cardamom pear loaf

Hello readers,

Perhaps like me, you've survived the great snowpocalypse that attacked much of North America (yes North America, dear States-side readers. When you see weather systems disappearing beyond the borders of the US on TV, they come here to Canada).  I can't bear the idea of leaving the house, the slushy streets, icy sidewalks, and the mountains of snow to be conquered on every street corner! All I want is cup upon cup of tea, and a little cake to go with it!

Inspired by a recent recipe on Gourmet Live, I devised a (vegan) cardamom pear loaf.  The original recipe is for a molasses cake, and I was intrigued by the method, which required adding boiling water and then freezing the dough to supposedly evenly bake the bread.  It produced a delicious cake, so moist and fluffy, and with only one egg! that I thought it a fine recipe for vegan tweaking.

This bread is so good - it makes two loaves, one for now, one for later, and fills the house with the yummiest scent of cardamom and vanilla baking.

Vegan Cardamom Pear Loaf

Makes 2 loaves

Takes 1 hour (plus freezing time)

1 cup honey

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons canola oil

2 inches of the black innards of a vanilla pod (or 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract)

1/2 tsp ground cardamom (5-6 pods)

2 cups flour

1 cup semolina*

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3 pears sliced up into little bits

1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and coarsely chopped

1.5 cups boiling water

Toast the pistachios in a toaster oven or the big oven on 250 for 8–10 minutes.  Careful they don't burn!  When they've cooled, coarsely chop them.  If baking bread right away, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the honey (you may want to melt the honey in the microwave or on the stove).  When dissolved, add oil, vanilla and cardamom, and stir vigorously until it's well-combined.  Add the flour, semolina, baking soda and salt, and stir until the dough resembles course, sandy meal.  Mix in the pears and crushed pistachios.

Add the boiling water and stir, the dough will be runny like pancake batter.

At this point you have two options, to freeze the dough or to not the freeze the dough.  I find that there is no difference between freezing and not freezing the dough in the finished bread.

The loaf on the left was baked yesterday with immediately mixed batter, and the loaf on the right was baked today, from batter that was frozen overnight.  It has a slightly larger crumb, but other than the differences from my pouring a bit more batter into the pan, tastes the same and has (basically) the same texture.

Oh well.  Since this recipe makes enough for 2 loaves, you get a later loaf for when you've eaten all of the first one!

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes (a bit more if you have a frozen loaf) until a fork comes out cleanly.  Let cool in the pan, and then turn out and enjoy!

*Semolina is also known as rava or cream of wheat.  It gives the bread an extra little crunch.  If you don't want to use it, you can use another 1.5 cups of flour (3.5 cups flour total).

Pepper Stew with Corn Dumplings

As promised, Pepper Stew with Corn Dumplings. This recipe is based on a version my good friend Balázs made when he visited me in Berkeley a few years ago. He and his brother were on an American tour, and they called home to their mother in Budapest to make sure they were making the lecsó properly. It's a famous dish, and the Pixar film Ratatouille was called L'ecsó in Hungarian--the homey pepper stew substituting for the eggplant one that touches the grouchy critic's heart and inspires him to proclaim, "Anyone can cook!"

Balázs and Korecs took such care, peeling their peppers, and slowly cooking the tomatoes and onions. It was the height of summer, and everything was so fresh and delicious. This is a quicker version, vegetarian, which is not very authentic, and using canned tomatoes, but delicious all the same. We usually eat this over brown rice, and sometimes with a dollop of yogurt. The other night I had the brilliant idea to make dumplings for the stew, it was genius, I have to say.

Pepper Stew with Corn Dumplings
Makes 4 servings
Takes 1 hour

1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
3–6 peppers, Hungarian peppers ideally, but red peppers otherwise (not green--they go to mush!  Also, if you are using Hungarian peppers, be sure to remove the stems and seeds, they can be hot)

1 500 ml (16 oz or so) canned tomatoes

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons vegan margarine (or olive oil, or butter!)
1/2 cup ice cold water

In a pot, saute the onions and garlic on medium heat.  When they've softened, add the paprikas and saute until fragrant.  Add the peppers, and continue to saute until they've softened as well.  Add the canned tomatoes, salt, some black pepper, and turn down the heat to a simmer.

Combine flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Mix in the margarine with your fingertips until the dough resemble course meal.  Add the water and combine to form a dough.  It will be heavy.  Divide into seven balls.  Drop them carefully into the stew.  Cover and simmer very gently for 20 minutes.  Check on the dumplings--they are done when you put a knife in them and they are cooked through.

The dumplings are like little pieces of cornbread that have already been dunked and soaked up all the juices!

Tomato Bread Soup

I've never eaten bread soup before, but I've always been intrigued by the idea of turning stale bread into a thick soup.  We had half a baguette and the last of the tomatoes from the farmers market and it seemed the perfect chance to try this out.  Since it is cold and I am developing a cold, the idea of a supposedly hearty tomato soup especially pinged my heart.  This one has some Spanish flavours, smoked paprika and a red pepper, but those could be taken out and replaced with simple perfect basil.

Bread Soup

Makes 4 servings

Takes 1 hour

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 small carrot, chopped

2 small onions, diced

1 not so hot chile (this was from my local farmer's market - not so spicy, a red pepper would be ok)

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

black pepper

1/2 cup white wine

5 thick slices of stale bread, crusts removed (and saved*), and cut into 2 inch cubes

6 tomatoes, diced

a few sprigs parsley

1 tsp. salt (probably more)

4 cups of water

In a pot on medium high heat, saute the onions, carrot and garlic in olive oil until onions get translucent and begin to brown.  Add the chile, and saute for a moment before adding smoked paprika and pepper.  Stir until the oil looks red, about 2 minutes.

Add white wine, let combine for a minute, and the stir in bread.  It will soak up all the liquid!

Let it sit for a couple of minutes, absorbing, and then add tomatoes and parsley.  Stir a bit, and then let the bread absorb some more.

Add salt and 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low.  Simmer, uncovered for about 45 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and breaking up.

*  I made croutons with my bread crusts!  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and toast in an oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Make sure you check on them about half way through.  Great on top of the soup!  If you can stop yourself from eating them right away!

Banana Hazelnut Bread

Here's another sorta vegan (no eggs, no butter, only lactose-free milk) recipe, for banana bread.  The betrothed decided he didn't like the little bananas we found in the market.  Too sweet for him.  So I made this bread, I wish I had chocolate chips to throw in, but none in the house.

I label my recipes "vegan" because I think they could easily be made vegan by substituting soymilk, juice (depending on the recipe), or even water for the lactose-free milk.  As a vegetarian and a personal chef to someone with food issues, I am always reading recipes that include meat and dairy and eggs, and thinking about how I could make the recipe work for us.  So rather than a strict classification of the recipe, the "vegan" tag works as an indicator of the recipe's suitability for adaptation.

Since I've started sorta vegan baking, I've realized the egg replacement is the toughest challenge.  1 large egg equals 3 1/4 Tablespoons of liquid, but you not only have to replace the liquid for the recipe, but the eggs account for so much of the texture of baked goods, the fluffiness of cakes, and the dense chewiness of cookies.  Because I like dense, moist banana bread, I didn't add extra baking powder and vinegar to this recipe (a common elementary school science solution to creating a rise in vegan baked goods--think that food coloring volcano you did in third grade happening inside the oven).

It rose beautifully, and the finished bread had a crispy, thick crust, and a moist interior.   I used a local flour mill's unbleached "white" flour, so the the bread also had a nice crunch to it.

I also think the hazelnuts are a better flavor match with the bananas than the traditional walnuts.

Banana Hazelnut Bread

Takes 2 hours

Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup almond oil

6 1/2 tbsps. milk

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (approx. 3 big ones, or we had 6 little ones)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup toasted and crushed hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Grease and flour 1 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In the banana bowl, add the sugar and oil, and beat.  Add milk and vanilla and stir to combine.

Pour wet ingredients into the flour ingredients and stir until well-combined.  Add hazelnuts and pour into loaf pan.

Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until a fork inserted into the bread comes out clean.

Let cool 10 minutes (if you can).

Yum.

Aloo Paratha

Aloo (Potato) Paratha is one of my favorite foods.  I often make myself sick eating Aloo paratha, yogurt and mixed pickle.  So it is important to only make myself 2 parathas, and only eat 2 parathas, and not gobble up everyone else's.  It's actually quite easy to make, and so delicious, you don't really need anything else to eat with.  A simple dal, leftovers, anything.  The dough works best when it is rested, so it's easy to make what you want to eat the parathas with while the dough naps.

Aloo Paratha
Makes 9 parathas

Takes 1 hour

2 cups whole wheat chapati flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup water

some oil (canola or vegetable)

2 large potatoes, quartered (Those long Idaho potatoes work really well)

1 small green chili, chopped very fine (Serrano and the small green chilies work well)

1 handful cilantro, chopped fine

salt

Mix the flour and salt, and then add the cup of water.  Mix together to form a sticky dough.  Oil your hands, and turn the dough ball out onto a floured surface.  Knead until it is smooth and no longer sticky, adding flour as necessary.  Let rest for 30 minutes.

Starting the potatoes in cold, salted water, bring to a boil and cook until when you stick a fork in them they slip off.  Drain, and let cool completely.

Divide the dough evenly into 9 balls, let rest for 15 minutes while you get the potatoes ready.

When the potatoes have cooled completely, add the cilantro and chili, to your taste.  The chili will not make a huge impact on the spiciness of the finished paratha.  If you want more spicy, add some chili powder.  Check for salt, and add to your taste.  

Grease your hands with oil, and divide the potatoes into 9 balls.

Flatten the dough into thick circles and place the potato balls into the center.  Wrap the dough around and pinch the dough tight.

Let rest for 15 minutes while your griddle (tawa) heats up, admire your handiwork.

On a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll into thinnish circles.  You can begin cooking the first ones as you roll the others out.  Make sure that you do not stack the rolled out parathas on top of each other, because they may stick together.  This is not a big deal because if they do, just combine and redivide into balls and roll out again.  But you've made such pretty parathas, your work deserves to be honored.

It is important that your tawa is the right temperature, hot but not too hot (on my stove 4.5 out of 5), and your first paratha will be a bit of an experiment.  Put it onto the tawa and let it be for a couple of minutes (roll out another paratha), it should begin to puff!  Turn it over, the cooked side should be nicely browned in spots.  When the second side is finished, take the paratha off the heat and rub with a little ghee or oil.  

Serve to your ravenous fellow diners immediately, or if they are patiently waiting for you, place on a plate on which you have put a paper towel, and cover with another plate.  They do make chapati warmers in India, but if you don't have one, this works fine.  As you make a stack, you can just ghee one side of the paratha because the other side will get the ghee from the paratha below.

We ate these with really simple spinach and chana masala.  I'll post a recipe for that soon!

Updates

Hello readers!  I've been travelling again, and I hope to post some recipes soon: there were birthday cupcakes in London, and kozhakottais in Chidambaram!

In the meantime, I have some updates from friends who have been baking bread.  Dr. K sent in some pictures from her attempt to make the foccacia recipe I posted last month.  Look at her beautiful gluten strands in the header photo!

 

And the final product?  "It was yummy!" she writes.

And JORJ just wrote in to say that she has been experimental bread baking!  She writes:

"I also made the no-knead bread the other day with whole wheat flour and some wheat germ and some thyme. It turned out great, but I think I should have soaked the thyme in water before adding it to the dough, or something because the flavor didn't really go all the way through the bread like I thought it might. Anyway, I liked the whole wheat flour better--I used 50% whole wheat and 50% AP flour--the texture of the crust was even better. I am hoping to find another type of whole grain flour and do some kind of mixing experiment. This whole wheat flour is a little too cardboard-y."

Here's a loaf of the original recipe that we made together in January.

I love that you are reading my blog and trying the recipes for yourself.  Please continue to let me know about it!

And of course, stay tuned, recipes to come!

busy busy bean soup

This was the perfect soup to have simmering away on the stove while I was working.  Wednesdays are our busy nights with yoga and basketball, so this soup was ready for the boyfriend before he headed off to basketball, and I ate this when I came home from yoga.  If I had some thyme or rosemary I would have put that in too, with the tomatoes I think.  But, the soup was pretty good just as it is.  If I had thought it out better, I would have made the focaccia I baked on Thursday on Wednesday to eat with the soup.  Together, they are making a pretty good lunch today!

I did very little to change the focaccia recipe.  I let the dough rise for 1 and half hours for its first rise, and probably an hour and a half for it's second rise.  I got caught up running some errands!  It's a beautiful dough that was very forgiving, and the focaccia is dense and yummy.  We didn't have rosemary so we topped ours with olives throughout, and some crushed red pepper on one quarter, some oregano on another quarter, and some onions on a little strip.  All variations were delicious!

Bean Soup (Basically Minestrone)

Makes 6 servings

Takes 3 hours

1 cup dried white beans

4 cups water

1 onion, sliced

4 small cloves of garlic, sliced

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 bay leaf

10 peppercorns

1 16 oz. jar of tomatoes

2 carrots, diced

1 package frozen spinach, thawed

1 cup orzo

If you remember, or are good at planning ahead, put the beans and four cups of water in a bowl, cover, and let sit overnight.  Otherwise, in a bowl, cover white beans with 4 cups of boiling water and let sit for 1 hour.

In a large pot over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in some olive oil (enough to cover bottom of pot).  When they begin to soften, add the smoked paprika and cook until the oil turns red and the onions are completely translucent.  Add the bay leaf and peppercorns and cook a bit more.

Drain the beans and add to the pot, stirring well.  Let cook for a minute or two.  Add the jar of tomatoes, salt (1 tsp. for now*) and then 2 jars of water.  Raise heat so that it boils, and then reduce heat back to medium and let simmer, covered, for 40 minutes to 1 hour.  Check for salt and doneness of beans, and when you are satisfied with the beans being cooked, add carrots.  Start water for pasta and cook a few minutes shorter than package directions.  Add pasta and spinach to soup and cook for a few more minutes.  If you are going to serve it later, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit until you are ready to reheat.

* I ended up using 2 and a half spoons of salt in the soup (plus more in the water for cooking pasta).  It was a little on the salty side...

Focaccia with Olives

from Bon Appetit, May 1995

Makes 8 very big servings

Takes 4 hours total rising and baking time

2 cups warm water (105°F  to 115°F - it is very important that your water is not too hot.  too cold is fine)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (not instant)

4 1/2 cups (about) all purpose flour (I used bread flour)

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

24 black or green brine-cured olives (such as Kalamata or Greek), pitted, halved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried

Place 2 cups warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle dry yeast over; stir with fork. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 10 minutes.

Add 4 1/4 cups flour and salt to yeast mixture and stir to blend well (dough will be sticky). Knead dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is sticky, about 10 minutes. Form dough into ball. Oil large bowl; add dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.  There is nowhere in my house that is warm right now, so I put it in the oven with the light on.

Punch down dough; knead into ball and return to same bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm area until doubled, about 45 minutes or less.

Coat a large, lipped baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Punch down dough.  At this stage, mine was so beautiful!  With all those long gluten strings that you are supposed to swoon over in your bread dough.  And readers, I did swoon, but I forgot to take a photograph.  Next time...

Transfer to prepared sheet. Using fingertips, press out dough to edges of the sheet, this will be difficult because the dough will want to contract.  Persevere.  Let dough rest 10 minutes.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil over dough. Sprinkle olives and chopped rosemary evenly over. Let dough rise uncovered in warm area until puffy, about 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475°F. Press fingertips all over dough, forming indentations. Bake bread until brown and crusty, about 20 minutes. Serve bread warm or at room temperature.

We couldn't stop ourselves from eating before the picture was taken!

Some Experiments

Happy New Year everyone!  I feel so excited about 2010 already.  Hope it's a good one for you all.  In the next few days I'll try to post some recipes from over the holidays, once I get some pictures together.  There was so much cooking.

Yesterday was my first night cooking in Halifax, and I decided to experiment a little.  I made my dal, but towards the end, I added some defrosted frozen whole spinach.  I only made 1/2 cup of dal and added 2 cups of water.  It was really good.

We ate the dal spinach with some chapatis I made with cracked wheat, and an experimental potato curry.  I've been meaning to use the cracked wheat since I had so much leftover from the amazing cracked wheat top knots from October.  I wanted to make a massaman-ish curry with potatoes and peanuts.  My betrothed was not so happy about this curry.  In his words, "it's not that I don't like it, I just don't like it." 

I actually really liked it.  It was spicy and peanuty.  You have to like peanuts to like this curry.  Try it and tell me what you think.

Cracked Wheat Chapatis

Makes 8 chapatis

Takes 2 hours (but only 30 active minutes)

1/4 cup cracked wheat

1/2 cup water

1 cup chapati flour (wheat flour)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup water

Place the cracked wheat in a heatproof bowl.  Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil and pour over the wheat.  Cover and let sit for 1 hour.  (While waiting you can make whatever you want to eat with the chapatis.)

Drain the wheat of any excess water and place in a large bowl with the flour, salt and water.  Oil your hands with ghee or canola oil and mix together to form a dough ball, adding more water or flour as necessary.  Place on a flour surface and knead until it is smooth and tight.  Let rest for 30 minutes while you are making other things.

Pre-heat a griddle on high.  Divide the dough evenly into 8 balls.  I divide the dough into halves, the halves into halves, etc to form evenly sized balls.  Using plenty of flour, roll into thin circles.  I recommend watching Manjula making her chapatis.  She's a pro!

Cook the chapatis until they are brown on each side, (they won't puff) and rub both sides with ghee when you take them off the griddle.  To keep them warm, place between two plates with paper towels on the bottom and top of the stack.

This is a hearty chapati that I really enjoyed.  I think this would also make a delicious cracker, and I am planning on making the dough again and baking it.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Peanut Potato Curry

Makes 4 servings

Takes 30 minutes

1/4 cup raw peanuts

1/2 inch piece of ginger, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

4 potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1/2 green chili

1 teaspoon sambhar powder, or other curry powder

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 inch piece of dried tamarind, available in Indian grocery stores

1/2 cup water

Boil the water and pour over the piece of tamarind to soften it.

Heat oil in a large saute pan on medium-high.  Add peanuts, and when they are lightly brown, add the ginger and garlic.  When they are beginning to brown (make sure your stove is not too hot), add the potatoes.  Saute for a minute and add the sambhar powder, green chili and cinnamon.  Squeeze the tamarind, mashing all the pulp loose with your fingers.  Pour the water only into the pan, saving the tamarind pulp in case you later decide the curry needs more sour taste.

Add salt (a half teaspoon for now), lower the heat to simmer, and cover for 10 minutes.

Check the potaotes for doneness (it will probably need 5 more minutes) and the sauce for yumminess.  It should be spicy, if it is not, add more sambhar powder or chili powder.  It should be salty, if it is not, add more salt.  It should have a little tang, if not, pour more hot water over the tamarind, let soak for 2 minutes, and add the juice back to the potatoes.  Add more water if it's a little too dry.  You want the curry to be saucy so you can scoop it up with your chapatis.

It was soo good!  The betrothed is not much of a food experimenter, so maybe after he eats it a couple of times, he'll like it better...

baby it's cold outside bread and soup

Brrrrr. It is already cold here in Halifax.

We've been baking a lot of bread this fall, inspired by Bittman's no-knead bread. I like Smitten Kitchen's write-up, that was the one that really inspired me to try the recipe. The boyfriend has particularly loved making bread, and he keeps turning out loaves, each one better than the last.


The only suggestion I can add to this now classic recipe is to use parchment paper instead of the kitchen towels! We've already thrown out two towels because they were irredeemably sticky. We've even tried this recipe with a multi-grain bread flour. Not quite as light and fluffy, but still very good.

It will probably remain our everyday bread, but I must confess, I have a new favorite. And it was because we had all this multi-grain flour that I searched and discovered this recipe from the February Gourmet (R.I.P) for Cracked-Wheat Topknots. Readers, they are delicious. We each ate three yesterday, and the remaining six today! And I have another dozen in the oven now! I made half the recipe, and used only Robin Hood Multi-grain Bread Blend as it already has all-purpose flour in it. Since the boyfriend is lactose intolerant and allergic to eggs, I used lactose free milk, Smart Balance spread, and glazed them with milk instead of eggwash. Next time I'm going to try olive oil, since I don't really like the idea of using margarine, even a glorified one.

The batch in the oven now look even better than the ones for yesterday!


Last night we ate it with a modified version of this soup, a Basque Tuscan fusion soup of kale, potato and white beans. It's for dinner again tonight.



Sorta vegan cracked-wheat top knots
adapted from Ruth Cousineau's recipe from the February 2009 Gourmet (R. I. P)

makes 1 dozen rolls
takes 6 hours

3/4 cup boiling-hot water
1/4 cup medium bulgar (cracked wheat)
1 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter (I used Earth Balance)
1 1/8 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. warm water
2 1/4 cups Multi-grain bread flour
Large grain sea salt
All-Purpose flour for kneading

In a small bowl, cover the bulgar with the 3/4 cup boiling hot water and 1/4 tsp. salt and let stand for 40 minutes.

Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water until foamy, 5 minutes.

Heat the milk and butter (or butter substitute), just until the butter (or substitute) is melted.

Once the yeast is proofed, add the flour and the remaining 1 1/4 tsp. salt.

Drain the bulgar, and add it and the liquid mixture to the yeast/flour and stir until it is a sticky mess. Turn it out onto a surface covered with A-P flour and knead for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it is smooth.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn it over until it is all greased. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until double, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. (nb. I let my bread rise in my oven, which I had heated to 150 (the lowest possible temperature), and then let cool. it worked really well, esp. since my apartment might as well be an ice box)).

Once the dough is risen (like christ on easter), prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Punch down and divide the dough into 12 equal-sized balls. I do this by first dividing the dough in two equal parts, dividing each of those into 2 more parts (for a total of 4), and then dividing each of those quarter balls into three more.

Take each little ball and roll into a 12 inch snake. If you greased the dough properly for its rise, than you won't need additional flour. Tie the dough snake into a knot, tucking the ends around any which way you prefer. (no two of mine look the same). Space each topknot about 2 inches apart, and let rise for another hour to hour and a half.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Brush rolls with milk and sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until your house smells so good you can't stand it anymore.

Cool until they (barely) don't burn your fingers.

 



Tuscan/Basque white bean and kale soup
adapted from a Gourmet (R.I.P) recipe from February 2004

Makes 4 dinner-sized servings
Takes 2 hours

1/2 cup dried white beans
2 cups water
olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1 1/2 qts water
3 fresh parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 clove
1/2 pound potatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 pound kale, roughly chopped
1 medium-large tomato, chopped
some basil

Bring beans and 2 cups of water to a boil. Turn heat off, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.

In a heavy pot (I love my le creuset knock off), saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add the smoked paprika and saute until it is fragrant.

Add the water, beans, parsley, clove, and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 40-50 minutes.

Add potatoes and kale, and cook a further 10 to 15 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, and cook another 5 to 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Toss in some fresh basil at the end if you have some.

Serve soup with topknots. Look, mine are out of the oven now.