Beet Caprese Salad

Every spring I start to crave Caprese Salad, but the tomatoes never ripen soon enough to satisfy this springtime craving. This year I found some gorgeous beets at the farmers market AND this awesome recipe for a Beet Caprese. It was simple, but delicious! And we had mint in the herb garden too! So we used mint instead of basil. Lets call it Caprese inspired....barely...but still delicious!

Roasted Beet Salad alla Caprese
Servings: about 4
adapted from: The Curvy Carrot

Rob and Hazel tasting my yummy salad!

Ingredients

For the beets:
4 medium beets, scrubbed, trimmed, and dried
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Zest of one grapefruit
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad:
2 balls (4 to 6 ounces each) buffalo mozzarella
Sea salt, to taste
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, sliced thinly

Note: the original recipe called for basil, which I think would be delicious, but we didn't have any basil in the garden yet and the mint leaves have just started growing again, so we used mint instead.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

I've had this soup stuck in my head for weeks, but lost the recipe. I re-found it in an old issue of Fine Cooking on Saturday morning and got straight to making it.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup
modified from Fine Cooking, January 2009
Makes 14 cups, about 8 servings

2 T oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
6 cups cooked black beans*
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 tsp salt


Saute the onions over medium heat in a large pot. Cook until starting to soften and brown slightly, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic, coriander, cumin, pepper, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 second.

Add the broth beans, sweet potatoes, salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, at least 15 minutes. I simmered for at least 30 minutes, it might have been closer to an hour because I really wanted the flavors to blend.

Puree 3/4 of the soup, leaving the remainder chunky. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Served topped with a dollop of yogurt and a slice of lime**.

Notes:
* 6 cups of cooked black beans = four 15.5 oz cans OR 2 cups dried beans
** The original recipe called for plain yogurt, but I used a toasted cumin yogurt recipe from smitten kitchen and it was awesome! See the original recipe at
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/01/black-bean-soup-toasted-cumin-seed-crema/
Take 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds and toast them in a dry pan on the stove for about 60 seconds until they start to brown. Grind them up and mix them into 1 cup yogurt, sour cream or creme fraiche. I used greek yogurt.
** I didn't have any limes, but I bet a squeeze of fresh lime juice would be really good. Rob was wishing for more spice, but I really like that you can taste the sweet potato. I suppose you could add some cayenne pepper or jalapenos.

Left over ham bones

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the ham bone. All of the women fighting over it, with dreams of soup bouncing around their heads. I managed to score two ham bones this year thanks to many wonderful coincidences; 1.) an office potluck; 2.) the fact the my aunt made both a turkey and a ham for Christmas dinner and had her heart set on turkey soup; and 3.) my mom is heading out of town for a few days and didn't fight me for the family ham bone. So I got to make two soups today!

The first is my old stand-by ham and lentil soup and the second is a new-comer.

Ham and Lentil Soup 
modified from Gourmet, October 2001
serves 4 to 6

1 lb lentils (any color will do, I usually use red and/or yellow), picked over
2 qt water
1 meaty ham bone
2 lb onions (5 medium), finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sage
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse lentils and combine in a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot with water, ham bone, and half of onions. Bring to a boil, skimming froth, then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until lentils are tender but not falling apart, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. This can also be done in a crock pot on low heat for 6-8 hours if you are looking for make ahead options.

Cook remaining onions in butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add to soup along with thyme and sage and continue to simmer, partially covered, until lentils are falling apart and soup is thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove ham bone (if you want the soup smooth, blend the lentils now) then shred meat and return it to soup.

And the second soup.....we decided it wasn't really worth making again.

Smoked Poblano and Butternut Squash Soup

I had the smoker fired up last weekend to smoke a bunch of pork and decided to roast as many peppers as I could find too. This soup came from the really yummy smoked poblanos......

Important notes:

1. This soup was too spicy for me to eat. I can only handle medium spice levels. I did add a bunch more squash and cream the next day to reduce the heat and the taste was not as fabulous.

2. You are going to blend everything together in the end, so don't worry to much about chopping everything to the exact size listed.

2 medium butternut squash

2 T butter

3 onions, roughly chopped

2 T cumin seeds

6 or 7 smoked poblano peppers

6 cups broth (vegetable, chicken or pork would work)

Smoke peppers for approximately 4 hours or until they start to wilt and brown a little. Remove stems and seeds and cut into roughly 1-inch strips.

Roast whole squash in the oven at 350 for about an hour, or until they are soft and the outside is starting to brown. Let it cool slightly and remove seeds, skin, etc. Cut squash into roughly 2-inch cubes.

Carmelize the onions in butter over medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until they are just starting to brown, stirring occasionally. Add cumin and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add poblanos and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add squash and broth and increase heat to high until soup comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes to blend flavors. Puree soup (I use a food processor) and serve.