easy-does-it vegetable soup

So here I am with another soup recipe for the winter months. Have you discerned a theme yet? I do eat other foods, really. It's just that soups are extra convenient because they're easy to prepare in large quantities and they keep well. Also, they are, as my Parisian friend would say, sheep ("cheap").

Ingredients

2/3 c dry pasta (small pasta, such as letters of the alphabet, wheels, or shells) and water for cooking
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 c chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp pesto (recipe to follow)
1 c chopped carrots
1 c chopped spinach (buy it chopped)
1 c chopped okra
1 c haricots verts, cut into 1" pieces
1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 to 2 c vegetable broth*
1 to 2 c water (depending on the consistency you want and how salty the broth is)*
Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of dried rosemary
1 bay leaf

Instructions

Cook pasta as you normally would, but remove from heat just before it reaches al dente (if you are using small pasta, this will be about 7 minutes). Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, heat oil and add onion and garlic. Very lightly sautee, adding pesto after about a minute. Stir and sautee for about another minute. Be careful not to sautee all the flavor out of the onion and garlic! Stir in carrots, zucchini, haricots verts, and spinach. Quickly add tomato sauce and broth, continuing to stir. Add water to taste,* and stir in oregano, rosemary, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta, cover, and reduce heat. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Add beans and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

*I don't think I ever use the same proportions twice when it comes to vegetable broth and water. I usually just taste whatever I'm making and observe the consistency of it to determine how much of what to add. Some broths are really salty, whereas others are too heavy on the carrots or celery. In fact, I didn't use celery in this recipe because I assumed that the broth would have enough celery in it. In short, I am not trying to be evasive here; I just want to account for differences in taste (no pun intended)!

salmon stew

Here is a simple stew recipe that makes great use of sofrito. I used salmon, which is a little atypical. You can use chicken (either dark or white meat), beef, ox tails, or another kind of meat. To achieve a thicker, more starchy texture you can add yuca or potatoes.

Ingredients

3 medium salmon fillets (about ¾ to 1 lb) cut into ¾ inch cubes
3 to 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, depending on how much sofrito you use (Spanish works well with the recipe, but Italian, Greek, or Turkish is always nice)
2 to 3 tbsp sofrito
¼ c chopped onion
¼ cup green bell pepper, sliced
1 ají (small, sweet pepper), sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
10 manzanilla olives with pimentos (sliced)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce (if you use the “no salt added” kind, you will probably want to add salt to taste)
1 ½ cans cold water (just use the tomato sauce can to measure the water)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
Additional water to boil salmon
Lemon

Instructions

Squeeze about ½ tsp lemon juice into a large saucepan of water, stir, add salmon, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer until salmon is cooked almost thoroughly. Remove salmon (preferably with tongs or a slotted spoon to avoid dragging water and excess fat along with it) and discard water.

Heat olive oil in a large pot (such as a Dutch oven). Add sofrito and stir lightly for about 30 seconds. Add ají, bell pepper, and onion. Stir. Add garlic about a minute later and stir. Cover and let cook for one minute. Add olives, tomato sauce, water, oregano, and bay leaf. Stir. Add salmon and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with rice, beans, and tostones, maduros, and/or yuca.

Oh, I finally made a decent batch of rice. Normally my rice comes out sticky, but this time the grains remained separated and well-defined. After washing the rice, I added a bit of olive oil to it and gave it a good stir to coat all the grains. I suspect that this helped me to achieve a better texture. I added a garlic clove for flavor.

ponle sofrito, mamá

I'm a bit behind because I took the word "holidays" literally, but here I am, keeping my promise. Below is the sofrito recipe I came up with after tinkering with several different ones. Sofrito is commonly used in traditional Puerto Rican recipes for sopas, sancochos, asopaos, and beans. It is what gives these dishes their distinct, "bright" flavor. It also makes this flavor easy to achieve. Preparation of sofrito might take a long time, but once you start cooking with this base, you will find it very easy to create full-bodied soups and stews. I will post a recipe for the stew I made tonight soon.

Be aware that one key sofrito ingredient, recao or recaito (or culantro), can be hard to find in many parts of the U.S., so if you intend to use it, you might need to scour your local Latin American food shops or order it online ahead of time. Alternatively, you can try increasing the amount of cilantro you use. And remember: do not expect sofrito to look or taste good on its own! As mentioned above, it is merely a foundation for other recipes. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 large green bell peppers
2 large red bell peppers
1 1/2 to 2 heads of garlic
3 large onions
1 ½ to 2 bunches of cilantro
2 oz extra virgin olive oil
5 ajíes dulces (small, sweet cooking peppers)
30 leaves recao (or sub 1 tsp ground coriander or extra cilantro)

Preparation:

Chop ingredients to ease use of food processor. Puree all ingredients together in a food processor. Store mixture in refrigerator overnight to let flavors mix. Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Use 1 or 2 cubes in soups, asopaos, and beans.

N.B. You can set aside a small amount of sofrito at a time to keep in the refrigerator if you plan to use it all within a few weeks (rather than using the mixture straight from the freezer). I find that this enhances the flavor.

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish you all the best for 2008. I hope we all have a prosperous year among good company and good food!

I have a sofrito recipe coming, but I need to upload and sort my photos for it. In the meantime, check out this New York Times article on an ingredient that is often taken for granted, heat. Enjoy!