Slow cooker vegetable lentil soup

 

Slow-cooker lentil soup with crispy tortillas
From “It’s All About Dinner: Easy, Everyday Family-Friendly Meals” by Nicky Corbishley, as published in the Star Tribune Sunday Supper column

Ingredients
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
½ cup red lentils
3 cups stock
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 cups of baby spinach leaves (packed)
¾ cup grated Cheddar
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon dried parsley or cilantro
1 large tortilla

Method
In a large crock pot, combine onion, bell pepper, carrots, potatoes, lentils, stock, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. Stir in spinach and cheddar shortly before serving to wilt spinach and melt cheese.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine olive oil, garlic salt and herbs. Brush over tortilla. Cut into long thin strips and place on baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until crisp. Let cool. Serve soup topped with tortilla crisps, if desired.

Rating: My first thought was “actually not bad.” That might not seem like high praise, but my expectations had kind of sunk while it cooked because there wasn’t really any spice or herbage going on outside of the homemade broth, and unlike some slow-cooking soups that drive you crazy with hunger because of the aroma all day, this one didn’t seem to smell like much of anything. But it was indeed a reasonably tasty soup that was nice to have at the end of a long day, and fairly fast to mix up. The lentils more or less dissolve into creamy texture so the main thing you notice is the potatoes.

Now, about that garnish treatment. Some people believe that all soups deserve a good garnish. My opinion is that a good soup does not require one, and in this case the called-for garnish was not only uncalled for, it was actively not what was called for if one wanted to garnish this particular soup. The tortilla texture seemed like piling starch on starch, so I would suggest a sprinkling of more cheese or a thin chiffonade of spinach leaves if you are one of those people who require lily gilding. (I'll note that the photo that appeared in the paper showed it clearly had been garnished with some grated Parmesan as well.)

That said, the remaining tortilla crisps worked fine as a topping on a chop salad, so they have their uses.

Whether this soup qualifies as kid friendly would depend entirely on your kid. I suspect as a kid I would have looked at it pretty skeptically, but perhaps children are more adventurous these days. The recipe says it serves 3 to 4. If you’re serving much of anything with it like a salad and some bread, 4 is realistic. It reheats fine.

Caramelized onion, cherry tomato and goat cheese tart; cherry tomato and tapenade tart with mascarpone

 This is a good way to use up some of the bowls of tiny tomatoes in late summer. Or early fall. Like when you bring in the last blast ahead of frost. And then it snows (????!) before the Ides of October.

Caramelized onion, tomato and goat cheese tart
Adapted from “The Savory Baker by America’s Test Kitchen as published in the Star Tribune Sunday Supper. It included a somewhat unusual method for caramelizing onions. Since I was making this to take to a gathering with friends, I decided this wasn’t the time to fool around and find out, so I opted for the lengthy but reliable method. Two hours later, really wishing I’d planned far enough ahead that I could have done the crockpot method. (Evangelizing on this method again.) Note that onions cook way, way down, so for a half cup of onions you’re probably going to want to start with 1½ pounds or more.  You can always freeze the extras. Or do what I did, and try the recipe again with the other half of the puff pastry box.

Ingredients
½ cup caramelized onions
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
6 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves plus sprigs for garnish
½ cup (2 ounces) goat cheese, crumbled

Method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. On a very lightly floured board, roll out puff pastry to a 10-inch square. Brush outer ½ inch of pastry with water and then fold toward center, pressing to seal.

Spread caramelized onions over the area within the pastry border. Top with halved tomatoes. Sprinkle with thyme leaves. Tuck crumbled goat cheese in between the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until puffed and golden, about 24 minutes.

The recipe called for slicing it into four pieces to serve 4. I sliced it into 9 since I was counting it as an appetizer. You’d probably want to make two of these if you wanted to serve this as a main course to 4 people.

Rating: Best served warm, which we did the second time we made it. Fine enough at room temperature if you’re offering as a buffet appetizer, but really good when consumed immediately out of the oven. Truly hard to go wrong with this combo pack, and it looks pretty, too, especially with multiple colors of tomatoes. If you have lemon thyme, that’s a really nice addition. I'll definitely give this a spot in the summer recipe rotation. 

This batch got a little over brown; the recipe below reflects dialed-back suggested baking times.

We also tried this recipe with more of the little tomato excess. Actually, it's not really truly possible to have an excess of tomatoes in my opinion.It's not like zucchini.Or kale.

Tomato and tapenade tarts
From “The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Four Ingredient Cooking” by Joanna Farrow

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
4 tablespoons olive tapenade, divided
1 ½ pounds cherry tomatoes, halved unless very small
½ cup mascarpone cheese

Method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out pastry and cut into 4 squares, or in 6-inch circles using a plate as a guide if you want to be fancy. Transfer to baking sheet. Score ½ inch from the edge with a sharp knife to make a rim.

Spread ½ tablespoon tapenade on each tart, making sure to keep it off the edges. Top with tomatoes, keeping them within the rim. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven. Dot with remaining tapenade and put a dollop of mascarpone in the middle of each tart. Season with pepper and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Rating: It wasn't bad, but I really thought I'd like it a lot more than I actually did. We used purchased tapenade, and it's possible it didn't bring as much to the party as some do. It's a pretty fast fix, so I won't rule out making it again when I have my own tapenade made fresh. And when there are tomatoes back on the vines again. It's little green tomato time on the counters again. Oh, fall.

Chickpea salad with tuna, feta and red peppers

 

This recipe is a good choice now that we're back in soup and a salad mode. You can make it well ahead, so it's quick to get on the table between meetings. OK, really between my meetings and Dave's workouts.

Chickpea salad with tuna
From Better Homes & Gardens August 2020

Ingredients
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained
4 green onions cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (12-ounce can) oil-packed tuna, drained
½ cup crumbled feta

Method
Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add chickpeas, green onions, roasted peppers and parsley. Let mixture stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Add tuna and feta and serve, or chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The recipe says it serves 6, which seems reasonably accurate.

Rating: If you like cumin, you'll probably like this salad, since it stands out among the other flavors. Very substantial salad, with bright flavors. Points for the Italian flag color effect.

Chicken red pepper pizza with kale and quick pickled onions

I always have firm intentions to keep up with the volunteer kale plants. And every year I find myself in fall, scrounging for new ways to use up the wretched excess. So of course I put it on pizza, because I put it on everything.

Favorite pizza-related joke seen recently: Trash Jones tweeted: Chicago-style pizza implies the existence of AP style pizza.

The comments are priceless for the copy editors among us.

Chicken and pepper pizza with kale
Adapted from Better Homes & Garden, January 2020

Ingredients
½ cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup thinly sliced red onion, divided
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ cup sliced red bell pepper
8 ounces cooked, shredded chicken
Tajin or other chili-lime seasoning
Fresh pizza dough for 1 crust or prebaked crust such as a Boboli
¼ cup pizza sauce
2 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
1½ cups thinly sliced kale leaves
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted

Method
Place a baking stone in the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar and garlic. Bring mixture to a boil. Add ½ cup red onions and let simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet. Add remaining ½ cup red onion and red pepper. Cook over medium low heat until onion is softened. Add chicken to heat through and sprinkle with chili-lime seasoning.

Form pizza dough into desired crust shape. If you have a pizza peel, sprinkle it with cornmeal and assemble pizza on that and then slide it onto the hot baking stone. Alternatively, remove baking stone from oven and assemble pizza on that. Spread pizza sauce over crust. Top with chicken mixture. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes until top is golden. (Or if using a Boboli, check it after 10 minutes.)

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine sun-dried tomatoes, lemon juice and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Add kale leaves and let the mixture set while the pizza bakes. Add drained quick-pickled red onions to kale mixture. Spread across hot pizza. Sprinkle with pine nuts.

Rating: This is one of those recipes that was either going to really work, or really not work. Despite its odd nature (or at least I think adding pickles to pizza sounds a bit odd), it actually works really pretty well. The soak in the dressing softens the kale just enough and the flavors all work well together. I had wondered whether we would regret not adding some goat cheese or feta, since the recipe does not call for any cheese. I'd say it worked fine without it, but speculate that it would also work nicely with that addition. Have to follow up, and use up more of that kale. 

Coconut corn soup with chili crisp

 

This recipe includes a nod to the chili crisp craze. Seemingly everything must now be anointed with this condiment of the moment. I had bought some to try out the three-ingredient cherry tomato salad, which I used as a pasta sauce. Fine enough, but I still had more chili crisp left over, of course, so now I pay attention to recipes that call for it.

Coconut corn soup with chili crisp
Adapted from the Wall Street Journal

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
5 cups fresh corn kernels, or 2 (12-ounce) bags frozen corn
2 cups broth
1 (13.5-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
Chili crisp, for garnish

Method
Heat olive oil over medium low heat until it shimmers. Add onion, coriander, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika and cook until onion has softened and turned translucent. Increase heat to medium high. Add corn, broth and coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Cook until corn is cooked, stirring often, about 10 to 20 minutes depending on whether you’re using frozen or fresh corn.

Let soup cool slightly before blending to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper as needed. Serve garnished with chili crisp.

Rating: Both of us were first struck that it tasted like a slightly richer version of creamed corn. So this recipe may depend on how you feel about that. I was only exposed as a child to what they glopped out of those industrial-size vats in the school lunch room. This recipe offers more complexity of flavor, obviously. The chili crisp is a good match. I can’t detect the coconut milk as a notable flavor, but I’m sure it brings something to the party. Since you can use frozen corn if need be, this is pretty pantry friendly. Serves 4 to 6, depending on whether you’re using soup bowls or soup plates.

The best part: Dave asked what it was I had called the swirl of stuff on top. I explained that it was the stuff that was now being slathered on pretty much everything. He said they probably didn't put it on watermelon. I told him I was pretty sure he was wrong about that, but waited until after lunch to google to prove him wrong. Not sure if I need to try out watermelon burrata salad with chili crisp or any of the other multitude of watermelon-chili crisp recipes. I have considered watermelon and Tajin, however, the previous thing everyone had to sprinkle on everything.