New Year Noodle Soup

I am a Foodie, that’s all there is to it.

I LOVE food!
I love to find new recipes and I love sharing what I find with you.
Hopefully, once in a while, what I post sounds good to you also!

This New Year Noodle Soup recipe caught my attention, and I'm thrilled it did. At its core it is a bean and noodle soup featuring thin egg noodles swimming in a fragrant broth spiced with turmeric, cumin, chiles, and black pepper. You use a medley of lentils, chickpeas, and Cannellini beans, making the soup hearty and filling without being heavy. You add spinach, dill, and cilantro. You add lime juice for a bit of sour at the end. And then you've got a number of toppings to add when you serve the soup - chopped walnuts, caramelized onions, and sour cream. It's a long ingredient list, but worth it. I think I'm going to double up on the next pot. It was delicious reheated for days, even with the noodles in there. You’ll find everything you need at Harter House and Harter House World Flavors.


















New Year Noodle Soup
If you don't have beans that have already been cooked you can use canned ones. Or you can soak them overnight, and add them after the broth comes to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes, then stir in the split peas/lentils. This way the beans/lentils should be done cooking around the same time. And, on the noodle front, you can actually use more/less noodles.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 long red chili OR green serrano, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 1/2 cups vegetable stock/broth
3.5 oz. yellow or green split peas or brown lentils
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed if using canned
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 Cups thin egg noodles, fresh or dried
3 1/2 oz. fresh spinach leaves, finely shredded
1/2 cup finely shredded cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
juice of one lime

Toppings:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
½ Cup sour cream or creme fraiche
2 ounces of toasted, chopped walnuts

Directions
Heat the oil in a large, thick-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and the chile and cook until they soften, a few minutes. Add the spices and cook for another thirty seconds, just long enough for them to toast a bit, then stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and add the split peas/lentils to the pot. Cook until they are just tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the cooked chickpeas and Cannellini beans. Once the beans have heated throughout, season with salt to taste.
In the meantime, you can prepare the toppings. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat along with a couple big pinches of salt. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until golden and caramelized, 8 - 10+ minutes. Set aside.

Just before you're ready to eat, add the noodles to the simmering soup and cook until al dente. Stir in the spinach, and cilantro and dill. Add a big squeeze of lime to the pot or serve wedges along with each bowl of soup. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Serve right away, each bowl topped with a big spoonful of caramelized onions, some creme fraiche (or Sour Cream), and a sprinkling of walnuts.
Serves about 4.


My hope is that each of you has a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year. I'd also like to add a heartfelt thank you for your ongoing insight and encouragement. ~ Michele

A Rustic Lentil Soup with Kale

I'm still thinking Healthy today!!!!

Here's the recipe for winter vegetables.
Get out the crusty bread or make your own biscuits to go with it because it's pure comfort food for a rainy winter day.

All greens are good with lentils, and I especially like to add them to a soup that's going to be a meal. That way you get all your good foods together in one bowl.

A Rustic Lentil Soup with Kale

1 cups brown lentils, rinsed and soaked if possible
1 to 1 1/2 cups shiitaki mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 carrot, grated or finely diced (use one of Nash's big carrots, if you're lucky enough to have them in your kitchen)
1 potato, diced (no need to peel)
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 bay leaf
6 cups water or vegetable stock
2 cups kale, middle rib removed, finely chopped Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Chopped parsley
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Red wine vinegar or apple cider to taste
Croutons for garnish


If you haven't already soaked the lentils, soak them while you prepare the rest of the soup.


Heat a skillet over medium heat and dry fry the mushrooms until they become soft--5 to 7 minutes. Roughly chop and set aside.


Heat a soup pot over medium head and add the oil, onion, and carrot. Stir and cook until onion softens, add drained and rinsed lentils, mushrooms, potato, garlic, tomato paste, prepared mustard, dry red wine and bay leaf. Stir to combine, then add water or stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until lentils are soft.


Add kale and salt and pepper to taste and continue to cook until kale softns--5 to 10 minutes. Add about a teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and add a dash of vinegar to each serving. Garnish with croutons, if desired.

Red Curry Salmon Chowder

How about something healthy today?

Red Curry Salmon Chowder.

Use presliced mushrooms to save time in this already speedy recipe.

For an added touch, sprinkle with chopped, toasted peanuts and serve over noodles, a side of rice, or a side of Naan Bread for mopping up the bowl.

Purchase fresh Salmon from Harter House Supermarkets.

Red Curry Salmon Chowder
serves 4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 small red onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 small Hot Chili Pepper, sliced
1 (14 oz.) can light coconut milk
1-2 cups low-sodium vegetable or fish stock
2 teaspoons low-sodium fish sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 pound skinless salmon fillet, cut into large chunks
2 small heads (1/2 pound each) bok choy, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup cilantro leaves and thin, tender stems
2 large limes, cut into wedges.

Directions
1. Heat coconut oil in a medium-large saucepan; cook onion and mushrooms for 3-5 minutes, until just softened. Stir in curry paste, ginger, garlic and chili pepper; cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, and honey; bring to a boil and add salmon and bok choy. Reduce heat to low and simmer, coovered, for 3-6 minutes 9depending on salmon thickness), until bokchoy is tender.

2. Divide amoung 4 bowls, sprinkle with basil and cilantro, and serve with lime wedge on the side.

All ethnic ingredients for this recipe are available at
Harter House World Flavors

.

Beef Wellington

While working at Harter House Supermarket, I often talk recipes with customers. After a recent conversation, I had an inkling to make Beef Wellington, beef tenderloin smothered with mushroom duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry and baked.

Mushroom Duxelles is a recipe from very classic French cuisine. It's a paste-like reduction of finely minced mushrooms that have been slowly cooked with shallots and butter until all the liquid is gone, resulting in an ingredient that adds rich mushroom flavor to other dishes.

Beef Wellington is one of those dishes that was a lot more popular 40 years ago than it is now.

Here's a super simple Recipe for

BEEF WELLINGTON

(4) 6 oz. beef tenderloins cut 1 inch thick.
Let Harter House butchers cut them for you.
(1) Package purchased puff pastry.

Filling
1 Cup Chopped mushrooms
1/4 Cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 TBL butter
1 Tsp Dried Thyme
3 TBL flour
3 TBL Cream



Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Sear Tenderloins in heavy frying pan in small amount of cooking oil, about 2 minutes each side to seal in the juices. Set adise to cool.

Saute mushrooms and onions in butter; add thyme, flour and cream. Mix well. Set aside to cool.

Roll out each pastry sheet on lightly floured board. Cut sheet into quarters. Spread filling on top of each tenderloin. Set Tenderloin on quarter of pastry and wrapm paatry around tenderloin. and seal completely. Trip top of wrapped tenderloin with pastry scraps as desired.

Bake at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Serve immediately.


Mushroom Duxelles
Although Duxelles were traditionally used in old-fashioned recipes like Veal Orloff, today it remains a way to add mushroom flavor to dishes that will benefit from this complex taste. For example, several spoonfuls of Duxelles is a perfect base on which to place fillets of white fish, like sea bass, which are then wrapped in parchment paper and baked.

Other uses include adding a heaping spoonful to scrambled eggs or omelets, to a simple pan gravy from your holiday turkey, on top of grilled bread for a luxurious crostini, or stirred into a toasted rice or barley pilaf.

While simple to make, Duxelles take a bit of time -- first to mince all those mushrooms (at least if you're cutting them by hand, which I think produces a far better result than if food processed), and then cooking off all the liquid that mushrooms always produce. But the result is worth the chopping and worth the waiting. I always make extra and invariably find ways to use any leftovers.

Ingredients
8 oz. white button mushrooms (your goal is to produce about 4 cups of finely minced pieces)
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 to 2 small shallots, finely minced (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt
Pepper

Tip: While not traditional, you can substitute extra virgin olive oil for the unsalted butter. Choose a gently flavored oil, not one that has a strong, green taste.

Tip: You can easily just double all the quantities and make twice the amount. Leftovers are always useful and won't last long. You can also freeze leftover Duxelles for a month or so and defrost in the refrigerator the night before you plan to use them.

1. Clean the mushrooms to remove any dirt using a damp paper towel or cool water and a soft mushroom brush. Dry completely.
2. Remove any coarse stems and any dark spots.
3. Finely mince the mushrooms. You may use a food processor to do this but be very careful to not purée the mushrooms. Your goal is to have very small but separate pieces.
4. In a large sauté pan over a moderate heat, melt the butter and add the shallots.
5. Sweat the shallots for about 5 minutes in the butter until soft and tender.
6. Add the finely minced mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice, a pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper.
7. Cook over a moderate to moderately-low heat until the mushrooms throw off their liquid and then re-absorb it, leaving no liquid in the pan. Stir occasionally. This process can take up to 20 minutes. When done the mushrooms will resemble a dark brown, mealy, almost paste-like texture. The quantity will also have been reduced by about half, so 4 cups of finely minced pieces will produce about 2 cups of finished Duxelles.
8. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
9. Let cool before refrigerating or before using in another recipe.

National Food Day TODAY

It was a beautiful, totally sunny, and 75 degree day for the 1st Annual Springfield Food Day Celebration held Saturday, Oct. 22. Harter House Supermarket participated in the downtown event. I think it was a success. Although I never heard the count of attendees, I know it was several hundred. Karen, Rachel and I greeted attendees at our Harter House booth all day, sampling deli meats & cheeses, chips and salsa, vegetables and our homemade signature vegetable dip to name a few items.



















Roxann from Harter House on Republic Road came out to enjoy the fun
with her boyfriend Scott and daughter Rachel.




















My husband, Craig, was certain I needed his help (especially when I said “beer garden”) so he brought our BBQ grill/smoker to the event parking lot and smoked 6 large tri-tips. Of course Tri-Tips are a signature item for Harter House Supermarkets, so it was perfect that we sampled this delicious grilled beef cut. Many that came through were familiar with the Tri-Tip, but almost as many had never had it and never even heard of it. Needless to say, they were impressed because my husband grilled them PERFECTLY!



By the way, the beer was provided by
Mother's Brewing Company
a local Springfield Brewery.





Have you had a Tri-Tip lately?

They are SO wonderful!

We have recipes available at the meat counter.







During the day, several bands played music. There was dancing, kids face painting and kids jumping in the inflated room.

I think I can accurately say that fun was had by all and proceeds went to benefit the Ozarks Food Harvest which distributes food to more than 320 hunger-relief organizations across 29 southwest Missouri counties, reaching more than 41,000 people monthly.

In honor of National Food Day
which actually is TODAY, Monday, Oct. 24,

visit our community food bank

at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave. in Springfield.

CEO Bart Brown will conduct a talk and tour

beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Call Lindsey for questions or to arrange

for a group at (417) 865-3411.

Food Day Celebration

The first national holiday for FOOD DAY
(Think Earth Day for FOOD!)
is October 24, 2011
and will be an annual event every year from now on.


Springfield, MO Food Day Celebration
will be celebrated Saturday, October 22, 2011.

The event will have a beer garden, live music, kid’s activities, lots of things for families, free food sampling opportunities, exhibitor booths and other fun festivities.

Springfield's Food Day Celebration will be in downtown Springfield

at the Wilhoit Plaza parking lot at Jefferson and Elm.

Admission will be one canned good for each attendee

or $2 per person/$5 per family

and proceeds benefit The Ozarks Food Harvest.

Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes.

Plan to PARTICIPATE

Harter House Supermarkets will participate in this event also, because we want to celebrate the power that real food has to nourish us and bring us together.

We want you to participate in the conversation.

The most important ingredient in Food Day is you—and we invite you to join us for this event and help make Food Day a success.
Why Eat Real?
Real food tastes great. Meals built around vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are delicious and satisfying. We want to get Americans cooking real food for their families again. We want to celebrate fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy whole grains—and to support the local farms and farmers that produce them. We want all Americans—regardless of their age or income or geographic location—to be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet-related conditions.


Find out more by visiting http://www.fooddaycelebration.com

Veggie Pancakes

How do you slip veggies into your kids’ meals? Let me know!

I am always trying to find ways to add more vegetables to my family’s diet. This weekend, my niece and nephew visited and I made them vegetable pancakes!

It seems to be a textural thing rather than taste, so by marrying grains with vegetables, I can give them a healthy, well-balanced meal they enjoyed eating. Here’s the veggie pancake recipe that I found:

Wet Ingredients
1 ½ cups of vegetables (shredded zucchini, carrot, onion and frozen corn)
3 eggs (1 full egg and 2 egg whites)
4 TB (½ stick) butter
1 ¾ cups milk

Dry Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
¼ cup oats
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

These pancakes are really very simple to make. The most time consuming part is preparing the vegetables, so do that first.

Start by shredding 1 ½ cups of vegetables. For my pancakes, I used zucchini, carrot and onion and then added some frozen corn. But you can use whatever vegetables you like. (And if your child is not ready for chunky foods, you can pre-cook and puree the vegetables and place them in the batter that way). Once shredded or pureed, place the vegetables aside. Crack open three eggs and place one full egg and two of the egg whites into a small bowl. Whip the eggs and then add the butter and mix until creamy. Now, add the milk and vegetables and stir all of the wet ingredients together.

In a large bowl, add the wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them together. At this point, heat up a griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Add a bit of butter to the pan, if desired, to help keep the pancakes from sticking. Pour on about 1/8 cup of batter for each pancake – on my griddle I cooked three pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes, until bottom of pancake is set. Flip and continue cooking for 2 minutes. The recipe makes about 12 pancakes. I like to keep the cooked pancakes in a warm oven as I cook the remaining batter.

We all enjoyed the pancakes topped with butter and sour cream. I also served homemade apple sauce on the side, which turned out to be a lovely combination. The texture of these pancakes is great! My niece and nephew loved them and I loved seeing them eating up their vegetables (secretly hidden in those pancakes) and since breakfast is my husband’s favorite meal, he loved them too! Now, it may be “breakfast for dinner” at our house.