Totally back in New York now. No more sunshine, just soup and meat and scurvy. Have been back for awhile, with no good excuses for not writing more, except that my two dear friends, Marie Pierre and Maryanne, were in town from Paris. I took them to my haunts, including Pho Bang for American sized Vietnamese food, which they loved. We also got to eat hot dogs on the street and paninis at 4am at ‘inoteca. So there wasn’t much homemade food, save for a delicious dinner that Lizzie and Jen hosted of Irish stew and pecan pie.
Hang on...I did make the Frenchies one little breakfast of eggs and fingerling potatoes. It was a Top Chef challenge: to cook without using any garlic because Marie Pierre can’t deal with the stuff. I used olive oil, coriander, paprika and a touch of garam masala to season the potatoes.
Before les filles arrived I used tons of garlic in a lentil/sweet potato soup for Thanksgiving. The soup recipe, culled from epicurious.com, is based on vegetable stock. It gets its depth and lovely flavor from leeks and a gang of roasted garlic. You roast the garlic on the stove at the lowest heat possible for an hour and a half. So easy, when you know you will be around the house chopping up vegetables for other dishes. I have added some chili powder to the soup recipe and a wee bit of sugar. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I made it again last weekend with butternut squash.
It was an NYC thanksgiving. Pooja, the vegetarian, was in attendance so I didn’t do the steak topping that the recipe calls for (really there’s no need anyway). I served it with a beet and green bean salad. For the meat eaters, I roasted some potatoes and Cornish hens, using Marcus Samuelsson's African-inspired rub with less chili powder. Afterward, meat eaters and vegetarians alike watched a terrible Bollywood movie.
Lentil and Roasted Garlic Soup (adapted from epicurious)
1/4 cup olive oil and 3 tablespoons olive oil
10 garlic cloves, peeled, halved (I used only 5 because they were giant farmer’s market ones)
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves or 1 tablespoon dry
2-3 cups water
3/4 cup lentils
1 medium leek (white and green parts only), thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
About 6 cups vegetable broth (I like the boxed kind.)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/4 pounds yams or butternut squash cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2-3 cups kale, ribs discarded, leaves thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chili pepper ( I used a combo of Aleppo, chili powder and red pepper flakes)
½ tablespoon sugar (none if you use butternut squash)
Place oil, garlic, and rosemary in heavy small saucepan. Cook over lowest possible heat until garlic begins to brown, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool. Discard rosemary (this is not a necessary step). Set aside.
Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add leek and sage. Add a little salt. Cook until leek is soft, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes.
Add 6 cups vegetable broth, water, soy sauce, chili pepper, sugar, garlic, garlic oil, lentils and yams or butternut squash to pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until lentils are almost tender, about 15 minutes. Add kale to soup. Simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Comments