cooksimple.com

You will all notice I’ve been absent and not posting much. I have been cooking but haven’t had the time to update the site will full posts (pictures, recipes, etc.). To make up for this I thought I’d share several of the best new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months. In no particular order:

Puree of Chickpea Soup – from the NY Times

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin – from Smitten Kitchen

Whole Wheat Biscotti – I made these into lemon whole wheat biscotti by adding some lemon juice and lots of lemon rind

Granola Bars – from Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – Yummy in a latté. I put the recipe & latté directions in a new post.

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika – A great veggie side dish. I posted the recipe in a new post.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette – from the Joy of Cooking. Quite possibly the best dressing recipe! It is a basic vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar and crumbled blue cheese. I’ll post the recipe once I get home and have access to the book

So what do you do when you’ve got a cold and you just got a HUGE delivery of greens in your farm share? How about cabbage soup? What a great fushion of good, old fashioned comfort food and fresh, healthy veggies. I basically made a quick and easy version of Vietnamese cabbage soup, honing in on the “simple” part of cooksimple.

Ingredients

• 32 oz. Free-range chicken broth (if you like it brothier, use two)
• 1 head Napa cabbage
• 12 medium crimini mushrooms
• Salt, to taste
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1/4 bunch cilantro
• 1 – 2 limes, quartered (optional)

Directions

Slice the mushrooms and throw in a stock pot. Cut off the end of the cabbage and then thinly slice cross-wise (if you like thicker chunks, just slice it thicker). Pour the chicken broth on top, stir, cover the pot, and turn on medium high heat.

While the soup is cooking, slice the scallions and chop the cilantro. Add salt to the soup and taste. Add more if needed.

When the cabbage has wilted (it will shrink to half the original size) and is tender, the soup is done. Pour into a large bowl and sprinkle with scallions and cilantro. If you like a little tartness, squeeze a little lime over it.

If you need a little more substance, serve the whole thing over some jasmine or brown rice.

This soup is very quick to put together – 20 to 30 minutes total. You can make the dumplings and prepare the garnishes while the soup simmers. I highly recommend taking the time to make the dumplings and add the garnishes… they really make the soup special.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp crushed garlic (or minced)
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Dumplings

• 1/3 cup masa harina
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp olive oil

Garnishes

• chopped fresh cilantro
• fresh lime juice
• crumbled queso fresco

Directions

Heat oil in your soup pot over medium-high heat. Sauté onion 5-7 minutes or until soft. Add chili powder and garlic, sauté for 30 more seconds. Add broth, spices, pinto beans and tomatoes, bring to a boil, and then cover, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

To make dumplings, combine masa harina and salt. Add hot water and oil, stir until you have a soft, somewhat dry dough. Add more water, if needed, so the dough sticks together. Divide dough into little balls- try to make 24 if possible. The smaller the dumplings, the better. Add dumplings to soup and cook uncovered for 3 minutes until dumplings float. Stir in cilantro and juice. Ladle into bowls and top with queso fresco.

Serves: 4