The best vegetable soup EVER

Well, maybe not EVER, but it's pretty darn good.

This one came about after I found fresh lima beans at the Escondido farmers market last week. I don't know about you, but I love lima beans.. I know they're one of those things from childhood that a lot of people hate (like brussel sprouts, which I also adore) but really, if you haven't had them for a while, give them another chance. They are soo good and buttery just steamed with a little salt, or you can saute them with some corn and tomatoes for a nice succotash.. Or you can get all ambitious and spend an hour chopping up veggies for this amazing soup I discovered earlier this summer.

It's a little labor-intensive, sure, but I swear it's totally worth it.

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 large shallots, sliced thin
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup potatoes, 1/4 inch dice
• 1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup parsnips, 1/4 inch dice (you can use carrots if you like, but I think the parsnips add a certain something)
• 1 quart chicken stock*
• 2 cups tomatoes, peeled and seeded**
• kernels from an ear of corn
• 1 cup lima beans
• a couple of tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• a few sprigs of thyme, minced
• juice from half a lemon

*I use better than bouillon fake chicken broth- just so I can share with my veggie friends. It can be a bit salty, so be sparing, although this soup can stand up to a strong salty stock better than most.
**plum tomatoes are great for this, or if you can find Japanese sweet tomatoes, even better.

This is one of those recipes that works best of you peel, dice, and chop everything first, then add as you go. I usually arrange things by bowls of what goes in when- shallots and garlic in a little bowl, potatoes, green beans, and parsnips in another, and the tomatoes, corn, and limas in another... But I'm a little anal-retentive that way.

Aaaaanyway, here's how it goes: heat the oil, then saute the shallots and garlic until the shallots are soft and translucent. add the potatoes, green beans, and parsnips and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. add the stock and the tomatoes, corn, and lima beans, bring to a simmer, and cook for about half an hour. toss in the lemon juice and herbs, leave on the heat for a few more minutes, and voila! It'll take less time to cook than it did to chop the vegetables :)

This is a soup that's extra-rad the next day, after the flavors have had time to smoosh together, and it's extra-EXTRA rad if you make these magical little croutons to go with it:

• Good crusty sourdough bread, sliced thick
• thyme, basil, rosemary, whatever fresh herbs you have lying around, minced fine
• a few tablespoons of olive oil (depends on how many you're making)

Mix the herbs in with the oil, then brush onto the bread slices. Throw 'em on a baking sheet and into a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes.  Put them together with the soup and make some serious magic...

This soup recipe makes a lot, so plan to share.. And enjoy.

(I'll write some stuff on here besides just recipes soon. I'm just too tired to rant and rave today.. But I have some good stuff to tell y'all about).

Unexpected goodness!

     OK, so since I moved away from my roommates (miss you guys!) I’ve been trying to adjust my food buying and preparation to the needs of someone living alone. For the first month in my solo apartment, I found myself discarding way too much food. Without two big hungry men to clean out the fridge every couple of days I’d find extra portions languishing in the crisper, days after their deliciousness had expired. As bad as I feel about throwing away leftovers (picture me laying a tiny little wreath on the top of a small Tupperware® container as I mentally deliver a moving and sincere eulogy for last week’s leftover quiche) I feel even worse about throwing out uncooked food. I mean, those collards had so much potential, and look how they ended up, wilting away in the prime of their life until they were nothing but shriveled stalks… And it was ALL MY FAULT! *sob*

…..I need a second, I’m feeling a little verklempt here…..

     Where was I? Oh, yeah. So after a trip to the market on Sunday, I realized I had a few things in the kitchen that needed to be used up, pronto. Some chard, a couple ears of corn, half a butternut squash, a few sprigs of thyme, one sad spotty little banana, and a pile of way too many perfectly ripe pears I had been unable to resist at the farmers market.

     The squash was easy peasy, just throw that bad boy in the oven for a while and eat. The chard and corn I figured I’d just sauté together with a lil’ onion and garlic. Simple, tasty veggie dinner, right? Little did I know that these ingredients were about come together to make one of the bestest super-simple vegetable dishes I’ve made in months…

I don’t actually know what to call this, but here’s the recipe:

• ½ butternut squash
• Pat o’ buttah (what’s that, like a tablespoon?)
• Brown sugar
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• One small red onion, sliced
• One clove garlic, minced
• 2 ears worth of corn kernels, fresh offa the cob
• Bunch of chard, whatever color you like (the red looked really pretty with the other colors in the finished dish) rinsed but not dried and chopped into manageable pieces.      

     Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the squash in a glass baking dish, cut side up, Dot with buttah, sprinkle with a little brown sugar, and sprinkle with thyme leaves and cumin. Roast that bad boy for around half an hour, give or take, till you can fork it.

     When the squash is just about done, heat some olive oil in a big skillet or dutch oven. Add garlic and onions and give ‘em a stir, cook just enough to flavor the oil. Add the corn and sauté for a couple of minutes, then add the chard and sauté until the water has evaporated from the pan. Scoop the squash out of its skin (make sure any of the buttery goodness dripping off of it falls into the sautéed veggies!) and chop it up into chunks, then stir into the sauté. Add a little more butter on top, if you like, and a dash of salt.

     Honestly, it’s sublime. I suppose a smart person would make some kind of grain to go with this, or it would go nicely with a nice hunk of rare beef. I just ate it by itself, seeing as I was home alone and had no one to impress.

    Now what to do with the pears and banana? I’m a bit baking challenged- all that measuring, and doing things in order, and patience… I’m way too much of a spaz for that. Seriously, I have to force myself to concentrate and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS every time I try to bake anything more complicated than a pie or a quick bread… And given that I didn’t have any pre-made pie crusts around (something else I'm not very good at. I can never roll it out right one the first or second try, and by then it’s too warm, but I don’t have the patience to get it cool enough to work with… You get the picture) I figured I’d have to go with a quick bread.

     The gorgeous thing about quick breads is that you can pretty much throw in whatever fruit you like, so long as you keep the proportions the same. This was originally going to be just pear bread, until I spotted the spots on the banana and thought “why not?”

Here’s how it goes:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1tsp salt 
• Cinnamon- I think I tossed in about ½ a tablespoon 
• Dash of nutmeg 
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped as fine or as coarse as you like ‘em 
• ¾ cup vegetable oil (if you’re feeling decadent you can use softened buttah) 
• 3 eggs 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 2 cups fruit (I mashed the banana, then added the peeled and finely chopped pears to equal 2 cups) 
• Splash o’ vanilla  

     Combine the flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add nuts and toss around till they’re coated with the stuff. Combine the rest of the ingredients, then stir into the flour mixture- just enough so everything’s incorporated. Dump it into a couple of greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for about an hour.

 Good stuff!

Let's go shopping.

     Goodness gracious, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here. Which isn’t to say I haven’t been obsessing over food… it’s just that I’m lazy.

     Things have changed a bit since I last updated. I moved into my own little tiny bachelorette pad at the beginning of July. Oddly enough, I’ve been cooking at home more than ever now that I’m living on my own. As much as I loved cooking for the boys, I was experiencing a bit of frustration due to the sheer magnitude of their appetites. (Carlos, honey, if you’re reading this, I am NOT complaining. Honestly. It is what it is.) Now that I’m on my own, a batch of fresh salsa lasts me days- whereas before it would be demolished in the course of an hour. If I roast a chicken the leftovers last me a week… You get the picture.
     This in turn has made me more likely to indulge my love of fresh local goodness by shopping almost exclusively at the farmers markets- I’m spending less on groceries every week, even though per pound stuff tends to be more expensive than at Henry’s. Now I’m free to roam the produce vendors, grab whatever is looking amazing that week, and build a meal around whatever I bring home.

     Which brings me (in my usual roundabout, overly wordy way) to today’s topic: a brief review of local farmer’s markets. This isn’t a comprehensive survey by any stretch of the imagination, just a survey of the ones in my ‘hood (with the exception of Escondido- I work 2 block away from that one) but I’d like to tell you about the places I frequent on a weekly basis and the ones that I’ve made a point to check out.

     First off, the Hillcrest farmers market (Normal street, in front of the DMV. 10am-2pm Sundays). This is my favorite, and in my opinion, the best in town. The produce vendors are numerous and varied, with a few very specialized sellers- the lady who sells like 10 varieties of potatoes, for instance, or the mushroom lady (mmmmm, criminis), or the folks that sell almost exclusively fresh herbs and greens (sorrel! Watercress! Homemade sauerkraut!) as well as the usual seasonal fruits and veggies. You can also find local artisan cheeses and butter, cured meats, eggs, honey, etcetera. There’s plenty of folks selling prepared foods, of course. The Thai coconut pancakes are a staple for me, and the tamale lady at the Northwest end of the food row is one of Rob’s favorite stops. The Turkish coffee is a good bet, as well.
     I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the non-food folks at the markets, as most of them are the exact same stuff you see at every single street fair around town, but Hillcrest has some standouts. The ladies that sell vintage shoes/clothing are a perfect example. Can you say gorgeous vintage cowboy boots for *cheap*? Yeah. There’s also the booth that sells shopping bags/backpacks/travel bags- check out the ‘envirosax’ (an awesome product with an unfortunate name).
     Parking can be a pain in the butt, although I’ve found that if you go later (after noon) you can generally park pretty close. Otherwise expect to walk a bit.

     My next favorite is the Escondido farmers market (Grand Ave, between Kalmia & Juniper. Tuesdays from 2:30-6pm (winter hours)). Although smaller than the Hillcrest market, there is still a good variety of produce vendors. The strawberry lady at the corner of Kalmia & Grand always has the best fruit, and there’s a woman further down the block who always has amazing herbs and gorgeous arugula.
     There’s a gentleman from Da-Lee Ranch selling local, pasture-raised meat products which are phenomenal (ask him about the pork jerky) and you can buy bread from Belen artisan bakery, in my opinion the best local bakery in town. The food vendors have been multiplying over the past year, from a single taco stand to include crepes, Thai food, and soul food (which I have yet to try, maybe today!). There are also several live plant vendors where you can buy herbs, berry bushes, and even avocado trees for planting.

     On Thursday there’s the North Park farmers market (In the CVS parking lot, corner of 32nd & North Park Way, 2pm-dark). This one has been a source of frustration for me. It’s the closest one to home, and I would *love* to buy more of my stuff there, but I just can’t seem to get what I need. There are only a few produce vendors, and most of them are selling the same varieties of produce, although the last time I went (a couple of weeks ago) there were several new vendors with a bit more variety. Let’s hope they stick.
     It’s a good one for prepared food, though, and you can always pick up the basics (fruit, lettuce, a few seasonal crops) and that’s a good enough reason to stop by. Besides, the more people start shopping there, the more appealing it will be to farms & vendors to start selling!

     The brand-new Mission Valley farmers market (east end of the mall parking lot, 3-7pm Fridays) has only been open a month, but it shows some promise. As you might expect (being at the mall and all) the ratio of food to non-food vendors is about 1 to 4. When I went by there a couple of weeks ago there was a decent variety for how few produce vendors were present, but there’s still not a lot there.
     This one is just getting started, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it in weeks to come.

     The City Heights farmers market (Saturdays 9am-1pm, on Wightman between Fairmount and 43rd) is an interesting one. It’s small, and there aren’t a lot of produce vendors, but you can find some pretty obscure Asian veggies that I haven’t seen at any of the other markets. There are also people set up swap-meet style at one end, selling old clothes and such, which is something I’m not accustomed to seeing at the markets.
     There’s a couple of good reasons to go to this one, even if it’s just for a couple of things. It’s very neighborhood- oriented, supporting the City Heights community garden project, and it’s the only farmers market in the county that accepts WIC vouchers (with a dollar matching program for up to $5 of fresh produce). Oh, yeah, and there’s Bikes del pueblo, “a volunteer run cooperative learning space and a do-it-yourself bike repair shop.”
     The whole idea behind this market is community involvement and improving the quality of life for the neighborhood, as well as promoting healthier eating habits for lower-income folks- and I think that’s a damn good reason to support it, if you ask me.

     There’s like 40 farmers markets all over the county, every day of the week except Monday (stupid Monday). Here’s a lowdown on where else you’ll find ‘em. Go out, get some good food, and be a part of your community. It's good stuff.

Enjoy!