Pea Soup Is Comfort Food

I had the baby last week, right on schedule, which amazed me because I've never heard of someone delivering on their due date before. After two nights in the hospital, I was happy to come home and even happier that my Mom was able to come for a few days to help me get settled into parenthood.

While she was here, she made a batch of pea soup for us. A perfect winter soup, this batch really hit the spot and only got better after being in the fridge for a day or two.

Mom's Pea Soup
1 pound of split green peas
A hunk of ham, preferably on the bone*
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 large or 4 small potatoes, diced
4 carrots cut into rounds
Salt** and pepper

Put the peas and ham in a large stockpot and cover with six to eight quarts of water. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce to a rolling simmer and stir occasionally to keep the peas from settling on the bottom.

Next add onions, carrots, and potatoes. Continue to cook and stir occasionally until the peas disintegrate and the soup thickens to a velvety consistency. If you used ham in the bone, remove the bone from the soup, pick off any meat, and return the meat to the soup.

The peas will thicken overnight, so the soup is best served the next day.

* The ham can be replaced with kielbasa or double smoked bacon.
** If the ham is salty, you may not need to add additional salt.

Filling the Freezer

Some women nest. Apparently I cook.

In preparation for the baby I've been making some dishes to throw in the freezer that can easily be reheated in the coming weeks when I may not have a handle on being able to whip something up for dinner.

Among what I've prepared for the freezer so far are tomato sauce with chicken sausage, lentil soup, and -- last night's addition -- turkey chili.

Along side the chili, I made a batch of skillet corn bread. Although I generally like the skillet corn bread recipe that I've posted before, I am still tweaking it. This version is sweeter and more crumbly then my previous version.

Here's what I did yesterday:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup honey
1 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. At the same time, place skillet in oven to preheat.

Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt together in one bowl. Whisk buttermilk, honey, and egg together in another bowl.

Remove hot skillet from the oven. Melt butter in the skillet, allowing it to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour the extra butter into the wet ingredients. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones and quickly mix to incorporate.

Pour batter into the hot skillet and return to the oven. Bake for 22 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly, then cut and enjoy.

Restocking My Asian Pantry

There are certain Asian-inspired dishes that I make over and over again. A few of my favorites include peanut noodles, sesame tuna, wasabi vinaigrette, and chicken curry. I know that I am not super authentic in my preparation methods, but I do like to have a few special items on-hand so that I can whip up one of these dishes without assembling a big shopping list.

I had a stash in the pantry in Germany. However, when we came back to the German states, the German movers would not pack any food or liquids. That meant that today I took a trip over to the Asian food market on Duraleigh just off 70.

Here I stocked up on assorted sundries such as soy sauce, mirian (a sweet rice wine), rice wine vinegar, wasabi, sesame seeds, and sushi rice. One thing that was missing from the shop was a good assortment of Thai curry pastes. The shopping trip created a hankering for some chicken curry, so I decided to head over to Whole Foods, thinking that they would have some.

As expected, they did have a choice of red or green curry paste. I was shocked, however, when I compared the prices of the Asian ingredients that I had just purchased a few miles away with what was on the shelves here. Everything was so much more expensive.

I still need to find a good source for curry paste, but I'm glad to know what not to get at Whole Foods.

Lentil Soup

I am trying to spend the last weeks of my pregnancy stocking up on simple meals that will be easy to prepare when the baby has arrived. Last night I decided to whip up a pot of lentil soup. Half we ate for dinner last night, and the other half when into the freezer.

The surprise ingredient? Ham hocks. A cut of pork from around the ankle of a pig, I thought it was very Southern to find them in my local grocery store. Ham hocks are not often used as a main dish, and instead are more commonly used to season vegetable dishes. The addition gave the soup a nice salty, rich undertone without being over powering.

1 large onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
3 carrots
1 bag brown lentils
1 large Russet potato
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf

Finely dice onion. Preheat a large pot. Add oil and sauté onion until translucent. Mince garlic and add to the pot. Finely chop celery and slice carrots into rounds. Add to pot and cook for a few minutes. Add lentils and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.

Cook lentils for 10, skimming off any foam that appears on the surface. Peel the potato and cut into a large dice. Add potatoes to the pot and simmer until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

When the lentils are tender and the potatoes are cooked through the soup can be served. If usually let my lentil soup simmer for another 20 minutes or so, allowing the lentils to break down further and the soup to thicken a bit more.

Serve hot with crust whole wheat bread.

Simple Grilled Shrimp

One thing that I don't love about my house in Raleigh is that it has an electric stovetop. As a consolation, Kevin and I bought a Mac Daddy propane grill last time we lived here. We placed the grill on the back deck, which is close to the kitchen and easy to use no matter the time of year.

Kevin's parents were nice enough to store the grill in their garage while we were in Germany, and returned it to us over the weekend. To celebrate moving back into our house I grilled up some delicious shrimp. Kevin's parents brought the shrimp from South Carolina too. They have a friend who gets them directly from the source in Charleston.

To keep the shrimp tasting delicious, they remove the heads and then freeze them in a salt-water solution. I had never heard of freezing in salt water before, but must admit that these shrimp were really great. Flavorful, with a nice texture, I hardly did anything to make our really easy and delicious dinner. Served with slow roasted tomatoes, which I also make on the grill, and a warm brown rice salad with arugula, red peppers, carrots, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Overall it was a yummy, yet health way to restart our live in this house.

Simple Grilled Shrimp
24 medium to large shrimp
6 wooden skewers
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

Remove the shrimp shells and the blackish/blue vein. Place four shrimp on each wooden skewer. Place shrimp skewers in a Tupperware. Finely mince garlic. Toss shrimp with garlic and olive and marinate for 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the grill to high. Season shrimp skewers with salt and pepper. Place skewers over high heat and grill with the cover closed for three minutes. Turn shrimp over and grill, with the top open until the shrimp are pink and opaque. Remove from grill and serve immediately.

Mini Goat Cheese Tarts With Camalized Shallots

My sister threw me a baby shower the day after Christmas. For most people, working full time and getting ready for Christmas is enough. Throwing a shower for thirty-plus people was a real feat of organization. She managed to pull everything together by planning ahead and being super organized.
The shower was a late afternoon cocktail party. She served three kinds of cocktails: a blue martini garnished with a jelly orange peel, belinis, and a non-alcoholic ginger and blood-orange cooler garnished with a slice of candied ginger.

The food consisted of a bunch of bite-sized appetizers. My favorite was the mini goat cheese tarts, which she made using mini-muffin pans.
Mini Goat Cheese Tarts
8 shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces goat cheese
2 eggs
1 cup cream
Salt and pepper
Pastry dough

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut shallots in half and slice with the grain. Preheat a medium-sized frying pan over a medium heat. Add olive oil and shallots. Reduce heat to low and allow shallots to caramelize, about 30 minutes. When finished, set aside until the tarts come out of the oven.

Mix goat cheese, eggs, and cream together. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside until tart shells are prepared.

Roll out pastry dough to one-quarter inch thick. Cut dough into one and a half inch circles. Place circles into mini-muffin tins. Par-bake dough for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and add two tablespoons of filling. Return to the oven and bake for an additional five to seven minutes, until filling sets and the crust is golden brown.

Top each mini tart with caramelized shallots.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Makes 24 mini tarts.

Rebuilding My Pantry

Though I have been cooking a bit since returning to the states -- our temporary apartment has a kitchen equipped with the base essentials -- I have had to spend a considerable amount of time and energy re-stocking my pantry. When I moved to Germany, I was allowed to bring some food items. That meant, spices, vinegars, and sauces were able to come with us. Upon return to the U.S. the movers were way less lenient. (I guess it was a German thing.) No food, no liquids.

I simply couldn't bear giving up all of the food and liquid in the house, and hid a few select items in my dressers and desks, but couldn't hide everything. What was worth violating customs regulations? The giant can of duck confit from Paris; a bottle of Champaign given to us to celebrate the baby's arrival; and the large bag of saffron from Spain all made the cut.

But all of basics were handed off to friends in Germany. Here's a list of what I've determined are the basic pantry items:

• Grains: All purpose flour, oats, polenta, pasta, brown basmati rice, cous cous, and corn meal
• Spices: Salt, black pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, turmeric, vanilla, cinnamon
• Oils: Extra virgin olive oil, canola oil
• Vinegars: Balsamic, apple cider, red wine
• Condiments: Mustard, mayo
• Canned fish: Tuna, salmon
• Veggies: Canned crush tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black beans, white beans, chick peas
• Misc.: Peanut butter
• Sweeteners: Brown sugar, honey
  

I still need a bunch of stuff, but so far this has been enough to get me back on the road to home-cooked meals.

Food Blogger in Training

I was worried that my niece -- a rather picky eater -- would have a hard time dealing with German cooking. Luckily, she'll eat just about an type of meat, so we didn't have a problem at all. Also, I found it ironic that she -- the same person who told me to stop writing about food on my other blog -- took a picture of every single thing she ate during her week abroad. Here is a collection of some of the highlights:

Dutch pancakes with chocolate at Pancake! in Amsterdam.

A pork steak sandwich at the Christmas market in Cologne.

A chocolate-covered apple qualifies as a fruit one day.

German Christmas cookies in Cochen couldn't be passed up.

Who doesn't love fries?

Pumpkin Cake With Rum Raisin Walnut Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie, but that is not the reason why I left it off my Thanksgiving menu.
The real reason was that, since I had houseguests the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I decided to do my baking ahead of time and keep it in the freezer until the holiday. I knew the apple pie would freeze well, but I had some trepidation about freezing a pumpkin pie. I thought the custard would get too weepy and make the crust soggy. I thought about making the crust and the filling, freezing everything separately, and baking it on Thanksgiving. This, however, would complicate my already complicated oven plan.

Instead, I decided to make this three layer pumpkin cake.
Pumpkin cake
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups fresh roasted pumpkin*
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour three eight-inch cake pans.

In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar and vegetable oil using a hand mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add pumpkin and vanilla, and mix.

Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Add the other half of the four and mix again.

Evenly divide cake batter between each of the three pans and bake for 30 minutes. Using a toothpick, check that the center of the cake is cooked. When the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

Cool on a rack. When the pan is cool enough to handle, remove from the pan.

Rum, raisin, and walnut filling
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 shots of dark rum

Combine raisins, walnuts, and rum. Let mixture soak for at least two hours. Can be prepared a day ahead.

Cream cheese frosting
16 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Using a hand mixer, combine cream cheese and butter. Slowly mix in sugar, one cup at a time until the frosting is light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla.

To assemble the cake
Ice the top of the bottom layer. Add half of the raisin walnut filling. Ice the bottom of the second layer and place on top of the first layer. Repeat with the second layer. Place the third layer on top. Ice top and sides with a light layer of icing, known as a crumb layer. Let icing set in the refrigerator. When firm, use the remaining icing to ice the top and the sides. Decorate with orange zest and candied ginger.

* You can use canned pumpkin as well.

Sweet Potato Pizza

The surprise hit of my Thanksgiving fest? Sweet potato pizza. Sure, I got flack for replacing the traditional casserole or mash with an unconventional option. The traditionalists on my guest list were very skeptical. But, by the end of the meal, I won them over. The few leftovers were quickly eaten up the next day.
Pizza dough
3/4 cup very hot tap water
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil

Add yeast to tap water. Set aside for five minutes to let the yeast proof. If a bit of foam appears on the top of the water, the yeast is okay to use. If no foam appears, throw out the yeast and use another package.

Place flour in a large bowl. Whisk in salt and sugar. Add water with yeast and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix until slightly sticky dough has formed. Add more flour, one tablespoon at a time, if necessary. Kneed the dough for two or three minutes in the bowl.

With the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, coat the sides of a large bowl. Put the pizza dough inside and cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in a warm, draft-free place and allow dough to rise for about one hour.

Punch down dough and roll out.

Sweet potato pizza topping
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup Sherry

Finely dice onion, mince garlic, and peel sweet potato. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the sweet potato.

In a large frying pan over high heat, sauté the onion until translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add sweet potatoes and reduce heat to medium high. Cook, tossing every few minutes, for six or seven minutes. Add tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Mix to incorporate the tomato paste and cook for another few minutes. Push potato mixture to the side and add Sherry. Using a spoon, scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan while the Sherry evaporates.

Spread the potato mixture even in the pan and remove from the heat.

To assemble pizza
1 pizza dough
Sweet potato pizza topping
1/2 cup grated Greyer cheese

Preheat over to 425 degrees. Roll out pizza dough to fit on a baking sheet. Bake pizza dough until the top becomes slightly golden, about five minutes. Remove from oven and evenly spread sweet potato topping over the dough. Sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake until cheese is melted and brown, about three to five minutes.

Remove from the oven, slice, and serve. The pizza is good hot or at room temperature.

Chestnut Stuffing

My Aunt Kathleen always made stuffing for Thanksgiving. That was almost enough reason for me to travel to her house in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. every year to celebrate the holiday. When I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner last year, there was no doubt about the type of stuffing I would make. Again this year, it had to be chestnut stuffing.

1 pound chestnut in shell
2 onions
3 ribs celery
1 bunch parsley
2 bags stuffing, or two loaves white bread cut into cubes and toasted
3 eggs
3 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut an "x" into the top of each chestnut. Place chestnuts on a baking dish and roast until the shells begin to buckle, about five to seven minutes. Take out of the oven and remove the shells while the nuts are still hot.

Dice onions and celery, mice parsley, and chop chestnuts. Add stuffing mix and toss to make sure that tall ingredients are evenly distributed. Add eggs and chicken stock. Toss to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper.

This recipe makes enough stuffing for one bird, plus a baking dish. For stuffing cooked in the baking dish, bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees covered with foil. Then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes.

A Turkey for Me

I've written about my German butcher before. He's awesome and has great quality meats. And for Thanksgiving he didn't let me down.
I ordered a 16-pound turkey about a week ahead of time. On Thursday morning, Kevin and picked up the fresh bird. To my surprise, the turkey was a bit larger then expected. This year's bird was nearly 20 pounds. Considering I had barley fit last year's turkey in the over, I had reservations about fitting this one, but took the bird home any way.

Once home I set up what I refer to as the poultry spa. The turkey pampering starts with a nice salt-water bath. I brined the turkey for four hours in a large cooler filled with salt water. Before roasting, I pat the turkey dry, stuffed it with a chestnut dressing, and trussed it up good and tight. (This was as much to get it into the over as to keep it moist.)

I massaged the turkey with butter, generously sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and then put it into the oven. (Actually my Mom put it in the oven -- at 32 weeks pregnant I didn't think wrestling an over-sized bird into an under-sized oven seemed like a good idea.) The "turkey sauna" consisted of 45 minutes at 375 degrees, then another 3 hours at 350 degrees.

I managed to baste it a few times, but didn't obsess about not being able to reach the back of the bird. After letting it rest of an hour, the turkey was ready to carve. Everything sliced beautifully. The meat was moist and rich and delicious. We even had plenty of drippings for plenty of gravy to ladle generously on everyone's plates.

Flat Bread Pizza

In general, I'm a fan of thin-crusted pizza. Sure, I can enjoy just about any type of slice from time to time. Yet, I always come back to the crispy crust sprinkled with just enough ingredients to cover the dough without weighing it down. One of my favorite places in New York, Gruppo on Avenue B between 11th and 12th Streets, does this to great effect.
These days, since Gruppo isn't around the corner I have to improvise. The other day I came up with a very good, store bought alternative. At one of the Halal shops near my house they sell large flat breads. These I toast for a few minutes in a hot over alone, then coat with sauces, herbs, and cheese. The result was a crisp, thin crust that beets the pants off a store bought pizza shell.

1 flat bread
2 tablespoons pizza sauce
2 tablespoons grated Gouda
5 slices fresh mozzarella
1 tablespoon chopped basil

Preheat over to 425 degrees. Place flat bread on a baking sheet and place in the over for three minutes. Remove from oven and top with sauce, Gouda, mozzarella, and basil. Return to over and cook until the cheese has melted, about three minutes.

Serves one.

Thanksgiving Prep

Since I will have visitors that entire week before Thanksgiving, I've decided to become one of those cooks who have a much as possible done ahead of time. This isn't natural for me, but with some effort, I think I may be able to pull off a great dinner without logging the whole week in the kitchen. Here's my menu and game plan.

Appetizers:

• Fruit, cheese, crackers, baguette, nuts; everything here will be purchased and simply needs to be arranged

Dinner:

• Turkey - needs to be cooked on Thursday; I had ordered a fresh bird, so no defrosting will be required
• Gravy - today's New York times had an article about making gravy ahead of time; I don't plan on using the recipe posted, which required two hours to roast turkey parts and six hours to simmer the stock, but I like the idea of making a basic gravy ahead of time with a quick turkey stock, freezing it, then warming it on Thursday while whisking in the juices from the roasted bird
• Mashed potatoes - will be made on Thursday, hopefully one of the few things to be cooked at the last minute
• Sweet potatoes - I am going to make a sweet potato tart; the crust is a basic pizza crust, which I'll make ahead of time and freeze; the sweet potato filling can also be made in advance and frozen; on Thursday everything needs to be assembled and baked; baking takes only a few minutes, so I'll bake it at the last minute while the turkey is resting
• Stuffing - I am making chestnut stuffing, which will be baked outside of the bird; this will be assembled the night before and baked in the morning; I'll reheat it with the pizza
• Green beans - the beans can be trimmed the night before and simple steamed on Thursday; I'll toss them with a lemon vinaigrette and fried shallot
• Cranberry sauce - can be made any night next week and stored in the fridge
• Creamed onion - can be made on the stove top on Thursday
  

Dessert

• Apple pie - I made the dough over the weekend and plan to bake the pies tonight; I'll freeze the pies and warm them just before serving
• Pumpkin spice cake - I roasted the pumpkin on Sunday and baked the layers yesterday; on Thursday all I have to do is ice it
• Congo bars - I still haven't decided what to do about these yet; I am hoping pecans will magically appear