Red Lentil Soup

A few weeks ago, my friend Janet took me on a tour of the Middle Eastern markets of Paterson, NJ. After wandering around grocery stores, spice markets, bakeries that are also jewelry stores (!), and shops with gorgeous samovars, textiles and aisle after aisle of extremely impressive hookas, we stopped for lunch at a lovely Turkish restaurant. The waiter found my questions regarding ingredients somewhat amusing, and served me a big, beatiful salad and a bowl of utterly delicious lentil soup. The soup service was absolutely charming, with lemon slices, tiny bowls of crunchy croutons, dried crushed mint, and crushed red pepper, all ready for me to garnish it as I liked. Here is my version of the soup, spiced my way and open to your own interpretation.

To serve 6-8:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, finely diced
2 teaspoons coriander, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ras el hanout
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 cups light vegetable stock
2 cups red lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 cup short-grain rice (such as Arborio)
1/2 cup crushed, peeled tomatoes
juice of 1/2 lemon
white wine, to taste
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
water, as needed

Heat oil in a your favorite soup pot. Add onions, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ras el hanout, and crushed red pepper. Saute, stirring often, until onions are very soft. Add vegetable stock, lentils, rice and tomatoes. Cook over medium-low heat for about 25 minutes, or until rice and lentils are very soft. Add lemon juice and a splash of white wine. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. If the soup is too thick for your liking, thin it with a bit of water. If you want to be fancy, you can puree the soup in the blender or with an immersion blender, or you can just serve it the way it is.

Serve hot with little bowls of lemon slices, crushed dried mint, crushed red pepper, and toasted croutons or fried pita.

Falafel Burgers

Yum - try this easy falafel burger for a quick weeknight dinner. Serve it on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato and tahini, or on a warm pita with a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and red onion sprinkled with lemon juice and ground sumac. And, yes, you do need all that olive oil. Trust me.

The following recipe will make 4-6 burgers.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 14.5 oz cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
safflower or canola oil for frying

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a medium saute pan. Add onion and cumin. Saute, stirring often, until softened and golden. Add cinnamon, and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, puree chick peas with onion mixture and lemon juice. Stir bread crumbs in by hand. Taste and adjust seasonings. You might want a little more cinnamon.

Use an ice-cream scoop or your hands to form 4-6 equal patties, flattening with your hand to about 4 inches.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons canola or safflower oil in a non-stick skillet. Saute burgers in hot oil, turning once, about three minutes per side. Place in oven for 5-10 minutes, or until very hot.

Southwestern Veggie Skillet

I love eating a huge breakfast from a cast-iron skillet. It reminds me of the Short Stop, a funky little train-car diner where we used to get all kinds of fattening, greasy and terrible-for-you foods when we were kids. Many of these foods were served directly in their own iron skillet, so you didn't miss out on a bit of that saturated fat. My version is actually quite good for you (although it's a little higher in fat than something I would eat on a daily basis, it's the good fat, so I suggest you loosen up, particularly if it's Sunday morning), especially when served with a side of Irish steel cut oats cooked with maple syrup, blueberries and strawberries. If I had a cute little diner of my own, I would cook this delicious skillet of breakfasty, potato-ey goodness while back-talking sassily to my customers, chewing gum and wearing a fabulous beehive hairdo with a pencil stuck in it and a paper hat, like Chrissie Hynde in the Brass in Pocket video. But you can feel free to just wear your pajamas.

3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

10 oz. fingerling potatoes, sliced into rounds

1 large onion, halved and sliced

6 oz. button mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 medium zucchini, seeded and diced

2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts divided

1 cup diced tomato

1 avocado, diced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
hot sauce

Heat your cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and add potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add onions, mushrooms and smoked paprika, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and cook 5 minutes more. Stir frequently, but not too frequently. You want everything to brown.

When it's all getting nice and brown and delicious-smelling, toss in your zucchini, the white parts of the scallions, and the tomatoes. Cook until the zucchini begins to turn golden brown, about 4 more minutes.

Remove from heat, and top with sliced avocado, green parts of the scallions and cilantro. Serve with lots of hot sauce.

Note: You can certainly fancy this simple recipe up in many ways. If you have a nice chile lying around, say a poblano or a jalapeno or whatever, chop that up and add it with the mushrooms and onion. If you wanted to throw some of that nice, melty tapioca cheese on top and run it under the broiler for a minute before adding the avocado, green onions and cilantro, I won't argue with you. Tofu sour cream and/or whatever kind of salsa you have lying around, like maybe some black bean salsa, would be nice. But sometimes simplicity is the thing, and you really don't need any of this stuff. And finally, if you are like my friend Danya, and you eat like a bad-ass paleo cave woman, then you can replace the fingerlings with some diced, blanched sweetpotato.

Irish Tea Biscuits

St. Patrick's Day is here, and that means soda bread of all kinds. These tea biscuits are quick and easy to make. This is definitely not a real Irish soda bread, which is traditionally made with flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk, and never fancied up with currants, caraway or buttery goodness of any kind. My Nana made a very traditional soda bread when we were kids, and although I still use her recipe at times, I've come to really like this moister, lighter version quite a bit, too.

Don't try to substitute for the soy milk - I made a batch with rice milk, which I prefer for non-cooked uses, such as cereal and tea, and it just doesn't sour the same way. You will also need to consider your flour - a high-protein flour will make a tough biscuit. Although I prefer King Arthur all-purpose flour for many recipes, I do keep Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour on hand for dumplings and the like, and it works very well here, too. If you wanted a whole wheat version, whole wheat pastry flour is a good substitute. Do not substitute regular whole wheat flour, unless you're planning a hockey game and need a puck.

Some people say that they hate caraway seeds, but those people are freaks. It's my opinion that people who don't like caraway seeds are using too many. A heaping teaspoon will perfume your biscuits with light caraway flavor, without punching you in the face while screaming CARAWAY! If you really and truly cannot stomach caraway seeds, then fine, I still disagree with you, but leave them out. And if you don't have any currants, I don't mind if you want to use raisins. I also don't mind if you want to soak those currants or raisins for an hour in a big splash of Irish whiskey and a little boiling water to get them nice and plump and boozy. Just drain them well before you mix them in.

Start souring the soy milk before you do anything else, to give it time to get nice and thick. Serve these biscuits to your old lady friends (and all of your other friends) with a nice, hot cup of tea, and they'll thank you, dearie.

Irish Tea Biscuits

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons soy milk (combined soy milk and vinegar will equal 1 1/4 cups)
3 cups low-protein all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick butter substitute (1/2 cup), well-chilled
1 heaping teaspoon caraway seeds
3/4 cup Zante currants

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix vinegar or lemon juice with soy milk. Allow to stand while you prepare remaining ingredients.

Grease a sheet pan or standard muffin tin.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Toss with a fork. Cut butter substitute into small pieces, and rub into the flour mixture using your hands, until it resembles coarse crumbs. (If you want to do this step in the food processor, partially freeze your butter substitute, and pulse into the flour mixture five or six times. Remove to a medium bowl to finish the recipe.)

Mix in the currants and caraway seeds. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the soured soy milk all at once. Using a rubber spatula, mix, turning the batter until the flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix!

Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Work quickly, as you need to get these into the oven while the baking soda and soy buttermilk are reacting with one another. If using a sheet pan, lightly pat each piece into a circle. If using muffin tin, simply place dough in the wells of the muffin tin.

Bake for 14-15 minutes, until the biscuits are lightly golden brown.

Serve warm. With more buttery spread and maybe some homemade jam if you want to get really crazy.

Makes 12.

Stuffed Pattypan Squash

I visited Farms View the other day after a brief hiatius from cooking (or eating) anything at all to find an amazing array of locally grown produce. My short break from the usual routine was unwelcome at first, but slowing down during this change of season has given me some time to think about what I'm cooking, why I'm cooking it, who I am cooking for, and what that says about me. More on that later.


Now is the season to visit your local farm. With only two more weeks left for my CSA share, I'm already becoming nostalgic for produce I won't see again until next season. I was happy to see that they are still picking Pattypan squash, a cute and stuffable summer squash that transitions nicely to the autumn table. Get them while you can. This recipe will freeze well, and is especially good when served with a sauce of mushrooms and white wine.



Eat the foods that make you healthy and happy. Enjoy the bounty of late summer and early fall vegetables. Can and freeze. Cook. Share. Consider your food choices, for they determine our future, and eat what you have created with joy and gratitude.



Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Little pattypan squash are stuffed with an herb-kissed savory bread crumb and vegetable mixture and baked in the oven for a gorgeous vegetarian entrée. Serve with a big, fresh salad, good bread, and something fruity for dessert.

8 small pattypan squash
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups day-old wheat bread, chopped into rough crumbs
12 pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup loosely packed Italian parsley leaves
6 fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon each fresh marjoram and thyme
½ teaspoon fresh rosemary
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
½ cup dry white wine

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut tops off of squash, then use a melon-baller or metal spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a ¼” shell. Place shells in a baking pan that will accommodate them snugly, and season with salt, pepper and about a teaspoon of olive oil. Finely chop the flesh that you have removed from the inside of the squash, and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add about two tablespoons of olive oil, and then the chopped onion. Season with a pinch of kosher salt, and sauté, stirring frequently, until onion is a light golden color. Add garlic and reserved, chopped squash, and continue to stir frequently until all are soft and fragrant, about three more minutes. Add bread crumbs, pine nuts and fresh herbs, and stir to combine, tossing over the heat for another minute. Remove from heat and add a little more olive oil to moisten if necessary (or vegetable stock, if you’re watching your fat intake).

Lightly spoon filling into squash shells, making sure not to pack it too tightly. Pour wine into bottom of baking dish, then cover tightly with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and turn the oven to broil to brown the top of the filling (about 2 minutes under the broiler).

This dish can be served hot, warm or at room temperature.

Serves four as an entrée, or eight as an appetizer.

Peaches at The Edible Garden

Tomorrow, August 14th, I will help the New York Botanical Garden celebrate the peach harvest with cooking demonstrations at 1:00 and 3:00pm. This summer and fall, The Edible Garden brings you locally grown, seasonal food with cooking demonstrations every day. Featuring four spectacular kitchen gardens, The Edible Garden will teach you how to grow the best food at home. All proceeds of The Edible Garden benefit the Children’s Gardening program.

It's going to be a beautiful day, so join me in the Conservatory Kitchen and see what's cooking!

For more information and tickets please visit http://www.nybg.org/eg.

Inspiration on a budget at the Edible Garden

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of visiting the New York Botanical Garden to shop the Greenmarket, give an educational cooking demonstration, and write a blog post about the experience for Plant Talk (check Plant Talk this Thursday to read more about my visit and find a recipe for Roasted Gold Ball Squash with Panzanella). Greenmarket, the popular
farmers’ market program of GrowNYC, provides affordable, locally grown produce and fresh, nutritious baked goods from New York’s Hudson Valley region and beyond. Greenmarket
is a highlight of The Edible Garden, The New York Botanical Garden’s celebration of growing and preparing good food, which runs from June 19 through October 17.

I took with me a pantry of items that would be easily found in a home kitchen – salt and pepper, olive oil, hot sauce, and vinegar. Armed with a budget of $25, my friend and co-worker Adriana Pecunia and I wandered through the market, discussing options, smelling and tasting, and generally wanting to buy everything in sight. My $25 was quickly converted into a big bag of produce, and we headed over to the Conservatory Kitchen, where I showed an afternoon crowd of Garden visitors how to prepare quick, easy, healthy meals on a budget.

This light and healthy soup features the best of summer’s vegetables, is quick and simple to make, and yields a nice, big, budget-friendly batch.

I’ll be back at The Edible Garden this Saturday, July 17th, for demonstrations and tastings in the Conservatory Kitchen at 1 and 3pm, as I help the Garden celebrate locally grown, seasonal food with a focus on summer squash. All proceeds from the Edible Garden benefit the Children’s Gardening programs.

Summer Vegetable Soup

2 medium red onions, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, stemmed and chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pound small white potatoes, well-scrubbed, ¼” dice
8 cups water or vegetable stock
½ pound flat romano green beans, sliced
2 medium zucchini, seeded, ¼” dice
6 ears corn, shucked
1 cup purslane leaves
¼ cup each loosely packed parsley and cilantro, chopped
Vinegar or lemon juice

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and a pinch of salt, and sauté for about five minutes, until the onions are softened (do not brown). Add carrots and celery, and sauté for another minute or two. Add potatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10-15minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Add green beans and zucchini, and cook for another five minutes. Meanwhile, hold each ear of corn over a large board or a shallow bowl. Use a sharp knife to remove the corn kernels, then run the flat side of the knife down each cob to remove the creamy part of the kernel that’s left behind. (If you have plenty of time, do this in advance, and then simmer the corn cobs in your vegetable stock for maximum fresh corn flavor.)

Add the corn and purslane to the soup, and simmer for two or three more minutes. Remove from the heat, add parsley and cilantro, and season to taste with salt, freshly ground pepper, a dash of vinegar or lemon juice, and a dash of hot sauce.

Allow the soup to rest for 10 minutes. While it’s resting, make some croutons: cube half of a small baguette, and toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Spread on a baking sheet and cook in a 400° oven until browned and toasty. Toss with finely chopped fresh herbs – thyme, parsley, cilantro and dill are all good choices.

Serve hot, garnished with warm croutons.

Serves four, with leftovers for lunch.

Pictured: Shopping the stalls during last year's Greenmarket trip. Photo by Michelle Longo.