roasted garlic, kale, and cannellini soup

I left sunny San Francisco Friday morning for a weekend in SoCal filled with grey sky and drizzle. Drizzle that moved up the coast while we feted friends getting married (congrats, Gary & Jayme!). Drizzle that caused our short flight earlier today to be delayed by two hours and then kept us on the tarmac in the airplane for an hour waiting for SFO to clear us to land so that we could leave LA. Drizzle that met us here upon landing.

When we finally got home - cold and hungry - all I could think about was hot soup. So I set about making some.

I had kale on hand from the last CSA delivery - beautiful petite curly kale. I've been convinced since I made kale cannellini crostini earlier in the year that these greens and beans were made for each other. But what else to include? Should I keep it simple, or go to town? I started flipping through cookbooks for inspiration.

I found one in Fresh that caught my eye: roasted garlic, winter kale, and white bean soup. I've never thought to put roasted garlic in soup. Surely, that's a fantastic idea. The kale soup they had in mind included potatoes and heavy cream. That didn't fit the bill, but it didn't matter, as the roasted garlic idea was all I needed to put the rest into motion.

The resulting soup was hot, healthy, and flavorful. It reminded me how much I enjoy having something cooking on the stove when the weather is chilly. I will definitely make this again. I'm already looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow. Here's what I did:

Roasted Garlic, Kale & Cannellini Soup

Serves 3-4

1 large head of garlic

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, minced

3 c. vegetable stock (I used my favorite mushroom stock)

2 c. water

15 oz. can diced tomatoes

15 oz. can cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained

1 bunch kale, center ribs removed and roughly chopped

rustic bread

high quality extra virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Make a small boat out of aluminum foil. Place garlic head in it and roast in oven until soft, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove skin from cloves. Chop.

Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion. Stir and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add half of the roasted garlic and all of the thyme. Stir and cook 1 minute.

Add stock, water, and tomatoes (with juice). Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium. Partially cover pot and simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in kale and beans. Cook 10 minutes uncovered. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix the other half of the roasted garlic with 3 Tbsp. olive oil and a generous pinch of sea salt. Spread on rustic bread and enjoy alongside (or dipped in) soup.

One year ago: black bean soup with avocado lime cream

root beer baked beans

This will very likely be the only baked bean recipe I ever make again.

It was that good.

The sweetness of the root beer dancing with the salty, smokey bacon was perfection. It tasted as though the ingredients simmered together for many hours, yet the use of canned beans meant start to finish in 45 minutes flat. Everyone who celebrated our nation's Independence Day earlier this week with us went back for seconds. Those are all components of a winning dish in my book.

I miss Gourmet dearly, but with this dish have suddenly become a huge fan of the Bon Appetit magazine that has started arriving in its place. The July edition is the source of this recipe:

Root Beer Baked Beans

From: Bon Appetit

Serves 8

4 slices applewood-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

3 1/2 cups chopped onions (I used a mix of red and yellow)

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 15-oz cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained

1 1/2 c. root beer (opt for an artisanal brand sweetened with cane sugar, not corn syrup)

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp. mild flavored molasses

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

2 Tbsp. dijon mustard

1 1/s tsp. chili powder (I used a mix of pasilla and cayanne)

1 tsp. coarse kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook bacon in large ovenproof pot over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel lined plate.

Add onions to drippings in pot. Cook until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic; stir and cook 1 minute. Add beans, root beer, vinegar, molasses, tomato paste, mustard, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mix. Stir in bacon. Bring to a boil.

Transfer to oven. Bake uncovered until liquid thickens, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

One year ago: pasta with walnut pesto & tomatoes

spicy vegetable chili

I'm continuing the trend you've seen posted this week on veggie-packed meals. Weeks 2 and 3 of the cleanse I'm currently undertaking call for 70% of the food I intake to be in the form of raw vegetables. Given that I'm in Washington state at the moment and it's 40 degrees and raining, the thought of 70% raw fruits and veggies is a little bone chilling. So I'm cutting myself some slack. I'm not going to concede on the 70% vegetable part, but am going to try to be ok with the fact that they are mostly going to be, well, cooked. It's a compromise I'm willing to live with (at least until I get back to Cali, where it's a little warmer).

I wasn't planning on such a spicy chili, but it turns out that a little chipotle in adobo sauce goes a long way. I used 2 about tablespoons, and would consider the result to be on the spicy side of medium. Any more and you'll have some serious spice on your hands. Reduce it if you aren't a spice lover (but think about making it available on the side if you are feeding anyone who might want to increase the heat in their bowl).

Spicy Vegetable Chili

Makes a very big pot of chili

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 handful mushrooms, chopped

2 Tbsp. chipotles in adobo sauce, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. cumin

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (with liquid)

4 c. kidney beans, cooked & drained*

2 c. small red beans, cooked & drained*

2 c. water

*I used dried beans for my version, but if you're looking for a shortcut, canned beans will work as well. Just make sure they are rinsed well to reduce the salt that is added in the canning process.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Add onions and garlic. I like to chop my way through the other ingredients, adding them to the pot as they are chopped and stirring occasionally. Once you've added all of the produce, increase heat to medium. Stir and cook a few minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add chipotles in adobo and spices. Stir and cook 1 minute.

Add tomatoes, beans, and water. Stir well. Allow to cook together, partially covered, over low heat as long as you can (at least an hour to give the flavors a chance to meld). As with most stews, this will be even better on the second day. It also freezes well if you don't think you can make your way through the leftovers.

This chili with a kick provided the perfect internal warmth on a damp Northwest day.

One year ago: sweet & spicy roasted kabocha squash

crockpot beans to cry for

It is morning as I begin to write this. As with many Sunday mornings of late, I find myself online perusing recipes and in the kitchen chopping ingredients in preparation for the evening's meal. 

This morning the chopping brought me to tears. Literally. 

No, it wasn't at anything crazy, but rather a fairly usual suspect when it comes to kitchen crying - an onion. What was strange is that I don't think I've ever gotten teary eyed from an onion before. 

Why do people cry at onions, anyway? I googled it. It turns out that when you chop an onion, it breaks the onion cells, releasing into the air an enzyme that reacts with the eye (interestingly, it's the same enzyme that makes them so tasty!). Normally, I shield myself from these enzymes with my contacts. But this morning, I stood in my kitchen, wearing glasses and chopping while tears streamed down my face.

So, it is in the honor of the onion that I name tonight's side dish:

Crockpot Beans to Cry For

Serves 6-8

If you thought far enough ahead to start soaking the beans over night, you can jump right into the put-it-all-in-the-crockpot step. But if you're a late planner like me, follow the shortcut described below.

1 lb. dried kidney beans, rinsed and sorted

2 apples, cored and diced (no need to peel)

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c. molasses

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. brown mustard

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper

1 tsp. salt

In a large pot, cover beans with water. Bring to a slow simmer. Cover and cook for about 40 minutes, until beans just start to soften. Drain.

Add beans and other ingredients to crockpot. Add enough water to cover the beans. Cover and cook on low until the beans are very soft, about 8 hours. Check periodically and add more water if needed to keep the beans from drying out.

A couple of notes: 

1. This recipe makes quite a lot. I'll be freezing half of it (possibly more) for consumption at a later date.
2. In response to JR's complaints of late that he wants spicier food, at the put-it-all-in-the-crockpot step, I also added some hot pepper sauce. More can be added later in the cooking process per your taste, if you really want to spice things up.

Tonight, the beans will serve as a side dish for our California veggie burgers. If I close my eyes, I can pretend I'm enjoying it at a BBQ at the beach... but the satisfaction is fleeting - I open my eyes to find it's still winter and I'm still wearing wool. 

Let me know what you think!