Vegetable Beet Soup

Yes, you read it right, "Vegetable Beet Soup" not "Borscht". I can't call it borscht because there is more of other vegetables in it than beets. But it's still a lovely beet-red color and has a lot of beet flavor. Also I used fresh cilantro rather than the traditional fresh dill because (a) that's what I had on hand and (b) I don't really like dill for some reason, except in dill pickles.

This turned out really tasty!

Ingredients:

6 beets
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 onions
1 small cabbage
1/2 bunch cilantro
3 qts. vegetable and/or beef broth (*)
salt and freshly ground pepper
sour cream

(*) If you or one of your guests is vegetarian, just use vegetable broth

Method:

Cut the tops off the beets and the long straggly root part, and give them a rinse. Put them in 3 qts. of salted water and boil until tender. Bring the beets out of the pot and set them aside to cool, retaining the water.

Chop the onion, celery, carrots, and cabbage and boil them in the beet water for 20 minutes or so.

In the meantime, when the beets are cool enough, peel them and cut them into about 1" cubes.

After the other vegetables have boiled in the beet water for 20 minutes, drain the beet water. Now add the beets to the vegetables along with the 3 qts. of broth, bring to a boil, and let simmer for 2 hours or so. At this point you can add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Trim the cilantro leaves and add them to the soup for the last 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and let the soup cool for 30-45 minutes. Next, puree the soup in a blender until smooth.

Place the blended soup back into the pot, adjust the seasoning, and heat for serving.

To serve, fill a bowl with the soup, add a large dollop of sour cream and garnish with cilantro if desired.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Mousse!

So I had an unopened pint of whipping cream left over from the holidays, sitting there in the refrigerator, looking at me accusingly, "What? You're just going to let me sit here and go sour?"

I had to take action.

Then I remembered that I had a can of organic pumpkin puree in the pantry. So the idea of a pumpkin mousse sprang to mind.

Oddly, an Internet search did not turn up any simple pumpkin mousse recipes. There were a lot of elaborate concoctions, such as "Pumpkin Mousse Trifle", where the pumpkin mousse mixture included marshmallow creme, and it was layered with ginger cookies and custard -- well it may be good but it just looked like a little more trouble than what I wanted to do.

Well at least it looked like you really can fold together canned pumpkin puree and whipped cream to get a mousse. So I made up a recipe on the spot, and it turned out really, really good. Here it is:

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 c heavy cream

Method:

Mix all ingredients except for the whipping cream. I used an egg beater to get it all nice and smooth.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff (don't overwhip or it will start to become butter).

Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture.

Spoon the mixture evenly into 8 bowls or ramekins. It will be about 1/2 - 3/4 cup in each bowl (varies depending on how much volume there is in the whipped cream).

Cover the bowls and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 4 hours before serving.

Mmm, good! The spices really bring out the pumpkin flavor, and there is enough sugar but it is definitely not over-sweetened.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Stew

This sweet potato stew with caramelized onions, black eyed peas and collard greens is a very tasty and hearty stew that is perfect for autumn. It is vegetarian - vegan, actually - but you will not think you are missing out on anything at all!

Ingredients:

2 - large sweet potatoes
1 - large yellow onion
1 - bunch collard greens
1 - cup dry black eyed peas
1 - Tbsp. light or medium molasses
1 - Tbsp. ground cumin
1 - tsp. ground cardamom
1 - tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 - tsp. ground sage
1 - tsp. dried oregano
1/2 - tsp cinnamon
pinch - red pepper flakes
2 - Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1 - lime, juice and zest
2 - tsp. salt
2 - Tbsp. olive oil
2 - qt. vegetable stock, water or a combination

Method:

Soak the black eyed peas overnight. Drain and rinse. Add fresh water to cover and cook until tender. (Hint: if you have a pressure cooker it will greatly speed up the process; if not, it may take 2 or more hours to cook the black eyed peas until they are really tender).

Cut the ends off the sweet potatoes, then peel off the skins with a potato peeler. Chop into bite sizes pieces and set aside.

Peel the onion and cut into chunks. Place the olive oil, freshly ground black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes into a large pot and heat until the oil thins. Roll it around until the bottom of the pan is evenly coated, then throw the cut up onion pieces in. Saute for a few minutes on high heat, until they start to break apart. Lower the heat to medium high and add the molasses, stirring to evenly coat the onions. Continue cooking until the onions caramelize, then remove from the pot and set aside.

Add the sweet potato chunks into the pot along with a little extra olive as needed. Saute the sweet potatoes until they have a little crust on them, then remove from the pot and set aside.

Next add the broth and deglaze the pot, then add in sauteed onions and sweet potatoes, then the blacked eyed peas that should be nearly cooked, draining any excess water from them before adding them to the stew.

While the stew simmers, add the rest of the seasonings and adjust the flavors by adding more salt if needed. Rinse and chop the collard greens also.

When the sweet potatoes and black eyed peas are done, add the collard greens, the balsamic vinegar and the lime juice and zest, and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes or until everything is done.

Enjoy!

Corn Salad

This tasty salad is very summery, consisting mainly of corn, peppers and tomatoes.

It was the result of a lazy summer evening. I didn't feel like cooking, but there were some items in the refrigerator that were in there, I could feel it, sending accusing thoughts in my direction, that I had not used them yet, and was I planning to let them go bad or something? The very thought!

What else could I do? I opened the fridge, rummaged around and found some lovely white corn, a couple of sweet bell peppers, and a little mound of specialty cherry tomatoes.

Here's the recipe:

4 ears white corn, husked and the kernels cut off (*)
1 large orange bell pepper
1 large yellow bell pepper
20 cherry tomatoes / 2 large tomatoes (**)
1 bunch chives
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. white balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1-2 tsp. blue agave nectar (you may substitute honey)
Fresh mixed baby salad greens

(*) If you want to cook the corn first, you can do so. I used sweet white corn and it was really very nice raw. I think the marinade may helped to remove some of the starchiness, because all I tasted was the sweetness. To cook the corn: place the ears of corn into boiling water after husking and let them boil for 3-5 minutes, enough to remove any starchy flavor. Then remove from the boiling water and plunge into ice water to stop cooking and hasten the cooling process. When cool, cut the kernels off and proceed.

(**) Red tomatoes give a great color and add a lively look. But just pick the most flavorful tomatoes you have. Heirlooms would be fun in this dish.

Place the kernels from the 4 ears of corn into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 2 tsp. of lemon juice over them and turn them until all have some lemon juice.

Chop the bell peppers and tomatoes into small pieces -- they don't need to be as small as the corn kernels but maybe 2-4 times larger -- still pretty finely chopped. Put the rest of the chopped items in the bowl with the corn and sprinkle a little more lemon juice on the mixture while stirring to ensure everything is coated with the marinade. Chop the chives very finely and mix them in evenly.

Now add 1 tsp of white balsamic vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp black pepper, and 1 to 2 tsp of blue agave nectar to taste, to balance the acidity of the lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. As you add each item, again stir all the chopped ingredients so everything is coated evenly.

Add 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and stir just to distribute evenly.

Serve chilled on top of fresh baby greens. Garnish with a sprinkle of shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese on top.

Variation:

Substitute lime juice for lemon juice, use finely chopped cilantro instead of chives, and add some dried red pepper flakes for a Southwestern flair. You could also add some finely chopped red onion, and if you wanted to make it a more substantial dish you could add black beans, continuing the Southwestern theme.

Enjoy!