Curried Vegetable + Chickpea Stew

Another soup? Yes, I am an inveterate soup eater, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've even been known to eat soup in the heat of summer. You can ask my friends. But especially during the winter months, I crave the comfort of warm soup. The Kitchn (adapted from Cooking Light) is responsible for this crockpot recipe for curried vegetable and chickpea soup, and I absolutely love it. (Thanks to the Daleys again for giving me their old crockpot. It's well-used and well-loved.)

I've been eating this all week, and I'm still not sick of it. I left out the coconut milk and substituted kale for spinach because I have a ginormous bag of it in the freezer from Costco. What else? I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand, but if I had, I definitely would've added it.

Whole Roasted Tandoori Cauliflower

Tandoori spice blend

I'm always trying new cauliflower recipes because I mostly find it a bit underwhelming. That's what tempted me to try whole roasted Tandoori cauliflower from My New Roots. It had great potential, but I wasn't impressed with the end product. Perhaps I used too much of the marinade, but the cauliflower was too spicy to eat, and the interior was just steamed cauliflower. Perhaps the mint chutney would've helped, but I'm dubious.

Garlic

Not wanting to chuck an entire head of cauliflower into the trash, I attempted to transform it into a soup, adding more yogurt and Neufchatel (my attempts to insert a circumflex over the A were futile) cheese. It's still fairly spicy, and I ended up with a gigantor batch of it, so some of it's still living in my freezer. After I finish the soup, I'm going to try Going Cave Woman's recipe for crunchy cauliflower. It caught my eye on Pinterest, and I'm intrigued. It's even supposed to be low in calories.

Thanksgiving in Chitown

First, we went to the Christkindlmarket, a German open-air market, for a snack. Now, a snack at the market consisted mostly of meaty bits.

Christkindlmarket

That evening, we saw a great production of A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theater.

Goodman Theater's stage

After the play, we went to Quartino, a lovely wine bar, for a light dinner, and then on to a local jazz club.

Adventures in Stock Land

<in Julia Child's voice> You start with the vegetables (celery, onion, carrot, garlic).

Then you add a pile of sage that's been hiding in your freezer for longer than you want to admit.

And then you toss in a carcass of some sort (I believe it was fowl in origin), also dredged from the frozen depths of the freezer.

Cauliflower Soup

This is my friend Tamara's amazing cauliflower soup. It was part of a quick post about leftovers and 2011's film festival, but I neglected to provide the recipe. 

Greek Egg Lemon Soup w/ Chicken and Spinach

I first encountered this Greek specialty at Nick's. (Shout out to Nick's!) They have it a few times a week, and I'm told that the matriarch of the family makes it. I love that. Avgolemono is the proper name, but I have the damnest time saying it. The Real Simple recipe (see below) employed only egg yolks, but other recipes don't seem to require that.

 

As a general rule, I don't like separating eggs. Not because it's challenging, but because I rarely end up using the remaining part. And I abhor wasting food. So I threw in the entire egg.

I encountered a small texture obstacle. Initially, I thought it was because of using the whites in addition to the yolks, but now I think it's because the soup was too hot. You're supposed to prevent it from boiling when you add the eggs. Despite the strange texture, it tasted phenomenal.

Oh, and I tossed in spinach for a little extra nutritive power. Go, go, iron and calcium!

Serves 4 | Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 30m

Ingredients

• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup orzo
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt and black pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Add the pasta and boil until tender, 8-9 mins.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of hot broth. Add the egg mixture to the saucepan, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring, until thickened, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and lemon juice to the saucepan. Season with ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper.

Caramelized Onion and Savoy Cabbage Chowder with Thyme

Turkey bacon is cooking, and the green sun tea is brewing.

This past week, I made a wonderful soup. It's a bastardized, healthier version of the old-school French onion soup. Caramelizing the onions lends depth without using beef broth, the apple cider vinegar and soy sauce give it an underlying pungent kick, and the thyme infuses it with a tinge of earthiness. Plus, you get a flavorful soup without loading it with Gruyere and bread. Instead, I topped it with some Parmesan shards and a few croutons. (I cheated on the croutons by using storebought salt and pepper ones.) I also used regular old green cabbage instead of savoy cabbage, and I didn't have apple cider, so I omitted it and added more soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. I am a rebel.

Caramelized Onion and Savoy Cabbage Chowder with Thyme
1/2 c. apple cider
1 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
12 oz. savoy cabbage (6-7 c.)
3 large onions, cut into large dice (1 1/2 lbs.)
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbsp.)
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme

1. Combine apple cider, soy sauce, and vinegar.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil and 1 Tbsp. butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage, and season with salt, if desired. Cook 5-7 mins., stirring occasionally. Transfer to shallow bowl.
3. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil and 1 Tbsp. butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, and season with salt, if desired. Cover, and cook 8-10 mins., or until onions are softened, stirring occasionally. Uncover, and cook 16-18 mins., or until onions are golden brown. Add garlic, 1 1/2 Tbsp. thyme, and apple cider mixture, stirring to scrape up brown bits on pan bottom. Bring to a simmer, and cook 1 min. Add cabbage and 5 c. water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and cook 15 mins. Serve topped with croutons and remaining 1 1/2 tsp. thyme.

Why celery got the boot

This week was pretty uneventful, although dancing on Saturday was a hoot.

Today I made Mushroom Barley Soup. Here's the recipe: http://bit.ly/9P8Kxg. I omitted the celery largely because after using 2 or 3 ribs of celery, the remainder languishes in my fridge until it's desiccated and sad. And then I throw it out. Omitting it keeps me from killing yet another innocent 3/4 bunch of celery. And I added rosemary because I had some frozen from last season's garden, and it sounded like it'd pair well with mushrooms and barley. And I was right. :)

What else? I did my taxes and met a friend for coffee at Ground Zero. The walk to and from the coffee house reminded me how much I love my neighborhood. Often, I'm either driving or reading on the bus. And there's no better way than walking to truly observe and engage with a neighborhood. I forgot about the funky houses and the fun gardens (they're just starting to peek out) and the vibrancy of people out and about. It was lovely.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Jane Austen's Emma

Last week, I made an updated version of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, thanks to 101 Cookbooks' marvelous recipe (http://bit.ly/mp0V5). I didn't take any pics, but it actually resembled the lovely photo featured on the site. I must insist that you don't skip the mustardy croutons. They're a crunchy counterpoint to the creamy soup. As an added benefit, it is a decadent soup without the guilt.

On Sunday, I watched the second installment of PBS' new version of Jane Austen's Emma. Nothing better than a little Regency-era amorous intrigue to end the weekend.