Tag Archives: lunch

Gypsy Soup

9 Apr

Gypsy Soup

Salty feta crumbles. Soft curls of Parmesan.

Barely wilted lacinato kale, forest green.

Tender chickpeas with rough cut veggies and just enough liquid to eat from a bowl.

Gypsy soup, a delightful vegetable soup that you can mix and match with whatever orange and green vegetables you desire. Will last you for daysss. Yay to getting those veggies into the diet.

My trick to a great soup is to finish with a tiny drizzle of balsamic. I add the vinegar, then top with tons of cheese, and I’m good to go.

Gypsy soup

Serves 8-10; you can cut the recipe in half if you think this will be too much, but I appreciate a batch of soup that will last me a while. You can also freeze the soup, just see below in the directions…
Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 medium yellow onions, chopped coarsely
6 stalks celery, chopped
8 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 jalapeno, seeds and membrane removed, diced
1 large sweet potato (or winter squash), peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
2 large carrots, sliced into thin coins or roughly chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
2 cans chickpeas (the original recipe uses about 3 cans)
5 cups liquid (I used 4 cups water + 1 cup veg. broth)
3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons turmeric
4 teaspoons mild paprika
1 bay leaf
Dash of cayenne
1 pound greens (I used a mixture of kale and mustard greens), trimmed and, if large, cut into 2-inch-wide pieces

Parmesan or Asiago cheese + crumbled feta, for topping (or any other yummy salty cheese)

Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

Directions

In your biggest pot, heat the olive oil. Saute the onions, garlic, celery, and jalapeno until aromatic and beginning to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add the sweet potato and carrots and continue to saute, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes or so. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, chickpeas, broth/water, salt, turmeric, paprika, bay leaf, and cayenne. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to a rapid simmer, stirring occasionally until sweet potato and carrots are tender. Stir in the greens, allowing to wilt before removing the soup from the heat.

Serve with a good dusting of cheese and a small drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

To freeze the soup, allow to cool completely. Ladle into gallon-size freezer bags. Seal, smoothing out any air pockets, and lay flat in the freezer to store.

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Espinacas con Garbanzos [Spinach and Chickpeas]

16 Jun

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Last week I moved across the country to New York City. In addition to all of the clothes and shoes I lugged with me, I carefully managed to wrap up and bring along: my cast-iron skillet, ice cream maker, mixing bowls, knife case with knives in tow, ramekins, whisk, spatula, and a few other miscellaneous kitchen utensils. Also included in my suitcase was a beautiful photograph poster of Julia Child: Lobster Thermidor and a 1500 piece puzzle of a vintage world map.

After weighing my 2 bags of luggage making sure that no bag was more than 50 pounds heavy, I was off. Well, ok, I had a minor stint with security because I put my ice cream maker in my carry-on bag and they had to double and triple check my bag before letting me through. Alas, I am now here in New York, unpacked and in full use of my new kitchen.

Espinacas con Garbanzos. A Spanish snack, a picnic pick-me-up, a light lunch or dinner. Healthy and tasty. Perfect with toast, or homemade croutons, or rice. Smoked paprika should be in your spice cabinet. It will become your secret weapon for wowing your fellow eaters. It helps make this dish pop. Do it.

Espinacas con Garbanzos [Spinach and Chickpeas]

adapted from SmittenKitchen, originally adapted from Moro: The Cookbook and Lobstersquad

makes about 3 dinner-servings worth (double if you are feeding more people or want more leftovers)

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

9 oz. bag of spinach

1 hefty slice of bread from a country loaf or sandwich bread, crusts removed and cubed

2 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1/4 cup of tomato sauce

pinch of red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

salt and pepper, to taste

squeeze of lemon, to taste

Heat half of your olive oil (1.5 tablespoons) in a pan over medium heat and saute your spinach in batches with a pinch of salt and stir well. Remove when leaves are just tender and set aside in another bowl.

In the same pan you just used, heat up 1 more tablespoon of olive oil. Add your bread and fry until lightly browned on all sides. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Add the remaining half tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, cumin, and pepper flakes. Continue cooking for about one minute more.

**NOTE: You do not have to put everything in the blender. I bet this dish would still taste great with the rustic bread cubes instead of a blended sauce.

Transfer the bread mix to a blender with the red wine vinegar and whiz until it becomes a thick-ish paste. Return it to the pan with the tomato sauce, garbanzo beans, and spinach. Add the paprika, salt, and pepper, and serve with lemon juice.

Serve with bread toasts or rice.

 

WANT MORE CHICKPEA RECIPES?

Garlicky Roasted Chickpea Salad with Feta, Herbs, and Lemon

Pumpkin Chickpea Quinoa with Haricot Vert and Almonds

 

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A Cast-Iron Cutie: Cherry Clafoutis, Round 2

22 May

Cherry season. Is upon us.

I’m bringing this beautiful cross between a custard and a pancake to an afternoon party in Napa Valley today.

Check the perfectly browned edges, please. With the lightest, airiest, subtly sweet-and- studded-with-cherry fruit-center. Now this is a pancake that’ll get you up in the morning.

While the clafoutis was in the oven, I whipped up some pasta.

Rigatoni with sauteed onions, cauliflower, and pattypan squash. Fresh pesto made in my mortar and pestle. Almonds. Cheese. I ate too much. It was worth it.

A cherry clafoutis was one of the first recipes I ever posted to my blog. 2 years ago. Dang.

Well here I go again. Cherry clafoutis, round 2.

Cherry Clafoutis

serves 8

adapted from 2 recipes: Saveur magazine and Joy of Baking/figsinmybelly

Once again, I keep the pits in the cherries for two reasons:

#1 It is easier and…
#2 The pits give the clafoutis a subtle almond flavor when baked.

Ingredients

1 tbsp. butter

2-3 cups cherries, washed and stemmed (no need to pit them)

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or 1 tsp. almond extract)

6 eggs

5 tbsp. sugar (I used brown sugar because I ran out of granulated)

1 1/4 cups milk

2 tbsp. kirsch (optional: I omitted it because I did not have any on hand)

Pinch salt

3/4 cup flour

Confectioners sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In a blender or whisking by hand, combine your vanilla (or almond) extract, 6 eggs, 5 tbsp. sugar, milk, kirsch, and salt and whiz for a few seconds until blended. Then add the flour and blend for one more minute until smooth. Let the batter rest while you prepare the cherries.

3. Melt the butter in your cast iron skillet (or any oven proof skillet or pan), making sure to coat the pan and the sides very well. Once the butter starts bubbling, add your cherries, coating them and cooking for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and continue cooking for one more minute.

3. Pour the batter over the cherry mixture. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Do not open the oven midway through baking. Pull the pan out after 30 minutes, you should have a nice puffed, browned clafoutis. Let it cool for a few minutes then dust with confectioners sugar. Slice and serve.

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