The Charmed Kitchen

Asparagus and Yellow Pea Soup

I love asparagus and when it is in season I pretty much eat it every day. I love it just steamed with a little butter but it seems I end up using it in lots of stuff. Omelets, salads, stir fries and soup to name a few. Today I wanted a soup using yellow split peas but something more evocative of spring than winter. I cooked the split peas separately in salted water until just tender. That takes about 20-30 minutes. The idea was to have peas with texture not peas that had cooked to mush. This is what I came up with. I was really happy with the soup- I think you might be, too. I did a vegan version but feel free to use chicken stock, if you prefer.

Asparagus and Yellow Split Pea Soup

1 c. yellow split peas, rinsed*

2 T. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, sliced

1 sweet pepper, any color, seeded and chopped- I used yellow

1 qt. vegetable stock- or whatever stock you like

1 lb. asparagus, bottoms trimmed

hot sauce to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Place peas in medium saucepan and cover with water. Add salt to taste. Simmer until tender, about 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile heat oil in soup pot and cook onion until tender. Add the celery and peppers and continue cooking until they are tender.  Drain peas and add to the pot along with the stock and bring to a simmer. Slice the asparagus into 1-inch pieces and reserve the tips. Place stems in the soup and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Add the tips and cook until they are just tender. The tips cook faster so I leave them out for the first few minutes the stems are cooking. Tenderness is a subjective thing, sometimes. I want the asparagus to still have a little “bite” to them. If you prefer them more tender cook as long as you like. Serves 3-4.

*Note: If you can’t find yellow split peas the green ones work fine, too. I just like the way the yellow worked with the green of the asparagus.

Lamb Stew

I was lucky enough to get a lamb shoulder from my friend, Kaey Bray, who raises extraordinary lambs. I knew it needed moist heat so I decided to make a stew. I started the lamb in the crock pot with onions, garlic, carrots and bay leaves. I also added a quart of chicken stock and let it go all night on low. Since we were having the dish for lunch I wanted to be sure the meat was falling apart tender. Late morning I added whole fresh mushrooms, diced sweet potatoes, Tuscan seasoning , red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast and some home made vegetable soup base. Before serving  I mixed some water and flour and added it to thicken the liquid. I let it simmer about 30 more minutes and served it over hot cooked pasta. I did not cut the meat up- trust me it was moist and fork tender. Jonathan was so happy.  Well, we both were.

Lamb Stew

1 lamb shoulder roast, about 2-3 lbs.

3 onions, peeled and chopped

1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped

20 cloves peeled garlic- not a misprint- Jonathan loves garlic

1 qt. chicken stock

1 lb. fresh mushrooms, trimmed and washed

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 T. soup base – or salt and pepper to taste

1 T. Tuscan seasoning

1 T. Nutritional yeast

1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. water

Place lamb in crock pot with carrots, onions, garlic and stock and cook on high for 2 hours. Turn down to low and continue cooking for 4- 8 hours longer. Add mushrooms, sweet potato and seasoning and cook on high 1 hour longer. Combine flour and water in jar with tight-fitting lid and shake to combine. Pour into lamb mixture stirring until mixed. Cook 30 minutes longer and serve over hot cooked pasta.

Combine lamb roast with carrots, onions, garlic, bay leaves and stock.

Ready for thickening

Since I have had a lot of response to the cookie pictures I thought I had better post the recipe. Just a simple sugar cookie with royal icing. Always tasty and like any classic, always in style.

 Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

3 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

3 T. milk

Extra sugar for sprinkling, if desired

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Beat in milk. Heat oven to 375-degrees. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/3- inch thickness. Cut out with lightly floured cutters and sprinkle with sugar or colored sugar if you like and if you are not going to frost them. Bake on an un-greased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely. Frost when cooled. Makes about 4 dozen.

Decorating your cookies:

You can use buttercream frosting  but I prefer to use royal icing. Because royal icing contains egg whites it gets hard. Cookies have a smooth appearance and can be stacked. When making royal icing ALWAYS USE PASTEURIZED EGG WHITES OR POWDERED EGGS WHITES TO PREVENT SAMONELLA.

You can also use colored sugar and sprinkles and mini chocolate chips for eyes.

Royal Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar

½ t. cream of tartar

5¼ t. egg white powder, available in some grocery stores and in baking supply stores

6 T. water

½ t. vanilla, optional

Assorted food colorings, I used a little pink in the “piggies”.

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and mix well. Add water and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Divide into small bowls and tint each batch as needed. Keep bowl covered with a damp towel while waiting to use as royal icing dries out quickly.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

Its sometimes a challenge to use leftovers. I often use them in soups and salads. Today I found myself with some leftover cooked chicken and wanted to do something fun with it. I decided to make a big salad but rather than just add the chicken I first heated up the chicken in some home made barbecue sauce. It made the whole salad more fun and the warm chicken was a nice counterpoint to the cold salad veggies. Super easy and very tasty.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

3-4 cups lettuce, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c. shredded cabbage

1/2 c. chopped sweet pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 T.olive oil

1-2 T. cider vinegar

1 c. cooked chicken, cubed

1/2 c. barbecue sauce

1/4 c. cashews

Arrange veggies in bowl on on a plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Place chicken on small skillet and add the barbecue sauce. Heat until bubbly, stirring often. Spoon over the vegetable mixture and sprinkle with cashews.

Lettuce with cabbage and peppers

Heat chicken and barbecue sauce together

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

Having friends over for dinner. Doing a Southern-influenced picnic. I thought this would be the perfect dessert. Soft, sweet and moist it is the right finish for our dinner. If you end up with extra sweet potatoes it is also a great way to use them up. Just 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes is used in the recipe.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

1 1/2 c. cake flour*

1/2 t. each baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 c. sour cream, room temperature

1 1/3 c. sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1/2 c. mashed sweet potato

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly oil an 8×4-inch loaf pan.** Mix flour with next 4 ingredients and set aside. In large mixing bowl beat together butter and sour cream. Beat in sugar and then beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed sweet potato and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan 30 minutes before loosening cake sides from pan and removing. After cake has cooled wrap in foil and store at room temperature. Serves 8.

*Rather than keeping cake flour on hand, you can add lib in a pinch. There are 2 ways to substitute.

For each cup of cake flour you can measure 1 cup of regular all purpose flour and then just remove 2 table spoonfuls of the flour.

Some recipes also call to remove the 2 table spoons of regular flour and replace them with 2 tablespoon of cornstarch. I’ve tried both methods in baking and have had fine results either way. It is important that you measure the flour correctly to begin with. Flour should always be spooned into the measuring cup and then leveled off with a knife.

For a larger amount:

7 cups flour

1 c. cornstarch

Sift together and store until ready to use.

** I used a 9×5-inch loaf pan. The bread does not get at high but it still works fine at this size and the cooking time was reduced by 10 minutes.

Rainbow Pasta

I love the taste of homemade pasta but I don’t make it often enough. I particularly like the colors and tastes of veggie pastas. Some tine back I would make a variety of veggie pastas and then take small bits of each and roll them together with some plain pasta. Veggie pastas are sometimes a little softer than egg pasta and benefit from being mixed together for strength and ease of rolling.

As you roll the dough out the colors blend together and create what I call rainbow pasta. Use sheets of the dough to make rainbow ravioli. The students in last night’s class really made some lovely pasta with the assortment we had. As usual I got so busy I only took a few pictures.

I often use a food processor to make pasta dough, especially the vegetable pastas because I am using vegetables that need to be pureed, pretty much. I have a small one which is perfect for small batches, no more than 1 cup of flour. I often use my stand mixer for larger and for plain dough. Always best to make pasta dough at least 30 minutes ahead and let it rest. even make it the day before and chill until ready to use.

Spinach ravioli

Basic Homemade Pasta

 3 c. flour, more if using electric pasta machine. See note.

1 1/2 t. salt

4 eggs

Water, if needed

Mix flour and salt and stir in eggs, kneading until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be very stiff. Add a little water if needed to hold dough together. You may wish to mix the dough in a mixer or food processor. Cover dough and let rest 15-20 minutes before rolling. Under kneading your dough will result in coarse, crumbly pasta. This batch makes about 1 pound. Serves 4-6.

Roll dough out on well floured board or in pasta machine (non-electric) until desired thickness in reached. Add flour as needed to prevent sticking. Cut into strips or whatever shapes are desired. You might want to let the noodles dry 1-hour or more before cooking, but this is not necessary. Pasta can be hung to dry or separated and allowed to dry flat on a table. When pasta is not hanging to dry it must be turned occasionally to dry evenly.      Although you may hear otherwise, homemade pasta, even when dried, should be frozen for long term storage. Storing at room temperature can lead to spoilage. Fresh pasta can also be stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Note: All electric pasta machines vary slightly and you should use their recipes as much as possible. Still, for most models, adding 1/4 c. flour for each cup in a hand rolled recipe works the best. Also recipes that contain seeds and vegetables may clog an electric pasta maker. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions.

These are smaller batches which can be mixed in a processor or by hand. If you want to mix a vegetable based pasta by hand, puree the vegetables first.

                                                                 Whole Wheat Pasta

 1 c. whole wheat flour

1 egg

1 t. oil

1-2 T. water, if needed

Sesame Pasta

These are great in Asian dishes.

1 c. flour

1 T. sesame oil

1/4 – 1/3 c. water, as needed

Curry Pasta

1 c. flour

1 t. curry powder

1 egg

1-2 T. water, if needed

Carrot Pasta

 1 c. flour

1/2 t. dried dill

1/3 c. carrot puree

1-2 T. water, if needed

   Beet Pasta

1 c. flour

1/2 t. dill

1/3 c. beet puree

1-2 T. water, if needed

Spinach Pasta

2 c. flour

1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, cooked, drained, reserving some of the liquid

Mix this dough as for other pastas, but don’t be too quick to add reserved liquid. While kneading you’ll get water out of the spinach. May require more kneading and rolling than other pasta doughs. Be patient, it’s worth the work.

Broccoli Pasta

1 c. flour

1/2 c. broccoli puree

 Ravioli Filling

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2/3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

2/3 c. ricotta or cream cheese

1/3 c. grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Combine all ingredients well and chill until needed.

Roll a batch of dough into  a rectangle, 18×12 inches and 1/16 inch thick. Arrange well rounded teaspoonfuls of the  cheese filling two inches apart on the pasta sheet. Roll out additional dough into an 18×12 inch rectangle. With a pastry brush moisten bottom sheet of pasta around edges with water. Place second sheet of pasta on top, using fingers to seal the dough around the edges of the filling. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut between the ravioli to separate them. You should have 24 ravioli.

Beet Pasta Ravioli

Add 1 cup of flour to processor

Add cooked beets

Process until mixture is uniform in appearance

Add a few drops of the cooking liquid if mixture is crumbly. Process until dough forms into a ball.

Goldenrod

If you have hard-cooked eggs and want a tasty way to serve them you might like Goldenrod. Its a recipe my Grandmother and Mother used to make every year after Easter when we had lots of hard cooked eggs around. It’s a simple dish and very tasty. Of course you can make Goldenrod any time you have hard-cooked eggs.

Goldenrod

4-6 hard cooked eggs

2 T. flour

2 T. butter or margarine

1-1 1/2 c. milk

salt and pepper to taste

2-4 slices bread, toasted

Peel eggs and separate whites from yolks. Chop egg whites and set aside. In saucepan cook flour and butter together until smooth. Stir in milk and cook until thickened and bubbly. Be careful not to burn the sauce. Season to taste and add reserved egg whites, heating through. Arrange toast on serving dishes and cover with the sauce. Place reserves egg yolks in a fine sieve and press through over sauce, dusting as evenly as possible. Serves 2-4.

Add chopped egg whites to white sauce

Pour egg whites over toast

Press egg yolks through a sieve onto the egg whites

Easy Carrot Dip

If you are looking for a quick appetizer try this easy recipe. Serve with crackers, veggies or pita chips.

Carrot Spread

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
3 med. size carrots, grated
3 Green onions, sliced
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, optional
1/4 c. mayonnaise
Coarse black pepper & salt to taste

Soften cream cheese. Add to carrots, green onions, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, salt and mayonnaise. Chill until ready to serve.

Honey Bunny

These rolls are really tasty and just adorable. Rich and soft they can be served with breakfast, brunch or dinner. The dough is made and then chilled for anywhere from 2-24 hours so you can make the dough in the evening and roll and bake the next day.  Fresh out of the oven they are brushed with a honey-butter glaze that gives them a beautiful shine and just a touch of sweetness.

Honey Bunnies

 4-5 c. flour

2 packages yeast

1 t. salt

2/3 c. evaporated milk

½ c. each water, honey and butter or margarine

2 eggs

Raisins, optional

Honey glaze

1/2 c. honey and 1/4 c. butter or margarine heated together until warm.

In bowl combine 1 c. flour, yeast and salt. Heat together milk, water, honey and butter until very warm and beat into the flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes on high speed. Beat in 1 cup flour and eggs. Beat 2 more minutes, until batter thickens. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter and chill, cover with plastic wrap for 2-24 hours.

Place dough on lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Roll each into a 20- inch rope. Cut rope into a 12- inch piece, a 5-inch piece and 3 one-inch pieces. Coil 12-inch piece to form body, five-  inch piece to form head and inch pieces to form ears and tail. Place on greased cookie sheet and let rise, covered until doubled, about 25 minutes. Don’t worry about the pieces falling apart. As they rise they get a little sticky and they will stay together when baked. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and brush with honey glaze. Place raisins on each to make eyes, if desired. Brush with additional glaze before serving, if desired. Makes 15 bunnies.*

* Feel free to cut the rolls a little larger or smaller. These rise a lot when they are baking so you might want to cut dough into anywhere from 12-18 pieces. Baking time will only be a few minutes less for smaller rolls and a few minutes longer for larger rolls.

Cut rope of dough into 5 pieces

Role pieces into bunny shape

Bunnies rising

Brush warm bunnies with honey glaze.

Honey Bunnies

Easter Egg Biscotti

When I was growing up one of my best friends was Debbi Dieglio. We shared many fun times. Every Easter Debbi’s Mom, Rose, would make these wonderful biscotti with a colored egg baked in the middle and drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. These are not the hard biscotti you might be more familiar with but something more correctly called viscotta. Think of them as a big cookie. Over the years I have become “The Easter Judi” making dozens of them and giving them to friends and family. Wanted to share the recipe with you today. I really think you’ll love them. Because they contain eggs- keep refrigerated.

Easter Egg Biscotti

1 c. shortening or butter- I use butter

1 ½ c. sugar

4 eggs

5 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 t. vanilla

1 c. milk

6 c. flour

Hard cooked eggs, plain or dyed

Powdered sugar glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter or shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add next 4 ingredients and blend until smooth. Stir in flour 2 cups at a time. Dough should be pliable. If dough is too sticky add a little more flour. Take a piece of dough about the size of a large egg and place on a greased baking sheet. Indent middle slightly and then place an egg in the center, pressing down slightly. It should look like a nest. Continue with remaining dough allowing about 2-3 inches in between as they grow. You can fit 6-8 on a large baking sheet. Bake 20 –25 minutes or until browned on the bottom. Cool on wire rack before drizzling with frosting. Makes 24-30.

Sugar glaze

2 c. powdered sugar

2-3 T. milk or orange juice

1 t. vanilla

Food coloring, if desired

Mix together until smooth and of drizzling consistency.