Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup with Phyllo Dumplings

 Like everyone else in the food world, my favorite part of summer (aside from not having to wear a jacket outside) is the produce. Trips to the greenmarket become wonderful discoveries of fresh summer bounty and I have to force myself not to come home with everything I see.


Lately, the vegetarian and I have been traveling a lot so we haven't had time to enjoy the greenmarket as much as we'd like. Our travels took us to Hancock, NY, where we were costarring in a new play that about the founding of Laramie, WY. While this was a lot of fun, culinarily it left something to be desired (aside from an amazing restaurant we discovered on the way home, in Ellenville, NY).

Ozzy

The other thing that's been going on is that, do to some lingering behavioral problems, we had to send Ozzy to boot camp for 2 weeks. Now he's home and we're training him pretty hardcore. It's taxing but, ultimately, will be worth it.


So on our trip to the greenmarket yesterday, we wanted something fresh, non labor-intensive and that we could make into comfort food. There were beautiful baby eggplants at the greenmarket and we picked up several (white and purple). To stick with my theme of miniature produce, I grabbed two pints of cherry tomatoes as well. And, because our basil plant had died while we were away, a bunch of lemon basil came home with us as well.


My favorite way to prepare eggplant is to roast it. This concentrates the flavors without leeching out too much moisture. A quick internet search found a recipe for Roasted Eggplant with Tomato and Feta. I loved the flavors but wanted something more comforting than a warm salad. A quick cookbook search found me a recipe for Summer Roasted Tomato Soup. I put on my thinking cap, combined both recipes, and -- poof! Summer Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup was born. Enjoy!


Summer Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

Freshly Pureed Soup

adapted from A Slob in the Kitchen and Green Lite Bites

• 4 small Japanese eggplants
• 1 small white eggplant
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided, plus more as necessary
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup lemon basil leaves, chopped
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 1 red onion, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss eggplants, tomatoes, olive oil (at least 1 teaspoon), garlic, salt, basil, chickpeas and feta together.on an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, stirring halfway through and adding more olive oil if eggplant has dried out. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a stockpot, heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cooking, stirring, 5-10 minutes, until onion has turned translucent. Add roasted mixture and stock. Cover, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Remove cover, lower heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender. Season with additional salt and, if desired, black pepper, to taste. Serve warm.

Phyllo, hot out of the oven

Make it a Meal: While you can serve this as an appetizer in a multi-course meal, it is also heavy enough to be a wonderful main dish. While everything roasts, make some phyllo dumplings (a wonderful stand-in for croutons) by wrapping basil and/or feta cheese in phyllo packages. While soup cooks, bake phyllo 15 minutes in a 375 F oven. Serve in soup or alongside. To drink, I'd recommend a rose, specifically a 2010 Biohof Pratsch. A sauvignon blanc would be nice as well. And for dessert? Pomegranate seeds. Bon appetit! 

Leftovers: Make a pound of pasta and pour over as much soup as you want instead of a prepared sauce. Yum!

Links to other roasted eggplant noshes:

• Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup from Simply Recipes
• Roasted Eggplant with Mint from White on Rice Couple
• Spicy Grilled Eggplant with Red Pepper, Parsley, and Mint from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Soup from Smitten Kitchen
• Roasted Eggplant Pesto from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Butter Borshch

Butter Borshch

My show closed on Saturday night and, after 3 weeks of wearing a corset, coming home late and barely cooking, I was really looking to make something restorative and nutritious for dinner last night. That always makes me think of soup. But so soon after Passover, the last thing I wanted was matzoh ball soup. I also knew I needed this soup to be chock full of vegetables, to make up for all the fried bar food I'd been eating late nights after performances. And I have a little jar of fresh bay leaves -- a gift from a cast member that I was eager to sample. Since spring produce isn't quite here yet, I started thinking about root vegetables. But I wanted a green as well. So I asked myself: what root vegetables have delicious edible greens? Beets, of course! Borshch it was, then.


But the vegetarian isn't such a fan of beets, so I wanted there to be enough other flavors in the borshch that it wouldn't taste overwhelmingly of beets (just clean and earthy). So we added in onions and carrots and sauteed all the earth vegetables in butter. Instead of cabbage, I used the beet greens and even half a package of diced tomatoes from Winter Sun Farms.


So did it work? Did the vegetarian learn to like beets? Yes and no. He loved the flavorful broth we created (and wasn't even turned off by the reddish color!) but found the texture of the beets off-putting. But that's fine; I had made enough side dishes for him to be satisfied with the broth stirred in and I was able to have extra soup for lunch today. Enjoy!


Butter Borshch
inspired by Cooking with PETA and Russian Cookbook

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 2 beets, grated
• 2 carrots, grated
• 3 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 cup sauce tomatoes, diced
• 1 bay leaf (fresh, if possible)
• beet greens from 1 bunch beets, stems and leaves chopped and separated
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional garlic salt to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground, plus additional red pepper flakes to taste

Melt butter in a pot over medium-low heat. Add onion, beets and carrots and saute until fragrant, about 15 minutes. Pour in broth, tomatoes and bay leaf and simmer 5 minutes. Add beet greens stems and simer another 5 minutes. Add beet green leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper and simmer, stirring well, 5 minutes, until greens are tender and flavors are melded nicely. Remove bay leaf and serve. Makes 4 1/2 cups.


Make it a meal: If, like me, you're cooking for someone who may not be crazy about borshch, make side 

Make it a Meal

dishes that could qualify as a meal in themselves. Staying in Eastern Europe, buckwheat is great either on the side or stirred into the borshch. For some extra protein, how about some nutty black-eyed peas? And traveling back around the world, some sauteed bok choy brings in an extra dose of greens. A bottle of red wine to drink and for dessert, fresh blueberries. Bon appetit!


Links to other borshch noshes and thoughts:

• Borscht from Simply Recipes
• Vegetarian Borsch from nami-nami
• Borscht Soup with Garlic Bread from Christine' s Recipes
• Creamy Beet Borscht from Lisa's Kitchen
• Jennifer Wildeboer talked about vegan borshch in her interview on food52
• Borscht from Wandering Chopsticks
• Borsht from Jew And The Carrot
• Borscht from The Kitchn
• Azu, the Tatar meat stew from nami-nami
• Borscht keeps the cold at bay -- canned vs. homemade borscht from Slashfood
• Simply Borscht from Papawow
• part of The Omnivore's Hundred, as listed on Chocolate & Zucchini

Pepper & Potato Soup

Pepper & Potato Soup

In an ongoing effort to continue eating organic fruits and vegetables and, at the same time, support local farms, the Vegetarian and I joined Winter Sun Farms CSA. What's really special about this particular CSA is that they deliver locally grown, flash-frozen summer produce--in the depths of winter. So, as we're getting tired of only finding root vegetables at the Greenmarket, now our freezer has a beautiful assortment of summer fruits and vegetables: diced mixed peppers, blueberries, sweet corn, Carolina Gold tomatoes, butternut squash puree, green beans and fresh pea shoots. We pick up this array of goodies once a month, through April, at which point spring produce will be in full force. The other nice thing about everything being frozen is that we don't have to worry about using it immediately (except the pea shoots, of course. Any suggestions?)


Dinner last night came, as usual, from a couple of sources. First, since we had leftover potatoes from our mashed celery potatoes earlier this week, I knew I wanted to use those. And what better use for potatoes in February then in a soup? The recipe inspiration came from a cookbook I found waiting to be thrown out in my old building in Chelsea--Quick and Healthy Home Cooking. The book itself is rather shticky--all the recipes are either below a certain carb count or take fewer than 30 minutes to cook--and this particular one was made entirely in the microwave! So I knew I had to adapt it to the stovetop. (Even though, for the first time since college, I now reside with a microwave, I still have no desire to use it for anything other than reheating and occasionally making popcorn.) The original recipe was also for a beet & potato soup--sufficiently wintry, of course, but we had bell peppers in the freezer! That, and the vegetarian isn't so into beets. So then I poked around online and found Elise's recipe for Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup. Perfection! A quick combination of the two recipes and we were in business. Enjoy!


Pepper & Potato Soup

• 23 ounces mixed bell peppers, diced (about 4)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 5 red-skinned potatoes, diced
• 1 russet potato, diced
• 1 fuji apple, peeled, cored and grated (I did this in the food processor--much easier)
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon cumin, ground
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pinch thyme, dried
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, ground
• sour cream, to taste (optional)
• brown rice, cooked (optional)
• several sprigs dill leaf, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Toss peppers with olive oil and spread out on pan. Roast for 20 minutes, until quite fragrant. Remove and set aside.

In a medium stockpot, mix together onion, potatoes, apple and water. Steam, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Stir in cumin and cook another minute. Add peppers (and their oil), bay leaf, thyme, lemon juice and vegetable broth. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low and simmer for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and let rest 5 minutes.

Remove bay leaf and discard. Transfer contents of pot (in batches!) to food processor and pulse until smooth. Stir in salt and pepper. If necessary, return soup to pot and reheat. Garnish with sour cream (if desired--I did, the vegetarian didn't) and dill. If you want something heartier, stir in some cooked brown rice (the vegetarian did; I found it delightful as is. Serve warm.

Links to other pepper potato soup noshes:

• Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup from Simply Recipes
• Corn, Red Pepper & Potato Soup from Albion Cooks
• Red Pepper and Potato Soup with Sweet Paprika from Jane Spice
• Squash, Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup from The Perfect Pantry
• Cheesy Potato, Broccoli & Piquillo Pepper Soup from What We're Eating
• Potato Leek Soup from Simply Recipes

MLLA 32: French-Style Lentil Soup

French-Style Lentil Soup

Lentilles Verte du Puy

One of the goodies I brought back from Paris for the Vegetarian and me to enjoy was a box of French green lentils, an AOC-protected variety that many consider to be the best lentils in the world. Blue-green when uncooked, they are quite beautiful and certainly not "peasant food." I often think of lentils as a winter food and, with all the snow we've been having in New York, a lentil soup was exactly what we've been craving.


As I slowly adapt myself to a (mostly) vegetarian diet, I have a new-found appreciation for legumes. High in protein, they're an excellent main dish and alternative to tofu. Lentils are probably my favorite variety. One such reason is simply time commitment--unlike most legumes, lentils don't need to be soaked. They can just be rinsed, sorted (to make sure no small stones sneaked in) and cooked. They also only need about 45 minutes to cook, unlike many beans which require several hours. This all means that I can still get dinner on the table, even when I come home late and don't plan ahead.


Because I used French lentils, I decided to make the flavorings of this soup reflect French cuisine as well. Wanting a meal that really stuck to our ribs (and knowing the Vegetarian craves starches as much as I do protein), we had this over Mashed Celery Potatoes. Not traditional, I know, but delicious all the same.


And, because this is a legume dish, it's my first entry into the 32nd installment of My Legume Love Affair. Enjoy!


French-Style Lentil Soup
adapted from a recipe for French Lentil Soup from Epicurious and one for Egyptian-Style Lentil Soup from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.

• 1 red onion, sliced into very thin rings
• 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, coarsely chopped
• 6 baby carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, ground
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I recommend Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth)
• 4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups French green lentils
• 1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1 lemon, quartered

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place red onion in a pie plate and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover tightly with tin foil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add yellow 

Simmering Lentil Soup

onions, carrots, celery, garlic, cumin and fennel seeds, reduce heat to medium-low and saute until vegetables begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add vegetable broth, water, lentils, tomatoes, kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil then lower heat immediately, cover partially, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, until lentils are very tender and the broth has thickened.

Remove from heat, stir in reserved red onion and its olive oil, as well as balsamic vinegar. Season with French sea salt and additional 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Serve, over mashed celery potatoes if desired, with lemon wedges. Enjoy!


Update: check out Sandhya's beautiful round-up and congratulations to all the winners!

Links to other French Lentil Soup noshes:

• French Green Lentil Soup from Kiss My Spatula
• Kabocha French Lentil Soup from 101 Cookbooks
• French Green Lentil and Spinach Soup from Former Chef
• Lively Up Yourself Lentil Soup from 101 Cookbooks
• Barefoot Contessa's French Lentil Soup from Tales from a Veggie Kitchen
• French-Style Lentil Soup with Spinach from Cheap Healthy Good

Tomato-Fennel Soup

News! News and revelations! In July, the Vegetarian, Ozzy and I moved in together to a spacious one-bedroom in the Lincoln Center area of Manhattan. Moving in during the summer certainly made me more eager to cook (that and discovering the adorable Tucker Square Greenmarket only a few blocks away) but focusing on creating healthy vegetarian meals made me far less adventurous. So I invested in a few new vegetarian cookbooks, revisited ones I already owned and decided to let my kitchen creativity come out in other ways--meal planning, substitutions, etc. and let writing and creating my own recipes disappear.

Then I got busy. From October through December I've been working on no fewer than 3 projects at a time, which left very little time for cooking and even less energy. We began ordering in frequently, buying prepared foods, etc. Getting frustrated with our complacency, we joined a wine CSA. And when the wines began arriving, I started recipe planning again. Each new wine created a new list of delightful-sounding recipes culled from cookbooks and the internet. Of course, there are many more recipes than we can realistically have with one bottle of wine! But that was enough to get me back into the kitchen, tasting, experimenting and playing. Now, when we have free time, cooking together has become one of the Vegetarian and my favorite activities!

So, without further ado, here is the most recent creation: Tomato-Fennel Soup. With the recent cold spell, we needed something warming but, wanting to remain healthy, trim and energetic, I've been craving lighter, more summery flavors. Obviously fresh tomatoes are no good this time of year. But canned tomatoes can be cooked down into a delicious soup. And, with the addition of some fresh fennel and a bit of cumin, this turned into a lovely dish. Served alongside a Fresh Tofu Salad and a bottle of Sardinian Vermentino, it became a complete meal.

Tomato-Fennel Soup

Adapted from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped finely
• 2 baby carrots, chopped finely
• 1 28-ounce can whole sauce tomatoes
• 1/2 cup mushroom broth
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 tablespoons fennel leaves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in a medium stockpot over medium-low heat. Add fennel bulb, shallots and carrots and cook, stirring, 15 minutes.

Add tomatoes, broth, salt, cumin and pepper. Raise heat to high, cover and bring to a boil. Still covered, return heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes with your spoon. Remove from heat and blend, using an immersion blender. You can leave the soup as chunky or as smooth as you desire. Ours was somewhere in between. Serve hot, sprinkled with fennel leaves and cilantro. Enjoy!

Links to other tomato fennel soup noshes:

• Tomato Fennel Soup from Kitchenography
• Tomato & Fennel Soup from Just Cook It
• Tomato-Fennel Soup from Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
• Roasted Cauliflower, Roma's and Fennel Soup from Cucina Panzano
• Spicy Tomato and Fennel Soup from Fairy Cake Heaven
• Tomato and Fennel Soup from Clivia's Cuisine
• Fennel & Tomato Soup with Basil & Haloumi Croutons from Sophies Foodiefiles
• Golden Tomato Soup with Fennel from The Wednesday Chef

Imagine: Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Usually, if I'm going to have a meal worth blogging about, I make it from scratch, especially if it's something cooked. But every so often, I'm lazy. I want a warming and filling bowl of soup, but without going through the trouble of making a whole pot of it, especially if I'm the only one eating it. Often I ignore such feelings and just make a soup, freezing leftovers or convincing some innocent soul to eat with me. But other times the microwave calls and I just nuke a bowl of packaged, prepared soup.

Most of the time, this soup is unflavorful and generally forgettable. However, I've finally found a brand I like--Imagine, a natural, organic brand that makes many wheat, gluten and dairy-free foods, made with real ingredients. Specifically, I had their Creamy Butternut Squash Soup, which I bought at Trader Joe's. While the soup itself had a very pleasant flavor, I found it was even better with a dollop of Greek Yogurt and some Cinnamon stirred in. Also, because I had a Spinach Salad on the side, I threw in a few spinach leaves to make it more interesting.

The result? Heavenly. And, perusing the Imagine website, I see they even have a recipe for Shells with Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce. That'll have to be for a day I do feel like cooking.


Food and Products and Prepared Food and Soup and Salad and Lunch and Quick Recipe and Vegetarian and Kosher and Dairy