During the winter, we eat soup for the sheer fact that it warms us up. While I make soup for the same reason, I also do it for nostalgia. I crave the nourishing soups and stews my mother was famous for. While she would cook many different types of soups, she always made the most variations of blended soup. I fondly remember coming home a friend’s house on the weekends and smelling the varied aromas wafting through the kitchen. This is because my mother cooks her soups at a low temperature for a long time in the oven to really conjure the distinct flavors of all the vegetables, meat, herbs and spices.
Photo by Briana Balducci
To this day, I’ve never come across soup that is more flavorful than hers. It’s probably because most people can’t take the time to wait for it to be ready! Or, they’re not comfortable leaving their oven unattended for many hours at a time. But even if time isn’t on your side, it’s not a reason to skip out on soup. Soup is one of the best things you can make to help ensure that half of what you eat at every meal is vegetables. Soup can sometimes be on the lighter side, but it becomes a complete meal when you add a nutrient dense protein to accompany it. Perfect protein additions include chicken, beans, a soft (or hard!) boiled egg and yogurt.
Everyone direct your attention to the nearest produce section, brimming with veggies in every odd shape and color of the rainbow. It’s time to familiarize yourself with the scraggily, weird looking veggies, pulled straight from the ground that have settled on produce shelves for the winter. They include such favorites as carrots, celery, parsnips, radish, turnips, beets, potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic and rutabaga… well maybe not that last one but it’s just so fun to say! Besides rutabaga these are some of the most common things we find in the crisper drawer, probably because they last much longer than your fruits or your greens. They’re something we’re confident using two weeks in a row, which makes our job all the more experimental and exciting.
There’s almost nothing I find more comforting than biting into a warm roasted carrot, which is why, when I surveyed my supermarket this weekend, just as the temperature finally dropped below 60, I ended up with mostly carrots in my handcart. I love the way they’re equally delicious raw as they are cooked and how they add just the right amount of sweetness to a dish.
A few more things you should know about carrots:
You don’t need to peel them unless you’re eating them raw.
While carrots are very nutritious (vitamin A, C, potassium, etc.) most of the nutrients in carrots actually reside in or just bellow the skin so it’s best not to peel away too much.
For candy-like caramelized carrots drizzle a little honey or maple syrup on them before roasting.
As we know carrots come in many colors. But when carrots were first cultivated (some ten thousand years ago) they were actually purple, not the orange color we associate them with most today (www.carrotmuseum.com).
You really will turn orange if you eat too many of the orange ones!
The second root-veggie I find it hard to resist is beets. When I see them on a menu I must have them, especially when they’re paired with goat cheese… mmmm. I love the sweet smell of the steam when you unwrap their foil. I don’t even mind that my hands will look like an art project for the rest of the day (pro tip: feta juice takes it right off).
A few more things you should know about beets:
To steam beets, rinse well, pat dry, sprinkle with salt and wrap in foil. The foil-wrapped bulbs can be placed directly on the oven rack. Just be sure they’re wrap doesn’t have any tears of holes.
They take a long time (sometimes over an hour) – so plan ahead! For steaming it’s important to try to pick beets that are relatively the same size so they’re tender at the same time. If you’re crunched for time, use smaller beets or cut larger ones into wedges with their skin on and roast them just like you would any other veggie with salt, pepper and olive oil on a sheet tray at 425 degrees. The skins get nice and caramelized that way!
You can eat them raw: shredded like you would carrots or shaved like you would radish.
Keep a loose piece of foil or sheet tray on the rack below the beets to collect any spills, saving yourself from that horrible bubbly, smoky mess on the bottom of your oven.
I could go on and on about my favorite root-vegetables because, truth is, I love them all, these are just the ones I’m craving this week:
I saw this carrot recipe in the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (just hit shelves last weekend and totally worth a peruse) that immediately caught my eye. Because carrots, tahini, crispy chickpeas. But I wanted it to be substantial enough for my whole meal so I decided raw carrots we’re enough and I roasted big chunks instead.
I also added smoked paprika to the chickpeas because it’s delicious.
Carrots
4-5 carrots quartered lengthwise or cut in coins
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
Chickpeas
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and patted dry on paper towels
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. paprika
Dressing
1 medium garlic clove
Juice of one lemon
3 Tbs. tahini
2 Tbs. water, or more as needed
A pinch of salt
Salad
1/4 cup chopped pistachios, roasted
2 sprigs parsley leaves
Roast carrots: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange carrots in a single layer on a large, parchment lined sheet tray. Season with salt, pepper and oil, toss and roast for about 25 minutes, until the carrots are deeply roasted and caramelized.
Chickpeas: Toss chickpeas with oil and seasonings. Spread them on a sheet tray and roast alongside the carrots until crisp and crunchy, about 15-20 minutes.
Vinaigrette: Whisk ingredients in a large bowl until smooth, but not too loose. You may need to add more water to achieve this consistency. Don’t worry this is normal!
Assemble salad: tumble carrots, chickpeas, pistachios and parsley into a large bowl and drizzle with tahini vinaigrette. Enjoy!
Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh’s beautiful book, Sweet, highlights a couple unlikely root vegetable baked goods. Of course the one that seduced me wasn’t the carrot cake, which is a personal weakness, but the beet cake! With spicy candied ginger and tangy cream cheese frosting it’s certainly a contender!
The picture in the cookbook made the frosting look light and fluffy. My results were a little on the runnier side, but still tasted delicious 🙂
Cake
2/3 cup walnut halves
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 red beets, peeled and coarsely grated
Finely grated zest of one orange (1 tbs.)
1/2 cup finely chopped crystalized ginger (they instruct you to steep these in boiling water for 15 minutes, however, I skipped this step to create a little more intense flavor)
2 large eggs
¼ cup soup cream
½ cup sunflower oil
Frosting
5 ½ cream cheese at room temperature
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted (plus more if necessary)
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 1/3 inch piece of ginger grated into a fine sieve placed over a bowl and the flesh squeezed to extract all the juices; reserve the juice.
To make cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper, then set aside.
Toast the walnuts in a skillet in the oven for 15 minutes.
Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine and aerate. Add the beets, orange zest, walnut and ginger, but do not stir.
Place wet ingredients: eggs, sour cream and oil in another small bowl and whisk to combine.
Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 50-55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
To make frosting: Place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment in place and beat for about 10 seconds until smooth. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat until well incorporated. Add the cream and beat for about 1 minute, until the frosting is thick and smooth. Add the ginger juice, beat for a few more seconds. If the frosting seems a little loose just add a little more confectioner’s sugar. Once the cake is cooled, frost with an offset spatula and slice to serve!
Ottolenghi stirs in a crushed 1500mg vitamin C tablet to help preserve some of the vibrant pink hue
We love getting feedback from all our clients but, I must admit, I get most excited when it comes from our clients’ kids. I love hearing when their kids devoured our roasted salmon or actually finished their plate of veggies. So this month’s video is for the kiddos. There’s one thing that I’m pretty sure most parents can agree on and that’s how frustrating it can be to feed kids. I know from my own experience as a nanny that kids are very strong-willed when it comes to food and if they don’t want to eat it, they will find any excuse not to (feeding their peas to the dog when you’re not looking, chucking their apple slices in a bush on the way to school, etc.).
A big part of our job as private chefs involves accommodating these tenacious mini-clients. At WWE, we encourage our clients to use their imaginations and play with their food, especially the littles. We’re always trying to come up with kid-friendly, hands-on snacks that we can add to the rotation. These spring rolls are among our most successful. They also make for a great afterschool activity. Although it’s technically no longer spring, I’m pretty confident that these spring rolls are actually the perfect summer snack. The tangy peanut sauce is a classic and pairs perfectly with the delicate flavors wrapped up in these rolls. Keep these rice papers on hand and fill them with whatever’s lingering in your fridge or whatever veggies your kids are into.
This video also serves double duty by demonstrating another one of our client faves, kids and grownups alike: crispy pan-fried tofu.
For crispy pan-fried tofu:
I like to use extra firm tofu because it’s less likely to fall apart when you’re slicing or break mid-flip in the pan.
Drain as much of the tofu liquid as possible by placing the tofu between absorbent paper towels or a clean dishcloth and weigh it downs with anything you have laying around that’s kind of heavy (an extra cast-iron or heavy plate work great). The dryer the tofu, the better the crunch.
Slice the tofu as thinly as possible in one fluid stroke. Avoid sawing at the tofu as it tends to crumble if you fuss with it too much.
Next heat a skillet on high with a nice layer of high-heat oil (grape seed oil, canola oil, safflower oil…) to avoid too much smoke.
Season both sides of each slice of tofu generously with salt and pepper.
Working in batches, sear the tofu until a golden crust forms. They should be fairly stiff without much wiggle. This can be difficult to judge. For me, if it feels slimy and slippery when I’m trying to flip it, it’s not ready.
Once they’re crispy, drain the excess oil by placing the tofu on a plate covered in paper towel.
Serve in a salad, grain bowl, sesame noodle dish or spring roll. You name it.
Spring roll fillings:
Tofu
Avocado
Julienned or grated carrots
Julienned or thinly sliced cucumber
Julienned or thinly sliced radish
Thinly sliced mango
Toasted sesame seeds
These are just what we had on hand but you can use anything as long as it’s small or thin enough to fit neatly inside.
Spring roll wrappers:
You can find these at most health foods stores or Asian food markets.
Fill a shallow bowl (we used a pie dish) with cold water.
Dip each sheet separately into the water and let sit for 1-2 minutes until the wrapper is pliable.
Lay the wrapper flat on a cutting board or clean work surface and allow your little ones to assemble it themselves.
Roll it up like you would a burrito. The wrappers are pretty tough so don’t be shy!
Or forgot the rice paper wrapper all together and use a leafy green instead.
For dipping sauce:
We love a peanut sauce with 1/2 cup peanut butter lots of fresh grated ginger, garlic, a pinch of chili flakes, 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, 2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar and 1/2 cup water.
You may also like a sweet and sour sauce or sweet mustard sauce.
