White Bean Soup with Roasted Cauliflower

I made this a few weeks ago and some people asked for the recipe. Sorry it took so long.  It is adapted from a Mark Bittman recipe so I have to give props for the inspiration. More winter comfort food!

Ingredients:
1 quart vegetable stock
3 garlic gloves minced
1 onion chopped
1 can diced tomatoes chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1 can white beans rinsed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp or 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 head of Cauliflower
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for shaving

Directions:
Heat 2 TBSPs of olive oil in a stock pot over medium high heat.  Add onions and sauté 8-10 minutes until they become translucent.  Season with salt and pepper and add garlic, celery and carrots. Add tomatoes, beans and 1 cup of the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil.  At this point you can use an immersion blender and pulse a couple times to break up some of the beans. You don't have to do this but I like how it thickens up the soup. 
You can now add the rest of the vegetable stock, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil then cover and turn down to a simmer.
Preheat the oven to 400F.  Cut cauliflower into florets and toss with 2 TBSPs of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast cauliflower in the oven for 20-30 minutes until they have nice crispy edges.
At this point you can remove the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings to your liking.
To serve, place some of the roasted cauliflower florets on top and shave some Parmigiano over the soup.

Vegetable Soup

I posted a non vegetarian version of this hybrid tortilla soup and chili recipe before, but I wanted to do another meatless version.  This does have fish sauce because I love it but you can take it out if you want to make it totally vegetarian.  It's one of those ultimate comfort foods that warms you up and is full of flavor.  Perfect for winter nights, riding out snow storms.  The recipe is for 4 but easily doubles for more guests!

Ingredients:
1 quart vegetable stock
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro + a little more to garnish
5 garlic gloves minced
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
1 can diced tomatoes chopped
2 carrot chopped
1 cup of zucchini cut up into chunks
1 cup squash cut up into chunks
1 can white beans rinsed
1 can black beans rinsed
1 small can of corn rinsed
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
2 jalapenos seeded and diced
1/2 TBSP fish sauce
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 limes  (one juiced and one for serving)
1/2 Avocado 
Olive Oil

Directions:
Heat 2 TBSP of olive oil in a stock pot over medium high heat.  Sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes then toss in the garlic and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.  Add carrots, cumin, salt and pepper and tomatoes.  After another minute or so add the Vegetable stock, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Stir then add 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, bell pepper, zucchini, squash, beans, corn and jalapenos.
Cover and let simmer for another 20 minutes.  Stir in lime juice and the other half (1 cup) of cilantro.
Taste and adjust seasoning to your taste.
To serve, top with a bit of fresh cilantro, a few slices of avocado and a squeeze of lime.  You can also top with a little crema if you want.

Vegetable Lasagna

Lasagna is something that was always a bit of a mystery to me.  There are all these layers.  Well that part seems simple enough, but what order do you put them in?  Could it really be as simple as sauce, noodles, cheese, repeat?  The answer is basically yes.  What about the noodles?  They come in sheets.  Do you boil them first and then put everything together or do you just stack them in dry?  Guess what?  Both are right depending on what kind of noodles you get.  Lucky for me I found some fresh pasta sheets at the supermarket so no need to boil before baking.  This recipe is for a small pan (6x9 inches) so expand the recipe accordingly. 

Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
1TBSP olive oil
1/2 onion minced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp Brown sugar
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of salt
1 tsp butter

lasagna sheets
1 zucchini
1 cup of ricotta
1 + 1/2 cup mozzarella
1/8 cup fresh shredded Parmesan
bunch of fresh basil chopped
1 TBSP olive oil


Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 F.
Start with your sauce.   Heat 1 TBSP of olive oil over medium heat and add the onions.  Saute the onions for 2 minutes, moving them around the pan constantly. Add the garlic and continue to saute for another 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and stir.  Add everything else, stir until combined and turn the heat to low.  Let cook until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.
Cut your zucchini into thin rounds, 1/16 - 1/8 inch thick.  I use a mandolin to get uniformly thick rounds so they cook evenly.
Now it's stacking time!
Start by coating your baking dish with olive oil.  The first layer should be 1/3 of your sauce.  Then a pasta sheet.  Spread 1/2 cup of ricotta on the pasta sheet.  Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella.  Place a layer of zucchini rounds on top of that, then another pasta sheet.  Now the second 1/3 of your sauce. Next a layer of chopped fresh basil.  Spread 1/2 cup of ricotta over that and another 1/2 cup of mozzarella over that.  Now another layer of zucchini and another pasta sheet.  Spread out your final 1/3 of sauce.  Top with 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/8 cup of shredded parmesan. 
Cover you baking pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

Curry Chicken and Chips

Curry chicken and chips!  One of my favorite chip shop staples.  This is a comfort food that I crave in the winter so I set out to create my own version of it.  A perfect mix of sweet and savory.  It is loosely base on my memory of the curry chicken and chips from Chip Shop in Brooklyn. 

Ingredients:
2 tsp veg oil
1/2 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 TBSP curry powder
2 tsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/2 apple cut up
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 cup tomatoes
1 chicken breast chopped up

Directions:
Heat oil over medium heat and add onion.  Saute for 2 minutes and chicken.  Brown chicken and add garlic, tomatoes and apples.  Saute for 30 seconds and stir in curry powder, salt and flour.  Add water and brown sugar and reduce heat to low.  Let simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 15 - 20 minutes. 
Serve over your favorite french fries.  I really love seasoned curly fries so that's what I usually go with.

Mexi Soup

This is a hybrid of a tortilla soup and a chili.  It's one of those ultimate comfort foods that warms you up and is full of flavor.  Right now it's one of the favorite things I make.  Perfect for the cold rainy days we are having here in Porto.  The recipe is for 2 - 4, like all my recipes, but easily doubles or triples for more guests!

 

Sophie wants a taste.

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro + a little more to garnish
3 garlic gloves minced
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
1 cup tomatoes chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 cup of zucchini cut up into chunks
1 can white beans rinsed
1 can black beans rinsed
1 small can of corn rinsed
1 tsp Sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 jalapeno
1/2 TBSP fish sauce
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 limes  (one juiced and one for serving)
Chicken:
Salt
Pepper
1/2 chicken breast (or more if you want more chicken)
1 TBSP olive oil
Crema (optional)

Directions:
Start with the chicken stock, water, garlic, 1/2 the cilantro (1 cup), onion and fish sauce over medium heat.  When that starts to get hot add the salt, pepper, jalapeno, sugar and cumin, and let simmer for a few minutes.
Add the carrots, tomatoes, and corn, and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Add beans, zucchini, and bell pepper.  Cover and let simmer for another 20 minutes.  Stir in lime juice and the other half (1 cup) of cilantro.
Cut up chicken into strips and mix with 1 TBSP of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Saute the chicken strips and use to top the soup.
Top with a bit of fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime.  You can also top with a little crema if you want.

Thai Green Curry

Thai food is something that does not exist at all in Porto (at least I haven't found it).  That's a real bummer for me because I love it and it used to be so easy to get when we lived in Brooklyn.  There were at least 5 Thai places in our old neighborhood.  This recipe is actually pretty easy to make.  It's basically curry paste, coconut milk and what ever else you want to through in there.  The fish sauce and sugar add a lot of depth to the flavors so you should really make an effort to include them.  Green curry sauce can be found at most supermarkets and I even read somewhere that people in Thailand use pre-made curry sauce so don't feel like your cheating.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP green curry paste
1 Can coconut milk
1/2 onion chopped
1 cup potatoes chopped
1 carrot chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper chopped
1 chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
2 tsp Olive oil
1/4 cup Fresh cilantro chopped plus a little more set aside
1 Lime
1/2 TBSP Fish sauce
1 TBSP brown sugar
Jasmine rice Cooked as normal

Directions:
Over medium heat, stir fry curry paste in 2 tsp of olive oil for 30 seconds and add onions.  Continue to cook for another 30 seconds constantly stirring and add potatoes and carrots.
Pour in coconut milk and stir. 
Add fish sauce and brown sugar and stir.
Cook for 2 minutes and add the chicken and red bell peppers.  Stir and cover.
Turn the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes.
Stir in 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro and serve over rice.  Garnish with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Mexi chicken and black beans

This is sort of a combination of a few different food loves of mine.  One being Mexican food and the other being Puerto Rican and Cuban food.  The beans have a little sweetness to them which perfectly compliments the zest of the chicken.  It's one of my favorite things to make and the apartment smells amazing while it's cooking!  Just as a heads up, this one does take a little bit of planning.

Ingredients:
Beans:
1 can of black beans
2 TBSP of cilantro minced
2 TBSP of onion minced
1/4 cup of red pepper chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 TBSP of brown sugar

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 onion minced
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
2 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1 Lime (Juiced)
1 TBSP cumin
Salt
Pepper

Bismatti Rice
1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro chopped
Creme Fresh
Lime

Directions:
This is the planning ahead part - 
Chop up the chicken into bite size pieces and place in a tupperware container with all the other ingredients for the chicken listed above.  Mix it all up and let this marinate for at least 1 hour before cooking (I usually marinate the chicken for 2 hours).
When it comes time to get cooking, start with the beans (they should simmer for at least and hour so maybe start these while your chicken is marinating).  Place all the ingredients for the beans in a pot over a low heat.  Stir everything together and put the lid on to hold in all moisture.
Rinse the rice for about a minute and place in a medium size pot with water (1 cup rice and 1-1/3 cups of water is what I use for the rice I have but your rice may be different).  Boil the water and rice and as soon as it begins boiling stir, cover and reduce heat to low.  When the rice is done cooking stir in 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro. 
Heat a sauté pan and sauté the chicken over medium heat.  Since they are chopped into bit size pieces it doesn't take long.
Plate everything and top with creme fresh and a squirt of lime.

Pasta Time

My first post is something that is a super easy meal that is both comforting and fresh.  Like Mark Bittman said "I'm lazy, I'm rushed, and I'm not all that skillful" so in that spirit I like to keep thing simple.  This only has a few ingredients that are readily available at any supermarket (even here in Portugal).  Of course like most of the things I make there is plenty of room for free styling and alteration.

Penne with fresh tomatos and basil

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta (of course you could use any pasta you like)
1 Can of diced tomatoes (i like to get them with garlic if I can)
1 Cup of grape tomatoes cut into quarters
1/2 onion diced
4 cloves of garlic diced
Oil oil
bunch of fresh basil cup up
1/2 tsp sea salt
dash of pepper
dash of red pepper flakes (depending how spicy you like it)
Ricotta cheese

Directions:
Over medium heat, heat up about a TBSP of olive oil in a pan and add the onions.   After about a minute or so toss in the garlic.  Wait about 30 seconds and add the canned tomato and fresh tomato.  Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and stir it all together.  As soon as it starts to bubble cover and reduce the heat to low.
Boil some water for the pasta.  Throw in a little sea salt and your pasta.  Don't over cook the pasta!  Huge pet peeve of mine.
Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce and fresh basil.
Plate it up and add a dollop of ricotta and a leaf of basil on top.