broth (tomato rasam). Adapted from Sahni. This soup was very fragrant and the flavor of the curry leaves intensified the soup's flavor.

Lessons learned from this dish: I probably should have thinned this out a bit with some water before serving since the soup was quite thick.

Get the recipe here.

Curry-Laced Tomato-Lentil Broth
Ingredients
2 c. tomato puree (I used the canned stuff, but you could use fresh or canned whole tomatoes and rough chop them)
3 c. cooked lentils (I used a mix of French and brown lentils)
1 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 Tbs. minced onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp course salt, or to taste
1 Tbs lemon juice

For the spice perfumed butter:
1 Tbs. ghee (this is basically just browned butter with the milk solids strained off)
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
8 curry leaves or 2 Tbs. fresh cilantro

1. Put the lentils in a a 3- or 4- quart deep pot. Add 1 c. water and whisk for a minute to crush some of the lentils.
2. Add the pureed tomatoes, cumin, coriander, cayenne, onion garlic, and salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook at a gentle boil, partially covered for 10 minutes.
3. Add the lemon juice and continue cooking for 1 minute.
4. Turn off the heat and keep covered while you make the spice-perfumed butter.
5. Heat the ghee in a small frying pan until very hot.
6. Add the mustard seeds and the curry leaves.
7. Shake the pan. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, turn off the heat.
8. Pour the entire contents of the pan into the soup and stir well.
9. Serve and enjoy!