Instant Love: My Immersion Blender (and some soup)

Favorite Kitchen Tools

There are a few things in our kitchen that I use all the time. My bright red cast iron dutch oven, my santoku knife, my knife sharpener, a cutting board and a heat resistant spatula are usually all I need for a meal. The immersion blender, on the other hand, is one of those devices I don't use regularly, but whenever I do, I am in awe of how much easier it makes my life.  As I've mentioned previously, I am a clumsy woman and a damn clumsy cook.  Anything requiring the transport of hot heavy liquids into a standing blender usually ends in disaster.  Plus, I hate lugging out the blender or food processor and cleaning it and inevitably not cleaning it well enough so having to clean it again.  Such a pain.  That, my friends, is where my immersion blender comes in. Just one little device I can stick into the pot I'm already using, then rinse it off and stick in my dishwasher. Amazing!  Why don't I do this more??

Last week, I had a few foodie friends over for a New American themed dinner party where people were instructed to prepare a course and bring an appropriate beverage pairing.  In keeping with the season, I made a Celery Root Puree Soup (paired with prosecco, for those of you who were wondering). 

Celery Root Soup

1 large shallot, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large celery root (2 1/2 to 3 lbs), peeled and chopped
2-3 medium yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup white wine (or one 187mL mini-bottle)
2 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped
4 cups stock
1 tbs. dried tarragon
1/2 cup shredded gruyere

In a large stock pan, saute the shallots and garlic with some salt and olive oil.  Add celery root and potatoes and stir till covered with oil.  Add white wine and cook about 3 minutes (to cook off the alcohol).  Add stock, apples, and tarragon and cook until celery root and potatoes are well cooked, 30-40 minutes.  Puree using immersion blender until smooth (strain through sieve if you want it even smoother).  Add gruyere and stir until melted.  Serve hot with additional gruyere (or gruyere chips - just bake some shredded gruyere until light brown). 

Sweet Potato Curry in a Hurry

If you're a fan of Indian food, you're well aware that regular take-out orders of channa masala and saag can really add up.  I think Indian cooking is often intimidating to people because of long ingredient lists and complicated methods, but I'm convinced that decent korma and chicken masala can be made at home--but that's for a later post.  What follows is a very basic but satisfying vegetable curry.    

So, I wanted to develop an easy curry recipe that could be thrown together on a weeknight in 30 minutes or less.  I really like curries that have a sweet vegetable component to counter some heat, such as sweet potato or Asian pumpkin, and I used that as my starting point.  I think this is a great base for any leftover veggies or proteins you have sitting in the fridge (I had sweet potato and red pepper, so those are featured here--be flexible and use what you have). 

K, now craving crispy papadum

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil or canola oil over medium-high heat in a medium dutch oven, and when oil is hot add:

1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 t. red pepper flakes or diced hot chilies if you have them (or more if you want it spicier)
1/2 t. black mustard seeds
1/2 t. coarse salt

Stir for a couple of minutes until the onion begins to soften a bit, and add:

1 red bell pepper, cut into in a very thin julienne
2 T. of your favorite bottled curry powder
2 t. sugar

Stir for 2-3 minutes.  Then stir in:

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 c. half-and-half, milk, or coffee cream

Stir well to combine, bring to a low simmer, and add:

2 c. diced sweet potatoes, baked or steamed
1-2 c. additional cooked veggies (such as leftovers; optional)
2 c. diced tofu or chicken (optional)
1/2 c. chopped cilantro (optional)

Allow everything to simmer for at least 5 minutes.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary, and serve over steamed white or brown rice.

Fall Cooking...

Fall harvest at the Bloomfield Farmers Market

Last week, I spent pretty much every night in the kitchen.  I braised a chicken and turned it into a casserole (or a hot dish, as we from Minnesota like to say), made a beet stock (and a subsequent bright purple beet risotto), a squash soup, homemade greek yogurt, and a beet relish. It was a good cooking week, but now my creative juices are a bit drained, and I've been living on quesadillas and the frozen homemade ravioli I made a few weeks ago.  Plus some pub grub here and there.  Every once and a while, it's nice to have the weeks off from major cooking.  Grilled cheeses, chicken wings or burgers, take out, and the prepared foods section at Whole Foods are satisfying treats on a lazy day.  Maybe I'll whip something up after the farmer's market on Thursday, but I'm okay with a little fatty indulgence of cheese and fried foods until then.


Fall, though is my favorite time of year to cook.  The produce is great (winter squash, celery root, brussel sprouts, oh my!) and it's the time to start fattening up for winter.  A lot of hearty soups and creamy pastas and baked dishes galore.  And fall brings the colors changing and perfect evenings for brisk walks and scarves and dark beers with friends.  Sigh, it'll only last a short while until winter's inevitable return, but we can enjoy it until then, right?

 

So I'm putting together a list of things I'm looking forward to cooking to keep me warm throughout the season:

-Savory bread pudding
-Vegetarian chili
-Perfecting my braised chicken casserole
-Salted honey lavender shortbread 
-Irish brown bread
-Truffled egg toast
-Crab tater tots 
-Getting at least one gnocchi recipe down, such as this one
-Celery root ravioli or soup
-Potato soup
-Coming up with an awesome risotto cake recipe
-Pasta with sweet potatoes and a walnut-kale pesto
-Thanksgiving dinner, in all it's gluttonous glory


So much to look forward to!

Squash are perty

Chipotle Spiced Kabocha Squash Soup

Squash season is here!  Roomie and I were talking a few nights ago about how winter squash can be intimidating sometimes .  And, kind of a pain in the butt.  Who hasn't tried to peel a butternut squash and chop it into pieces?  Or to thwack an acorn squash in half?  It ain't always easy!  Even with a good knife and some pent up aggression, getting those suckers cracked open is no piece of cake (or pie...pumpkin pie...).  But, squash soup, squash risotto, stuffed squash, roasted squash...So delicious.

I don't really know much about kabocha squash, other than I think it's the kind they use in pumpkin curries.  It's Japanese in origin, and according to the Whole Foods sign hanging on the bin, kabocha is sweeter and less stringy than an acorn squash (which the kabocha resembles). So, what the heck, why not try something new, eh? There were two varieties at the market - red and green - so I picked up one of each for kicks. I was teetering between Asian and Mexican flavors for the soup, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to use some of the dried peppers I picked up in Oaxaca earlier this year. Mexican it was!  I was also hoping to use the kabocha seeds themselves as a garnish, but roasting them ended up kind of failing - they're too big and chewy.  Pepitas, though, would be a nice touch for a little extra texture to the soup.

Out of sheer laziness, I decided to roast the squash.  I could have peeled 'em and chopped 'em up and let it all cook in the stock, thus saving some the time you'd have to wait for the squash to roast.  But I decided I'd rather wait a half-hour to roast the squash (during which I could cook a second dish or watch some tv) instead of getting frustrated with having to break down those little pumpkin suckers.  And probably chopping a finger off.  Once the squash was soft from the oven, all I had to do was scoop out the meat.  Easy stuff. The squash straight out of the oven, by the way, was deliciously sweet and smooth.  Kabocha was definitely the right choice.

Cooking this soup reminded me of how much I love my immersion blender.  I'm a clumsy cook (really, I'm just a clumsy person) - I spill and I slip and I drop pans and all that jazz.  Roomie, who was eating in the other room while I made this recipe, asked me at least three times if I needed any help (after dropping a few things and burning my hand.  Sweet.)  Anyway, when I used to have to puree soups in a standing blender, I would inevitably end up spilling the stock and putting in too much and making a crazy mess.  Even now, if I do use my standing blender, I just spoon out the solid stuff (potatoes or squash usually), puree them alone, and add them back to the stock.  But, with an immersion blender, I don't need to deal with any of that.  Plug in the blender, whirl it around the pot where my food is already cooking, and viola, puree! If you like pureed soups (or tomato sauces, or smoothies) without the hassle of a standing blender, it's definitely worth the investment.  Or do like I did, and ask for one for Christmas.

Thoughts after leftovers for lunch: This soup needs a bit of acidity, but I'm not quite sure how to achieve it.  A squeeze of lemon juice might suffice, but it also might overwhelm the squash and chipotle flavors.  Maybe some zest?  A chimichurri sauce?  Or at least a knock off of chimichurri, probably closer to a cilantro pistou. Good plan...

Chipotle-Spiced Squash Soup

2 Kabocha squash (I used one red and one green, about 5 pounds in total)
1/2 large onion, chopped
3-4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbs. cumin
2 tsp. chile powder
4 cups stock (one box's worth)
3-4 dried chipotles (I'm sure canned chipotles will do, as well)


1 bunch cilantro
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. lemon juice
3-4 large cloves garlic


Ricotta/plain yogurt/crema
Pepitas

1) Preheat oven to 375-degrees.  Quarter the squash and scoop out the seeds.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and roast until squash is soft enough to scoop out, about 30 minutes.

2) Remove squash from oven. Using a towel to protect your hands and a large spoon, scoop out the meat of the squash into a large prep bowl. It doesn't have to look pretty - it'll keep cooking and get pureed later.

3) In a large stock pan, saute the onion, garlic and a hefty pinch of salt in olive oil over medium heat until soft and slightly translucent (about five minutes).  Add the cumin and chili powder and stir to coat the onion and garlic.  Cook a couple of minutes, until you can smell the cumin and chili throughout your kitchen.

4) Add squash, stock, and chipotle peppers and stir until well mixed.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Taste about 10 minutes in to see if more salt or spice is needed. (Cumin and chili will add some earthy smokiness. Smell 'em to see which one you like more - I like cumin.  Throw in another chipotle pepper or some red pepper flakes if you want more heat.)

5) While the soup is simmering, in a food processor blend together the cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, remaining garlic, and a pinch of salt.  Blend until its about the consistency of a pesto. Add more olive oil as necessary.

6) Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.  

7) Ladle soup into a bowl and add a dollop of ricotta/yogurt/sour cream/etc (whatever you have on hand) and a spoonful of the cilantro pesto and garnish with some pepitas.  Serve hot!

Serves 6-8.

A First Attempt at a Lentil Soup

I do love lentils - in a rice pilaf, a good lentil loaf, in some chili.  But lentil soups turn me off.  In general, I have to be in a particular fall or winter mood to really crave soup as a meal, and some lentil soups (those thick mushy ones with brown lentils) remind me too much of baby food.  Not appetizing.  But I know people who love lentil soup.  Go crazy for it.  I don't really get it.  So I decided to try out a version that was more appealing to me.  This was a first go at lentil soup, and it definitely needs some work.  All the basic elements are there, but I wanted the flavor to be a bit richer and more savory. (Although, after eating the leftovers for lunch today, I gotta say, the soup improved overnight.)  Also, it's not really a "lentil soup" but rather a hearty vegetable soup that happens to have lentils in it.  And as summer is turning to fall here in Pittsburgh (I refuse to wear jacket for a few more weeks!), a nice hot soup on a chilly weekday night is pretty satisfying.  Especially with a blanket and a season premiere on Hulu. Enjoy!

Vegetable - Lentil Soup

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, chopped
4 yellow potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups stock (veggie or chicken)
1 1/2 cups red lentils
Dried thyme or herbes de provence
1 10 oz. package baby spinach
2 green onions, chopped

A loaf of country bread or some hearty rolls

1) Preheat oven to 375 and douse the cauliflower with olive oil and some salt.  When oven's ready, roast cauliflower till soft and browned, turning occasionally, about 30-45 minutes.
2) In a large stock pan, cook up the onion, garlic, and carrots in some olive oil, until the onions are soft and your kitchen smells delicious.
3) Add the potatoes and white wine and cook until the wine is slightly reduced, about 3-5 minutes. (Basically, you're just cooking out the alcohol flavor.)
4) Add the stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes.
5) Add the red lentils and taste the stock for flavor.  I used a homemade chicken stock and some salt-free veggie bullion, so I ended up adding a little more salt and some herbes de provence to enrich the flavor.  If you have a good hearty stock on hand, you might not need this extra boost.
6) Cook the soup until the lentils are soft and light orange in color (15-20 minutes). By this time, your cauliflower should be about done. Add the roasted cauliflower, spinach and green onions to the soup, and stir until the spinach is well wilted. Simmer for about 5 more minutes. Taste on last time for salt and acidity - add a little lemon juice or white wine and cook for a few minutes if it needs more acid.
7) Serve hot with some crusty bread and cuddle up with a book or a movie!