Tag: stew

Veggie

Broccoli Soup

Broccoli Soup with Cheesy Croutons

Since I was a kid, I’ve loved Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. The problem with broccoli soups (or mushroom soups, or potato soups, for that matter) is that they are cream-based and can really tear up the stomach. This is a lighter but still very hearty take on broccoli cheddar soup, with a hint of extra cheese and crunch added in a floating cheesy crouton, like the sourdough hat on French Onion soup. If you’re skeptical that a bowl of broccoli soup can suffice for a full meal, give this one a try.

what you need

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 heads of broccoli, florets cut into smaller pieces and stems diced

1 yellow onion

1 medium russet potato

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tablespoon paprika

8 oz cheddar cheese

1/2 cup 0% Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

4 slices of thick, white bread (like pan au levain)

1 vegetable bullion cube (makes ~2 cups vegetable broth)

how to make it

Note: Most everything is going to be blended so there is no need to dice the vegetables finely.

Chop the onions and garlic cloves. Melt the butter in a pan and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent, about ~2 minutes on medium-high heat. Season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Peel the potato and chop into chunks. Peel the broccoli stems and cut into similar sized chunks. Set the florets aside. Add broccoli and potatoes to the onion and garlic, along with 5 cups of water, the vegetable bullion cube, and another pinch of salt. Boil on high heat until the stalks become tender (~30 minutes).

Add half the florets to the pot and cook until bright green, ~5 minutes. Transfer 100% of the solid contents and as much of the cooking water as needed to a blender and blend until smooth. Return the blended mixture to the pot, add the remaining broccoli florets, and reduce heat to medium.

Grate the cheddar cheese and add 3/4 of it to the pot, stir, and reduce heat to low-medium. Slice the bread and top with olive oil and the remaining cheese. Place in broiler for ~1 minute or until toasted golden brown.

Stir 1/2 cup of yogurt into the soup, stirring to mix completely. Ladle soup into bowls, top with black pepper and a cheesy crouton, and serve. Alternatively, you could get really fancy and serve this in a bread bowl!

Tags broccoli, cheese, main course, one pot meal, soup, stew, weeknight, winter

Omni

White Bean Chorizo Soup

White Bean Chorizo Soup

As we enter into the longest winter months with January barely having come to a close, it seems like it will never be warm again. These are the months for soups, stews, and roasts; hearty and cozy. This is one such soup. It is creamy (without any cream) and I hereby dub it my Winter Soup, topped with spicy chorizo, salty pepitas, and a dash of oregano. Thank you Whiffletree Farm for the chorizo in the January CSA. And thank you Edible DC for putting this recipe in my inbox right when I needed it most.

what you need

2 cans canellini or navy beans in their juices

1 yellow onion, diced

2 Russet potatoes; peeled

1 tablespoon fennel seed

2 tablespoons oregano

1 pound spicy chorizo

4 cups chicken stock

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons salted butter

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or cooking sherry

1 tablespoon paprika

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

(optional) For serving: 1/4 cup pepitas tossed in olive oil, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and a dash of cinnamon. Toast under broiler for 1 minute until crispy and allow to cool.

how to make it

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a soup pot and sauté onions until translucent, adding the garlic and cooking slowly over medium heat. Add the fennel and oregano, and cook for another minute.

Add beans with all their juices and chicken broth, and bring the mixture to a slight boil. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the diced, peeled potatoes, cover, and cook on a medium simmer for 30 minutes.

In separate pan, chip up the chorizo and brown like ground beef or, alternatively, roll the chorizo into tiny meatballs. Once cooked completely through, add the cooking sherry, paprika, and oregano, stir, and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. If using, simultaneously toast the pepitas under the broiler.

Once potatoes are tender in the soup, puree all soup contents in blender and return to soup pot. Ladle about two cups of soup into a bowl and top with about half a cup of chorizo, a dash of cayenne pepper or sweet paprika, and a pinch of toasted pepitas. Serve.

I have also had the thought that crispy, spicy kale chips would be an excellent topping for this in lieu of the toasted pepitas, but the cinnamon on the pepitas really rounds out the warmness of the soup.

Tags beans, chorizo, comfort food, latin, main course, pork, sausage, soup, stew, winter

Veggie

Dahl (Indian Lentil Stew)

Red Lentil Dahl with Spinach

Dahl is an understatement of a dish. Pitch “lentils and spinach cooked until mushy” to most people and you’re unlikely to garner much enthusiasm. But this dish… this dish… is a healthy, satisfying, vegan, weeknight game changer. It is rich and hearty, and I am pretty sure you could top crispy, sea-salted naan with Pennzoil and I’d eat it. The curry spices are not as prominent as in most Indian dishes so the flavors are subtle and the lemon keeps it fresh. So pull out your favorite style of lentil and give this one a try.

what you need

1 tablespoon sunflower oil or ghee

1 1/2 cups red lentils (I have tried with yellow, french, white… all good, but red are the best IMO).

1 can diced tomatoes

2 shallots or 3/4 yellow onion, diced

fresh ginger root, minced

2-3 cups raw spinach

juice from half a lemon

fresh cilantro

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 hot chili pepper, minced

Spices: turmeric, cloves, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, cardamom, cloves, cumin, mustard seeds, or some sort of garam masala mix

Naan, basmati rice

how to make it

Rinse lentils until water runs clearly through them, then cook for ~15-20 minutes over medium heat in 4 cups of water. As the lentils cook, add salt and a generous amount of turmeric. You want the lentils to break down and become quite thick.

While the lentils simmer, heat the ghee or oil in a large pan. Add onions or shallots and cook ~3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ginger root and cook for ~2 minutes more.

Spice. Remove from heat and add your personal blend of spices, stirring to coat everything in the pan. Toasting the spices in this way releases their flavors, but you want to take care never to burn the spices over high heat, should your dish take on a bitter quality. You can be generous with turmeric, but should be sparing with cloves, cumin, and ginger, all of which can overpower in large quantities.

Return to heat and add the can of tomatoes, stirring well. The lentils should be completely collapsed by now and all the water evaporated from the pot. Pour the lentils into the pan with the tomatoes and simmer for ~10-20 minutes, taking care not to let the dahl stick to the bottom of the pan.

When ready, add lemon juice and the spinach, stirring and folding so the spinach becomes submerged in the dahl. Cook at least 5-10 minutes more until the spinach is fully integrated. Serve over basmati rice and with naan with a garnish of cilantro.

A note on naan: most any storebought naan will do. Lay it out on a pan, cut it into slivers, and sprinkle with a good olive oil, sea salt, and pepper, and place under broiler until crispy. Really takes this dish to the next level.

Tags curry, dahl, ethnic, fall, indian, lentils, naan, soup, spicy, spinach, stew, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight, winter

Omni

Indispensable Chili

chili soup stew recipe oneandahalfslices

Indispensable Chili

Chili is one of those things. There are chili cookoffs and chili arguments. There is chicken chili, vegan chili, white bean chili, and endless competition for the single spiciest chili ever to exist. While I appreciate a good office-party chili cookoff as much as the next, to me, chili is one of those sacred things that just should not be fucked with. Like cheeseburgers. Like cheesecake. Don’t try to make it fancy. Just make it good. So, here, basic, indispensable, chili.

what you need

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds ground beef, bison, or pork sausage

2-3 cans beans of choice (chili, kidney, pinto… I like a mixture)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 large, sweet or yellow onion

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-3 green or red chili peppers

1 bottle beer (lager, ale, of witbier… the lighter the better for this recipe)

1 cup dark coffee

1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder

Cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt, black pepper

how to make it

Place meat, onions, and garlic in Dutch oven or soup pot on stove over medium heat. Chip up meat and brown thoroughly. Dice the chili peppers and place into pot along with bottle of beer, cup of coffee, cocoa powder, and spices, stirring thoroughly.

On spices, you want a little cumin, a lot of chili powder, and oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. Cumin is powerful and can turn a dish bitter if added in large quantity.

Simmer chili base on low heat for ~20 minutes to allow the base to cook into the meat. Add tomatoes and beans and cook for another ~30 minutes. Chili gets better the longer it sits on the stove, so feel free to turn off the burner, secure the lid, and let it rest for a while.

Serve topped with a dollop of 0% fat Greek Yogurt, a solid shred of good cheddar cheese (good cheddar cheese is always white, never yellow), a sprinkle of chives or parsley, and a side of corn chips.

A Note On Ingredients

Every year I make several New Years resolutions. One professional, one fitness-related, and one culinary resolution.

2017 was the year of the cacao nib.

In 2017, the culinary New Years resolution was to learn the culinary history of the cacao nib by way of cooking, of course, and in celebration of my favorite movie, Chocolat. After much reading and many a history lesson, a molé sauce cookoff with my mother, and the devising of the ultimate hot chocolate recipe, I arrived at a simple yet powerful rule of thumb:

Chili in chocolate and chocolate in chili.

These two ingredients are soul mates; chili is Calvin to the chocolate-y Hobbes. Good chocolate, hot or otherwise, always has a dash of chili pepper or straight up cayenne. And good chili should have 100% cocoa powder (among other things) to deepen its flavor and add to its base. This recipe uses cacao, coffee, and beer to create its rich flavor profile. Choosing a high-quality chocolate is key. I look to Guittard (American), Lindt (Swiss), Godiva (American/Turkish), Noi Sirius (Icelandic), or Girardelli (Swiss/American). Regardless of brand, the lower the cacao percentage in chocolate, the more milk/sugar/additives it has, so best to go with the darkest cocoa available (over 60% is desirable).

Tags beans, chili, fall, ground beef, soup, stew, winter

Omni

Viking Lentil Stew

lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Viking Stew

It turns out raiding, forging 8th century alliances, and carving out new territory in the Saxon kingdoms really works up an appetite. It is definitely time to make Viking Stew. If there is crisp in the air, you want this stew. You want two bowls of it. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

what you need

1/8 cup olive oil

1 pound loose sausage of choice, hand rolled into small meatballs (I prefer Spring House Farm’s loose sage, nutmeg, or spicy sausage, but Whole Foods loose sage sausage will do just fine)

1 sweet onion

4 celery stalks

4 small-medium carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 cup French lentils

1 can crushed tomatoes

6 cups water

1 Bay leaf

2-6 cups (2 bunches) thin-cut chard of choice (swiss, rainbow, green)

Red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, oregano, thyme, to taste

finely grated parmesan cheese, to top

how to make it

Heat olive oil on stovetop in Dutch oven or large soup pot. Brown meatballs until they begin to cook through. Add onions, carrot, and celery (diced), garlic (minced), salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and thyme and cook until onions are translucent.

Once meat and veggies become fragrant, add lentils and stir until well-coated. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, and water, and simmer covered on low heat for about 45 minutes-1 hour, or until lentils are tender.

Add spices to taste and chard (two bunches of chard is going to look like a TON, but it will cook down). Continue to simmer until chard is cooked through, about another 10-15 minutes.

Top with finely grated parmesan cheese (trust me, do not skip the parm; you’ll regret it).

Adjustments: Adjust water volume to make this more or less stew-like. You can also add an extra can of tomatoes if you like your stew extra tomato-y. Sometimes I like to throw in 1/2 cup of barley along with the lentils to stretch this soup a bit further. And, of course, the red pepper is optional (for spiciness) and chard can be substituted for any hearty green, like mustards or kale.

It turns out claiming new territory and building a Viking settlement in the Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia really works up an appetite. I’ve been hard at work in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, battle axe hardened by great elk antlers and wolf claws, and I decided it was time to make Viking Stew.

Viking Stew is a cold weather tradition in this house – one that gets exercised almost weekly in the Winter months. Frosty videogames also come with the season. When virtual snow falls in Mel’s living room, it’s a sign of the times (see Frostpunk and The Long Dark for other wintertime favorites).

But Vikings. They are fascinating.

Beyond the History channel’s Vikings, which had enough historical accuracy to be credible, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the award-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, we are not lacking for Viking lore in mainstream media. Vikings had a fascinating culture which drew on Norse mythology as strongly as The Lord of the Rings and Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelung. The word “Viking,” itself, is a verb, meaning to adventure, explore, or raid. They were an intense, vivid, unabashed folk whose arrival in Wessex in the 8^th century drove the land in its evolution to becoming the modern-day England. Their reverence for the Gods and intense warfighting strategies (ghosted in 8^th and 9^th century tafl games such as hneftafl) gave them the reputation for being ruthless, heartless conquerors of foreign lands and slaughterers of Christian peoples. But the essence of the Viking culture was to take to the seas, create foreign settlements abroad, and, above all, live and die with honor worthy of the Norse Gods and, ultimately, a seat in Valhalla.

It is a beautiful, unique culture in the history of humankind. And it has absolutely nothing to do with this soup other than this hearty meal is the type of sustenance modern-day pop culture might associate with Vikings. Vikings subsisted primarily on fish, lamb, grains, and ale. Pictured below are two of my Viking alter-egos – extra points for in-game photography skills.

Eivor

Senua

Tags chard, fall, lentils, one pot meal, parmesan, sausage, soup, stew, winter