Quick Indian Feast

So my favorite meal from an Indian restaurant is Aloo Chole.  It is a basic curry with potatoes and chickpeas.  I have come up with a way to make it completely from scratch that takes hours, but that is not what I am sharing with you today.  I needed a quick meal one day last week and had all the elements to make this meal the quick way. It turned out as well if not better than my hours long technique, so it's a winner.  I don't claim this is authentic, but it is delicious.

Quick Aloo Chole

1/2 spanish onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
1 baking potato
1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas
1 can diced tomatoes in liquid
1/2 vegetable bouillon cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp curry powder
1 pinch cayenne
1 tsp salt
3 handfuls fresh spinach

Peel your potato and cut it into bite size cubes.  Put it in boiling water while preparing the other ingredients, about 10 minutes.  In a heavy bottomed pot, saute the garlic, onion, and ginger until the onions are soft and the combination is fragrant.  Add the curry powder, cayenne, salt, and garam masala.  Give it a stir.  Before the spices burn, dump in your can of tomatoes, bouillon water and drained chickpeas.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer and uncover.  Let cook about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.  Add the spinach in and cover about 3 minutes until the spinach is wilted but retains its bright green color.  Stir to incorporate.  You can serve this up on its own or with rice.  It tastes great the next day as leftovers.

Kale and White Bean Soup

There have been a lot of versions of this soup going around recently.  My jumping point was Sarah Britton's recipe.  I went with a more minestrone like soup and less tomato based.  It is super delicious.

For the broth:
1 medium onion
2 carrots
4 stalks of celery
6 cloves garlic
1 handful parsley
1 bay leaf
water

For the soup:
3 carrots, chopped
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed, and parboiled
a bunch of kale, cut into bite size shreds

To make the broth, roughly chop the vegetables and brown them in a little olive oil.  The more color you get on the vegetables, the more rich the broth.  Cover with hot water, and bring to a boil.  Add the parsley, bay leaf, and lower to a simmer.  Simmer 20 minutes and strain.

To make the soup, in the bottom of a large pot with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, saute the onions, carrots, and garlic until the onion is soft and the garlic is fragrant.

Pour in the broth and add the potatoes, saute about 20 minutes until the potatoes are almost all the way cooked.  Add the rest of the ingredients, salt and pepper liberally, and cook about another 5 minutes.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

 I have been under the weather recently, the plague that has been going around caught up with me and knocked me out for about a week.  Not feeling well always makes me want chicken and rice soup, but I'm not talking about the can of condensed soup my dad used to make by adding a can of water to the soup and warming it in a saucepan on the stove.  I'm talking about chicken soup, made from. . . a chicken.

 My mother in law saved my carbohydrate variety single handed.  When I first started cooking for John, he said he did not like rice.  It was so disappointing for me because I am such a fan of rice.  It changes things up from potatoes and pasta and who doesn't like variety.  Anyway, the first Christmas I spent at my in-laws, my mother-in-law gave me a wild rice mix from a local place in Minnesota.  It sat in the back of my cabinet for a few months.  I was waiting for an opportunity to cook just for me.  Eventually there came a day when I had not been shopping and it came down to what we had in the cupboard.  I pulled out the wild rice mix and made it, told John to just deal with it.  Turns out, he just didn't like boring old white rice.  I learned my lesson, when John says he doesn't like something, I just go more complex (and expensive) and he usually comes around.  Anyway, my mother-in-law sent me a bag of wild rice from Hand Harvested Wild Rice Company for Christmas.  That is what I used in this soup.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

for the broth:
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, cut in half
1 chicken (under 5 pounds)
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
10 peppercorns
 about 6 cups of water

for the soup:
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
salt and pepper
1 cup wild rice

To make the broth, brown the onion, carrots, and celery in a large pot with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  The more color you get on the vegetables, the more veggie flavor your stock will have.  Put the water on to boil in a separate pot.  I fill up my tea kettle and put it on to boil.  When you have some color on the veggies, add the garlic and keep cooking until you can smell the garlic fragrance.  Rinse your chicken and place it on the bed of veggies in the pot.  Cover with boiling water, add bay leaves, and peppercorns.  Simmer between 2 and 4 hours.  The longer you simmer, the tenderer the meat.  In the last hour, add the rosemary.  Place a fine colander over a big bowl and strain the broth. 

To make the soup, rinse out your pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat.  Put in your carrots and onions to brown.  While they cook, start to pull your chicken off the bone.  When the vegetables get some color on them, add the garlic and rosemary. 

 Add the chicken meat, but none of the vegetables from the stock, the bones and the vegetables can be discarded at this point.

 All the chicken should fall off the bone, leaving clean bones.

Pour the stock back into the pot, add the rice and bring it to a boil.  Turn it down and let simmer about 45 minutes, seasoning generously with salt and pepper in the last 20 minutes.  I served this with fresh baked french bread.  It might take a long time, but it is so worth it!

Vegetarian Chili

I ate it all before we could get a photo, sorry, but its delicious.

Vegetarian Chili

1 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large portobello cap, chopped
salt and pepper
2 1/2 tbsp chili powder
2 medium zucchini, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup of corn kernels (I usually freeze corn from the farmer's market in the summer, but store bought frozen corn works just as well)
2 cups drained and rinsed black beans (canned is fine)
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup brown or wild rice

In a big soup pot over medium heat saute the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in a little olive oil until the onions are soft and fragrant and the mushrooms are soft and dark, about 7 minutes.  add the chili powder, salt, pepper, and zucchini.  Stir well and continue to cook about 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and corn and cook another 3 minutes until the tomatoes start to release their juice.  Add the beans and broth and cook about 20 minutes until the mixture starts to really combine.  Add the tomato paste and rice and cook until rice is tender, about 35 minutes, stirring regularly.  If it starts to stick on the bottom, add a little more liquid and stir more often.

Sweet Potato Ginger Soup

I first made this soup with my friend Camille from Glutenfreesoyfreevegan. I pretty much loved it, but I made some modifications to make it my own. It is great on a cold, rainy night and hearty any time of year. I recommend serving it with fresh bread. I used Italian batter bread from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads.

Sweet Potato Ginger Soup

1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 inches of ginger, minced
2 medium sweet potatoes, in 1/2 inch cubes
1 small acorn squash, in half inch cubes
1 1/2 tbsp of you favorite vegetable bouillon paste
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
Small handful parsley, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper

Cook the onion, garlic, and ginger in a big soup pot in about 2 tbsp of olive oil until soft.  Add the potatoes and squash and cover with hot water.  Stir in bouillon paste and herbs.  Turn to a simmer and allow to cook about 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Mash the soup until you have a few chunks for texture, but it is pretty smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne to taste.

French Onion Soup

This one is one of John's favorite, and I make it by memory, so the recipe is pretty basic.

I caramelize some onions, add beef stock to deglaze the pan, and put the onions and stock in a ramekin.  I toast a disk of bread that will fit on the top of the ramekin.  For this batch of soup I used this amazing roasted garlic, duck fat ciabatta from Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse, a vendor at our local farmers market.  Now, there are all sorts of cheese choices you can make for french onion soup, but I chose gruyere.  I floated the bread on top, covered it with cheese and put it in the oven until the cheese browned.  John really likes it!