Potato and Leek Soup

An Irish classic that also incorporates my love of blended soup.  What's not to like?  You can make this a vegan recipe really simply by using a vegan butter substitute.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes
3 leeks
2 quarts vegetable broth
1 tbsp butter
salt to taste

Slice the leeks, using only the white and light green parts.  Rinse them in water to remove any sand that may be hiding in the leeks.  Saute the leeks in the butter over medium heat until they are translucent, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Peel and slice the potatoes into small cubes.  Add the potatoes and broth to the leeks.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Let soup cool, then blend in a blender.  If you try to blend the soup while it is hot, the pressure will blow the lid off of your blender and possibly burn you while making a huge mess.  No fun.  You can skip the cooling step and blend in the pot if you have an immersion  blender.

Reheat the soup and serve.

Feeds 8.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

According to my cookbook, The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson, (where you can find this recipe in whole and not from my occasionally lacking memory... and many other delicious ones to boot) yellow split pea soup is the national dish of Sweden and everybody there eats it for dinner on Thursdays.  Even the King.  It's a story I like, although I can't guarantee it's authenticity.  And I have to say this dish is just the thing on a cold, blustery day like today.  I've made this a bunch of times, and it's just as good vegan as it is with the ham.

Prep time: 1 day (dried split peas must soak overnight!)
Cook time: 3 hours

Ingredients:
3 c yellow split peas
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped
6 cups water (or chicken broth if not using ham shank.  For vegan use veg. broth.)
1 ham shank (omit for vegan)
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
tomatoes and bacon bits for garnish (omit bacon if using ham shank or going vegan)

Soak the split peas overnight in cold water.  Swish your hands around in the peas once and a while and pull out any pea shells that float up.

Saute the copped veg. in the olive oil for about 5 mins or until onions begin to brown.  Then add the peas, bay leaf, broth and ham shank (if using).  Bring to a boil for ten mins.  Then reduce heat to medium and simmer for three hours.

After soup has simmered, let cool and remove ham shank and bay leaf.  Discard the bay leaf.  Blend the pea soup.  (Don't do this while the soup is hot unless you have an immersion blender.  The hot soup can blow the lid off your blender, burn you and make an awful mess... I guarantee it isn't fun.)  Remove meat from ham shank and chop. Integrate into soup.  If not using ham shank, brown bacon until crispy, chop and add to top of each soup bowl as garnish.  Cut cherry tomatoes as garnish for bowls and add to bacon.  Serve.

Makes a good 12 servings, but freezes really well for quick meals at a later date. 

Brown Braised Onions

Brown braised onions are one of my favorite side dishes. I can eat them all by themselves. Who needs a main dish when you've got onions simmered in butter, wine and broth? I found the recipe in a marvelous cook book by Julia Child. However, since I can't find it now I'm doing this basically from memory. It worked pretty well.

Prep time: 30 mins (I'm slow at peeling pearl onions)
Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients:
1 bag pearl onions
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 c beef broth
3/4 c red wine
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Cut the tops and the bottoms off of your pearl onions. Since they look best and hold up best whole, do your best not to slice through the layers lengthwise when you're peeling the outer layers off.

In a pan where all the onions can touch bottom, simmer the herbs, onions, butter and 1/4 cup of the red wine. When the wine has reduced to the point that it would coat the back of a spoon, add the beef broth. Repeat until all the wine and broth has been used.

The onions are finished when the last of the liquid has simmered down to a sauce.

Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish.

Baba Ghanoush

Baba Ghanoush is a middle eastern dip similar to hummus. Don't let the eggplant frighten you. It's pretty much just a vehicle for the lemon and garlic tastes. It goes well with pita chips or tortilla chips or crackers or sliced vegetable.

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 40 mins

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
olive oil

Okay, first off, the tahini. Most Americans don't just have this laying around. It's a middle eastern sauce made with sesame seeds and sesame oil, and is super easy to prepare at home. In a blender combine: 4tbsp sesame seeds, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 c tepid water and 1 tsp sesame oil. Blend till smooth. I used the recipe found here, but had to increase everything to get stuff above the blender blades.

Pierce the skin of the eggplant several times. You can use a fork if you want, but I find the tip of a knife works better. Roast it at 400 for 40 minutes or until soft. Peel off the skin, slice it into moderate sized chunks and pop the eggplant into the blender with the lemon juice, sesame seeds (more than the ones you used in the tahini)and garlic. Blend until smooth.

Chill.

When ready to serve, add olive oil on top and salt to taste.

Feeds at least 6 as an appetizer.

I found this recipe here.