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.

Black bean soup

I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day weekend.  After all the chocolate talk we've been indulging in, I'm ready to take a trip on the savory side.  Let's make soup!

Soup is one of those hearty, comforting things I enjoy all year round.  But when the temps drop, as it did this past weekend into negative territory, I really get the hankering to make and eat some.

I've rarely met a soup I didn't like.  It's hard to go wrong with you're starting with things like onions, carrots, and garlic.  So I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to soups.  For the most part, I'm looking for something simple, delicious, and nutritious that could fill in as a meal or be a great starter.  I keep an eye out for good possibilities and this latest soup caught my eye and comes from the current issue of Rachael Ray magazine.

This is a thick black bean soup that reminds me a lot of chili.  It's made with pantry staples like canned diced tomatoes and black beans, as well as fresh ingredients in the form of onions and carrots.  Flavored with garlic, chili powder and dried oregano, everything cooks together and then you take an immersion blender and blend about one-third of the soup to make a thick consistency.

This thick, creamy, satisfying soup was just what we needed over the past weekend with the freezing temps.  I wish I had some more left but we seem to plow through soup very quickly here.  Looks like I'll need to make more soon!

Roasted kabocha squash soup

Last year around this time, I learned about kabocha squash.  I'd enjoyed it for ages in the form of tempura at Japanese restaurant without ever quite knowing what it was!

But luckily, Nami at Just One Cookbook revealed the mystery of the delicious kabocha squash, also known as "Japanese pumpkin".  I started experimenting with roasting different varieties of squash last Fall and I discovered that I really love the kabocha above all else! 

What I love most about it is the texture.  It's this wonderful combination of squash-potato, sweet-potato, and chestnut!  It's usually got the texture and flavor of Japanese sweet potato as well, which I absolutely adore (I say "usually" because sometimes you get a drier-denser kabocha and other times, a "wetter", more squash-like, one).  It's sweet and altogether delectable and really satisfying.  Now that it's been in season, I constantly buy this green, knobbly and rough-looking squash to roast.  I can put away a lot in one sitting!  Now given my tendency towards routine, it's hard for me to break away from simply roasting-and-eating, but I managed to try something new - this soup!

There's no cream necessary in making this thick, smooth, and creamy kabocha soup. I started with sweet onions and flavored the soup with a generous amount of grated ginger as well as garlic for a little kick to balance the sweetness.  I add roasted kabocha, cooking everything together, before using the immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.

This is my husband's kind of way of enjoying kabocha and I also devoured my fair share of it.  It's so hearty and satisfying.  I do love to eat the skin of the kabocha though - amazingly, the rough and tough-looking skin is incredible soft and absolutely edible after cooking.  So while I'm not about to give up on my roast-and-eat routine, I'll be more than happy to make a batch of roasted kabocha soup once in a while.

Cauliflower tahini soup

At this point, I've settled into the swing of Fall.  It's already October! Things change so fast - we go from sizzling summer days to yellowing leaves seemingly overnight. There's such a huge difference between the whirlwind and buzz of summer and the quietness of Fall.  Each has its own merits and I'm actually happy to transition from one to the other, appreciating each in different ways.

A creamy but creamless cauliflower soup finished with tahini and garnished with toasted pine nuts

So I think it's time to settle down with soup again.  Soup is something I make and enjoy all through the year but when the weather drops, I really start to crave it and think about making it more regularly.  

Recently, I made a creamy but creamless cauliflower soup, that's finished with a spoonful of tahini.  It's a recipe I picked up from a book I read a while back, called Lunch in Paris (it's got a familiar theme of a woman's transition into a new life in Paris; there are many of these books and this was one of the more enjoyable ones I've read).  

It's really ever so simple to make, as soups often turn out to be, making you question why you ever pay unreasonable prices for it outside.  There are just four basic ingredients in this soup: cauliflower, onion, chicken stock, and a bit of tahini/sesame paste stirred in as a finishing touch to add some richness and that little something in the background.

The soup comes out practically snow white (I seasoned it with white pepper).  I topped mine with some toasted pine nuts but you could go with other options like chopped chives, a pinch of paprika, toasted garlic slices, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or maybe some cashews.  The soup may look at little bland and boring but I was scraping my bowl clean with this one.  

Sometimes, the basics are all you need for something delicious and comforting.  I love the sweetness from the onion, the background of chicken stock anchoring the flavor, and the texture and thickness from the cauliflower, which is cooked down and finally pureed into this velvety soup.  This is the time of year when I start pulling out my immersion blender and I'm very grateful to have this handy tool to make soups like this one!

Moroccan chickpea stew

I'm going savory again today with this Moroccan chickpea stew.  I think this is the kind of light-yet-hearty food that suits this seesaw weather we've been having.  I know we'll be able to ditch our boots and put away our winter coats permanently one day soon...but please, hurry!  

A few years ago, I would have definitely considered myself a serious meat-eater.  And now, while I'm no vegetarian, I'm fairly amazed by how much less meat I eat and how much more I appreciate and enjoy vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.  I find myself satisfied with a small portion of meat and savoring all the flavors of everything on my plate.  

This chickpea stew recipe is one that jumped out at me from the Cooking Light Healthy Habits Cookbook because I'm always looking for nutritious yet hearty dishes that are easy to put together. This one fits the bill!  And here again, I come to appreciate how important spices are to our cooking arsenal when it comes to healthy eating.  This chickpea stew gets flavor from cumin, chili powder, and turmeric.  Almost by reflex, I like to toss in some paprika and cayenne for extra heat.  This stew is light - with a tomato-base - but hearty at the same time thanks to some chunks of Yukon potatoes and the chickpeas.  

I think this qualifies as what Rachel Ray would call "stoup", a soup/stew hybrid.  It's not intended to have a lot of broth but you can certainly add more vegetable broth and turn it into more of a soup if you like.  You can serve it with brown rice (and some yogurt), as the recipe suggests, or go with another grain.  Couscous popped into my mind because of the Moroccan theme but I served it with farro.  Adding some grains really turns the stew into a full meal.  The farro is nice and chewy and soaks up the great broth.

Moroccan chickpea stew, with farro and sesame-spiced turkey meatballs

This stew is certainly a great meatless option but I happened to have some leftover turkey meatballs that I thought would go well with it (my husband certainly doesn't mind a little meat to go with all this other good stuff).  I had made sesame-spiced turkey meatballs from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (thanks, Marie!) the night before and I thought the flavor profiles of the two would go well together.  Molly (at Orangette) dubbed her lamb version "falafel-spiced meatballs" and that title is spot on in describing the flavor.  It paired very well with this stew.

So there's clearly a variety of ways to enjoy this...all on its own, with grains, or even a little extra protein with some meat.  This makes excellent leftovers.  I re-heat it with an extra splash of broth, and you could even add more to turn it into a soup for lunch the next day.  I love it because this is the kind of meal I enjoy eating any time of year.

Chickpea, black-eyed pea and parsley soup

I didn't expect to like this soup as much as I did.  It's very simple but it turned out so well - hearty yet light, a combination I strive for often in everyday eating.  This is the kind of food I like to wrap myself around during the frigid days and weeks we've been having.

I've always loved soup but whereas I used to make it at home occasionally, it's become almost a non-stop deal this season.  My husband's become more of a soup fan himself.  Typically, he's not into piping hot, burn-the-roof-of-your mouth, type food like I am but I think this frosty winter has turned him around to my side.  Because of all this, we've been digging into many bowls of homemade soup and I've been on the lookout for more ideas.  

This particular soup was inspired by Martha's chickpea with parsley and parmesan soup recipe.  I skipped the cheese and instead of using all chickpeas, I decided to mix it up with black-eyed peas. Over New Year's, I cooked black-eyed peas (somewhat succotash style with onions, corn, peppers, and avocado) and it reminded me of how much I like it so I decided to incorporate it here for a little diversity.  I also added some carrots (don't you always think carrots when you think soup?) for some extra flavor and a splash of color.  Finally, when I tasted the soup, I thought it needed a little extra brightness from a splash or two of lemon juice. I think the lemon brings the flavors forward and rounds the whole thing out.  

I made skillet cornbread (and pot roast) a few weeks ago and decided to defrost a slice to serve alongside this soup

My husband and I both agree that the parsley does a little something special here in this soup so don't skip it!  If you knew me as a child, you'd know how ironic it is for me to say that.  I used to hate parsley and generally dislike things with little specks of green on top.  Now, I can genuinely say I like parsley and it makes this soup.  Come to think of it...I once thought I disliked chickpeas, too. I disliked far too many things and I'm glad I've come a long way!

So if you're like me, craving soup all the time, and looking for another easy recipe to try, here's my contribute for today.  Stay warm!