Cool Beet and Cucumber Soup

I love this soup recipe in the heat of summer - especially Polish style, ladled over a hard-boiled egg. It is fetching with its pink color, and surprising in its not-really-borscht-but-still-a-cold-beet-soup. It's also perfect for the early summer produce: beets and their greens, green onions, cucumbers, and dill.


This recipe is from ReBar, a veggie restaurant/bistro in Victoria, Canada that has a great cookbook. I made the broth on day one so that it would better chill in my fridge, and then finished it off to eat for dinner day two. I sort of wonder if bunches of veggies are a little smaller in Canada than they are here - I inevitably need to add more buttermilk, lemon and pickle juice, and I still end up with a pretty chunky final product. So, when they say adjust the seasoning, I guess they mean ADJUST. you know?!

Serves 4-6 (or closer to 8 if you add in the extra like I do)
2 small beet bunches, with greens
water to cover
1 T salt
2 T sugar
3 c. buttermilk
1 c. yogurt, kefir, or sour cream
2-3 lemons, juiced
1/4 c. pickle juice
lots of cracked pepper
1/2 long English cucumber, 1/4" dice
1 bunch scallions, minced
1/4 c. fresh minced dill

1. Cut greens from the beetroot and and wash both well to remove any clinging dirt. Peel beets, quarter, and thinly slice. Place in a pot and cover with water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil. Add salt, partially cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until beets are just tender.


2. While the beets are simmering, finely shred the greens and stems. When beets are tender, stir the greens and sugar into the pot. Cover and turn off the heat. Let stand 10 minutes. Uncover and cool to room temp; then chill thoroughly before proceeding. (This step can be prepared up to days in advance or frozen up to 1 month!)

3. In a large bowl, combine the beets/greens/cooking water with buttermilk, yogurt, lemon & pickle juice. Season with salt, cracked pepper, sugar, or more lemon to get the right balance for your taste. Chill the soup for at least one hour before serving.


4. To serve: stir in the cucumbers, scallions, and dill and taste one more time to adjust the seasoning. Serve in chilled bowls. (Or in my case, jars!)

vermicelli salad.

just so you all don't think that all i do is bake and never eat actual food...here's a recipe from the rebar cookbook. i was craving something fresh and summery and this really hit the spot.

dressing:

1 cup hot water

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 tsp sriracha sauce

4 tbsp fish sauce (or substitute soy sauce)

2 tbsp soy sauce

6 tbsp lime juice

salad:

2 cups shredded lettuce

1/2 package rice noodles

4 scallions, minced

1/2 cucumber, sliced

2 carrots, grated

2 tomatoes, chopped (i left these out because i didn't have any)

4 tbsp chopped cilantro and mint

2 tbsp cashews

1. dissolve sugar in hot water and let cool. stir in garlic, jalapeno, soy and/or fish sauce and lime juice. whisk thouroughly to combine.

2. follow instructions on package to cook noodles. strain and rinse with cold water. shake excess water from the noodles and gently toss with sesame oil.

3. to assemble salads, place shredded lettuce in the bottom of each serving bowl, add fresh herbs, then noodles, then veggies, then dressing, sprinkle with cashews and more fresh herbs.

eat!

Baked Chiles Rellenos and Mesa Red Sauce

Can you handle yet another Rebar recipe? This one is amazing, though a little high maintenance with roasting the peppers...but so worth it. I had a bunch of poblano and banana peppers that I picked pre-frost last week, and have been wanting to make chilis rellenos for awhile. Maybe the fried version next! Rebar suggest serving these "in a pool of" mesa red sauce - which is a great sauce for all kinds of things. That recipe follows.

1 1/3 c. masa harina
1/2 c. hot water
6-8 chiles (Anaheim, Poblano, or Pasilla)
2 t. veggies oil
1 med. yam, peeled and diced
1 c. corn, fresh or frozen
2 jalepenos, seeded and diced
2 T. butter, softened
2 T. vegetable shortening (i used lard from the seward. yum.)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 c. warm water
1 c. grated jack cheese
2 t. ancho chili powder
1/2 recipe mesa red sauce

1. Combine masa harina and water in a mixing bowl and mix at medium speed for 5 min. (i did this by hand and all was well.) Cover and let dough rest for one hour.
2. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Place whole peppers on parchment lined baking sheet. Cut a slit along the length of each pepper and roast for 15-20 minutes until the skins blister. put in plastic bag or in bowl covered with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. Peel away skin (gently!) and try to keep chili as intact as possible. *For the record, I found this difficult. Rinse out the seeds and set aside to dry.
3. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Heat ooil in skillet and saute yams for 5 min. Add corn and jalepenos, season with a pinch of salt, and saute for until veggies are tender. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
4. Return to masa dough and mix in butter and shortening - one spoonful at at time until well blended. In a separate small bowl, combine salt, baking powder, warm water and stir to dissolve. Mix in masa dough until well combined, then stir in veggies, cheese, and chili powder. Fill each chili until plump. Place chilis on a lined baking sheet and bake 20 minutes until the filling is golden brown and heated through. To serve, heat the masa sauce, spoon 1/4 c. on each plate/bowl and place a chili relleno on top. Garnish with cilantro, scallions, or chives.
*I had extra masa dough left and made masa cakes...they were still good.

Masa Red Sauce - yields 4 cups
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 T. masa harina
4 T. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. cayenne
1 t. salt
1/2 t. cracked pepper
1 T. minced oregano
4 c. veggie stock (or water), heated
2 T. tomato paste
1 t. brown sugar

Heat veg. oil in a pan over medium-high heat and saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook 3 minutes. Sprinkle in masa harina, stir constantly as it cooks and turns golden. Add spices and oregano and stir 2 more minutes. Slowly whisk in warm stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and whisk in the tomato paste and sugar. Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Season to taste.
*This sauce is also good for enchiladas, huevos, eggs, etc.

Tortilla soup

I am feeling un-inspired on the cooking front (who knew I would be ready for fall weather by now?!) so I went back to the ReBar cookbook. I am not quite yet ready for creamy food or I would try the delicious looking corn chowder. I'm a firm believer in cream soups...I just am waiting not so patiently for fall when I will use cream, cheese, and any other rich creamy substance in great abundance. This one is a little lighter - and I wish I had seen Gaybie's note to boil the corn cobs in the broth BEFORE I composted them. Alas. My sister and I tag-teamed this soup with some corn bread muffins that we put a bunch of basil in. Which was great, btw.

As I type this the wind blowing in from the windows is getting cooler and cooler. We must be on the brink of fall! Which means pies, greens, and squash. And it means I need to harvest and freeze before it's too late!

Serves 8 (or 4 if you have a good appetite!)
8 cups vegetable stock
2 T vegetable oil
2 yellow onions, finely diced
1 T salt
10 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. minced oregano
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
3 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
2 large red peppers, seeded and finely diced
1/2 t. liquid smoke (I omitted this)
2 tsp chipotle puree (chipotle peppers in adobe sauce blended up)
4 corn tortillas
2 avocados, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed
asiago cheese, shaved with a potato peeler
1 lime, cut into wedges (i forgot this part!)

1. Heat the stock and keep it warm on the back burner while preparing the soup. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and 1 t. salt and saute until translucent. Stir in garlic, oregano, half the jalapenos, and another t. salt: saute 5 minutes.
2. Pour the hot stock into the pot and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer 20 minutes. In the final 5 minutes, stir in the corn, peppers, liquid smoke, chipotle, and remaining jalapenos and salt. Simmer until corn is tender. Meanwhile prepare garnishes.
3. To prepare tortilla strips: slice each tortilla into long strips 1/4" thick. Toss with a light coating of oil and pinch of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and cook for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and let cool until ready to serve.
4. To serve, ladle broth into bowls and divide the avocado, cilantro leaves, tortilla strips, and asiago shavings among the servings. Serve immediately with a bowl of lime wedges on the side.

Power Squares

I should be packing for my Duluth bike trip tomorrow - but instead I am thinking about the food we will be eating, the hazelnut no-need-to-refrigerate cream I discovered, homemade granola bars, and also these. They are kind of like the bird bars at the co-op, only better because there is dried fruit. They are also wheat-free, and there is no baking involved - which makes them especially nice to prepare in an un-air-conditioned house when it is 95 degrees or some such hotness. They are now wrapped up in wax paper, ready to supply some fuel for the hot biking days ahead!

This recipe is from rebar - a restaurant (and cookbook) that makes good, not so sweet, whole food types of recipes:
3/4 c. dried apricots, cut into pieces
3/4 c. dried apple
4 brown rice cakes
1 c. unsweetened coconut
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/3 c. sesame seeds
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 1/4 c. fruit sweetener*
1/2 c. natural peanut butter, slightly warmed

*Fruit sweetener is hard to find - but it turns out apple juice concentrate works. I used a combo of barley malt syrup and honey to equal the same amount of fruit sweetener, and they taste great.

1. In food processor, pulse apricots, apples and rice cakes to a fine texture. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
2. Pulse coconut, seeds, and oats to roughly combine. Add to the fruit mixture, along with sweetener and peanut butter. Mix everything together until well combined. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Roll/press the dough into balls or small squares. Press/roll in toasted sesame seeds to coat. *The recipe also says to refrigerate - but i wonder if that is due to the fruit sweetener. I think that with honey - you can leave it out. I have mine in the fridge until we leave- then they will be in the warm warm pannier until we eat them all!

Makes 14-15 bars.