mix, mix…stir, stir

 It’s been a cold wet June in Seattle. The other morning I couldn’t seem to chase the chill out of my bones and wanted something warm for lunch. The fresh flavor and vibrant green color of this spinach soup delivered a little taste of spring and warmed me right up.

This soup was only partly inspired by my chilled bones the other factor was the abundance of spinach growing in my garden. My little garden was producing faster than we could consume. 

This being a spur of the moment endeavor, the ingredient list comes from what I had on hand at the time.  In an effort to keep my spinach plants in check, I have made this a few times now and settled in on a recipe I consider a keeper. The mild and sweet flavor of the spinach is accented with a lovely bite of heat from fresh ginger and black pepper, and then rounded out with a touch of cream and comforting aroma of nutmeg. Besides tasting great my favorite thing about this soup is it can be made in about 20 minutes and costs next to nothing, especially if you happen to grow the spinach.

As much as I enjoy cooking and consider it to be a relaxing part of my day, I still like to be speedy and efficient about it. Nothing has improved my speed and efficiency more than developing my knife skills. This practice exercise using a bench scraper from Rouxbe Online Cooking School, made such a difference for me.

Cutting up an onion is the most difficult part of making this soup. If you get the hang of using the rolling technique demonstrated above, you’ll be able to knock this soup out in nothing flat.

The herbs are a flexible element. I added a handful of chervil in one batch because it too was getting a little out of control in the garden. I have also used a mix of chervil, parsley and fennel with excellent results. A mix of any mild herbs you might happen to have on hand will work just fine. Next time I’ll try using cilantro.

Spontaneous Spinach Soup served steaming hot with a grilled cheese sandwich is a lunch that will make you happy even if it’s rainy and cold in June. If you happen to be enjoying sunny warm weather, serve it chilled; it would make a nice starter for your next dinner party.

Update: I made this again using cliantro and it was wonderful.

Recipe Link

• Spontaneous Spinach Soup

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A little package of pastry with a delicious filling is hard to beat —sweet or savory. One of the most appealing features of this style of treat is the ability to pick it up and eat it out of hand. There is an added element of pleasure to food I can hold in my hand and eat. I am not sure why that is, but it could be because such foods generally involve a pastry shell or doughy wrapper of some sort, which is almost an unfair advantage.

These Apple Turnovers are part of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking odyssey.  Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen, selected the baking task for us and has the recipe posted on her blog. The dough was flaky, not too sweet and had a nice tangy note from sour cream. The instructions direct to combine the butter and flour by hand, but I was feeling pressed for time and rather impatient, so I employed my food processor to get the job done in all of about 30 seconds. Like any pastry dough there is chill time, so don’t be thinking this is the kind of treat you can whip up the instant a craving hits.

The sour cream adds such a great flavor, but makes for very soft dough, so rolling it out between plastic or parchment paper will save a lot of frustration. Because I was in a hurry and didn’t want to fuss with a cutter, I just sliced the rolled dough into squares, filled, folded, and baked.

Being pressed for time didn’t prevent me from adding a little extra dash of this and pinch of that. The first deviation I made was to grate the apples rather than chop them. I wanted the filling to cook down into an applesauce like consistency and the grated apples did just that. The only seasoning the recipe calls for is a bit of cinnamon, but I couldn’t stop there. I added 1/2  teaspoon of lemon zest, pinch of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander. The apple coriander combo is working its way into my DNA. I also used brown sugar rather than granulated sugar because it just seemed right. The filling was great. Knowing David isn’t a fan of fruit fillings, I filled half of the turnovers with chopped bittersweet chocolate, which was equally as delicious. Each turnover was sprinkled with spiced sugar I had saved from a previous baking project to add another touch of flavor.

This is a quick pastry that is delicate, flaky, and flavorful. It does require patients to chill and re-chill mid-assembly if necessary, but definitely a success in my book.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 91 recipes completed 130 to go!

I am not sure what happened, but like every week I made my Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, in this case it was Applesauce Spice Bars. Lovely moist fruit bars flooded with a sweet caramel coating across the top. They were good, so good that I ate nearly half the pan in one evening. I couldn’t shake the idea of adding some coriander and presenting it more like a carrot cake, so I made the recipe two more times in the same week resulting in this Coriander Caramel Apple Cake.

Pictures were taken, and then accidentally deleted.  With no photos, I decided I would wait a few days and make it again and then get my August 18^th post up on the 20^th, or the 21^st at the latest, but either way I will definitely have time to sit down over the weekend and post on the 22^nd or 23^rd…It’s September 3^rd and I have come crawling back to my blog. I am not really sure what happened to the last three weeks, but let’s just chock it up to “summer holiday” and move on.

Karen, of Something Sweet by Karen, picked this great recipe. You can see the actual Applesauce Spice Bars that were the inspiration for my cake on her blog where she has also posted the recipe.  Here is a link to my Coriander Caramel Apple Cake recipe. If you want to read more about coriander and why it’s good in sweet and savory dishes, check out our Spice Library.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 87 recipes completed 134 to go!

Chef Jerry Traunfeld kicks off coriander month here at TableFare by sharing his love for this popular spice in our Spice Inspiration feature. If you aren’t already a fan of cooking with coriander this feature is a great introduction to why it is a favorite with so many people. 

To get you hooked on cooking with coriander, Chef Traunfeld shares two great recipes with us. The first one is Coriander Potato Soup it’s creamy, but still light and refreshing. The citrus notes of the coriander are highlighted by the addition of orange zest and the coriander seeds are toasted bringing out a warm nutty flavor in the spice that comes through at the finish of each bite. This is a perfect summer soup because it can be served hot or cold.

The orange zest is toasted right along with the coriander seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently to keep the seeds from burning and toast them until they are about two shades darker than when you started.

You can make this soup in one pot, with the exception of a skillet to toast the spices. It’s quick enough to make for a weeknight meal, but elegant enough to impress dinner guests.

What’sbetter than a freshly baked goodie first thing in the morning? These Coriander-Orange Scones are a perfect choice because they are easy to make and deliver fantastic flavor and aroma. The orange-coriander combination is a perfect balance with the currants adding a nice touch of fruity sweetness in each bite. The’re great as is, but it wouldn’t hurt anything to spread on a touch of real butter while they are still warm from the oven.

Check out the full Spice Inspiration feature and to learn more about coriander visit our Spice Library.

 It was Iron Chef Bobby Flay vs. Gabrielle Hamilton, owner and Chef of Prun restaurant in NYC in battle Zucchini. As always there were many interesting dishes created, but one in particular hit me as a must-make. The first factor is that it looked delicious and the judges raved about it. Secondly, it looked very straight forward as in I didn’t actually need a recipe to make it work, and the kicker was the use of Harissa.  I just happen to have been given a jar of wonderful Harrissa recently.

Harissa is a hot chili paste used frequently in North African cuisines especially Tunisia and Morocco. It is commonly used as both a condiment and an ingredient. Typically it is made from dried chilies, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, and various spices such as coriander, cumin, or caraway. There are many recipes available to make your own or you can find it for sales in specialty stores or online.

Chef Hamilton boiled a variety of zucchini and tossed them with harissa, garlic, coriander, caraway, olive oil, lemon juice, green and black olives, and fete cheese. It was so simple, and with such raves from the judges I had to recreate my own little Iron Chef America moment.

I grilled the zucchini rather than boil it and added cumin to substitute for being out of caraway. Though I am sure I have some, I dug and dug through my spices and never found it. Next time I am looking for a different spice I will no doubt encounter two or three containers of caraway.

Zucchini Like an Iron Chef
Keeping with the style of Iron Chef, don’t bother measuring. Eyeball everything like a pro!

A variety of zucchini (4-10) depending on how many people you are feeding)
Harissa
Garlic paste
Coriander seed
Cumin seed
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Fete cheese
Green olives
Black olives

Cut the zucchini into large pieces. Coat the zucchini with a bit of olive oil and place it on a hot grill. Watch it carefully to avoid over cooking and pay attention to the different rates that different varieties of zucchini cook. It should still be a bit firm when removed from the grill so that it can stand up to being tossed with the other ingredients.

Crush some coriander and cumin seeds to break them up, but don’t grind them to a powder. In a small bowl combine a good dollop of harissa, some garlic paste, splash of lemon juice, and the coriander and cumin. Mix well and set aside.

Cut the fete cheese into half-inch cubes and set aside. Remove the pits from the olives and cut them into large pieces and set aside.

Once the zucchini comes off the grill place it in a bowl large enough to mix everything together. Add the harissa, and stir to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning adding more harissa if needed. Mix in the olives. Place the zucchini on a serving platter and sprinkle the fete cubes over the top. If you are making a large quantity, mix some of the fete in and save some to garnish the top of the dish. If all of the fete is mixed in, it turns red from the harissa and isn’t as pretty as the bright white fete.

It is a delicious way to enjoy zucchini that is so bountiful this time of year. The dish would make a great side for a buffet or to take to a pot luck because it doesn’t need to be piping hot when served. Best of all it is quick and easy to put together, but makes you look like an Iron Chef!