Turkey noodle soup with homemade egg noodles

After purging most of the cream puffs, fudge, cookies, chex mix and other super healthy leftover x-mas food, we were left with a Ziplock bag of turkey. E was craving soup, and I was about to buy a bag of frozen egg noodles to make mom's turkey noodle. Luckily, I had the following sudden insight: hey, wait a minute, those suckers can't be that hard to make. Less than 30 minutes later, we had a very tasty pot of turkey noodle soup and not a drop on our new aprons.

Egg noodles:
Mix 2 C flour, a pinch of salt, 2 eggs (beaten), 1/2 C milk, and a tablespoon of butter for about 5 min. Let sit for 10. roll and cut into desired shapes. Toss them into hot soup and boil for a few minutes.

Wild Rice Salad

Lately wild rice and I are having a torrential love affair...I already had wild rice with milk and maple syrup for breakfast. Which can be beat only by wild rice porridge (grind the rice in a coffee grinder and cook it 1:4 parts water) - also with milk and maple syrup. So here we are: a family recipe that my mom and her sisters make a lot. Winter salad is singing to me tonight - particularly since I've been eating lots of cheese, meat, and cream.

Incidentally, since I am bringing you along on the wild rice affair, here is a great article by Winona LaDuke about ricing in Minnesota and the industrialization of "wild" rice (3 pages...it just looks longer). Support the White Earth Land Recovery Project - their rice is at the co-op.

This is not the most precise recipe. I'll put in my estimated amounts, but it is very flexible.
2+ cups wild rice
2-3 carrots, diced small
2-3 celery stalks, diced small
1/2 c+ mixed raw, unsalted nuts (cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc)
1 c. dried fruit (craisins, raisins, currents, diced apricots...)
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 c. frozen peas (maybe more)
handfuls of chopped parsley
juice of 1-2 lemons
salt
olive oil drizzle

Cook the rice according to the instructions, then mix all ingredients together.

couscous!

So I took a brief hiatus from the blog (but not entirely from cooking) in order to finish up a semester of student teaching. Charming as those kiddos were, they really cut into my time for culinary adventures. Alas, it's been all about easy around here, and couscous has been a welcome addition to the regular rotation. It's quick, it's easy, it's cheap, and it's tasty, right?
Here are two recipes from my straight aunt Martha. While you might not use them to dazzle your dinner guests, it's possible you'll find that you happen to have all (or at least most) of the ingredients on a cold winter night, thus preventing a last-minute run to the grocery store.

#1 Couscous with chicken and orange
1 cup couscous
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
1/3 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 navel orange, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over couscous. Cover and let sit until tender, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. In another medium bowl, combine chicken, pistachios, orange, mint, oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss couscous with chicken mixture.

I'm quite sure we had neither mint nor pistachios, but it hit the spot anyway.

#2 Couscous with spinach and onions
1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
some spinach, chopped
1 cup couscous
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt, pepper, whatev.

In a saucepan, cook and stir onion and garlic in hot oil until tender. Add the broth and spinach. Bring mixture to a boil and stir occasionally. Add in couscous; stir to combine. Cover, remove pan from heat, and let stand 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add remaining ingredients; stir to combine.

russian tea cakes.

this recipe is from smitten kitchen. they're absolutely delicious. nutty and buttery and especially good with coffee.

russian tea cakes:

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 cup pecans, hazelnuts, or other nuts, toasted and finely ground (i used pecans)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. beat in flour, then nuts. divide dough in half; form each half into a ball. wrap separately in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

preheat oven to 350. whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and cinnamon in pie dish to blend, set aside.

roll chilled dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls. arrange on baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart. bake until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. cool cookies 5 minutes on backing sheet. gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. transfer to rack and cool completely.

coconut lime bars

the photo is a key lime pie that i made for the big post-thanksgiving pie potluck. it was ok. but the lime bars i made with the leftover limes were way better. so you get that recipe with the pie photo-since i forgot to take one of the bars.
crust:
3/4 c plus 2 tbs all purpose flour
3/4 stick (6 tbs) butter--cold, cut into bits
1/3 c toasted coconut flakes, cooled
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt


custard:
4 lg eggs
1 c sugar (i used slightly less)
1/3 c all purpose flour
1/2 c plus 2 tbs fresh lime juice (about 5 limes)
1 tbs freshly grated lime zest
1/3 c toasted coconut flakes, cooled

make crust:
preheat oven to 325. butter and flour 8x8 baking dish-knocking out excess flour.
in a bowl, blend with fingers flour, butter, coconut, powdered sugar and salt until the mixture resembles course meal. pat mixture into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 to 30 min or until golden brown. (i had to bake mine several minutes longer for it to begin to brown).

make custard:
in a bowl whisk together eggs and sugar until well combined. stir in flour, lime juice and zest.
pour mixture over crust and bake in middle of oven 20 minutes. top custard with coconut and bake 5 to 10 minutes more or until just set. cool in pan on rack and chill at least one hour.

village style potatoes and carrots

This recipe is from Ixchel and making it always reminds me of cooking on 10th Ave. It's easy and hearty and absolutely delicious.

Village Style Potatoes and Carrots

3-4 carrots, peeled and diced

4-5 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup frozen peas

1 Tbsp fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

2 tomatoes, finely minced or grated

1 1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 1/2 tsp salt

saute onion, garlic, and ginger in oil until just beginning to brown at the edges. put in the spices, salt, and tomatoes and stir fry on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, the tomatoes will break down and the sauce will thicken. add the potatoes and carros, stir, add about 1/2 cup of water and cover the pan. let cook on low, covered, until vegetables are tender. add peas and cook until heated through. serve over rice with plenty of the Super Fantastic Yogurt Sauce.

Super Fantastic Yogurt Sauce

1 1/2 cup plain full fat yogurt

1 clove garlic, very finely minced

pinch paprika

1/2-1 tsp salt

Ginger-miso soup with noodles

I really like soup, and I really like Jeanne Lemlin's cookbook (see gingerbread post below), but I've never been a big fan of miso soup, despite its amazing nutritional qualities. (I guess I don't like plenty of nutritious foods, like eggs. But anyway.) Enter JL's ginger-miso soup: this is a delicious soup! The key, I think, is to use sweet white miso, which has a milder flavor than some other types of miso.

From Vegetarian Classics:
8 oz. udon or linguine (I use udon, but want to experiment next time with soba)
1/4 c. tamari
1/2 c. roughly sliced gingerroot (with skin on)
4 oz. firm tofu, cut into 1/2-in. cubes
2 scallions, thinly sliced (I use more)
1/4 c. white (sweet) miso
1 T. sesame oil

1. Boil water for the udon and cook until tender but not mushy--approx. 6 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse under cold running water, drain again, and then set aside.
2. In the same pot (make sure it's fairly large), bring 6 cups of water plus the tamari and ginger to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger with a slotted spoon and compost.
3. Stir in the tofu and half the scallions. Lower the heat to very low. NOTE: I'm not a fan of raw tofu, so I fry mine up in some sesame oil and tamari until they are crisp little cubes, and then I add to the soup. But if you like raw tofu, all the better since it saves a step.
4. Place the miso in a small bowl. Remove about 1/2 c. broth and stir it into the miso to dilute it and prevent lumping. Pour the mixture into the broth. Stir in the sesame oil and udon. Let the udon heat through, but do NOT let the soup boil after the miso is added. (To do so would destroy some of its aforementioned nutritive value!)
5. Garnish with remaining scallions and serve!