Slow cookery

We bought a Cuisinart slow cooker a few weeks ago with the notion to make soups and stews.  We already eat a lot of soup, but the hands-off aspect of the slow cooker is appealing for days when I don't have time to babysit the stove.   It means that I can cook when it’s convenient, and have dinner ready when I want, no matter what else fills up the day.  In the morning, I just chop some vegetables, toss in liquid and spices, and put the lid on, then come home sometime in the evening to find dinner ready.  No need to worry about burning or boil overs while the pot is untended.

I haven’t made anything outside of the normal repertoire yet, just ratatouille, vegetable soup, and vegetable stew.  Aaron’s made meat stew a few times as well, which he says are super-tender.   It’s taken a bit of experimentation to get the liquid balance right because liquid doesn’t cook off like it does on the stove since the heat is so low.  For example, I made ratatouille the other day using two eggplants, two red peppers, a big red onion, garlic and spices.  I added a slug of red wine, about 1/2 a cup, and a can of tomatoes (not drained), then left it alone for 7 hours.  It tasted terrific, with the vegetables getting very soft but holding their shape, and flavors bright but well melded.  But, it was a little soupy.  Half the juice from the can of tomatoes would have been plenty.  As it was, though, it made a fine meal as a base for poached eggs and topped with parmesan.

On the converse side, Aaron made an absolutely delicious barley soup with chard, fennel and dill (Bon Appetit).  The slow cooking allowed the barley to thicken the soup even more than normal, so it was almost risotto-like in its consistency.  Again, it was a great meal,  not quite what was intended, but a nice outcome all the same.
 

Winter soupe au pistou

The first time I had soupe au pistou was a few years ago, just after Aaron and I arrived in New York on a cold winter evening.  After a seemingly endless travel day, with a flight from California and a traffic jam on the way into Manhattan from JFK, I was tired and edgy.   A brisk, invigorating walk would have been just perfect to shake out the travel kinks, but this night was downright frigid.  So cold, hungry and a bit cranky, we bundled in our coats and headed up Amsterdam in search of food.  Several blocks later, we passed Nice Matin, a French restaurant we knew and liked; we beelined inside. Nice Matin was packed that night, but the host invited us to sit at the bar and have a glass of wine for 15 minutes while she found us a table.  The glass of wine took care of the edginess, and before long we were tucked around a little table.  The special that night was soupe au pistou, vegetable soup with a dollop of pesto on top, which was divine on this cold night. 

There’s no strict recipe for soupe au pistou, at least as far as I know, but in my mind it always has little white beans and a mix of vegetables.  Yesterday was cold and rainy, a perfect day for soup.  I was looking in the freezer and ran across frozen pesto from the summer garden.  Inspiration hit, and so I hunted through the cupboard to see what I could find.

Sometimes I figure out in advance what I’ll be cooking for the next while and shop appropriately, and sometimes I just use whatever is on hand and see what comes of it. Yesterday was a cupboard raiding day. We were out of dried white beans, but I found a bag of mixed beans, lentils and barley, like you would use in a 20-bean soup. Close enough.  We had carrots, onions and celery, and also the last of the roasted tomatoes from summer in the freezer.  I made this soup in the slow cooker, though it would have worked just as well on the stove, albeit with more attention paid.  The beans kept their form, while onions and celery got super-soft, and the starch from the barley made the stock thicken.  It was hearty and delicious, perfect for a gray day.

Yesterday’s recipe is here.

Recipe: Winter Soupe au Pistou

This is a hearty vegetarian bean soup served with pesto:


1.5 cups mixed legumes (or just white beans)
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 large tomato or  1/2 c roasted tomato or a handful of sundried tomatoes, or the equivalent
1 clove garlic
1.5 tsp. thyme
1.5 tsp. tarragon
2 bay leaves
4-6 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper
Pesto - a rounded tablespoon per person.

The secret to removing the gas factor from beans is to boil them for a few (2-3) minutes, and then let the pot sit and cool for anything from 2-12 hours, as your schedule allows.   Drain and rinse.  The beans will still be uncooked.

Cut all the vegetables in a small dice, 1/4”

Put everything except the pesto, so all the beans, vegetables, spices, stock, in the slow cooker.  Start with a teaspoon of salt and a grind of pepper.  It will be underseasoned, but you’ll correct this at the end.  It took 8 hours on high for the beans to cook through, or if you're cooking on the stove, it will take a few hours.  I started with 4 cups stock, then added more midway to thin the soup.  If you’re using beans alone (no barley), you may not need to do this. 

When the beans are tender, taste and correct the salt and pepper.  I added just a touch - about 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar at the end as well.

Serve each bowl of soup with a good dollop of pesto on top.

Miso and vegetable soup

 

It was time to use up some of the bits of vegetables in the refrigerator (and a little chilly outside), so I made a semi-composed miso soup.   We've had composed soups in restaurants a few times lately, and it makes a pretty presentation.  Mine was more rustic, which is a nice way of saying that I just made little piles rather than working toward food art, but it was pretty nonetheless.

Aaron made and froze a batch of vegetable stock a few weeks ago that was particularly flavorful, and with a spoonful of dark miso, just a drizzle of tamari sauce, and slivered ginger, the broth was over the top.  I sautéed (separately from each other) cubed sweet potato, mustard greens with garlic, mushrooms, and tofu with tamari and mirin.  The base of the bowl had soy noodles, the sautéed vegetables added in little piles, and the broth was ladled over the top.   A squirt of Sriracha in my bowl to gave it a little extra love, while Aaron opted for the more tame version.