Madhu Knits and Cooks

Pureed White Bean and Tomato Soup - Luscious and Creamy

As I've been working my way through my Rancho Gordo dried bean stash, I've finally had to confront the beans that...I don't like that much.  I know, I know - who doesn't love every single costly Rancho Gordo artisanal bean that one covets for months before finally convincing yourself the price is "worth it"?  

Now that we're (hopefully) past the judgment reaction, we can get to the topic of today's post - Rancho Gordo's Creamy Lima Bean, Tomato, and Feta Soup.  This soup not only used up the giant lima beans that have been hardening in my cupboard, but also produced a fantastic one-post dinner as well.  

I precooked 1/2 cup of dried lima beans in the Instant Pot (soaked overnight, 25 minutes high pressure with a natural release - in the future, I may increase to 30 minutes of cooking time) a day or two ahead of time, which made the soup prep just 25 minutes.  

The result was comforting, rich, salty, slightly briny, and coated your mouth with a pleasing fulsome texture.  I could have sworn this was a heavy cream-based soup, which is a wonderful mental trick from pureed white beans.  I will keep this idea handy for thickening future soups with a healthier protein than dairy.

Some modifications I made - I used traditional feta instead of Valbreso and 1/2 of a 140z can of crushed tomatoes.  I think you can experiment with cheese types here as well - other salty or flavored cheeses will probably add their own special imprint to this soup, even a sharp cheddar or herb-inflected cheese.

Excellent Vegan Red Beans and Rice

While this NYT Cooking recipe no doubt counts as sacrilege in my current city of residence, it does produce an excellent vegan red beans and rice.  Full of umami flavor, I've made this recipe 2-3 times already and plan on making it again this week.  I don't know if there could be a bigger endorsement of a recipe than this frequency of production - especially after what appears to be a decade-long hiatus from making vegetarian red beans and rice.

I've halved the recipe each time I've made it, and omitted the dried sage as I don't have it my kitchen.  I've used dried thyme instead of fresh, and halved the recommended smoked paprika per some of the reader comments. Also per the reader comments, I've added some shakes of gumbo filé at the end of the cooking process (one can't live in Louisiana without some filé in your cupboard!).

I've found that 55 minutes is the optimal pressure cook time for my Instant Pot and Camellia red beans.  I do find that cooking the red beans for a few more minutes on saute is great to get the creamy bean texture that is a hallmark of red beans and rice.  

The recipe uses soy sauce and miso (I know, I know New Orleanians), but the complexity those ingredients add to the final flavors can't be understated.  Salty and savory, this is a great recipe!

Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi - Something New for a Small Dinner Party

I'm not sure how I stumbled on this spinach and ricotta gnudi recipe - the internet, TV, or perhaps a newsletter?  I certainly wasn't looking for a gnudi recipe, or anything in its general food family.  But once I saw a picture of the finished meal, I was captivated with making it.  

It took a few months for me to finally make the recipe, but thankfully it was pretty easy to follow and resulted in a tasty gnudi.  Creamy from the ricotta, slightly bitter from the spinach, and tart from the tomato / vinegar sauce.  

I think this could be a pretty impressive smaller main course for a dinner party.  I would serve with multiple other courses or accompaniments though because after several bites, the gnudi flavors do feel a bit one note and the boiled ball consistency gets a bit old (we ate the leftovers over a few meals). 

An alternative approach I may try is to roll the balls in panko and quickly pan fry them to give a bit more texture to the dish?  Also, making the balls smaller than one inch may help, and allow the chunky fresh tomato sauce to better coat them.  I think adding another herb besides basil to the final dish might also help make this more of an interesting main course.  

So a very good, but not outstanding new recipe attempt!

Shockingly Good Bean, Cilantro + Dill Soup

I'm not sure I have much to add to the title of this post.  The Milk Street version of Iranian Ash Reshteh is shockingly good.  In fact, I'd say this lighter version may be more suited to my tastes than the more authentic variations I've had from excellent Persian restaurants.  

What I also love about this recipe is that it's seemingly flexible to prepare with what you have on hand, as long as there are some beans, noodles, cilantro, and dill involved. 

My modifications included no chickpeas, unsalted butter, a handful of filetti noodles instead of linguini, ~4 tbsp. of a vegetarian Better than Bouillon instead of chicken broth, and adding some leftover julienned baby spinach.  I also used pre-cooked Camellia kidney beans (approx. 1/3 cup dry) that I made in the Instant Pot the day before (17 minutes high pressure, natural release).  

The soup feels lighter than what you'd expect from a bean soup because of the copious amounts of fresh herbs and masoor dal, which is a thinner lentil.  The dill adds wonderful flavor complexity to the otherwise stodgier kidney beans and lentils.  The soup also features great textural complexity from the thin noodles, thicker beans, and thin lentil broth. 

And with precooked or canned beans, this is a weeknight, quick preparation soup that can be served within an hour of starting prep!

First (Failed) Attempt to Recreate a Restaurant Favorite - Little Beet's Quinoa Oatmeal

Many years ago, I loved treating myself to the Little Beet's breakfast quinoa oatmeal.  A location (maybe their first?) opened in the midtown Manhattan building I worked in, and I quickly discovered that not only were their vegetable lunch options a delight, but also their breakfast contained a lot of surprises.  

The breakfast quinoa in particular was outstanding - vegan, creamy, full of spices like cardamon, and filling.  One portion could often be two breakfasts or serve as both breakfast and lunch on a busy day.  

Unfortunately though, with the passage of time, I both no longer live near any Little Beet locations, nor does the Little Beet appear to offer a breakfast menu anymore.  After many attempts to find a recipe or clues on the ingredients used, I recently decided to improvise my own breakfast quinoa oatmeal.  I drew some inspiration from other online recipes for breakfast quinoa, though none seemed to be based on, or that close to, the Little Beet version.

Here is what I did:

• Combined 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa with 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/16 tsp. each of ground cloves and nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. each of ground Vietnamese cinnamon and ground ginger, and 2 pods of cardamon
• Cooked above mixture in the Instant Pot for 1 minute under high pressure, and then did a natural release
• Added 1/2 tsp. of vanilla maple syrup to the finished quinoa

Here is what I found about this approach:

• There was far too much clove in the recipe, and I should have rinsed the quinoa for longer to get rid of more of its bitterness.
• In addition, I probably should have cooked the quinoa for longer - maybe 2 or 3 minutes to get more of a creamy oatmeal type texture versus just cooked quinoa.  Also, it might make sense to do a longer cook time on the stovetop instead of a pressure cook.
• I think more sweetness would have helped - which also could have come from some fresh fruit (maybe bananas) and more agave or maple syrup on top, a la a photo I could find of the Little Beet version.  

I'll report back if I get closer to my memory of this fantastic breakfast!

Pasta Alla Norma - I Can (Almost) Prepare Pasta without a Tomato Sauce

Desiring a weeknight pasta that didn't require a tomato sauce (homemade or a jar), I turned to the NYTimes Cooking Pasta Alla Norma recipe to complement some leftover dried spaghetti.

While the recipe was weeknight appropriate - especially by following the first recipe comment to roast the eggplant instead of saute it in copious amounts of oil - the result was good, not great.  The very light sauce was spicy and flavorful, but eggplant proved to continue to confound me with its consistency.  

I roasted 1/2-inch cubed eggplant at 400 degrees for 15 minutes with salt and pepper, but realized in hindsight that I should have tossed it in olive oil OR used parchment paper because the dried eggplant initially stuck to the tin foil I used to cover the pan.  I continued to roast the eggplant for 30 minutes, which resulted in largely, but not completely, softened eggplant.  Darn you, eggplant!

I then added the eggplant to a sauce of olive oil, one roma tomato diced, some oregano, red chili flake, and garlic powder.  I then added the pasta, which was approx. ~5-6 oz. of dried spaghetti, cooked al dente. 

Threw some grated parmesan on top, and an ok dinner was served!  I don't know if I'll make this recipe again, but I am glad I tried it for something new!

Simple Miso Corn Chowder with Interesting Enough Flavors for Several Days

The title of the post says it all - this Milk Street Corn Chowder with Miso and Scallions is not only a perfect weeknight meal, but also has enough complex flavors to make for great leftovers for days.  

I made a few edits to this recipe.  I partially blended the soup with an immersion blender instead of placing a portion into a stand blender.  I substituted russet for the gold potatoes because of grocery store availability, and used unsalted butter in place of salted.  And because I made this in the spring, I used frozen corn instead of fresh. 

I look forward to making this salty, subtly sweet, and herby soup again and again!

Restorative and Light Celery and Potato Soup - Great for a Luncheon

My winter soup posts continue with a light and refreshing celery and potato soup, which really is a year-round soup. 

This soup had a lightweight, almost broth-like consistency and was simply flavored by celery, potato, and chives.  I think it could be a great addition to a simple luncheon - served with salad, bread, maybe an egg dish, and dessert.  

I didn't strain the soup and used an immersion blender, and neither seemed to have an effect on the soup's smooth consistency.  Other modifications I made:

• 2 tsp. of Better than Bouillon 
• 5.5 cups of water
• No walnut oil (allergic)
• Chopped chives for garnish
• I didn't reserve any celery for the garnish, just used it all in the soup itself
• I didn't make a formal bouquet garni, and just took the bay leaf, parsley, and thyme out on its own

The only other modification I might make is to add more vegetables, perhaps some cauliflower, to make it more substantive as a stand-alone meal.

Milk Street's Kale, Miso, Tofu, and Ginger Soup - Sadly, Just OK

Sadly, the post title says it all.  This soup, while easy to prepare, was pretty good, but not a recipe repeat.

The tofu was too bland in the soup, and I'm wondering if I should have substituted silken tofu for the firm I used?  I also think that the kale itself just dampened the flavors of the soup so it tasty more healthy than flavor-rich.  

I think this soup could benefit from more flavor additions (scallions, garlic, maybe more miso, rice vinegar, celery even), but will likely just stick to other recipes than try to modify this one.

Simple Quinoa and Vegetable Soup - Great for Comforting Winter Meals

Seeking more weeknight meal diversity, as well as a way to use up my big bag of quinoa in the cabinets, I decided to try a New York Times Hearty Quinoa and White Bean Soup recipe.  

This savory soup was flexible with modifications, of which I made many.  I didn't add in any beans, and instead slightly increased the quinoa to 1/2 cup and added in a handful or two of ditalini pasta two minutes after adding in the quinoa.  I also added in some thawed frozen corn, fresh thyme, and a full can of diced tomatoes - why not?

Perhaps because of the increase in quinoa and the pasta, the soup ended up more like a stew, which my husband liked a lot.  

With some final grated parmesan on the end, this soup had a pleasing creaminess and saltiness to supplement the vegetables and fragrant herbs.  I look forward to making it again!