Cheesy Yucca soup

So the story behind this is that I live in a really latino neighborhood and there are a lot of very exciting roots in my grocery store. Like, there's the produce section, and then there's an equally large "bins of roots" section.

It is a goal of mine to learn what the heck to do with them all. Knowing my friend Michelle knew how to cook yucca, I invited her over to my house to teach me. Which she did; however, this is not the story of HER yucca recipe because that would be stealing. Rather, this is the story of "Why did you buy so much yucca, rorie?" and what I did with the remainder.

(For the record, I bought so much yucca because there were so many different sizes a root could be! She told me to buy two roots, but not knowing what size of a root she was referring to, I bought one small, one medium, and one large and felt pretty good about it. In closing, I still have a lot of yucca lying around.)

Anyway, we boiled two big yucca roots, chopped up, and only ended up frying and eating one of them. So I had all this boiled yucca in my fridge. And thus was born...

Cheesy Yucca Soup

Serves, I'm going to say, 3-6 people depending on your serving size

Ingredients:

1 medium(I guess?!?!) yucca root, boiled for 20-25 minutes*

Half a vidalia onion

Half a head of garlic (look at me showing restraint with garlic)

A few tablespoons of flour

Butter & olive oil (enough for frying & to make a roux)

Cheese of your choosing (I used 4 ounces of cream cheese & 5 slices of American)**

2.5 cups of bullion broth (I use Knorr's vegetarian vegetable & usually put in an extra cube)

half a cup of milk

quarter of a cup of Vermouth (if you don't have it don't sweat it)

A hand blender (that's not an ingredient, but it is something you'll need)

Spices:

A few shakes each of Garlic powder, black pepper, ground oregano,

Cayenne pepper to taste

2 teaspoons Soul Seasoning

*I think the best way to chop and peel a yucca root is to invite your friends over to teach you to make yucca and let them do it while you do other preparatory things. But in essence, the way to do it is to hack all of the waxy root skin off with a knife, then cut it in half lengthwise (pretty difficult), then yank/hack all of the strings in the center out, then chop it into medium-sized chunks that you will boil. DON'T HURT YOURSELF. I'm serious.

If you fear or can't locate yucca, you can always make this with potatoes instead (but that's kind of wussy).

** If you opt for something fancier in the cheese department, I imagine your soup will be that much better. In a perfect world I would have skipped the American and gone for an equal amount of cheddar. That cube cheese with the happy cow on it would probably also be great.

First you're going to make your roux. Have I told you how to make a roux yet? I don't think I have.

Here's How to Make a Roux

OK, so you start off heating up some oil and/or butter in the pot you intend to make your soup in (it should, by the way, be a pretty large pot). Use enough oil/butter to cover the bottom of the pot, and get it reasonably hot but not so it's spitting at you (best done by putting it on high to get it hot, but turning it down to medium-low before it gets too hot). I usually throw in my spices at this point so they are in my soup from the very beginning (you can always adjust later, of course). Get the oil/butter nice & hot and add a heaping tablespoon of flour. You now want to stir/smush around very quickly with one of those flexible spatulas, so it becomes a paste without any lumps. (Some people prefer to wisk. I think they're weird, but you can do that if you want.) Continue with another tablespoon or two of flour. It will get crazy thick. You want it too. Just make sure it's evenly thick, and not lumpy. Then, VERY SLOWLY, add broth and keep stirring/smushing with your spatula or wisk. You need to be very slow, and very stirry, so you don't get lumps. Take your time until you have added all your broth.

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Add in your chunks of boiled yucca, and also your onion. Your onion should be diced as small as possible. Stir. Add your milk, and your vermouth, as well, stirring frequently.

Now you're going to let your soup do its thing on medium heat for a while, and you'll stir it here and there. While that's happening, slice up your garlic however you like and get it frying in some more oil. You'll want it to get golden-brown but not burnt. Keep an eye on it.

While your garlic is frying, add your cheese to your soup and stir. Once your garlic is ready, dump that in (oil and all) and stir a little more.

Now you're going to let your soup do its soup thing for another little bit. You can cover it, but make sure the heat isn't too high (medium is plenty) and stir it now and again. When all the cheese seems to be melted evenly, take it off the heat.

Wait for it to stop bubbling before you use your hand blender. Then, um, use your hand blender. Blend it to wherever you like; I like mine thick and a tiny bit chunky. Yucca can be sneaky, so make sure you find all your big chunks. Go slowly and don't start the hand blender until it's in the soup, so it doesn't spatter you.

Then you're done!

A dash of lemon juice is a great garnish to give a serving of this a zing. I would only add it as a garnish, not while you're making the soup. That's how I roll.

Pasta with Red Pepper Pink Sauce

So my friend Larrin introduced me to Aunt Suzie's in Park Slope (and if you're in Brooklyn and it's date night and you feel like reasonably-priced yumtastic Italian food, you should go).  They have this awesome red pepper dipping sauce that they serve with their bread and butter and it's like, the best thing ever that happened.  I ate there recently and it got me to thinking.  "Red peppers!" was what I thought.  And I kept thinking it, for a while.  And so a sauce of my own was born.

Ingredients:

-1 or 2 fresh red bell peppers

-a 16-ozcan of Hunt's tomato sauce*

-A pint of heavy cream**

-half an onion or one small onion

-some butter and some olive oil

-some fresh garlic (half a head of regular garlic is now my standby)

-black pepper, paprika

-pasta obviously (shells or rigatoni are good for this)

*I like Hunt's because they don't add anything; it's just pureed tomato, not random spices not of my choosing.  You could use something else if you want.  But I'd be a little sad.

**Dude, organic is so much better I can't even tell you.

OKAY SO!

Start your pasta.  Just make it how you make it or follow the directions on the box.  But don't leave it in forever and let it get all mushy, that would be Sad.  

Chop up your garlic rather finely.  Also, cut up your red pepper.  I like to cut into kindaskinny strips and then cut the strips in or thirds.  It gives you a nice size that's not unmanageable.  

Put some olive oil and some butter in your saucepan and put it on a lowish heat and put in your peppers and your garlic.  After the butter has melted sprinkle on a generous amount of paprika too.  The whole point of this sauce is to be Sweet Red Peppery.  Cover it.  Let it simmer.

While you're letting it simmer, chop up your onion.  Add it whenever you're ready.  Let it simmer a while more (don't let things stick to the bottom though, be mindful and have a spatula around).  Let your red peppers get a little bit soft before continuing.

Also, check your pasta while all this is happening!  The pasta can sit and wait for the sauce if it gets done first.  Don't let it get mushy!  I won't tell you again.

Add your cream, and then your tomato sauce. Also sprinkle on some black pepper (like half a teaspoon? Sure).  Turn heat up to medium and stir well and let it simmer.  At this point it's good to have the pot partially covered; like mostly covered but with a crack for steam to escape.  Keep an eye on it, you want it to simmer but not really boil and you'll probably have to turn the heat down fairly soon to accomplish that.  Also stir from time to time. 

You want to let your sauce simmer for a while (I say ten minutes should be good) so your flavors get all nice and mixy.  Then take it off the heat and pour it over your pasta and mix and serve.  

This is nice with fresh steamed broccoli.

Black Bean Soup

Man: soup is my favorite thing ever.  PS, this soup is totally vegetarian and totally hearty.  The two can coexist happily, and do so all the time in my kitchen.

Ready?

Serves: Two people as a meal, maybe three or four as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans

Small amount of oil or butter

Garlic

Half an onion

A tomato or two

Red wine (spicy is nice-y)

1 vegetable bullion cube

Some water

Okay so!  This recipe starts like all my recipes: start off some chopped garlic and onions simmering in oil.

Typically I use olive oil but the other day I ran out and used Toasted Sesame oil instead.  Let me tell you: that was a fun substitution!  It makes it a little nutty or something.

When you're satisfied with your garlic and onions (it's great to brown the garlic a little), dump in your can of black beans.  (Note: I often use the verb "dump" when telling you to add ingredients, which, in addition to not sounding totally gourmet, can be hazardous when dealing with oil!  Watch for splatters.)

Add a generous amount of wine.  Do we have to be measurey?  Not a full glass or anything, but certainly add enough for a coupla hearty Italian toasts.

I used Yellowtail Shiraz-Cabernet tonight.  It was pretty good.  Yellowtail: they know what to do about wine and there's a picture of a kangaroo.  Who can complain?

Oh, and toss in your bullion cube, and add in ohhhh let's say a cup of water.  Just to make it, y'know, soupy.

Let it simmer for a while.

Dice up your tomatoes nice and small.  Also nice here is to chop up a bit of raw onion and use it as a garnish.  It complements the beany flavor very nicely.

When you feel your simmering is complete, throw on your tomatoes and onions and serve!  It's all about lots of bread and butter with this soup.

Garlic & Pinto Bean Soup

This serves, I think we can safely say, two or three people as a meal and perhaps more if it's just appetizer soup.

You will need:

-a can of pinto beans

-a bunch of garlic, both fresh and powdered.  (I used half a head!)

-half an onion

-2 cups vegetable broth

-cumin

-thyme

-3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice.

-some olive oil.

Chop up your garlic (make it a little chunky) and dice up your onion.  I usually hold back some of the onion so that I can have a nice raw onion garnish at the end; this is up to you.  Start off your garlic and onion simmering in some olive oil on medium-low.

Shake garlic POWDER onto this--yes, this soup hails from Garlic Town.  Be as copious as you like.  Also shake a generous amount of cumin on there, and a pinch or two of thyme.

Let these things get a little tender and then add your beans, which you needn't bother to drain since we are, after all, making soup.  Also throw in your lemon juice here.  Cover it and stir it and let it simmer for a while.  Feel free to add some more garlic and cumin if the spirit moves you (it always moves me).

Get your broth going now -- whether in the microwave or on the stove.  Personally, I favor Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable bullion.

When the broth is brothy and ready, pour it in.  Keep uncovered and let the soup simmer/boil a bit more--there is no real science to this, just that soup gets better as it gets simmery.  I take as much time as I need to clean up and butter some bread, and then I usually get impatient and decide soup is served.  Soup's easy: ss long as it's hot, it's ready, but you can't oversimmer either.

There's your story!  I rocked this out with a buttered ciabatta roll today, which was both delicious and unpronounceable.  I recommend it!

Fancied Up Fake Potatoes (Oregano Experiment #1)

As some of you know, I'm growing herbs and a few other things this summer.  It's pretty exciting business, and every so often I send an excited text to a friend like "My cilantro is bolting!" or "My oregano thinks it owns the world!" or "Peppers are growing, peppers are growing!"

Anyway, my oregano DOES think it owns the world, and despite being Italian, I kinda missed the bus on oregano.  Basil has always been the herb of choice for my family.  But, so, I've got all this oregano and I decided it was time for experimentation.

This experiment went well and will satisfy you folks who have been asking for Quick and Easy.

Ingredients:

-Potato Flakes 

-Milk

-Water

-Butter

-a handful of fresh oregano 

-a clove or two of garlic

-salt and pepper.

Here's your story: the potato flake package can tell you how to build mashed potatoes out of them.  Most types involve first microwaving water-and-or-milk and then adding flakes.  This is the kind you need.

Get your bowl ready.  Put in your water-and-or-milk.  Then chop up a clove of garlic.  Very small!  The only cooking this garlic is getting is in the two minutes in the microwave, so it will have a zing.  You want very small pieces unless you're a garlic fiend like me, so it doesn't shock your delicate sensibilities.

Drop in the clove of garlic.  And take your fresh oregano and rip it up some with your fingers: this releases the flavory juiceness*.  Also, you probably don't want to be getting entire leaves in your potatoes, so rip it up nice and small.  Drop that into the bowl as well.

Then just prepare your potatoes according to the directions on your Potato Flake Package!  I recommend the addition of copious amounts of butter, salt, and pepper, because that's how I roll.

*Flavory juiceness: it's an industry term.

The Curry that Larrin Likes

You will need:

-Rice (plenty)

-a can of coconut milk (16 oz is good)

-olive oil (this is probably not the most authentic, but hey, I'm Italian)

-A can of chickpeas (same size as the coconut milk can)

-Any miscellaneous veggies that you feel like throwing in.

(Feel free to throw in precooked meat, too, if you're One of Those.)

-Perhaps an onion, chopped

-Fresh Garlic, chopped

-Many spices!

-Curry powder, Cumin, Turmeric*, ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper**

-Bunch of fresh cilantro

-A tomato

*OK to leave out if you haven't any because there's plenty in the curry

**if you want it hot

Soooo here's your order of operations.

First, get your rice cooked.

Then start off your curry in a large frying pan.  (You can do that while you're doing the rice, but keep in mind the curry will keep you busy.)  Start by throwing some oil in the pan and tossing your onions and garlic in there to simmer on Low.  As soon as you've got the heat on, begin adding your multitude of spices.

The key to spicing is to get a balance between the sweetish spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves) and the other spices.  Remember that a little bit of ground cloves goes a long way.  Let your nose be your guide, or dip a pinky in and taste what you've got going on every so often.  Basically, you want a lot of everything.  In fact, I recommend re-spicing throughout your cooking -- and in the respicing you can balance out if you've got too much or too little of anything.  Also at this point, you're adding all your seasonings exCEPT for your cilantro--that does not get cooked and goes in last.  Be sure that you're stirring this fairly constantly because you don't want your stuff to scorch. 

As far as heat goes, cayenne pepper gets hotter the longer it's fried in oil.  So if you want it damn hot, add plenty of cayenne pepper right away.  If you want it a little hot, hold off until after you add your coconut milk (that's coming).  And if you don't want it hot at all you can always leave it out.

Next add your chickpeas.  Just throw 'em into your spicey mix from a can.  Stir well.  Turn the heat up and let them simmer for a while.  They'll get nice and yellow.  Here's where I would add round two of spicing.  

Then your coconut milk.  Again just dump it on in.  Stir and simmer, stir and simmer.  Last round of spicing goes in here.  Cover your pan (but it's a good idea to leave a passage for steam to get out), turn down the heat and let it simmer.  

Now, dice up your tomatoes and chop up your cilantro.  Think of them like a garnish -- their raw flavors really complement the spicey cooked curry flavors.

Okay, you're ready!  Serve your curry over your rice, and garnish with your fresh tomato and cilantro.  Enjoy!

And so it begins!

So, basically.

I've had these parsnips in my fridge for a week or so now.  I found out about parsnips through some of those fancy "not just potatoes but other things as well!" chips that you get at Whole Foods, and I've since decided that some serious joyful cooking experimentation was needed.

I was cruising on all-recipe.com to see what I might make with parsnips, and though I was very hungry indeed, I came quickly to the conclusion that I was not going to make ANY of these recipes, but just throw something awesome together in my kitchen, because that's what I always do.

And it occurred to me to make a little blog about my throwings-together, which often end quite well.

Here's my totally unprofessional background:

I was taught to cook by miscellaneous Italian women in my family, and so I am unconcerned with such trivial things as recipes, but I never forget the garlic. 

Then there's my dad, who has been known to create such delicacies as "Peanut Butter Steak" and pair mustard with breakfast cereal.  So there's definitely an element of "Oh my gosh, what if I put THIS in the pot?!?!?!" in my cooking.  

And then there's my quote-unquote "dietary restriction": I'm a vegetarian, which I don't actually find to be restrictive at all.  I'm not into rabbit food and I'm not into tofu and I'm not into fake meat.  It's totally obvious to me that you can have a delicious, hearty, full diet without chewing up animals in the process.  There's so much food in the world!  And it's all so exciting!  And if you don't believe me, don't worry, I will be excited enough for the both of us.  And you will see.

So: what will the food be like?

It will be influenced by miscellaneous cooking traditions, but take on a life of its own.

It will contain new and exciting ingredients, or old ingredients that I took it into my head to use in a new way.

It will be "Okay, what's in the fridge and the cupboards that I can get creative with, because I can't afford pricey groceries right now."

It will often be garlicky.

It will... sometimes... be healthy.

It will be awesome, for sure.

So stay tuned, kittens!  Stay tuned.