Color is Delicious: Red Curry and Red Lentil Soup

I heard a story recently on NPR about how beans are the food of our era. It makes sense, doesn't it? They're cheap, easy to cook, environmentally friendly to grow and oh, so nutritious. And if you think they aren't delicious, you're downright crazy. Beans are one of nature's most versatile edibles. I'll be proving that to you in the coming weeks. Let's start with this fun fact: I just made the best brownies I've ever had with black beans.

So here's to eating more beans- my New Year's resolution, only four months late. You may begin with the fart jokes now.

Red Curry and Red Lentil Soup
-serves 6-10, depending on how hungry you are


1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 can light coconut milk
1 can full fat coconut milk
6 medium carrots, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 oz red curry paste
1 cup water

kosher salt, olive oil
* spinach
* cashews
* lime

Toss onions, celery and carrots with oil and a pinch of salt and roast at 375 until cooked through and starting to caramelize, about 25 minutes. Place lentils, light coconut milk, curry paste and water in a large pot and cook according to these instructions. It is very important that you do NOT salt the lentils until they are nice and soft but not mushy, which should take about 30 minutes. Remove one cup of cooked lentils and blend them with the full fat coconut milk. Return the mixture to the pot and add vegetables.

* These things are optional. If you are going to use them, serve each bowl of soup over freshly wilted spinach. Adding it in while cooking will result in brown spinach. Use as many cashews as you like; I prefer raw, unsalted ones. Squeeze lime over the soup before serving if you're feeling fancy.

Vegetables are Delicious: Red Curry and Pumpkin Risotto

The other day I watched Forks Over Knives, a documentary promoting a vegan diet. I'm not about to become a vegan anytime soon, but it did inspire me to use more vegetables. Pumpkins are just coming into season, so I grabbed a small one at the store last week and made this quinoa risotto to warm me up on the crisp fall evenings we've been having lately!

Red Curry and Pumpkin Risotto
one small pumpkin or squash
one medium sweet potato
one medium sweet onion, diced
one small bunch rainbow chard
red curry paste *
3/4 cup quinoa
1/2 can light coconut milk
vegetable stock (about two cups)

Peel pumpkin and sweet potato and chop into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and salt. Roast at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Meanwhile, sauté onion and stems of chard over medium heat until caramelized. Add coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Add quinoa. Add vegetable stock 1/2 cup at a time. When quinoa is almost ready to crack, add cooked pumpkin, sweet potato and chopped chard leaves. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or until chard is done. Serve with a wedge of lime.

*Start out with 1T curry paste and taste the broth as you go. If you want the flavor to be stronger or spicier, add more 1/2t at a time, but remember: curry needs to cook! Don't add too much curry paste towards the end!

Beer is Delicious: Beer Steamed Burgers

Since there's a three day weekend coming up, I decided to share with you an American backyard dinner: burgers, potatoes and slaw!

Now, to be perfectly honest, I usually feel like crap after this kind of meal. Traditionally, it is heavy and unhealthy. Granted, that's partially on me. I mean, if I'm going to get a burger, I'm going to go all out: Benton's bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, garlic aioli. But it just doesn't have to be like that. 

If you steam your burger, you can use up to 96% lean ground beef. The moisture from the steam keeps the burger juicy and moist. And what better to steam it in than beer? I used The Better Beer Project's prototype for American Pale Ale. 

As for the sides, I baked the potatoes with red pepper flakes and thyme. They are crunchy on the top, soft in the middle and downright addictive. I also didn't use mayonnaise on the slaw. A 1:1 ratio of Greek yogurt and avocado make a dressing that is just as rich and thick. 

Check back later this week for a post about how to end this meal: Horchata Ice Cream. 

OH! And special thanks to my friend Stephen for inspiring this burger recipe. 

I hope you all have a happy and healthy long weekend!

The recipe for Accordion Potatoes can be found here. They are SO delicious, but be warned: they are also a little bit of a pain to make.

Beer Steamed Burgers:
-serves four
1lb lean ground beef
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
1T honey
2T olive oil
2T unsalted seasoning mix (I used Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute)
salt to taste (I used a scant teaspoon)
1/3 cup beer (try to use something that is neither too sweet nor too hoppy; stick with the pale ale family)

Mix beef, quinoa, honey olive oil, salt and seasoning together and form into four patties. Let come to room temperature. Heat a pan over medium with about 1T oil in the bottom. Cook on one side uncovered. When you flip the burgers, add the beer and cover for the remainder of the cooking process. Top with cheese before covering if desired.

*Tips: Cook quinoa in something flavorful, like vegetable stock with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Do not over mix the meat; this can make it tough. Lightly butter your buns and warm them at 300 for about 10 minutes. No one likes a dry bun any more than they like a dry burger!

My burger is pictured with Simple Guacamole:
2 large, ripe avocados
1/2 a red onion
juice of two limes
2 medium jalapenoes
salt to taste

Carrot Salad:
-serves eight 
6 oz Greek yogurt
1 avocado
2T fresh mint, chopped
2T sugar
juice of one lime
20 oz carrots, shredded
salt to taste (just a pinch should do it)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I think regular raisins look like dead bugs in my food!)
*I also added one bulb fennel and one granny smith apple, but the salad is just as good without them!

Place yogurt, avocado, mint, sugar, salt and lime juice in blender and pulse until very smooth. Toss with carrots and raisins. This is best if it has time to rest for a couple hours before serving.

Easy is Delicious: Kale Stew

I never thought I liked kale. In the '90's it was very trendy in restaurants to use a piece of raw kale as a garnish. Even as an eight-year-old, I loved its deep green color, earthy smell and curly edges. Why would something be on my plate if I wasn't meant to eat it? I always wondered. Naturally I'd try to eat it. Let me tell you: raw, garnish quality kale is NOT meant to be eaten. It's awful. Just don't do it.

But fate brought kale and I back together 14 years later. My friend Sarah was singing at the East Nashville Farmers Market one afternoon and was paid for her services with a basket of vegetables. Nestled in the basket next to green onions and a few zucchini was a giant bunch of purple kale. We sauteed it with olive oil, garlic and a little bit of sugar and ate it alongside fresh spinach fettucini. To my surprise, I loved it.

Now I can't get enough kale. There is no other vegetable that is quite as hearty, nutritious and versatile. My favorite way to eat it is in a one pot meal, kale stew. It has less than ten ingredients and is ready in half an hour. I serve it with a big hunk of bread, over rice, quinoa, mashed potatoes or as picture here, with goat cheese polenta.

Kale Stew:
-serves 4-6
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1/2 t red pepper flakes
3 links sausage (I used Trader Joe's chicken andouille, loose or cased both work)
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 can roasted tomatoes
1 can white beans (such as cannellini or garbanzo), drained
1 bunch or bag of kale, chopped
1T raw honey
about 1/2 cup to 1 cup chicken stock

In a large pot (I used a six quart French oven), sauté onion in olive oil with kosher salt and red pepper flakes until translucent. Add sausage (break up if using loose, slice if using cased). Let cook over medium, stirring occasionally until onions are caramelized and sausage is brown.

Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add tomatoes, beans and 1/2 cup of stock. Simmer for five minutes. Add kale, honey and a little more salt (you may need to do this in batches- the kale will cook down a lot) and let kale cook for at least ten minutes with lid on. You can let this simmer for up to 20 minutes longer to let flavors meld or serve immediately.

*Add more stock as needed. I used a little extra after I added the kale.

Beer is Delicious: Brown Ale Sauce

Tomatoes are out and beer is back in- vive la Brewsday! 

There are four things that all college kids have in their kitchen: spaghetti, onions, beer and cheese. Yes my friends, I used to make dinner out of only those four things. I'd caramelize onions, reduce beer, mix with pasta and top with cheese. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, as the other Hannah would say.

When I was cooking in college I'd grab whatever beer was leftover from the weekend before. It didn't always work out very well (Bud Light Lime is not good to eat or drink). The best beer to use in a sauce like this is a medium brown English style ale (try BBC Nut Brown Ale or Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale). The toasty flavor of the dark malts marry with the sugar in the onions and well, they form a very happy union.

This sauce is a dressed up version of my college dinner. I still like to toss it with spaghetti and top it with cheese, but I add a few vegetables and herbs in there too.

Here I've tossed the Brown Ale Sauce with spaghetti and arugula. I've topped it with pepper, Pecorino Romano cheese and a grilled artichoke. But you don't have to limit Brown Ale Sauce to pasta; it is delicious in so many ways. Other recommended uses include: using it as a spread on a chicken sandwich, marinating steak in it before grilling and dipping potato wedges in it. Mmm.

Brown Ale Sauce:
- serves four to six, depending on your portion size
3 large sweet onions
one small head garlic
1T balsamic vinegar
1T raw honey
1/4 cup nut brown ale
1/2 cup beef stock
1 heaping Tablespoon thyme, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Wrap garlic in tin foil and top with olive oil and a big pinch of kosher salt. Roast until your whole house smells like garlic (about 30 minutes). Meanwhile, dice onions and cook over medium heat with olive oil and two big pinches of kosher salt. When onions are caramelized, add vinegar and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add beer and cook for another 3-5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add stock and honey and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add thyme.

At this point, you can either chop the garlic (squeezed out of skins) and mix it in, then serve as is or you can throw everything into a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Happy eating and drinking to you all!

Tomatoes are Delicious: Tomato Soup

Whoever invented tomato soup was some kind of brilliant idiot. Honestly, it is so good to eat, but so inexplicably inefficient to make.

It boils down to this: if you have a lot of time on your hands and want to show off a bit, make tomato soup. It's certainly worth it.

I'm a soup addict. Tomato soup is the perfect summer or winter dinner. The problem with craving tomato soup in the winter is that you can't get good tomatoes! Last night, Coy and I each enjoyed our soup with cheese on top, and sparkling lemonade and a whole wheat baguette on the side. Then I put the rest in the freezer for safe keeping. I'm like the ant, always thinking ahead.

I made my soup at the very peak of tomato season. I got big, red beefsteak tomatoes and sweet vidalia onions from the Nashville Farmers' Market. I roasted them with garlic, rosemary and fennel and blended it all together with basil from my windowsill. It's like preserving the best of summer in a bowl.

Roasted Tomato Soup:
-Serves four as a meal, six as a side dish

4 1/2 pounds red tomatoes
2 small vidalia onions
1 large bulb fennel
1 head garlic
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 cup fresh basil
4 sprigs rosemary, roughly torn

Slice fennel and onion in 1/4 inch rounds, slice tomatoes in half and chop the top off of a whole head of garlic. Cover vegetables in lots of olive oil, kosher salt and rosemary. Roast in oven at 400 until onions and fennel are caramelized and tomatoes are soft (this could take up to 55 minutes depending on your oven and your vegetables; check them after 30 minutes, and then every 10 minutes after that). Discard rosemary when vegetables are done. Meanwhile, warm (do NOT simmer or boil) the milk with the basil in it for 30 minutes. Blend everything together (be sure to squeeze the garlic out of its skin). Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Add 1/2 a cup of remaining pulp to thicken soup.

*Note: I recommend roasting tomatoes in something shallow like a pie dish. Juice will come off of them and caramelize in the bottom. That juice is delicious! Plus it will make a mess in your oven if it drips off a cookie sheet.

Easy is delicious: Bean Bake

Yesterday I was thinking about coming home. Coming home always calls for food. Whether you're coming home for Christmas, from a late movie or from vacation- isn't it the nicest feeling knowing that someone cares enough to have something ready for you?

Last night my boyfriend went to the Predators game right down the street from my house so I decided to have something ready for him afterwards. I didn't have a lot on hand.

Every week when I go to the store or the Farmer's Market, I am completely entranced by the produce. This past week I bought parsnips. Why? Because they are the beautiful, off-white earthy color of a set of plates I want; I know, it's a girl thing. I also grabbed some vidalia onions; they remind me of summer. I have little patience for the gentle art of sautéing, so I threw everything in the oven together with salt and olive oil.

I remembered a post I had read by Jules Clancy of Stone Soup called Onion and White Bean Bake and I decided to make a similar dish. When my boyfriend came over, I heated up the bake. He told me it was delicious three times last night and once already this morning.

Easy Bean Bake:
2 vidalia onions, roasted and chopped
1/2 cup vegetables, roasted and chopped (I used one large parsnip and one small, raw carrot for crunch)
1 can white beans, drained
1/2 cup cheese, grated (I used goat milk gouda, my favorite)
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
splash of chicken stock
pepper to taste (you don't really need salt; the vegetables and the cheese are already salted)

Roast vegetables at 400 degrees until slightly caramelized. Give onions a fine chop and vegetables a rough chop. Mix everything together and place in a greased gratin dish. Top with a splash (1/4 of a cup or less) of stock and a little cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Broil the top until golden brown.

The best part of this story is that having food ready for him last night means that it is ready for me for lunch today!