Carrot Soup with Harissa and Coconut

Carrot Soup with Harissa and Coconut Milk

“This is the best dish I ever tasted in my life!”

That is an exact quote from my husband after tasting a carrot soup I made recently. It’s got some heat, thanks to Harissa (a peppery condiment originally from North Africa). But the spiciness is tamed by rich, creamy, coconut milk.

I’ve been experimenting with coconut milk for two reasons. First, because I’ve read that it’s healthy (it has medium chain fatty acids which are so-called good fats). And also because although it acts like dairy, it isn’t. So if you can’t digest dairy or you want to mix meat and something dairy-like in a meal, coconut milk is the thing for you!

This recipe was based on a soup my Mom served occasionally when she wanted us to eat vegetables and we wouldn’t. But she used fresh dill (a terrific partner for carrots), not Harissa, and enriched the soup with half and half cream. So you could always try that version too (1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill).

Btw, you can buy Harissa in jars in the supermarket. I also give a recipe for Harissa in my book, Hip Kosher.

Carrot Soup with Harissa and Coconut Milk

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 2 medium cloves garlic, chopped

• 1-1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced

• 4 cups vegetable stock

• 6 whole cloves

• 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons harissa

• 1 cup coconut milk

• salt to taste

• toasted coconut for garnish, optional

Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the carrots, stock and cloves, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan partially and cook for 25 minutes or until the carrots are soft. Remove the cloves. Puree the soup with an immersion blender (or use a standing blender or food processor). Return the soup to the pan. Whisk in the Harissa. Whisk in the coconut milk. Bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste. Serve garnished with toasted coconut if desired.

Makes 6 servings

Salmon Wellington

Everyone I know who’s Irish has told me that in Ireland they never cook corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. That that dish is an American thing.

And sure enough, several years ago when Ed and I toured that beautiful, lushly-green, people-always-smiling country, we also heard that corned beef and cabbage is for Americans. That in Ireland, on St. Patrick’s Day, they eat all sorts of food, especially ham and salmon.

Ed and I feasted on salmon all over Ireland. Glorious, tender, succulent salmon, fresh as fresh could be, mostly roasted but sometimes grilled.

But there’s so much you can do with salmon. It’s a kind of entree you could make 2-3 ways 2-3 times a week.

For example, if you’re up to cooking something festive for family or company, try this recipe for Salmon Wellington (which you can make ahead and reheat).

Salmon Wellington

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

8 puff pastry squares, thawed

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 pieces of salmon filet, each about 5 ounces, 3/4-inch thick

1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the butter and olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the onion and mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables have softened and the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Add the wine, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cook until the wine has evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and season with dill and salt and pepper to taste. Let cool. Roll each pastry sheet into a 6-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Spread 4 of the squares with an equal amount of the mustard (leave at least 1/2-inch edge). Spoon equal amounts of the onion mixture on top. Place one salmon filet over the vegetables on each square. Brush a film of beaten egg around the entire perimeter of each of the squares. Place a second square over the fish, then enclose the fish by crimping the edges all around. Place the packages on a cookie sheet. Brush with some egg. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 4 servings

Pareve, Dairy-Free Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread is addictive. For me anyway. It’s the kind of thing that when I bake, the perfume of that loaf cooking in the oven sets me yearning for the thing to be done so it can cool down and then I can eat it. And nibble the crust and pick at it in little pieces and pretend I am not consuming a large slice of bread. But by the time I finish picking it’s half gone and then I feel guilty (but satisfied!).

So, Soda Bread is a once-a-year treat for me. And now that St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, this is my excuse to make it. I love Soda Bread’s moist, almost cake-like middle and the soft but crusty crust. Slather with some good sweet butter and, well, it’s quite wonderfully memorably delicious.

Classic Irish Soda Bread is made with buttermilk, which makes baked goods like biscuits and quickbreads (and pancakes) tender and tasty too. But if you need a dairy free version here’s one — and I’ve given instructions for the classic buttermilk version too:

Pareve, Dairy-Free Irish Soda Bread

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1-1/2 cups water

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 cup raisins

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Mix the flour, brown sugar, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Mix the water and cider vinegar and pour into the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients into a soft dough. Work the raisins and seeds into the dough with your hands. Knead the dough about 18-20 times on a lightly floured surface. Use more flour if the dough seems very sticky. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten the ball slightly. Cut a small X on the top with the tip of a sharp knife. Place the dough on a baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes one loaf

NOTE: for a dairy version: substitute 1-1/2 cups buttermilk for the water plus cider vinegar

Passover Tiramisu

Passover products have been on the supermarket shelves for weeks now. Which makes Passover like any other holiday in this respect — you have to think about the food way ahead of the actual event and the mountains of matzo meal and farfel and potato starch are a reminder to stock up and start planning.

So too in the food business. I’ve been experimenting with Passover recipes for months and have already given several cooking demonstrations of Passover dishes. Last week I blogged about the one for the UJA Federation of Greenwich Annual Education Symposium (you’ll find a really delicious recipe for Quinoa Salad in that post).

The Symposium was a half-day event featuring keynote speaker Linda Scherzer, former Middle East correspondent for CNN and Israeli Television. Then came the breakout sessions, of which mine was one. You can read all about it here.

Well, in addition to that Quinoa Salad recipe,  I also showed the group how to make The Easiest, Fastest Tiramisu in the World.

Made with Macaroons.

Perfect for Passover.

It takes less than 15 minutes to make. And yes, it isn’t the authentic, cooked, egg-yolk enriched custardy tiramisu you may have eaten.

But it is pretty good! And looks good and takes almost no time at all.

The Easiest, Fastest Macaroon Tiramisu in the World:

12 ounces Mascarpone cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoon cold brewed espresso coffee

2 tablespoons Sabra coffee liqueur or Orange-flavored brandy*

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/2 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

12 macaroons

Beat the mascarpone cheese with an electric mixer set at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Add the ricotta cheese, sugar, coffee and liqueur and beat ingredients for another 2-3 minutes. Crumble 12 macaroons into 6 dessert dishes. Spoon equal amounts of the cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle with the cocoa and chocolate. Makes 6 servings 

*or use more espresso coffee or mix equal amounts of instant coffee and water together.

You can double this and serve it in a large serving bowl, layered with crumbled macaroons.

Chocolate Bread

Where are all the Queen Esthers and Mordecais? For almost my entire life every Jewish little girl wanted to be queen Esther on Purim. Here was the once-a-year chance to be the heroine queen who saved her people from annihilation! And also, of course to wear flowy chiffon scarves and skirts and maybe a tiara and a few bracelets and your mother’s best fake-rhinestone necklace.

And the boys always wanted to be Mordecai, who refused to bow to Haman and thus provoked that man’s rage into a fury.

Today a lot of the kids will dress up as ladybugs or Spiderman. Or princesses — hey, don’t they realize that a QUEEN has a higher rank and more jewelry than a princess??

And a lot of other Hallowe’en leftover stuff.

I guess it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s fun. Still, this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Hadassah, the worldwide Jewish women’s volunteer organization. Hadassah is named for Queen Esther. So it seems fitting that there should be more Queen Esthers out there celebrating. 

Anyway, our local Hadassah hosts an Afternoon Tea every other Tuesday for cancer patients and their caretakers at Stamford Hospital. I am one of their bakers. I often make quickbreads because they are moist, sweet and easy to eat. Like this Chocolate Bread, which is rich and dark and luscious. It’s a good choice for a Tea, afternoon snack or dessert. To celebrate Purim, Hadassah, Queen Esther or any time at all!

Chocolate Bread

• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/4 cups sugar

• 1/3 cup shortening

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, macadamia nuts, cashews or walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium, cream the sugar and shortening until well mixed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients until they are well blended and smooth. Add the flour mixture in portions, alternating with the buttermilk. Blend the ingredients thoroughly. Blend in the melted cooled chocolate. Fold in the nuts, if used. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread

Tartine au Sucre

If you’ve never tasted Tartine au Sucre you’ve missed out on one of the sweetest, loveliest desserts of all time. It is also one of the simplest, most heart-warming and homey desserts of all time. It’s an old-fashioned, very traditional one too. Nothing modern, nothing fancy, nothing nouveau about. It doesn’t yell out “foodie!”

Tartine au Sucre is simply this: good, bakery or homemade white bread, scattered with maple sugar and doused with real heavy cream.

Honestly, that’s it. I tried it first many years ago when Ed and I took our young daughters to Canada. We visited several places where we could see the whole process of tapping trees and cooking the sap into syrup. And we ate a lot of pancakes with maple butter. 

But the best maple food was Tartine au Sucre.

It’s now maple season. All the new crop, good maple syrup and sugar is around. Do yourself a favor and get yourself some and make this:

Tartine au Sucre

• 4 slices 1-1/2 inch thick sliced bakery or homemade white bread
• 3/4 cup maple sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Place a slice of bread on each of 4 dessert plates. Scatter each slice of bread with equal amounts of maple sugar. Whip the cream slightly, only until it begins to hold its shape but is still pourable. Pour over the sugar and bread.

Makes 4 servings

Spanakopitas

There’s more to Purim food than Hamantashen. Although I must confess that Hamantashen is among one of my favorite “cookies.”

But consider why we eat them. Hamantashen are triangles, meant to remind us of the hat our enemy Haman wore as he tried to annihilate the Jews.

We eat the “hat” to rid ourselves and the world of this man and his evil ways.

So really, any triangular food will do. Kreplach is also popular.

But I’m going to vote for Spanakopitas. Spinach-filled, phyllo dough pastries that you can make large, for dinner, or small, as hors d’oeuvre. These are absolutely wonderful and freezable — make a bunch and keep them (well wrapped) for months to eat well past Purim.

Spanakopitas

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 large egg

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons minced fresh dill

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 pound phyllo dough, approximately

4-6 tablespoons butter, melted, approximately

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the spinach and mix well. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the egg, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, dill and pepper and mix well. Cut the phyllo leaves into strips about 1-3/4 inches wide. Working with one or as many as 4 strips at a time, brush the strips with a film of melted butter. Put a small amount of filling at the bottom of each strip. Fold the strips diagonally so that the short edge meets the long edge and covers the filling. Continue folding into triangle shapes as you would a flag. Place the triangle on a cookie sheet. Brush with more melted butter. Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 30-36 pieces

Hi Idraygo: you can find Hip Kosher in major bookstores and at Amazon. Thanks for asking. Hope you enjoy it.

Ronnie

Hi Ronnie, love your recipes!  How much curry is needed in the snapper with coconut curry, not listed in the recipe.  I use your hip kosher cookbook all the time.! 

submitted by: stacy moses (stacy_moses@yahoo.com)

Hi Stacy

Thanks for the note. Glad you like and use the book! And many thanks for catching this omission of an ingredient. I just edited the post (that’s one problem with not having an editor).

The amount of curry needed is 1 teaspoon.

Enjoy and thanks agin.

Ronnie

Classic Minestrone

March 4th used to be Inauguration Day in the United States (changed to January 20th by the 20th amendment in 1933).

It was also my in-laws’ wedding anniversary. My mother-in-law, who could always tell a good joke, used to say “we marched forth on March 4th.”

But anyway, the other day, Gail Collins wrote one of her funny and terrific editorials in the NYTimes, mentioning, of all things, that on Inauguration Day, March 4, 1840, William Henry Harrison, the then oldest president ever elected, gave an Inaugural Address that lasted over 2 hours. It was raining. It was cold. And Harrison didn’t wear warm and protective clothing. He got pneumonia and died about a month later.

And so, Gail Collins continued, she has a great idea. Like President’s Day, (when for some reason it has become the custom to shop for cars), maybe on March 4th we could have something like “special Harrison Inauguration Memorial sales” events “in which all the warm winter clothing they are trying to clear off the shelves could be offered at stupendous savings. People could also give their loved ones special William Henry Harrison umbrellas, just to show they care. It would be great for the economy.”

I think that’s a wonderful idea myself and everyone should call his/her Congress-person right now and ask that person to sponsor a Bill to set aside a new holiday day for William Henry Harrison so we could all have time to shop for coats and things. Or at least call their local Chamber of Commerce and get them to get this going in the stores.

I also think we should mark the day as something like “Harrison Memorial National Warm Soup Day” and all eat a nice, hearty, warming and nourishing soup on this day.

Take this soup, for example — Minestrone. Who doesn’t love Minestrone? It’s so thick and full of stuff it’s like a whole meal and you can make it with meat or chicken stock or vegetarian with vegetable stock or water, serve it plain or with cheese. This soup and a good hunk of crusty Italian-style bread and butter or olive oil will make you feel warm, nourished and wonderful, whether it rains on March 4th or not.

Minestrone

3 tablespoons olive oil (or equal parts olive oil and butter)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

3 carrots, sliced 1/2-inch thick

2 all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces

3 stalks celery, sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 zucchini cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/2 cups frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn kernels

28 ounce can Italian tomatoes, drained and coarsely cut

8 cups vegetable, beef or chicken stock or water

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup white rice or elbow macaroni

grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Heat the olive oil (and butter, if used) in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly softened. Add the garlic, carrots, potatoes, celery, zucchini, peas and corn and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, stock, basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the beans and rice and cook for about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender (if you use macaroni, cook for 8-10 minutes). Serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Makes 8 servings