Split Pea Soup

When my friend Kate tried this soup, she responded that it tastes very strongly of peas in a good way, so only try this if you actually like peas (like I do). This version is made without the salty smoky flavor of ham hock or bacon, and is a wonderful hearty winter soup for vegetarians, and the frozen peas added at the end help to make it a richer green color than usual split pea soup.

grocery list:

2 tablespoons olive oil (approx)
1 large onion
3 large carrots
5 celery stalks
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 medium potato
1 16 oz bag dried green split peas
8 cups veggie stock
2 bay leaves
1 16 oz bag frozen green peas
pepper and salt to taste
soy, hemp or regular milk

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Chop onion, carrots, and celery to medium pieces. Place onion into oil over medium heat, add a small dash of salt to help draw out the liquids, cook for a few minutes till it becomes translucent then add in carrots and celery. Cook for 5-10 minutes till the onion begins to turn slightly golden and the celery is translucent. Add the garlic, fresh ground black pepper and dried thyme, cook for an additional few minutes.

Peel potato and cut into small squares, then add to cooking mixture. Stir well to coat potato with oil. Add in 8 cups of veggie stock (preferably home made) and bring to a boil.

While the liquid is heating, rinse and inspect your split peas for foreign matter. Place them into the boiling water and reduce to slow simmer. Add bay leaves, and pepper and/or salt to taste.

Simmer for 30 minutes till the dried peas are soft. Remove the bay leaves and add in the package of frozen green peas. Continue to leave the soup simmering till the green peas are heated through, but not cooked.

Remove the soup from the heat. Use your immersion blender to mostly blend the soup so it has a creamy texture but still retains small chunks.

Now you would freeze or refrigerate the soup. Don't if it is very thick, it is meant to be thinned with milk when you eat it.

When serving, heat the soup itself, then mix in milk, soy milk or cream to each person's desired specification. It usually takes about a quarter cup of soy milk per bowl when I make it.

Shepherd's Pie - veggie style

It is finally cool and rainy here in San Francisco, and that makes me happy because we are in desperate need of every drop we can wring from the sky.

Thankfully, it is finally acting and feeling like winter, and in response to the seasonal chill I decided to make an old winter standard last night. It has been updated to fit our predominantly veggie life-style.

Shopping list:

1 cauliflower
2 large russet potatoes
1/3 cup soy or regular milk
1 tablespoon butter
olive oil
2 packages of soy fake meat
1 large yellow onion
1/2 cup port (or cream sherry)
1 cup of frozen peas
3 cloves of garlic
3 stalks of celery
2 large carrots
1 large leek
5-6 mushrooms (crimini or button)
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
colby-jack cheese, grated (substitute whatever you like)

peel potatoes then cut cauliflower and potatoes into small pieces.

boil in a large pot pot of water till the cauliflower is fork tender and the potato cubes break apart when you squeeze them between two fingers (you don't want them to smush, but to break apart smartly).

Cool them under cold water, place in bowl, with 1 tablespoon of butter and about 1/3 cup of soy or regular milk. Mash it all together well using an immersion blender till you reach your desired mashed-potato consistency. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel and roughly chop the onion, and mince the garlic. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a large flat bottomed pan (frying pan or otherwise) over medium-high heat, place the onion into the oil. Cook till the onion in translucent. Lower heat to medium, and add the garlic, peas and the fake-ground beef cook for a few minutes, till heated through, then add 1/2 cup port. Cook till the liquid is mostly absorbed. Set aside.

Clean and prepare for chopping the celery, carrots, leek and mushrooms. Chop them all into relatively small pieces. Put some olive oil into a frying pan over medium-high heat put carrots and mushrooms into pan, cook for a few minutes then add celery and finally leeks. You don't have to cook them till they are done, just take some of the water out and

Take a casserole dish, put a thin layer (1/2 inch - 1 inch deep) of the potato/cauliflower mixture over the whole bottom and sides of the dish. Layer along the bottom the fake beef mixture. Next layer the veggie mixture, and then top with the can of diced tomato.

Take the remaining potato/cauliflower mixture and put many dollops of it on top of the tomato. Smooth the dollops together to seal the top of the casserole dish. Grate cheese on the top!

Bake in the oven (at 375) for 1.5 hours if the casserole dish is at least 3 inches deep. for ~30 minutes at 400 if you are using a 9x13 baking dish (if using this type of dish, layer potato mix only along the top of the casserole.

Any other ideas, tips?

Veggie Stock

It's been a while since I have written. My sister is currently in Belize (I think) and my mother has not yet posted (though hopefully this will change soon).

I was making carrot soup yesterday, planning on posting about it but then I realized that there is an important first step for addressing soups, and that is stock! Old bones or carcasses make great meat stocks, but since we are pretty much vegetarian cooks here I will just address veggie stock.

Veggie Stock - soup is always better with home-made stock. It's not very difficult to make and saves lots of money with a few little tips, as well as letting you control the amount of salt you use if someone in your house has high blood pressure. Also, if you have a very special soup you are making you can make stock that will go especially well with those particular flavors.

Planning for stock:

Whenever you chop up veggies, consider freezing the ends: carrot peelings, sweet potato and potato skins, the green part of leeks, the greens off of carrots, the hearts of celery, onion skins. If you wash the veggies carefully before prepping them for other dishes all of these usual candidates for cast offs can be saved and used in home-made stock. Much to the consternation of my husband I have a very large bag of ends that I keep in the freezer till I have a chance to make stock.

When I finally get around to making the stock I will usually add an additional handful of garlic cloves, onion, carrot or celery or any other veggie that is languishing in my fridge right at the edge of usefulness.

a typical list for my stock:
two gallon bags of peelings, and leek ends
yam or potato
yellow or red onion
carrots
celery
fresh italian parsley
thyme
basil
(I use whatever is sitting around unused, but this is a typical list for me)
must haves:
a few cloves of garlic
a few cups of aging red wine
bay leaves
black pepper

You put all of the veg and herb matter that you will be using in a large pot (stock pot) just cover the veg in cool water (preferably filtered if you care) and cook uncovered on low for at least an hour, maybe more if you have time. I usually add a little salt to the mix, but not much.

Continue adding water to keep the veg covered over the next hour-plus of cooking, so that the veg is always covered just a bit. Feel free to stir around and taste to make sure you don't need more garlic or more herbs. You will need to occasionally skim the top of the stock. The scum doesn't taste good so just keep an eye out for build up and remove; it comes right up with a paper towel or kitchen towel and isn't that much of a hassle (unlike the greasy scum of meat stocks it's not a big deal).

You can add dried herbs if you don't have fresh, and don't worry if it doesn't taste like soup, it's just supposed to have a pleasant veggie flavor and be a good starting point for soups.

Once you feel the stock is done, you will have to strain the liquid and let it cool before putting it into containers for keeping.

Things to watch out for: the roots of onions (gritty stock from the dirt), bell pepper stems and seeds (they make the stock too bitter)

Things that make stock yummier: beets make the color dark and rich and sweet, the last portions of wine from a bottle you would drink (red or white), the more fresh herbs the better, bay leaf

I then portion the stock into 2 or 4 cup containers and freeze them till I need them.

Any other ideas re:stock? Any good pointers?