Recipe: Chilled Zucchini and Basil Soup

The summertime is the perfect time, if not the only time, for chilled soups. Sure, you don’t get the same heart-warming, snuggling-by-the-fireplace vibes that you do drinking a hot soup in the dead of winter. But a chilled soup is still delicious as f***.

But don't just stop at gazpacho. How about cucumber? Or this zucchini and basil soup. It's the perfect mid-summer harvest soup. Super simple, but tons of flavour. Serve it with a side of garlic cheese bread, and it's your new favourite summertime meal.

The recipe is adapted it from Emeril’s website, and will make about 4 to 6 meal-sized servings. Ideally you would make it a day in advance to let the flavours develop. Enjoy!


Chilled Zucchini and Basil Soup
Season: Mid-summer, autumn

Ingredients:

1 onion --- roughly diced
4 cloves of garlic --- minced
6 zucchinis --- roughly diced
4 cups vegetable broth
A generous handful of fresh basil --- chopped
2 tbsp butter (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a pot on medium-high heat, sauté onion with some oil (or butter if using) for 2 minutes. Add garlic, and sauté until onion turns transparent. Add zucchini, and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add broth, boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend with hand immersion blender, or in traditional blender in batches. Cool, cover and chill. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Kale Chips

The kale was growing really well, but in the past few weeks its taken on a load of diseases and pests: unknown fungus (causing the leaves to yellow), leaf miners (causing white spots and tunnels), aphids, and now the new leaves are growing in stunted and deformed. Poor suffering plants. So I chopped it all down and will plant something in its place. Arugula, peas and gai lan (Chinese broccoli) are the top contenders, due to their quick growing and cold tolerant nature.

Now I have a serious amount of kale to consume. I can’t give them away; some of the leaves are diseased and deformed. Enter kale chips.

A friend at work turned me onto this recipe. I made a batch from 2 big handfuls of kale, and the resulting chips just disappeared into my mouth. You can also make the chips in a dehydrator, if you like raw food. You can substitute for other green leaves, like chard or spinach. I love recipes that are versatile like that.

Kale Chips
Season: Late spring, summer, autumn

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale
Vegetable oil --- e.g. olive, or locally sourced oil
A sprinkle of salt
Seasonings (optional) --- e.g. cayenne, curry powder

Directions:

Wash, dry and cut off the thick stems from the kale. If desired, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces.

Brush leaves with oil. If you don’t have a brush, oiled fingers also does the trick. Lay on a flat cookie sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle salt and seasonings if desired. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes, until leaves are crisp and slightly browned. Cool.

Canning Party Potato Salad

Yessiree, nothing says summer like potato salad. Aside from potatoes, you can really put anything you want in it, depending on how you feel and what you have.

This is the recipe for the potato salad I made during the canning party, using almost all things bought fresh at the market that morning; the potatoes were dug up a few hours earlier. Measurements are approximate; I like to taste as I go.

Simple Potato Salad
Season: Mid summer

Ingredients:

2 lbs new potatoes --- a mix of red and white, even a yam if you're feeling it
4 onion top sprigs --- the green part, sliced thinly
A few fronds of dill --- chopped
4 tbsp vegan / regular mayonnaise
1 tbsp mustard
1 generous pinch of cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional add-ins:
1/2 diced sweet pepper (e.g. green, or red/orange for colour)
Handful of sprouts (e.g. daikon)
Corn kernels

etc.

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the whole potatoes, and boil until tender but not too soft. Drain water and cool potatoes in a cold water bath. Chop into chunks; I like skin-on. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard and cayenne. Add in with the potatoes, and toss in the onions and dill, and any other add-ins. Scoop out a portion into a bowl, pour a glass of wine, sit outside, and enjoy the summer.

How-To: Sprout in a Jar

Guess who's bizzzack---??? I've been busy moving, and vacationing, and unwinding from all the moving and vacationing, that I've been ignoring my lil' P-a-J for too long.

Let's talk about GROWING FOOD already. For a blog about local food, it's about frickin' time.

Jar sprouting: me love. With some common kitchen equipment, a tiny bit of apartment space and a little time, you too can help sprouts emerge from their hard shells and enter the real world. Not only is it fascinating to watch, but sprouting seeds improves its digestability and nutritional value. So go ahead and eat your cute little sprout babies.

You can sprout many dry beans or seeds from your local bulk store (e.g. chickpeas, wheat berries, quinoa), but the yields likely won't be as high as if you used seeds specifically sold for sprouting. I usually buy Mumm's brand, since this seems to be the only brand available in Toronto. You can buy a variety of Mumm's seeds at many shops, including Toronto Sprouts, The Big Carrot and Essence Of Life.

Before you start, check to make sure the seeds can be sprouted by the jar method.

Tools:

Wide-mouthed glass jar (I usually use a 1L mason jar)
2 tbsp sprouting seeds (my favourite: daikon radish seeds... spicy like wasabi! And they grow little white root hairs that look creepy and neat)
J-cloth or cheesecloth - cut to fit over the top of the glass jar opening
Elastic band
Medium-sized bowl

Directions:

Add 2 tbsp seeds into the jar. Secure cloth onto top of jar with elastic. Rinse seeds by adding water to jar (through the cloth), and draining water. Fill jar again to cover the seeds. Let seeds soak for 2-6 hrs. Drain water, invert jar, and prop on an angle in the bowl. Twice a day, say, when you wake up and before you go to sleep, add some water to the jar, swirl, drain, invert and prop. In 3-6 days, you'll have a jar full of sprouties ripe for the eatin'.


Home-Style Potatoes with Daikon Radish Sprouts
Season: Autumn or winter

I adapted this from The Veganomicon cookbook's "Diner Home Fries" recipe. You can change it up a bunch of ways.... add/sub chopped peppers, turmeric, cumin seeds, chili peppers. Serves 2 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes --- sliced into 1/2" thick pieces
1/4 onion --- chopped
a handful of fresh daikon radish sprouts
oil for frying
salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil. Add potatoes, and cook on medium heat until firm but can be pierced with a fork (10-15 mins). Drain.

Heat oil in a skillet on med-high heat. Add potatoes, arranging in a single layer in the skillet. Cook until nicely browned (7-10 mins), and stir to brown the other sides, adding oil if needed. Add onions, stir and cook for 3 mins. Add sprouts and cook 2 mins until onions are transparent. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Urban Foraging

One brisk autumn evening, I was downtown with 2 friends, walking home after dinner and a couple of drinks, when a spontaneous foraging moment reared its head.

Me: "Hey --- look over there, by that office building.... it's KALE!"
Friend #1: "That green plant? Are you sure???"
Me: "Helllll yeah I'm sure. It's definitely kale."
Friend #1: "Ok, be cool". Looks left and right, waits for other pedestrians to walk past.
Friend #1: *pick pick pick pick.....*
Me: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? Are you crazy??!?!"
Friend #1: "Hey, it's just going to go to waste anyway. This office building is just using it for decoration."
Friend #2: "......."

Well, Friend #1 was right. We walked by the same spot a couple of weeks later, and the remaining unharvested kale plants were wilted and dried up, ready to accept their wintery death.

Urban foraging ---- ethical or not? Discuss amongst yourselves. I'm not letting this kale go to waste. So here's a make-shift recipe if you ever find yourself with questionable kale in-hand.


Stir-Fried Kale
Season: Summer to autumn

Ingredients:

Leaves of 1 kale plant
2 cloves garlic --- minced
soy sauce
oil for frying

Directions:

Rinse the heck outta that kale. Not knowing how the kale was grown (... pesticides? fertilizers?), or what it absorbed from its surroundings (... car exhaust? doggie poo?), each wash will ease your mind a little more. Roughly chop leaves and blanch in a large pot of boiling water (30 sec). Heat a frypan or wok on high, add a little oil and garlic. Add kale leaves, and stir fry for about 2-3 mins. Add soy sauce to taste.

Recipe: Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillos! Fun to say and pumps up your food know-how. This recipe was adapted slightly from Epicurious.com.


Tomatillo Salsa
Season: Autumn

Ingredients:

1 lb tomatillos --- husked, rinsed, and quartered
1 fresh hot chili pepper --- seeded and chopped
1/2 large white onion --- cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves --- roughly chopped
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
salt

Directions:

Coarsely purée tomatillos, chili pepper, onion, garlic and water in a blender. Transfer to a large heavy skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature, then stir in cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste.

Recipe: Leek and Roasted Squash Soup

This is one of my favourite soup recipes, because it's so easy to make and understands if you have don't have enough (or too much) leeks or squash sometimes.


Leek and Roasted Squash Soup
Season: Late summer to autumn.
Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

2 leeks --- washed well and sliced thinly (green and white parts)
1 medium butternut squash --- skin and seeds* removed, cut into 3/4" cubes
oil --- e.g. local canola or soybean oil, or olive oil
salt and pepper
1" piece fresh ginger (optional) --- finely minced
3 cups vegetable stock (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss cubed squash with oil in a bowl to coat. Sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper. Place squash on baking sheet in a single layer. Roast for 30 mins, or until cubes are soft and have caramelized slightly.

In a heavy-bottomed, large stockpot, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add leeks, stirring occasionally, until leeks are cooked (about 3-5 mins). If desired, add ginger and stir. Add vegetable stock or water, and roasted squash. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 20 mins. For a chunkier soup, mash squash in soup with a whisk. For a smoother soup, blend in batches. Add salt and pepper as desired.

*Note: squash seeds can be saved and roasted for a delicious snack, or even to sprinkle on top of the squash soup.

Photo: Leek and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (made very thick and chunky, the way me likey), with Veggie Pizza slice and Red Cabbage and Carrot slaw. The slaw dressing comes from The Veganomicon, and the pizza is my own creation. Send me a msg if you're interested in the recipes.

Recipe: Toasted Squash Seeds

A crunchy snack that's easy to make and addictive to eat. The whole seed (including hull) can be eaten. Spices, such as curry powder or cayenne, can be added for a kick.


Toasted Squash Seeds
Season: Late summer to autumn.

Ingredients:

Squash seeds - pumpkin, butternut, acorn --- pulp removed, rinsed and patted dry (or air dried)
oil --- e.g. local canola or soybean oil, or olive oil
fine sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300F. Toss seeds with a little oil, just enough to coat. Sprinkle salt and toss. Spread seeds onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Toast for 8-15 minutes, until slightly browned. Be sure to watch the seeds every so often to ensure they don't burn.