African peanut soup

I saw a post for an African soup at Kalyn's Kitchen a while back. It sounded good and I made a mental note to make it at some point, but never got around to it. This week I came across several other versions of this recipe and figured that somebody was trying to tell me that this needed to be cooked pronto.

African peanut soup (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen and The Kitchn)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2 green onions, chopped

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

4 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp chili powder

dash of cayenne pepper

1/4 cup brown rice, sorted and rinsed

1/4 cup lentils, sorted and rinsed

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used some smooth and some chunky because it's what I had handy)

Heat oil over medium heat in pot (I used 3 qt, and it was just big enough). Cook yellow onion and celery until they begin to get tender. Add bell pepper and green onion and cook until tender. Add tomatoes, broth, curry powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, brown rice, and lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until rice and lentils are tender (45-50 min). Whisk in peanut butter and remove from heat. Serves 4.

Whatever it was that kept sending these recipes my way knew what it was talking about. This soup is very good, but different enough that it's interesting. I was starting to get tired of soup (mostly because if I'm still eating soup it more than likely means that it's still frigid outside), but I really enjoyed this. It has just enough peanut butter that you can really taste it but don't feel like you're taking a spoonful out of the jar (not that that's necessarily a bad thing). The veggie taste really shines through, as well. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, I highly recommend it.

On a slightly different note, you may have noticed the addition of a link to the Super Natural Recipe Search on the right. That's a new search engine from the author of the 101 Cookbooks blog, and she's compiled a number of recipes (both hers and from others) using natural ingredients. I highly recommend using it to find some tasty recipes.

Asparagus and Mushroom Frittata

Decent-looking asparagus finally appeared in the store this week, and I had to splurge and get some. I hate that I can't get local asparagus because our farmers' market doesn't open until the end of May (and the asparagus is long gone by then). So, I have to settle for what's in the store, and apparently it's starting to be in season somewhere in the world. Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about frittatas lately, so I figured that would be the perfect fate for my asparagus.

Asparagus and Mushroom Frittata

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced thinly

4 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

5 eggs

splash of half-and-half

1/2 tsp hot sauce

salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat olive oil over medium heat in oven-safe pan. Saute onions until they're soft, and then add mushrooms and asparagus and cook until asparagus begins to get tender. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and pour on top of vegetables, moving vegetables so that eggs cover the entire pan. Cook over medium heat until the eggs set on the bottom (about 8 min). Then bake at 350 until the top of the frittata is set (about 10 min). Serves 3-4.

This was simple and delicious. Be careful not to let it cook too long on the stove (mine was on the verge of overcooked on the bottom, but luckily wasn't too bad). Other than that, this is one of those great recipes that you can't really screw up. You can add whatever you want or leave out whatever you want (with the possible exception of the eggs...) and it will always work. I definitely needed a simple recipe after the biscuit adventure.

Biscuit? Pancake?

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

Katie sent me a biscuit recipe, and I've been dying to try it. Originally I was going to substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the white flour, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. But I have a real problem following recipes and decided that I should try to improvise with the stuff I already had in the kitchen. Here's what I ended up doing:

Buttermilk Bisquit/Pancake (adapted from "BakeWise" by Shirley Corriher)

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt mixed together (instead of self-rising Southern flour)

1 Tbsp raw sugar

1/8 tsp (3/4 g) salt

1 Tbsp shortening

3 Tbsp half-and-half (instead of cream)

1/3 cup milk mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice (instead of buttermilk)

1/4 cup extra whole wheat pastry flour

I mixed the flour mixture, sugar, and salt. Then I mixed the shortening in with my fingers until the lumps were gone. I stirred in the half-and-half, and then added a little bit of the "buttermilk" until it resembled cottage cheese (I only ended up using about half of it). At this point you were supposed to spoon the mix into a plate of extra flour, coat it, and form biscuits. I spooned some into the flour and ended up with a huge mess. So, I added the extra flour to the mix, poured it into a pie pan, and baked it at 425 until it was cooked through and the edges were browned (I think it took about 15 min??).

I originally thought that all of my substitutions screwed things up, but now Katie tells me that she had the same problem. It tastes delicious, though! I'll have to mess around with this to figure out how to make things that actually look like biscuits. My mouth and stomach will be happy to take care of many experiments until I get it right :).

Extremely easy vegetable dip

I needed something to take to a Super Bowl party, and I immediately thought of veggies and dip. I could eat veggies all day, and it's always nice to have something a little big lighter to balance out all of the other food.

Vegetable Dip (adapted from "How to Cook Everything," by Mark Bittman)

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded

1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed

2 green onions

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (sour cream would also work)

1 1/2 tsp dried dill

juice of 1/2 lemon

freshly ground black pepper

Finely chop the vegetables, and then add remaining ingredients. You might want to let the yogurt drain in a fine strainer for a few hours to make a thicker dip (my yogurt had separated, so I poured out most of the whey and the remaining yogurt was thick enough). Makes about 3 cups.

This was simple, but tasty, and it seemed to go over well with my friends. It's basically a permutation of tzatziki, which is one of my favorite sauces/dips. The best part? I used some of the leftovers for a salad dressing today. I love multi-purpose creations!

Waterzooi (Dutch chicken stew)

(yes, I promise that there's a piece of chicken in there)

While I was in Belgium with Mom and Dad, we came across waterzooi at a restaurant. We spent about 5 min trying to pronounce it, and finally had to get a pronunciation and description from the waitress (or waiter? I can't remember...). Anyway, when I came across a recipe, I had to make it.

Waterzooi (adapted from Je Mange la Ville)

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced

1 1/4 cup white wine, divided

2 carrots, cut into matchsticks

2 celery stalks, cut into matchsticks

2 medium onions, sliced

1 leek, sliced

5 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 tsp marjoram (could also use tarragon, basil, oregano, or thyme)

salt and pepper

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup half-and-half

1 tsp arrowroot powder (you can use cornstarch)

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Brown chicken on both sides, then remove chicken and set aside. Add mushrooms to pot and cook until they get soft. Add 1/4 cup wine to pot to deglaze, and allow to cook for a few minutes. Remove mushrooms and set aside. In large bowl, mix carrots, celery, onion, leek, garlic, marjoram, and some salt and pepper. Add half of this veggie mix to the pot, then put chicken and mushrooms on top of veggies, and finally add the last half of the veggies. Pour the rest of the wine and the broth over everything (if this doesn't almost cover the chicken, add some water or more broth) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 25-30 min. Remove chicken from pot, increase heat to high, and reduce liquid for about 5 min. Combine half-and-half and arrowroot in a small bowl and add to pot. Allow to cook for 2 more min. Put chicken back in the pot, remove from heat, and garnish with parsley. Serves 3.

Warning: This will make your kitchen smell wonderful. You'll be tempted to eat the mushrooms while you're cooking them in the wine. Don't. Try to wait until it's done because it will be even better.

It doesn't remind me of Belgium - mussels are the food that makes me think of Belgium, but then that reminds me of the horrible rash that I get after eating them :(. Regardless, this tastes great. The chicken was remarkably tender, juicy, and extremely flavorful. And the veggies are perfect too! You can eat it like a stew, but I chose to eat it as chicken and veggies with a sauce on top.

And a fun piece of trivia: waterzooi means "watery mess" in Dutch. Traditionally it was made with fish, but chicken has become more popular. So, I guess to be completely accurate I should call it Kippenwaterzooi. But perhaps I should try it with fish...