White Bean and Portabella Soup

Spring has yet to arrive and fresh, local produce is far from plentiful. Here is a recipe that is remarkably tasty, given that it has no greens in it at all. To me and my ‘trailer park’ tastes, this stuff is gourmet! I will say that having a fresh loaf of crusty bread really rounds the dish out. Or maybe that is because I really, really love crusty bread and look for any excuse to bake it. Who knows. What is known, by me and anyone else who makes this recipe, is that it makes for a warming, cozy meal on a chilly winter evening.

I found inspiration here, along with what appears to be many other great recipes. I had portabella mushrooms on hand, and the power of all that flavor called for a stronger stock than chicken or vegetarian. A turkey stock might work, but I played it safe with beef stock. As always, tweak away to find what works for your family!

Mushrooms are incredible fungi! The wide selection makes for versatility in cooking- change up the ‘shroom with what is available to you and you got a different flavor meal. Some of them take on the flavor of what you cook them in, others, like portabellas, flavor the whole pot. Some are great substitutes for meat, while others are nice little add-ons. They contribute to the nourishing of our bodies, and they are in season a large chunk of the year when greenery is sparse.

White Bean and Portabella Soup

 16+ oz. portabella mushrooms, chopped into roughly 3/4” pieces

2 large onions

3-4 cloves garlic

1-2 Tb. olive oil

1 ½ tp. Salt, divided

1 ½ tp. Pepper, divided

8-10 fresh sage leaves*

8-10 stems + 1 Tb. leaves fresh thyme*, divided

32 oz. Beef or venison broth

2- 15 oz. cans white beans, rinsed (preferably cannellini)

*I used dried, as my herbs are not faring well this winter. Use less dried herbs than you would fresh, as the flavor gets concentrated when the water has evaporated out. Unless you have really, really old herbs. Then just dump the rest of the bottle in and you might get close.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl toss the garlic, onions, and half of the mushrooms in olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and one teaspoon pepper. Layer them on one side of a baking sheet. Coat the remaining mushrooms in the oil and seasoning left in the bowl, then spread onto the opposite side of the baking sheet (this is done so you can separate them easily for a later step). Add sage leaves and thyme. Roast for 10 minutes, toss, then roast for an additional 15 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, add broth, beans, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves to a large stock pot over medium heat and simmer.

When the vegetables are done let them cool slightly. Set aside half of the mushrooms. Put onion/mushroom mixture into blender with 1 cup of beans and 1 cup of broth from stock pot. Cover and blend till smooth. Return the puree back to the stock pot and whisk together till smooth. Add the separated roasted mushrooms to the pot, and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Warm over low heat until ready to serve. *Goes incredibly well with a crusty bread! 

Winter Lamb Stew

Sometimes, all it takes is one person. 

A very, very small percentage of people who exist in our world have the ability and circumstances to make an impact on more than a handful of people. Jesus, Gandhi, various leaders of nations throughout history. What can we do, the minuscule in this massive population? We can lament this, cry out how pointless even trying is, but that is just our own skewed perspectives. ONE person can make a difference in someone’s life, merely by being present, by listening non-judgmentally and offering emotional support.

Something happened to me many years ago, nothing drastic or life altering, but something wrong. At the time I dismissed it- the guy was just a jerk. However, as time passed I realized, I felt, just how wrong it had been. How many women had he done this to? Lied about, then belittled and taunted to everyone in their circle when they turned him down? Years later, it mattered!

Someone listened. Though it had been years ago, though we do not communicate regularly, nor are even that close, she had been there, and she listened. She didn't say whether she believed what I was saying, she didn't postulate on the atrocities of men, she merely listened, and allowed me to express my anger and grieve my inaction.

She was there for me in that moment. She was present.

And over a year after that moment, when I felt that regret rise up, our conversation will still occasionally come to mind. Not because of the man or the circumstances so much, but for the kindness. 

How many times each day do we ask, ‘How are you?’ Truly, we are not asking a question so much as making what has become a standardized greeting for our culture. How about we bring the meaning back? How about we care if someone is having a bad moment?  We can’t help everyone, but we can be there for someone. We can matter in that moment for them.

Along that line, hugs are wonderful things, connecting us by sharing personal space and baring our vulnerabilities. This stew feels like a hug- warm and comforting. (How's that for a segue?) 

Winter Lamb Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb. lamb stew meat, cubed

1 Tb. milk

3 Tb. all-purpose flour, divided

2 Tb. oil, butter, or bacon fat

2 cups beef or venison broth/stock

1 cup. Dry red wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tb. chopped fresh thyme (or less dry)

¼ tp. Salt

¼ tp. Black Pepper

1 bay leaf

2 cups peeled, seeded, and sliced butternut squash

1 cup peeled, sliced parsnips

1 cup peeled, chopped sweet potatoes

1 cup sliced celery

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

½ cup Greek yogurt

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Combine the salt and pepper with 2 tablespoons of flour. Dampen the cubed meat with the milk, then dredge the meat in it. When the pan has heated, brown the meat on each side, making sure that there is room between each cube (this may require doing it in two batches). Set browned meat aside.

Drain fat, then add the broth and wine. Deglaze the bottom of the pan (this just means letting the liquid loosen up the crunchies at the bottom of the pan, along with gentle scraping). Season with garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Put the meat back in and bring mixture to a boil.

Mix in squash, parsnips, sweet potatoes, celery, and onion. Bring it to boil again, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or till vegetables are tender.

In a small bowl combine the yogurt and the remaining flour. Gradually stir in ½ cup of the stew liquid, blend till smooth. Stir this into the pot.

Remove bay leaf and cook until thickened.

Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lamb-and-winter-vegetable-stew/

Introductions

I am a latecomer to the kitchen scene.

I did not grow up helping my mother bake cookies, prepare salads, or even set the table. Family dinners were a rarity, and my sisters and I learned early on the in's and out's of Ramon, Kraft Mac & Cheese, and Oscar Meyer. Don't get me wrong, my mom DID cook. She had a handful of dishes that she was particularly proud of, and that we all loved. As the tomboy of the group, however, I rarely deigned to enter the kitchen to do much more than serve myself.

In retrospect, maybe feeding people was something inherent to me ...

Times have changed though. Oh, how they have changed! This non-traditional California girl somehow got hitched to a traditional(-ish) Southern boy from Louisiana. This once tough Army chick now finds quiet pleasure when he opens the door for me and just feels all 'glowy' when he changes the brakes on my car. My part in our partnership roles is to make sure he is fed regularly. A particularly lovely part of our courtship was spent together in the kitchen, me learning and trying out recipes, him happily complying with requests to get this, measure that, or chop something (but... not onions, never the onions!). The result of those evenings was I fell in love with him, and with cooking.

My Southern boy. And yes, I cooked those. 

So, I cook now. A lot! And the more I cook, the more curious I get about food, and cooking in general. Crazy how that works. I don't have a fabulous kitchen; it is actually rather small. I don't have a lot of shmancy gadgets, for a couple of reasons. First, the more you have, the more you have to clean. I hate cleaning. Second, I have limited space for storage, so I focus on multi-taskers. One splurge I finally made was a stand mixer. I spent years wanting one but talking myself out of it, due to the expense and the lack of space. When I started making my own butter and grinding venison, however, I very quickly talked myself back into it. It is lovely for those jobs, as well as the myriad other things it does with the proper attachments.

We are blessed with enough. Enough for me to (frugally) buy organic products. Enough to be able to follow my passions (reading, teaching, cooking, writing, in that order). Enough to have dreams and plans of eventually buying property on which to create our own mini-'homestead.' I want to collect the eggs for our morning omelets, harvest the vegetables to can for winter, pick the fruit that I preserve, and maybe (a BIG maybe here) even milk the goats for the cereal and butter. How much more basic can you get than that?! (OK, I could mill my own flour, but that is probably not going to happen. Craziness is what that is!)

One of our raised beds at our current home.

You see, the more I cooked, the more fascinated I got with cooking. In order to learn how to cook better I started breaking the food we ate into the basic elements needed. Quality raw produce, milk, grains, nuts, meat. This is what everything boils down to. Once you understand the basics your imagination kicks in; you start fixing dishes that you dream up on the fly instead of having to limit yourself to recipes. Because, let's face it, following recipes kinda sucks. Half the time you are left with bits of this and that you have no idea what to do with! (Ever buy a tub of creme fraiche or a jar of sun dried tomatoes for a special recipe and only use a 1/4 cup?)

These are my explorations into food, my culinary adventures. Creating menus that use up everything, maximizing nutrition through the variety each season offers. I hope you join me in my exploits!

Colcannon Potatoes

I have mentioned that I love food history, right? In honor of St. Paddy’s day, I did a little research into traditional Irish dishes to serve. A wonderful side I decided on to accompany the corned beef is actually something I was already familiar with- mashed potatoes. Well, kind of.

Colcannon potatoes are basically a combination of mashed potatoes, some sort of cooked green, something from the onion family, and butter to taste. I have boiled potatoes with cauliflower before, and also with leeks, but the greens inclusion was a new one on me. The verdict? YUM!

Yeah, that spoonful disappeared soon after this picture was taken.

The recipe I decided on trying is here. I made some adjustments, but nothing significant. I recently made some butter, so I had the byproduct, buttermilk, on hand. I decided to use that in the potatoes along with the regular milk. I imagine plain yogurt would taste pretty good, too.

In my research I DID get some great ideas for changing things up next time, though! Traditionally cabbage or kale was used, but you can throw in anything green, even spinach. I like the idea of kale, too, since its season also coincides with potatoes availability (don’t forget to sauté the stems with the onions!). Leeks and onions are more readily available in wintertime than scallions, so next time I will make it with one of those. Scallions are easy enough to grow in a windowsill but they have a delicate flavor and I think something stronger would retain more flavor. Also, the recipe called for crumbled, cooked bacon, so next time I will fry up a couple slices beforehand and sauté the onions in the grease for a little added flavor (why waste it?).

I like using the boiled cabbage water to boil the potatoes (or whatever green you decide to use), as I imagine that some of the flavor and nutrients lost in boiling the green would get soaked into the potatoes. The add-ins can be changed up too, like using buttermilk or cream instead of regular milk (or soy or almond milk if you are vegan), and of course the spices. Apparently, instead of milk, some folks used to add just enough water to the potatoes to make them moist, then a splash of vinegar. Thoughts for next time!

This recipe makes a huge bowl of potatoes, bulked up with the vegetables as it is. The added veggies makes it a little healthier, too. Enjoy!

That is a big bowl of potatoes! Did I mention I was only making this for two people? I hope it freezes well...

Colcannon Potatoes

Ingredients:

-          1 large head cabbage (or green of your choosing)

-          2 cups water

-          4 lbs. peeled and quartered potatoes

-          1 cup milk

-          1 cup buttermilk

-          1 cup chopped green onions

-          Salt and pepper, and other seasonings to taste (I used white pepper)

-          ¼ cup melted butter

-          Crumbled cooked bacon (opt)

Directions:

-          Bring water and cabbage to boil in large pot. Reduce heat and cover, simmering for 10-12 minutes or till tender. Drain, but reserve the liquid for the potatoes. Keep cabbage warm in a large bowl. Don’t underestimate the size of this dish! If you are only cooking for two or three people you may want to halve the recipe!

-          Put the potatoes and cabbage water back in the pot, adding additional water till the potatoes are covered. Bring to boil and cook for 15-17 minutes, till fork tender. Drain and put in with the cabbage to keep warm.

-          Rinse out the pot and set the milk and onions to boil in it.

-          While the milk and onions are heating, mash the potatoes into the cabbage. Add any seasoning you like to it.

-          Once the milk and onion mixture boils, add it to the potatoes and mash it all together.

-          Drizzle with melted butter and bacon.

*Adding a touch of green, like additional scallions or parsley, would make a pretty presentation.