Cool Potato Soup With Cashew Cream

The dog days of summer are upon us, oppressive and muggy. It seems the whole country is enveloped in a sweltering heat wave, the low hum of air conditioning white noise settling over the city like a droning fog.

I'm really loving cold soups in this heat-- they fill my belly without making me break a sweat. Plus cool liquids just feel so good when every inch of you feels sticky and hot. We got a gorgeous bag of new potatoes in this week's CSA that were simply begging to be used creatively, so a vichyssoise seemed in order.

Now this soup is based on the idea of the vichyssoise-- a simple potato, leek and cream soup traditionally served cold. But a traditional vischyssoise is, of course, loaded with dairy and chicken stock. I decided to skip the leeks in favor of my CSA white onions and opted to make this recipe vegan. Because my homemade veggie stock is not the lovely pale yellow of a chicken stock, I threw tradition to the wind and browned the onions as well. The resulting color of the soup may not be as refined as the white-as-the-driven-snow version, but it makes up for a more rustic appearance with mouthfuls of deliciousness. If you would prefer your soup to be both white and vegan, I would suggest buying "no chicken" stock, using white pepper instead of black and sauteing your onions until just soft, not browned.

Cashew cream is shockingly easy to make and is just as creamy as traditional moo juice. This recipe makes way more than you'll need for soup swirling, so you'll have plenty extra to stir into your coffee or mix into your smoothies. If you're short on cashews or just really attached to your dairy, feel free to swirl in some heavy cream or creme fraiche instead.

Bain taitneamh as do bheil!

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: about 30 minutes

MAKES: 4 one cup servings

INGREDIENTS:

for the soup:

• 2 cups 1" diced peeled potatoes (about 4-5 new potatoes)
• 8 cups veggie stock, divided
• 2 cups white onions, cut into 1" dice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, sliced
• sea salt & freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem
• 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from the stems

for the Cashew Cream:

• 1 pound unroasted, unsalted cashews
• 3 cups water
• sea salt, to taste
• agave nectar, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place cashews in a heat-proof bowl. Heat up 3 cups of water until boiling. Pour boiling water over cashews and cover bowl with a pot lid. Set aside.
2. In a medium stock pot, place cut potatoes in 4 cups of veggie stock and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and reduce heat to a simmer.
3. While potatoes are cooking, heat up olive oil in a small skillet until the surface begins to shimmer. Add onions and saute until lightly browned. Add sliced garlic and saute for one minute more, taking care not to let garlic burn. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. When potatoes are just soft, drain and discard liquid. Add potatoes, sauteed onion, garlic, nutmeg and 4 cups of fresh veggie stock back to the stock pot and bring to a simmer. Season with salt & pepper to taste and cook until potatoes are very soft. Remove from heat and add fresh rosemary and thyme.
5. Working in batches, carefully blend soup until creamy. If it seems too thick, stream a little water through the top of the blender until desired consistency is reached. Keep in mind that the soup will thicken a little as it stands.
6. Place soup in the fridge to cool down while you make the cashew cream.
7. Place a strainer or a fine-meshed colander over a clean bowl. Line with damp cheesecloth.
8. Working in batches, blend cashews with soaking water, adding agave nectar and sea salt to taste. If the mixture seems too thick, stream a little cool water through the top of the blender. Pour cashew mixture through cheesecloth and gently squeeze to release liquid into bowl. Repeat until all of the cashews have been blended and strained.
9. Serve soup in chilled bowls, garnished with cashew cream.

Five Spiced Ketchup

I think it's becoming rather clear what my all-time favorite meal is: the barbecue. I keep returning to this theme, over and over, with classic and more unique variations. As with most habits, good and bad, I blame my parents. (I kid, I kid!) My mother is the queen of the backyard get-together, the empress of outdoor eating. As soon as the weather warms, she insists that we drag out the picnic tables. And my dad can cook just about anything over fire-- he has made fish chowders, stew with dumplings, stir fries, berry cobblers and even lasagna over a campfire with his Boy Scout troops. Lasagna over a campfire? Oh, you heard right.

So I think it's only natural, given my genetic makeup, that I should turn to the barbecue for inspiration for my final Cook Tech exam at school. The challenge was to cook an entree that included a grain, a protein, a green, a garnish and a sauce. Our options were rather limited: the only proteins we were given were chickpeas, tempeh or French lentils. The only grain options available were polenta, brown basmati rice or quinoa. Even the list of vegetables and herbs was woefully small. Certainly not very practical for a barbecue theme.

And yet I persisted. Somehow last night, in a steaming hot kitchen surrounded by my nervous classmates stressing over their own entrees, I managed to turn out a Vietnamese-American Barbecue dinner. Oh, yes. I made a veggie burger, a sweet potato salad with a creamy cilantro dressing, an Asian-inspired slaw and a spicy lemonade. And I'm proud to say that everything turned out just great and my chef instructor had some very nice things to say about the meal. (He also gave some spot-on critique!)

I was pretty stressed about this final-- after all, it was the last meal I would cook by myself in culinary school, so I was determined to make it delicious and exciting. And I think for the most part I succeeded. After much testing and tasting and planning and stressing, the meal really came together. And I'm super proud of it, so I thought I'd share some of the elements with you.

Now one cannot have a burger of any kind without ketchup-- it's the American way! But commercial ketchups are loaded with high fructose corn syrups and artificial flavors. Even some of the organic brands contain whopping amounts of sugar. Once you see how easy it is to make your own, you'll never go back to store-bought again.

This being an Asian-themed meal, I flavored my ketchup with ginger and Chinese Five Spice powder. It really brought my shoyu-marinated tempeh burger together. But feel free to experiment with different flavor combinations-- it would be delicious with fennel and oregano for an Italian flare, or try cumin and chili powder for a Mexican feel.

I'll post the other recipes from the meal soon-- after all that testing, I've come up with some pretty stellar barbecue standards that I know I'll be using in the near future. After all, what better way to celebrate my upcoming graduation than with a barbecue?

Bain taitneamh as do bheil!

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: about 1 hour 15 minutes

MAKES: about 1 1/2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped into 1" dice
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole plum tomatoes
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• sea salt & freshly cracked pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium stockpot, heat up olive oil until the surface shimmers. Add chopped onions and cook until soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add chopped garlic and cook for one minute more, taking care not to let garlic burn.
2. While the onions are cooking, puree the 28 ounce can of tomatoes in a stand blender. Add pureed tomatoes, maple syrup, vinegar, 5 Spice Powder, ginger, salt & pepper to stockpot with the onions & garlic and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning: too tart? Add more maple syrup. Too sweet? More vinegar. Want ketchup with more of a kick? Try adding more ginger, more Five Spice powder or even a dash of sriracha sauce.
3. Bring mixture to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for about an hour, or until reduced to a thick, ketchup-like consistency. Warning: this mixture tends to splatter, so you may need to partially cover it with a lid. Don't cover it too tightly or it will never reduce for you.
4. When desired consistency is reached, remove from heat and place back into blender. Hold a kitchen towel firmly on top of the blender's lid and carefully puree into a smooth paste. If the mixture has trouble blending, try (carefully!) streaming a little olive oil through the top of the blender.
5. Serve with an Asian-flavored veggie burger, breakfast potatoes or a big basket of fries. This ketchup will keep for up to three months in the fridge. Happy barbecuing!

Ketchup-- for the good times.

Minty Pea Pesto

I'm on a pesto kick, veggie freaks. I can't get enough of it. It's so easy to throw together, so fresh, so delicious, such a good way to use my CSA greens.

Just about everyone is familiar with the basic pesto recipe: basil leaves, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil. And while the old standby is indeed super yummy, I've been branching out into the pesto universe. Why limit yourself to just basil when summer is providing us with so many unbelievably flavorful greens? And while pine nuts are absolutely delicious, there are so many other nuts (that happen to be much cheaper!) to experiment with.

The best part of this recipe? It's vegan. Don't fret, cheese lovers. You won't miss the Parmesan. I've substituted mellow miso for the cheese-- it's salty and umani-packed flavor gives this pesto a wonderful flavor without the lactose. Besides, miso is packed full of gut-healthy probiotics. Check out this awesome article about the health benefits of miso, complete with some easy ways to incorporate it into your diet!

Spread this pesto on some grilled portabello burgers, toss it with warm pasta, dollop it in a summer vegetable stew right before serving. Freeze it in an ice cube tray-- once frozen, you can store your pesto cubes in a large freezer bag for up to 6 months. The tastes of summer can be yours in snowy January!

Bain taitneamh as do bheil!

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 5 minutes

MAKES: about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup fresh peas (if you can't find fresh, please don't substitute frozen. Use snow peas, pods included, instead)
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh spinach, thoroughly washed & patted dry
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons mellow miso
• 10 fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely minced
• 2-3 twists of the pepper mill
• approximately 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. While waiting for the water to boil, set aside another bowl full of ice water.
2. Drop peas into boiling water for about 30 seconds, or until they just turn bright green. Remove and immediately place in ice water to stop the cooking. (Skip these two steps if using snow peas)
3. Remove peas from ice water and place in food processor. Add spinach, sunflower seeds, miso, mint, dill, pepper and a splash of olive oil.
4. Blend ingredients until a paste forms, slowly streaming the rest of the olive oil through the top of the food processor until a smooth consistency is reached. (You may have to scrape down the sides of your food processor a couple of times)
5. Taste, taste, taste! Adjust seasonings to make your pesto truly shine.

Dilly Bean and Potato Salad

Well hello there, strangers! How is your summer going? Mine is passing by in a blur of school and work, hurtling towards my July 30th graduation, trying to savor these last days of culinary school while retaining some semblance of sanity as I commute back and forth between Philadelphia and New York twice a week. So now I must apologize to you for my absence from this blog, but know that come August, I will be fiercely dedicated to it.

You see, dear readers, I have decided that my next move after graduating from culinary school will be to focus on my food writing. So you can expect a lot more activity on this little blog of mine, more involvement in my local food community and fewer excuses about how tired I am.

Until then I am focused on keeping my spirits and my health up as I cross this finish line. I am ever so grateful for the unflagging support of my girlfriend and her brilliant decision to enroll us in a CSA this summer. Every Thursday I stroll a few blocks to our pickup site and fill my bag with the absolute best of the week's fresh seasonal vegetables. No thinking, no planning, no shopping required. And at the same time it is a lovely challenge, figuring out a week's worth of cooking with vegetables selected for you by Mother Nature.

Mother Nature certainly provided for us the week of July 4th. It was an insanely hectic week-- as I discovered, the only thing worse than working in theater around Christmas is working at an ice cream shop located in the birthplace of our nation around Independence Day. So when I needed a quick and delicious side dish to bring to a barbecue, I rooted through my CSA produce, dug out a favorite cookbook and got to work.

I've never been a fan of traditional potato salads-- the thought of starchy, creamy salads sitting around on a hot summer day turns my stomach a bit. Plus I firmly believe that mayonnaise belongs on sandwiches and not much else. It's just not my bag, baby. So when I discovered Heidi Swanson's beautiful Mostly Not Potato Salad featured in her latest cookbook Super Natural Every Day, I knew where my gorgeous baby potatoes, waxy yellow beans and large bunch of fresh dill were going.

This recipe is adapted from Heidi's, swapping a few ingredients here and there and skipping others entirely. It's light and crunchy and creamy (without the mayo!) and perfect for a hot summer day. But eat it up fast-- it's not as delicious the next day. If you'd like brighter looking vegetables, swap out the balsamic vinegar for white balsamic or champagne vinegar.

Bain taitneamh as do bheil!

PREP TIME: about 25 minutes

COOKING TIME: about 20 minutes

YIELDS: 5-6 cups of salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 5-6 small red skinned potatoes, unpeeled, washed and quartered
• sea salt, to taste
• 1 pound yellow wax or green beans, ends trimmed and roughly snapped into 2" pieces
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1" saute slice
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 small or 2 medium cucumbers, unpeeled, washed thoroughly, cut into 1" quarter moons
• 1/2 cup fresh dill, finely minced

For the dressing:

• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Set aside another bowl of ice water. Boil the potato quarters for 10 minutes, until just tender but not falling apart. 30 seconds before the potatoes are done, add the beans to the boiling water.
2. Drain potatoes and beans and place in ice water for a minute so, until cooled. Remove from ice bath and set aside in a large bowl.
3. While potatoes are cooking, heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over a medium-low flame. Add onion slices and allow to caramelize, stirring occasionally. When onions are soft and browned, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. Add cooled onions, chopped cucumbers and fresh dill to the potato and bean bowl.
5. Prepare the dressing: whisk together lemon juice & zest, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper. While whisking vigorously, slowly drizzle enough olive oil into the mixture until the dressing is creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as you go. Too acidic? Add more oil or more maple syrup. To oily? A splash of vinegar will set you right. Flat-tasting? Try more salt. As my chef instructors say: "taste, taste, taste!"
6. Toss the potato & bean mixture with enough dressing to coat thoroughly. (I had dressing left over-- bonus!)
7. Place salad in your prettiest bowl and prepare to get your barbecue on!