Monthly Archives: November 2009
Jewish Penicillin (Sort Of)
I’ve been under the weather all week, so haven’t had the energy to cook. Howard is convinced I have the H1N1 flu, but I say it’s just a cold. The symptoms listed on the CDC site are too vague to be convincing. I did stay home from work for two days. For those who know me, that gives you an idea of how sick I’m feel.
I really felt like I needed some homemade chicken soup tonight. My usual stand-in when I don’t feel well is to order wonton soup from a local Chinese restaurant. I didn’t even feel like I could go pick that up.
We picked up our CSA share last weekend, and the perishable vegetables really need to get cooked. Howard has made some delicious salads to take for lunch during the week, so the lettuce is gone, and we’ve made good progress on the radishes, carrots, and turnips.
The pound of spinach told me what to do. This spinach tortellini soup has been a favorite in our house for years. It is restorative and filling without being heavy. I found some duck stock in the freezer and asked Howard to pick up fresh tortellini at Russo’s. The hardest part was cleaning the spinach, so over all, this soup is really easy to throw together.
Spinach Tortellini Soup
(Serves 6)
1 lb spinach, washed, stemmed, and torn into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp butter
2 carrots, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
3 scallions, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced
6 cups chicken stock (I used duck stock, but most people won’t have it, and I won’t next time)
1/2 lb fresh tortellini (your favorite flavor)
Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Saute the carrots, scallions, and garlic until the carrots start to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the broth. Cover. Bring to a boil. Add tortellini, and simmer until cooked (about 8-12 minutes). Stir in the spinach, and cook, uncovered, until the spinach wilts.
The leftovers will not look as nice as when it’s first made. The spinach will discolor, and the tortellini will swell up. But it will still taste good.
Accidental Apple Crisp
When you cook, it’s important to be flexible. Quite a few of my favorite recipes came about because of poor planning and the need to make emergency substitutions. This weekend, we were invited to Howard’s cousins for dinner. I said I’d bring dessert.
I decided to make an apple tart I’d made once before. It’s a simple recipe with puff pastry, sliced apples, almond paste, and sliced almonds. A few hours before we needed to leave, we stopped at Trader Joe’s to get the puff pastry. I couldn’t find any. When I asked the helpful man, he told me this year, they are carrying pastry crust instead of puff pastry. Bummer. I didn’t have time to go to another store, and I didn’t want to buy pastry crust. I can make my own pastry crust, but didn’t have enough time. What to do?
I had the apples, and I had the almond paste. I make a marzipan crumble topping that I use on sour cherry pie. I thought I’d try to make an apple crisp with the marzipan topping. It was a success! Seven people polished off the entire dish.
Marzipan Apple Crisp
(Serves 8 to 10)
- 2 lbs. apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
- ½ c packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cloves
Marzipan Crumble Topping
- ¾ c flour
- ½ c packed almond paste (about 5 oz)
- ½ c packed brown sugar
- 6 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- ¼ c sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare the Marzipan Topping. In the food processor, blend flour, almond paste, & brown sugar, until almond paste is finely ground. Add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the almonds.
Toss the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix one-fourth of the topping into the apples. Fill a 3-quart baking dish with the apple mixture.
Sprinkle the rest of the topping over the apples.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the topping is browned and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.
Bonus:
I get a smug satisfaction when I can make something extra from the scraps of a recipe. I compost, so most scraps have a second life in the garden. If they can be used to make something to eat, that’s when I feel like I won a mini-lottery.
My friend Karen taught me to make applesauce from the scraps of an apple dessert. Just make sure to wash the apples before peeling them. Put the peels and cores of the apples for the apple crisp (or any other apple dessert) into a small saucepan. Add enough water to cover about half of what’s in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes or until the apple cores are soft. Run through a food mill using the plate with the medium holes to remove the seeds and catch the peels. This should make about 1½ cups of applesauce. Add a spoonful of sugar and some cinnamon and cardamom. Voila!
A Plateful of Happiness 