A New Year's Tonic: Chard and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Craving something hearty and healthy? Looking for a restorative after weeks of indulgence? Yeah, you're not alone. It's January. Time for the reset button.
 
Thus I'm beginning to understand the tradition of serving black-eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. It's not just that these foods symbolize luck and prosperity; they are also so darn good for you. Kind of makes you feel virtuous. And all that goodness nullifies the brownies, right?

Chard and Black-Eyed Pea Soup
(This is my own recipe, and it's ripe for personal interpretation. You could easily try out different types or quantities of beans, greens, or spices. Add a salad, maybe some toast, and you have a complete meal.)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard (about 3/4 pounds), stems and leaves separated; stems diced and leaves roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 to 2 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp coarse-ground black pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, with their liquid
2 cans (15.5 ounces each) black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup small white beans, drained and rinsed (Purely optional. I had leftovers in the fridge that I wanted to use up.)
3 cups water
Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and chard stems about 5 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic, herbs, and spices (but wait on salt). Cook for about a minute, then stir in the tomatoes with their liquid and the chard leaves. Cover the pot and let the chard wilt, about 5 minutes.

Add the black-eyed peas (and any other beans, if using) and water to the pot. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer the soup for about 30 minutes. Taste, adjust seasonings and add salt if desired, and serve.

Tis Another Season To Be Cooking

I popped into my kosher butcher shop yesterday and guess what song was playing on the radio?

White Christmas.

At least we can chalk up that one to a nice Jewish boy. The holiday, too, for that matter.

Anyway, the post-CSA cooking has run the gamut from roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic to rum-tinged cranberry sauce to homemade Pop-Tarts. And I've been on a squash kick of late. Here are a couple of good choices for cold winter evenings.

Squash, Cauliflower,and Chickpea Curry

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

These are really before-and-after pictures, as the cabbage rolls are stuffed with rice and leftovers from the squash curry. The recipes and idea are from The Boston Globe. (For a meaty "stuffed cabbage" with a lot less work, check out my Stuffed Cabbage Casserole.)

Another recent hit was this stuffed squash recipe, also via The Boston Globe.

Mushroom and Barley Stuffed Delicata Squash

(adapted, barely, from The Boston Globe Magazine. Mostly, I cut back on the salt and oil, and made minor ingredient substitutions based on what I had at home.)

2.75 cups water

1 cup pearled barley

3 delicata squash, about 1.25 pounds each, halved lengthwise and seeded

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

10 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add barley and 1/4 teaspoon salt, lower heat and simmer, covered, about 35 minutes or until the barley is tender and the water has been absorbed. Remove cover and set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush squash halves with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet for 30 minutes. Turn squash halves over, brush each half with orange juice concentrate, and bake cut side up for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

While the squash is baking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet and saute the celery and onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the celery mixture to the barley along with the porcini mushrooms. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and saute the sliced button mushrooms until brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and herbs to the skillet and cook another minute more. Add this to the barley mixture, and stir in the vinegar. Taste the barley mixture and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Fill the squash cavities with the barley mixture and bake until the filling is heated through, about 20 minutes.

Week 18: Green Tomato Soup

Last CSA pickup of the season, and what did we get? A bouquet of Swiss chard.

The chard was the best dish of the week, but you don't need a recipe for it. Just wash the chard, remove leaves from stems, chop the leaves, and saute them with garlic in a little olive oil, as you might do with spinach. Sprinkle salt on top before serving. Perfection.

The rest of the week's cooking seemed to revolve around just a few items:

• Butternut squash -- in a stew with turkey meat; roasted with green tomatoes and onions; and roasted alone and mashed;
• Green tomatoes -- roasted with the squash, as mentioned above; and in soup;
• Red cabbage -- braised with apples and caraway; and turned into slaw;
• Apples -- with cabbage; and in cake.

The soup was a quick solution to too many green tomatoes. I don't know why it took me all season to come across this idea.

Quick Green Tomato and Bean Soup

(Inspired by this Gourmet recipe)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 scallions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped

2 cups water

1 can (15.5 ounces) small white beans, with liquid

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika, or to taste

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Saute scallions and garlic in the oil for a couple of minutes; watch that they don’t burn. Add the tomatoes, water, canned beans and their liquid, and the spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 to 45 minutes or until the tomatoes break down to your liking. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve hot.

Week 13: Last Blast of Summer Corn Salad

The defining word for this week is "transition." The calendar says summer, but I'm making the mental switch to autumn. Well ... mostly, which is why corn on the cob appeared on our Rosh Hashanah table, along with the soup and brisket and apples.

It was a hefty CSA haul this week: peaches, apples, green beans, green tomatoes, plum tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn. The Programmer, Caboodle, and I also made an apple-picking pilgrimage to Russell Orchards on Sunday -- not that we needed more apples, but our schedule gets tighter as the season goes on. (I don't think the girls will object if I use some of those apples in a cake or crisp sometime soon.)

The week's produce (and last week's leftovers) wound up in a variety of dishes: carrot cake for Kit's birthday; butternut squash soup, kicked up a notch with a bit of hot pepper; corn muffins, made with fresh corn kernels; a green tomato gratin, with feta cheese; refrigerator pickles; curried vegetables, featuring green beans, plum tomatoes and a purchased cauliflower; roasted peaches (delicious with vanilla yogurt; even better with French vanilla ice cream); lots of applesauce, now mostly in the freezer; and an apple-celery root slaw with a mustard-honey dressing.

I pulled together this corn salad as our family's contribution to a Labor Day weekend barbecue. I love the combination of corn and beans; see my Seaside Corn and Bean Salad for another variation.

Last Blast of Summer Corn Salad
(Serves 8 or more as a side dish)

6 ears of corn
1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15.5 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 pickling cucumber, seeded and diced, but peel left on (about 1 cup)
1/2 to 1 cup diced red onion
1 Tbsp red basil, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste

Lightly steam or boil the corn, then place in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain corn and remove kernels from the cobs. Mix corn kernels with the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Week 5: Summer Succotash

Photo courtesy of Doves and Figs

The invitation instructions were deceptively simple. An Americana-themed party. Pot luck dinner. Bring a dish that represents America to you.

Oh, soooo many ways to interpret that. I considered, and rejected, a whole raft of kitschy American recipes -- you know, the ones promoted by food manufacturers and featuring Jell-O or Cheez Whiz or condensed cream of mushroom soup. I took a pass on any elaborate construction projects or subtleties. I'm just not going to make a replica of the Statue of Liberty out of marshmallow treats, PVC pipe, and green fondant. (However, should this idea appeal to you -- if only for the "ick" factor -- you can find the how-to video here.)

I finally decided on succotash, for multiple reasons. Here's a dish that prominently features a New World crop, has strong regional associations, and evokes (for me, at least) pre-Colonial America and Thanksgiving. From a practical standpoint, succotash can sit out at room temperature on a buffet table for hours. It's a fun word to say. And I just plain like it. That this week's share included corn and green beans made my Summer Succotash recipe all the more appropriate.

Succotash fit in well among the pot luck offerings at the party. The interpretations of Americana included the nostaglic (daisy-shaped sandwiches with pimento cheese, a la 1917); regional foods (Southern mac and cheese pie); riffs on classics (vegetarian baked beans and gourmet sliders); a lot of blueberries (muffins, cornbread, pie, tarts, and cobbler); and plenty more stuff.

"Plenty more stuff" characterized our week. In addition to succotash (I made a batch for home, too), we ate CSA raspberries and blueberries out of hand; worked through most of an enormous head of Romaine lettuce; whipped up a zucchini-crusted pizza; made quick pickles from cucumbers and -- separately -- daikon radish (daikon was new to us; I'll have to post more about this another time); sauteed collard greens; and marinated summer squash and zucchini for a salad.

Summer Succotash
(adapted from The Boston Globe)

1/2 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 ears of corn, kernels sliced off
1 large red onion, diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts kept separate
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a pot of gently boiling water, cook the beans for 2 to 4 minutes, until they are just tender. Drain the beans in a colander and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the corn and onion in the skillet about 3 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften, stirring occasionally.

Add the beans and the white parts of the scallions to the skillet. Cook about 2 minutes, or until all of the vegetables are cooked through to your liking. Off heat, stir in the parsley, green parts of the scallions, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Soup's On

I make soup all year round, but I love, love, love soup on a cold day. My pantry is stocked with dried peas and lentils for spur-of-the-moment pots of goodness, but sometimes I break out more time-consuming recipes. On a rather blustery day, Mother Wolff Soup simmered on my stovetop for about four hours, requiring only the occasional stir. The soup came out more brothy than I expected -- especially in light of the ingredient list: lima beans and barley and rice and potatoes. Still, Kit went for a second bowlful, and leftovers improved from sitting in the fridge for a day or two, so the recipe is a keeper.

A much quicker soup is Vegetarian Split Pea. It's stick-to-your-ribs thick and it goes from pantry to table in less than an hour.

Mother Wolff Soup
(adapted from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant)

4 quarts water
1/2 cup dried lima beans, soaked overnight
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup barley
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp dried dill
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup diced onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 Tbsp sweet paprika
1 cup diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

In a large soup pot, combine water, drained limas, rice, barley, garlic, dill, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.

About an hour into the simmering time, heat the oil in a large frying pan and saute the onion and carrots for a few minutes. Mix in the paprika, potatoes, carrots, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, then add in the peas and cook, covered, a few minutes more.

Remove the bay leaf from the soup pot and add in the sauteed vegetables, tomatoes, and parsley. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Simmer the soup, on low heat, for another 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
(adapted from various recipes)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
7 cups water
1 lb dried split peas
1 Tbsp fresh thyme
Juice of one-half lemon (or more, to taste)
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp salt
Paprika to taste

In a 5-quart Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion and carrot until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the water, peas, and thyme to the pot; bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the soup for about 40 minutes or until the peas are soft, stirring occasionally.

Measure out 4 cups of soup and puree them in a food processor. Return the pureed soup to the remaining soup in the pot. Add salt, lemon juice, and paprika to taste. (For a "meaty" taste, try this with smoked paprika. Or, for another flavor profile, leave out the paprika and sprinkle in curry powder.)