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Russian Vegetable Soup with Bean Bacon Salad

Saturday was beautiful for most of the day. I rode my bike to Hideaway Bakery for a 3-mile walk and then a mid-morning snack with some of my church ladies. It was sunny but cold in the shade. Then I rode my bike to the farmers’ market. After I purchased my veggies I dropped in on EL at her jewelry booth. Back at home I puttered around until it was time to make beet soup for dinner.

Russian Vegetable Soup
Adapted from Healthy Cooking for Two or Just You by Frances Price
Serves 4

“Here’s a low-rent, meatless borscht for hard times in the USA. It will make you brave at very little cost. Serve this peasant soup with a spoonful of light sour cream or yogurt and a slice of coarse rye or pumpernickel bread.”

I love Frances Price. She has such a way with words, and with recipes. Using fresh beets makes this soup a little less “low rent,” a little more fussy, but worth it. And I like being able to use the beet stems and greens along with the beets.

1/2 an onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 bunch beets (4 or 5 smallish) about 2 cups diced
1 cup diced new potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 t caraway seeds
1 t dried dill weed
1 T brown sugar or honey
2 T cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
To serve: plain yogurt or sour cream

Note: if you don’t have fresh beets, use a 16 oz can of sliced or diced beets, not pickled. Use 1/2 cup diced celery instead of the stems, and 2 cups shredded cabbage instead of the beet greens. Reduce the water to 3 cups, since the canned beets are in liquid. Don’t add any salt until the end, when you’ve tasted the soup.

Saute the onions in olive oil in a large saucepan. While they are cooking, prep your veggies. Trim the stems and leaves off of the beets, and reserve them in a big bowl of water. If the beets are young you don’t need to peel them, I just use the peeler to scrape off any hairlike roots or blemished bits near the stems. Dice the beets. Wash the greens, and chop the stems and leaves, keeping them in separate bowls.

Once the onions are soft, add the tomato sauce, carrots, potatoes, and beets, with the chopped beet stems, caraway, and dill, plus 4 cups water and 1 t salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the beet greens, sugar or honey, and vinegar. Bring the soup back to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the greens and vegetables are tender. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, topped with yogurt or sour cream.

Bean Bacon Salad

My friend JI served this salad to me during a girls’ night during our single days (we each got married a few months apart and were in each other’s weddings.) I think salad is my favorite way to eat bacon. It’s especially good with hearty greens.

Spinach or mixed greens
White beans (cannellini or Great Northern)
Chopped red bell pepper
Chopped red onion
Bacon: cooked, drained, and crumbled (1 slice per person)
Chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Dressing (2 servings)
1 T olive oil
1 T cider vinegar
1 T maple syrup
1 t dijon mustard
1/4 t salt
Freshly ground pepper

Combine the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the onions, bell pepper, and beans, and stir. Let it marinate while you prep the other ingredients. Place a bed of greens on each plate. Spoon the dressing and vegetable mixture over the greens, and sprinkle nuts and bacon on top.

Comfort Casserole

Growing up in a family of 7 kids, we ate a lot of casserole. This was one of my all-time favorites. Mmmm… comfort food.

Tamale Pie
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, 1970’s edition

1 lb ground beef
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1/2 a medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 a large bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t brown sugar
3 t chili powder
ground black pepper
1 15 oz can black beans
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup sliced black olives
4 oz cheddar cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup corn meal
1/2 t salt
1 T butter

Grease a 9×13 baking pan and preheat the oven to 375°

Brown the ground beef and drain the fat. Return it to the pan and stir in the tomato sauce, onion, bell pepper, garlic, sugar, chili powder and pepper. Stir well to combine and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add the beans, corn, and olives, and cook 5 more minutes. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Meanwhile, whisk the cornmeal and salt into 2 cups cold water in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over medium until the mixture is thickened. Add the butter and stir until melted.

Spread the cornmeal mixture evenly over the beef mixture in the pan. Bake for 40 minutes, let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Remember those preserved lemons I made? This is one of the recipes I use them in. This time I finally arrived at a point where I am comfortable with the results of this recipe. I have a confession to make: I hate eating bone-in chicken. I love how it tastes, but I hate having to pick it apart and getting my fingers all messy. It only makes it worse if there are little bits of onion and couscous mixed into the situation. This is my tidy version. Probably not very authentic as tagines go (a Moroccan specialty) but delicious nonetheless.

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Israeli Couscous; Moroccan Orange Salad

Adapted from Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, by Claudia Rodin
Serves 3-4

2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1-inch chunk fresh ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
1 T honey
1 t salt
generous pinch saffron threads, crushed
1/2 a preserved lemon, rinsed and chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup Israeli couscous

Heat 1 T olive oil in a large heavy skillet with a lid. Saute the onion until softened and golden-brown. Stir in the ginger and garlic, and cook and stir for a minute or two. Remove the onion mixture and set it aside. Add 1 T olive oil to the pan and place the chicken pieces in a single layer, skinned side up. Fry them until browned, then flip and fry until the other side is browned. (They always stick dreadfully for me, so that’s why I do the smooth side second and leave them there for the next step.) Add the onion mixture back into the pan, around the edges of the chicken. Add the chopped preserved lemon, scattered over the chicken. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with salt and saffron, and then pour over the wine and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked thru. Take the chicken pieces out with tongs and set them aside, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover with foil. Add 3/4 cup of water to the liquid remaining in the pan, and raise the heat to bring it to a boil. Stir in the couscous. Simmer for 10 minutes, checking after 5 to make sure there is enough liquid, adding a little more water if the couscous is sticking to the pan. The couscous is done when it is tender but still a bit chewy. Serve the couscous alongside the chicken, with salad – I recommend Moroccan Orange Salad.

Today we went to a Chinese New Year party. No one there was remotely Chinese but we got to eat rice balls, wontons, and some other delicious pan-Asian treats. I brought my Cabbage Salad. I got the recipe originally from CM, one of the ladies from my Bible study, and now I bring it to most holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now Chinese New Year. It’s a crowd-pleaser.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
2-3 green onions, sliced
2 T sesame seeds
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/4 c salad oil
3 T rice vinegar
1 1/2 T sugar
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
Optional: crispy chow mein noodles
Also optional: 1 c cooked shredded chicken

In a dry skillet, toast first the sesame seeds and then the almonds. Whisk the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Combine with the salad ingredients and refrigerate before serving. (If using crispy noodles, sprinkle them on top just before serving.)

Yesterday I decided to take another stab at making naan, the chewy flatbread of Indian restaurant fame. I had bookmarked a few recipes over the last year or so, and I pulled those up. This one seemed very detailed, it called for active dry yeast which is what I had on hand, and it was originally published in a magazine so I figured it was legit, so I decided to go for it. One main difference between other bread recipes I’d baked was the large amount of liquid it called for – 3 cups, and 6 cups flour.

9 cups of flour later, I still wasn’t able to actually knead the dough. I decided to just stir it like heck and hope it would actually rise, since I’d only used part of a yeast packet. I let it sit in the bowl until I got back from my women’s bible study. Yes, it did rise – I put it into the fridge where it continued to rise. By the time I was ready to bake it was level with the top of the bowl. I hoped the results would at least be edible and that huge amount of dough wouldn’t go to waste.

I don’t have a pizza stone, but my camp griddle rocks as a baking sheet so I preheated it in the oven to 500.° Whoo-hoo!

The first batch last night came out delicious – the top was basically perfect, bubbly and chewy with a few crispy spots. The bottom was pretty hard, though – I figured that might be due to the amount of flour I used to keep the dough from sticking to everything in sight. (I spent a long time cleaning the kitchen after my near-dough-disaster.)

I froze the extra dough and have enough for 4 more meals! Upon reflection, I’m fairly certain I mismeasured the water I used in the recipe – by 1/2 a cup. So I probably won’t have to add 3 extra cups of flour next time! I think the goal here is to move beyond batter but not all the way to kneadable.

Tonight I tried another batch. Rolling the dough out on parchment paper didn’t work – still too sticky. I put the dough directly onto the (not hot) camp griddle and moved the oven rack from the 2nd lowest to exact middle. This time, the top was crispy and the bottom was chewy. Getting closer! My next move will be to put the dough directly on the pan, rolled thin, no floured surfaces, and use the lower oven rack. We shall see how it works out.

Because I was busy with the naan production, I made a simple dal for dinner rather than an elaborate curry. With rice, lentils are a complete protein and a great source of fiber. Best of all, after sitting in the fridge overnight, the dal tastes even better the second day!

Basic Dal
Adapted from Indian Food Kitchen

2 T butter or oil
1 t cumin seeds
1/2 an onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch chunk fresh ginger root, minced
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 t cayenne or to taste
1 t salt
1 cup red lentils, washed and drained
chopped cilantro, to garnish (optional)

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. Add the chopped onions, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are golden. Stir in the garlic, ginger, and spices. Cook and stir for a moment or two. Add the lentils and 4 cups water.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Serve garnished with cilantro, and serve with one or all of the following:

Naan (see above)

Spiced rice: add 3 whole cloves and 5 cardamom pods to 1 cup white basmati rice and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice and remove the spice pods before serving.

Roasted vegetables: Separate a small head of cauliflower and a small head of broccoli into florets. Toss in a large bowl with 1 T vegetable oil, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer in a baking pan or sheet and roast in a 375° oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until tender and browned.