Split Pea Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

One of the best ways to save money on food is having category nights like sandwiches, pasta, pizza or soup.  Soup is my all time favorite because it makes a lot, is easy to use as leftovers and always makes a great lunch.  You can also freeze it if you make a lot, then you'll have soup for gifts to sick neighbors and friends or for those nights when you just don' feel like making anything.

One secret--I never use boxed, canned or dried stock or boullion, in fact, I rarely even make soup stock but instead I add all the ingredients for stock into the soup--parsley, celery, onions, carrots and mushrooms.

Although mushrooms also impart color, I opt for the deep flavor that mushrooms, especially shiitake mushrooms bring to the pot.  When I use mushrooms for other dishes, I save the stems, let them dry and then rehydrate them with boiling water for the soup stock.

Red potatoes often have more sweet tones than Yukon Gold, white or yellow potatoes, but use whatever potatoes you have for this soup.

Why Shiitake mushrooms?

Shiitake mushrooms have been used medicinally in China for over 6,000 years; they offer immune system support and are also beneficial for cardiovascular problems. Lentinian, a compound in the mushrooms has been used as an anti-cancer drug. Shiitake are also good sources of Vitamin D2 and iron. 

Can you eat too many shiitake?

Who knows, but the price is high (compared to button and crimini mushrooms) and they don't exactly go with everything on the menu, so eating a lot of mushrooms could get monotionous. 

Carrots bring and earthy sweet tone to the soup. Local varieties are the best bet if you want a more flavorful sweet carrot.

Croutons add a great texture contrast.  I got gluten-free foccia from NuFlours.  The bakery is on Capitol Hill and they also sell at the University District Farmers Market on Saturday mornings 

Split Pea Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

(Serves 4)

1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms

1 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 shallots, peeled and diced small

2 to 4 cloves garlic, pressed

2 stalks celery, sliced 

1 large carrot, diced

1 or 2 yellow or red potatoes, diced

1 heaping cup split peas

1 tablespoon chopped Mama Lil's Peppers, or use your favorite hot sauce to taste

4 to 5 cups water

1/2 to 1 tablespoon tamari

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Garlic powder or pressed garlic, to taste

1 4-inch sliced of gluten-free focaccia, sliced in half

1. Pour boiling water over shiitake mushrooms.  Let these sit for at least an hour before using the liquid and mushrooms.

2. Saute the shallots in the canola oil until they are lightly browned.  Add garlic, celery and carrot.  Stir and cook until vegetables soften.  Add the potatoes, split peas, chopped marinated peppers or Mama Lil's peppers and water.  Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour or until potatoes and peas are soft.  

3. Add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon tamari, stir and sprinkle chopped olives on top. Blend the garlic and olive oil and drizzle over the gluten-free focaccia.  Toast until lightly browned.  Cut into croutons and place on top of the soup.

 H

Brussels Sprouts: Two Ways

The time to buy Brussels sprouts is when the weather turns cold.  And lately it's been cold enough to bring in the hummingbird feeder at night. Buy fresh sprouts, if possible. Frozen sprouts are often bitter and serving frozen Brussels sprouts can turn people off of this great vegetable. 

When the sprouts are on trees, they may be fresher than loose sprouts, but it's hard to tell how much you're paying when you buy a tree, which is discarded in the end. 

The price shown above is last year's price. This year, the price is between $5.99 and $6.99 for a "tree."  I have no idea how much a "tree" weighs but the tree is fairly heavy and compact, so the true price of the sprouts is probably about twice what the tree sells for, or about $10.99 a pound, making this a "special occasion food" for the frugal or $100 a week food shopper (is that really possible in the Northwest?).

Shallots are pricier than onions, so these are also for special dinners at our house. Could be, they'd both be perfect for Thanksgiving.

Brussels Sprouts, Leeks and Red Peppers with Lemon

(Serves 4)

1 large leek, sliced and washed thoroughly

1 tablespoon canola oil or ghee (clarified butter)

1 pound Brussels sprouts, washed and cut in half

1/2 cup diced red pepper

3 or 4 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tablespoon Mama Lil's Peppers, chopped, or use 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Sea salt to taste

Lemon juice, fresh (use a Meyer lemon, if possible)

Shredded coconut

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add oil and leek.  Stir and cook until leek begins to soften and brown.  

Add Brussels sprouts, stir and cook until sprouts begin to soften.  Add the diced red pepper and Mama Lil's.  Continue to stir and cook until sprouts are fork tender.  Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.  Drizzle with fresh lemon juice. Sprinkle with a small amount of shredded coconut. 

And keep them out of reach from your Cooking Assistant.

I cooked this Brussels sprouts recipe with shiitake mushrooms last year.  Now that I look at it, the simplicity of it is very similar to my Brussels sprouts and leeks and red peppers. I like the colors of this year's Brussels sprouts recipe.  

Use whichever version suits you.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Shiitake Mushrooms
(Serves 4)

Brussels Sprouts from one tree (about 2 pounds sprouts)
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 1/2  tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon Mama Lil's peppers, chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon chopped red peppers
Smoked sea salt to taste
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, tough stems removed and sliced

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut sprouts in half. Toss sprouts and garlic in oil.  Stir in peppers. Layer sprouts in a baking dish. Sprinkle with smoked sea salt. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring once.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add mushrooms.  Stir and cook until they soften. In the last 10 minutes, add them to roasting Brussels sprouts.

3-Bean Salad

It's bean season, and at the market the lines might not be as long for beans as they are for berries or even Japanese cucumbers, but seriously, who doesn't love green beans?

I can always think of something to do with a handful of them.

As market shoppers loaded up big bags of beans, I was tempted to ask what other shoppers were making, but as I filled my my bag, a simple 3-bean salad came to mind. In a soup, tbe mild tones of green beans could get lost. In a stir fry, another vegetable like peppers would grab the lead role, but a 3 bean salad is a harmony of textures and flavors, with each bean a supporting actor.

3-Bean Salad is just one of those dishes, I've just got to have at least once during green bean season season.

Those green beans salads with the dull-colored canned green beans may be okay for some people, but at our house, canned just won't do. The green beans have to be fresh. Try fresh yellow beans or romano beans, but fresh is the key. 

At the market, green beans seem to come all at once.  Romano beans might last a little longer, but the season seems fleeting, so get them while farmers have big baskets of them. 

How can you resist the names of some beans?

Rockridge Orchards cider vinegar needs no introduction.  This past weekend farmer Wade Bennett was selling marionberry apple cider vinegar.

I got green beans at Willie Green's Organic Farm.   In case you don't know by now, I love this Seattle farmers market in the summer!

This is the easiest main dish salad ever! 

Cut the green beans into one-inch pieces and blanch the beans for a few minutes.  Run them under icy cold water to set the color.

You can use any fresh beans you like.  You don't need to get fancy, just go for tender varieites.  Younger means more tender. These purple beans are pretty but when cooked, they lose their color.

It's hard to keep green beans from the market a secret around here.

The berry vinegar gives this salad a tangy berry flavor.  After I made it, I contemplated using cashew cream instead of aioli spread.  Maybe next week.    

Who doesn't love all the great salad experiments of summer!

I'm sharing this one at Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday.  Also check out this recipe that Miz Helen Shared.

3-Bean Salad with Sweet Onions

(Serves 4)

3/4  pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

1 15-ounce can  kidney beans, drained

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans or chick peas, draned

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons Wildwood aioli or vegan mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon agave nectar

2 tablespoons berry or apple cider vinegar

1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest 

1/2 cup small dice fresh sweet onion

1/2 cup small dice fresh red pepper

Smoked sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Blanch green beans for 2 minutes. They should be tender-crisp, slightly underdone.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Combine with kidney and garbanzo beans.

Combine mustard, aioli, agave nectar, vinegar, olive oil, garlic and lemon zest.  Mix well.  Gently stir into green beans.  Mix in onions and red peppers.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with crusty bread or bagels. 

Vinegar saps the color of green beans, so if you want them really green, eat this salad right away.  I don't mind a bit of color missing.  I like to save some for the next day.

My Cooking Assistant doesn't appreciate being left out of the final photo shoot.

Easy salads: Quinoa, Greens and Toasted Cashews

It's salad season.  Who doesn't love that?  The Northwest is the best place to be in the summer--not too hot, mostly sunny and loads of fruit with new varieties appearing every week at a farmers market near you. Thirsty for water?  Take a ferry to the San Juan Islands, spend a day on Whidbey or Vashon, or take a trip to the rain forest on the Penninsula.  It's silly for Seattlites to take a vacation now, when the Northwest has so much to offer in the summer.

Cheers to those who love salads!  Virtually anything can be made into a main dish salad.  The essential ingredient is an acidic ingredient--citrus juice or vinegar.   I asked friends what appealed to them in main dish salads and I got a lot of interesting answers.  Red quinoa was the most intriguing addition.

Vegan cheese and cashews were in so why not add red quinoa?  (Scandalous confession: I found some for a great price at the Grocery Outlet. Check it out.)  Feta cheese would be a good choice if you eat dairy. Salads can be anything you want!

I added red pepper for color. Market and organic peppers are always at a premium price, so I use less. Make them go farther--that's the tightwad in me.  I've been keeping myself on a tighter leash around food this year.  It feels good not waste a thing these days.  I highly recommend budget plans, even if you don't need on, it's helpful to curb kitchen waste.

Lettuce is lower in price during the summer and it seems like everyone has some to spare.  I remember one year signing up for a CSA where I got four bunches of lettuce one week.  I felt like I was going to turn into a turtle with all those greens.  

Whatever kind of lettuce you have, use it.  Except maybe head lettuce--those cannon ball specimens that could hurt someone if tossed in the wrong direction.  

We've got an overload  of lettuce now.

It's not the first time.  This is my Cooking Assistant when he was just a baby learning that good things come from the garden.

Rockridge Orchards has a corner on the market on berry infused apple cider vinegar and wine.

Easy Salads: Quinoa, Greens and Toasted Cashews

(Serves 4 to 6)

Get out of the kitchen with this cool salad--a meal in one bowl, and all it really needs is some crusty bread.

1 cup shiitaki mushrooms, sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, small dice

1/4 cup minced fresh red pepper

1 tablespoon Mama Lil's, chopped

2 cups cooked quinoa

3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon smoked sea salt

1 cup minced celery

4 cups fresh lettuce, torn

1/4 cup diced vegan cheddar cheese

1/2 cup toasted cashews

Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add shiitaki mushrooms, stir and cook until the mushroom sofen.

Pour in olive oil and shallot.  Stir and cook until shallots begin to brown.  Add Mama Lil's.  Cook for a few minutes, then add quinoa and heat for a few minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar and smoked sea salt.

Combine celery and lettuce and gently mix with mushrooms and quinoa.  Top with cheese and cashews.

Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad

Recently I got a request asking if I might be interested in writing an article about main dish summer salads, easy to put together recipes, I thought, what fabulous luck.  I love being creative and recipe articles keep me experimenting in the kitchen. 

This timely request arrived at almost the exact moment that I'd started thinking what a rut we were in at dinner.  I was wonding how to add some variety.  It was a great invitation to be more creative with dinner, in fact, if I hadn't gotten this request, I would have done it anyway.  

What a great way to perk up our home cuisine.

I asked a few friends for ideas for this article. One friend likes to toast chunks of gluten-free focaccia as croutons for green salads.  She adds chickpeas, sunflower seeds and sweet cherry tomatoes.  Another friend adds edamame and quinoa.  Quinoa?  

On that bit of inspiration I made a simple quinoa salad with red quinoa, balsamic vinegar, sauted shallots and peppers.  I added chopped parsley and topped it with toasted cashews. Salads are so easy you can whip them up in minutes and they are different all the time.

Salads should be a staple in everyones' menu.  One day we'll even have salads for breakfast.

This one is all about potatoes.  Who doesn't love potato salad?

New potatoes are the best because they're so sweet and tender, but you can choose everyday white or red potatoes from the grocery store, if you want.  The potatoes from the farmers market tend to cost more, but the flavor makes all the difference.

The same goes for vinegar.  Rockridge Orchards is always my first choice.

My Cooking Assistant has other ideas.  He's too distracted by strawberries this season.  I think he can sniff them a block away.

He's quick. You might want to go check your berries.

He's quick with the photo op, too.  One minute he is sound asleep.  The next, he's got his nose in the picture and won't remove it until he gets a sample.

Too spoiled, I think.

Sorry this was a bit late this week.  I've been too busy enjoying spring.  Hope you like this salad as much as we did.

Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad

(Serves 6)

2 pounds red, white and blue (purple) potatoes, small dice

1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained

2 cherry peppers, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup fresh sweet onions, small dice

3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons aioli spread, or vegan mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon agave nectar (optional)

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives (optional) 

1/2 cup chopped curly parsley

Steam potatoes until tender, 7 to 10 minutes.  Rinse under cold water. Drain.  In a medium mixing bowl, add drained potatoes, kidney beans, peppers, and onions.

Combine raspberry vinegar, mustard, olive oil, aioli spread, agave nectar and white pepper.  Blend until creamy. Combine dressing and potatoes, peppers and onions. Blend in olives, if desired, and parsley.