For my first trick, I started simple with loads of beautiful red onions that I picked up at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers' Market.  The onions were so pretty that I didn't want to do much with them, but simmering them lightly in red wine vinegar (and a clove of garlic) made them even more attractive.  The onions still had a bit of crunch when they went into the jars, but had softened slightly.  I'm looking forward to using them in salads, or on barbecue sandwiches, and of course the vinegar itself will be amazing when it's all infused with great onion flavor.

My next trick was more complicated, for sure.  I decided that I wanted to do something with garlic since it ranks among my favorite foods.  I found Roasted Garlic Jelly in Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving and was immediately interested in the sweet roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar and dry white wine.  Quite possibly perfect. 

I collected my ingredients and roasted the garlic.  Checking one more time while the garlic roasted, I realized that the recipe required liquid pectin.  Doh! I only had powdered.  I did some poking around the interwebs and contemplated a substitution, but I am way too green to go against the general guidance that advised against the attempt.  And so I waited another day or two to get the pectin.  But it was well worth it.  I haven't tried the jelly out of the jar, but I stuck a finger in the leftovers coating my saucepan and it was great.  The wine and garlic melded together nicely and the color can't be beat.

Allium month definitely wins the prize (so far) for yielding the most beautiful colors and the most recipes tucked away to try sometime soon.  Once garlic-related items are in the farmers' market this spring, kettle beware!

Red Onions in Vinegar (from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)

• 4 cups red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 10 cups sliced peeled red onions

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. In a large stainless steel saucepan, add vinegar.  Smash garlic lightly and add to vinegar.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes, so that garlic can infuse the vinegar. 
3. Add onion rings.  Turn heat up to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce and boil gently, covered, for 5 minutes and onions are completely heated. Discard garlic.
4. Pack hot onion rings into jars leaving generous 1/2 inch head space.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover onions, maintaining head space.  Remove air bubbles and add more pickling liquid if necessary to maintain 1/2 inch space in jar.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band until tight.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes and then remove jars.  Allow to cool on the counter for 24 hours.  Store.
6. Makes about 7 8-ounce jars.

Roasted Garlic Jelly (more fun from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)

• 3 medium heads garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
• 1 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (regular is fine if you can't find white)
• 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 pouches liquid pectin

1. Cut off tops of garlic heads.  Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over heads.  Place in foil and scrunch ends closed.  Roast for 45-60 minutes at 425F or until garlic soft.  Once cool enough to handle, separate cloves and set aside.  Discard skins.
2. In a medium stainless steel saucepan, combine roasted garlic, wine, water, white balsasmic vinegar and peppercorns.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.  Cover, remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes.
3. Transfer garlic mixture to dampened jelly bag or strainger lined with several layers of dampened cheese cloth set over a deep bowl.  Let drip, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes.  Measure 1 2/3 garlic juice.  If you do not get enough, add up to 1/4 cup dry white wine or water.
4. While waiting, prepare canners, jars and lids.
5. Transfer garlic juice to large deep stainless steel saucepan.  Stir in lemon juice and sugar.  Over high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.  Stir in pectin.  Boil hard, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and quickly skim off foam.
6. Quickly pour hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band until tight.
7. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes and remove jars.  Cool on counter for 24 hours. Store.
8. Makes about 9 4-ounce jars.

I finally got around to it and have to say that I was pleased.  I am a fan of a simple smooth slightly sweet tomato sauce.  This is exactly that.  It satisfies in a soothing way and certainly comes together in a snap. All you need, I kid you not, is canned San Marzano tomatoes, butter and an onion. Period.

In the comments section for the tomato sauce recipe at Smitten Kitchen, there were a few variations including using a poached egg or eating the cooked onion (which gets removed in the recipe) on toast with some balsamic vinegar.  I thought, why not do all of those!?! And, my friends, I did.

I pan-fried some organic polenta (yes, the kind in a tube, but I had to use it up) and topped it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, some onion, a bit of sauce and a poached egg.  Some fresh parsley or basil would have made a lovely addition, but the beauty of the dish is that all of the aforementioned things are around my kitchen pretty much all the time. 

Polenta with Poached Egg and Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

• 2 1-inch slices of prepared polenta (or your preferred serving of polenta from scratch)
• 2 good drizzles of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions, divided
• 1/4 onion from Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
• 1 egg, poached
• 2-3 sprigs fresh basil
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. Pan-fry polenta cakes.
2. Set on plate.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.  Top with 2 tbsp tomato sauce and onion. 
3. Place poached egg on onion.  Top with additional 1 tbsp tomato sauce.  Garnish with basil and fresh black pepper to taste.
4. Dig in, yolk first.  Enjoy!

This challenge excited me greatly as I absolutely love risotto and would like to make my own stock more often.  Check and check! I do tend to stick to my regular Red Wine Risotto with slight variations and so I took this as a sign from the universe to try something new.  I certainly couldn't post twice on the same recipe, not for a challenge!

But I am getting ahead of myself.  First, risotto requires stock.  And I've seen and heard many a time that the better the stock, the better the risotto.  Essentially, I hadn't seen anything yet! I made two attempts to collect a chicken for my stock.  The first stop was an NYC-based gourmet grocery shop that was on my way home from a yoga class.  I was shocked and astounded to see that a 3 lb. organic whole chicken cost well over 16 dollars.  Since organic, all-natural, well-treated chicken is the main way I'll eat it these days, I headed over to my local Trader Joe's.  There, I found a 4 lb. organic all-natural whole chicken for just over 11 dollars.  Much better.

I used the challenge recipe for the stock because I haven't yet settled on a way that I like to do it and I was intrigued by the use of lemon in the seasoning.  I was short on lemon peel at the time, but I did have some dried lemon zest and so that was the one substitution I made.  In went the rest of the seasoning (see recipe below) and off it bubbled for what seemed like forever.  The smells were very enticing. I removed the chicken which pretty much fell apart and used the meat in another dish coming later this week. 

Next came the risotto.  The use of lemon in the stock got my recipe improv mojo going since I've seen several lemon risottos over time that I wanted to try.  I do have the preserved lemons from the last Daring Cooks challenge, but I also wanted to use the brave little sage leaves that have lasted on our window sill winter.  By this time, I'd managed to procure actual lemons and so, sage and lemon risotto!

I used the recipe base recommended for the challenge, and tweaked it based on another that I found online. We didn't have quite as much happy sage on our plant as I'd hoped, so I think you could do with a lot more.  This is also a very subtle soothing risotto.  I knew I'd need to add a little pop to make it a hit in my house, so I sauteed some local hot italian sausage from Bradley's Farm that I picked up at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers' Market and sprinkled it on top of the risotto.  This gave the dish some extra spice that didn't overwhelm the sage and lemon favors.  I don't recommend adding it any earlier as it may have competed with the risotto. 

Chicken Stock

• 1 large chicken 3-4 pounds
• chicken bones 2-3 pounds (I didn't use, but this will make the flavor richer)
• 2 onions, roughly diced
• 1 medium leek - white part only, roughly diced
• 2 sticks celery, roughly diced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves (fresh or dried, it doesn't matter.)
• peel of 1/2 lemon or good dash of dried lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. allspice

1. Wash the chicken and bones and places in a large stock pot.  Cover completely with water and bring to a boil.  Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface.
2. Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil.
3. Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours.
4. Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup or enchiladas!
5. Simmer the stock gently for another hour. At the end you should have around 2 Liters.
6. Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be. 
The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don't need for later use.

Sage and Lemon Risotto with Spicy Sausage

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 bunch sage, roughly chopped
• peel of 1/2 lemon
• 12 oz Arborio rice (about two cups)
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/3 pound fresh hot italian sausage, casings removed

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes until soft and fragrant.  Add sage and lemon peel. 
2. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
3. Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
4. Add enough stock to cover the rice by about an inch.
5. Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
6. Repeat Step 5 until rice is slightly al dente and cooked through.  In the meantime, saute the sausage in a small pan, breaking into small crumbles.  Set aside.
7. Add lemon juice and pecorino to finished risotto.  Mix well.  Top with sausage.  (Remove lemon peel in the event there will be confusion. I left it in because it was pretty and continued to impart lemon flavor to the dish).

Bon Appetit

One take on the meatball that they offered up recently was the Pork Banh Mi Meatball.  Before you say that Banh Mi is so 2009, just remember that now we're talking meatballs.  A refreshing twist, then, on both the meatball and Banh Mi. 

This recipe caught my eye even before the Tigress Can Jam started, but it immediately popped into my head the other day when I wanted to come up with more uses for my Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickles.  Let's face it, this dish is what my pickles were meant for in the first place!

The complete recipe in the link above shows you a quick way to achieve a similar result in case you don't have jars of Vietnamese pickled vegetables crying out for a spicy meatball sandwich.  I haven't given it a try, but I'm sure they will do. 

I made a double batch of these meatballs and they kept very well in the fridge, feeding us for at least 6 meals.  Next time around I'll try freezing them.  I meant to do that this time, but they were so good that we just kept eating them! I ran out of bread part way through, but these were equally excellent in a bowl of rice with pickled vegetables, cilantro and sriracha. 

Also, I skipped the mayo mentioned in the original recipe because I am a no mayo sort of lady.  That may be banh mi blasphemy.  I just used extra sriracha since that can never be wrong, but you may want to check out the original recipe if you're into that whole mayo thing.

Pork Banh Mi Meatball Sandwiches (adapted from Bon Appetit)

This time around, I thought I would try to create a new twist, yet another attempt to bring one of my more simply flavored family dishes into my husband's stomach which, as is by now well documented here, craves Asian flavors.  In the cold weather, I also like some extra spice and so the Red Curry Beef Stew was born. 

With some lovely local red creamer potatoes, frozen green beans, and a zucchini just screaming for use, the dish came together in the crockpot quickly and allowed me to stare at the snow for the afternoon.  I've always got at least one or two cans of coconut milk and various jars of curry paste or bean paste around to make a quick basic coconut curry.  With all of the vegetables, it really is a one dish meal, but a green salad could lend some crunch and freshness to the meal if you so desire.  Feel free to experiment with the vegetables as well - the onions are really the only must here because they really add a lot of nice flavor. 

Red Curry Beef Stew

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2.5 lbs cubed sirloin tips (or any stew meat)
• 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1 lb. red creamer potatoes, cut into chunks or left whole if small enough
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 2-4 tbsp. red curry paste (I like 4, but 2 gives good flavor without too much kick)
• 2 hot chilis, sliced (optional, remove seeds for lighter spice and omit entirely if desired)
• 3 tbps fish sauce
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1-2 cups green beans, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost if frozen)
• 1 zucchini, cut into half moon slices

1. Heat olive oil in saute pan.  Add beef cubes and brown on at least two sides. 
2. Layer onions, beef, chilis and potatoes in crockpot (mine is about 3 quarts).
3. Mix coconut milk, curry paste, sugar and fish sauce well in a bowl.  Pour mixture over crockpot ingredients.
4. Turn on low for 7-8 hours.
5. Add beans and zucchini in last 30 minutes of cooking.
6. Serve with rice or noodles.

For those who aren't familiar with the challenge, this is a mini-Iron Chef with a lot more notice and more secret ingredients.  The event takes place the first full weekend of each month.  The winner of the previous month selects three ingredients at random (from a list compiled earlier that week) and then gets to add a fourth item - either a theme or an ingredient.

This month, the ingredients were dill, ricotta and honey. Our host at Prospect: The Pantry added a fourth to reflect spring and new beginnings - eggs.  I could not have been more excited.  And again, I thought about wimping out, but honestly, these are four of my favorite things ever.

I struggled with how to combine them since all of my ideas included three (usually dill in one set of three and honey in the other).  I went, with hope, to Eggs by Michel Roux which frankly should have been my first stop.  There were tons of almost-right recipes that got me dreaming.  It was his "poached egg on onion tartlet" that won the prize. 

My tweaks included using ricotta instead of cream and dill instead of thyme, as you might imagine.  There was no honey in the original recipe either, so that got added in as well.  I also had tons of lovely local onions from Philips Farms just screaming to be caramelized and spread on puff pastry. Et voila! Poached Egg on Dill, Ricotta and Onion Tartlet. 

Poached Egg on Dill, Ricotta and Onion Tartlet (inspired by Michel Roux)

• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• freshly ground black pepper
• sprinkle ground cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp milk (I used skim, but any will do)
• 1 tsp honey
• puff pastry
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 large organic egg
• 1 sprig fresh dill, roughly chopped

1. Melt butter and oil in pan over low heat.  Add sliced onions and cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes, stirring often. Set aside.
2. Cut 4-inch rounds from puff pastry (I made three since I pulled out extra, but one will suffice).
3. Drizzle olive oil on small baking sheet.  Place puff pastry round(s) on sheet and chill for about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat oven (I used my convection toaster oven since I just made one) to 325F. 
5. Mix ricotta, milk and honey in small bowl and chill.
6. When pastry round(s) are ready, prick each 4-5 times with a fork.  Top with ricotta, then onions.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry are golden and crispy.
8. Just before pastry is done, heat 4 inches of water in a wide pan along with 3 tbsp vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Crack egg into separate bowl and pour into water.  Poach for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes.
9. Top pastry with egg.  Garnish with fresh dill.  Serve immediately.

My fellow healthy-food lover Alissa over at The Simply Wholesome Kitchen told me about a blog that focuses on healthy baking, Sweet & Natural.  I figured I would take a look over her recipes and see what I could do with my bananas.  Here I found Banana Coconut Bars which had the benefit of using up some of the coconut I have in the freezer and the agave sweetener that I picked up at Trader Joe's. 

I can't say that my pantry always has the items required for this healthy snack or that yours might, but the recipe itself is a good argument for keeping them around.  The result is a healthy-tasting bread-like sweet bar which is perfect for tiding one over until the next meal.  I used whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, because that was what I had around.  The result was fine, although my understanding is that the pastry flour yields a lighter bar.  Play with it.

The last comment I have is with respect to agave nectar.  I've been very intrigued by this ingredient since it often comes up in clean eating recipes and is generally considered a healthy alternative sweetener.  Over the past couple of weeks, however, I've been hearing whispers in the health food community that agave nectar is very highly processed and that there are some heavy environmental impact issues surrounding agave's production.  I'm going to find out more and continue to experiment, but I wanted to put out my current thinking on the subject.  I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives.

Banana Coconut Bars (adapted from Sweet & Natural)

•  4 mashed bananas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1/4 cup organic agave nectar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare 8x8x2 baking pan with olive oil cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together first four ingredients and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients (except coconut) until combined.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just blended.
5. Fold in coconut.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

The recipe calls for juicing the lemons and placing the rinds and flesh into a jar with bay leaves, cinnamon and loads of salt.  The juice is poured over the lemons to cover and like magic, in a couple of weeks, you have preserved lemons! It really can't be easier.

What isn't so easy, however, is finding a way to use them.  Every recipe I found said that they tasted great in all manner of salads, dressings and other dishes.  Without really giving me a road map to what those other dishes might be.  Luckily, my Mediterranean handbook had a recipe for a Preserved Lemon, Tomato and Red Onion Salad. 

The salad seemed like something that would be beautiful in the summer and not so much in the winter.  In order to capture the best flavors, I hunted down some heirloom greenhouse baby tomatoes in a variety of colors to maximize flavor and visual appeal.  I tweaked the dressing a bit because of available ingredients in the rest of my kitchen and in the end really liked the result.

I have to admit that I tasted the preserved lemon on its own and a sweet lemon is turned into something more caustic with the salt and bay, but as an ingredient, it added a special layer to the salad dressing.  I do have another recipe coming using these preserved lemons, so we'll see if I can develop more ways to use these beautiful fruits.

Moroccan Preserved Lemons (adapted from From Tapas to Meze)

• 8 Meyer lemons (these are available from Jan. - Mar.)
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 bay leaves
• Additional freshly squeezed lemon juice, if needed

1. Cut lemons in quarters, keeping the sections attached at the stalk end (do not cut all the way through.  Squeeze the juice from the lemons and set aside.
2. Cover lemon quarters with good sprinkling of salt. 
3. Place 1 tablespoon salt in the bottom of a canning jar.  Pack in the lemon quarters, pushing them down and adding tablespoons of salt, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves between the lemons. 
4. Cover lemons with juice.  Add more if needed to cover lemons, leaving a bit of headspace in the jar.
5. Place lid on jar and let lemons sit in a warm place for about 3 weeks, turning the jar upside down periodically to distribute salt and juices (do not store upside down, simply turn and replace).
6. When using lemons, remove from the brine with a clean utensil.  Remove pulp (it will peel easily off), wash peel and use as directed.
7. Will keep for up to 1 year.

Tomato, Red Onion and Preserved Lemon Salad (adapted from From Tapas to Meze)

• 2 pints heirloom cherry tomatoes, diced (the more colors the better)
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 1/2 preserved lemon, diced
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (cilantro would also be great)
• 3/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine tomatoes, onions and preserved lemons in a bowl.  Set aside. 
2. Whisk together remaining ingredients.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Toss vinaigrette with tomato mixture and marinate at least 30 minutes (not more than 1 hour) at room temperature.
4. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is nothing if not simple.  The very accessible list of ingredients goes into the food processor and then waits patiently in the refrigerator until you are ready to form it into balls or patties and fry or bake them.  I went the baking route, forming falafel balls slightly bigger than the suggested walnuts.  I baked them at 375F for 25 minutes, as suggested, in a convection oven which tends to cook things faster than your conventional oven. 

I will say that this turned out a soft-in-the-middle chick pea doughnut rather than the crispy bread-like falafel ball that I am generally accustomed to from a restaurant kitchen.  Next time I will flatten the balls a bit, or make them smaller, and perhaps cook for longer.  The result was tasty, but when I'd gotten so excited for a familiar taste, it was just different enough to make me re-think the process.

As for the Cucumber-Yogurt Salad (or Tzatziki), I again used From Tapas to Meze as my source.  In recipes that call for straining yogurt, I take a shortcut and use Greek yogurt.  They did the straining for you and the taste is fabulous.  (European-style yogurt at Trader Joe's is not Greek-style.  Be forewarned!) This was, perhaps, the biggest hit of our Mezze party.  This could be used for all manner of meals.

Falafel (Adapted from Joan Nathan and Epicurious.com)
Prep Time: 1 hour

• 1 cup drained and rinsed chickpeas
• 1/2 large onion (roughly chopped, about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried parsley (.2 ounces/5 grams)
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped OR use a couple pinches of dried cilantro (.2 ounces/5 grams)
• 1 teaspoon table salt (.1 ounce/5 grams)
• 1 teaspoon dried hot red peppers (cayenne) (.1 ounce/2 grams)
• 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 teaspoon cumin (.1 ounce/2 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (.13 ounces/4 grams)
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (1 ounce/24 grams) (you may need a bit extra)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed. If you don’t have a food processor, then feel free to mash this up as smooth as possible by hand.
3. Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, until ready to bake, at least 1 hour.
4. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.
5. Bake until golden and firm, about 20 minutes. 

 Tzatziki or Cucumber-Yogurt Salad (adapted from From Tapas to Meze)

• 2 cups Greek yogurt, full or low fat (although 0% might be fine)
• Sea salt
• 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (or mashed in mortar in pestle if you have the patience)
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh mint, chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Grate the cucumber with a coarse grater to make about 1 cup.  Place over cheesecloth in strainer (or paper towel/tea towel).  Sprinkle lightly with salt and let drain 30 minutes.
2. Combine yogurt, cucumber, garlic, herbs and olive oil.  Mix well.  Add lemon juice and salt to taste.  Let sit 1 hour before using.
3. Serve with pita bread, vegetable crudite, gyros, souvlaki, all manner of chicken dishes or eat with a spoon!

Enter Smitten Kitchen and her Black Bean Soup with Toasted Cumin Seed Creme Fraiche.  She had me at chipotle pepper.  I go in waves with chipotles where I need to eat them in everything.  Alright, I lie, it's more like everything I eat could usually be made better with chipotles.  I love the smoky spiciness with just about everything.

 The other thing that made this soup attractive is that the heavy lifting is all done in the crockpot.  The beans go into pot with chopped vegetables, water, seasoning and magically turns into soup in just a few hours.  There was some discussion over at Smitten Kitchen about the different timing required by different crockpots.  Mine was just about the same as reported - 3 hours on high for well cooked beans, maybe just a bit longer. 

This soup is also very healthy and light.  To add a bit of indulgence, I decided to make the creme fraiche as well.  Trader Joe's carries a Vermont creme fraiche which makes this step equally easy.  I toasted cumin seeds and ground them in a converted coffee grinder.  Adding a good dollop of the creme fraiche gave another layer of flavor and creaminess to the soup without overdoing it. The original recipe included chopped sweet peppers which I omitted, but adding those in makes the soup even healthier!

I served the soup and its creme fraiche topping with warm (homemade) pita bread and green salad.  We also experimented with a bit of sharp New York cheddar as a different topping and enjoyed that quite a bit.

Black Bean Soup (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 1/2 lbs. dried black beans
• 1-3 tbsp. chopped chipotle pepper in adobe sauce (adjust for your preferred heat)
• 7 cups hot water
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Pick through dried beans to remove any suspicious-looking specimens.
2. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook until soft and just beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes.  Add garlic and cumin and stir mixture for about 1 minute. 
3. Transfer onion mixture to slow cooker.  Add beans, chipotle peppers and 7 cups hot water.
4. Cover crock pot and cook on high for about 3 hours, until beans are very tender (it's okay to pick up the lid and taste them in order to check).
5. Transfer two cups or more (I did about half) the mixture to another bowl and puree with an immersion blender (or use your food processor or blender). Return puree to slow cooker.
6. Stir in lime juice, salt and pepper.  Serve in bowls with your favorite topping.