Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

This one is adapted only a little bit from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.  And let us say, this is more worth it than you can imagine.  Do it. Roast the pumpkin.  Enjoy the soup.

First though, roast and peel the pumpkin.  We did this in the morning so that it was all set to go for the soup that night.

1. Half your pumpkin

2. Clean the seeds and strings from inside the pumpkin.  You can save these to roast and eat as a snack.  Put a little bit of water into a baking pan, and set both halves of pumpkin cut-side down in the pan.

3. Roast at 375 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Ours was probably a 5 lb pumpkin.  For larger or smaller ones the time will differ.  The pumpkin is done when you can easily slide a fork through the skin.    The pumpkin will have a darkened, shriveled look to the skin, but fear not.

4. When it has cooled to be safe to touch, simply peel back that skin with your hands.  It comes off quite easily and can be fairly satisfying to peel.  Then you have your peeled, bright yellow pumpkin all ready to puree.

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup minced shallot
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4  butter
4 cups beef broth
2 1/4 cups pureed roasted pumpkin
1/2 cup white wine

Fresh cilantro for garnish

In a food processor coarsely puree beans and tomatoes.

In a 6-quart heavy kettle cook onion, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened and beginning to brown. Stir in bean puree. Stir in broth, pumpkin, and wine until combined and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 35 minutes, or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Sweet Potato and Leek Bake

For this wonderful and satifyingly fall-like dish, you really need very little work, although lots of time.

2-4 sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 fingerling potatoes
3 leeks, white-light green parts only
1 mid-small onion
3/4 of a head of garlic
4 tablespoons butter (it’s worth it)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup white wine
Goat cheese
Thyme, oregano, nutmeg, salt & pepper

1. Melt the butter in a dutch oven.  A dutch oven is a oven-safe covered pan.

2. Chop the potatoes and onion into 1 inch cubes, mince the garlic, and slice the leeks first in half lengthwise and then into 2 1/2 inch strips.

3. Toss all of the vegetables in with the melted butter, add olive oil, and mix to combine.

4. Season with a healthy about of dried thyme and oregano.  Add a pinch of nutmeg.

5. Again, stir to combine.

6. Pour the milk and wine over the mixture and roast, covered, at 350 for 45 – hour, or until the potatoes are soft to a fork.  Stir every 15 minutes. About 15 minutes before the potatoes are done, toss 1/4 cup of soft goat cheese over the whole mixture.

7.  Eat immediately.  Optional: top with cheddar cheese instead of goat cheese.

The Amazing Three-Part Dinner

This lovely, and simple meal, consists of steamed chard, steamed green beans with butter, and roasted onions, red peppers, and chickpeas.

As easy as can be, if not super fast: cut three sweet peppers into strips, cut one white onion into small pieces, chunk a head of garlic.  Arrange all of these, and a can of chickpeas, on a baking sheet with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast at 400 for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, wash and clean the green beans.  Wash and chop the chard.  Heat a veggie steamer (or a colander over  pot of water) and toss the green bean in when it starts to steam.  Steam the greenbeans for four minutes, then add the chard right on top and steam for a further three minutes.  Remove from heat.  Separate the green beans and chard and spread butter and salt over the former.

Eat together with the roasted red peppers and chickpeas.

Amazing Roasted Eggplant Soup

This completely life-changing roasted eggplant soup is adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe, although we made a few notable changes.

1 mid-small eggplant
3 mid sized tomatoes
1/4 a jalapeno pepper, seeds removed
1 large onion
8 cloves of garlic
Parsley
4 cups veggie broth (2 cans)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese to top

1.  Lightly oil a baking pan and preheat the oven to 425

2.  Cut the eggplant, tomato, and onion into 1/2 inch thick slices and spread out on the baking pan.  Peel the garlic and lay the cloves, uncut on the pan.  Also add your slice of jalapeno pepper – but make sure you keep track of where you put it.

3. Roast for 20 minutes, then remove the garlic.  Put the rest back in the oven, turn the heat down to 400 and roast another 15-20 minutes.

4.  Remove the pan and put the onion, garlic, eggplant, and tomatoes in a soup pot.  Remove the jalapeno completely – just the oil from baking it will be plenty hot.

5.  Add the veggie stock to the pot and bring to a boil.  Once it’s boiling, turn down the heat a little and cook until the veggies are all tender.  About 10-15 minutes.

6.  Blend the whole soup in a food processor until completely smooth, then return to a low heat.  Add the cream, milk, and a little less then 1/4 cup grated parmesan.  Cook, stirring often, for 5-10 minutes.  Turn off the heat, sprinkle with fresh parsley, and eat with bread (and joy).

A note about pictures: because this soup ends up a cooked-eggplanty brown color and is blended to be largely textureless, it is not super photogenic.  Use your imagination and believe that it is worth the time and effort.  Really.

Salad with a ton of veggies and beans (kind of like taco salad)

If you’ve got a lot of veggies in the fridge, or you want a chance to enjoy the maximum number of fresh veggies in one meal, try this awesome salad.  It really is an efficient and delicious way to eat a lot of different veggies.  Maybe it’s sad to think about food in terms of how to efficiently eat a lot of veggies, but really, when you get down to it, and when you have as many excess veggies as we do just now with the CSA, it’s a good way to come up with creative ways to eat your food and enjoy it.  Really, I promise.  And, in fact, since it’s summer, this is the time to eat excesses of certain veggies and to cram as many as possible into each mean.  In six months we’ll be eating onions, potatoes, and mushrooms every other meal.

1 can black beans, rinsed
1 small-midsized red onion, chopped
1/2 head of garlic, minced
1/3-1/2 a jalapeno pepper, minced
4 small carrots, grated
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 ears sweet corn, kernels cut from cob but uncooked
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
2-3 tablespoons salsa
olive oil
1/2-3/4 lb romaine lettuce, about 1/2 a head, chopped
salt & pepper

1. Put all the veggies and most of the cilantro in a pan with the salsa and a small amount of olive oil.  Add some salt and pepper

2. Cook over medium-low heat until the onions and garlic start to soften and the tomatoes fall apart.

3.  Add the can of black beans and stir to mix.  Turn heat down low and cook for 10-15 minutes on very low heat, stirring frequently.

4. Meanwhile wash and cut the lettuce.  You can use any kind you like, but romaine is best.

5. Pour the beans and veggies over the lettuce and add the last of the cilantro, mixing.  Eat immediately.  Top with grated cheese if you like.  I like it, but not everyone does and there is, admittedly, a lot going on with this salad already.