Pies, Pies, Pies, Yeah!

Chocolate Pecan Pie and Southern Pecan Pie with Spice Crust

Okay, so the last post was all about Pumpkin Pie.  I showed you how to make a crust and gave you all handy tips about putting the pie on a sheet pan to ease it in and out of the oven.  The second most popular pie for the Thanksgiving holiday is, of course, Pecan Pie.  One of my spouses co-workers was wise enough to track her down and inquire if I made pies to order for this holiday.  I LOVE SPECIAL ORDERS!  I welcome them.  I live for them.

So, this lovely lady wanted a Pecan Pie.  I just happen to have a wonderful recipe for Pecan Pie.  I’ve shared with you, in a past post, another one of my fave baking gurus, Nick Malgieri.  This guy has great pie recipes.  The above pictured pies are the ones I baked yesterday using Nicks recipes.  “How to Bake” is one of my “go to” books when it comes to pies.

SWEET SPICE CRUST

1 cup all purpose flour

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

1 large egg

Place dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse a few times to mix.  Add pieces of cold butter to the bowl and pulse until mixture resembles corn meal.  Add the egg and process, about 10 pulses, until dough forms a ball.  Flatten into a round disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface.  Place in pie pan and finish edges as desired.

SOUTHERN PECAN PIE

1 cup dark corn syrup

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

3 large eggs

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons bourbon

2 cups pecan halves or pieces or combination

 

Prepare and chill dough

Combine corn syrup and sugar in a sauce pan and stir to mix.  Place over low heat and bring to a boil, without stirring.  Remove from heat, add the butter, and allow the butter to melt.  In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until they’re liquid and whisk in the salt and bourbon.  Whisk in the syrup and butter mixture, being careful not to overmix.  Allow to cool.

Set rack at the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Roll crust out and set in pan.  Arrange pecans in the crust.  Skim foam from the top of the filling (or the top will have an unattractively mottled surface) and pour over the pecans.  With the back of a fork, press the pecans down into the filling so that they are covered.

Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, until the crust is baked through and the filling is set and well puffed in the center.  Cool the pie on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

Cocoa Dough

Same recipe as above except you need to add 2 tablespoons sifted non-alkalized cocoa powder to the dry ingredients before mixing in the butter.  Omit the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

PIE FILLING

Add 4 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate to the hot syrup along with the butter.  Allow chocolate to melt and whisk the filling smooth.  Stir the pecans into the filling, rather than pouring it over them.

Follow the same directions as Southern Pecan Pie

 

Trio of pies baked for Thanksgiving 2007

Two Thanksgivings ago, we were invited to join some family and friends for the holiday meal.  I volunteered to bring pie, of course.  Of course everyone expected Pumpkin Pie, but I wanted more.  I make a pretty good Rustic Apple Tart, so it was a natural choice for me to bring.  Someone else mentioned Chocolate Cream Pie, so why not make three desserts?  I’m tellin’ ya’, any chance I get to make something sweet, I’m up for it.

Makes my mouth water to look at this shot

This one was so much fun to make, all that whipped cream and shaved chocolate

Not the best looking Pumpkin Pie I've ever made, but tasty none the less

 I feel a pie kick coming on…………………………………..

 

 

It’s Time for Pumpkin Pie!!!!

Per some of my readers requests, I’m posting my recipe for pumpkin pie. I wasn’t going to because it seemed so redundant as every food magazine and blogger is also trotting out the pumpkin recipes as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving once a year. Thanksgiving is a way of life in our household. We write daily gratitude lists and steep in our own joyful juices every day. So, this Thursday if you were to drop in on us, you would not find any of the usual holiday trappings. Oh, there will be food, as there always is at our place, but no candied yams or gross green bean casseroles. Forget about mashed potatoes or jellied canned cranberry crap in a crystal serving dish. And of course, since we are vegetarian, you would never find a turkey being cremated in our oven.

But I digress, as I am want to do frequently. You guys wanted a recipe for pumpkin pie, right? Ok, let’s do it then. I have been making a whole wheat crust that works great with pumpkin pie.

Whole Wheat Pastry Crust 

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ pound unsalted butter, chilled

3 tbsp ice water

Place flour, baking powder and salt in bowl of a food processor.  Pulse to mix.  Cut butter into small cubes and toss into food processor.  Pulse until fine crumbs form.  Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time.  Be careful not to add too much water.  You will end up with tough crust if you add too much water.  Mix until the dough sticks together when you press it between your thumb and fingers.

Dump the contents of the food processor into a bowl and gather the dough together, handling it as little as possible.  Form into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or until chilled.

Once the dough has chilled, roll out on a lightly floured surface.  Move the dough a round a lot so it doesn’t stick to the surface.  If it breaks a bit, just pinch it back together.  Place rolled out dough in pie dish and finish your edges however you like.

Rope Edge: Position the thumb of your right hand over the edge of the dough at a 45 degree angle across the rim of the pan. Press the side of your index finger from outside the pan against your thumb and squeeze gently to form a diagonal ridge on the rim of the crust. Continue around until the entire edge is fluted.

Now you need to do a little par baking of the crust.  Place a piece of foil or parchment paper over the crust and weigh it down.  I use pie weights, but raw beans or rice work just as well. 

I like to put pie dishes on baking sheets to make it easier to put in and take out of the oven.  Just a helpful hint, especially with liquidy fillings.  Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes.  While crust is baking, make your pie filling.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1  15 oz can pumpkin puree

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 eggs

1  12 oz can evaporated milk

In a large mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients until smooth.

Remove crust from oven.  Remove foil or parchment and set aside.  Carefully pour filling into pie crust. 

Place pie into 350 degree oven and bake until a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 – 60 minutes. 

And your finished pie should look like this.

There you have it.  A simple recipe for a tasty pumpkin pie.

In case you are wondering what we will be eating this Thanksgiving (and I’m sure you are) it will be something tasty.  We started this tradition last year and we enjoyed it so much we decided to repeat it.  We stay in our jammies, watch old black and white movies and eat pizza (homemade, of course!) 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

Vegan Enchiladas

I love Mexican food.  Especially enchiladas.  There’s something comforting about that plate of cheesy enchiladas, spicy rice and garlicky refried beans that warms my soul as well as my belly.  And speaking of bellies, mine has taken to expanding a bit these days, so I came up with this next recipe to ease my waistband, but still give me plenty of flavor that I so dearly crave.

You remember all those pesky green tomatoes from my garden?  Well, there are still a few hanging around.  I usually just use canned sauce for my enchiladas, but I thought the green tomatoes might just lend a nice flavor to a home made sauce.  Turns out I was right.

I cut up both red and green tomatoes, about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, three jalapenos and one habanero and spread them on a sheet pan.  I drizzled the whole thing with olive oil and seasoned to taste with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Then I roasted the tomatoes for about an hour at 350 degrees.  I pulled the pan from the oven and after taking a quick photo, placed the hot mixture into the food processor and pureed until I had a nice spicy, thick sauce.

Earlier in the day I took advantage of the nice fall weather and started up the grill outside.  I grilled Portabella mushrooms and some peppers.  I planned for two meals:  Enchiladas one day and chili rellenos the next.

While I was busy grilling in the backyard, I had the oven going  inside baking an acorn squash.  I chunked up the squash after it was cool enough to handle and cut the grilled Portabella up into bite size pieces, readying them for their place in the enchiladas.

Normally I would just make refried beans to accompany my beloved enchiladas, but I decided they were going to a part of the filling this time. 

 I sauted onions, red bell pepper, ground cumin to taste and jalapenos in olive oil until soft.  I added an undrained can of black beans, cooking and mashing until they were a nice consistency.  I put a large clove of garlic in the press, and squeezed the garlic into the beans.  I like adding the garlic after the beans are hot because it gives it a better garlicky flavor and doesn’t actually cook the garlic.

OK, so once all of these components are ready,  I heated corn tortillas on a griddle, spraying each side of the tortilla with non stick spray, until it was soft enough to roll.  I spread some of the beans on the soft tortilla, then added mushroom bits and squash chunks.  I rolled the enchiladas and place seam side down, in an oiled lowed rimmed dish.  Once all of the enchiladas were in the pan, I poured some of the sauce over the top, evenly coating  each one.  I made sure to save some sauce for plate finishing.  The enchiladas were then popped into a 350 degree oven and baked for about 20 – 25 minutes, until very hot.

Here is the resultant meal.  I thinned the remaining sauce in the pan with a little water and poured it over the plated enchiladas.  Spicy Mexican style rice and a little fruit salad completed my healthier version of a Mexican meal.  The acorn squash gave the enchiladas a nice mouth feel and we didn’t miss the cheese at all!  The beans and rice gave us our complete protein and the fruit helped cool the mouth from the burn of the habanero and jalapeno in the sauce.

If you don’t have green tomatoes, you could use tomatillos or just use all red tomatoes.  Either way, it’s a great little sauce, tasty and simple.

 

Lemon Coconut Pixies

Last year I received a Hershey’s Recipe Box as a birthday gift from a friend.  “I hope you don’t already have this,” she said, wringing her hands and furrowing her brow.   She worries too much.  I was delighted to receive a gift; even better when it is food related.  At first I thought that it was just a tin box with old fashioned Hershey’s pictures on it.

On closer inspection, I was delighted to see that it was filled with recipe cards, complete with photos of the finished products.

Lots of yummy ideas in here!

So, fast forward to one and three quarters years into  the future (present time).  I finally made a recipe from the Hershey’s Box!  And guess what?  No chocolate involved!  Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate!  But I was curious what kind of cookies old Hershey came up with that did not include their signature chocolate.  Since I had coconut and fresh lemon in my kitchen and since we love both of these flavors, I decided on the Lemon Coconut Pixies.

They turned out great!

I brought a few to my friend, Mark, at work the day after I made them.  He went nuts!  “These are so professional!  It’s like something I would get at a fancy bakery!  They melt in your mouth!”  Mark is easy to please.  I will tell you that they are better the following day and the day after that, as the flavors become more distinct.  And paired with a hot cup of tea, delicious!

These would be great for a wedding or a baby or bridal shower.  Really nice for an afternoon tea party.  Or good when you are sitting at your computer, hammering out your latest blog entry, as I am doing right now.  I hope the powdered sugar doesn’t muck up my keyboard too much……

LEMON COCONUT PIXIES

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon peel

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup MOUNDS Sweetened Coconut flakes*

Powdered sugar

Beat butter, granulated sugar, eggs and lemon peel in a large bowl until well blended.  Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to lemon mixture, beating until blended.  Stir in coconut.  Cover; refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.  Shape into 1 inch balls; roll in powdered sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are set.  Cool completely.  Store in a tightly covered container in a cool, dry place.

*  I did not use MOUNDS coconut.  I used what I had on hand.  I put that in this entry because that is what made it a Hershey’s recipe.  I’m sure my coconut came from a bulk bin at Winco!  But it still did the job and tasted yummy.

Here, take a closer look.

What’s for dinner?

“What’s for dinner?”  I hear this question from my spouse quite frequently.  I also hear it from my co-workers.  Not that the co-workers come to my house for dinner, but they are always interested in what goes on in my home kitchen.  I often bring leftovers for lunch, and someone always comments on how good something smells.

Last night I wanted to keep it light, as we have been eating some higher fat things lately and clothes are beginning to fit a bit snug.  I always enjoy at big salad meal and some warm bread.  I baked up a nice Brown Beer Bread and a made a hearty salad, filled with protein and veggies.  The salad dressing was super tasty and super easy.

Salad full o’ goodness, dressed with Fig Lavender Dressing and Brown Beer Bread

 

FIG LAVENDER DRESSING

1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp fig glaze (see Chocolate Fig Custard Cake post for recipe)

1 tbsp lavender vinegar (purchased at a lavender farm, but you could make your own.  Steep dried lavender in white vinegar for a few weeks.)

Whisk together in small bowl and dress salad.  That’s it.

SALAD

1 package Trader Joe’s Vegetarian “Chicken”

1 head Romain heart, roughly chopped

1 large slice red onion, finely chopped

1/2 red bell pepper. cut in bit size pieces

1/4 cup sliced black olives

1 medium carrot, shredded

1 small tomato, chopped and seeded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 small roasted beet, cut in small cubes

1/2 large avocado, cubed

Heat a non-stick saute pan over medium high heat.  Spray pan with non stick canola or olive oil.  Toss in “chicken” strips.  Season to taste.  I used garlic powder, onion powder, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.  Cook until slightly browned, just a couple of minutes.  Set pan aside to cool while you put the salad together.

In a large bowl, mix Romain, red onion, red bell pepper, olives, carrot and tomato, Parmesan cheese, and cooled ”chicken” pieces.  Drizzle on dressing and toss.  Divide among salad bowls and top with avocado and beet cubes.  This recipe served 2 adults as a main meal.  It can serve 4 – 6 as a side salad.

You can use whatever dressing you like on the salad; but if you made the recipe for the Chocolate Fig Custard cake and have leftover fig glaze, you should really try this.  So good!

BROWN BEER BREAD

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

12 ounces Black Butte Porter (or other dark beer, Not Guinness!**) Room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 9 x 5′ loaf pan with non stick spray.  Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add beer all at once, mixing as little as possible.  Batter will be lumpy.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Pour melted butter evenly over the top and bake for 45 – 50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Turn out on rack to cool.

**  You can use Guinness in bottles but not the kind that comes in the can.  The canned variety gets it’s carbonation from nitro, which doesn’t work well with this bread recipe.

 

Root Beer Cake

Root Beer Barrels and A&W Root Beer Jelly Bellies complete this Root Beer Cake

My friend Emily had a birthday on October 15th.  It was a pleasure and an honor to make a special cake celebrating her turning a quarter of a century this year.  The fact that I am over  a half a century old and old enough to be her mother doesn’t interfere with us being good friends.  Emily is my grasshopper.  I am her sensei in the food world.  We enjoy getting together often and talking for hours about food and recipe development.

We have an on going joke about how excited people get when they are offered root beer in our home.  I think it is pretty funny, running down the list of beverages in the fridge.  Beer, wine (not in fridge, of course!), water, juice, root beer.  ROOT BEER!  Every time, without fail, someone gets excited about root beer.  One night, Emily and Chuck were over for dinner and I start offering drink options.  Emily pipes up “ROOT BEER”!  From that night on, she’s on a root beer jag.  It seemed only fitting that I should invent a root beer cake for her birthday.

Root Beer Cake

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup canola oil

2 ½ cups granulated sugar

5 eggs, room temperature

3 cups cake flour, sifted

2 tsp baking soda, sifted with flour

2 tsp root beer syrup

¾ cup root beer, room temperature

Grease 2   9” round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Add eggs, one at a time and beat well.  Mix in flour mixture, one cup at a time and beat well.  Add syrup and root beer and mix well. 

Pour batter, evenly divided, into prepared cake pans.  Bake in a preheated 325° oven for about 50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.  Remove cake from pans when cool, wrap and refrigerate until ready to frost.  Cooling the cakes make it easier to slice into four layers.

I used the buttercream recipe in the “A Fall Themed Birthday Cake” post omitting the melted chocolate and adding about 1/4 cup or more of Torani Classic Root Beer Syrup.  To make a more pronounced root beer flavor, I chucked a bunch of root beer barrel hard candies into the food processor and made root beer sugar, that I sprinkled over the top of each cake layer after I had frosted it with buttercream.  To be honest, it didn’t taste as root beery as I had hoped, but everyone really seemed to like it.  I think next time I will use the frosting recipe from the Elephant Cupcake post and add the root beer syrup to that.  If I like it better, I’ll let you know.

 

Chocolate Fig Custard Cake

Don't throw away those scraps of cake; create a new one!

My Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe rises really high.  When I made the cake for the Fall Themed Birthday Cake post, I had the piece left over from leveling it.  I hate to waste food, so I wrapped it up and saved it for another purpose.  At my current job as well as my previous one, we make a lot of bread pudding from left over breads, croissants and loaf cakes.  Since I can practically make bread pudding in my sleep, I decided to make this moist, not-too-sweet Chocolate Fig Custard cake.

Chocolate Fig Custard Cake

Chocolate cake, cut into 3/4″ chunks, enough to fit into a 9″ round cake pan

5 large fresh figs, each cut into 12 pieces

Spray 9 ” round cake pan with 2″ high sides with non stick spray

Place cake chunks in pan to cover bottom, layer fig chunks on top of cake chunks, then top with remaining cake chunks.  Prepare custard.

Cardamom Custard

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup half n half

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp ground cardamom

8 large eggs, room temperature

Place the dairy, sugar, vanilla and cardamom in saucepan.  Heat until warm to the touch.

Beat eggs in medium mixing bowl.  While whisking, add warm milk mixture to the eggs.  Pour through strainer to remove any egg shell pieces and thick egg white.

Gently ladle the custard over the cake pieces in pan.  Do this slowly and allow the cake to soak up the custard.  Press the cake down gently into the custard.  Fill the pan as full as it will hold without spilling over the sides.  Place cake pan on heavy baking sheet and place in the middle of a 350 degree oven.  Bake until done.  Cake is done when a knife stuck in the center comes out clean, about an hour and 10 minutes.  Be sure to check cake after one hour, or before if your oven tends to run very hot.

While the cake is baking, make the fig glaze:

5 large fresh figs, cut in small chunks

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Place chopped figs, water and granulated sugar in small saucepan.  Heat until figs are soft and the water and sugar are syrupy.  Place in food processor and puree.  Add powdered sugar and process until smooth.

While the cake is still hot, brush the fig glaze all over the top.  You will have left over glaze.  It’s really nice on some fig scones!

Cool cake on wire rack until cool enough to refrigerate.  Refrigerate until completely cold.  Run a butter knife along the side of pan, careful not to cut into cake.  Place a dinner plate covered in plastic wrap on top of cake.  Turn over and lift pan.  Cake should slide out.  Place serving plate on bottom of cake and invert.

 

 

Fried Green Tomato Tacos aka Vegetarian Fish Tacos

I am determined to use all of those green tomatoes in our garden!  Last night’s dinner consisted of fried green tomato tacos, spicy Mexican style basmati rice and black beans.  The tacos are a vegetarian version of a fish taco.  I added  dulse flakes to my fried green tomato coating and whipped up a habanero tartar sauce.  Yummy!  The dulse flakes add the fishy taste without the fish.  Dulse is an edible, coarse textured red seaweed with a pungent, briny flavor.  It can be purchased it in dried, flaked form.  You can find the recipe and directions on how to make the fried green tomatoes on my post entitled Fried Green Tomato Gratin.  Instead of using sliced rounds of tomato, I cut the slices into strips.

Strips of green tomato just waiting to be battered and fried

After frying, place on paper towel to soak up any excess oil.  They smell so good.

Looking good, smelling good

I made the habanero tartar sauce by combining Veganaise, finely chopped dill pickle, finely chopped fresh habanero pepper and a small amount of pickle juice, about 2 teaspoons.  Stir until blended.

Habanero, dill pickle and Veganaise

Fry up some corn tortillas, add a bit of grated cheese ( I used habanero jack and cheddar).  Place three pieces of the tomato “fish” in there.   Top with the tartar sauce.   Add some chunks of avocado and some shredded cabbage.  That’s it!  Serve with beans and rice for a complete meal.

So good!

I’m hungry again after writing this post.  Wow!  You must try this.  Really.

P.S.  You can make a vegan version by dipping the tomatoes in soy milk instead of the beaten egg.

A fall themed birthday cake

A nice all purpose fall themed cake

My friend and co-worker, Katie D., ordered another cake for a birthday celebration last Saturday.  The family loves chocolate, so Katie ordered a 10″  square chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.  I wanted the cake to have an October theme so fall leaves and a couple of candy pumpkins seemed appropriate.

Katie called this morning and reported that everyone loved the cake, especially her cousin Trygve (pronounced trig va – it’s Norwegian).

The chocolate cake recipe can be found on my post, Vampire Gran’s Perfect Chocolate Cake.  Here is the buttercream recipe I used:

• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 3/4 cup water
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature 30 minutes
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 sticks (1 1/2 pounds) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
• 12 ounces fine-quality 60%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm

 

• Equipment: a candy thermometer; a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment

Preparation

Bring 1 3/4 cups sugar and water to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then wash down any sugar crystals from side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil, without stirring, until it registers 220 to 225°F, 15 to 20 minutes.

At this point, while continuing to boil syrup, beat whites with vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt in mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating, and beat until whites just hold stiff peaks.

When syrup reaches soft-ball stage (238 to 242°F), immediately pour syrup in a slow stream down side of bowl into whites (avoid beaters) while beating at high speed. Beat until completely cool, 25 to 30 minutes. With mixer at medium speed, add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition (see cooks’ note, below) and until buttercream is smooth. (Mixture may look curdled before all butter is added but will come together at end.) Pour chocolate into mixing bowl and whip until buttercream is smooth. If buttercreams are too soft to spread, chill, stirring occasionally. When chilled enough, whip before spreading.

 

I used pastry tip # 112 to make the leaves.

Yet another recipe using green tomatoes…..

My friend, Emily and I have been talking about green tomatoes lately.  Perhaps it’s because we have so many in our respective gardens.  We’ve been tossing around a few ideas and this latest one has been on my mind for a few days now,   Green tomatoes give this soup a bit of a citrusy, acidic quality.  It makes a really good left over, too!

The green tomato is not just for frying!

  

Cream of Green Tomato Fall Harvest Soup 

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, including leaves, finely chopped

1/3 cup Wondra or all purpose flour

2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped

1 fresh habanero, minced

1 fresh jalapeno, minced

2 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp basil

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 quart “no chicken” chicken broth (for vegan and vegetarian soups)

2 cloves garlic, crushed through garlic press

½ cup heavy cream (omit this if you are making a vegan soup or substitute soy creamer or soy milk)

4 medium red potatoes

2 carrots, peeled and diced

½ cup peas, fresh or frozen

 

Heat oil and butter in large pot over medium high heat.  Saute onions and celery until soft and the onion just starts turning golden.  Whisk in Wondra or flour and cook about 30 seconds.  Add chopped green tomatoes, peppers and spices.  Cook until tomatoes soften.  Add stock and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.

While soup in simmering, place whole red potatoes in a separate pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and then lower to medium.  Cook until potatoes pierce easily with a sharp knife, about 10 – 12 minutes.  About 7 minutes before the potatoes are done, add diced carrots to the potato pot.

Using an emersion blender, puree green tomato soup in pot, leaving it a little chunky.  Add the crushed garlic.  Add heavy cream, if desired.  You can use a blender or food processor if you don’t have an emersion blender.

When potatoes and carrots are done, drain in colander.  Add carrots to the soup pot.  When potatoes are cool enough to handle, dice in bite size pieces and add to the soup pot.  Add fresh or frozen peas.  If using frozen peas, rinse well before adding to the pot.  Heat through and serve.

I like to garnish my soups.  You can keep it simple and just add a bit of grated cheese, any type you prefer.  Or you can make a pico de gallo.  I used fresh garden ripe tomatoes, yellow tear drop tomatoes, red onion, and jalapeno finely chopped the day I made the soup pictured in this post.  I really like the contrast of the crunchy fresh veggies with the creamy, hot, spicy soup.  Serve this soup with some fast, homemade beer batter bread for a perfect fall meal.