Split pea soup (with bacon and miso)

Oh, how quickly the season and the weather changes!  It's October already and those long, blazing-hot, summer days seem like a distant memory.  The sweaters, the long pants, and comforters are starting to find their way out of the closets and once again, our food cravings are starting to shift.

It feels somewhat symbolic to make a pot of soup to welcome fall.  I make soup all year round and enjoy it whenever possible but at this time of year, when it turns chilly and starts getting dark early, I really want to warm up with a bowl of soup, and I feel motivated to try a new soup recipe I haven't made before.

This comparison won't make much sense but soups are a little like brownies to me.  I generally like them all!  Can you remember the last soup you had that you really didn't like?  I can't...so I know making soup will be rewarding. And this is the time of year when I feel the motivation to try something new.  I chose this split pea soup, a recipe I saw and adapted from the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine.  

The magazine had a feature on "pulses" - dried seeds of plants that we know of in the form of lentils, dry peas, chickpeas and beans.  Those are some of my favorite things - foods that fill me up that I feel really good about eating.  This soup made me think of the many containers of split pea soup I'd pick up at a local lunch spot back when I worked in NYC eons ago.  That soup was thick and hearty, plus quite salty.  That salty/savoriness was likely from the ham hock that you often find in the base of split pea soup.

Instead of ham, there's bacon in this green split pea soup.  Not too much...we're talking 5 slices of center-cut bacon, rendered until crispy, then crumbled and stirred into the soup when it's done.  The idea is to use the bacon grease to cook your aromatics in (which would give it a great salty/smokey flavor) but I opted to discard all but about a teaspoon of it and add olive oil instead.  The other ingredient giving this soup more savory/umami flavor is miso paste.  If you think the idea is intriguing, I'm with you! It made me curious and since I have white miso in my fridge, I welcomed the chance to have another use for it.

No surprise, the soup hit the spot!  The bacon and miso add deep savoriness (you don't distinctly taste the miso) and the soup is hearty, with not only split peas but full of carrots and onions.  It takes about an hour for the pound of split peas to soften in plenty of chicken stock but I think it was well worth the time to make this happen.  I managed to stow a container of it away in the freezer and I'm already looking forward to having it again soon.

Soba noodles and roasted eggplant in miso dressing

When it starts to warm up, I find myself craving some soba noodles.  Alright...who am I kidding?  I crave all kinds of foods that I like to eat in one big constant loop!  I'm not the only one who's always thinking about food and, therefore, craving something all the time, right?

In the old days, it was rice noodles for me.  Nowadays, I enjoy more variety and there's usually a pack of dry soba noodles hanging out in the pantry.  I always feel the need to have my favorite things on hand, like there might be some worldwide shortage the minute I need it, and I just won't be able to find it anywhere!

Anyway...when I think soba noodles, I automatically think asian flavors - soy, rice vinegar, sesame oil and seeds.  To satisfy this particular round of soba noodle craving, I decided to make use of the miso I had in the fridge.

When I saw some good-looking eggplant at the market, I thought of that great America's Test Kitchen technique I learned and have been relying on to roast eggplant with soy sauce.  The idea came together.  I'd roast some eggplant with soy sauce, cook some soba noodles, and toss it altogether with a simple miso-based dressing.

And that's just what I did to satisfy my soba noodle craving.  The eggplant makes the dish satisfying, with its meatiness and that umami flavor.  I'd thought about adding some shiitake mushrooms but skipped it since I didn't feel like dirtying another pan and having to cook the mushrooms separately.  I thought I'd miss it but I really didn't; the eggplant alone adds plenty of flavor and substance.  The miso dressing/sauce is just one where I whisked some miso with a little warm water.  I added some soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and it's just a simple, light, and a relatively mild coating of sauce for the soba.

Two more ways with miso

Only three more weekends until school starts.  I know I always say it but this really is one quick-flying summer!  I'm taking it easy and making a point to savor some lazy days of summer.  Before we know it, some of us will be back in the throws of back-to-school nights and juggling homework and schedules again.

So while I'm "busy" chilling, I thought I'd share a couple of recipes I tried recently that have been both easy and delicious.  Remember my recent foray into using miso?  Besides the noodles, I used my container of miso paste to make two other tasty dishes.  

Miso-glazed broiled salmon

First up, miso-glazed broiled salmon.  I'd spotted a recipe in the July/August 2014 Food Network magazine for "asian salmon rolls", which was actually a sandwich with a wasabi dressing and greens.  I abandoned the sandwich idea but the simple miso-based marinade for the salmon interested me since I did have that container of miso paste from Trader Joe's in my fridge.  Also, my son loves salmon so I'm constantly roasting it one way or another and could use new ways to serve it.

I adapted the recipe a little bit and it turned out great, something I've made a couple of times already and will continue to as part of my salmon-cooking rotation.  Miso paste, mirin, and bit of brown sugar in the glaze makes for a nice, subtle, salty-sweetness that's very tasty on the salmon. I discovered that I really like broiling salmon...it makes for a leaner, less-fatty, end result.

Oven-broiled garlic-miso chicken wings

Secondly, my family and I enjoyed garlic miso chicken wings.  I have been eyeing the recipe for a while, one of many dishes I've discovered from Just One Cookbook, a wonderful site for easy Japanese recipes.

These wings are marinated with plenty of minced garlic, miso, soy sauce and mirin.  Those 4 ingredients make for an incredibly flavorful coating on the chicken.  You broil the wings using the broiler plate that comes with your oven (the first time I put that thing to use and it worked wonderfully!) and the result is some crispy wings that are super moist and juicy on the inside and packed with flavor.  What more could you ask for.

Miso garlic noodles with mushrooms

Can you hear that?  No?  That's okay because I don't hear anything either!  My recently whiny, noisy computer has been replaced with a new - blissfully quiet - one.  We finally made the switch to mac after talking about it for years...I'm loving it so far though it takes a little getting used to.

Spaghetti with mushrooms in a miso-garlic sauce (with olive oil instead of butter)

The computer upgrade is just one of several projects happening on the home front right now. It's all good though and I'm happy to be busy in a good way.  Despite how much we may be running around, going out, or attending to things at home, quick-and-easy meals are never far from my mind.

I've been wanting to try cooking with miso for a long time now.  A few weeks ago, I spotted a small container of yellow miso at Trader Joe's; it was inexpensive and had a long expiration date so I decided to pick one up thinking that seeing it in the fridge will get me motivated.  It worked and I started by making a very simple miso garlic pasta with mushrooms.  I made it for a quick lunch after picking up some gray oyster mushrooms at the farmer's market in the morning.  Any mushroom, or a medley of them, would work well.  While most miso pasta/noodle recipes I've seen use butter, I generally prefer to cook with olive oil so I tried it that way and it turned out great!