Vegetable and White Bean Soup with Blood Farm Ham

Cool weather. Time for soup. This one is a variation on a recipe from the Gardner Museum Café Cookbook. Groton’s own Blood Farm ham is a salty and smoky variety – you can substitute Virginia Ham.  The Blood Farm ham can be leftover baked ham (I bake it with bourbon, cloves and brown sugar) or grilled ham steak – each version imparts a slightly different flavor to the soup. If you are using grilled ham you might want to add a little extra sherry. There is room to play with the amounts of some things (I often skip the cream) but the fresh basil, parsley, peppers and mushrooms are key to the flavor of this soup.

• ¼ lb. butter (1 stick) butter
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• ¾ cup minced fresh parsley
• ¼ cup minced fresh basil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 – 3 cups diced cooked ham
• 1 quart chicken stock – low sodium if canned
• 2 large sweet red peppers
• 1 pound small mushrooms, quartered
• ¾ cup dry sherry (not the supermarket kind – the liquor store kind)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans – or one 15 oz. can, rinsed thoroughly in cold water
• 1 ½ cups corn kernels (optional – increase the beans if you don’t use the corn)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream (optional)
• Sea Salt

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt half of the butter, and add the garlic and onion. Sauté until the onion is translucent, then add the parsley, basil, bay leaf and ham, then sauté another 3 minutes. Transfer to a large sauced pan or soup pot. Add the chicken stock and let it simmer while you do the next step.

Heat the rest of the butter in the sauté pan over medium heat and add the peppers. After about 5 minutes add the mushrooms. After another 5 minutes add the sherry and simmer an additional 10 minutes to dissipate the alcohol. Transfer this mixture to the soup pot

Reduce the heat to medium low and add the beans, corn and cream (if using). Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the pepper and sea salt to taste. Reheats nicely.

 

This post first appeared in October of 2012.

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CSA Adventures Boxes 4 & 5. Corn, Peaches, Onions, Peppers, Zucchini, Squash, Cukes, Beans, Greens

So, the question is, do I share recipes that I made but don’t entirely love? I don’t always have the time or ingredients to make things over and over and get them to the point that I think they’re wonderful, so what I will do is post hyper links to recipes that I know are reliable or from reliable sources. I’ll give opinions on my experience and go from there. So if you see a full recipe here, it is one that I like enough to make again.

That said, the cukes, beans, peaches and greens we just ate, straight up or in salad. Nothing special to report other than that they were crunchy and full of flavor and that there’s something gratifying about watching kids eat fresh summer food. Summer squash was halved, seeded, diced and sauteed in garlic-infused olive oil with onions and peppers to go with grilled meat and basmati rice.

The first batch of corn we just steamed and ate, and it was good but not very sweet and a bit starchy – not very surprising with the wet weather and it still being early in the season. So I set out to make a warm corn salad with the logic that sauteeing the corn would bring out more flavor. Using Ina’s Garten’s Confetti Corn as a starting point, I came up with this:

Warm Corn Salad with Peppers and Herbs

• Kernels cut from 6 ears of sweet corn (about 5 cups)
• 2 Tablespoons garlic infused olive oil (plain is fine, too)
• 1 Small red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 red or orange pepper, diced
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 Tablespoons julienned fresh herbs: chives, parsley/cilantro and basil
• 1 Tablespoon minced seranno pepper (no seeds), optional

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil, and add the onion, cooking until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the sweet pepper and cook for 3 more minutes. Add 2 Tablespoons of the butter to the pan. Once it’s melted, add the corn, salt, and pepper and cook for about 6-8 minutes, adding the additional Tablespoon of butter. If using the seranno pepper, add that and cook for 2 more minutes and then correct the seasoning a bit before adding the herbs. Serve warm or hot.

Serves 4-6.

CSA Adventures: Box 3. Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Yellow Squash, and (hooray!) more Spring Onions

Now when we pick up the share on Sunday mornings it seems like there’s an advantage to showing up closer to 10am, since we fill our own box from the assortment of produce and they were out of green beans by the time we  arrived (my children will not mourn the loss of the beans, nor will they cheer the appearance of the broccoli).

The chard was the only item I’ve never prepared at home, so I took up that challenge first. A quick poll of friends and a cruise around the internet revealed that everyone just tears the leaves, chops the stems and sautes them with something – pretty much the same as collards. Based on several recipes found, here’s what I came up with to go with the steak and potato salad we served for dinner.

Swiss Chard with Pancetta and Spring Onions

The spring onions were bigger this week so one of them is comparable to a shallot, which is what I would probably ordinarily use (or a small vidalia).

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Swiss chard, washed, with stalks chopped and leaves torn from stems (discard stems)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4-6 ounces pancetta, diced
• 2 ounces dry white wine
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the pancetta and onion at medium heat until they are browned and caramelized. Add the chard stalks and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the leaves. Simmer for 1-2 minutes then add the lemon juice. Simmer until the leaves are wilted and the stalks are tender. Serve hot.

Some folks found the chard still too bitter, but I loved it with the salty pancetta and tangy lemon. It went well with the mayonnaise-based potato salad and would be very nice in winter alongside risotto.

Serves 4

Grilled Spring Onions

Another use of the spring onions was simply to cut the tops off, trim them, halve them, brush them with olive oil and cook them, cut side down, on the top rack of the grill – 6-8 minutes, depending on your grill and how crunchy (or not) you like them. I served them with a grilled pork loin that had been rubbed with cumin, ground black pepper, sea salt, olive oil, garlic and lime juice.

Eggs for Dinner

This is one of those using-up-leftovers recipes that turned out better than expected. Of course it can be served for breakfast but it didn’t feel like I was having breakfast for dinner (like when you make pancakes at night) – it was just good. I had some leftover boiled new potatoes and tomato and red onion salad – that’s how it started. This is how it ended up:

It looks like a mess but it tastes great. It’s almost not even a recipe, but here it is anyway.

Ingredients:

• 6 new potatoes, cooked and sliced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
• 2 Tablespoons red onion, diced
• 1 cup yellow and red grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 Tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 springs parsley, torn
• 5 Thai basil leaves, torn
• 4 chives, torn
• 2 eggs
• 1 slice provolone cheese, halved (optional)
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Heat an enameled cast iron skillet at medium, and add the oil, then the butter. Add the potatoes, the red pepper, and the onion and cook, stirring frequently until the potatoes are nice and brown about 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (or to taste). Add the tomatoes, and then the parsley and basil. Turn down the heat a little and add the chives. After a couple of minutes, when the tomatoes are cooked but not falling apart, divide the mixture between two dinner plates, and top with the cheese.

Put a little more butter in the pan, and crack the eggs into it. (Some people prefer their eggs “clean” and might want to use a separate pan for the eggs – not me.) Flip the eggs so they are over easy so that the whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny. Place one egg each on the serving place, right on top of the cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves two.

On the side: a glass of dry white wine or a grapefruit juice/citrus vodka/agave/seltzer cocktail.

CSA Adventures: killed the beets and made a salad. I served it with Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary, Garlic & Balsamic Vinegar, if that helps.

Off to an epic start. Not.

I roasted the beets and they just didn’t hold up. Maybe they absorbed too much water in the recent rains because they didn’t really seem to roast the way that golden and red beets do. They looked fine and peeled great but when I sliced them they didn’t hold firm, and the taste was earthy in a way not entirely good. Lesson learned.

My backup vegetable for Father’s Day dinner was a red leaf lettuce salad with cucumbers and blue cheese dressed with a red wine Dijon vinaigrette. It was lovely but needed a little sweetness – next time I will add dried cranberries.

I don’t really need to post a recipe for a green salad so I will share the recipe for the lamb chops I served with it. Also on the menu: Rooney’s potato salad and flourless chocolate cake.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary, Garlic and Balsamic Vinegar

This is an adaptation of a recipe I found on Epicurious.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 8 1 inch thick loin lamb chops, trimmed.

About the lamb: I have tried both New Zealand grass-fed and American local chops. The New Zealand meat has nice flavor but the fat does not grill nicely and is chewy. The American chops are bigger and fattier so they need to be trimmed more, but the remaining fat is more flavorful and edible. Also, the more fat there is the easier it is to burn them, so watch them carefully on the grill.

Whisk the first six items together to make the marinade. Pour a little into a 9 x 13 glass pan, enough to just cover the bottom. Place the chops in the pan and pour the remaining marinade over them. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, turning occasionally. (I have been known to let them marinate in a cool place on the counter for an hour before grilling.) If you are going to smoke them on the grill, soak the wood chips (mesquite or whatever you like) while the meat marinates.

Heat the grill to medium – if you have a smoker put that on before you light it. When you have good heat and smoke, grill the chops to desired doneness, taking care to avoid flare-ups that will burn the small chops. We have a very hot grill, so 3 minutes on each side gives us medium rare chops. Adjust your own times as needed. After removing chops from the grill, let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Beef Vegetable Stew with Bacon

This is a variation on Mark Bittman’s Beef Stew with Bacon in his How to Cook Everything app.  The key things he does that distinguishes this recipe, I think, is to flavor the fat with the garlic before it turns bitter and also cook the meat in the stock for a while before adding the vegetables.  I think this allows the broth to develop better flavor for the vegetables to absorb. I made a few changes to make it gluten free, added some different vegetables and used a combination of red wine and homemade chicken broth because I did not have beef broth – I actually like it better with the chicken broth; it doesn’t overpower the other flavors the way that beef broth can.

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed but still mostly intact
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4-6 ounces thick cut bacon, diced
• 2 lbs. Stew meat (I buy a chuck roast, trim it and cut it into bite sixed cubes)
• 2 large onions
• 2 cups red wine – barolo, cabernet or any full bodied red
• 1 cup stock – beef, chicken or vegetable
• 1 ½ teaspoons fresh chopped thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 3 large carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 ribs celery, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• ½ teaspoon basil
• Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped fresh parsley for serving

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high and cook the bacon until it crisp.  Remove it with a slotted spoon and reserve.  Add the crushedgarlic cloves to the hot fat, cook for one minute, then remove and discard the cloves.  Brown the meat in the flavored bacon fat over medium high heat, adding it a few bits at a time so that all of the meat can brown properly.  Season with salt and pepper while it is browning – it may require cooking in batches to keep from overcrowding in the pot.  As the meat browns, remove the done pieces with a slotted spoon and when it is all cooked pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions.  Cook them, stirring frequently until softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the wine and stock, bay leaf, thyme, and beef and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and check to see that the mixture is still soupy – if it seems too dry, add a little more wine, stock or water.  Add the potatoes, carrots and celery and bring the stew back up to a boil.  Then lower the heat, cover and cook for 45-60 minutes until the meat and vegetables are tender.   Add the bacon and the minced garlic.  Let cook for 5-10 minutes then adjust the seasoning.