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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Today is cookie day for the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. Chockablock Cookies clean out the pantry with an ingredient list including chocolate, oats, molasses, nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.

With this full-on ingredient party I figured there would be room for a little added spice too. Fennel jumped to mind. Fennel with chocolate? Yes. Fennel with Cherries? Yes, Fennel with coconut? Yes. Fennel with almonds? Yes. Fennel with molasses? Seems reasonable. Fennel it is. I left the fennel seeds whole so the burst of flavor would be random and intermittent just like the nuts, fruit and chocolate.

After eating a number of cookies, it finally it hit me; the chocolate and molasses were competing with each other and overwhelming all of the other ingredients. I was really taken with the cherry, chocolate, almond, fennel idea, and decided a milder dough was needed to allow the flavor of each ingredient to really stand out; back to the mixer for a molasses-free variation.

I was very pleased with the results. I added a little orange zest to complement the fennel, reduced the amount of chocolate, skipped the coconut, and increased the oven temperature to 350 degrees. I intended to add a ½ teaspoon vanilla as well, but forgot. It would be worth adding next time out of curiosity. The finishing touch was a sprinkle of flake salt before baking, which really brought out the flavor of the nuts, fruit, and chocolate.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Fennel Cookies

Inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s Chockablock Cookies. These measurements are based on a half-batch of the original recipe. Makes 24 cookies.

1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar
½ teaspoon orange zest
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup all purpose flour
generous ¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg
¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup almonds, toasted and rough chopped
½ cup dried cherries, rough chopped
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, rough chopped
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
flake salt or sea salt for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the sugar and orange zest in a small bowl and rub the zest into the sugar to evenly distribute it, set aside. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and then add the sugar/zest mixture. Beat for 2 minutes and add the honey. Once incorporated, add the egg and beat for an additional minute.

With the mixer on low, add the oats. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until just beginning to be incorporated into the dough. By hand, stir in the nuts, chocolate, cherries, and fennel seeds.

Place large tablespoon scoops on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle each dough ball with a touch of flake salt. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the edges and tops of the cookies are lightly golden brown, but the centers still look a little wet. Let the cookies rest on the hot baking pan for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.

Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet picked this week’s recipe and has Dorie’s original version posted on her blog. Now I know that chocolate and molasses isn’t a flavor combination that works for me and Mary’s pick inspired me to come up with a variation that I love. Thanks for the inspiration Mary and Dorie!

*update – after reading other TWD blog posts I was reminded of the Chocolate Gingerbread we made last year and what do you know, I loved that flavor combo. So, it’s not a given that the chocolate-molasses combo doesn’t work, it just didn’t work for me in this situation.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 123 recipes completed 98 to go!

My special twist on this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie baking adventure is adding a charcoal finish to the beautiful Thanksgiving Twofer Pie (pumpkin and pecan pie all in one!) that Vivi of La Casserole Carree selected for the group to make this week.

photo by David Peterman

This is the result of multi-tasking gone bad. Thanksgiving was celebrated on Sunday at my house because of my desire to cook the full-blown feast and spend Thanksgiving Day at a friend’s house. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have your pie and eat it too – unless you get distracted.

The Thanksgiving Twofer Pie is Dorie Greenspan’s answer to the age old question “Should I make pumpkin or pecan pie?” Her smart solution is to make both in one pie; a classic pumpkin pie filling scattered with pecans and covered with a sugary-gooey pecan pie filling. Assembly was fine, so into the oven at 450 degrees F for ten minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F for the remainder of the bake time; this doesn’t seem so hard.

An undetermined amount of time passes and as I breeze past the oven I notice the pie is getting really brown and decide to grab some foil to cover the top, but by the time I get to the other side of my kitchen (all of about five steps) I am fully distracted with prepping brussels sprouts, checking the temperature of the turkey, strategizing on the timing of starting the potatoes…then I get a whiff of something burning…the pie! I am a bit shocked to notice the oven temperature still says 450. Well, fancy new-fangled electronic control panel ovens are great for all that they do, but if you don’t hit “enter” after resetting the temperature, the temperature does not get reset. The charcoal finish overwhelmed the pie and I finally admitted that it wasn’t really salvageable after eating a piece for dessert. It was no bother for David, who is not a pumpkin or pecan fan, as he had stocked the freezer with some Ben & Jerry’s for his early Thanksgiving feast dessert.

I have no doubt the pie would have been fantastic had I not burned it to smithereens. I will make it again once I get over the pain of ruining a cup and a half of beautiful pecans. You can test your oven temperature setting skills and make it yourself from the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, or click over to Vivi’s blog where she has posted it (scroll down for the English version).

photo by David Peterman

Thankfully there were other delicious things to eat for early Thanksgiving dinner (recipes below). The red kuri squash stuffed with cornmeal stuffing made with apples, currants, hazelnuts and a nice dash of curry powder was wonderful and the baking vessel adds a side vegetable for no extra work!

photo by David Peterman

Roasted brussels sprouts and pearl onions with caraway and juniper were tasty and beautiful. The turkey was baked with a delicious herb, orange, and fennel compound butter that takes just minutes to create. And of course a bowl of my favorite fall delight, spiced cranberry sauce.

With the inevitable Thanksgiving disaster all ready out of the way, now I can relax, enjoy early leftovers and a fun Thanksgiving Day with friends eating more delicious food. Have a wonderful holiday and keep an eye on that oven temperature!

Citrus Herb Compound Butter
 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
zest of one medium orange, finely grated
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fennel seed, ground
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Rub under the skin of a turkey or chicken before roasting. A dollop placed on hot grilled chicken breasts just before serving is nice as well.

Cornbread Stuffing Baked in a Squash

Serves 6

For the cornbread (can be made a day early)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the first 4 ingredients to mix well.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg and mix in the brown sugar, oil and milk. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cornbread is slightly puffed and golden brown. Let cool in the pan, then remove from the pan and cut cornbread into half-inch cubes. If starting a day ahead, leave the bread cubes sitting out overnight uncovered to stale. If proceeding the same day, place bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes to dry out the cornbread. Let cool and proceed with stuffing recipe.

For the stuffing
1 medium-sized red kuri or other winter squash
6 cups (about) dried cornbread cubes (one batch of above cornbread recipe)
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup dried currants
11/2 -2 tsp. curry powder (depending on your taste and your curry powder)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, have a little extra on hand if needed
2 large eggs

Cut the top off of the squash and set aside. Scrape the seeds and stringy bits from the inside of the squash and sprinkle the cleaned interior generously with salt, pepper, and a bit of the curry powder. Set the squash aside.

Place a heavy-bottom large pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté for a few minutes, then add the celery, apple, thyme, curry powder and continue to cook for 6-8 additional minutes until the vegetables are soft. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the white wine reduce until the pan is almost dry. Remove from the heat and stir in the currants and hazelnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste, seasoning on the strong side to account for the cornbread, stock and squash that has yet to be incorporated. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl.

Add the cornbread to the bowl of vegetables and mix to combine. Whisk the eggs and 1 cup of stock together and add slowly to the stuffing letting each addition be absorbed before adding more. Add additional stock, 1/4 cup at a time, until the stuffing is quite wet and holds together easily, but not so much that it pools at the bottom of the bowl.

Place the Squash in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Fill the squash with the stuffing and put the lid on the squash, any extra stuffing can be baked in a buttered baking dish covered with buttered foil. Place in an oven at 350-375 degrees F to bake for about 2 hours. The squash can bake alongside a turkey or other dishes and the exact oven temperature is not critical. After an hour check the sidewalls of the squash to determine the baking progress, the squash will probably be rather firm at this point. Remove the lid of the squash and tuck it in the baking dish so the squash can bake uncovered (if your squash lid has a stem, it will be very brittle and likely break off if you try to lift the lid using the stem). Let the squash bake until it is easily pierced with the tip of a knife and the stuffing is hot through. Cover loosely with foil if the top begins to brown too much. Check the squash every 20 minutes for doneness.

Once it is fully cooked carefully lift the whole squash onto a serving platter. This move is best executed with the help of an additional person to peel away the parchment paper once the squash is lifted from the pan. It works well to slide a sturdy spatula under the squash while supporting the side with a hot pad or kitchen towel. Serve by scooping out the stuffing along with some of the squash meat.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pearl Onions

Serves 4

20 brussels sprouts
30 pearl onions
2 slices of thick bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. caraway seeds, whole
1/2 tsp. juniper berries, ground
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Trim the bottom of the sprouts, peel off the dark outer leaves, and cut an X in the stem end. Bring a 3 qt. pot of water to boil and add 2 tsp. of salt to the water. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. Add the brussels sprouts to the boiling water and simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes. Remove the brussels sprouts from the boiling water and place in the ice water to cool for 3-4 minutes. Scoop the brussels sprouts from the ice water, drain and dry them.

Add the pearl onions to the pot of boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes then remove them to the ice water. Once the onions are cool enough to touch, drain them. Cut the root end off and peel the outer papery layer off and pat them dry. (This can be done one day ahead, store the brussels sprouts and onions in the refrigerator).

Slice the brussels sprouts in half and place in a medium-sized bowl along with the onions. Mix in the olive oil, caraway seeds, juniper, unpeeled garlic cloves, diced bacon, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread the vegetables out on a sheet pan and place in a hot oven to roast. After 15-20 minutes give the vegetables a stir and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes more until they are nicely browned and cooked through.

Remove the pan from the oven and collect the unpeeled garlic cloves. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the papery shell into a mixing bowl. Using a whisk mash the roasted garlic into a paste and whisk in the sherry vinegar. Add the brussels sprouts and onions and toss to coat. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed and serve.