chickpea flour matzo ball soup

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Passover is right around the corner! Do you have your menu planned out yet?? It's ok, neither do I. Luckily i'll be spending my holiday with mum and stoopie this year, so I'll let them do the menu planning and then just appear when it's time to eat matzo balls and hide the afikoman (otherwise how will I know where to look when it's time to find the afikoman???).

I have to tell you about these matzo balls! They're from Lindsey's beeeeeautiful new book, Chickpea Flour Does It All, and they are made with--you guessed it--chickpea flour instead of matzo meal. So they're completely gluten-free and they are so gosh darn similar to the real thing. I gasped out loud when I tasted them the first time. They are a bit lighter and fluffier than the matzo balls of my youth (the kind I ate **ravenously** after even the most condensed of seders), but boy are they good. And they come together so easily with just a few ingredients. Lindsey plops them into veggie broth and serves them with roasted carrots (I've been dying to try Izy's carrots with black garlic) and I made these last week with a ginger lemongrass broth for a nice little mashup sitch. This weekend I might have to go the classic route with my favorite roasted vegetable stock. 

Anywho, check out Lindsey's book! It has her signature breath-taking photography that I love so very much and it proves, through cakes and pizza and matzo balls, that chickpea flour really is a renaissance man of an ingredient. It also came out with perfect timing since 2016 is the international year of pulses! p.s. have you signed the pulse pledge (aka a commitment to eat more pulses this year) yet?? If not, get to it! 

chickpea matzo ball soup

from lindsey love's chickpea flour does it all

makes 18 matzo balls

ingredients

1½ c (180 g) chickpea flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 large eggs
3 tb extra virgin olive oil
6 c (1,440 ml) vegetable broth
2 tb chopped dill

clues

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper, to taste. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil until just combined. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg mix. Fold together with a rubber spatula until thoroughly incorporated; the batter will be very thick and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Fill a large lidded pot three-quarters full with water and bring to a simmer. Place the broth in another large pot and bring to a simmer, cover, and turn the heat to low.

While the water is heating, remove the matzo ball batter from the refrigerator; take about 2 teaspoons’ worth of batter (roughly 20 to 22 grams) and, with wet hands, roll the dough between your palms to make balls. Bring the simmering water to a boil. Gently drop half the matzo balls into the water; when the balls rise to the surface, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 20 to 22 minutes, until the matzo balls are cooked through and the centers are light. If the center is hard and dark, cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the center is cooked and light. Transfer to the warmed broth, and repeat with the remaining matzo balls.

Bring the vegetable broth and matzo balls to a simmer. Serve one to two matzo balls per serving; garnish with dill.

-yeh!

Thank you so much to USA Pulses and Pulse Canada for sponsoring this post! 

rosemary farro with roasted grapes, shallots, and almonds

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i was a smelly homebody this weekend! i wrote and procrastinated and then wrote and procrastinated some more, and then at night we emerged to go eat salads at our brand spankin new awesome town brewery because we are hip millennials and our brewery is so cool. (now that we have a brewery, what else do we need in order for you to come visit us? a fried chicken place? a cookbook store? i'll work on it.)

i have some personal news and that's that i don't think i'm a future village champion curler of america. or maybe i'm just judging it too quickly? but ok, imagine this: because i was a former mathlete and know a thing or two about angles and curves, i was elected to be the skip, which is the position that stands down at the far end of the ice to give aiming directions while everyone else (i.e. all of your friends who you signed up with) waits to throw the stone (i.e. hangs out and laughs and forms inside jokes and strengthens their friend bonds). so there i was, spending my three units of social time for the week trying to make small talk about the fabled beer vending machine that's hidden deep in the back room of the curling barn with a total stranger and failing miserably and watching my friends at a very long distance laughing and having the best time ever. so i quit.

conveniently, the class session ended that day so i didn't need to be dramatic about quitting mid-season and letting my team down, not that i was of any real value anyway, but i'm glad i tried! it was a really fascinating learning experience and maybe i'll take it back up again once i find a teammate who is socially confident enough to not get fomo while watching a bunch of people whom they can't interact with have fun. could i put out a craigslist ad for a skip? female, 26, seeks platonic friendship with introverted calculus whiz who can lunge well. 

errmm...for now i think i'll devote all my free time to master of none. what a great show! 

i wanted to make you a grape salad as a nostalgic nod to #grapegate for thanksgiving. but i came up with this farro salad with roasted grapes, because 1) ohmygahh grapes deserve better than to be dressed in an outfit of sour cream, and 2) i'm going through a farro stage. it's such a fancy yet hearty grain! i've been using it lately where i would normally use israeli couscous or rice. (my first foray into farrotto happened over the weekend and it was a success.) this salad is great warm or at room temperature, and the rosemary, toasted almonds, and roasted grapes lend some wonderful fall flavors. i've been putting some fresh mozzarella in mine, but if you're looking for a vegan dish for your thanksgiving table, this will totally hold up without the cheese. and speaking of vegan thanksgivings, um, i think i'm gonna make a squashducken...????

rosemary farro with roasted grapes, shallots, and almonds

serves 4-6

ingredients

1 pound grapes from california

1/4 c olive oil, divided

kosher salt and black pepper

1 c farro, rinsed and drained

1 sprig rosemary

1 large shallot or 2 small ones, finely chopped

1 1/2 tb white wine vinegar

1/2 c toasted almonds, roughly chopped

4 oz fresh mozzarella pearls, optional

 

 

clues

preheat the oven to 425ºf. line a baking sheet with parchment and spread out the grapes (remove them from their stems). drizzle them with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes.

in a large pot, cover the farro with water, add the rosemary sprig and a good pinch of salt, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer for 30 minutes, until tender. drain it and place it in a large bowl. (discard the rosemary sprig.)

while the farro is simmering, place the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a small pot with the shallot and simmer it over medium heat. remove it from the heat once the farro is done cooking and stir in the vinegar. 

add the grapes, almonds, and mozzarella (if using) to the bowl with the farro and drizzle it with the shallot mixture. toss to combine. salt and pepper to taste. serve warm or at room temperature. enjoy!

-yeh!

this post is sponsored by grapes from california. all opinions are my own!

cauliflower, two ways: cauliflower swiss soup + cold curried cauliflower

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we are in the midst of sugar beet pre-haul right now!

eggboy and his crew are working on opening up the sugar beet fields and doing little harvest test runs to make sure that all of the equipment is running smoothly before sugar beet harvest officially starts on october first. this is a super important step because sugar beet harvest is the mother of all harvests: it's so intense, it goes for 24 hours a day, and it can be really unpredictable. last year's harvest was a dream because the weather was perfect, but who knows what this harvest is going to bring. luckily, i've still got a month to prepare myself mentally for the long eggboy-less hours. (and you've still got a month to plan your trip to visit me and keep me company!)

of course, even during pre-haul, eggboy needs a lunch! this week, cauliflower is on the menu. sometimes i question cauliflower and need to google it to make sure that it's actually healthy because aren't healthy foods supposed to be really colorful?? whatever, the internet says it's healthy so i'm gonna go with it. i am slowly but surely expanding my arsenal of cauliflower recipes, which until recently has just included dan barber's cauliflower steak and smitten kitchen's cauliflower fritters, but this summer i got some inspiration in california via an alarmingly good curried cauliflower salad at lemonade. so this cold curried cauliflower recipe is totally based on that. it's sweet and nutty and curry-y and great. and then this soup represents my excitement about soup season being around the corner. it's pretty simple to make and packs creaminess and flavor thanks to the addition of swiss cheese and paprika. so go get thee some heads of cauliflower! 

cauliflower swiss soup

makes 4-6 servings

ingredients

2 tb unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

kosher salt and black pepper

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 tb sweet paprika

5 cups chicken broth

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1 c shredded swiss cheese

Hot sauce, to taste

clues

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, a good pinch of salt, and a few turns of black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and paprika and cook, stirring, for 1-2 more minutes. Add the broth and cauliflower and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Add the swiss and then use an immersion blender or food processor to blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Serve with additional swiss and a few shakes of hot sauce.

enjoy!

cold curried cauliflower

makes 4-6 servings

ingredients

1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets

2 tb olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

 curry vinaigrette (ingredients below)

1/2 c golden raisins

1/2 c toasted almonds, roughly chopped

 

curry vinaigrette:

1/2 c canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tb curry powder

1 tb dijon

1 tb honey

1 tb apple cider vinegar

1 tb lemon juice

kosher salt and black pepper

clues

Preheat oven to 400. Toss the cauliflower in the olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast for 20-30 minutes, until brown and tender.

to make the vinaigrette, first make a curry oil: coat the bottom of a pan with about a tablespoon of the canola oil and then cook the onion over medium high heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1-2 more minutes. Pour in the remaining oil and let it sizzle over medium heat for 1 minute. remove it from heat, let it cool, strain out the onion and allow the curry to sink to the bottom.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the dijon, honey, vinegar, lemon juice, and a good pinch of salt and pepper, and then pour in the oil (carefully as to not disturb the curry at the bottom). Whisk together the vinaigrette. add the roasted cauliflower, raisins, and almonds, and toss to coat. Chill until serving.

enjoy!

-yeh!

i'll be packing up eggboy's cauliflower lunch in genuine thermos brand®'s new dual compartment food jar, which has two separate compartments, one for your soup and one for your curried cauliflower. it is super sturdy, holds enough for a filling meal, and is perfect for the tractor. for more info on this great new thing, check out genuine thermos brand®'s site.

thanks so much for providing compensation and products for this post, genuine thermos brand®!

 

 

bloody mary popsicles

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what a silly week it's been. 

every other hour, eggboy comes in dripping with sweat from building the chicken coop, saying it's gonna rain! it's gonna rain! and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it *really* does and even sets off the tornado alarms. i love a good rain storm but without any buildings around to break the wind or supply camaraderie/beer in the chance that the storms get really awful, it can be quite scary. luckily we have a basement with a comfy couch and i have my stack of cookbooks to keep me company. during the last tornado warning i read the bread exchange's book. do you know about that project? it is very cool.

we got one inch of rain last night in the time it took me to make pesto cucumber noodles and when the sun came out, our internet was nowhere to be seen! he must have gotten sick of me price hunting for the same nike shoes over and over and just left.

so i spent a good amount of time without the internet, getting things done like cleaning and writing and reading the directions on my new silicone mini loaf pan. oh and watching dvds! i'm back to working my way through harry potter and this morning i watched legally blonde while i was on the treadmill. i'm pretty sure i know every line by heart, is this low-viscosity rayon with a half-loop top stitching on the hem?

*classic*

another silly thing about this week, speaking of fabulous fashion-forward colorful divas, is that it's billy's popsicle week!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 

yay! 

this year i have gone the ~savory~ route with a frozen bloody mary that is practically healthy, extra spicy, and gives you just the right amount of buzz to take the edge off of a tornado warning but not so much that you're too wasted to do anything productive when the rain stops. (if you're looking for the latter, don't try adding more vodka or else they won't freeze. just, like, have a few more or chase it with a shot or something.)

bloody mary popsicles

makes 7 3-oz pops

ingredients

2 c tomato juice
1/2 c vodka
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp harissa powder
3/4 tsp worcestershire sauce
a squeeze of lime juice
a few turns of black pepper

clues

Whisk all ingredients together, pour into popsicle molds or 3-oz Dixie cups, freeze for 20 minutes. Insert popsicle sticks and freeze for two more hours. Serve with celery stalks (and/or an extra vodka shot) and enjoy! 

happy popsicle week, friends! be sure to check out all of the other popsicle week popsicles!

-yeh!