Hearty Miso Stew with Potato, Leeks and Tofu

I don't know how you are faring, but my family has had a rough season of illness. The calendar tells me it is mid-April so I am hoping it lets up soon, but in the meantime I am craving nourishment and defense in the form off immune-boosting meals.

This stew boasts hearty root vegetables rich with antioxidants and trace minerals. The broth is spiked with probiotic miso, which helps the gut remain inhospitable to bacteria and viruses. The wakame seaweed offers up some much needed iodine, calcium and iron to round it all out. You could even replace some or all of the criminis with shiitake mushrooms if you wanted to get super serious.

It's not the quickest stew, but it is well worth the trouble. You might want to make a big batch and enjoy it all week long. To preserve the live probiotics in the miso, avoid letting the stew come to a simmer, you might even want to leave it out of the big pot and instead add it to taste after heating each portion throughout the week.


Hearty Miso Stew with Potato, Leeks and Tofu

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 tbs. unrefined sesame oil
2 medium carrots, in ½ inch half moons
2 celery ribs, sliced on the diagonal
6-inch piece of burdock, in half moons
2 cups criminis, quartered
1 medium garnet yam, chopped
2 red potatos, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs. grated ginger
2 tbs. dried wakame, soaked and chopped
1 lb. extra-firm tofu, in small cubes
¼ tsp. sea salt

¼ cup brown rice flour
3 tbs. grapeseed oil
1 tbs. toasted sesame oil
2 ½ cups vegetable stock
tamari to taste
5 tbs. miso, dissolved in ½ cup stock

hot sauce to taste

2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions

Heat sesame oil over medium heat in a large stock pot. Add onions and leek and sauté for 10 minutes, until beginning to brown. Add the remaining vegetables along with the garlic, ginger, wakame, tofu and salt, turn down the heat to low and cook for 10-20 minutes, until root vegetables are soft, adding stock as needed to keep from burning and stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, toast brown rice flour in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until aromatic, stirring frequently. Add the sesame oils and stir to combine. Gradually pour in the stock, stirring to combine between pours. Cook for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Pour thickened stock into vegetable mixture and stir gently to combine. Return to a simmer. When you have reached desired heat, add diluted miso and season with hot sauce and tamari to taste. Serve over brown rice.

* If reheating, keep diluted miso mixture separate and add to each bowl just before serving, to preserve it’s probiotic qualities.

Shitake and Soba Noodle Miso Soup

Has this been a tough winter for anyone else? It seems as though everyone I have talked to has been battling illness all winter long. Exposure is pretty hard to avoid, but we can empower ourselves by boosting our own immune systems at every meal.

This soup utilizes shiitakes, a medicinal mushroom and powerful immune activator, as well as garlic and ginger, two more excellent boosters. It is finished with live miso, which contains healthy bacteria to feed our gut so that it can ward off any bad bacteria that make their way in. The trick is to add the miso after the soup is off the heat, as simmering it will render it inactive.

Finish that with some green vegetables and fresh herbs and you are on your way to wellness.

Shitake and Soba Noodle Miso Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
4 oz Shitake Mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3-inch ginger, minced
4 scallions, sliced
4 cups water
1 tablespoon tamari, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauve
4 ounces soba noodles
a handful of snap peas, sliced on the diagonal
2 cups baby spinach
3 tablespoons white miso paste
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Protein of choice, such as ginger garlic tofu, sliced
Scallions, sliced

Directions

Heat oil in a medium pot over low-medium heat. Add sliced shiitake caps, sautéing for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and scallions, sautéing for an additional minute, stirring often. Add water, tamari, sesame oil and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, increase heat and bring to a simmer. Add soba noodles and cook for 4 minutes. Test noodles for al dante, cooking for additional time as needed. Add snap peas and spinach and continue to cook for one minute, or until spinach is well wilted. Turn off the heat. In a small bowl combine miso paste with an additional few tablespoons of water and stir to dissolve. Add miso, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes and cilantro. Spoon into bowls and drizzle with sesame oil and top with scallions, as well as protein of choice, if using.

Silky Pumpkin Soup

I ended up with an aging population of pie pumpkins in my possession a few weeks ago, from a farmer who was about to jet and didn't want his stock to go to waste. We're talking 60 pounds worth. The wrinkles were already forming, so I decided to roast now and freeze later.

And thus my "add pumpkin to everything" adventures began. So far I have made Crustless Pumpkin Pie, Indian Pumpkin and Split Pea Curry, Pumpkin Risotto and Spiced Pumpkin Donuts. Today we are going down the sweet-meets-savory route with a Silky Pumpkin Soup, perfect for this winter wonderland kind of day. Slightly reminiscent of pumpkin pie, while keeping it dinner table appropriate.

If you are curious about how to roast and freeze your own pie pumpkins, it's quite simple. Split pumpkins in half, remove seeds, rub with oil and roast at 375 degrees, cut side down on a baking sheet, for 30-45 minutes, until very soft. Let cool, remove flesh from the shells with a large spoon, measure and place in freezer bags, labeled with the amount inside. I did mostly 4-8 cups increments. Stack the freezer bags flat and let them freeze that way, for organizational convenience. 

Silky Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 tbs. coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
3 cups of roasted pumpkin
1 cup coconut milk
1.5 cups water or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1-3 tbs. of maple syrup, to taste
1 tsp. salt
black pepper or chili flakes to taste
Optional garnish: a sprinkle of garam masala

Directions

Heat coconut oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and continue to sauté for one more minute. Stir in pumpkin, coconut milk and water/broth, as well as cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Add maple syrup and salt and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste, and add additional syrup and/or salt to taste, as well as black pepper or chili flakes. The amount of syrup needed will depend on the natural sweetness of the pumpkins you used.

Garnish with a sprinkle of garam masala, a warming Indian spice blend, if desired.

Curried Coconut Squash Soup

As the weather continues to turn towards fall, I have been getting back into soups and stews, and it was one such craving that inspired this Curried Coconut Squash Soup. Simple, with a creamy decadence from coconut milk and flavor-bursts from curry spices, it is my ideal weekend lunch.

I happen to know that it freezes well, as I made a big batch to hand out to a few friends who could use the spare time these days.

Side note: did you know that grilled cheese freezes well too? I gifted the soup with a bag of frozen Grilled Cheese Croutons (grilled cheese smothered with scape pesto and cut into bite sized cubes). Pop the thawed soup in a pot and the croutons on a baking sheet, and you have a comforting meal ready in no time flat.

Curried Coconut Squash Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients

1 tbs. coconut oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs. fresh ginger, minced
1 tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2 carrots, sliced in half moons
1 medium red kuri squash, unpeeled, cubed (mine was about 3.5 pounds whole, 10 cups cubed)
1 can coconut milk
3 cups vegetable stock
2 tbs. tamari
1/4 tsp. cayenne (optional, for heat)
1/2-1 tsp salt (optional, to taste)

Directions

No need to peel the squash- it will puree smooth and you will benefit from the added fiber and time on your hands.

Heat coconut oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent. Add minced ginger, garlic, curry powder, cumin and coriander and continue to cook, stirring often, for 1 minutes, making sure not to burn spices. Add carrot and squash cubes, as well as coconut milk and vegetable stock. Turn up heat and bring to a boil, and then down to a simmer for 20 minutes. Check to make sure squash cubes are completely cooked. Remove from heat, add tamari and blend with an immersion blender. Once smooth, taste and adjust seasonings by adding more salt and/or cayenne pepper for heat.

Notes: Other winter squash varieties would work here as well- try buttercup, butternut or blue hubbard.

Sweet Potato Bisque

Two soup recipes in a row? WHAT?

Blogger faux pas? Arguably. Case of the "I can't believe it is still 5 degrees out and need fire inside me now"? Most definitely.

A dangerous outcome of the practice of blogging what I cook, in a fairly 1:1 ratio.

I've been working on a project lately that requires developing recipes that are shelf stable. This has proven to be quite a challenging project for a natural chef, who bases most recipes on the fresh and the raw.

The good news is that it inspired this cashew cream powder, which I have incorporated into a sweet potato version of the potato chowder I was originally developing.



The cashew powder that you create in the first step of this recipe can be kept in an airtight container, preferably somewhere cool and dark, for a few weeks. It can then be mixed with 1 1/2 cups of water and brought to a simmer, to thicken into a luscious cashew cream. At this point, you have a versatile sauce for a variety of dishes - as an alfredo sauce mixed with whole wheat pasta, over steamed broccoli, or as the "cream" in a vegan chowder, such as we find here.





The beauty of using it in a soup is that you can cut out the step of thickening it in simmering water, and simply add the cashew powder to the soup in the last few minutes of cooking. You'll notice a quick thickening effect, and after a few minutes with the immersion blender, you have a beautiful chowder or bisque.

Wow, that got a bit detailed- hope I didn't lose any of you yet.

In short: this cashew powder is fun to play with and can easily be made ahead and transported to be used over camp stoves in the woods, while traveling to remote destinations, or to throw together a quick week night meal.

Like most soups, this one requires a decent amount of chopping, resulting in some valuable ends and pieces. DON'T YOU DARE THROW THIS IN THE COMPOST. This is the start of your next soup- save them for your next batch of vegetable stock.

Vegan Sweet Potato Bisque

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup ground raw cashews, room temperature

1 tbs. nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp. garlic granules

1 ½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. rosemary

1 tsp. coconut oil

1 small onion, minced

2 celery ribs, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 large yams, diced (5 cups)

4 cups vegetable stock

1 tbs. cooking sherry

¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

Salt to taste

Optional additions: a dash of red pepper flakes, a handful of fresh herbs- basil, sage, scallions or parsley

Directions

In a food processor, pulse the first 5 ingredients, cashews through rosemary, until you reach a granular consistency, similar to that of sand. The more powdered the better, but don’t go too far- it will try to turn into cashew butter. Set aside.

Heat the coconut oil in a medium pot over low-medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add yam and vegetable stock. Bring up to a boil and down to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until yams are very soft. Uncover, add cashew powder and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

Turn off heat, add cooking sherry and ground pepper. With an immersion blender, puree until very smooth. Taste, and adjust with salt. Add additional spices and herbs if using, and pulse to combine.

A Miso Soup of sorts

I have now been feeling sickly for nine days. 9. More than a week. It's driving me crazy.

In fact, bonkers, might be a better term (remember that cartoon?). The thing is, I am never sick. And when I am, it takes my body about a day or two to bounce back. So I am not sure what is going on, but I'm not happy about it.

However, it does give me a chance to really step back and consciously choose my diet to support my immune system. The key to immune support starts with optimizing digestion, as the majority of our immune system lives in our gut, ready to ward off an invaders that try to come in. So chewing thoroughly, avoiding high-allergen foods (gluten, dairy, peanuts etc.), and listening to your body are all super important. And then there are all the immune-boosters that lie out there in the natural food world: mushrooms (shitakes, maitakes, reishis), miso, citrus fruits and sea vegetables.

I have been making lots of fresh juices out of oranges, lemons and pineapple (I juice the cores), with some cilantro for detoxifying and kale for it's chlorophyll. I have also been enjoying big bowls of miso soup, as it seems to naturally incorporate so many of the immune boosters my body needs right now. I like it with a cup or so of rice for a more substantial meal, or simplified down to plain miso broth as a sipper to get me through the day.

This is the recipe I made last night with the fresh maitakes I found at City Market yesterday as well as a few tablespoons of red curry paste I had lingering in the fridge since spring rolls a few weeks back. It was perfect (maybe the highlight of my day?) so I thought I would share it with you. The curry paste deserves a blog of it's own, which will happen someday, but I'll include the recipe below for now. This is definitely worlds above what you can buy at the store, but you could always substitute Thai Kitchen's version if you had to. Or if you don't have any in the fridge, you can always go ahead and leave it out for a more traditional version.


A Thai-inspired Miso Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients


4 cups vegetable broth (homemade if you can!)
1 strip wakame or kelp, sliced or torn into small pieces
2 oz. fresh maitake or shitake mushroom (or 4 rehydrated dried shitakes), sliced
1/4 cup of tofu, in small cubes
2 tbs. sweet white miso
2 tbs. red miso
2 tbs. red thai curry paste, see below (optional)
1 tbs. shoyu or tamari
a handful of spinach

Directions

Heat vegetable broth, seaweed, mushrooms and tofu in a medium saucepan to a simmer. Remove from heat. Take a cup or so of hot liquid and place in a bowl with miso. Stir until miso dissolves completely. Add miso mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Cover until spinach wilts. Enjoy immediately!

Thai Curry Paste

Ingredients

1/4 cup chili de arbol

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/4 tsp cumin seed

1/8 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and finely minced

1 tsp minced cilantro stem

1 Tbs peeled and minced ginger

1/4 tsp lime zest

1 Tbs minced garlic

1 Tbs minced shallot

1/8 tsp course salt

Directions

Break the stems off the chilies and discard them along with the seeds. Break the chilies into pieces, place in a bowl with just enough warm water to cover. Let soak for 20 to 30 minutes. When done soaking, remove from water (reserve water) and finely chop.

Meanwhile, heat a small heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coriander seeds and dry roast, frequently shaking the pan or stirring until they release their smell and begin to change color, about 3 minutes. Transfer coriander to a bowl to cool and then repeat process with the cumin seeds, toasting for about 1 minute, and adding them to the coriander. Repeat again with the peppercorns, roasting long enough to heat them well - about 1 minute.

Grind the toasted spices in a coffee grinder and  place in a small bowl. Mince wet ingredients (lemongrass through shallot) very finely (this can be done in a small food processor) and add to spices along with the salt. To finish, pound mixture thoroughly with the back of a spoon to fully release all of the flavors. Add a little bit of the reserved water if necessary.

Yield: 1/2 cup.

Store in a well-sealed glass container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 months.

Relax. Eat Well.

Chilled Avocado Soup with Corn Relish

I love a good bowl of soup. Especially in the winter time when I can cozy up close, wrap my fingers and hug the bowl, letting the vapor kiss my cheeks. In the summer, when the heat is not so scarce, a cold soup can serve the same purpose, countering my internal furnace with some much appreciated chill factor.

This soup boasts a creamy consistency thanks to summer's ripe avocados, a sultry smokiness from the chipotle chili powder and a pleasant crunch of the occasional golden corn kernel. The lovely oleic monounsaturated fats from the avocado allow it to act as an entree soup, giving it a rich and satisfying mouth feel as well as some substance in your belly. This same lipid has been proven to help lower cholesterol, and paired with avocado's high levels of potassium and folate, it makes this delicious creamy vegetable a heart-health superstar. Enjoying your vegetables has never been so easy.....

Serve with a hearty multigrain bread and a bright carrot salad to round out the meal. Last night we enjoyed it with a wheat-free flatbread topped with an edamame spread and it was delicious. If this looks good to you, feel free to anxiously await the recipes later this week...

Chilled Avocado Soup with Corn Salsa

Serves 12

Ingredients

2 small tomatillos, husked and rinsed, chopped

1 large serrano chile, seeded and chopped

1 medium white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

6 cups light vegetable stock

¼ cup lime juice

1 large cucumber, peeled and chopped

4 large ripe avocados, peeled and pitted

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 ear of corn, kernals cut off

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

2 ears sweet corn, shucked

2 Tbs fresh lime juice

1 ripe red tomato, seeded and cut into¼-inch dice

¼ cup minced red onion

1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced

2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1/8-1/4 tsp. chipotle chili powder

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Add the tomatillos, serrano, onion, garlic, and 2 cups stock to a soup pot. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, until the tomatillos start to soften. Place saucepan in a ice bath to cool quickly.

Add the lime juice, avocados, cucumber, corn, cilantro and spices to a blender and blend until smooth. Add the cooled mixture from the saucepan. Put back in the fridge to completely chill.

To prepare the salsa, cut the kernals of corn off of the cob into a bowl. Add the rest of the salsa ingredients and taste for seasoning. Adjust if necessary and set aside.

To serve, take the soup out of the fridge and season to taste. Adjust any flavors if necessary. Ladle into small bowls and garnish with the corn salsa.

Relax. Eat Well.