One-Pan Carrot Soup

When I tasted the hearty One-Pan Carrot Soup my wife made a while back, I knew the next time she made it I’d have to post the recipe here to share with the world.







As with practically any of her cooking, my responsibilities for posting the carrot soup are mainly following her around with a camera for photos and a clip-board and pen for putting the method into words. (My wife is a great instinctual cook who rarely uses recipes, particularly when making soup.) One of the hardest parts is documenting the quantities of ingredients, since she’s not big on measuring. For example, the recipe below includes what I’m calling 3 tablespoons of dried dill, which is actually my translation of what she called, “two palms full.” (My version does consider a correction factor for petite palms.)


Aside from faithfully documenting the process, my only contributions to this recipe were the grated parmesan topping and the beer batter rolls on the side.


(If you like this soup, you can check out another of her nothing-written-down recipes for Creamy Broccoli Soup.)






And now, here it is, One-Pan Carrot Soup, for your cooking and eating pleasure. This recipe makes four meal-size servings.


Put 1/8” water and 1 Tbsp butter substitute in a large skillet. Heat until the butter substitute melts.









Add 2-1/2 pounds of peeled whole carrots to the skillet and cover. Simmer until the water has evaporated to steam the carrots.




When the carrots are steamed and some are slightly caramelized, take them out of the skillet and set them aside.





In the same skillet, add 2 – 3 Tbsp olive oil, 2 rough-chopped onions and 3 rough-chopped stalks of celery. Cook uncovered until the onions are translucent.




Pushing the onions and celery to one side of the pan, put 2-3 Tbsp butter substitute and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour on the other side. Mix the butter substitute and flour to form a roux. When it has cooked for about 1 minute, combine the roux with the onions and celery and add 1 cup of skim milk. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened.


Add the carrots to the skillet and mash them with a potato masher. (It’s ok if some of the carrots remain chunky; the mixture will eventually be pureed.)





Add 3 Tbsp dried dill, 6 regular or 3 large bouillon cubes, and 4 cups of water. (The bouillon cubes should be enough to require 6 cups of water normally; this recipe only uses less water because of the other liquid ingredients involved.)


Cook the mixture until it just starts to boil, then turn off the heat and puree with an immersion blender.








The texture should be a thick liquid with some small chunks.











Serve the soup in bowls with some good bread and topped with fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Click HERE to download a cookbook-style copy of the recipe in .pdf format


Hope you enjoy this easy, delicious (and low-fat!) soup! And that you’ll visit again next week for another tasty recipe. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Oven-Fried Marinated Beer Batter Mushroom Tacos with Mexican Corn

Although fish tacos have been a staple in Southern California for decades (and, in a purer form, in Mexico long before that), it’s only in recent years that they’ve become quite the fashion throughout the U.S. Generally consisting of deep-fried battered fish (cod or similar) with shredded cabbage, a spiced, creamy sauce, and a few other simple toppings wrapped in a tortilla, it’s no wonder fish tacos in the Southern Californian style are so popular; they’re delicious. Unfortunately, that deliciousness comes at a price: deep fried fish topped with creamy sauce will generally be on the fatty side.


But fear not, dear readers. In this week’s recipe we’ll make Oven-Fried Marinated Beer Batter Mushroom Tacos, a fish-taco inspired version that uses marinated portabella mushrooms instead of fish, and that reduces the fat by oven-frying them in a beer batter and topping them with a low-fat creamy sauce.


There’s also a quick, simple Mexican Corn side dish.


As usual, some Cook’s Notes before we begin:
• Oven frying is very much like breading and baking except it has more crunch. I’ve experimented with many coatings over the years, and crushed cornflakes are the best coating I’ve found, much better than bread crumbs or panko. (Although you can buy crushed cornflakes in the bread crumb aisle, I recommend buying regular corn flakes in the cereal aisle and going over them with a rolling pin as shown below. It costs a lot less to do it that way, and you also get to control the size of the crushed pieces.)
• Traditional fish tacos include shredded red cabbage. You can do that here too, but since we need only a small amount, and I didn’t want to waste most of a large red cabbage, I used radicchio in its place.
• The heat in the sauce is mild. If you like it hotter, just increase the amount of hot sauce.


So let’s get started making this reduced-fat take on a Southern California classic that’s, like, totally awesome, dude!


This recipe makes eight soft tacos, which will usually be about four servings.


First, let’s marinate our mushrooms.
Slice 4 portabella mushrooms into strips about 3/4” wide.










Make the marinade by combing ¼ cup cider vinegar; 1 clove garlic, minced; ½ tablespoon of dried basil; ½ tablespoon of dried parsley; ½ tablespoon of dried oregano; ½ teaspoon salt; and ¾ cup olive oil. (Add the olive oil by drizzling it into the other mixed ingredients while whisking to keep a smooth consistency.)


Pour marinade into a gallon-size tight-sealing plastic bag. Place the sliced mushrooms in the bag with the marinade. Let them marinate for about 30 minutes, turning periodically for evenness.


Next, we’ll make our beer batter.


In a bowl, combine the following and mix until a thick, smooth batter forms: 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon ground white pepper; 12 ounces beer; and 2 egg-substitute eggs.


While the mushrooms are marinating, prepare the breading station.


Using a rolling pin, make 4 cups of crushed cornflakes in a gallon-size tight-sealing plastic bag.







Place 1-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour in a gallon-size tight-sealing plastic bag. Place the bowl of batter to the right of the flour. Place the crushed cornflakes to the right of the batter.


To bread the mushrooms, working one mushroom slice at a time:


Place the mushroom slice in the flour and toss to coat.













Dip each mushroom slice in batter till coated. Shake off the excess batter.









Place each coated mushroom slice onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon baking sheet. After all the mushroom slices have been placed on the baking sheet, cover it loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 – 20 minutes.


While the mushrooms are in the refrigerator:


Begin pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees.


In a bowl, combine the following till well-mixed to form the sauce: 6 ounces fat-free plain yogurt; ½ cup low-fat mayonnaise; juice of ½ lime; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; ½ teaspoon dried basil; ½ teaspoon dried parsley; ½ teaspoon dried oregano; ¼ teaspoon hot sauce (add more for a spicier sauce); ½ teaspoon garlic powder; ½ minced jalapeno (seeds removed); ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro; ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper.
When the mushrooms are ready to bake:


Spray the mushrooms with cooking spray and bake for about 11 minutes. Turn the mushrooms over and reverse the position of the baking tray for even baking. Wrap eight 8” low-fat tortillas in foil and place in the oven. Bake the mushrooms and the tortillas for another 11 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked through and the coating is crisp.


While the mushrooms are baking:


Prepare the Mexican Corn by combining 3-1/3 cups (about 1 pound) corn niblets (fresh or thawed frozen corn drained well); 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped; 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped; and 2 tablespoons chopped scallions in a very lightly oiled non-stick pan. (We want to brown the corn, not fry it.) Cook on the stovetop over medium heat until cooked through and some of the corn is slightly browned. When done, toss in a bowl with salt, pepper, butter substitute, and a squeeze of lime juice.


Prepare the following toppings: 1 radicchio, shredded; 1 bunch scallions, chopped small; chopped cilantro; and sliced fresh lime. (To shred the radicchio, just quarter it, remove the core from each quarter, and cut each quarter into 1/4" strips.)


To serve the tacos:


Along the center of each warmed tortilla, place some radicchio, two or three slices of mushrooms, some scallions, cilantro, and sauce.




Roll the tortilla and wrap in parchment or foil, with some of the taco sticking out.







Seal the roll by twisting the bottom.









Serve on a plate with the corn on the side, as shown in the photo at the top.


You can enjoy these soft tacos for lunch or dinner. (If you have any of the breaded mushroom strips left over, they’re also great heated up the next morning and served alongside some eggs for breakfast!)


To download a cookbook-style copy of this recipe, click here.


See you next week with another tasty recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Hearty Vegetable Soup with Ragi Spaetzle and Beer Bread Rolls

A great welcome to new subscribers Krista, Bobby, and Wendy. It’s great to have you as part of the family!


When I put together a meal recipe consisting of an American vegetable soup containing German noodles that were made with an Indian flour and served with rolls leavened by a Dutch beer, I wasn’t going for some kind of international fusion concept. Hearty Vegetable Soup with Ragi Spaetzle and Beer Bread Rolls just turned out that way.


This unusual (but delicious) combination started with Facebook friend Caroline, a fine cook and baker in India, telling me about ragi (pronounced RAH-gee, with a hard g as in “go”), a flour that not only brings a deep, earthy taste to food, but plenty of nutrition as well: calcium, carbohydrates, proteins, iron, niacin, and more. I had to try it. (Indian food is quite popular in the U.S., so ragi flour wasn’t hard to find.)


Why it occurred to me to use this to make spaetzle (pronounced SHPEHT-sluh or SHPEHT-sehl), a traditional German noodle, and then to use that as the noodle part of a vegetable-noodle soup, is anyone’s guess.


Finally, homemade vegetable-noodle soup demands to be served with warm, fresh bread, so to save time I decided to bake a beer bread and avoid the usual fermenting and proofing processes. In general, when cooking with beer, it’s a good idea to select one that would match well with the meal if you were drinking it. Since the bread was going to be served with a vegetable soup, I wanted a beer with a simple, clean taste. I opted for Heineken.  


The result: a very delicious meal that, in spite of looking like it has a lot of steps, is actually quite easy to make.


A few cook’s notes before we begin:
• If you can’t get ragi flour, or just choose not to, feel free to make a traditional spaetzle  or to use any other form of noodle, whether homemade or packaged. Remember, it’s your soup.
• To soften ragi’s natural earthiness for the American palate (and to use ingredients likely to be found in the American pantry), I used a 50/50 mix of ragi flour and all-purpose flour, and went with American seasonings rather than more traditional Indian ones. (Although some traditional ragi-recipe items, such as shredded coconut, were used in the recipe since those are readily available in the U.S.)
• The soup recipe uses both vegetable stock and chicken stock. If you want to keep the recipe strictly vegetarian, just replace the chicken stock with more vegetable stock. I just like the way a bit of chicken stock rounds out the flavor.
• Beer bread can be denser than yeast bread, so I lightened the texture of the rolls by using all-purpose flour instead of the usual bread flour.
First, our ragi spaetzle.  This recipe makes about 6 cups of cooked spaetzle. That’s way more than the two cups you’ll need for the soup, but leaves you plenty for spaetzle’s more traditional role as a side dish. (More on that in the recipe.)


Prepare a large pot of salted, boiling water and an ice bath.


In a bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons shredded coconut; 3 egg-substitute eggs; 1 cup skim milk; 2 tablespoons dried parsley; ½ tablespoon dried thyme; 1 teaspoon dried tarragon; ½ teaspoon ground ginger; ½ teaspoon dry mustard; ½ teaspoon dried cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1-1/2 teaspoon salt; and ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper.


Combine 1-½ cups ragi flour and 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, and add to the liquid mixture to make a loose dough.




Using a ricer, a food mill on the ricer setting, or using a spatula to press the dough through a colander, press the batter out into the boiling water, working in batches if necessary. Boil until the spaetzle floats to the top of the water, then transfer the cooked pieces to the ice bath to stop cooking.


Drain very well. Two cups of this spaetzle can be used in the soup recipe below.








(To use the remaining spaetzle as a side dish for another meal, melt 2 tablespoons of butter substitute in a sauté pan over medium low heat. Add the spaetzle and ½ teaspoon of white wine vinegar and sauté until lightly browned. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with butter substitute and serve.)

Now let’s make our soup! (This recipe makes about two and a half quarts of soup.)




Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and add 1-1/2 cup diced onion; 1 cup chopped carrots; 1 cup diced green pepper; ½ cup chopped celery; and a ten-ounce package fresh, sliced mushrooms. Cover and sweat over medium heat until soft, about five minutes.


Add 8 cups of vegetable stock; 2 cups of chicken stock, and a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained but not rinsed. Cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. (While the soup is simmering, you can go on to the beer bread recipe below.)

After the soup has finished simmering, add 2 cups of the ragi spaetzle and 1 tablespoon of dried cilantro, and simmer five minutes more.




Prepare a garnish by combining 2 grated carrots and two stalks of celery sliced paper-thin. When the soup has finished cooking, add salt to taste, top with a bit of the garnish, and serve.


And, of course, our beer bread rolls. This recipe makes 8 rolls.


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


Mix the following  in a bowl until combined: 3 cups all-purpose flour;  3 teaspoons of baking powder; 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt; 3 tablespoons of sugar; and 2 teaspoons of dried parsley or other herb compatible with the main meal.



Add a 12-ounce bottle of room-temperature beer (I used Heineken) and mix until a sticky dough forms.






Divide the dough into 8 equal portions on a baking sheet that is greased or lined with a silicon baking sheet.




Bake for about 12 minutes, then brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter substitute, turning the tray for even baking.



Continue baking until the edges of the rolls are lightly browned. (Total baking time should be about 26 minutes.) Serve warm.




If that doesn’t make your family happy, then I don’t know what will!


That’s it for this week! Please come back next week for another delicious (and kitchen-tested) recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, find an exciting new ingredient to play with, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)