The Ribollita (Tuscan Bean & Kale Soup), the Mojadra and Chickpea, Carrot and Bulgur Soup are nice hearty entries with vegetables playing key, if not central roles–all will be delicious as the weather cools a bit, not to mention the Carrot, Nutmeg and Oat muffins. Happy fall cooking!
Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges with Cilantro and Garlic
Braised Fennel, Sweet Peppers and Onions
Sweet, Sour and Hot Eggplant
Ribollita (Tuscan Kale and Bean Soup)
Chickpea, Carrot and Bulgur Soup with Harissa
Harissa (Spicy pepper paste)
Mojadra (Indian Lentils with Rice and Caramelized Onions)
Oat, Carrot and Nutmeg Muffins
Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges with Cilantro and Garlic
While acorn squash can be hard to cut raw, getting it into wedges or some kind of chunks is doable and makes for a wonderful dish, when roasted and tossed with an herby dressing. This preparation would be delicious with most any kind of winter squash so substitute as you see fit.
Serves 4-6
1 medium-large acorn squash or two smaller ones
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Dressing:
1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped (leaves and stems)
1 Serrano pepper, minced (de-seeded if uncertain of heat level) or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced or mashed
Salt
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds and strings and discard. Cut the squash halves into wedges about 1 inch thick. Don’t worry if the pieces are a bit irregular or break. Put the squash wedges on a sheet pan and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper and toss well with your hands. Spread wedges out evenly and bake, flipping the wedges about 15 minutes into the baking. Bake another 15 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool a bit. You can either peel the squash now or toss the cooked wedges as is and let people remove the skin as they eat.
Meanwhile mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Gently toss the squash with the dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Braised Fennel, Sweet Peppers and Onions
This dish takes about 25 minutes to cook but is dead simple and mostly hands-off and it’s very versatile.
You can toss this dish with just-cooked pasta and a bit of hot pasta cooking water and some grated Parmesan and a good drizzle of olive oil for a luscious main dish. Or you can serve it as a side with most anything or top it with an egg.
Serves 4
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 fennel fronds, chopped
2 sweet peppers, trimmed, seeded and sliced
½ large onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons cider vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have except for balsamic which is too sweet)
1 ½ cups water, divided
Salt
Chopped fresh parsley, optional (and skip if you have fennel fronds)
Grated Parmesan
¾ lb pasta (optional)
Good olive oil (optional)
Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Add the onions, fennel and pepper and a pinch or two of salt. Toss well and cook over high heat for 7-10 minutes or so, stirring frequently until the vegetables are browning in places.
Add the vinegar and 1 cup water and a bit more salt. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the water is mostly absorbed. Add the remaining ½ cup water and continue cooking until the fennel is tender throughout and all the water has been absorbed/evaporated. Taste and adjust seasoning.
If you’re going to toss it with pasta, reserve 1/3 cup or so of hot pasta cooking water and toss it with the fennel mixture, the pasta, some grated Parmesan and a splash of good olive oil.
Sweet, Sour and Hot Eggplant
My favorite way to serve this quick Chinese-inspired dish is over short grain brown rice but any rice is excellent. If you’re short on eggplant, you can fill it out with more onion and sweet peppers.
Serves 4
2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
2 medium eggplant (or several smaller ones—any kind of eggplant will work in this dish—the long slender Japanese ones, more common Italian, globe ones, . . .), skin on, cubed
1 medium onion, diced
1 sweet red pepper, thinly sliced (more, see headnote)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or fresh, minced Serrano, jalapeno or other hot pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
3-4 tablespoons Thai basil, basil, cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped
Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.
In a large skillet or wok heat the oil and sauté onions and pepper (if using) over medium-high heat for about 5-7 minutes until they soften. Add red pepper flakes (or minced hot pepper) and eggplant and cook until it softens and browns a bit, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. A few minutes before the eggplant is done add the minced garlic and stir well. Then add the sauce and stir well to mix and coat veggies. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until sauce thickens and veggies are tender. Stir in the herbs, saving out a few for garnish if you’d like. Serve hot over rice with herbs.
Ribollita (Tuscan Kale and Bean Soup)
This luscious soup is a mainstay of Tuscan cooking and used to be made by re-cooking (ribollire) yesterday’s minestrone and simmering it over stale bread in this second incarnation. I make it all in one go, as do many Italians, but it is even better the next day. It takes a bit of time to make but there are some short cuts and it’s worth it.
I made a quick version of this with last week’s kale and used fresh tomatoes, no celery and skipped the last step and just served it over bread I’d toasted and rubbed with a garlic clove. It was excellent.
Serves 4-6
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
1 large or two smaller stalks celery (if there are leaves attached include those), chopped (optional)
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch dice
Scant 1 cup chopped canned, fresh or roasted tomatoes
1 cup dry white beans (that you’ve soaked over night or for at least 4 hours), drained (or you can use already cooked beans as well but you’ll add them to the soup a bit later).
1 very large or 2 smaller bunches kale, washed and well chopped
8 cups water
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Good olive oil
4-6 slices good, crusty bread (several days old is fine), toasted
Sauté the onion, celery, if using, and carrot and thyme in about 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes until softened. Add the potatoes and tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes. Add the drained (but not cooked) beans, water and kale. Bring everything to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 2 hours. If you are using already cooked beans, add them one hour into the cooking time. At the end, season generously with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the bread in the bottom of an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven. Pour the soup over the bread, cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes or so. Serve hot with plenty of good olive oil and more salt and pepper, if needed.
Chickpea, Carrot and Bulgur Soup with Harissa
–adapted from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
This takes advantage of your carrots and you sweet peppers (if you use some to make Harissa) this week. And as it gets cooler towards the end of the week, it would make a lovely supper.
This is simple, comforting and warming and makes delicious leftovers. It begs to be varied with the addition of other vegetables. Add some diced (either raw or already cooked) winter squash or most any root vegetable. If you’re adding them already cooked just add them at the very end just to get heated through and marry the flavors a bit.
Serves 5 generously
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 stalks celery, including leaves, rinsed and thinly sliced
3-4 carrots, scrubbed and quartered lengthwise and then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon whole caraway seeds
1 1/2 – 3 tablespoons harissa, depending on how spicy yours is and how spicy you like things (storebought or using the recipe below)
3 cups cooked chickpeas
6 cups chickpea cooking liquid or vegetable broth or a combination of the two
3/4 cup bulgur wheat
1/2 cup full fat Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons additional harissa and a splash of olive oil
Cilantro leaves, for garnish
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and a few pinches of salt and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the spices and harissa, stir well and cook until fragrant, another minute or two. Add the chickpeas, cooking liquid and/or broth and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the bulgur and cook for about 7 more minutes until it’s tender but still has some bite.
Put the Greek yogurt in a small bowl. Swirl in the harissa and a little olive oil Serve the soup hot, topped with the yogurt and a few cilantro leaves.
Harissa
–adapted from smitten kitchen.com
I used to buy harissa but eventually switched to making my own in large batches and freezing several jars. I tend to triple the below recipe. Harissa is a spicy paste/sauce common in Tunisia and Morocco and other countries of the Mahgreb. No two batches I make are ever quite the same. I use whatever dried and/or fresh peppers I have on hand. I’ve used dried Aci Sivri peppers (from Ayers Creek farm), dried New Mexico Chilies and several kinds of sweet and semi-hot fresh peppers–red bell peppers or roasters, Anaheim and poblano peppers and jalapeños even. You can use what you have and heat things up with red pepper flakes. It’s a flexible condiment/paste and will be delicious in many variations.
It’s delicious with eggs, stirred into hummus, spread with goat cheese on little toasts, with fish, in a soup, with beans, as a sandwich spread, by itself or mixed with mayo (this is especially good with avocado and pickled onions on good, toasted bread) . . .
A combination of peppers (see headnote) such as:
2 sweet red or yellow peppers, broiled until blistered then peeled and seeded
3 dried New Mexico chiles, covered with boiling water and soaked for 20-30 minutes then drained, deseeded and flesh scraped from tough skin
If you don’t have any spicy peppers add 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 roasted tomatoes or dried tomatoes (if dried, rehydrate with the peppers), and use more if you have fewer peppers
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste
In a small dry skillet toast the seeds all together for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat until a shade darker and fragrant. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from heat and put in a mortar pestle or spice grinder. Let cool for a few minutes and then grind. I don’t grind them terribly fine and like the bit of texture they retain. I use a mortar and pestle.
Put the ground spices, the peeled, rehydrated peppers, tomatoes, garlic, salt and oil in the bowl of a food processor and process until fairly smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Store in small jars in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 10 days. Freeze it if you make a bigger batch or don’t go through it quickly enough.
Mojadra (Indian Lentils with Rice and Caramelized Onions)
This is a wonderfully satisfying dish that uses the most basic staples to delicious effect. It’s a great way to use lots of onions and they are the stars of the show, nicely caramelized. It’s also a simple dish to create with little time. Cook the rice and lentils in the morning while you’re making breakfast and then quickly finish the meal in the evening with the onions and toppings from the pantry.
There are variations of this dish from Egypt to Lebanon and Israel with many different spellings and iterations.
Serves 4
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil, divided
1 cup small French green lentils (or brown lentils)
1 cup long-grain brown rice
1 bay leaf
3 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium-large onions, sliced thin (about 4 cups sliced)
1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup full-fat plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
Harissa or hot sauce of your choice
Heat 1 1⁄2 tablespoons butter, ghee or olive oil in a 4-quart pot. Add rice and lentils and mix well. Sauté for a minute or two. Add bay leaf, water, and salt. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 35-40 minutes or until both lentils and rice are very tender and all the water has been absorbed.
While the rice and lentils cook heat the remaining oil or butter in a large skillet medium-high heat. Add onions and 1 teaspoon salt and sauté. When onions begin to soften, add garlic and spices. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until well browned and significantly reduced in volume, about 20 minutes. (Add a splash or two of water if necessary to prevent sticking or burning.) Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Remove the bay leaf from the rice and beans and serve them topped with caramelized onions and a generous dollop of yogurt and Harissa. The Harissa (a North African hot chili sauce) is not a classic accompaniment but it’s really good but feel free to omit it and serve with your favorite hot sauce or none at all. Both Pastaworks and New Seasons carry, good jarred Harissa.
Oat, Carrot and Nutmeg Muffins
A lightly sweet, chewy yet airy muffin packed full of carrots, rolled oats, yogurt and nutmeg that are perfect for (school) snacks or breakfast. I grate the carrots on the smaller holes of a box grater which gives these muffins a fine texture.
Yields 12 muffins
1 cup rolled oats (not instant oats)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I’ve used Emmer flour, barley flour as well as regular whole wheat pastry flour in these, all with great results)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if possible)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup packed cup finely grated carrots (about 2 medium)
1 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole milk)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted or 1/2 cup sunflower or mild olive oil (the thick part of full-fat coconut milk might work just fine too though I haven’t tried it)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly butter or oil a 12 cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl combine the flours, oats, spices, soda and salt. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, carrots, sugar, melted butter or oil and yogurt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, combining them quickly and well. Do not over mix. Portion the batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 18-25 minutes, checking after 18 so as not to dry them out. Remove from the tin and let cool on a rack.