Pink is the new soup

I feel horribly lame for not writing all summer when cooking is at its peak! I've been doing a lot of it in recent weeks, esp. with all the organic produce we've been getting in our weekly food box. Stuff I might have heard of but certainly never cooked before. My ultimate new obsession: beets! Who knew how spectacularly wonderful they can be when they're not all pickled and preserved (although I love those too)!

I've been mainly boiling them in a touch of vinegar (sans - gasp!- skin! I know! They lose their glorious colour! I've learned!), then tossing them with butter, red wine vinegar and salt. Simple! Delicious! I've also been lucky to get the beets with their leaves - a rarity if bought in the grocery store, and have been sauteeing those with some olive oil, garlic and soya sauce. The leaves have a wonderously green, ever-so-slightly bitter-ish taste - you can taste it, is what I'm saying. Normally I mix them with other greens I'm also getting, like kale, swiss chard and collard greens. Yum!

But I'm getting off track. As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to switch it up a bit and try out a lovely-looking Nigella recipe found in my favourite cookbook Forver Summer, something she calls "Spiced Pink Soup". And indeed with a shade like that, it makes one happy just looking at it, although I begrudgingly had to admit to my husband that even I could not eat too much of it and retain my happiness. Maybe because of mediocre chicken stock?

So after roasting the beets in the oven for, like 200 hours (OK, 2.5) IN THE SKIN, came the fun part of peeling off the skin. Don't do this without gloves if you don't feel like explaing to everyone you meet for the next day or so why your fingers are tinged a deep burgundy. (I, personally, do not mind).

I post the recipe here, although I do warn you that edits might need to be made. #1 of which, if you're stock-fussy like I am, don't use the tinned stuff! I have a perfectly good homemade batch in my freezer that for some reason I didn't utilize.

And although it sounds complicated, it's really not. Roasting beets takes hardly any effort, and the rest you blitz in the food processor. Then you cool and serve it in a lovely clear pitcher so everyone can admire your handiwork!

Spiced Pink Soup

Ingredients

3 medium raw beets
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
7 cups heated chicekn or vegetable stock
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 scallions, halved lengthwise
1 cup + 2 tbsp sour cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400F. Wrap each beet in foil and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours. Unwrap and peel once cool to touch. The skins come off easily at this point. Cut into chunks, if needed, and put them in the food processor with the juice of the lime, the cumin and coriander. Blitz to a pulp while adding stock down the funnel. Careful - this will probably splash and stain.

Taste for salt and pepper and pour into a large pitcher. Add halved scallions, cover with plastic wrap, and put in fridge to cool. (Can stay in fridge for up to 3 days).

Just before serving, remove the scallions, and, for a creamy base, blitz again while adding the sour cream, 3/4 cup first, then to taste. Pour back into the pitcher, then serve in teacups or bowls.

Serves 6-8.

Eating like a single person

So tonight's my night to cook without worrying abut the husband's persnickety palette... usually happens once a week when he works late, but normally I stick with left-overs. When I got home tonight, I didn't particularly feel like the mediocre beet (pink!) soup I made the day before, and we'd grilled burgers two night in a row, thanks to the over-sized pack of hamburger buns we felt we should use up. I was feeling something meat-free.

I looked around my kitchen...and saw tomatoes everywhere! My 8 tomato plants out back are certainly keeping me in stock, plus I'm getting the most delicious heirlooms from the CSA box. I had some just-picked organic garlic and decided to go with my favorite "me" meal...spagetti with olive oil, chili flakes and garlic (tomatoes are only occasionally thrown into the mix). My basil and parsley plants got some use here too, as did some feta and pecorino romano cheeses I had in the fridge. Thus I present! A fabulous, late summer meal, made with the simplest of ingredients that let each flavour shine through in all their delicious glory!

Spagetti flecked with garlic, chili flakes & cherry tomatoes

Ingredients

Handful of spagetti

3 tbsp EVOO
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp (or to taste) dried chile flakes
24 cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh basil, chopped
Fresh parsley, chopped
3 tbsp feta, crushed
Romano pecorino cheese (to taste)

Some direction

Salt and boil the water - cook spagetti.

When spagetti is a few minutes away from being done, heat olive oil, garlic and chile in small pan, stirring to prevent garlic from burning, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, stir to coat.

Reserve 1 tbsp spagetti water; drain the rest. Put cooked spagetti back in pot.

Toss with oil and tomato mixture; stir in reserved water, feta and herbs. Top with percorino romano and pepper, if desired, and serve!

I've made this in the dead of winter without tomatoes, when nary a decent-tasting tomato can be found. You could use canned, diced tomatoes, but it's tasty without them too!

Serves 2 (or 1 gluttonous single person)

Inspired by a recipe by my favorite cookbook author Nigella Lawson