FALL SOUPS

Fall Soups

          “When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock” starts the poem by James Whitcomb Riley and after more than a hundred years still describes this special time of the year. The New England fall colors have the lassitude of accomplishment on a sunny day, even if most of us are removed from the autumnal farm chores of gathering and storing crops and provisions for the winter to come.

          The crisp sunny days come with their own changes in our appetites with appreciation of a heartier warm fare. A warm and filling soup is one of those dishes that is welcome this time of the year and can serve as a meal for either lunch or supper.  In addition, a pot of soup once made, can be reheated or frozen for multiple meals thus saving the cook time in the kitchen.

          Fall soups can be creamy or chunky, but all tend to be heartier than our summer fare. Creamy squash, carrot or potato soups are a treat with our fall vegetables. Pumpkin is so abundant this time of the year that we tend focus on it’s uses for decorations and pumpkin pie, but it too can be made into a delicious soup. While canned pumpkin is widely available, baked pumpkin retains a better color for culinary uses. The smaller pie pumpkins are best for this. Simply wash the pumpkin, cut in half, remove the seeds and bake as you would squash in a pan cut side down at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Scoop out the flesh and mash it for pie or use chunks for making the soup. Baked pumpkin flesh will keep in the freezer for months for another use.

                             Curried Pumpkin-Leek Soup

          Cut 2 leeks (white and some green parts) in half lengthwise, rinse out any residual soil and cut in ½ inch slices. Cook leeks in a 6-quart pot on low heat in 2 tblsp. butter until softened for 3 minutes. Add 2 large chopped cloves of garlic, 1 ½ tblsp. grated fresh ginger, cook for 1 minute then stir in:1 tsp. ground coriander, 2 tsp. ground cumin,1/4 tsp. hot pepper flakes, 1 ½ tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom, 2-3 cups baked pumpkin flesh (or 3 ½ cups solid pack pumpkin), 6 cups water, 2 cups chicken broth and 1 (14 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk (not low fat). Bring to boil and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Allow soup to cool and purée in batches. Return soup to stove, heat and serve. Garnish with a chopped tart apple and toasted pumpkin seeds.

          Beans in various forms are a favorite New England cold weather food. A blustery afternoon in Maine and serendipitous ingredients in the kitchen were the source of this Portuguese black bean soup. If you plan ahead and soak the beans overnight, you can omit the first 2-minute cooking step for the beans.

                             Portuguese Black Bean Soup

          Rinse ¾ lb. dried black beans. In a 2 quart pot cover with cold water to 2 inches above the beans, bring to boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to sit for 1 hour. While beans are soaking chop: 1 stalk celery, 1 large onion, 1 carrot and 4 cloves of garlic. In a small piece of cheese cloth bag tie together: 1 bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns, 5 cloves and 2 sprigs each fresh oregano and thyme (or use 1 tsp. dried oregano and thyme). Drain the soaked beans and place them in a 6-quart pot together with: 1 smoked ham hock, the chopped vegetables, 2 tsp. salt 5 cups water, 8 oz. tomato sauce, the bag of herbs, bring to boil and lower the heat to low and cook for 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally and adding extra water as needed. Remove the herb packet and the ham hock. Trim lean pieces of lean meat from the hock and return to the soup pot. Stir in 8 oz. hot smoked chorizo cut in bite sized pieces and 2 tblsp. red wine vinegar. Cook for additional 20 minutes and serve garnished with large croutons and/or chopped parsley.

          All soups go well with crusty bread, but apple – cheddar muffins give the meal a special seasonal flavor.

                                      Apple – Cheddar Muffins

          Peel and chop 1 medium Granny Smith apple. In a small sauce pan sauté he apples with ½ cup chopped onion in 1 tblsp. butter with 1 tsp. sugar for 5 minutes.  In a  bowl combine: 1 ¾ cups flour, ¾ tsp. salt, 2 tblsp. baking powder, 1 tblsp. sugar, 1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, ¼ cup yellow cornmeal. Whisk together 2 eggs with 3 tblsp. melted butter and ¾ cups milk. Pour egg mixture in center of flour and mix well. Fold in onion and apple mix in batter and spoon in greased muffin pan, 2/3 full. Sprinkle with chopped pecans (optional) and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees.

          Po paraphrase Mr. Riley for our table: “When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here – ….. the air’s so appetizin’….” .                                                                          

           

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

TEASE YOUR TART TASTE BUDS

Tease Your Tart Taste Buds

Each time you sit down to a delicious meal or pick up a tasty snack your mouth goes to work overtime.  Your teeth may do the chewing, but thousands of cells in the onion shaped taste buds on your tongue do most of the work by eagerly extending their sensors to sort out each flavor that makes food one of the joys of life.

          Flavors have been broadly categorized as sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory or sometimes called meaty or umami. It has also been known for more than a century that humans differ in their individual sensitivity to bitter, such as the bitter flavor in cabbage or Brussels sprouts. The new field of scientific research has sprung from the Human Genome Project and has identified a multiplicity of genes responsible for producing the sensors (receptors) on your taste bud cells.  

Not only do we now know that there are several different sensors that detect the sweetness in a cookie, saltiness in a pickle, sourness of a lime, bitterness of beer and meatiness (umami) in your 4^th of July hamburger, but also how molecules from these foods react with these sensors to relay a further message to your brain. If you hated Brussels sprouts as a child and your sister or brother found them inoffensive, you apparently inherited a different combination of genes for that particular receptor to bitterness. The soapy flavor that some of us detest in cilantro is caused by a different gene variant that apparently is not too common, hence the popularity of cilantro.

Such technicalities aside, I’m searching for a variety of ways to challenge our taste buds with the approach of autumn.  The tomatillo, which is abundant this time of the year, has been one such discovery. The tomatillo originated in Mexico and looks like a small green tomato in a husk. It is tart in flavor and is a closer relative to the gooseberry than the tomato in the plant world. It’s tart flavor tempted me to pair it with pork in a stir fry and the results were delicious.

                   Tomatillo and Pork Stir Fry

Slice ¾  lb lean pork in ¼ inch slices and cut the slices roughly in 1 inch pieces. Toss the pieces to coat lightly in potato starch and set aside. Assemble the following cut vegetables: ½ sliced medium onion, 1 sliced celery stalk, 1 medium carrot in julienne strips, ½ seeded red pepper in 1inch pieces, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, 5 tomatillos cut in 6 wedges, ½ cup cauliflower florets (optional). In a large pan fry the pork on high heat in 1 tblsp. peanut oil with 1 tsp. sesame oil until barely seared from the outside and set aside. In the same pan cook the onions in 1 tblsp. olive oil for 2-3 minutes, stir in the celery and the garlic for 1 minute then add the rest of the vegetables, ½  tsp. salt, 1 tblsp. soy sauce, ¼ tsp. pepper, ½ tsp. oregano, 2 tblsp. lime juice and 1/3 cup chicken broth. Bring to boil, reduce the heat to medium and add back the pork. Cook for additional couple of minutes until the liquid is a bit reduced and serve hot over rice. (Serves 4).

Shrimp can be pleasantly paired with tart to Cajun type hot spices. This is my tasty low-calorie recipe for shrimp that can easily be served either over pasta or rice.

                   Shrimp-Feta Stir Fry

Peel, devein, rinse and drain 1 lb. medium or large shrimp. Assemble the following cut vegetables: ½ thinly sliced onion, 2 thin skinned frying peppers cut in ¼ inch strips and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Sautè the shrimp in 1 tsp. butter and 1 tsp. olive oil for 2 minutes on high heat with the garlic and remove from the pan. Add 1 tsp. olive oil to the pan and cook the onion and pepper for 2 minutes on medium heat, stir in  ¼ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. red pepper flake (optional), ¾ cup chardonnay, ½ tblsp. tomato paste. Cook to reduce volume by half, return the shrimp to the pan and cook for an additional minute. The stir in 2 oz. crumbled or cubed feta cheese, heat through and serve. (

Serves 4).

These crisp fall days sharpen our awareness of nature around us and the flavors on our plate. The crisp and the tart that combine so well in an apple, can work surprisingly well also in other foods. Somewhere I even have a French recipe for porkchops with sliced pickles!

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)