Dill Mashed Potato Soup with Roasted Baby Broccoli

First... What the hell is Baby Broccoli if it isn't actually young broccoli?  Or Broccolini for that matter?   Let us not worry too much and just look for organic and sexy food.

This soup is a great one to herald in spring while enjoying the remnants of winter.  For those concerned with cholesterol make up your potatoes with a bit of olive oil instead of butter.  It is decadent tasting and compliments most foods.  I was having a bad mashed potato craving when this struck me.  For cream soups I often use a little bit of mashed potato and roasted garlic to give soups the creamy without cream. ( Boiling any milk usually makes even the most cast iron of stomachs a bit upset - it is the break down of protein that does this to any belly.  Boiling and frying being the most severe ways to do this.)  So it was not really any great stretch for me to just make up a soup that was mostly mashed potato.  It really was just over due!

Broth: For the soupy part I made a vegetable stock out of my veggie scraps (sometimes this includes apple peels, cores and pear peels and cores - its amazing with this. Cores are best without the seeds) I used a lot of water and made sure it covered the vegetables as I wanted a light colored broth and a fair amount of it.  I boiled the vegetables just until they were tender.  More than that and you're over doing it really.  No need for it. The whole it will taste better thing is chemical.  It will taste better with more and more days of boiling.  It would be like finding carrion vegetable carcass you are built to like it when it is not necessarily good for you but great for survival. So be aware why that happens. Besides over boiling makes a broth you have to strain or RE-strain.  I try to avoiding picking out debris.

Mashed potatoes: I used russet potatoes as they were handy and cheap.  Yukon golds are also AMAZING for this.  I kept a little of their boiling water with the potatoes after they are cooked to help blend and mash them with either butter or olive oil (I do a little of each as I have very low cholesterol and a strong heart - weak ankles but I'm hoping that isn't related to butter). After salt, pepper, butter and/or olive oil is blended into the potatoes and fluffed I added a giant handful of dill I washed and pulled all the frilly fronds from the stalks and piled them on top of the potatoes and let them wilt and folded them in.  Fresh dill is quite light in flavor and I have a hard time overdoing fresh herbs. I like a lot of them in there.

Baby Broccoli: For the baby broccoli I drizzle (really you don't need much) it with olive oil then lightly salt it, and for my tastes I sprinkle it with jalapeno seeds.  The oven is heated to 450 and once hot, the broccoli wont take long to get bright green with a couple of darkened patches.  I use the higher heat to keep the broccoli firm and crisp with a few roasty parts.  You can manipulate it if your OCD makes you.  Mine did... So I jossled it and put it back in.  Total cooking time plus OCD was not more than 20-25 minutes.  Just keep a close eye on it.

To serve pour a small amount of broth in a bowl make a nice little mountain of potato in the center and lay a mountain of broccoli over the peak.  Munch well!   I think an Asparagus version of this is in order.

Veggie bake

What? They can't all be fancy.  I want to just tell you grab a favorite fruit and a favorite lettuce and combine them - but either you will or you won't.  What I don't have to tell you is that salt, pepper and olive oil make simple things delicious.

This meal is a chopped bed of cabbage, a layer of thinly-sliced carrots, red peppers and 1/2 chopped jalapeno, and then some zucchini slices piled on with sprinkles of sea salt, smoked salt, cracked pepper, and olive oil drizzled over the top.

For the topping I shredded {thin shreds} of cheddar and cubed one slice of bread - that is it.  I put the cheese on first so it wilts and I like the bread on last to be extra crunchy.

 I baked these for about 35 minutes at 375 - 400 degrees. Then in the last minute added a shred of cheese and a thin slice of my favorite European styled sourdough from, gasp, a package {French Meadow -- it is vegan and not adulterated with the bad stuff} (how Rachel Ray of me - It isn't the grossest I've been, but it is close). This is put in only long enough for the tiny cubes of sourdough to crust up.  This casserole is then served over the top of whole wheat pasta with as much fresh basil as you can handle.  I don't bake the pasta in the casserole as in order to get the timing of the veggies done and the pasta done without the over baking is tough and as stated before I am not a patient woman.  I like easy. So everything but the pasta went into a casserole dish to bake.  I put cabbage on the bottom because it wont stick to the dish and doesn't need oil to do it, its magic.

3/4 Cup shredded cabbage
1 big carrot
1 red pepper
1 small zucchini
1/2 jalapeno (more if you wish)
drizzle of olive oil (it wont need much at all!)
salt and pepper
sliver of cheese shredded after it is nearly ready to come out
slice of day old bread for croutons -best on top

Fresh Basil or cilantro
However much pasta you need to feed your tribe.  I used Organic Whole Wheat.

My casserole dish will fit about 5 cups of goods in it before it is maxed out.  So up the numbers if you need.  This is a quick throw together.  Clean out your refrigerator into this tasty dish.

You can serve this without cheese and bread slice and instead serve it over a tortilla, or with cornbread, or with rice or shepard's pie style... yum.  No matter your choice, this is an excellent wine drinking meal.

Onion tart

My, my, my, onions.  They make me cry twice, once while cutting and again while eating them.  This is one that is easier with a couple trials.  Don't worry too much, as failure in this case still yields very tasty food.  I have faith in you all.

The easiest tart to make uses a large tart pan with a removable bottom, and by large I mean it's diameter, not it's height - anything around or over 9 inches.  This makes a thinner to cut and easier to wield tart with plenty of canvas for spreading out foods (the deeper the tart the most wild the interior gets when removing it from the pan or slicing it).  I don't recommend cutting IN or ON your tart pan.  Move your tart to a cutting surface. 

Onion tarts are very versatile in how savory or sweet you wish to make them. For mine I opt for a middle of the road which is a win for me.  You can be onion exclusive using just vidalias or you can create a blend.  I'm cheap and impatient so I use whatever is readily available. You can easily make this tart into a quiche with a bunch of eggs or a pepper-laden tart with any mix or blend of peppers you choose.  You are only limited by your imagination and of course if you choose the worst ingredients ever like everlasting gobstoppers with a bubblegum sauce. Then, that is just nasty.

Base Ingredients: (most tart recipes are approximately the same if you do as I and avoid laboratory made binding agents - shortening and margarine) For a sweeter recipe you can use a sugar instead of a salted crust.

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, and a little for dusting your work surface
• Salt
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-1/4 inch dice ( you want the butter cold as possible while working with it you'll warm it up so you wont want to hand hold it while cutting )
• 1/4 cup cold water (you may need a few drops more)
• 2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2-4 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 pounds, this will change by size of tart pan, and whether or not you've chosen to add other things to your tart)

For the tart so many instructions recommend you refrigerate overnight or for 4 hours beforehand .  I haven't the patience for all that noise so I make it before cutting my onions.   The following have two ways of working a pastry dough (don't kid yourself tarts are pastry - anything with a stick of butter may even fall under the definition). So read through and pick the one for you.

1. For a food processor -pulse the flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add the diced butter and pulse until it’s the size of small peas, you want these little butter lumps - they make a flaky crust. Sprinkle in the cold water and pulse again until the tart dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap (I use a baggie) and gently pat into a circle/disk/discus/round doorstop. Wrap the dough and refrigerate until it is firm, at least 1 hour.  While chopping onions, you'll want to preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Or do like me-
2. Old school - and cut the pieces of butter in with a pastry cutter, use swift hands or rubber spatula to blend in salt and cold water to make a ball put it into a plastic freezer bag and then once covered in plastic swiftly push ball into a disk (you can use plastic wrap - I repeated use a dedicated freezer bag for all sorts of dough things when it needs resting periods or chilling) and without sealing just tuck the zipper side under the dough and put into the freezer while cutting onions up. Once the onions have started and are in the pan then that will be your cue to work on rolling out your tart. It should be a little firm, the firmer the better. Which is why the hour in the previous set. It wont have to be that long, I promise!  While chopping onions, you'll want to preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

The tart will need 20-23ish minutes by itself in the oven to bake its shell through.

First get this step going, then work on tart (following step)
Put chopped onions in a small amount of olive oil for 25 minutes on a medium heat stirring enough that it doesn't stick or blacken if you see signs of this you'll need to turn down your pan and or cover with a lid.  You want to do this part slowly so the onions become loose and translucent.  Some folks will add salt or sugars at this stage.  I add nothing.  Just stir and as they become fragrantly sweet and soft turn the burner down all the way and give it not much more than another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile - On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch round er your size of pan. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and transfer it to a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the pan.  If parts stick out you can trim and use scraps to patch any cracks that occur. Prick holes all over the bottom of the crust with a fork. Bake until the crust is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. I use a liner of foil and put pie weights into the shell.  You don't have to have them but it seems no matter what magic tricks I've tried otherwise the shell will puff.  Some folks use dry beans as pie weights.  Never did it.  I received pie weights as a gift, and so I use them.

Once the shell comes out, fill with your selected goodness/onions and toss into oven to warm everything just for about 5 minutes on 400.

What I chose was :
2 med-large onions plus onion scraps
1/2 Cup cooked ground turkey
1 TBSP heaping goat cheese
drizzle of maple syrup
salt and cracked black peppercorns

Served with Arugula salad and Anjou pears with sea salt.

Lovely.  This is "What about Bob?" good.

Borscht

 This is a squash and tomato borscht.  Easy to make nearly no fat at all (croutons, cheese, olive oil would add fat).  It can be vegan, just leave out egg slices and no cheese.  It can be served cold on a wicked hot day or warm to make a chill go away.

This recipe is for 3 hearty servings, double for more or leftovers.

Soup Base:
2 cups pureed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1/2 onion
1/4 jalapeno with seeds included
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 potato cut into little cubes
1 TBSP olive oil
pinch oregano
pinch salt
pinch basil (dry) or add fresh basil leaves in the last minutes before serving
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash

*1/3 or more concentrated vegetable stock from your own recipe! (below)

If you are having croutons you'll want to preheat the oven after everything is chopped and the soup is going. After the stock is finished and I'm about to add it to the soup then I bake the croutons at 350 for about 5 minutes on each side with the pan lightly olive oiled and making sure each slice is rubbed in the oil.  Once the croutons are browned and crisp they are done.

For the soup base put all your ingredients into a pot except the squash and zucchini and simmer until potatoes are semi-soft - now is when you add your squash and zucchini then the vegetable stock last and stir together and leave to simmer once potatoes are soft it is done. If your soup seems too thick for you then add a little water... taste and if you wish to extend it further add a little more.

Veggie stock can include a lot of things and is not limited to this list but is what I used for the one tonight.

*stock:
handful rainbow chard stems cut down (you can use the soft leaves in another meal)
handful parsley stems
handful cilantro stems
1/4 purple onion (doesn't need to be purple, whatever is on hand is fine)
handful carrot butts (the orange end before the greens can be used in the stock but the greens tend to not add so much flavor as the hard little stem parts)
1 handful mixed stems from zucchini and squash

To make the stock you add 1-2 cups water to cover some of the vegetables and boil until the broth becomes yellow-amber.  The darker the color the richer the stock. Strain the broth off and toss the stems and butts into the compost. You wont need much broth to add a lot of flavor to a soup. So don't worry if you haven't much after the boil and straining. Also boil just until veggies are starting to get soft, you don't want them to break down to the point of mush that creates the bad stuff.  I like to add my stock to the meal when it is nearly done as it wont need to cook again.  If it is frozen then leave it out to thaw it rather than simmering it down if you can.

I made some hard boiled eggs to serve along with the soup and a sprinkle of parsley and some grated cheddar.  I only regret not eating it with more parsley!  So tasty.