Chickpea Potato Soup with Lemon Rosemary Broth

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Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was quite nice. Temperatures have returned to what can be expected here on the Canadian Prairies after a much appreciated warm start-to-the-winter. Now that temperatures are below zero, snow is finally staying on the ground and the skating rinks are actually able to stay open. In honour of the chilly weather, Jesse and I went skating today at my favourite park in the city – Kildonan Park. My attempt at skating was very reminiscent of Bambi trying to take his first few steps. I was terrible! Although, I only had one epic fall. *hehe* Terrible at skating or not, I had a really nice time. Hopefully practice makes perfect and I’ll improve by end-of-season!

This cool (or….freezing) weather has also inspired me to get into the kitchen and make delicious, heart-warming soup. This past weekend I made a batch of this Chickpea Potato Soup with Lemon Rosemary Broth. The lemon and rosemary broth was extremely flavourful and light. I greatly enjoyed being in the warm kitchen watching over the pot of soup while snow fell outside. I am looking forward to making another batch of soup next weekend. Soup is the perfect winter meal. Warm, hearty and comforting. Plus, soup is brilliant if you need to sneak a few more vegetables into your diet! 

Over the winter, I am hoping to post a new soup recipe each Monday. That way, you too can enjoy adding new and delicious soups to your weekly dinner repertoire over the winter months. Soups are ideal as they are generally quick to throw together and offer such variety to break up the winter doldrums.

Here are a few other soup recipes from the past year: 

And if you like to eat your soup with a hearty piece of bread, give this recipe for 
Three Seed Biscuits a shot. They go well with soups of all kinds. 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 cup of diced white or yellow onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic; minced
  • 2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 5 cups of vegetable stock
  • 6 sliced white mini potatoes (or 2 small potatoes; cubed)
  • 1-14 oz can of chickpeas; drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 bunch of swiss chard or fresh spinach leaves
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
  • splash of cream (optional)

Method


1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic, lemon zest and rosemary. Stir for a minute. 


2. Add the vegetable stock and potatoes. Cover the pot loosely and bring to a simmer. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes). Stir in the rinsed chickpeas.


3. Wash the swiss chard or spinach. Note: If you are using swiss chard, make sure to separate the stems from the leaves. Chop the stems into small pieces and add to the soup. Chop the chard leaves or spinach leaves roughly then add to the soup. Leaving the pot uncovered, simmer the soup until the chard or spinach has wilted slightly (about 3 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.


4. Add splash of cream if using. Immediately before serving the soup, add the lemon juice. Stir, serve, enjoy.


Source: Anna Olson – In The Kitchen

Homemade Bruschetta Mix

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Over the holidays, I made a few batches of my favourite homemade bruschetta mix. I figured it would be nice to have on hand to serve on melba toasts if any people made a surprise visit during Christmas and New Years. I normally like to serve this mix with a cheese ball, so people can spread a little cheese on slices of baguette and top it off with the bruschetta mix. My go-to cheese ball is a basil infused goat cheese cheese ball with parmesan crust. It’s delicious! Everyone loves this homemade bruschetta mix and I guarantee it will be a hit in your home too.

 I also really like to use this bruschetta mix in my Caprese Quinoa Salad. I made a batch of the Caprese Quinoa Salad for dinner tonight and will be posting the recipe next week.

Happy Friday everyone! :)
Ingredients
  • 1 pint of cherry tomatoes; rinsed
  • 1 clove of garlic; minced
  • 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of white sugar
  • a small bunch of basil; chiffonade
  • 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

1. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. (note: if you are in a rush, you can put the cherry tomatoes in a food processor and pulse them 3-5 times until they are cut into small pieces). Place the cherry tomatoes in a medium bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, red wine vinegar, pepper, salt, and white sugar.

3. Add the dressing to the chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle the fresh basil over top of the tomatoes and toss. Add the grated parmesan cheese if using.

4. Store the mix in the fridge for at least an hour before serving to allow the flavours to combine & the garlic to mellow out.

Serve on melba toasts or slices of baguette.

Source: Courtney Jones

Gingerbread Trifle with Cinnamon Custard

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This past Boxing Day, I hosted the first annual vegetarian Christmas dinner at the condo. I had a long list of dishes I wanted to make this Christmas, but I only ever get asked to bring the vegetable side dishes to holiday functions. I guess people assume vegetarians know how to cook vegetables. *hehe* I never get to bring tasty vegetarian main dishes! So, I invited my parents, sister and her fiancé Jonny for Christmas dinner on the 26th (like we all needed to eat more food!) and I made a huge spread of vegetarian food. I made a fresh basil goat cheese ball and bruschetta for an appetizer. For dinner, I made polenta cakes with roasted vegetable ragout topped with baked goat cheese (recipe to come) and my favourite salad. For dessert, I made this awesome gingerbread trifle with rich chocolate sauce and cinnamon custard. It was pure heaven. Everyone loved it. I made mini trifles for everyone, as I knew they trifle would be quite rich. The recipe was quite time consuming, as I had to make the gingerbread cake the morning of the dinner. And then I had to make the custard and chocolate sauce an hour of two before serving the dessert. But all of the effort was well worth it. For special days & holidays, this gingerbread trifle is a show stopper. The spicy gingerbread soaked up the rich chocolate sauce. The cinnamon infused custard was so flavourful. A wonderful, wintery dessert!


Also, I’d like to thank Jonny’s mom for the awesome homemade perogies she sent me for Christmas. They were delicious….and devoured within 24 hours of being received :) Thank you so much!



Cinnamon Custard Ingredients

  • 3 cups of 2% milk
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup of cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup of light brown sugar; packed
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Dark Chocolate Sauce Ingredients

  • 1 tin (300ml) sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate; chopped
  • 1/2 cup of water

Assembly

  • 1 cup of chilled whipping cream (35%)
  • 1 teaspoon of white sugar
  • 1 recipe of gingerbread cake; cooled
  • chocolate curls
  • ground cinnamon for sprinkling



Method


1. Make the Custard: bring the milk and cinnamon up to a simmer over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, brown sugar and vanilla. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly until all of the milk had been added. Return the mixture to medium heat. Whisk the mixture until the custard thickens and becomes glossy (about 5 minutes). Remove mixture from the heat and add the butter. Stain into a bowl and directly cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap. Chill completely.


2. Make the Chocolate Sauce: heat the condensed milk and chocolate over low heat, stirring until melted. Whisk in the water and set aside.


3. Make the Whipped Cream: when ready to assemble the trifle, whip the cream into soft peaks. Fold half of the whipped cream into the custard. Add the sugar to the remaining whipped cream and chill.


4. Assembly: slice the gingerbread into cubes (about 1 inch cubes). Arrange a layer of sliced ginger bread at the bottom of a trifle dish. Dollop a third of the chocolate sauce over the gingerbread and spread. Dollop a third of the cinnamon custard over the chocolate sauce and spread. Cover the custard layer with another layer of gingerbread cubes. Repeat the process two more times ending with cinnamon custard. Chill until ready to serve.


5. To Serve: spread the reserved whipped cream over the trifle and garnish with chocolate shavings and cinnamon.


NOTE: Per Anna’s suggestion, I added 1/2 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to the gingerbread cake and it added a whole extra layer of flavour and texture to the cake.


Source: Anna Olson’s Back to Baking