Waving farewell to summer: Eggplant soup

  Ciao, ragazzi.  Well, it is in fact that time of year:  the peaches aren't as sunny as they were,  the tomatoes not as juicy, and the grapes, the pears,  the pumpkins, are all showing up in the market.  Yes, we are at transition.  As Annalena gets older, these seem to be harder:  are these the last tomatoes she'll see?  Is this the last pot of ratatouille?  And so on.  It is hard not to get melancholy, even as the wonderful apples come in, the wonderful squashes, etc.   She finds herself thinking on themes that were put away for a while.  And they're here.

And what inspired them?  Well, Annalena went out to shop for this soup, assuming that she'd have no problem finding a big, fat 3 pound eggplant for the dish. 
Nope.  Not enough sun and too much rain last week.  There were SMALLER eggplants, and that turned into a blessing, and Annalena learned something. BUT... there is always the kind of shock when what you expected to be there, is not.  Yes,  you get used to it, but you really don't.
Ah, enough philosophy, and more cooking.  This recipe was provided some years ago by the great chef David Tanis.  Annalena has changed some of it, and brings it to you.

Eggplant is, ultimately, a very delicate vegetable.  "Delicate" in the sense of flavor, among other things.  Were you to taste a bit of it raw, you'd get little.  Cooking concentrates its flavor, but you are never going to get something like cabbage, or broccoli, when eating eggplant, tesorini.  So choose your flavors well, and think of the eggplant as a vehicle for other things.

To make this soup, you need 3 pounds of eggplants.  As Annalena learned, getting 12-16 ounce eggplants is better.  You may THINK it means  more work in the next step, but Annalena will explain.

First, you need to fire roast these eggplants.  And you do that by turning up the flame on your stove burners, and roasting the eggplant directly:

(Forget the pepper for today:   Annalena was making something else).  Keep moving the eggplant as it blackens, until you have it covered, pretty much completely.  The smaller eggplants took MUCH less time, and made much less mess, than did the larger ones Annalena has worked with before.  Eventually you will have 5-6 eggplants like so:

These are VERY hot right now.  You may want to put them in a plastic bag to cool (it seems to loosen the skin), but you don't have to.  When they are cool enough to not burn your fingers, peel them , trying not to use water to do so:

Then, chop these fellas up roughly:

Put them aside, and get to work slicing three onions.  No dicing or fancy work necessary, just slice them:

Put these into a big soup pot, with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and at medium heat, let them cook for about 5 minutes.  You want them to soften, and brown every so slightly:

While this is happening, peel and dice the cloves of a whole bulb of garlic:

Email or leave a comment for Annalena and she'll give you tips on how to peel that much garlic.  It is actually fun.

Meanwhile you want to collect your spices:

You will need a teaspoon of cayenne, and a tablespoon of za'atar.  Take a minute to google za'atar if you don't know it, ragazzi.  And then ask around, and get a variety that sounds good to you.  A tablespoon will seem like a lot of spice, but eggplant, as we know, does not have strong flavor. 

You will add the eggplant, the spices, and the garlic to those softened onions, and cook for a short time:  maybe about 3 minutes.  You don't need much time, because you already cooked the eggplant (remember?), and we are going to be adding liquid and in fact almost "braising" these vegetables some more. 

At this point, we need to make a decision, on our liquid.  We reiterate  how mild eggplant is, and decide NOT to use chicken stock.  On the other hand, water seems too mild, and "Easter broth," that wonderful creation born out of cheese rind, root vegetables, and water, isn't cutting it.  Annalena had, what is essentially hoity toity tomato juice:

This is three cups.  You need six.   So she diluted it.  So if you have tomato juice, or tomato puree, or something like that, Annalena suggest you dilute it 50% with water, and pour that into the pot.  Let this simmer, gently, for ten minutes:

To be honest, Annalena would eat this soup, as it is.  BUT.... if you let it cool, and puree it , you get a soup which eggplant detractors feel looks like oatmeal, and the rest of us love:

Now, again, this is mild. So Annalena squeezes a full lemon into it.  You can add more, and you may want to put in some more olive oil.  You may want to eat this cold, with a spoonful of sour cream, or mascarpone.  Annalena likes it hot, with a crostini or two at the side.

As we head out of our summer, please use the vegetables we won't see for a while, as often as you can. 

Annalena leaves you this time, with one of her favorite songs about the idea of leaving summer, or summer leaving:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idXLnuCsirg.   P.S.  Stevie Wonder has a wonderful version as well.

Learning something new: vegan cauliflower tacos "al pastor"

Ciao ragazzi.    Annalena is always trying to learn new things.  That includes new dishes, new culinary terms, etc.
The name of this dish is one that is exemplary of her learning, and how one can be fooled.  You will see, in Mexican restaurants, dishes with names that included the phrase "al pastor."  Annalena thought, not unreasonably, that "pastor" meant a shephard, and that meant there was lamb or mutton in the dish.
Those of you more versed in Latino cuisine, may stop laughing now.  On Annalena's "list," besides stopping the new Supreme Court nominee, is learning the derivation of "al pastor," which means a dish with pineapple in it.
There are a bunch of these in cooking.  "Veronique," for example, has nothing to do with Archie comics , but means peeled white grapes;  "florentine" has nothing to do with Florence, be it the city or Nightingale, but means there is spinach in the dish.  Annalena has NO idea what is meant by  "alla siciliano" other than it is grammaticaly incorrect, but you will see what she means:  one can be deceived, easily.
In fact, Annalena learned the meaning of "pastor" at a restaurant where there was a fish dish "al pastor," and she asked  "are you using merquez sausage with it?"  which provoked a befuddled look and "why would we do THAT?" 
As another Anna (Ms. Madrigal)  once said  "don't keep up, keep open."  And indeed, one must.  If you had told Annalena that she would TOTALLY enjoy these vegan tacos, she would have arched her not inconsiderable eyebrows.  But they have become a  "let's make this again" recipe.  That is high praise from Annalena. 
Before we begin, an  "aviso."   This dish has several "moving parts." It is not hard, but you will have many table scraps, and be doing many things.  BE STEADFAST ragazzi.  We all must multitask. And we must be flexible.  Annalena found this recipe in Leites cuinaria, which she recommends to all, and modified it.

First, we are going to pickle some onions, and Annalena will say up front, these are OPTIONAL in the dish.  We did not use them because they were bothering the guyman, but you should have these around.  They are good.

Think you're ready for this?  Making pickles?   WOW.  Ok, here we go.  First, get a red onion, and some seasoned rice wine vinegar:

 Do you see that knife to the side of the onion?  That is Annalena's slicing knife.  Slice that onion into thin rounds, put the rounds in a jar, cover it with the rice vinegar, and put it aside.

Your pickling is done.


Next, we are going to make the filling for these tacos.  We will need a cauliflower, and a pineapple:

Do you see, ragazzi, that the top half of the pineapple is green, while the bottom is brownish yellow?  That means the bottom of the pineapple is riper, and hence, sweeter, than the top.  As we are using the pineapple as a vegetable here, we will use the top  (unless you have bought an unripe pineapple, which you CAN do, and the store will love you for it.  The difference with a pineapple of the type above, is that you can use the bottom half as a dessert or fruit ingredient.
In any event, you will want 1-2 cups of chunks of the pineapple.  So, peel and chunk it. 
As for the cauliflower, you do not need a yellow one.  Annalena perceives them as tastier, but that may be perception.  Use what you can find.  And break up about 3-4 cups of small florets:

What you will do now, is take the cauliflower, and your chunks of pineapple, and dump them onto a baking sheet.  Coat them with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, by tossing them about with your hands.  And then mix 2 teaspoons of chili powder and half a teaspoon of salt

Of course, you may wish to make these spicier, and you can play with this seasoning.  Coat the cauliflower and pineapple with it, and put the tray into a 425 degree oven, for 25-30 minutes. 

While THIS is happening, the fun part:  making the 'queso', or what you might call the cheese sauce.

Remember quesadillas?  Look at queso and quesadilla.  This time, language doesn't fail you.

BUT WAIT:  didn't Annalena say "vegan?"  Yes, she did, and she meant it.  We are going to make CASHEW queso.  It's good.  You might want some around if vegans are visiting you.

To do this, you get your blender, and you add a cup of raw cashews (roasted cashews should work too, but don't use salted ones), a cup of water, 2 tablespoons of this stuff:

NUTRITIONAL  yeast is not baking yeast ragazzi.  Annalena had never used this stuff before.  It is, well, "interesting."  Also add half a cup of your favorite tomato sauce, a teaspoon of salt, and then this mix of spices:  1/4 teaspoon tumeric, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, and 2 teaspoons of this stuff:

Try not to use too much of this, ragazzi, for our environment.  See, as people have gone away from sugar, their sweet tooth has stayed with them. The result is that demand for agave nectar is high, and the agave plants are being demolished. 

So you have all of this in  your blender, and liquefy it.  You want it as smooth as you can get it.  You will get something that looks like this:

You will be cooking these, at very low heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. 
According to the original recipe, this provides extra queso.  Annalena did not think so, but this is again, a matter of choice.

So, ragazzi, we have made our filling, our queso, and our onions.  We need our tortillas, and we are ready to begin:

Get the best corn tortillas you can.  Annalena buys hers from the farmers market, and loves them. 

Are we ready for assembly?  Well... not quite yet.

Remember we had the oven at 425?  Drop it to 400.  And brush oil over 8 of your tortillas, on both sides, and place them on a baking sheet:

5-7 minutes is plenty.  When they are cool enough to handle,  you can begin assembling.

Now, when Annalena saw how much filling she had, and since these were dinner, she decided to "amp up" the dish.  She had some ripe organic avocados, and mashed a couple.  Also, the first organic pomegranates of the season had arrived.    So, here comes the assembly.

The avocado is almost a "glue" here for holding down the filling.  Annalena poured a little queso over each one, then folded them, added more queso to the top, and the seeds of one pomegranate:

Looks good, doesn't it?  It was.  Here is the full plate, with spaghetti squash, and pole beans

As we make the transition to fall, ragazzi, we will all be looking for new ways to use vegetables like cauliflower, spaghetti squash, and.... one of Annalena's least favorite vegetables:  Brussel sprouts.  BUT.. .she continues to learn.  Do watch this space next week, for something new with , as we Italians call them  "cavolini."

Alla prossima.  BACI

A skeptic becomes a believer: frying pan pasta

Well, ragazzi,  GRAZIE MILLE for all of the love with the post on ribollita.  Dare Annalena quote Sally Field?  No, she will not do that.  Grazie dolce a tutti.

So, we will have YET ANOTHER  post.  And this one presents a recipe which Annalena approached with much skepticism. It promised a fast approach,  and a good finish.  But it used ONLY one quart of water, and everything cooked in a frying pan.  So, as an old school Italian American, Annalena was skeptical.

Ragazzi, you MUST make this dish.  It is SO easy, SO delicious, and SO simple to clean up.  Please, do it.

Here are the ingredients Annalena used.  You can vary this:

 What you see here are kale, ripped off of the stem, and a lemon.  You also see about 12 ounces of pasta and some olive oil.  You also see split, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and parmesan cheese. 

AND... there is one more ingredient, the most important one:

Yes, ragazzi.  That's water.  One quart of it.  And that's all you're going to need.  And we're going to be finished in about 20 minutes. 

Put the raw pasta, the tomatoes, the grated rind of a lemon, and 1/4 cup of olive oil in a frying pan:

Do nothing with this yet.  Pour your water into a separate pot, and bring it to boil:

This won't take long.  And when it boils, pour this into the frying pan, and add a bit of salt:

Take the cover to this frying pan, and cover the mix.  Leave it alone until it comes to the boil.  You'll know.  You'll hear rattling, like a cat trying to get out of a closed room. 

See what you have after that six minutes?  Now, when you take the cover off of the pot, add the kale:

Keep this boiling, for about 3 more minutes:

And at this point, you are almost done.  Turn off the flame, and add about 3/4 of a cup of grated cheese, and stir this up.  You'll move this to plates.  And you'll have this left:

DON'T THROW THIS OUT.  There is WAY  TOO MUCH FLAVOR IN THIS.  So just pour equal amounts of it over the pasta.  And then, take about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, and you have a meal:

 There are undoubtedly other vegetables you can use with this.  For example, broccoli rabb.  Or Swiss chard, or spinach, or so many other greens.  The Guyman suggested  peppers.  That sounds good.  Play with your imagination.

And what have you got to clean?  A frying pan, and two plates. 

As the Monkeys said,  "Annalena is a believer.

Look who's back: and she's making soup. FROM THE NORTH OF ITALY: ribollita

CIAO TO ALL!  After a long hiatus, Annalena is coming back.  Many factors were involved in her leaving, and many in her return.  Let's just discuss the return.
We've now been living in a difficult regime for nearly two years.  Annalena has her own views of the political situation which she will TRY (and will not always succeed) in editing out.  She has noticed several things, however, and she asks that if anyone has anything to add to what follows, please put in a comment. 
People are cooking more.  That might be Annalena's crowd who, like her, is aging.  People are collecting and gathering so as to eat together more.  And there is much, MUCH more of an interest in actual "standing at the stove and cooking."  When one of Annalena's friends told her that he was making his own meatballs, and going to the butcher to make sure the meat had been mixed and ground to his specs,  la donna was ready to burst with pride.  And happiness.  From where comes this?  Where are you all getting your interest in cooking?  Please share with us, as Annalena shares this classic dish with you.
"Ribollita," based on its name alone, means solely  "re-boiled," and indeed, we will get to that step.  This soup, however, is so much more than that.  First, let Annalena tell you:  this is a TUSCAN soup.  And if you have any notions of Italian food, you can tell that from the ingredients list:  tons of greens, and beans.  And no garlic.  And bread.  These are ALL staples of the Tuscan kitchen.  If you eat a meal in Tuscany, and you do not get beans, and/or greens, you have not been fed adequately, period.

This soup, which is very much a meal, is thick, filling, and frankly, ragazzi, cheap.  Fortunate as we are here, Annalena went to it solely to try to find new ways to cook kale.  See, her CSA box delivers forth a lovely assortment of fruit and vegetables every week.  The selection varies except for one thing:  KALE.  There is always KALE. 

Does anyone remember the song with the line "greens, greens, nuthin but greens?"  Well, Annalena wanted to change it, because kale is far from her favorite vegetable.  The craze for kale smoothies  "kale Caesar salads,  "  kale omelets and (yes, she saw it), kale ice cream have bothered her. But.. it is a very Italian thing that we do not waste food.  So, she looked, and looked.  And one solution was right in her own back yard.  EVERY Northern Italian makes ribollita.  And there are that many recipes.  One of Annalena's favorite restaurants (Hearth) makes it for the fall and winter, every year.  They have a small ceremony when the first pot is made, and one when they take it off the menu.  But Annalena, who does not order soup in restaurants, orders this.  So, as soup season is upon us, she decided to make it.  She surveyed many recipes, by many people of whom you have heard (Lida, Marianne, etc), and some you haven't  (Marco, and others), and spoke to people.   She took the essences.

There are a few musts, and ONE must not.  The soup MUST contain Italian kale (cavolo nero, black kale, or dinosaur kale)

It must also contain whole beans, and bean puree

 And it must also contain "old" bread. (not hard as a rock, moldy bread, but bread a day or two past its prime.  Sort of like Annalena):

Everything else varies, EXCEPT for the broth, which we will discuss below.  Ok, so now we do our prep work.  First, you have to chop the kale.  And you have a lot of  it.  So, Annalena suggests tearing the kale off of the stem, not worrying about any sort of uniformity, and then cutting it small, small, small.  Think of adding herbs to a dish:   you want them chopped fine.  But if you get tired or bored, don't worry.  This soup is forgiving

You are also going to need to do the same thing with cabbage, and swiss chard.  Now, on these, what you see above, is spitzkohl, which is a  German cabbage.  See the point?  That's the "spitz".  Annalena used this because when Italians use cabbage, they use Savoy cabbage.  It's softer than the green stuff we use for coleslaw, etc.  Savoy wasn't available, but spitz was.  If you don't have or don't care for swiss chard, use baby spinach, or full sized spinach, or beet greens, anything you like of the dark leafy green family.  You could even use more kale.  Essentially, you are looking for around 8-10 cups of the chopped kale, and then 8-10 cups of the other stuff.  You read that right kindern:  16-20 cups.  It's not that much.  If you doubt Annalena, someday, cook down a pound of spinach. See what you get:

That, incidentally, is Annalenas biggest bowl.  We call it the baby basinette, because yes, it is that big.  And we're saving the greens until we prepare the aromatics. 

What we want are 2 cups of chopped onions and a cup each of celery and carrots, also chopped.  Annalena does her onions by hand, and uses the food processor for the carrots and onions.  These go into a pot, with - no, you did not read this wrong - 1/2 cup of olive oil, at medium heat

While you are cooking that,  mix up about 1/4-1/2 cup of tomato paste, with the same amount of water:

When the onions, carrots and celery have softened a bit, stir in the pureed beans:

Now, a word on these beans, ragazzi.   Annalena always has cooked beans in her kitchen.  She just does.   She freezes them and pulls the out as needed.  She also had fresh shell beans.  So she divided them.  You do not have to do so, and usually, you don't.  Tuscans don't bother with dividing them:  they cook up a pound of dried beans, and use four cups as puree, and two cups .  You could do that too.

Now, after you've stirred the puree around,  and after adding a nice pinch of salt, you will add the tomato paste solution and stir that.  And now:  the whole beans, and the greens:

Let Annalena be honest, ragazzi.  You will NOT get everything in the pot at once.  And that is fine.  Put in what you can, and then clamp the lid shut.  Lower the heat and let this mess cook for 10 minutes.  The greens will cook down some:

When  you have added everything, again, clamp things for ten minutes.  We've added no liquid yet, and now, we're going to do that, via one of the big secrets of  Italian cooking:  "Easter broth."

See that big clump in the middle of the liquid? It's a rind from parmesan cheese.  Thrifty Italians have been flavoring their vegetable soups with this, forever.  You should too.  If you are a vegan, or lactose intolerant,  you  might rethink this, but no real cheese is going in.  And do not ask Annalena why it's called Easter broth.  It. just. is.

A practical tip: your pot is really full, so add the liquid (8 cups of it, ), by gently pouring it down the side, rather than the middle.  Now, just go away, after you put the top on it, lowered the heat, and do something useful or fun, for 30 minutes.  You'll get:

Turn off the heat.  WE'RE NOT DONE YET.  We've "bollito'd"  but where's the "ri?"  Well, let the soup sit for as long as you can.  IF you can wait for a day,  that's ideal.  But wait at least an hour.  Now ,remember that bread:

Take the softer white center out, and break it into small pieces.  When you have 3 cups, mix it into the soup.  Stir it, bring the heat to a slow simmer, and cook for yet another 30 minutes.  And:

Now you haven't added much salt, so taste it now, and add what you like. 

This soup will be MUCH better after a day of sitting, and it will be DIVINE with a slug of green olive oil (Tuscan, if you have it.  Sicilian is also good), and some grated parmesan and black pepper.

An ideal feature of this soup, as you can see, is that it makes TONS.  Annalena had four quarts of it, and was able to gift 5 of her friends, with homemade soup. 

We need to do simple acts of kindness for all of our friends.  And who can turn down homemade soup?  Make this for you and your loved ones, ragazzi.  Annalena thinks you will find it very rewarding, as well as delcious.

By the way, for you calorie counters out there: yes,  there is half a cup of olive oil in this soup.  4 ounces.  And you're serving at least 8 people. So they are getting half an ounce of olive oil, and some good bread.  Lots of fiber (Oh, you will be saying "thats the soup" for a while), and lots of protein.  Go buy some kale, ragazzi. Find the tomato paste and beans in your cupboard.  AND GET TO WORK.