New cookbook!

Hello after another long hiatus! Sorry. The month of March was just mad busy. And April probably won't be any better--but I'm trying! See last post for rationale/action items going forward (dontcha love that workplace jargon).

I thought I would start this re-start with an update on the (second) most exciting recent addition to my kitchen:


The New Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas

Beautiful, non?

I have already made tons of delicious recipes from this book! It has given me so many great ideas for using my CSA goodies each week. This book has recipes for all the "building blocks" I wanted to learn how to make: basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto, tortillas, naan, pita bread, polenta, etc. etc. The best thing about it is that the book is organized by menus (AND SEASONS!), so if I ever need to come up with a bunch of delicious veggie food that all tastes great together, I have this at my fingertips!

I'll try to post everything I make from this book, but you know me. Let's start with an amazing, simple and economical soup I made at the beginning of March.

Greens and Garlic Soup
This soup has so much garlic in it, you guys. Basically that's the only spice. But, if you use some deliciously flavorful greens, you get all those nice subtleties in there too! I used spinach, dinosaur kale, and beet greens. The beet greens turned the broth nice and pink, which was a funny addition. The recipe suggests that 2-3 different types of greens is best for this soup, mixing stronger flavors with milder ones.


Ingredients
1 head garlic, separated into cloves, peeled & chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbs. fruity green olive oil
1 bunch each of your 2-3 leafy greens (approximately 1 ½ pounds)
1 ½ lbs. russet potatoes, peeled & diced
2 cups water
salt & peppa
8 cups vegetable broth (or low-salt chicken broth)
¾ cup white wine (I think I left this out cuz I didn’t have any)
3 Tbs. rice vinegar

garnishes: additional olive oil, hot red chile pepper flakes, 6 oz. feta cheese (crumbled). I didn’t have the chili flakes or feta so I just heaped in some parmesan and it was AMAZING.

Instructions
Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a large non-stick pan, until they begin to color. Wash the greens, trim away any tough stems and ribs, and shred the leaves with a sharp knife. If you’re using a sturdier green such as kale or escarole, add it to the pan when the garlic starts to turn golden, and sauté them together for a few minutes, stirring often.

Meanwhile, combine the diced potatoes, water, salt & pepper, and veggie broth in a soup pot and bring to a boil. When the potatoes are tender, add the garlic and onion mixture, all the shredded greens, the white wine, and the rice vinegar. Simmer everything together for about 30 minutes, then taste and correct the seasoning if needed.

The recipe says to put out a carafe of good green olive oil, some dried red chile flakes, and a bowl of crumbled feta, and serve steaming bowls of soup. As mentioned above, I didn’t have 2 of the 3 garnishes, so I just used parmesan. I love parmesan, so this was perfect for me.

YUM I ate this soup for SO many days you guys. Excellent with some crusty bread or hummus/pita (or pita chips).

There's some good-lookin' dinosaur food!