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Kale & Great Northern Bean Soup

I thought I would share a garden update with you: what’s in my garden at the end of November? The lettuce that I sowed in mid-September is now disappearing and turning into what seems like camping sites for slugs. On the plus side I have plenty of garlic chives that I love tossing into my miso soup with tofu. Also the cilantro is still holding strong, brightening our meals every day, as well as rows of skinny leeks, shabby looking Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and the rest is kale, kale and more kale.

I have different kinds of kale plants in the garden but so far my reliable ones are heirloom Lacinato kale, which I love for its bug/disease resistance, and Red Russian, which has great cold resistance. We can never have enough kale in our household thanks to its vitamin and calcium content, as well as its renowned anti-cancer properties. The leaves at the bottom part of the kale plant get tough this time of year, so it is a welcome ingredient for soup.

In a cold storage, aka simple lidded containers filled with peat moss in the garage, we have carrots and beets, separately stored. I hadn’t had success in leaving carrots in the soil during winter due to the volume of rain (that equals too many slugs) here in the West Coast, so I pick before the rainy season starts every year. If you want more details on how to store them, check this post. Our 5-tier storage shelves are also lined with bright orange pumpkins, glossy kabochas and warty Marina Di Chioggias. So you might see a lot of pumpkin desserts for the next few posts, but I know you won’t be disappointed! But for now, here is warm kale soup for you. And if you are hooked on kale, there are more recipes, check here.

Kale & Great Northern Beans Soup

Serves 6

1 cup Great Northern Beans, soaked overnight

1 tablespoon butter

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 small knob ginger, finely chopped

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 dry sausages of your choice, sliced

2.5 L chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 bay leaves

A big bunch of kale, stalk removed and cut into 1 inch length

Salt and pepper

Truffle oil or olive oil for finishing

Cook the beans for 25 minutes, then add a bay leaf and dash of salt. Continue to cook until soft, for about 20 minutes.

Sauté the garlic, ginger and cumin with butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, and sausage. Continue to sauté till they are nicely coloured.

Add the chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Skim occasionally. Add the turmeric, a bay leaf and beans, and then turn the heat down. Simmer for another 25 minutes.

Add kale and cook until it is tender, for about 10 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Serve with a dash of oil. I like adding a few drops of truffle oil for its rich aroma.

Kuri Gohan & Tonjiru

After my mom left, many kind hearts looked after my sister and me. We were consoled by my grandma, our aunties and uncles, and my father’s colleague Mrs. Tajima. We were about 8 years old and Mrs. Tajima had children who were in junior high, so sometimes she came to our apartment to help us with chores or brought us to her house after school. This was when I discovered a love of chestnuts. Boiled, steamed or roasted, I loved eating these nuts, as to me they encompassed a whole autumn season on a plate.

Mrs. Tajima’s children taught us how to spoon the nutty dense meat out of the steamy hot chestnuts. My fingernails ended up all yellow and sweet, with hard brown shells piled up on a table. After working hard to extract the chestnut meat, we happily ate the delicious chestnuts with a glass of milk. Today, when I close my eyes and discern the flavour of each chestnut in the rice, I wonder how Mrs. Tajima is doing, and suddenly remember the way she wiped my wet hair in the evening light with me burying my head around her tummy and wondering if this was how my mother would smell. Cooking chestnuts always brings back this memory and the warmth of Mrs. Tajima.

Kuri Gohan (Chestnut Rice)

Serves 6

30 plump chestnuts

1¼ cups white rice

1 cup (250ml) brown rice

2½ cups water

2 tablespoons sake

½ teaspoon salt

For sprinkling

Roasted black sesame seeds

Sea salt

Rinse the chestnuts, place them in a large bowl, and cover with cold water over night.

Next day, rinse the chestnuts and place them in boiling water for a few minutes. Let them cool off in the water. Peel the skin with a small knife, being careful not to break the chestnuts. Soak them in water for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, wash the rice well and change water a few times until water becomes clear. Place in the bowl of a rice cooker with 2½ cups water.

Rinse the chestnuts and drain well. Place the sake and salt in the prepared rice and stir to mix. Lay the chestnuts on top of rice evenly and cook (If you don’t use a rice cooker, you can cook the same way you normally cook the rice in a pot).

Combine the sesame seeds and salt in a small bowl. Serve immediately with sesame mixture lightly sprinkled on top.

Tonjiru (Pork & Vegetable Miso Soup)

I always make a plenty of this dish because the flavour gets even better the next day!

Serves 6-8

1 large gobo, skin removed and cut lengthwise and then, into 1 inch pieces

6 inch daikon, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil

1 lb pork centre loin chop, boneless, cut into 1 inch pieces

8 cups water

2 sheets abura age, cut into ½ inch strings

2 leeks, cut into ½ inch pieces

1/3 cup to ½ cup red miso and white miso (I like mixing half and half)

Soak the gobo in cold water, changing the water a couple of times until it becomes clear, about 20 minutes. Drain well.

In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat the oil over medium high heat and sauté gobo. Then, add daikon, carrots and pork until they are nicely coated with oil, for about 15 minutes.

Add water and bring to a boil. Skim occasionally and simmer for 30 minutes.

Rinse the abura age by pouring boiling water to remove the excess oil. When cool, squeeze the moisture out and add to the soup.

Add the leek and cook further, about 10 minutes or so.

Turn the heat down to low heat, place the miso in a ladle and melt gradually into the soup. Never boil miso soup, as this will destroy the subtle umami flavour.

Gentlly simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve while hot.

Ohitashi with Cabbage

½ head of cabbage

½ organic lemon

1 Thai pepper, chopped thinly

2 tablespoon dashi stock or water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Boil water in a medium pot and submerge the cabbage for about 5 minutes. Drain well.

In the meantime, extract lemon juice for about 1 tablespoon. Peel the rind and cut into thin strips for ½ tablespoon. Combine the juice, dashi and soy sauce in a small bowl.

When cabbage is cool, squeeze the moisture out and cut into ½ inch pieces.

Mix the cabbage, lemon rind, pepper, and lemon juice mixture and serve immediately.

Summer Weekends Meal Ideas

Sunny days are back and so is my watering routine. My plants are growing at an overwhelmingly fast pace, and it is hard to capture everything unfolding in the garden, kitchen and on the table. Literally, we have too many vegetables to cook up, consume (never mind digesting) and store.

Stalks of broad beans were drooping with their swelling weight (need to be harvested), carrots became the perfect size to be eaten as a finger food (need to be eaten), Swiss chard plants are wilting under the persistent sunbeams (need water)… then I got stung by a wasp as I was dead-heading marigolds (needed nothing but to keep moving to overcome the prickly sensation). When I tried to rest in the fragrant area of dahlia and sweet peas, my eyes became fixed on the weeds among the onions. Before I knew it, I was crouching down to pluck them and continue working … this is indeed a gardener’s life. Therefore, we try to take time to slow down a bit on weekends by enjoying hearty meals. Here’s what we’ve been enjoying…

Breakfast with Fried Eggs, Chorizo and Glazed Carrots

In this recipe, young thin carrots work best. If you are skipping chorizo, add salt to balance the flavour of the carrots.

Serves 2

2 tablespoons olive oil

A bunch of carrots, cut in half lengthwise if thick

½ cup water

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons grain mustard

4 eggs, cooked to your preference

1 medium sized spicy chorizo, sliced

Freshly ground pepper

Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat with the olive oil. Sautee the carrots until lightly browned. Add the water, honey, and mustard and turn the heat down. Stir well to cover the carrots evenly and cook until carrots are softened and the liquid bubbles.

Rinse the pan quickly with hot water and heat over medium high heat. Fry the chorizo, then add eggs and cook until eggs are done. Adjust with the pepper and serve immediately with the carrots.

More recipes for carrots here.

Broad Bean and Fresh Lime Juice Quinoa Salad

There is no need to be precise in this recipe. Simply add any amount of vegetables and cheese you like, and adjust the flavour with the lime juice to your taste. This is one of the easiest and quickest meals in my kitchen, full of nutritious goodness.

Serves 3-4

½ cup red quinoa

½ cup white quinoa

2 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

Broad beans, shell removed

Carrot, thinly sliced

Red onion, chopped finely

Feta cheese, cut into ½ inch pieces

A handful of raw cashews

Fennel leaves

Salt and pepper

¼ cup or more extra virgin olive oil

Fresh juice of 2 limes

Salt and pepper

Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer to remove the saponin, and drain well. Bring the stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. If you are using water instead of the stock, add some salt to the boiling water. Add the quinoa. Lower the heat, cover with a lid and simmer for about 12 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes. Remove the lid and let cool.

In a small pan, boil water and cook the broad beans for about 3 minutes. Discard the cooking water, dunk the beans in cold water and remove the thin skin from each bean.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, lime juice, broad beans, carrot, onion and cheese. Stir in the quinoa and adjust with salt and pepper.

Serve on a platter or in individual bowls, and scatter with the cashews and fennel leaves. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving time.

More recipes for quinoa here.

Limoncello and Lime Drink

Ice cubes

A little bit of Limoncello

A slice of lime

A dash of fresh lime juice

Carbonated water

Combine all the ingredients in a chilled glass. Sit back, tootsies up and enjoy the moment.

Shiso Udon Noodle Salad

Serves 3-4

Broad beans, shell removed

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 each of yellow and small green zucchini, thinly sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 cup purslane, washed, pat dried and cut into small pieces

A few shiso leaves, cut into thin strips with cooking scissors

2 bundles dry udon noodles, one bundle size of a dollar

2 tablespoons soba sauce (recipe here)

2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil or flax oil

Place water in a large pot and bring to a boil. In the meantime, in a small pan, boil water and cook the broad beans for about 3 minutes. Discard the cooking water, dunk the beans in cold water and remove the thin skin from each bean.

Cook the udon noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. In the meantime, prepare the vegetables.

Using a colander, drain the noodles well. Rinse with cold water and drain completely. In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the broad beans, scallions, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, purslane, soba sauce and the oil. Transfer the noodles to a large platter and sprinkle with shiso leaves over top. Serve immediately.

Cherry and Chocolate Almond Tart

Makes one 13 1/2” x 4” rectangular tart pan

Tart dough

60g butter, room temperature

60g sugar

½ egg, lightly beaten

110g white flour

20g cocoa powder

Extra butter and flour for the pan

Almond chocolate cream

100g butter

70g sugar

1½ eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

100g ground almond

100g dark chocolate, cut into small pieces

250g cherries, pitted and halved

A handful of sliced almonds

Caster sugar for dusting

Butter the pan and dust with some flour, then remove excess flour. Keep it refrigerated.

Make the tart dough. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder then set aside. Place the butter in a food processor and pulse until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the sugar and continue to pulse until fluffy. Add the egg and pulse to blend. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together into a ball. Gently press the ball into a disk, wrap with a piece of plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Flour the working surface and roll the dough with a rolling pin to a size large enough to cover the pan. It could be as thin as 1/8 to 1/16 and that is okay. If it is difficult to manage, roll the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper. Transfer the dough by rolling it around the pin and unrolling onto the pan. Gently fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides with your fingers. Run the pin across the top of the pan to remove the excess dough. If there are tears or a part is too thin, just patch with the excess dough. Keep refrigerated.

Melt the chocolate in a medium sized bowl placed over a small pan with simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

Preheat the oven to 350F (320F with the convection). Make the almond chocolate cream. In a large bowl, cream the butter until fluffy, then add the sugar. Continue until fluffy, then add the eggs and combine well. Add the vanilla, ground almond and chocolate, and stir well.

Pour the almond chocolate cream in the tart evenly. Place the cherries evenly across the tart. Bake for about 40 minutes or until done.

Let cool on a rack. Scatter with the sliced almonds over top and dust with the caster sugar.

More tart recipes here.