Two-Bean Soup with Kale

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot 
• 1/2 cup chopped celery 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups organic vegetable broth, divided
• 7 cups stemmed, chopped kale (about 1 bunch)
• 2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, carrot, and celery, and sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and garlic; cook 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups vegetable broth and kale. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until kale is crisp-tender.

Place half of cannellini beans and remaining 1 cup vegetable broth in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Add pureed bean mixture, remaining cannellini beans, black beans, and pepper to soup. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, and rosemary.

Serves 6 (1 1/4 c.); 250 calories.

VERDICT:  Not bad, adaptable, and mostly pantry ingredients.  Keep.
 

Creamy Rye and Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 1/2 pounds butternut, kabocha or hubbard squash
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 6 cups water
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 5 cups 1-inch pieces stale rye bread without crust (see Tip)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Peel and seed squash. Cut into enough 1-inch pieces to make about 4 1/2 cups.

Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the squash and stir to coat with the oil. Add water and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until the squash is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Mash about half the squash against the side of the pot to create a thick broth. Stir in bread; return to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bread is beginning to break apart, 5 to 15 minutes (cooking time depends on how stale and/or dense your bread is).

Remove the soup from the heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in parsley and serve.

Serves 6 (1 1/3 c.); 176 calories.

VERDICT:  I certainly enjoy both squishy bread and caraway rye, so I didn't mind this soup, but I would never serve it to anyone else--it's weirdly gelatinous and visually unappealing.  Toss.  

Curried Millet with Chickpeas and Currants

• 1 1/2 cup cooked millet, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup currants
• 1 can, chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced, white & green parts

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, curry, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Pour over the millet, and mix with a fork.  Add the carrots, currants, and scallions, mixing well and seasoning to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

VERDICT:  This is a less-good version of the standard grain/bean salad.  Currants always seem to me like substandard, gritty, sad cousins of raisins.  In future, possibly tweak to resemble the salad Connie made for my birthday--golden raisins, mango, almond slivers, and celery.  Toss.

Horchata de Coco

• 1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 cups rice milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine coconut and rice in a blender. Add 2 cups boiling water; let stand 15 minutes. Blend 1 minute or until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a pitcher, pressing mixture with the back of a spoon to remove as much liquid as possible. Discard solids. Stir in remaining ingredients, stirring until sugar dissolves. Serve over ice.

Serves 6 (2/3 c.); 178 calories.

VERDICT: The recipe said you could decrease the sugar to 1/2 or 1/3 cup--I went with 1/3 cup, and it's not quite sweet enough.  It also still pretty much  tastes like rice milk from a box.  On the whole, it's fine, but I can't really see making it on a regular basis.  Toss.

Rye Bread

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
• 2 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
• 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for bowl and pans
• 2 tablespoons caraway seeds, plus more for topping
• 4 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and dusting
• 2 1/2 cups rye flour
• 1 large egg white
• Nonstick cooking spray

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup water. Add 2 teaspoons honey. Whisk until yeast dissolves. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add remaining 1 3/4 cups water to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, along with remaining 3 tablespoons honey, butter, caraway seeds, and salt. Mix on low to combine. Gradually add both flours, one cup at a time, mixing until dough comes away from sides of bowl and forms a ragged, slightly sticky ball. Butter a large bowl.

Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball. Transfer to prepared bowl; cover with plastic wrap.

Let dough stand in a warm place until it doubled in volume (it should not spring back when pressed), about 1 hour. Butter two 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pans. Punch down dough and divide in half.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape into a 7-by-7-inch square. Fold dough into thirds; press seam to adhere and pinch ends to seal. Place seam-side down in loaf pan. Repeat process with remaining piece of dough.

In a small bowl, mix egg white with 1 teaspoon water and brush mixture over tops of loaves; sprinkle with caraway seeds.

Spray two pieces of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray; drape loaves with prepared plastic wrap and let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above tops of pans, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees on a conventional oven or 425 degrees on a convection oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees (conventional) or 375 degrees (convection).

Uncover loaves and transfer to oven. Bake, rotating pans after 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool slightly; turn out loaves. Let cool completely before slicing. 

 

Yield: two loaves.

 

VERDICT:  Perfectly respectable rye bread.  A few notes: when I put the yeast, etc. in a glass measuring cup to proof, it completely overflowed--use a bigger small bowl.  Also, the recipe never says when to add the yeast mixture--I stuck in in after mixing together the remaining water, etc.  Finally, I found the bread got brown really fast, so I tented it with tin foil.   

 

Also notable: Michael Ruhlman, in his rye bread recipe, suggested toasting it, rubbing it with a clove of cut garlic, then buttering it.  I tried it with this--fantastic.  I could eat that all day.  

 

Keep.