Coconut Curry Crab Chowder with Lentils

• 1 1/2 C red lentils
• 16 oz crab meat
• 1 qt home canned garden tomatoes
• 3-4 C clam juice
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 C plain yoghurt (optional)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 5 large garlic cloves. smashed
• 3″ large piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 t cumin seed
• 1 1/2 t fennel seed
• 3-4 t very good, fresh Madras curry powder
• 3/4 C unsweetened coconut, toasted
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 sweet bell peppers (red and yellow) 1″ diced
• 1 poblano pepper 1″ diced
• 2 serrano peppers, minced. Seeded if you want to decrease the spiciness
• 8 0z sugar snap pea pods, ends trimmed and cut in half
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
• 6 scallions, sliced on a bias
• garam masala to taste
• lemon or lime wedges, to serve

In a small food processor, purée the yellow onion, ginger and garlic with just enough water (1-2 t) for it to form a thick, smooth paste. Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot on medium-high with a little oil. Add in the whole cumin and fennel seed and toast until just fragrant. Add in the onion-garlic-ginger paste and cook 1-2 minutes. Add in the curry powder and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes, being careful not to scorch any of the spices.

Grind your toasted coconut in a spice grinder and add to the pot. Add in the tomatoes and clam juice and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the ground coconut is fully hydrated.

Meanwhile, rinse your lentils in several changes of cool water until the water runs clear. Cook for 10 minutes in boiling water with 2 bay leaves. Remove from heat and add 1 t kosher salt to the water and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain and add the lentils to your soup pot along with your coconut milk and yoghurt, if using.

Add your carrots and cook for about 12 minutes. Then add the peppers and pea pods and crab. Cook until the vegetables are until just barely tender and still have crunch. Remove the pot from the heat and add in the cilantro and scallions and 1 t or more of the garam masala. Serve with lemon/lime wedges and top with extra toasted coconut if desired.

Serves 6

Beef Paprikash

• 1 lb stewing beef cut into 1″ cubes
• 3 medium yellow onions, sliced (end to end)
• 2-3 large red bell peppers OR any assortment of sweet and spicy peppers, thickly sliced. I used 1 sweet red bell pepper, 3 red mexi-bell chillies, 2 red cubanelles chillies and a red anaheim chilli which together provided mild to moderate heat. Add more chillies or red pepper flakes if you like it hotter.
• 12 oz small mushrooms, halved or quartered if large
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 1/2 t very good quality sweet Hungarian or Spanish paprika, divided
• 2 1/2 t very good quality smoked Hungarian or Spanish paprika. divided
• 3/4 t crushed (but not ground) whole caraway seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 2-3 T all purpose flour, divided
• 4 C beef broth
• 1/3 C red wine
• 3 T tomato paste
• 1 quart jarred tomatoes
• 1/2 C full-fat sour cream at room temperature
• fresh dill

Toss the beef with 1 1/2 T of flour and 1/2 t each of sweet and smoked paprika. Brown in a large cast iron pot/dutch oven in 2 batches to prevent overcrowding. Remove and deglaze the pot with some of the red wine, adding the liquid to the set-aside beef. Sauté the onions until well browned and then add in the garlic, mushrooms, peppers/chillies and caraway seeds. Cook on medium-high until the mushrooms and peppers start to soften and brown a bit. Remove and set aside. Deglaze with the rest of the red wine and add in the tomato paste and paprika. Cook until the tomato paste thickens up significantly and begins to caramelise and darken. Add in the tomatoes, beef broth and reserved veggies, beef and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook at least an hour or until the beef is very tender. Thicken the sauce with 1-2 T of flour mixed with cold water and then added slowly to the liquid, adding more flour if needed to thicken the sauce. Cook until thickened and then remove from the heat. Whisk in the sour cream. Serve with buttered spätzle or other egg noodles and garnish with fresh dill.

Asparagus Soup

5 spring onions (aka welsh onions) with large white bulbs about the size of a golf ball (not green onions/scallions with their tiny bulbs)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium potato, diced very finely
2 lbs asparagus
1 small bunch Italian parsley, tied up with kitchen twine
8 c water or chicken stock
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C whole milk or evaporated milk
juice of 1 small lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Salted boiling water, for blanching
ice water bath

Sauté the onion, garlic and potato until softened. Prepare the asparagus by snapping off the woody ends and reserving for the stock. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and blanch the top part (non-woody) of the asparagus spears for 3-4 minutes, afterwards plunging immediately into an ice water bath to halt cooking.

Add water or broth to the soup pot as well as the woody asparagus ends and the twined-up parsley. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook on low for about 45 minutes. The liquid should have reduced by about 1/3. Remove the woody asparagus ends and parsley and discard. Add in blanched spears which have been cut into small pieces. Cook until the asparagus is softened and then remove the soup from the heat. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes at which point purée in a blender in batches, adding the sour cream to one of the batches. Add all the soup back into the pot along with the evaporated milk, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm on the lowest setting, being careful not to let it boil or get too hot lest the acid in the lemon juice curdle the cream/milk. If desired, you may also pass the puréed soup through a sieve before returning to the pot and adding the lemon juice, in order to filter out any bits of asparagus stem, onion or potato skin that didn’t blend.

Serve alongside buttered freshly baked bread.

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Goat Cheese

1 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 T fresh thyme leaves
2 large heads of cauliflower
1 – 1 1/2 C dry white wine
8 C chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 C whole yoghurt
6 oz goat cheese
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Cut the cauliflower into florets, wash, and place in a roasting pan. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Roast on 400F or under the broiler until browned, fragrant, and quite soft.

Meanwhile sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil and a little butter, seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pick the thyme leaves from their stems and chop finely. Add to the onion and garlic, cook for about a minute and then add in the wine. Cook the wine down until reduced by 1/2 – 2/3, and then add in the stock. Once the cauliflower is quite soft, and well browned, add it to the soup and cook for a few minutes longer – make sure to check the level of salt. Depending on what sort of stock you use, the amount of salt you will need to add will vary greatly. I use unsalted chicken/vegetable stock.

Next ladle the soup into your blender and blend until very smooth, adding in the yoghurt and goat cheese to one of the batches. Once you’ve blended all the soup, return in to the soup pot to heat back up. Check one final time for seasoning, and then serve. You could garnish this with some finely chopped thyme and a slight drizzle of your best tasting extra virgin olive oil.

Turkey Parsnip Barley Stew

1 turkey (or chicken) carcass with some meat still on it; more meat
1 celeriac (also called celery root), scrubbed well and quartered
bay leaves
bouquet garni of parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage/left-over herb stems^*
2 large carrots, snapped in half
1/2 onion, skin on

left-over gravy and/or bouillon
3 medium carrots
6 large parsnips
3 medium turnips
1 medium onion
2 celery stalks
1 to 1 1/2 C whole barley. Also great is a mixture of brown and wild rice.
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley^*
several sprigs of fresh thyme^*
several sprigs of fresh rosemary^*
fresh ground pepper
1 c dry white wine

After Thanksgiving is done, most have a turkey carcass and/or some left over meat, leg bones, etc. I freeze this all until I’m going to make this stew.

Put the carcass in a large stock put and fill with *cold* water – this allows the flavour to go into the broth – don’t use hot water. Also add in the bay leaves, carrots, onion, celeriac, and bouquet garni. Let it warm up slowly on low and bring to a simmer on medium-low for several hours until the meat is about to come off the bones. Use a spider to remove the vegetables, meat and bones, picking out the meat and putting into a bowl to add back to the broth later. Strain the broth through fine cheesecloth and rinse out your soup pot.

Peel and chop the parsnips, turnips, and carrots into about 1/2″ chunks.  Dice the onion and celery and sauté in the cleaned out soup pot in a little butter/olive oil until softened. Add in a couple of tablespoons of turkey bouillon (which is hard to find) I use “Better than Bouillon” brand, which is quite good.  Also add in a the Chardonnay or other dry white wine and reduce until almost evaporated. Add in the stock, any left-over gravy, and the rest of the veggies.  Apart from any turkey bullion you add, don’t add too much salt as you want this to cook down quite a bit more before you serve it, and you don’t want it to become too salty. You can always salt it later if it isn’t seasoned enough.  Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Chop half of the parsley, and about 3/4 of the thyme and rosemary and add to the broth with the vegetables. Add in the barley/rice and simmer on medium with the lid off so you concentrate the flavours a little more. It will look like soup at this point, but as the barley cooks it will absorb a lot of the liquid, so don’t worry about it. Add the meat back in about 30 minutes before ready to serve.

Right before I serve it, I finely chop the rest of the herbs and add them to the stew, or put them in little bowls for to place on the table. Fresh rosemary is amazing, and goes really with the parsnips in this stew.

From first adding the water to the pot, this should take about 5-6 hours until it is ready – so for supper you should start this about 12.00.

^*When I’ve used the leaves from fresh herbs, I put the stems in a ziploc bag and place in the freezer until the next time I’m going to make stew or soup, and use them to flavour the stock, rather then letting them go to waste. I do the same with bits and pieces of poultry like the wing tips, backs/spines etc.

Roasted Squash Purée

1 medium-large squash or 2 small (butternut, acorn, etc)

2 1/2 t fresh thyme leaves
1 t fresh rosemary needles
3 garlic cloves
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds and pulp, and place in a small roasting pan. Finely chop the thyme and rosemary, mince the garlic, and place into a small bowl. Season well with salt and pepper. Add in enough olive oil to make a thick paste. Spread over the squash, and roast at 400℉ for 45 minutes until the squash is very soft.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

With a large metal spoon, remove the squash flesh from the rind and mash in a bowl with a potato/vegetable masher.

This is a very versatile basic recipe which can be made into or incorporated into a variety of other dishes.

• Eaten on its own as a side dish, garnished perhaps with a little pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano cheese and fresh herbs
• Used as a filling for ravioli
• As the base for a pasta sauce, if added to a large pan, heated up, diluted with either vegetable/chicken stock or milk/cream and a little starchy pasta water, and then adding in long pasta like linguine or fettuccine
• Used to make into a soup if you add in some stock and perhaps a little cream and use a wand blender to blend until smooth.

Roasted Mushroom Cream Soup

1 1/2 lbs cremini (baby portobello) mushrooms
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb oyster mushrooms
various other mushrooms of your choice, if desired
1 1/2 – 2 large yellow onions
6 cloves garlic
15 stems thyme, leaves stripped off (about 2.5 T)
2 cups dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay)
3-4 C vegetable or chicken broth
1 1/2 – 2 C heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Rub the dirt off the mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Cut the shiitakes in half or quarters, depending the size. Toss all the mushrooms with a little olive oil and kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and roast in the oven on about 425 F for 10-15 minutes or so. You really want them to caramelise and cook down a bit to release their juices.

Meanwhile, dice an onion and mince the garlic. Sauté in olive oil and butter adding a little kosher salt so that they sweat and release their juices (and don’t burn). Also add in the fresh ground pepper. Add in the mushrooms and minced thyme leaves and cook down for about 10 minutes longer.

Add in the wine and reduce by at least 3/4. Then add in the vegetable (or chicken stock) and simmer for until reduced by half again. I try to find a vegetable broth that doesn’t have a lot of tomato or carrot in it because they tend to overwhelm and conflict with the dish. I like one that is mostly onion and celery flavoured. I also like to de-glaze my mushroom roasting pan with a little wine or stock and add in this delicious liquid to my soup.

Blend this entire mixture until smooth in a blender or with an immersion blender – by now it will be pretty thick. Return to the pot and add in the cream. Turn to low and leave for a couple minutes then serve.

This can be garnished with toasted walnuts, chopped thyme and/or chopped parsley.

One could easily omit the cream and not cook the stock down too much to make this a vegan recipe.

Ham and Lima Bean Soup

Ham bones (with meat on them – leftover from a bone-in ham roast)
1 C lima beans (soaked overnight)
3 medium carrots
2 large parsnips
1/2 C apple cider (or apple juice)
1/4 C dry white wine
1 T fresh thyme leaves (4-5 large sprigs)
1/2 T fresh marjoram leaves (2 large sprigs)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the ham bones & ham in 1.5 – 2 quarts cold water. This allows the flavour of the ham to go into the broth, which wouldn’t happen if you started with warm or hot water. Simmer on medium-low for an hour or two until the meat has mostly come off the bones. Now add in the carrots and parsnip which you have cut into 1/4 inch slices on a bias. Also add in the thyme and marjoram. You can either strip the leaves off, or just put the herbs in, stems and all. While the soup simmers, the leaves will come off the stems and you can take them out when you’re ready to serve it. At this time, also add in the pre-soaked beans, cider and wine, as well as the ground pepper. Simmer all ingredients together for at least an hour, until the vegetables are tender, and have released their flavour into the broth, the herbs have mingled with the other ingredients, and the beans are soft.

Remove the bones, stripping any meat off of them, and fish out any gristle or other connective tissue that has made its way into the soup from the bones. Because you’ve used bones to flavour this soup, it may get somewhat gelatinous when cold, but this isn’t because of the fat content, but the gelatin which has been extracted from the bones. Trust me, it will taste amazing, and will be totally liquid when warm or hot.

The cider gives a subtle sweetness and along with the wine, brings nice background body to the broth. The sweetness of the carrots and parsnips balance well against the saltiness of the ham. I don’t add any salt to this, but depending on the saltiness of your ham, and your personal tastes, you might want to lightly salt it right before serving. But remember that the end product will be saltier than earlier in the cooking as more and more salt gets extracted from the ham and into the broth and as the broth cooks down.