Roasted carrot soup with dukkah spice and yogurt

Believe it or not, tomorrow is the first day of spring. If you live in the Boston area, then you probably know better than to get too excited about that fact. Although this week last year brought us temperatures in the 70's and trees blooming with flowers, this year brought us snow and freezing rain. Winter is certainly not over, and as anyone around here will tell you, it's not unheard of to get snow well into April. With the weather being so cold and wet, I thought it would be appropriate to post about soup (and I'm not the only blogger who felt this way). This carrot soup recipe came from Bon Appetit - the base soup is simple, just carrots and broth, but the carrots are roasted to give it extra depth of flavor. The toppings are what really make the soup special though. The yogurt adds some nice acidity, and the dukkah spice (an Egyptian spice and nut blend) gives the soup complexity. The soup is thick and filling and will definitely keep you warm while you wait for spring to arrive!

Stir fried noodles with shrimp, green beans, and carrots

I am so excited about this recipe. This is the first time that I've been able to make a stir fry that actually tasted like something from our favorite Thai spot. Now, I have no idea if our local Thai place makes authentic food or not - I just know that it is tasty. My favorite thing to order from there is the drunken noodles - spicy stir fried noodles with veggies and shrimp. Contrary to what you might expect, there's no alcohol in drunken noodles - one theory about the name is that the noodles are so spicy that you need to drink beer to cool down. Anyway, a couple weeks ago I was craving drunken noodles and decided to see if I could make a decent version at home. I did some recipe research, and used this one as a starting point. The result wasn't quite what I wanted so I made some modifications and came up with the version that I'm sharing here, which is the perfect blend of sweet, salty, and spicy. It came out just as I had hoped and I love that I can make a homemade version of my favorite takeout dish. Now I just have to figure out how to make Andrew's favorite fried rice...

White bean and Swiss chard pot pies

Smitten Kitchen is my very favorite food blog, and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for many, many months. SK's recipes fit in well with my style of cooking, and I have always found the recipes to be reliable and very delicious - they're the kind of recipes that I'm comfortable cooking for guests without testing in advance. I finally got a copy of the cookbook a few weeks ago, and it is a delight. I know I'll be cooking out of this book for years to come. This pot pie recipe is the first one I tried from the book (it is also on the blog). These pot pies take some time to make, but it is worth it - this is some seriously tasty vegetarian comfort food. The pastry is tender and incredibly flaky and the filling is flavorful and hearty. Given the time it takes to make these and the amount of butter in each serving, I'd say this is a once-in-a-while kind of recipe, but it is definitely worth trying. It's the perfect meal for a snowy weekend day like today.

p.s. Sorry there's no picture of the filling - once we dug in, we were too busy eating to think about taking a photo!

Moroccan carrot panini with goat cheese and olive tapenade

One of my favorite things about The Gourmet Cookbook is that it is so huge that I can count on finding something completely new every time I flip through it. And of course, the recipes are reliably awesome. I found this one when I was idly flipping through the salad and sandwich sections to get some new ideas and inspiration. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it asap. The combination of carrots marinated in Moroccan spices, goat cheese, and green olive spread sounded pretty irresistible to me.

I loved this panini. It was so creative - I never would have thought to use carrots for the bulk of a sandwich filling - and it was filling, yet light. Not to mention packed with flavor. It does take some work to prep all the components, but it is totally worth it. I'm definitely going to keep this recipe in mind to serve when I have guests over for lunch.

p.s. After this post, I'll be taking a couple weeks off from blogging, because Andrew and I are heading to Turkey for a long-awaited vacation! I am so excited to see the sights, spend time at the beach, and of course, eat plenty of amazing food! Perhaps I'll have some Turkish recipes for you when I return...

Brown rice cakes

Have you guys caught on to the fact that I love brown rice? I don't eat it just because it's healthy - I eat it because flavor and texture-wise, I really prefer it over white rice. Even as a youngster, I'd be thrilled when my mom made brown rice. My sister though....not so thrilled. Her palette was not as refined as mine (I kid, I kid). So you can imagine how proud I was to hear that my 11-month-old nephew ate brown rice at dinner tonight! He obviously has very good taste.

Anyway, I could go on for a while about my nephew's superior qualities, but I'll get back on track here and tell you about this recipe. The inspiration for these cakes came from these brown rice balls on 101cookbooks and a recipe for savory rice cakes in Gourmet Today. I knew I wanted to go with an Asian flavor profile, and ended up mixing the rice with black sesame seeds, green onions, carrots, and ginger. After a quick pan fry, the cakes get wonderfully crispy on the outside, and they make a nice light meal with some eggs on the side. I'm pretty excited about this new way to use my beloved brown rice, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with more variations on this idea.

Roasted carrots with browned butter and thyme

Sometimes I can't really decide whether something I've made is too simple to count as a real recipe. For example, the side dishes I cook for normal dinners are often just sauteed or roasted veggies with some salt and pepper, and the breakfast I eat most days is yogurt with fruit and granola. In my opinion, even though dishes like those are consumed often in my house, they aren't really worth blogging about. So when does a dish cross the line and become interesting enough to tell people about? I don't think there's a single right answer to this that applies to every blog - it really depends on the style of the blog and the target audience. I'm personally still trying to figure out my thoughts on this question and would love to hear your opinions!

I was originally unsure whether this carrot dish was blog-worthy. Carrots and thyme is not an original flavor combination, but it is a pairing that I honestly think is transcendent. There's something about thyme that elevates roasted carrots to a whole new level. The dish would be pretty good without the browned butter, but the butter makes it a bit more special, worthy of serving at a holiday dinner. So once I thought about how much I like this simple side dish, it seemed clear that I should share it with you and my decision was made!

Macaroni and cheese with silken tofu, carrots, and broccoli

Have you ever tried silken tofu? I first learned about it from Mark Bittman, who used it in a pudding recipe for the New York Times. Unlike the tofu that you may be more familiar with, silken tofu has a soft, smooth texture like custard and can be used as a dairy substitute. Bittman's recipe made me very curious to try it, but I'm not a huge fan of pudding, so I never got around to it. Then recently, Emily of A Cambridge Story used it to make a pasta casserole with alfredo sauce. When I saw her recipe, I knew that I wanted to do something similar to create a healthier version of mac 'n cheese (maybe healthified mac 'n cheese will become a whole category on this blog. I've already got this one). The sauce in this recipe is made of silken tofu, carrots, garlic and some smoked Gouda cheese. That's it. No butter, no milk, no cream. The tofu really gives it a velvety smooth texture that just feels creamy, and the carrots give it some good cheesy color. The smoked Gouda adds tons of flavor - Andrew even thought there was bacon in this dish. I have to admit that I get a big kick out of sneaky uses for vegetables and healthy ingredients, so I really had fun with this =).

Do you have any tricks for sneaking vegetables or other healthy ingredients into recipes?

(Do you like the new dishes that I got for Christmas? They are technically French onion soup bowls but I think they were perfect for this recipe!)

Thai cabbage salad

Are you looking for another healthy recipe to help you recover from Thanksgiving overindulgences? Or do you want to prepare your waistline for an onslaught of Christmas cookies? Or maybe you just like food that tastes good? Whatever the case may be, this is a recipe you should try. It's a Thai salad packed with colorful crisp vegetables, fresh herbs, and your choice of protein, all tossed with a sweet and sour dressing. I had tagged this recipe last year in Food & Wine, and adapted it quite a lot to create this version. I kept the dressing similar but changed pretty much all the main ingredients. I was really happy with the final version - the flavors blend beautifully and this dish makes a wonderful light meal.

What kinds of fall/winter salads are you making?

Soba noodles with mushroom-ginger broth, vegetables, and tofu

I ate a lot of pie yesterday. Like, really, a lot. And it was delicious. But as much as I enjoyed it yesterday, I definitely did not feel like eating pie today. Good thing we don't have any leftovers around! (that would be because, um, I ate the slice we brought home last night). I don't know about you, but on the day after Thanksgiving, I like to eat light and healthy food. Plus to be honest, I like vegetables better than turkey anyway.

I was craving Asian food today, and found this recipe while I was looking through magazine recipes I have tagged in the past. It's got soba noodles, tofu, and seasonal vegetables (cabbage, carrots, sweet potatoes) topped off with a warm and comforting broth that is made with ginger, shiitake mushrooms, cilantro, and kombu (a type of seaweed). It is packed with good-for-you ingredients and there is zero added fat. It tastes good and will make you feel good too. And with a bowl of this for dinner, you definitely deserve to have some pie for dessert!

What do you feel like eating the day after Thanksgiving? Do you go right for the leftover turkey, or take a break with something different?

Delicata squash stuffed with wild rice

This freakishly warm weather is awesome, but confusing. I mean, yesterday I was wearing my winter peacoat, and today I wore a tank top. It feels like summer, but the leaves are turning colors. And I'm posting about winter squash when it feels like we should be eating corn and tomatoes. But I guess even if the temperature says otherwise, it's still fall.

This is the first winter squash dish I've cooked this season. I'd been seeing recipes for stuffed squash pop up on some other blogs, and was inspired to create my own take on it. I love the combination of wild rice and mushrooms in a vegetable stuffing, so I went with that and flavored it with the "Scarborough Fair" herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. This recipe takes a while to make, as both the squash and rice take some time to get fully tender, but it is worth it. It's flavorful and satisfying, with a nice mix of textures. I think it would make a great vegetarian addition to a Thanksgiving table.

How have you been enjoying these unexpectedly warm days?

Cottage pie

I don't usually post meat-based dishes on this blog, but now that fall has arrived and temperatures are starting to drop, a hearty, comforting meat-and-potatoes recipe seemed appropriate. Our freezer is stuffed with meat from our CSA and I've really enjoyed trying out new recipes for the various cuts of meat that we receive. We recently got some lamb sausage, which I decided to use for this cottage pie, adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Hachis Parmentier recipe in Around My French Table. While the original recipe uses beef stew meat and pork sausage, I used ground beef and lamb sausage. This is comfort food at its best - warm, tasty, and filling. I especially enjoyed the thin layer of cheese that topped the mashed potatoes, which formed a nice crust as the pie baked. Cooking and eating this cottage pie today has made me finally accept that fall is here for real, and I'm ready to enjoy the beauty of the season and the foods that go with it!

What is your favorite comfort food for when the weather turns cold?

Salmon fillet en papillote with julienne vegetables

I got a beautiful piece of wild salmon at the farmers' market yesterday along with my usual pile of vegetables. The ingredients were perfect for this Alton Brown recipe that I've made before and really like. It's really simple - all the ingredients are cooked "en papillote", which means cooked in a packet of parchment paper - and all you have to do is microwave the packets for 4 minutes, which reliably results in a perfectly cooked piece of fish. And with all the vegetables, the recipe gives you a complete (light) meal. I tweaked the recipe a bit based on the ingredients I had around - sugar snap peas instead of snow peaks, no leeks, etc. It's really pretty hard to mess this one up, so feel free to try some variations on the veggies or spices - just stick with crunchy vegetables.

Maple-soy root vegetable stir fry

This is such a great way to cook root veggies - the sweet/salty glaze complements the starchy vegetables really well. This recipe is by David Chang (of the Momofuku restaurants), and I came across it in this month's awesome issue of Food & Wine. Before seeing this recipe, I had never really considered cooking potatoes with Asian flavors, but it tasted so good that now it seems like a completely obvious pairing. I'm curious about other sauces that would work well with these vegetables - maybe soy with hoisin and ginger, or something with garlic and Sriracha...I'm glad to have some new ideas to help me get through this endless root vegetable season!

Maple-soy root vegetable stir fry
Adapted from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine
Serves 4

The original recipe uses Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips in addition to potatoes and carrots. Feel free to use whatever mix of starchy root veggies you have on hand.

1 pound small potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 large carrots, cut into 3/4-inch slices (if your carrots are thick, you may want to halve or quarter the slices)
2 tbs canola oil
2 tbs pure maple syrup
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tbs toasted sesame seeds
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Heat canola oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and cook until lightly browned, tossing occasionally, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until vegetable are tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove skillet from oven and place on stovetop over medium heat. Add maple syrup and soy sauce and cook until sauce is syrupy and vegetables are glazed, stirring often, about 5-8 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, stir in sesame oil, sesame seeds, and scallions, and serve.

Slow cooker beef stew

I finally got a chance to use the slow cooker that Andrew and I got as a wedding present. This beef stew simmered in the crockpot for several hours yesterday, and made a nice winter dinner. I hope to use the slow cooker a lot more in the upcoming cold months - I know it's a great way to cook meat, but I'm also interested in using it for vegetarian meals. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

This is a good, basic beef stew recipe, and you can modify it to your liking. Andrew suggested using red wine in place of some of the broth, which I think would add some great flavor - I'll try it next time I make the stew and will update this page when I do. Mushrooms might be another good addition, and I'm sure that there are other herb combinations that would work well here too.

Slow cooker beef stew
Adapted from this recipe
Serves 6

1 1/4 pounds cubed beef stew meat (I cut up a Delmonico and a sirloin steak)
1 tbs olive oil
4 cups beef broth
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 large carrots (mine were 1 1/4 lb total)
4 stalks celery (I omitted this because I didn't have celery around, but I would definitely add it next time)
4 medium potatoes (mine were 1 lb 5 oz total)
1 large onion
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp cold water
Salt
Chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

Special equipment: slow cooker

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy saucepan. Add beef and cook until meat is browned, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer beef and any accumulated juices to crockpot. Add broth, rosemary, dried parsley, and pepper. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours.

Peel carrots and cut carrots and celery into 1-inch pieces. Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes, and chop onion. After meat has cooked for 2 1/2 hours, add vegetables to crockpot. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tsp cold water, and stir mixture into stew. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours more.

Add salt to taste, and garnish stew with chopped fresh parsley.

Pasta with cauliflower and walnut pesto

This post is the first of my two entries for this week's Fall Fest, which features brassicas. Brassicas are a category of vegetable that includes cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage, to name a few. Even for a vegetable lover such as myself, it's not exactly the most exciting group...I'll admit that it took me a while to get inspired for this one. But after flipping through several cookbooks, I found this cauliflower pasta recipe, which is a keeper, as well as a few other brassica recipes that I'm looking forward to trying.

The pesto in this dish is made with cilantro, parsley, garlic, and walnuts. It's got a really interesting flavor, much more subtle than I expected. I thought it was a great match for the cauliflower and other vegetables. The recipe calls for fresh bell peppers, but they're no longer in season here, so I had to improvise. I'm determined to continue eating as much local produce as possible through the colder months, so I substituted some roasted red peppers (frozen from the summer) and a carrot. We also stirred in some chickpeas for added protein, but I forgot to add them before Andrew took pictures. I really liked the final dish with these additions - it's a satisfying single-bowl meal, and is good served warm or cold.

Kohlrabi/carrot/radish salad

This week's Fall Fest theme is root veggies, and it made me remember a recipe that has been sitting in my drafts for a while. It's a light salad of crunchy, julienned vegetables with a nice Asian-ish dressing. I found the original recipe - a kohlrabi and carrot version - on Orangette. If you haven't tried kohlrabi, this recipe is a good way to start. The taste of kohlrabi is somewhere in the middle of cabbage and broccoli stems, but sweeter. (I don't think kohlrabi is technically a root, but it looks like one, so I figured it fit the theme well enough...). I've also made this salad with radishes in place of the kohlrabi - milder radishes work well, and daikon is especially good. I think any combination of kohlrabi, radishes, and carrots is great here. This salad is really refreshing and is a nice accompaniment to richer dishes. I especially like the flavor the fennel contributes to the dressing.

Kohlrabi/carrot/radish salad
Adapted from this recipe on Orangette

2 medium kohlrabi bulbs
Optional: substitute radishes for some or all of the kohlrabi
1 large carrot
1 tsp. fennel seed
2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Using a sharp knife, peel kohlrabi bulbs. Peel carrots. Use a mandoline (or a sharp knife and a lot of patience) to julienne the kohlrabi, carrots, and radishes (if using) into matchsticks.

In a small dry skillet, toast the fennel seeds over medium heat until they are slightly browned and smell fragrant. Grind coarsely in a spice grinder, or with a mortar and pestle. Whisk together fennel, vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Add dressing to salad and toss to coat vegetables. Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Quick chicken pot pie

I bought some celery root last week. I've heard good things about this ugly little vegetable, but I didn't know quite what to do with it. I finally ended up using it in a quick chicken pot pie, thinking that a warm, hearty dish would be appropriate for the rainy, windy weather that hurricane Earl was supposed to bring us. Although the hurricane never quite materialized, the pot pie was still delicious!

This recipe is from The Best 30-Minute Recipe. It's a quick version of chicken pot pie that is still really flavorful. I made the biscuits for the topping from scratch, which takes the recipe a bit over the 30-minute mark, but not by much. I really liked the addition of celery root here - the flavor and texture both worked well. But you can certainly use regular celery if that's what you have available.

Moroccan carrot salad

I've been on a lookout for good carrot recipes lately, since I tend to come home from the market with at least one bunch every week. This is one of the more interesting ones, and led to my first taste of harissa, which is a very delicious chile paste that would be a welcome addition to a great many dishes. The harissa gives the dish some heat, which is balanced by the coolness of the mint and the sweetness of the carrots. Nothing is too overpowering here - the salad has a really nice blend of flavors. I found this recipe over on Smitten Kitchen, and thought it would be a good way to use some of the mint that my mother-in-law gave us from her garden. The original recipe calls for feta cheese, which is great, but I didn't have feta around, so I tried using olives to contribute some saltiness, with good results. A combination of olives and feta would be good too. I've been mentally toying with the idea of trying a variation using these spices with either roasted or sauteed carrot coins, to change up the texture and shape of the vegetable a little here, or maybe just wilting the shredded carrots a bit in a saute pan. Let me know if you try any variations on this. This salad keeps really well, and I've enjoyed it for lunch in a pita with some hummus.


Moroccan carrot salad
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 4-5
3/4 pound carrots, peeled*, trimmed and coarsely grated
4 tbs olive oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/2 tsp caraway seeds or 1/4 tsp, ground
3/4 tsp cumin seeds or about half as much, ground
1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp harissa, a North African chile paste
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs parsley, finely chopped
2 tbs fresh mint, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped olives or feta cheese (or a combination)

In a small pan, cook the garlic, spices, harissa and sugar in the olive oil for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Remove pan from heat, discard garlic, and add the lemon juice and a generous pinch of salt. Pour oil/spice mixture over the carrots, add olives, and mix. Add the herbs and mix again. Make sure to salt to taste before eating. This salad keeps well for a few days in the fridge.

*I usually don't bother peeling carrots unless the skins are especially thick or rough