soup's on

You know it's fall when your thoughts turn to soup when planning dinner. It's been very cold here—38 degrees yesterday morning—so soup sounded like the perfect thing to warm us up.

One of my favorite go-to soups is this white bean one from The Silver Palate Cookbook. It involves some chopping of ingredients but isn't too time-consuming if you substitute canned beans for the dried. I'm usually not a big fan of canned veggies, but beans (and tomatoes, for that matter) are nearly as good as fresh. And, around here, all you're going to find in the winter.

White Bean and Sausage Soup with Red Peppers

4 tablespoons sweet butter
2 cups finely chopped yellow onions
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
6 parsley sprigs
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken stock
1-1⁄4 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight (or 2 cans white beans)
2 sweet red peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
1⁄2 pound hot Italian sausage, precooked
salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a pot. Add onions, carrots, and garlic and cook, covered, over low heat until vegetables are tender and lightly colored, about 25 minutes.

Add parsley, thyme, and bay leaf and pour in the stock. Drain the beans and stir them into the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until beans are very tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. (If you're using canned beans, you just need to heat them up for about 15 minutes. And I usually add the liquid from the can, too.)

Pour the soup through a strainer, reserving the stock. Discard the bay leaf and transfer the solids to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, or use a food mill fitted with a medium disk. Add 1 cup of the cooking stock if using the processor and process until smooth.
Return pureed soup to the pot and stir in additional cooking liquid, 2 to 3 cups, until the soup is of desired consistency. (I'm not as fussy as this. I blend it all together in the food processor—in batches—the consistency is fine.)

Cut away stems and ribs of the peppers and dice them. Heat olive oil in a small skillet, add peppers and saute over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but still crunchy, about 15 minutes. Transfer peppers to the soup with a slotted spoon.

Dice the cooked sausage, and add it to the soup. Set over medium heat and cook, partially covered, until heated through, about 15 minutes. Season to taste and serve immediately. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Serve it with a crusty baguette. Leftovers, if you have any, reheat really well for lunch the next day. I think you could easily make this a vegetarian dish by substituting vegetable stock for the chicken, and leaving out the sausage. The sausage adds a nice bit of spiciness but it's plenty flavorful without it.

For dessert I tried Ina Garten's Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp recipe with a combination of apples—a few leftovers from a recent trip to the farmer's market and a few from our trees. I agree with some of the commenters that it turned out a bit too wet so, next time, I may add a bit of flour to the filling or cut down on the juice. The flavor was wonderful so the recipe is definitely a keeper.

Now it's time to dig out some of my winter sweaters. If it doesn't warm up today I'm going to need them :)

a St. Patrick's Day recipe

So, are you all eating corned beef and cabbage tomorrow? With a very Irish last name like McCaffrey (and O'Malley and Kelly on my side of the family) you can guess that my answer is yes. I'm actually not that crazy about the taste of corned beef but it's once a year and I do love all the vegetables that go with the traditional boiled dinner. I like to cook the onions and cabbage together but prefer the carrots and potatoes done separately. It just tastes fresher that way.

But, however you cook yours, give this tangy mustard sauce a try. It tastes wonderful and is guaranteed to clear out your sinuses while it's cooking. Don't take a deep whiff without a tissue handy :)


Tangy Mustard Sauce
1-1⁄2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1⁄3 cup light brown sugar
1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
1⁄4 cup prepared spicy brown mustard
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
3⁄4 cup cider vinegar


Melt butter in a small saucepan, then set aside to cool. In a small bowl with an electric mixer, beat egg with sugars and mustard, salt and pepper until combined. Beat in vinegar. Stir mixture into cooled butter, mixing well. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to boiling, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat, simmer for 3 minutes, then serve hot.

what to eat when it's too hot to eat

It's been unbelievably hot here the past few days—in the 90s! Thankfully it does cool off a little at night and stays cool for a few hours in the morning so I can get some work done early. After that it's too hot to move. Eating is always a problem when it's really hot. Who wants to add more heat to the air by using the stove or oven? And who want to eat something heavy? I've been turning lately to salads.

Over the weekend I made a nicoise salad with baby green beans from the garden. I've been making this salad for years and have lost track of where I got the recipe, so apologies to whoever the original belongs to. There's some prep work and use of the stove involved but you can do that ahead of time.

Salad Nicoise

3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (1 tsp. dried)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 large head Boston lettuce
1 pound small new potatoes
1 pound fresh green beans
3 hard-cooked eggs
1 medium red onion
2 medium tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
Two 7-ounce cans water-pack tuna
1/2 cup pitted ripe olives

1) In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, salt, mustard, and pepper. Shake vigorously and refrigerate.
2) Wash lettuce; remove core and drain well. Separate into leaves.
3) Scrub unpared potatoes. Place in a medium saucepan, add boiling water to cover and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to boiling and boil gently, covered, for 20 minutes. Drain, cool and peel, then slice 1/4-inch thick. Turn into shallow dish.
4) Trim ends and wash beans. Cook whole in boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain and cool 10 minutes. Turn into dish with potatoes. Add 1/2 cup dressing and toss until well coated. Refrigerate, covered.
5) Peel and quarter eggs. Slice onion thinly. Wash and cut each tomato into six wedges. Wash pepper, halve and remove seeds, and cut into 1-inch strips. Drain tuna; with fork break into chunks.
6) Arrange lettuce in a shallow bowl. Arrange eggs, onion, tomato, pepper, and tuna over lettuce and chill until ready to serve. (I hate really cold salads so I let it warm up a bit on the counter). Just before serving, spoon on the beans and sliced potatoes and drizzle the whole thing with the remaining dressing. (6)

If you want something easier (and quicker), throw together an asian noodle salad with some shredded leftover chicken, chopped veggies (I like carrot, red pepper, scallions, and cucumber), chopped herbs (Thai basil and cilantro—also from my garden), some noodles (linguine fini is good), and some bottled Thai peanut sauce. Mix it all together in a bowl and chill for a little bit in the fridge. Easy peasy! This would be fine without chicken or with the addition of some tofu for a vegetarian version.

So, what do you like to eat when it's too hot to eat?

happy turkey day

We're spending Thanksgiving with friends as we usually do. They have a big family and cook a huge turkey, so there's plenty for the various friends who don't have families of their own to celebrate with (or whose families are too far away). I've spent the morning baking my contributions to the feast—prosciutto and parmesan puff pastry palmiers for an appetizer and a linzer torte for dessert. I'm not crazy about the traditional raspberry jam filling so I substituted cherry preserves. I particularly like Bonne Maman brand preserves and the jars are cute for storing buttons and beads in your craft room, too!



Palmiers with Honey Mustard and Prosciutto

1 sheet puff pastry (the packaged kind is fine)
3 tablespoons honey mustard
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 teaspoons water

Place the puff pastry on a work surface and spread the mustard over the top. Arrange the prosciutto evenly over the mustard to cover all the pastry, and then sprinkle with the Parmesan. Lightly press cheese into the prosciutto with a rolling pin.

Starting on one end, roll up the puff pastry like a jelly roll just to the middle of the dough; then roll up the other side in the same fashion, making two rolls that met in the center. Squeeze the rolls together a bit with your fingers. Using a serrated knife, cut the rolls crosswise into ½-inch slices. Place the slices on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and press lightly with your hands to flatten. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat the egg and water together in a small bowl. Brush the top of each palmier with the egg wash. Bake until puffed and lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 20.

Since there will be ten people today (no way will they only want to eat two of these), I doubled the recipe, using the entire package of puff pastry.



Recipe courtesy of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, Workman Publishing, New York, 1984.

peas, please (and cherries, too)

I've been busy the past couple of days cleaning and preparing my house for guests, who will be arriving in a few hours. The guest bedroom has clean sheets and piles of towels have been set out. We have a simple menu planned for tonight—grilled lamb chops (that are marinating in olive oil and herbs), couscous with pine nuts, a green salad, and some of these gorgeous baby French peas that are just coming ripe in my garden.



I'll wait to pick and shell them until just before we start cooking. I'm also going to make a cherry clafouti for dessert. I've been wanting to try this recipe (from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1) for years. The cherries at the grocery store were beautiful today and it's supposed to be easy to make.

(Updated to say that, unfortunately, this wasn't a big hit. I don't think I did anything wrong but it tasted very eggy, which is a bad thing in flan or creme brulee and now this, too). One of my readers commented that it's her favorite recipe so, as with all recipes, personal taste is key. The peas, however, were perfect.)

Cherry Clafouti

3 cups pitted black cherries
1/4 cup kirsch or cognac
1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour

Let the cherries stand for an hour in a bowl with the kirsch and sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put remaining ingredients and the liquid that the cherries have been soaking in into the jar of your blender. Cover and blend on high speed for 1 minute.

Lightly butter an ovenproof 7- to 8-cup baking dish or 1 1/2 inch deep pie plate. Pour 1/4 inch of the batter into the bottom and set over moderate heat for a minute or two until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from the heat.

Spread the cherries over the batter, then pour on the rest of the batter and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

Place in the middle of the oven and bake for about an hour. The clafouti is done when it has puffed and browned and a knife plunged into the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle top with powdered sugar just before bringing it to the table. It doesn't need to be served hot but it's supposed to be better when warm. And it will shrink down slightly as it cools. Serves 6 to 8.

(If you want to make this without alcohol, don't marinate the cherries. Increase the amount of milk to 1 1/4 cups. Sprinkle 1/3 cup granulated sugar over the cherries before adding the rest of the batter.)

Tomorrow we're heading to the Shupp's Grove flea market in Adamstown, PA for one of their extravaganza weekends. Hopefully I'll have some treasures to show you next week!