Ninja Foodi: Moroccan Beef Stew

The recipe ratio is adapted from the April 2020 issue of Men's Health, which calls for lamb stew meat, and this recipe substitutes beef for lamb. While I really enjoy grilled lamb for the occasional treat, lamb meat is price prohibitive at nearly $12/lb at my local grocery store w/ a butcher counter. And, after wondering what made this beef stew "Moroccan", I added some dried apricots and raisins it as well. While it is peculiar that there's no added salt, there is salt in some of the canned goods used to make the stew. For the green olives, I am using green castelvetrano olives. At my local grocery store chain, it sells under the HemisFares label in a 4.2 oz glass jar. It has a radically different taste and texture than the generic brand canned green olives that one would use in a salad or cocktail.

TheFoodening Blog - Moroccan Beef Stew

Ingredients

1 lb beef stew meat, cubed
1 15-oz can organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can organic diced tomatoes
4 organic carrots, diced
4 oz pitted green olives, drained and rinsed
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
7 dried apricot slices
2 tbsp raisins
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef Flavor + 2 cups of water
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander

Directions

Having a Ninja Foodi means that I can start with a lack of planning and preparation to make most beef-based recipes. I imagine that if I had fresh stew meat on hand, I would skip this step and go straight to browning the meat in the Foodi on its sauté setting. In the event that you are starting from frozen beef stew meat. Here's what you do:

In the Foodi, add to the cooking pot, 1 lb frozen stew meat plus 1 cup of water. Pressure cook on high for 1 minute and quick release. This is my half cooked and still raw but thawed method.

Remove the lid and add the rest of the ingredients.

Pressure cook for 25 minutes on high with a natural release.

Once you remove the lid, discard the cinnamon stick. Serve hot.

Slow Cooker Minestrone

I suppose it is possible to overcook the vegetables on this, though it wouldn't be any worse than reheating the soup. If you are going to add some type of pasta to this, I suggest cooking the pasta separately, then adding cooked pasta to the serving bowl. There is a lot of flexibility as to what goes into this vegetable soup; though most notably it's root vegetables + beans + pasta.

Ingredients

1.5 quarts vegetable/chicken/beef broth
Two 14.5 oz cans of diced/crushed/whole tomatoes
One 15 oz can beans (cannelini or white/red kidney beans)
2 organic carrots, diced
2 organic celery ribs, diced
1 zucchini, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
1 cup green beans, fresh or frozen (optional)
1 lb fresh spinach leaves (optional)

Spices

1 tbsp fresh or dried parsley
1.5 tsp fresh or dried oregano
1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
sea salt, to taste (about 1 tsp)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Pasta

1/2 c macaroni, fusili, or other small shaped pasta, cooked separately

Directions

Add broth, vegetables (except the spinach), beans, and spices to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Cook macaroni or fusili pasta separately. Drain. Set aside until ready to eat.

Add spinach leaves and cooked pasta to crockpot at least 20 minutes before serving.

Crockpot: Smoked Ham Split Pea Soup

In today's age of healthier cuts of meat, finding smoked pork hocks at the grocery store is hard. Check with the butcher or at the meat counter of your local grocery store. The smoked pork is probably with the other frozen meat. One smoked hock is enough for a 3-qt batch of split pea soup. I picked up a frozen package of three smoked hocks from my local grocery store.

When rinsing the split peas, don't let them sit around and dry out in the colander. They'll stick together as one mass and you'll have to pry them off. Also, traditional pea soup has onions in it. If you can eat onions, add a diced yellow onion to the recipe. The salt in the broth or smoked meat should be enough for the batch of soup.

Ingredients

1.5 quarts chicken/vegetable/pork broth
1 lb or 2 cups of dried split green peas
1 smoked ham bone or smoked hock
3 organic carrots, diced
3 organic celery ribs, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Cook covered for 6 hours on LOW. Remove ham bone from the pot. The meat should come easily off the bone. Add the meat back to the pot. Discard the bone. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Hot and Sour Soup

My mom would make this soup for special occasions, although it's a good soup for cold, damp weather. The heat in the soup comes from black pepper and its sourness from vinegar; though not any vinegar will do. Apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar are cetain sweeter in taste than say, red wine vinegar. And, don't put balsamic vinegar into this soup.

A note from my dad about the wood ear fungus. It may look small, and the original recipe called for 1/4 of it but that is a mistake. He says that the fungus will soak up enough water to turn into 10x its dehydrated size.

Makes: 2 quarts + 1 pint

Ingredients

3 oz pork loin, pork shoulder, or country pork rib
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 scallion, thinly sliced

1/4 c dried lily buds, soaked in warm water, trimmed
1/4 c dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water, thinly sliced
4 pc dried wood ear (mu-erh) fungus, soaked in warm water, thinly sliced
1/2 c winter bamboo shoots, thinly sliced
1/2 pkg organic firm tofu, small diced
2 quarts organic chicken broth, low sodium
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
3 tbsp white vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 tsp tamari soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

1 organic carrot, sliced into matchsticks

Directions

Slice pork into thin 1/2" strips then fry with scallion and olive oil. When pork has lost its pink color, remove from heat and set aside.

After soaking the lily buds, trim off the hard parts of the stem.

In a large stockpot (or a pot large enough to hold 3 quarts of liquid), combine chicken broth, lily buds, wood ear fungus, mushrooms, tofu, white pepper, soy sauce, and vinegar. Add the soaking liquid of the dried ingredients to the soup.

Bring the soup to a simmer and let all the ingredients come up to temperature. At this point, you can add the cornstarck/water slurry and bring the soup to a boil to thicken the soup.

Next, and add the eggs for an egg-drop-soup look. 

Serve hot.

You may need to add more black pepper (for heat) or vinegar (for sourness).

To thicken the soup:

Combine equal portions cornstarch and cold water. Stir until cornstarch is dissolved in the water. Use 1 tbsp cornstarch plus 1 tbsp water per quart of liquid.

To turn this into an egg drop soup:

Whisk 2 eggs in a small bowl

Before serving the soup and while the soup is boiling, stir soup in a clockwise (or counterclockwise) direction so the liquid is rotating in one direction. Usually, it's 1 egg per person for a regular egg drop soup.

As the soup is rotating, slowly pour in the beaten eggs.

Chanterelle and Ginger Soup

Warm and earthy, this soup really hits the spot on a very chilly autumn day. This is a mostly clear broth. The chicken broth could probably swapped out for a vegetarian broth, if you prefer.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 quart homemade chicken broth
2 organic celery ribs, diced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 lb fresh chanterelles, cleaned and halved

Directions

Bring broth to a boil. Add celery, ginger, and chanterelles. Simmer until the celery is fork tender. about 15 minutes.

Serve hot.

Lentil Sausage Soup

This is my first time cooking with green lentils. I originally bought a bag of lentils (12 grams of protein per serving) as an ingredient to make protein powder for a smoothie; but alas, the weather turned really cold and I haven't been in the mood to make it. Despite their small size, I am still baffled by how long these cook to become tender. Since the green ones usually are sold whole, I wonder if they're easy to grow. Apparently you can also sprout them indoors for fresh sprouts.

Serves 1.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c water
1 tsp Organic Better than Bouillon (beef flavor)
1/4 c whole green lentils
1 sausage, any variety, cut into pieces

Directions

Bring everything to a boil, then simmer partly covered over low heat for 25 minutes. Lentils should be done. Give it a stir every so often so the lentils don't burn.

Serve hot.

[update] Wow, this is really salty. Maybe no almost-instant bouillon next time, just a good hearty broth.

Daikon Soup

My folks make this soup the traditional way...with a pork bone broth. Traditionally, it is cooked with other earthy ingredients such as shitake mushrooms, some fresh ginger, and maybe a carrot or two for color. The broth itself should be clear, if you're using a meat broth. This version did not come out looking all that clear since I used store bought vegetable broth. 

Ingredients

1 large daikon radish, peeled and cut into chunks
1 quart vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 organic carrots, chopped into 1" pieces
4 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
1 tsp kosher salt

Directions

1. Bring ingredients to a boil, including the reserved mushroom dashi and exclude the carrots. 

2. Simmer on low for an hour or until the radish is fork-tender. Add carrots to the last 15 minutes of cook time.

3. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Gazpacho (Chilled Tomato-based Vegetable Soup)

It seems that every time I make a soup for an event it is of a vegetarian flavor. The soup for tomorrow's Soup Sunday event (a fundraiser for a local religious organization) is gazpacho. The recipe ratio comes from Alton Brown's Good Eats show. The only ingredient I am missing is the ground cumin. In my last couple of moves between Portland and Seattle, I'm not sure where most of my spices ended up. It is likely that I tossed the ones that were several years old or it is simply misfiled in a box somewhere. You know you have too many spices when they reside in multiple storage boxes and in the kitchen cupboards. Onto the recipe...

Gazpacho is a raw soup made of vegetables and its main ingredients are tomatoes, water and garlic. At least those main ingredients are in this batch. I doubled most of AB's ingredient quantities and didn't substitute the cumin with anything. I also added pineapple chunks to this (and drank the juice it came in 'cause I was thirsty). I also omitted the onions because I hate onions. Hopefully the soup will taste fine in the morning after the flavors have mingled together.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
Two 14 oz cans organic diced tomatoes
2 large red bell peppers, diced
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 c EVOO
2 small limes, juiced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well. Remove 1 1/2 c of the diced ingredients and puree for 15 seconds in a food processor. Return to soup and stir in. Chill for at least an hour or overnight before serving.

Notes

AB's recipe calls for tomato juice. I didn't have any so I used the juice from the canned tomatoes and pressed the tomatoes in the can until no more juice came out. Between the fresh and canned tomatoes I think it was almost two cups of liquid. The leftover canned tomatoes were added to the puree.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

This is the only time of the year when beef brisket goes on sale for St. Patrick's Day. Depending on where you shop, this cut of beef can be as low as $2/lb in the Pacific Northwest and is already seasoned. This fake food holiday is celebrated in the US because of two things: alcohol and food. I mean really, what other holidays do we have where we aren't consuming these two items. Anyhow. The average cut is about three pounds and while this may seem like a lot of food for a single person, a lot of it will turn into very tasty sandwiches.

Corned beef, all sliced up after resting for 10 mins

Ingredients

3 lb beef brisket, brined
1 packet of pickling spices
3 organic carrots, cut into thirds
3 organic celery stalks, cut into thirds
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, quartered
2-3 tbsp red wine
1 green cabbage, cored and cut into wedges

Directions

1. In the bowl of the slow cooker, place brisket fat-side down, add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, and pickling spices. Cover and set cooker to 8 hours on LOW.

2. An hour before the timer is done, add the cabbage wedges to the top of the stewing corned beef and replace lid. Let it cook until the cabbage leaves are fork-tender.

3. Remove brisket from slow cooker and let rest on a plate for 10 minutes before carving.

Corned beef, cabbage, carrots
and a side of garlic sourdough bread

Slow Cooker: Beef and Vegetable Soup

Soups are good make-ahead meals. This batch makes about three quarts of soup. I thought it tasted a bit spicy, so I may leave out the paprika and black pepper next time.

Ingredients

1 lb beef stew meat
1 qt organic vegetable or beef broth
2 14-oz cans of organic diced tomatoes
4 organic carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, diced
1 oz red wine
1/4 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c pearl barley (optional)

herbs & spices:
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 whole bay leaf
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp organic granulated sugar (optional, if soup tastes acidic)

Directions

1. Combine ingredients except for flour and pearl barley in the slow cooker, starting with the chopped vegetables, followed by meat, herbs and spices.

2. Cook for 6 hours on "high".

3. (optional) In a separate pot, bring a 1.5 cups of water to boil. Add pearl barley, cover the pot and cook on low-medium for 45 minutes. Turn off heat. Fluff with a fork and add to slow cooker. Stir to distribute the pearl barley evenly throughout the soup.

Dumplings for Chicken Fricasse

This ingredient ratio was adapted from the Pacific Northwest the Beautiful cookbook and was used in a chicken fricassee recipe of the same book. When the stew is done, eat the dumplings first. Imagine hot and steamy bread-based dumplings drenched in a hearty chicken stew and that's what it tastes like. The dumplings are not as good through multiple reheatings and become rather dense. They are pretty much as good as they're going to get when made fresh the first day. There usually isn't as much stew liquid leftover to accommodate more dumplings.

Chicken Fricassee (imagine fried then braised chicken,
served up in its own broth)

Ingredients

2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp fresh sage, minced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 c half n half

additional water, optional if the batter is too dry

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Add milks and stir gently to combine.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoons into simmering broth. Cook for 15-20 min, until puffy and dumplings float to the top.

The finished dumplings after cooking in the broth.
I removed them from the pot so that they could
be evenly distributed in bowls.

(Dungeness) Crab and Corn Chowder

You can use any type of crab for this chowder, except for shore crabs. I used Dungeness crab since it's available locally and is still in season. It certainly tastes awesome with the bread I made yesterday. No idea on how heavy the crab was prior to being shelled, but it yielded 1.5 cups of cooked crab meat.

Here's a breakdown of what it costs to make this chowder from scratch:

1 Dungeness crab, cooked (roughly $8 per whole crab, about a pound)
2 white potatoes, $0.50
2 c chicken broth (1/2 quart), $1.00
2 green onion stalks (assuming 8 stalks per bunch and $0.50/bunch), $0.16
1/4 c flour (10# flour at $4), $0.02
2 tbsp unsalted butter (at $3/lb), $0.38
3 organic celery stalks (your yield may vary, this is based on a $2 bag), $0.30
salt, black pepper, and various spices, $0.25
One 16 oz bag of cut sweet corn, $1.69
2 c (16 oz) of organic half 'n' half, $2

Yield: 2 quarts (8 one-cup servings)
Total: $14.30
Cost per cup: $1.79

When ingredient sourcing, food prep, and cook time is factored into the cost, that $5 bowl of chowder you get at the restaurant is actually a pretty good deal.

Mashed Potato and Cheese Soup

Another dinner of leftovers, again! Thanksgiving sure does make a lot of leftover food. This is a recipe that you can use with leftover mashed potatoes, in the event that you find mashed potato pancakes way too salty because someone thought it'd be a great idea to mix salt, butter, and some random dairy into the mashed potatoes for T-day.

Fortunately, the main ingredient is already cooked and mashed, so now I build a soup around it. There is no added salt because the mashed potatoes are already salted. If you don't have leftover turkey stock on hand, you can substitute the liquid component of this soup with water or chicken broth.

Ingredients

2 slices of bacon, cut into thin strips
1-2 carrots, diced
1-2 celery ribs, diced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (optional)
2 c turkey broth
1-2 c mashed potatoes
3/4 c cheddar cheese, grated
Spice mix (optional): dried thyme, garlic powder, dried oregano

Directions

1. Fry bacon until crispy. Take bacon out of the pan and drain on a paper towel. This will be used to garnish the soup before serving.

2. Pour the bacon fat into the pot that will hold at least two quarts of soup. Over low-medium heat, fry onion slices until they are translucent and slightly golden brown. Add carrots and celery. Cook until vegetables are fork tender.

3. Add broth and mashed potatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Puree with an immersion blender. Then, over medium heat, add grated cheese and stir until all the cheese has melted.

4. Serve hot in a bowl and top with some fried bacon bits.

Chestnut Soup

It is good to end a rainy day with a hot bowl of homemade soup. This one turned out really tasty and I only added one leftover to it, baked Japanese sweet potatoes. Tree-grown chestnuts are hard to come by, mostly because the last three seasons haven't been good growing conditions for local chestnut growers. This years' chestnuts from the farmers market were really small. In previous years I'd gotten my chestnuts, fresh and dried, from the Allen Creek Chestnut Farm in Ridgefield, WA.

Steaming chestnuts rather than roasting allowed me to peel the chestnuts easier with less waste. For this soup, half were roasted and the other half were halved then steamed.

Ingredients

2 c. roasted or steamed chestnuts, coarsely chopped
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 1/2 Japanese sweet potatoes, cooked and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp dry sherry
1/2 tsp dried marjoram (optional)
kosher salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. In a 3-qt pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook vegetables for 25 minutes, or until the onions start to caramelize. 

2. Add peeled chestnuts, salt, freshly ground black pepper, marjoram and water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer over low-medium heat for 45 minutes. Mid-way through cooking, add the Japanese sweet potatoes, if using. In the last five minutes of cooking, add the sherry.

3. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

4. Serve while hot. Can garnish with fresh cream.

Chilled Ginger-Watermelon Soup

I made palate cleanser appetizer for a House of Hsi dinner party (think formal meal prep and casual atmosphere). It relies entirely on the sweetness of the watermelon and the subtle heat of the ginger as the only ingredient flavorings. The peppermint mint leaves were just for garnish. There is no added sugar; mostly because watermelons are very sweet at the end of summer. Because the size of the bowls that were used held less than a cup of soup each, the portion sizing of this recipe is an estimate. If you have a water pitcher that can fit (covered) in the refrigerator, it'll make pouring this appetizer really easy.

Serves: 12+

Ingredients

One medium seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
36 watermelon balls, chilled
One 1" x 1/2" peeled fresh ginger root, grated with a ginger grater
2 fresh mint leaves per bowl (optional, as garnish)

Directions

1. In a large 5-quart bowl, use an immersion blender to blend the watermelon chunks, grated ginger, and ginger juice together. Transfer to a serving pitcher and chill for at least an hour before serving.

2. Using a melon baller, scoop out rounded balls of watermelon. Cover and chill in the refrigerator before serving.

3. To plate this, place three watermelon balls inside the soup bowl. Fill the bowl until the balls are barely covered by the soup. Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Fresh Mushroom Soup

A couple weeks ago I had the worst-ever bowl of cream of mushroom soup at Palomino's in Bellevue. There was no excuse for it. Certainly not on my part since I finished reading Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential that weekend, in which Bourdain clearly says what foods to avoid on certain days. For example, never order seafood on a Monday (because the fresh stuff comes in on Friday morning for F/Sa/Su). And, sure enough, the dungeness crab sliders that came with my soup were cold, soggy, tasteless, and ugh, the crab tasted like it was frozen and reheated a couple times. Never order cream of anything at a restaurant, he warns. That is because you can hide all sorts of things in a cream-based soup. Heck, if I can make a decent crab bisque with a meatless carcass, imagine what an experienced chef can do in the kitchen. Anyhow. Here's a much better rendition of mushroom soup.

Ingredients

8 oz fresh white mushrooms, sliced
1 qt organic beef stock
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp unbleached AP flour + 1 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp organic white wine
1/4 c buttermilk, or cream
sea salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste
fresh parsley, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Directions

1. In a medium-sized pot, melt butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until tender; about 5 minutes. Remove mushrooms from heat and set aside.

2. Add remaining butter and stir in flour. This will make a roux. The flour will clump together into a ball, but not to worry, it will smooth out once the broth is added. Speaking of which, gradually add the broth, whisking until the flour dissolves in the broth. Pour in the rest of the broth and add the wine. Return 2/3 of the mushrooms to the pot. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Turn off heat and let the soup cool before using an immersion blender. The idea is to not purée the mushrooms, but to chop them up into little bits. Return remaining mushrooms to the pot along with the buttermilk, salt, and black pepper. Bring up to a boil for five minutes.

4. Remove from heat and ladle into bowls.

Kitchen Note: Pricing a Cup of Soup

Pre-made soups can be pretty convenient when it comes to cooking for one. But, why would you want to? Most contain a large quantity of sodium, MSG, and a host of other questionable ingredients. And the "organic" labelled soups can get really costly after a while. Here's a simple cost breakdown of the most recent soup post, split pea soup with ham and bacon:

3 small red potatoes (~ 12 oz), $0.60
3 medium organic carrots, $0.50
spices, $0.02
2 strips of natural preservative-free bacon, $1.12
2 qts chicken broth, homemade, $0.00
2 garlic cloves, $0.06 (assuming $0.25/bulb and 8 cloves/bulb)
1/2 box Hormel natural lunch meat, $1.00
1 lb dried split peas, $1.00

Total ingredient cost: $4.30

I have the broth at $0 since I made it myself. You could always substitute it for water in any soup recipe. This particular batch made 2.5 quarts. Assume each serving is about a cup (8 oz) because that's what it is at restaurants, grocery stores, and food carts. This is roughly 10 cups of soup, or $0.43/serving.

Think about that the next time you order a half sandwich and cup of soup at a restaurant.

Split Pea Soup with (Ham) and Bacon

When I was a kid, my family would drive up the California coast to the now-touristy city of Solvang, a Danish settlement. Along that route was Pea Soup Andersen's. One of their billboard advertisements you could see along Highway 101 featured Happea and Pea Wee, two cartoon characters splitting peas.

With this recipe concoction a few things happened. First, I didn't fry up enough bacon. The two slices of bacon only yielded one tablespoon of liquid lard. Second, when it came to the immersion blender, I forgot to take out the bay leaf. And, even with the chopped bacon as a garnish, the base of the soup needs more salt. This is probably due to the fact that I only added a half teaspoon in the beginning. What is different about this recipe than the one used by Cook's Illustrated is that there are no onions nor celery in it; also, the 2.5 pound smoked ham bone.. well, that isn't in here either. I did, however, chop up some lunch meat (Hormel's natural honey baked ham) and tossed that in. *laugh* And fourth, when I rinsed the peas with cold water and set them aside in a colander, when the peas dried, they stuck like glue to the colander. I had to use a knife on the reverse side of the colander to get the peas out. Grrr.

Split Pea Soup with Ham and Bacon

Note to future self: Don't rinse dried peas until ready to use.

Ingredients

2 qt homemade chicken broth
1 lb dried split peas, picked over and rinsed (just before adding to pot)
3 small white, red, or Yukon gold potatoes
3 medium organic carrots, diced
1 c. cooked ham, diced
up to 2 tbsp olive oil (optional)
1 bay leaf, whole
1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp powdered thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground paprika
sea salt, to taste (at least 1/2 tsp)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, fry bacon on low-medium heat until crispy. Take bacon out, chop, and set aside. Don't worry about the burnt bits of bacon stuck to the bottom, that will deglaze when the broth is added.

2. Add enough olive oil to bring the oil level in the pot up to 2 tbsp. Add carrots, garlic, salt, and spices. Saute vegetables until almost tender, 10-15 minutes. Add broth, peas, potatoes, ham, and bay leaf. Bring pot to a boil, then simmer on low and uncovered for 40 minutes. Stir soup occasionally.

3. Check the peas in the soup. If the peas look like they're about to disintegrate, turn the heat off. Remove bay leaf from pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. It'll be a little chunky and that's okay. It's not like you're serving this at a restaurant.

4. Serve in bowls and garnish with chopped bacon.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Last week my local Fred Meyer grocery store had a lot of soup on sale and there were even coupons in the weekly newspaper circular. Of course, aside from buying organic beef stock on sale, I tend to shy away from buying commercially made soups. But, I was curious about the can of basic FM tomato soup whose ingredients listed tomato paste, water, and some other trivial things like salt and spices. While I can't break even on the cost when FM soup is on sale (only $0.59), I can use higher quality ingredients to make an inexpensive tomato soup. A 6 oz can of organic tomato paste is only $0.99, and when purchased in bulk at Costco drops to roughly $0.65/can. With the availability of fresh sun-grown tomatoes months away (only imported and greenhouse grown are "in season"), using canned tomatoes might be the way to go during the winter.

To reconstitute a 6 oz can of tomato paste, the general ratio is about 2 cups of liquid. For a cream-based tomato soup, this generally means you are adding milk or cream at some step in the cooking process. For a regular tomato soup, you could just use broth or water for the liquid. In this recipe, sugar and baking soda help adjust the acidity of the tomatoes. 

Ingredients

One 6 oz can of organic tomato paste
1 1/2 c. organic whole milk
3/4 c. filtered water or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp organic granulated cane sugar
up to 1/4 tsp baking soda (optional, only add to balance acidity)
Spices (see below)
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional spices: garlic powder, powdered/dried oregano (omit if using dried basil), dried basil (omit if using dried oregano), paprika (a little heat, but mostly for color), fresh parsley (for garnish) or dried parsley

Directions

1. Heat the milk separately from the rest of the ingredients. 

2. In a separate pot, combine tomato paste, water, sugar, baking soda, and spices. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

3. Gradually whisk the milk into the tomato soup.

Serves 2.

Pumpkin Potage

"Potage (from Old French pottage; "potted dish") is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush." --Wikipedia

This recipe comes from the Cooking with Dog video series on YouTube. It can be made in just under an hour, prep and cooking time; and it is really easy to make. I used a whole kabocha squash that was just under a pound. I also used turkey broth since it was available that day; you can also use chicken broth, water + a chicken bouillon cube, or vegetable stock.

Also called: kabocha squash soup

Ingredients

One medium kabocha squash, peeled, seeded and diced
One yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tbsp unsalted butter
sea salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 c. broth
3/4 c. whole organic milk
2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

1. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Carefully peel the green rind from the kabocha squash using a sharp knife and vegetable peeler. Cut squash into chunks.

2. In a skillet, add butter, onions, and squash. Sauté over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are about to caramelize. Add broth and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

3. When the squash is fork-tender, use an immersion blender to blend the squash and onion into a thick mixture. Add milk. Blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Bring potage up to a boil over medium heat. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in 2-3 tablespoons of heavy cream.

Serve while hot.