This was a recent experiment that ended up as a tasty dinner and then lunch the next day. I used a basic carrot soup recipe with ginger and lemon to start but then added a lot of other things to it (curry powder, cashews, coconut cream). It made a very interesting, satisfying soup.

My inspiration for adding all of those extra ingredients were a really wonderful bowl of soup I had a couple of years ago at The Cricket Cafe on Belmont and a recent lazy approach to dinner in the form of Pacific Foods Cashew Carrot Ginger soup.

I think you could easily substitute coconut milk for the cream (it won’t end up as creamy) but you’ll save some fat for a dessert or something. I went ahead and froze my leftover coconut cream in three batches for other recipes. That’s what I do when I open a can of coconut milk and don’t use it all. I’m assuming it will work with the cream as well. No one comment and tell me it won’t work. Do not crush my dreams!

Also, I just want to add that I got the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook for my birthday and I am so excited to cook something from it!

Curried Carrot Soup with Coconut & Cashews
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 white onion, chopped
1 tbsp peeled fresh ginger, grated
Optional: 1 tsp fresh turmeric, grated
1 tsp curry powder
4 cloves minced garlic
3 cups medium carrots, peeled, chopped
1 tomato, seeded, chopped
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup toasted cashews
3 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
1/3 cup coconut cream
small squeeze of lemon juice
Optional Garnishes: chopped green onion, thai basil leaves

Frozen pieces of ginger and turmeric, about to be microplaned

Melt butter and heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4-5 minutes. Add ginger (and fresh turmeric, if you’ve got it), garlic and curry powder; sauté 2 more minutes.

Oh, last month I came across fresh turmeric at Pasta Works. I know, neat! I used what I needed then and then peeled some and cut it into about 1-inch pieces, wrapped it up and froze it like I would peeled, fresh ginger. That’s what I used here. If you have access to fresh turmeric, great. If not, just skip it. Or if you wanted to, you could add maybe a 1/4 tsp dried. But I wouldn’t worry about it.

Next, add the chopped carrots, tomato and lemon zest; sauté 1 minute.

Add 3 cups stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir in coconut cream and cashews. Cool slightly.

Puree soup in batches in blender. Return soup to pot. Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring soup back to a simmer, thinning with more stock, if needed. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with green onions and Thai basil if you have any.

***

Oh, I just added a bunch of images to Flickr, including: Brunch at Country Cat, our last dinner at Carlyle, Lincoln City and assorted food stuff.

Both jwa and I had short ribs recently at Tabla (New Year’s Eve, I believe) and ever since, I’ve wanted to make some. I finally gave it a try last weekend and was pretty happy with the results. The cooking liquid here is deeeeee-licious! And the meat was pretty good too! The meat just fell off the bones, nom-nom-nom-nom.

The original recipe said to make the ribs the day before you eat them, just re-warming before serving. An advantage to that is that you can pull some of the solid fat off the top. I didn’t do that, but I did cook it in the morning, let it cool, refrigerated for a couple of hours and was able to spoon some of the fat off the top that way.

But really, you’re eating a big pot of red meat, are you really concerned about the extra fat? So, you could probably time this to just be done when you want to eat it and not worry about it at all, or just try to skim some fat off while it’s still hot.

Braised Short Ribs
Recipe adapted from Michael Symon
5-6 Servings
2 tbsp olive oil
3 lbs meaty beef short ribs on the bone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 tsp anchovy paste (or 1 anchovy)
1 bay leaf
1 head garlic, cloves separated
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry red wine
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large enameled cast iron casserole or big, heavy pot. Season the ribs with salt and pepper. Add half of the short ribs to the casserole and cook over moderately high heat until browned, about 6 minutes. Transfer the ribs to a plate or bowl. Repeat with the remaining oil and ribs.

Add the celery, carrot and onion to the casserole and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 7 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until glossy, about 2 minutes.

Add the herb sprigs, anchovy paste, bay leaf and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Next, add the stock, wine and vinegar and bring to a boil.

Return the short ribs to the pot, then cover and braise in the oven at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Drop heat to 225 degrees F and cook for 3.5 - 4 more hours or until meat is tender.

Let cool and then refrigerate until read to serve. When you are about ready to eat, skim as much fat from the top as you can and rewarm the pot of ribs over medium heat.

This was delicious with some polenta and roasted broccoli!

We got dinner & lunches the next day and one more dinner out of this!

This is a kind of recipe mash-up. A lamb tagine recipe (with the wonderful & amazing spice-paste-rub stuff) and a chicken tagine recipe with the tomatoes and broth and oven cooking. And wow, good call to mix the two recipes togetther! This was WONDERFUL — all caps wonderful. I wrote it down right after dinner so I would remember exactly what I did.

Let’s see, what else? I did not make this in an actual tagine (*hint* *hint*) but a big, heavy, ovenproof, wide skillet. That worked well. I also used some of a spice mix I got at Penzeys — Rogan Josh. It has ginger, paprika, cumin, garlic, etc…so if you don’t have that specific blend, you can just add a little of those spices or omit it, it was only a 1/2 teaspoon. I was really just looking for an opportunity to use it. It smells so good. I wind up with so many little jars of spice blends from Penzey’s because they all smell so good!

Obscure ingredient alert: I actually had sundried tomato paste! If you don’t, I’m sure you could just use regular tomato paste. I’ve also included the recipe for the couscous I made to accompany the tagine and a harissa yogurt sauce below.

Chicken Tagine with Chickpeas & Golden Raisins
Adapted from two recipes by Bobby Flay — one for Chicken Tagine and one for Lamb Tagine
2 lb chicken thighs and drumsticks (I used about 1 lb bone-in, skin on drumsticks and about 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs — this was a good combination!)
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 handful chopped cilantro
Pinch of saffron threads
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 white onion, diced
1 leek, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
Optional: 1/2 tsp Rogan Josh seasoning
2 cups chicken stock
1 cinnamon stick
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup golden raisins

Mix together the garlic, honey, olive oil, cilantro, saffron, paprika, cumin and tomato paste in a large bowl. Rub the mixture all over the chicken and cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 5 - 8 hours. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or a tagine over high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and place in the hot pan, in batches if needed; cook until golden brown.

Remove chicken to a plate or bowl. Make sure you get up all the garlic pieces and crispy cilantro bits.

Return the Dutch oven/tagine to the stove and add the onions, leek and Rojan Josh seasoning and cook until soft. Add the stock, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, tomatoes, chickpeas, and raisins and bring to a simmer.

Nestle the chicken (and any accumulate juices) down into a tagine or Dutch oven. Cover and cook in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Do not remove the lid to check on the chicken until after the 45 minutes.

Garnish with chopped clinatro and serve harissa sauce on the side.

Harissa Sauce
1/2 cup 2% fat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp harissa paste

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and let stand at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before serving. This is awesome stuff. Do not skip it!

Almond, Orange & Pomegranate Couscous
1 cup couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
2 green onions, sliced
salt

Bring the chicken stock, pinch of salt and olive oil to a boil. Add the zest, green onions and couscous. Stir. Add the almonds and pomegranate seeds to the top. Turn off the heat and cover for 5 minutes.

Fluff with a fork and serve with the tagine.

This is a great recipe in which to use some of that turkey stock you just made. Or, of course, chicken stock works well too. Vegetable stock/broth probably too. This is not completely authentic, I’m sure. I’ve added tomatoes and tweaked the ingredients to my liking. Such as: I prefer this very garlicky and thick but you can adapt that to your needs. It can be stew-like or soup like. You can prepare it dressed like a reindeer. The choices are endless.

I also used a mix of spinach and wheat rigatoni, making it more like a healthy pasta dish with a chickpea sauce. That is just my way.

Instead of using a potato masher, you can also take about half the chickpeas out, use a blender on the remaining chickpeas/stock/veggies and then add the reserved whole chickpeas back into the pan when you add the pasta.

I halved the original recipe which fed four, so below, should feed two.

Okay, let’s do this!

Pasta e Ceci (Pasta with Chickpeas)
Adpated from the Splendid Table, who in turn, adapted it from Jamie Oliver — the original recipe is in Jamie’s Italy. It is, I checked!
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
A sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
1 14-oz. cans of chickpeas
2 cups of chicken stock
Optional: a piece of Parmesan rind
3/4 cup dried ditalini or other small Italian “soup” pasta
handful of cherry tomatoes halved or quartered, depending on size
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional 2: a small handful of fresh basil or parsley, leaves picked and torn, or more rosemary for garnish…and grated Parmesan cheese

Put the finely chopped onion, cherry tomatoes, and garlic into a saucepan with a little extra virgin olive oil and the rosemary and cook on low, with the lid on, for about 15-20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft, without any color. Stir a couple of times to make sure nothing is getting to dark. The first time I did this, I put it on low, walked away and came back 20 minutes to burnt garlic and rosemary.

Drain your chickpeas well and rinse them in cold water, then add them to the pan and cover with the stock. If you have one (and I do, just for these types of occasions), put a small piece of Parmesan — or any hard italian cheese — rind in there and let it simmer. Cook gently for half an hour and then, use a potato masher to mash the chickpeas up a bit.

Season the soup with salt and pepper, and add the pasta. Simmer gently until the pasta is cooked. And discard your rind if you have it in there. It’s job is done

At this point, if the soup is a little thick, pour in some more chicken stock to thin it down, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Oh, why not, throw in a little grated Parmesan right now.

Serve drizzled with good-quality extra virgin olive oil and some torn basil if you have any. I did not.

I threw a rosemary piece on top for garnish.

Okay, this is seriously the best thing I have done with a pork tenderloin in like, years. Oh my god. Make this now. It was so good in fact, that I didn’t even get a decent picture of it for the title shot here. I just took it to the table and that was the end of that. So, above is a shot of the wine that we had for dinner. A zinfandel. It was good too.

The original recipe used bone-in pork chops but I substituted a pork tenderloin. I also did this indoors as opposed to outside on the grill, mainly because I was lazy. No matter, jwa & I were still rewarded with a delicious pork meal! I don’t really know what else to say about this except, uh, use fresh sage in the vinaigrette and get a spoon. Because you will be tempted to slurp that all up before the pork is even done.

Roasted Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette
Adapted from the cookbook, “Grilling for Life” by Bobby Flay
Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette
3 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 shallot, coarsely chopped
1 tsp honey
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin
2 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 pork tenderloin, about 1 pound
1 tsp olive oil

For Vinaigrette: Combine the sage, lemon juice, zest, shallot, honey, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in oil and blend until emulsified. Set aside until needed.

For Pork: Heat your grill to medium-high. You can also sear this in a pan and then finish cooking in the oven. If you are going to do that, then preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the fennel seeds, salt, and peppercorns in a spice mill and process until finely ground. Alternatively, combine the spices on a cutting board and crush them with the bottom of a heavy pot.

Brush pork with oil and season on both sides with fennel mixture. I used about 3/4 of the mixture, next time I will probably just rub it all on.

Grill the pork until slightly charred on both sides and cooked to medium-well, 4-5 min per side. If using a stovetop/oven approach, sear the pork on all sides (about 5-6 minutes total), then finish cooking in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. You are looking to pull the pork out of the oven with an internal temperature of about 150 degrees F. Transfer pork to a place, tent with foil and let rest about 10 minutes.

To serve: slice pork on a bias and drizzle with some of the sage-lemon vinaigrette, serving the remaining vinaigrette on the side. We had this with some goat cheese polenta and roasted carrots, fennel and garlic.

I can imagine drizzling this Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette on all manner of things — chicken, fish, pasta, yourself. Anything really.