umeboshi

{Recipe}: Sweet and Smoky Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup

1 Comment

This past weekend the Hubz and I went out for lunch at Zabby & Elf’s Stone Soup where I debated between two soup/chili options and ultimately ordered a big cup of chili  while  the Hubz had the hot/cold bar.  The other soup that I was hotly debating over was a Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup which became my inspiration for last nights dinner.  Having no idea what else was in Stone Soup’s Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup my inspiration was limited to sweet potatoes and carrots and the fact that it was a creamy pureed soup.  I decided that I would go for a smoky sweet flavoring for the soup and serve it up with a nice green salad (and a veggie frankfurter for him).

Sweet and Smoky Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, baked, peeled and mashed
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 large carrots, diced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon umeboshi vinegar (or substitute with red wine vinegar)

Directions:

  1. Prick the skin of the sweet potatoes and bake in a 350F oven for 1 hour.
  2. In a medium heavy bottom pot heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add in the onions and saute for 3 minutes.
  3. Stir in the carrots and saute for 5 minutes.
  4. Stir in the garlic, chipotle powder and sweet paprika and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered.
  6. While the broth is simmering remove the sweet potato from the skin and mash together in a bowl.
  7. Place the broth and sweet potato in a food processor or blender (you may have to do this in two parts depending on the size of your machine) and process until smooth.
  8. Return to the pot and season with salt, pepper and umeboshi vinegar.
Why use umeboshi vinegar?  Umeboshi vinegar helps to balance flavors by adding a little tartness to your dish. I always use it to balance the flavors in my soups, sauces and with tomato recipes. Have you ever made a recipe and tasted and gone “there just something missing but I’m not sure what” well I recommend adding a little umeboshi vinegar to your recipe and my experience is 9 out 10 times it is just what the recipe needs.  Now a little goes along way so start with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon because you don’t want to overwhelm the other flavors in your dish.

 

Tempeh of Sea and Beer Fries

2 Comments

For last nights dinner I decided to try my hand at beer soaked fries, what seems to be a new foodie trend. We got a bunch of potatoes in our CSA this week so it only seemed fitting that they be made into fries. I also had a bunch of carrots leftover from last weeks CSA so I decided to toss them in as well. To go along with our beer soaked carrot and potato fries I made tempeh of the sea (recipe below).

Garlicky Beer Soaked Potato & Carrot Fries

(Based on Ashley of Edible Perspective’s recipe)

Yields  4 servings

  • 2 bottles of (your husbands homebrewed) pale ale
  • 1.5 lbs Red Norland Potatoes (or new potatoes), scrubbed and sliced into fries
  • 1 bunch of carrots, scrubbed and sliced into fries
  • 2 extra large cloves of garlic (or 3 regular),  finely minced
  • 3T olive oil
  • 1.5 t salt
  • 1t black pepper

Preheat oven to 425F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (optional).In a large bowl, soak the cut potato and carrot fries in the two bottles of beer for 20-30 minutes, tossing 1-2 times. After 20-30 minutes drain the beer.While the fries are soaking place half of the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a ziplock and place half of the fries in the bag; shake around to fully coat.  Pour out onto one of the baking sheets and spread the fries into a single layer.  Repeat. Bake for 30 minutes and then turn on the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

Tempeh of the Sea

The umeboshi plum vinegar gives this dish a fishy taste.

Yields 2 servings

  • 1-8oz package tempeh, cut into large chunks
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, choppped
  • 1 inch ginger, sliced in large rounds
  • 2 t sesame oil
  • 2 t umeboshi plum vinegar
  • 2T tamari
  • 3T water
  • 1 chili, minced
  • 4 cups loosely packed baby spinach

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a bowl created the marinade by combining the onion, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, vinegar, tamari, water and chili.

Place the tempeh in a oven safe baking dish. Pour the marinade over the tempeh.Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and place in a large preheated skillet over medium-high heat; saute on for 5 minutes. Stir in the baby spinach and saute for 5 more minutes.