When I worked full-time, I often edited while listening to podcasts. Aside from This American Life, The Moth, and Planet Money, I also listened to a few cooking podcasts, including, of course, The Splendid Table. While I can hardly remember to update my phone these days, never mind listening to a podcast, sometimes I manage to catch The Splendid Table when it’s on the actual radio. Like people used to do in olden times.
Recently they had on Anna Thomas to talk about soup, and approximately five seconds after she described her Green Soup, I wanted it. It’s the perfect time of year for greens and onions (the other main ingredient in the soup), and utilizing them both in a soup sounded like a perfect way to spend a slightly chilly afternoon.
It’s not exactly photogenic, but trust me on this one. A great thing about this soup is that you can use virtually any kind of green you might have on hand, because even the most bitter greens will be balanced by the sweetness of the caramelized onions. I like the tang brought in by the yogurt, though you can certainly leave that out if you prefer. Serve with pita chips or wonton crisps for a bit of crunch.
Greens Soup
adapted from Anna Thomas
serves 8
Olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
4 cups vegetable stock
3-4 bunches assorted greens, such as mustard, komatsuna, mizuna, beet greens, kale, or chard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat a swirl of olive oil over medium. Add onions mushrooms and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until onions take on a nice brown color, approximately 30 minutes.
Add stock and increase heat to just bubbling. Wash and chop greens and add to the soup. Reduce heat to medium and cover soup. Let cook until greens have wilted, about 10 minutes.
Puree soup and return to heat. Stir in paprika, yogurt, and lemon juice, then season to taste. Alternatively, you can leave the yogurt out until just before serving, and then add a swirl into individual bowls.
Back in November I received an exciting – to food bloggers – delivery. A giant box from Honey Ridge Farms had arrived, stuffed with their entire line of raw honey cremes. My mind immediately started working on overdrive to come up with recipes using this bounty, but because of the holidays and travel I didn’t get to post about them until now.
I first got to sample Honey Ridge Farms’ products way back in 2010 when I went to Camp Blogaway in California. Honey is one of my favorite toppers for toast, additions to tea, and baking ingredients, so finding out about these fruit-blended flavors was very timely. The small sample jars we received then didn’t last long.
Fast forward back to the present – I admit I had a honey-and-toast meals before I got down to the recipe testing. I had to try the flavors out properly, right? From there it wasn’t hard to make the jump to the first recipe.
I love cinnamon rolls, but I hate feeling sick after eating one due to the copious amount of butter and slathering of frosting. These honey buns have only 3 tablespoons of sweetener, and it all comes from raw raspberry honey creme. They are also small, which make them perfect for a wee smackerel of something with your tea, or the sweet accompaniment to Sunday brunch.
Raspberry Honey Buns
makes approximately 1 dozen
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze:
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme
Mix together flours, salt, and yeast in a large bowl, food processor, or mixer bowl. Heat milk in microwave about 45 seconds, until warm to the touch but not scalded.
Mix milk, honey, and butter into dry ingredients all at once, until it comes together into a ball of dough. If the dough is too sticky and loose, add more AP flour, a little at a time, until the dough is cohesive.
Knead a few minutes until you have a smooth and supple ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest until doubled in bulk, about two hours.
Punch down dough and roll out on a floured counter top. Roll into a large, thin rectangle approximately 12 inches by 16 inches.
Heat 1 tablespoon honey in microwave for 15 seconds. Brush over surface of the dough with a pastry brush, then scatter cinnamon over the top.
Starting with the shorter side, roll dough tightly into a log. Slice roll into ½-inch wide pieces. Shape each piece gently into a circle, and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
Cover rolls loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour.
Bake rolls at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned.
Heat remaining tablespoon honey in microwave for 15 seconds, then brush on baked rolls.
Best served immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
Disclaimer: I received an assortment of Honey Ridge Farms products for the purpose of review for their Spread the Love campaign. As always, my opinions are my own.
On many of the days I don’t have my son in my care (he goes to preschool twice a week, which is integral to his social skills and my sanity) I head over to a coffee shop near campus and pound away at the keyboard. There are myriad coffee shops in Austin, and I’m picky about which ones I will visit in order to get work done. The one I like most, I picked because they not only have lots of tables and outlets, but because they serve up breakfast tacos in the morning and pizza for the afternoons. No matter how good the coffee is, if I can’t get a good lunch while I’m working, I won’t want to stay for long.
The pizza I had last time had spinach, bacon, and pear, and I felt like it was a revelation. Somehow, the spinach immediately led me to Brussels sprouts, and I knew I had a plan for the pint of sprouts waiting to be gobbled up.
Ever since I was introduced to roasted Brussels sprouts a few years ago I’ve looked forward to their season, and I even have a couple of slowly growing plants in my raised bed garden. It’s never been a problem finishing a pint, but I still love to try out new combinations.
Admittedly, this pizza requires a bit more work than the standard pepperoni pie, but I think it’s worth it. I didn’t designate what kind of cheese to use for this pizza, although I used smoked mozzarella on mine. I asked my Twitter followers for cheese recommendations based on the other pizza toppings, and I received at least ten different suggestions – so I have a feeling you can’t go much wrong when it comes to the cheese on this pizza.
Brussels Sprouts Pizza
makes 1 pizza
1 pizza dough of your choice
1 small onion
8 ounces Brussels sprouts
1-2 slices thick-cut bacon
1 pear
Olive oil
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure it is in the oven while preheating – you want it nice and hot!
Slice onion in half and then into long strips, and cook over medium-low to low in a small saucepan, stirring often. You want them to be nicely browned, but not completely caramelized (remember, they will cook more in the oven).
In a frying pan, cook bacon until crispy. Meanwhile, trim ends off Brussels sprouts and then slice lengthwise into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on the size of the sprout. Once the bacon has cooked, remove it to drain on a paper towel, and add sprouts to the bacon fat. Cook 2-3 minutes, until sprouts are bright green. Remove from heat.
Peel and core pear, then slice thinly.
Roll out pizza dough. Add a light drizzle of olive oil to the top of the dough, being careful to not get too close to the edge (if oil leaks off pizza, it might burn on your pizza stove and make your fire alarm go off).
Arrange pear slices on dough, then scatter sprouts, bacon, and onions on top. Sprinkle on shredded cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until crust has browned. Let cool on pizza stone for 5 minutes before cutting.
Beets have a lot of strikes against them. Well-intentioned relatives are always serving them, slippery out of the can. Their name is “beet”, which is decidedly one of the most unpoetic vegetable names. (At least the other until-recently maligned vegetable, Brussels sprouts, has that Continental air to it.) And of course, there is the whole Lady Macbeth thing. The primary concern about cooking shouldn’t be the bloody aftermath.
Which is all to say that I’ve never been to psyched to see these tubers lurking in my veggie delivery box. I’ve eaten them, trying not to make a bad face at the dinner table in order to influence my son or keep up the illusion that I am indeed a hotshot foodie.
Now that it is beet season again, I’m more determined to if not like the darn things by themselves, to at least find ways of incorporating them into foods I do enjoy. And, of course, I enjoy chocolate. What food blogger doesn’t like chocolate, right? (Don’t answer that. I know there are plenty who at least make the claim, but honestly, can we really trust them?)
Beet brownies aren’t a new thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of them. Plus, these are gluten-free, so I know I can feed them to my friends without having to worry about dietary issues. I’ve found that garbanzo bean flour to be really reliable for me in the gluten-free department – it has worked well for cornbread, cookies, and now brownies. These did end up a little more cakey than I had expected, so if you like a more fudgey brownie, use a bit less flour.
You’ll notice that I included gram measurements for the chickpea flour and cocoa. This is due to differing scoop methods – I’ve been burned in the past with recipes that only list a cup measurement, so I have decided to be more precise when it comes to my flour measurements on posts. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, they are extremely affordable and perhaps the best tool you’ll add to your arsenal.
Beet Brownies
serves 15
250 g / 9 ounces beets
1 packet (2 tablets) Taza Mexican chocolate (or 3 ounces 70% chocolate)
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (70 g) garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Trim long roots and greens from beets and clean off any dirt. Dice them into quarters (or smaller, depending on the size of your beets) and set in a pot of water to boil. Boil until easily pierced by a fork, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and let cool until they are comfortably handled.
Meanwhile melt chocolate in the microwaves at 30-second intervals. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Set aside. In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, and set aside.
Once the beets have cooled, the peels should slip off easily. Place peeled beets in blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together beets, chocolate, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, and add the vanilla. Stir until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the large bowl and stir until well-incorporated.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool as much as possible before cutting. Great the first day, better the second.
The other day I made tofu for dinner, and I liked it. Last night I made some turnips to go with our roasted chicken. 2012 might be turning out to be a topsy-turvy world for me. But when it comes to eating better, that isn’t a bad thing.
I have to admit that last year I tried to cook with the turnips that came in our vegetable boxes, and whatever I did to them did not make me quick to return them to my mouth. But with the new year and my new determination to waste less food, I knew something had to be done.
I’ve done this glazing technique with carrots and tofu, so I thought it was worth trying out. The turnips stay just firm enough, and don’t get overly sweet – the presence of turnipness doesn’t get lost. Best of all, they take less than 30 minutes to prepare.
These turnips are a quick addition to any meal. Try variations by adding other root vegetables, such as beets, and swapping out the sage for other fresh herbs like thyme, or even a sprinkling of dried herbs de Provence.
Glazed Turnips
serves 4
2 large turnips (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
Salt
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
Peel turnips and dice into 1-inch chunks. Arrange turnips in a single layer in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Pour in water, and scatter butter and brown sugar over the top. Cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove lid and continue to cook until liquid is evaporated, stirring to keep turnips from sticking. Once liquid is evaporated, salt to taste, and put turnips on serving dish. Sprinkle sage over the top and serve.
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