Black Bean Soup

This soup started life here as the Black Bean Chili from The Greens Cookbook, but as usual, ingredient availability (and the cook's inclinations) have changed it somewhat.

Sauté an onion (or two, if they're small) and some garlic in a little oil. When they are getting translucent, add a couple of tablespoons of cumin seeds (whole, not ground, but I'll let you off this time if you only have ground), a tablespoon or two of chili powder, same of paprika, and I add something I have called, rather enigmatically Mexican Chili Powder (I think it has oregano and ancho powder added in). Stir everything up thoroughly. Then chuck in about 2 cups of salsa (I use a homemade tomato/pepper salsa but you could even use canned tomatoes in a pinch, just be prepared to add extra flavourings). Stir well, then add 3 cups of cooked black beans. Then, add between 2-5 cups water, depending upon how watery you like your soup.

Then, let it simmer for an hour or three.

The picture above has a few potatoes added to it.

Amazing Cookies

There is something wonderful about a cookie. I'm very picky about the cookies I make. I like them soft, or chewy, or sandy - what the French call sablé. I like sablé in pastry too. But I don't like hard and crunchy cookies. My geriatric teeth can't handle crunchy. And you know, they never seem to taste as good, either.

Anyhow.

Here is a recipe for a really really really good chocolate chip cookie. I came up with it while looking through Dorie Greenspan's charming Baking: From My Home To Yours. She, like all cookbook writers, has her favourite recipe. I've tried a lot of these favourites, and I don't want to sound supercritical but none of them have become my favourites. I tried Dorie's too. They were okay. But they were not best. 

So, try mine. And let me know what you think.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 - 1 cup butter (you choose how decadent you want to be)

1 cup peanut butter (I'm partial to the organic Virginia PB at Costco)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups of white flour (you can use whole wheat but I won't be responsible for the consequences)

one 400 gm bar of decent chocolate, chopped up

Mix in that order. Scoop and plop. Bake 350ºF for about 12 minutes.

Now here is where you can turn these into Amazing Cookies: don't bake them until they are browned. Bake them until they look almost done. Almost. Still dangerously soft and crumbly. Leave them to cool on their parchment or silpat or whatever you baked them on. Do not remove them, or you might cry, because they will totally fall apart. When they are cold, you can move them. Or eat them. Whichever you prefer. They will be soft, chewy, chocolatey, and peanutty. Your mouth will thank you for such an experience.

Fried Bananas

We decided to try Cami's fried bananas the other day. We used plantains instead of regular bananas because, umm, well, hmm, because they were there. In the bowl. On the table. And we didn't have regular bananas. And you know the rule: improvise when necessary.







The plantains worked well but they were a bit starchier than regular bananas. If I did them over again I would poke them all over with a fork and soak them a bit longer. But they were very crispy - and incredible with vanilla ice cream and a little chocolate syrup...

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

This recipe originated as a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's brilliant Baking: From My Home To Yours, then morphed a bit because a) I'd run out of enough of the necessary butter, and b) I never have sour cream kicking around. They are still memorable enough that I make them all the time, although I have trouble remembering to rub the lemon zest into the sugar.

1 c sugar
grated zest of 3 lemons (add the juice of 2 of the lemons to the yogurt)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch baking soda
3/4 c yogurt
2 eggs
1/2 c butter (I've done this with half oil half butter and it works fine, they are only slightly less cakey)
4 T poppy seeds

Dorie recommends that you rub the zest into the sugar at the very start of this venture, but she also recommends using only one lemon and 2 T of poppy seeds, so I leave you to make your own decisions on this, because I've obviously strayed heavily from The Path.

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Then cream the butter and the sugar, add the eggs, then the yogurt, then the dry ingredients. If you've never made quick breads before, give this mixing a light hand. I use my Kitchen Aid and let it go round just a few times. If you overmix they won't rise well AND they'll be like bricks.

This is the point at which I line the muffin tins with paper muffin liners and plop the batter into the liners. Then I pop them in a 375ºF oven for about 16 minutes. Well, I say 16 minutes but really, all I do is set the timer for 12 minutes, then check, then add a few minutes to that. By the time I've finished messing around with my neurotic timer habits it's usually been 16 minutes.

Important: I am an Underbaker. I mean that with the utmost seriousness. I hate dry baked goods. And I am renowned for my baking (nothing like a modest blogger, is there), so again, I'll leave you to follow your own instincts. But please, don't overbake these babies.

Dorie mixes 1 c. icing sugar with a teenie bit of fresh lemon juice and drizzles them over her muffins. I've never done this but they look enchanting in her cookbook.

Lavender Shortbread

No visuals for you, sorry. They were eaten up too fast.

1 cup butter
4 tsp lavender buds
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour

First, if you have one of those little Braun coffee grinders, you whiz the lavender with a tablespoon or two of sugar. You can also use a food processor but the texture might be slightly chunkier. Then transfer that to your mixer, add the butter and the rest of the sugar and whip till the mixture looks really well blended. Then add the flour. (such high-tech instructions)

Now you can either roll it out or shape into little balls (which you might want to flatten slightly before baking). Some people use parchment or plastic wrap for rolling, but I used (gasp!) MORE SUGAR. Not a lot more, about another 1/4 cup. It gave them a nice sablé texture, which was welcome with such a rich biscuit.

After you've got them on the cookie sheets you must chill them for at least 30 minutes. I place mine in the freezer. Then bake, 300ºF, for around 15 minutes. Whatever you do, do NOT let them get brown. You want them in the pre-brown phase, if that makes sense. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes, then place on racks to fully cool.

Bon Appetit!

Lemon Verbena Sorbet

Sheila's lemon verbena

I found this recipe in one of my favourite cookbooks - The Herbfarm Cookbook, by Jerry Traunfeld - and have kept a lemon verbena plant ever since, babying it through our wicked winters (well, wicked if you're a tender perennial). Mr Traunfeld pairs it with Lavender Shortbread, which is just fine, but you will never get over your first (or second, or third) taste of this sorbet. I kid you not. It's incredible. It will make you want to break into song, even if you are an old songless grouch. And whatever you do, don't be asking if you can use lemon balm instead (it's a very very very poor cousin in this case).

1 cup lemon verbena leaves, packed
1 cup superfine sugar (I have always used plain old white sugar)
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)
3 cups cold water

First, put the sugar and lemon verbena in the food processor. Grind grind grind. When the sugar is green, add the lemon juice, then the water, pausing now and then to scrape down the sugar on the sides. Strain well, because this baby is fibrous. Then you have a couple of choices: if you have one of those electric churning ice cream thingies, toss the mixture in and wait til it's ready, if you have nothing vaguely resembling this, toss the mixture into a shallow baking tin and freeze it until it's frozen solid, then toss it back into your food processor. Give it a few whizzes and it should be fine.

Eat.

Bulls Eye Eggs

My kids like this kind of breakfast. It's easy, too, if you have eggs and bread and a cookie cutter.

First, get the slice of bread. Butter one side. Choose a cookie cutter (if you want a shape) or a smallish glass, and push it into the center of the slice. Take the cut-out and put it aside.

Then put a pan on the stove and heat it up. Once it's hot, add the bread slices.



Then crack an egg into each little cavity. This looks easier than it is. Maybe I am more inept than you, but I do find this the only really tricky part. You don't want it sloshing out over the edges, or you'll lose the shape. If my pan is looking a little dry I sometimes add a little coconut oil (doesn't have a taste).






Flip the egg carefully if you like a soft yolk. Look at that heart! Crisp! Clean! Heart-like!

Encourage accolades and tell them you bought the bread that way.