Meatless Monday: Celery Root Soup

It's only recently that we have come to love celery root, or celeriac as it is also known. It's pretty ugly, and as the saying goes, you eat with your eyes first. But we have found this funny-looking root vegetable to be quite delicious in dishes such as our Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin. Then again, cheese can be like bacon in that everything-tastes-better-with-it kind of way. Regardless, we bought a couple of celery roots the last time we were at the farmers market and were looking for something new to do with them.

Rewind to Christmas, when Amy received this beautiful set of cookbooks from her cousin J (Thank you so much, J! We love you!). The cookbooks are particularly meaningful as they contain recipes created by the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy of Rome, where Amy was lucky enough to study in the summer of 2004 via a Fulbright Grant. She has so many wonderful memories of her time at the AAR and her other adventures in Rome, and while this particular program did not exist back then (darn it!), Italian, or more specifically, Roman, food is definitely something close to her heart and soul. Suffice it to say, she loves these books and she has been flipping around in them almost daily since she got them. 

Now back to the celery root thing. Since the volume on soup, Zuppe, is arranged by seasons, one of the first things she had looked at was the chapter focusing on winter, and there it was! Celery Root Soup (or, rather, passato di sedano rape), a velvety soup with beautifully rich flavors of celery, leek and potato that was as comforting as it was nourishing. Just lovely. And perfect for Meatless Monday.

Now, normally, we would post the recipe for you. But, as is noted on their website, "The American Academy in Rome is a private institution supported by gifts, grants and membership fees of individuals, foundations, corporations and leading colleges, universities and arts and cultural organizations." And purchasing items in their store, particularly these amazing cookbooks, is part of that support. So we don't want to do anything to take away from that. Perhaps this post and its photographs will inspire you to consider buying the book from AAR (or on Amazon here) and enjoying this and 49 other amazing soup recipes.

Spring Vegetable Farfalle for Meatless Monday

It is officially spring in Connecticut. It's 70 degrees out, the sun is high in the sky even at 5:00 p.m., and we have mini-forests of crocus all along our driveway. Oh look! Our spring onions and chives are coming in! At last, at last, it's spring at last!

And it's Monday, so what better meal to make for this beautiful spring day than something for Meatless Monday? This Food and Wine recipe seemed like the perfect gift when it arrived in our email box last week and we saved it for a day just like this one. As usual, we made some adjustments based our tastes and what we had on hand.

What we loved about this recipe was the wonderful fresh taste it gets from the green vegetables, seasonal herbs and tangy lemon. While we enjoyed it hot, we could see gracing our summer picnic table as a pasta salad alongside some barbecue. Mmmm...mmmm.

Spring Vegetable Farfalle

adapted from this recipe from Food and Wine

Ingredients:

2 slices white sandwich bread, finely chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons snipped chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch broccolini

1 pound mini-farfalle

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 fennel bulb - halved, cored and thinly sliced

juice from 1/2 lemon

2 drops lemon oil

Preheat the oven to 350. On a baking sheet, toss the bread with 1/4 cup of the oil and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until golden. Let cool, then stir in half each of the chives and tarragon. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and set aside. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the broccolini until tender, 1 minute; using tongs, transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Boil the pasta in the broccolini water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. In a deep skillet or wok, melt the butter in the remaining 1/4 cup of oil. Add the garlic, fennel and broccolini and cook over moderate heat until the fennel is crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Add the pasta, lemon juice and cooking water and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat until the water is nearly absorbed. Stir in the remaining herbs and lemon oil. Sprinkle the pasta with the bread crumbs just before serving.

Meatless Monday: White Pizza with Arugula

Tonight we used the last of the dough we made (we had frozen it) in a recent cooking class we took to make a pizza for Meatless Monday. We infused garlic and red pepper flakes into olive oil and brushed the dough with that, topped the pizza with a blend of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and baked it in a super-hot oven. While it was cooking, we tossed arugula (we got a bagful at a local farmers' market for $1!) with lemon juice and more olive oil, and when we took the pizza out, we placed the arugula right on top. Delightful!!!

White Pizza with Arugula

Ingredients:

1 premade pizza dough

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, sliced

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh arugula

2 tablespoons lemon juice

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat pizza stone in 500-degree oven for at least 45 minutes. In a small sauce pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes for 5-7 minutes over low heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. Stretch the dough and place it on a brown rice flour-dusted pizza peel. Brush the infused oil onto the dough. Top the dough with the cheese mixture and bake until crust is done to your liking and cheese is melted. In the meantime, whisk together the remaining olive oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper, and toss the arugula in the mixture. Lay the arugula over the cheese when pizza comes out of the oven. 

Meatless Monday: Traditional French Onion Soup

Some time ago we made an onion soup with 7 different types of onions in a beef broth base. It was very good, don't get us wrong. But we wanted to try something different, lighter, more authentically French. And that's when we found this post on Michael Ruhlman's informative and entertaining blog. We loved the recipe's focus on the simplest and least expensive of ingredients - onions and water - and the lovely rusticity of the soup. Next thing we knew, we were slicing a bunch of Spanish onions and cooking them until they turned a golden amber color. Good thing we weren't too hungry, because this took nearly four hours! It was well worth the effort, though. We followed Ruhlman's recipe, which you can find here, with a couple of necessary changes (like substituting marsala for sherry, which we did not have). Surely this changed the taste, but we were very pleased with the result. It was a light yet satisfying bowl of good food, much different from the beefy version we're used to, and perfect for Meatless Monday.

7 Spanish Onions

Sliced onions go into the pot

About one hour into the cooking time

After four hours of cooking

Adding water, marsala, red wine

Ladle into bowls

Top with dried baguette

Top with shredded gruyere

Broil until melted and browned

Traditional French Onion Soup

our very slight adaptations from Michael Ruhlman's recipe are below

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

7 Spanish onions, thinly sliced

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

4 slices of baguette

6 cups water 

1/3 cup marsala

splash of red wine

2 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated

Place the large pot over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the sliced onions, sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt, cover, and cook until the onions have heated through and started to steam. Uncover, season with pepper, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Place the bread slices in the oven and let dry completely. When the onions have completely cooked down, the water has cooked off, and the onions have turned amber—this will take several hours—add the water. Raise the heat to high and bring the soup to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Add the marsala. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed, and add a splash of red wine. Preheat the broiler. Portion the soup into bowls, float the bread on top, cover with the cheese, and broil until the cheese is melted and nicely browned.

Meatless Monday: Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Inspired by one of the pies we saw on Cooking Channel's recent special, "Pizza Outside the Box," we made a Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza, a perfect meal for Meatless Monday.

Does it sound strange? Sure. But it's very much like nibbling on a cheese board: three different cheeses, grapes, and bread. A virtual picnic in Paris, no airline ticket needed. We urge you to try it. You won't be disappointed. It's a party on your tastebuds - sweet, salty, crispy, chewy, cheesy, crunchy, tangy, herby and, in a word, fabulous.

Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Ingredients:

3/4-1 lb. pizza dough

corn meal

olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded provolone cheese

1-1 1/2 cups halved grapes

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary

Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes. Take the pizza dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface.

Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Gently stretch the dough until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. Lightly sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal and transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings. Sprinkle the outer edge of the crust with the kosher salt.

Mix together the mozzarella and provolone cheeses; spread this cheese mixture in a thin layer over the dough. Cover the cheese with the halved grapes. Sprinkle the pizza with the gorgonzola cheese crumbles and chopped rosemary.

Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is melted and golden. Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Spring Onion and Ricotta Fresca Tart with Scapes and Sage

We grew onions for the first time this year and they were the inspiration for this week's Meatless Monday dish. Well, not just our home-grown onions but also our sage, as well as a few ingredients from Sunday's Farmers' Market, namely, a handful of garlic scapes we got for a dollar, and some just-made ricotta fresca from our friends at Beltane Farm in Lebanon, CT. We call it a tart, but the addition of milk and eggs may cause a debate among our foodie friends and readers who may want us to call it a quiche. Suum cuique, we say. All we know for sure is that it was deliciously satisfying.

Home-grown inspiration:

onions (left)

and sage (right)

Bushel of garlic scapes, Coventry Regional Farmers' Market

We allowed the onions and scapes to caramelize in some fresh-sage-infused olive oil with a bit of sugar, salt and balsamic vinegar. Whisking in egg yolks with the whole eggs and milk gave the tart that rich and creamy yet still springy consistency one desires in a tart/quiche-thing. The crumbled ricotta fresca made from goats' milk resisted melting, was milky and sweet, and gave us something to bite into, which meant we hardly noticed it was a meatless dish. Meanwhile, the store-bought refrigerated pie crust made things a bit easier for a "manic" Monday.

Quickly frying the sage leaves makes for infused oil and pretty garnish

Onions and scapes are sprinkled with sugar then caramelized

Egg yolks, eggs, milk and chopped sage about to be whisked together

Ricotta Fresca from Beltane Farm

The ricotta is crumbled over the caramelized onion mixture inside the (raw) pie crust, awaiting the milk and eggs...

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust, thawed

4 tablespoons olive oil

6 large fresh sage leaves (whole)

2 onions, diced

6 garlic scapes, chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tabelspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup milk

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

6 ounces ricotta fresca*

*Note: it so happened that our ricotta was seasoned with chopped chives which enhanced the flavor of the spring onion. If you so desire, chop one or two fresh chives and add them to the mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press the pie crust into a pie plate and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and fry the sage leaves until they are crispy. Carefully remove the sage leaves and place on a paper towel; set aside. Add the chopped scapes and diced onion to the oil and place over medium-high heat. Sprinkle with sugar and cook the onions until they are translucent. Add the salt and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until caramelization occurs. Spread the onions into the bottom of the pie crust and crumble half of the ricotta fresca over the onions. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg yolks, eggs, black pepper and sage. Pour this over the onions and cheese inside the pie crust. Crumble the remaining ricotta into the mixture and place in oven. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until the center of the tart is firm and springy. Serve each slice garnished with a fried sage leaf.

The finished product