Spicy Cauliflower Rosemary Soup with toasted Cashews

Here is a quick, simple, belly warming soup for a busy day.  The unusual combination of rosemary and Cayenne pepper in this soup raised the flavor profile to another level and are just enough to enliven the natural nutty mildness of cauliflower without overwhelming your taste buds.  Sprinkle a few toasted cashew nuts on top to contrast with the smoothness of the soup, serve with some high-quality, whole grain bread, and you’ll have yourself a nice starter soup or a satisfying light main course.

Cayenne-Cumin-Ricotta Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes with Avocado Relish with a poached egg

The American Thanksgiving Day is fast-approaching.  On Thursday this week, friends and family from around the country will be sitting together around tables large and small to share stories, and memories and laughter and good food.  They’ll talk about how their lives are now.  If there are kids at the feast, the adults will shake their heads in pride and wonder, thinking about how quickly time has gone and how, not long ago, it was them gathering around with their young cousins, waiting impatiently for their moms to say that it was time to eat!  It was them shuffling and bumping and nudging and teasing, plate in hand, waiting for it to be loaded with all the good things to eat.  Perhaps they’ll fill themselves full with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green bean salad and fresh dinner rolls: the things that filled our Thanksgiving table when I was a child.  Perhaps it’ll be a different feast: a vegetarian one, or a feast filled with flavors from around the world.  Whatever it is that fills their bellies; their hearts will be filled with what they are always full of on a day when loved ones gather around a food-laden table: the joy of being together.

When I was very young, we had three families gathered together at one house or the other, always taking turns.  We cousins loved it:  we’d egg each other on to eat a little more turkey and a little more mashed potatoes and gravy; a bit of Auntie Carol’s Pineapple-Mandarin Jello salad; a few more of Melissa’s dinner rolls; Auntie Mary’s white corn; and Mom’s roasted turkey, avoiding the jar of pimiento-stuffed green olives with wrinkled noses.  And then, we we couldn’t fit in another thing, we’d all run out of the house in a big rush to play basketball as the adults stayed in the temporary quiet of the house, catching up on life and eating whatever was left.

A few hours later, dessert would be laid out:  pie after pie after pie.  I somehow don’t remember cake. Maybe there was cake, maybe there wasn’t, but pie was definitely well-represented.  Pumpkin pie, strawberry cream pie, raspberry pie, apple pie, coconut cream pie, chocolate cream pie, banana cream pie, sometimes lemon meringue.  And we’d eat again, until our bellies were full to bursting, and the rush out the door again into the dusky light to play a game of one o’ clock, two o’clock, three o’clock rock, roaring with laughter, until our parents opened the door and shouted to us in the darkness that it was time to go home.  We say our goodbyes and thank you’s and see-you-soons, and then fall sleep on the long, warm ride home, secure in our places in the world.

Years have gone by.  Those cousins and siblings are scattered around the globe, though perhaps none so far as me, yet. They will gather together in their places, giving thanks in their own way for a good life, friends and family all around.

As for food memories – there are many – some foods that I loved then I get far less excited about now, while others I kept as far away from as possible now hold a firm place on our menu. Roasted sweet potatoes or yams were always on our Thanksgiving table, but as a kid, I wouldn’t touch them.  Nowadays, a roasted sweet potato is a welcomed sight on my plate, generally as a main course, as hopefully this dish will be on yours.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, every one, wherever you are.

Cayenne-Cumin-Ricotta Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes with Avocado Relish and a poached egg

Cayenne-Cumin-Ricotta Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes with Avocado Relish

1 large sweet potato
1/4 cup ricotta
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper

1 ripe avocado, diced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 yellow onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 200°C/ 400°F.

Oil the skin of the sweet potato lightly and prick it in several places with a fork.  Place it on a pan in the hot oven and bake until you can poke a knife into it easily, 35-45 minutes.  Remove the potato from the oven and let it cool until it’s easy to handle.  You can do this the day or hours before.

Slice the baked sweet potato completely in half lengthwise.  Making sure to keep the skin intact, scoop out the sweet potato flesh and put it into a small bowl.  Using a fork, smash the sweet potato until it forms a smooth mass.  Add the ricotta, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.  Stir the mixture together until it is well-mixed.  Divide the sweet potato mixture between the two sweet potato skin halves and fluff the tops lightly with a fork.  Return the sweet potatoes to the hot oven and bake for 10 minutes.

While the potatoes cook the second time, make the avocado relish.  Combine the diced avocado, lemon juice, onion and salt in a bowl.  Mix well and let the mixture sit while the potato cooks.

Remove the potatoes from the oven.  Put one half on each plate and spoon avocado relish over the top. If you wish, serve with a poached or fried egg.

Serves 2.

Pumpkin and Roasted Red Pepper Puree over Black Rice Noodles

I sometimes get asked how I come up with recipes.  The truth is there is no real formula.  Sometimes it’s something that has been spinning around in my head for a while, sometimes I am inspired by something I’ve eaten somewhere and sometimes it starts with a single ingredient that I want to play with.

In the case of this recipe, it started with wanting to do something different with pumpkin.  We have a fair amount of frozen pumpkin puree in our freezer right now – which is a really good situation to be in.  There is always a good use for pumpkin. I’ve been wanting to put some new flavor notes into pumpkin – not  just the pumpkin pie side of things with warm spices like cinnamon and clove; nor was I in the mood to add sage or lovely, creamy coconut milk, although both are very good and I have used them with pumpkins many times in the past.

I wanted a change.  And I wanted pasta.

So that’s where it began.  I pulled out the pumpkin.  Decided a lot of good savory stuff starts with onion, carrot, garlic; simmer in oil.  So I did that.  Added the pumpkin.  Boring.  Very boring.  Let it simmer some more while I dug in the cupboard searching for noodles and inspiration.  Spaghetti?  No.  Whole wheat linguine? No.  100% Buckwheat soba? Mayb…and then my eyes settled on the Black Rice Noodles nestling just below the spaghetti near the bottom of the basket in which I keep my various varieties of pasta and things started rolling.

Preserved Roasted Red Pepper that I’d made following Hank Shaw’s recipe went into the pot. Together with a whisper of cayenne pepper the peppers completely transformed the dish from boring-tastes-a-bit-like-onion waste of culinary time to a sensory experience where the deep roasted flavor that comes from ripe sweet red peppers that have been blackened under the broiler, peeled, salted and soaked in vinegar and oil to preserve melded with the smooth sweetness of the pumpkin in a palate-pleasing balance.  There was just enough salt to enhance the flavor with out tasting salty.  The parmesan adds finishing touch together with a sprinkling of chives for charm.

You’ll likely dig into the beautiful mass on the plate before you with a mild hesitation, wondering what is exactly that you’re in for.  After the first bite, you’ll start shoveling in sauce-covered noodles, unable to get enough of that glorious flavor.  All too soon, you’ll realize with some sadness that the last bite is getting nearer, the plate nearly empty, and you’ve just had one of the most tasty, surprising meals in a long, long time.

This meal is far from complicated, quick to make, and is a joy to behold. If you don’t have your own roasted red peppers, buy a bottle from your local grocer and get rolling with this.  This is going into Winter rotation.  Oh – and those noodles?  An extra bonus if you or your guest has a grain or gluten allergy:  they are wheat-free and gluten-free.

Seriously. Black Rice Noodles. You need to try these.

Pumpkin & Roasted Red Pepper Puree w/ Black Rice Noodles

2 tablespoons rapeseed (or other cooking) oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup roasted red pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt + more to taste
parmesan to grate over at the table
125g black rice noodles (1/2 bag)

Get your water on to boil for the noodles.  Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat, put on a lid, and wait until just before you are ready to serve to boil the noodles.  They only take 5 minutes.

In a small pot, add the oil; let it heat up; add the onion and carrot.  Cook until the onion is soft and translucent; about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic clove and cook an additional minute.  Add the pumpkin purer, red pepper, cayenne, black pepper and salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors heat up and combine.  Remove from heat, and using and immersion blender, puree the mixture until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the hot mixture to a heat-proof blender container and process until smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed (don’t oversalt – you don’t want to mask the other flavors).  This will be a nice, thick, puree – this is what you want, so don’t be tempted to thin it out with water. Cover.

Bring your pasta water back to a boil.  Add 1 teaspoon of salt, then the pasta.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Drain.  Divide the pasta between two deep bowls.  Top with the Pumpkin and Roasted Red Pepper Puree. Grate fresh parmesan cheese over the top of each dish and sprinkle with some fresh, chopped chives for garnish.  Serve immediately, with extra parmesan at the table for grating.

Serves 2.  Doubles easily.