Hearty Vegetable Soup

I couldn't resist picking up some chorizo at World Market this weekend. What a perfect way to use it! This soup looked great online at bbcfood and it uses all the right vegetables for the Los Poblanos box this week. It calls for crusty bread- I almost made some GF rosemary bread sticks...
I used 4 small turnips for this dish and fresh tomatoes. The leeks came from my garden as did the thyme. If you don't have an herb garden at your house- I'd recommend you put some flat leaf parsley, thyme, and rosemary into the ground or a container. Staple herbs!

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25g/1oz unsalted butter
• 1 leek, cut into small chunks
• 1 large carrot, cut into small chunks
• ½ large turnip, cut into small chunks
• 1 sweet potato, cut into small chunks
• 1 celery stalk, cut into small chunks
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes (I used fresh romas)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• small bunch thyme, tied together with string (I tied mine with a leek stalk)
• 570ml/1 pint vegetable stock
• 150g/5oz green beans, trimmed (and cut into more bite manageable pieces)
• 1 raw chorizo sausage (about 110g/4oz), cut into small chunks (Optional)
• crusty bread to serve- Optional

Preparation method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter together in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the leek, carrot, turnip, sweet potato and celery and fry for 10-12 minutes, or until the vegetables start to soften but don't colour.
   
2. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add the cumin, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, thyme, vegetable stock and green beans. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 40-45 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
   
3. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the chorizo for 10-12 minutes, or until crisp and golden-brown.
   
4. Remove the thyme from the soup and stir in the chorizo. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
   
5. Ladle the soup into warm soup bowls and serve with crusty bread on the side.
   
   
   
    Starting to simmer
   
   
    **The finished product. I'd say the chorizo is definitely optional with the richness of the broth-so I took it out of the title. Wow! This soup was fantastic.
   
   
   
   

Roast Chicken with root vegetables

What a perfect night to have this dish! Cold and dark, wind blowing, snow trying to form. I haven't made a roast chicken for a long time, so I thought I'd give it a go. I have a standby recipe I usually make, so I was pleased to try this one from Jamie Oliver. I like how nonchalant his recipes are and this one is just the same. I got the chicken from Whole Foods. I've amended the recipe below. If you want to know how to carve your chicken and make gravy, go to the link above.

• 1 x approximately 4 lb chicken, preferably free-range, organic or higher welfare
• 2 medium onions
• 2 carrots
• 4 potatoes
• turnips
• olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lemon
a small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture (I used thyme from my garden)

To prepare your chicken
• Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven
• Preheat your oven to 475°F
• There’s no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them 

• Pile all the veg and garlic into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil
• Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird
• Carefully prick the lemon all over, using the tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in these for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavour)
• Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of herbs

To cook your chicken
• Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting tray and put it into the preheated oven
• Turn the heat down immediately to 400°F and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes
• Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning
• When cooked, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so

**The top photo is the chicken going into the oven. It turned out beautiful, juicy and tender.

Winter Squash or Pumpkin Soup

My intention was to try a new recipe that I saw on bbc. But my daughter walked in as I was cutting up the pumpkin we got last week (?) and asked if we could have the pumpkin soup we usually have. This is a recipe that is very forgiving and is very quick. It is originally from Alison Holst's Soup recipe booklet. She has several posted online, but not this one. I found it here on kitchenrecipes.com in their soup index on the top of the list. I have amended below.

1 small pumpkin  or winter squash
2 cups water (approximate)
2 tsp instant chicken stock
2 tsp instant green herbs stock
2 tsp sugar
1 medium or large onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (optional)
2-3 cups milk (optional)
1 tsp vegemite (optional if you don't have any)

Remove seeds (good time to roast them) and stringy parts from pumpkin. Remove skin. Cut into chunks.

Put pieces with all the ingredients in a large pot. Almost cover with water and cook on a nice boil until pumpkin is fork tender. Usually about 10 minutes.

Puree soup. If you are adding milk, do it now.

Serves 4-6.

**This is a family favorite. We actually ate it with roasted, salted pumpkin seeds on top.

Gluten-free Scones

This is the second time I've made these scones. They were better this time based on my notes from last time!

Heat oven to 425.

In the bowl of your food processor (with metal blade):
2 C gluten-free flour mix (this time I used 1 1/2 C Arrowhead mix and 1/2 C yam flour)
1/3 C sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t xanthan gum (if it isn't already in your GF mix)

Pulse this mixture a couple of times. Then add:
6 T cold butter, cut into slices

Pulse this a few times, till the largest butter piece is the size of a pea.

To this, add:
3/4 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Pulse till starting to lump. Then add:
1 C of nuts or dried fruit. I usually add chopped-up dates.

Pulse just till mixed.

Dump the whole lot onto parchment or a silicon mat on a cookie sheet. Shape quickly into a disc and score with a knife.
At this point, you can sprinkle the top with a cinnamon sugar mixture, or brush with milk.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.

**Delicious.

Roasted Sweet Potato Pizza

I used Bob's Red Mill gluten- free pizza crust mix for this pizza.

Roasted sweet potatoes
Roasted garlic
Swiss chard, chopped into small pieces
Feta cheese
Garlic olive oil (for spreading on the dough)

Lentil soup with roasted tomatoes and eggplant

With the weather turning colder today, a soup sounds nice. I pulled the last of my eggplant from the garden and I easily have the three pounds of tomatoes sitting on my counter. We got a nice bunch of kale this week, more than last week, so it will be going into the soup as well. I found this recipe on line at Nourished Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green lentils, picked over and rinsed well
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 lbs heirloom tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 1 lb eggplant, any variety, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons unrefined extra virgin olive oil , plus extra to serve
• 2 tablespoons clarified butter/ghee
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon powdered mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 quarts roast chicken stock or filtered water
• 1 bunch kale, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1. Pour lentils into a large mixing bowl and cover with hot water by two inches.  Stir in vinegar, cover with a kitchen towel, and allow the lentils to soak for eight to twelve hours.  After they’ve soaked for eight to twelve hours, drain off the water and rinse them well.
2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Arrange tomatoes and eggplant on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about thirty minutes or until the tomatoes begin to caramelize.
3. Melt ghee in a heavy-bottomed stock pot and stir in onion and celery. Fry the them in ghee until it softens and becomes translucent, six to eight minutes, then stir in mustard, cumin and coriander.
4. Pour chicken stock into the pot over the onions and stir in soaked lentils. Ad the bay leaves. Cover and simmer until the lentils are tender, about twenty minutes.  Once the lentils are tender, stir in roasted tomatoes and eggplant and continue simmering, covered, for a further twenty to twenty-five minutes.
5. After twenty to twenty-five minutes, turn off the heat, stir in the kale and cover.  Allow the kale to wilt under in the ambient heat of the soup.  Season the soup to taste with unrefined sea salt, coarsely ground black pepper, and additional olive oil.

YIELD: about 8 servings | TIME: 8 to 12 hours (soaking), 30 minutes (oven), 45 minutes (stovetop)

**This soup is really good! I'll be making it again. Next time, if I don't have eggplant, I'll substitute mushrooms. 

Provencal zucchini and greens torte

Receiving zucchini this late in the season meant I needed to find a nice autumn dish for dinner. When I saw this that includes greens, it seemed like a great one to try. I supplemented the spinach we got in the box this week.with chard from my garden. We also got one pound of zucchini rather than the 2 pounds called for in the recipe.

Although I found this recipe from Martha Rose Shulman's cookbook, Ready When You Are, I found it  online from her column in the New York Times. Please note that she recommends either a yeasty dough or turning it into a gratin with breadcrumbs sprinkled on top, I used a pre-made gluten free crust.

1 recipe whole wheat yeasted olive oil pie pastry
1 pound greens, such as Swiss chard, beet greens, or spinached.
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 pounds zucchini, cut in small dice (1/4 to 1/3 inch)
2 to 3 large garlic cloves (to taste), minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 to 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (to taste)
2 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1/2 cup, tightly packed)
3 large eggs, beaten
Freshly ground pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem the greens, and wash them thoroughly in several rinses of water. If the ribs are wide, wash and dice them, then set aside. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add a generous amount of salt and the greens. Blanch for one or two minutes, until just tender. Using a slotted spoon or deep-fry skimmer, transfer to the ice water, then drain. Squeeze out excess water and chop. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet, and add the onion and diced chard stems, if using. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Stir in the zucchini. Season to taste with salt, and cook, stirring, until just tender and still bright green, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook with the zucchini and onion until the garlic is fragrant, about one or two minutes. Toss in the parsley, thyme and rosemary and take off the heat. Stir in the greens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste), the zucchini mixture, and the Gruyère. Mix everything together, add pepper, taste once more and adjust seasoning.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 10-inch tart pan.
If using the yeasted dough:
Roll out two-thirds of the dough and line the pan, with the edges of the dough overhanging. Freeze the remaining dough. Fill the lined pan with the zucchini mixture. Pinch the edges of the dough along the rim of the pan.
If using pre-made crust:
Fill the crust with the zucchini mixture.
If making as a gratin:
Fill the gratin dish with the zucchini mixture.
Mix 1/4 C breadcrumbs with 1 T oil and sprinkle on top of the gratin.

Place in the oven and bake 40-50 minutes, until set and beginning to color. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving (preferably longer). This can also be served at room temperature.
Yield: One 10-inch tart, serving eight to ten.

Advance preparation: The blanched greens will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator in a covered bowl. The finished tart keeps for a few days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently at 275 degrees to re-crisp the crust.

**Very delicious!