The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!

They are. They are coming…somehow it is mid-November! How did that happen you ask? I have no idea.

I love the holidays though and really love the food part, so I am excited. But I actually feel a little robbed this year that I haven’t started thinking about what to make for Thanksgiving until now. I would usually have started the process of reading, bookmarking and drooling over recipes in October. Pesky graduate school! I have finally started thinking about it in earnest though, and wanted to share some of those thoughts with you.

As you’ve probably picked up if you’ve read this blog (and/or if you know me, which, let’s be honest, is most of you that read this blog:) I am a vegetarian. And my boyfriend is too, which makes things easy. For our Thanksgiving we are going to have lots o’ veggies and things that are usually thought of as sides, but that to us are the main event.

I’ve also started combing through my various files and lists for holiday-y things to make for food gifts, which are my favorite type of Christmas gifts to give, and for things to just make during these two months. Because I can. Because during these two glorious months one can get away with using way more butter and cream than would usually be allowed in civilized society.

As with the last time I shared my recipe lists with you, I’d like to give you a few that I’ve made myself and would strongly recommend, as well as some that have made it onto my “to make” list and that I think could make it onto yours.

But! I would LOVE to hear what you are making for Thanksgiving, what your favorite Christmas treat is, or what you love to make this time of year just because you can. I need to make up for those few lost weeks of holiday-food-obsessing that grad school has robbed me of. Help me out and post a comment below!

Dishes I’ve made and would happily make again:

• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts
• Maple Sweet Potato Casserole with Sage Butter
• Mashed Potatoes with Brown Butter, Goat Cheese and Sage
• Leeks with Cream and Tarragon
• Curried Butternut Squash Soup
• Shoestring Style Brussels Sprouts

Dishes I’ve yet to make, but are on the Holiday list:

• Leek and Goat Cheese Galette
• Pumpkin soup w/Buttered Chanterelles
• Coconut Sweet Potato Bisque
• Vanilla Cranberry Sauce
• Touch of Grace Biscuits
• Braised Fennel
• Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette
• Parker House Rolls

Desserts I’ve made and love:

• Tourteau de Chèvre
• Alice Water’s Apple Tart

Desserts I can’t wait to make:

• Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread
• Cranberry Upside-Down Cake
• Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
• Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie
• Dutch Apple Pie
• Nutmeg-Maple Cream Pie

A yummy way to use up leftover cranberry sauce:

• Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins

Food to give as gifts:

• Apple butter
• Chocolate truffles
• Pine Nut Brittle with Rosemary

Thank you so much for reading my meager offerings on this blog so far – I am thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving!

A soup worthy of chestnut season

Until recently I was at most mildly unaware of chestnuts. They are that thing people roast in that one Christmas carol, right? And the grocery store sells them in jars and they look like shriveled little brains. Had you asked me about chestnuts two months ago, that would have been the extent of my knowledge.

Then sometime in September my boyfriend and I were walking our pup around the park near our house and we saw this green spiny thing on the ground. I wondered aloud what it was and stepped on it a couple times. Then we walked on. But noticed that as soon as we had walked away from the thing a woman walking slightly behind us quickly snatched it up and carried it covetously – and carefully – away. I was confused and a little intrigued, but I mostly forgot all about it.

Until one day a couple weeks later when we were back at the park and realized that there were people…lots of people…milling around under a few of the trees looking at the ground. And I thought, ‘you know come to think of it those same people have been there the past few times we have come here. Hmm, how odd.’

So when we happened upon one of the spiny pods during that walk, we picked it up and took it home (it almost didn’t make it – we dropped it no less than 10 times – those suckers are really sharp!) We cracked it open at home with some heavy-duty gloves and discovered a chestnut inside. Ah ha.

Coincidentally, the next weekend at the farmers market we saw a booth selling the chestnuts still in their burrs (as I found out the spiny outer layer is called). And they were $10 per pound (!!) So, we got it then. People were swarming to our park, which has about five huge chestnut trees, to collect the chestnuts because they are apparently worth their weight in gold.

Now when we go to the park we keep an eye out for the fallen burrs. Note: we haven’t joined the crazies who from all appearances LIVE at the park and collect the chestnuts from dawn to dusk (ok, if they are feeding their families with the revenue from these chestnuts I will feel bad calling them crazy, but given the fact that the season is two months long each year, I really don’t think that’s the case). We have, however, managed to put away a respectable stash of chestnuts and I have been using them – sparingly! – on and in many fall dishes. They add a great texture and a subtly sweet yet earthy flavor, especially to soups.

Case in point, as part of my reinvigorated obsession with Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan I made a celery root and apple soup recently. It was simple and understated, but just delicious.

I topped it with some of our hard-won chestnuts (lightly toasted) and we ate it for dinner with a simple salad and a hunk of fresh baguette from the farmers market. We felt so French. Not to mention smugly victorious about the chestnuts that we managed to snag from the “professional” gatherers in the park AND that we didn’t have to pay $10 a pound for!

Of course, the chestnuts did not come completely without a price, as anyone who has ever shelled fresh chestnuts knows. They are basically a pain in the butt and if I wasn’t getting them for free I wouldn’t bother.

If you happen upon some though, or want to go ahead and buy some fresh at the store to see what all of the fuss is about, let me give you a piece of advice: boil them instead of roasting them in the oven. They taste the same either way and are a lot easier to peel when they’re boiled. I provide some more detailed instructions for doing this below the soup recipe. Happy chestnut season!

Celery-Apple Soup

Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan
Makes 4-6 servings

Dorie calls this recipe ‘Celery-Celery Soup’ because it uses both celery root and celery stalks. For me though, the sweet apple-ness was just as prevalent as the celery, so I am calling my adaptation celery-apple. Note that if you want to follow my lead and top this soup with fresh toasted chestnuts, make sure you boil and peel them before you start working on the soup…as I already lamented, it is a pain and takes a long time. If you want to use jarred chestnuts they would be scrumptious too – just crumble them up and toast them in a pan as the soup simmers.

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 celery stalks with leaves, trimmed and chopped
• 2 med-large onions, chopped
• 2 sweet apples (I used Gala), peeled, cored, and diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound celery root (2 fist-sized roots), peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 thyme sprig
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup crème fraîche (optional…but you should really add it ‘cuz it makes things yummier)
• 1/4 cup toasted chestnut pieces (optional)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over low heat. Then toss in the celery, onions, and apples. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, for 5-7 minutes – until the vegetables are soft.

Add the celery root and stir everything together. Then add the herbs and broth, and bring to a boil.

Once it’s boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the celery root is soft enough to mash with the back of a spoon. At this point, pull out the bay leaf and the thyme twig (all the leaves will have likely come off).

Puree the soup – either in small batches in a food processor or blender, or all at once with an immersion blender.

Once the soup is smooth, stir in the crème fraîche and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls, and garnish with another dollop of crème fraîche (if you’re feeling decadent) and toasted chestnuts.

Serve immediately, but also save some for leftovers because this soup is even better the second day!

Boiled Chestnuts

Adapted from StartCooking.com

Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Wipe the chestnuts off with a damp towel and set them on a cutting board, flat side down.

With a small, sharp knife cut an X in each chestnut. Make your cuts pretty big – this is the section you are going to use to peel away the skin once their cooked. Do not skip this step! The X allows the steam to escape while they are cooking, and if you don’t do it I am told that the chestnuts could explode, which no one wants. Also, please be safe – cushion the chestnut on a clean dish towel if it makes it easier for you to cut.

Boil the chestnuts for 15-20 minutes. Once you take them out, peel as soon as you are able to safely handle them – they are much easier to peel while they are still warm. I actually left half of them in the water until I had peeled the first half so that the second half would still be warm when I got to them.

When peeling, make sure you are removing both layers of skin: there is a thick dark brown outer layer and a thin light brown under layer. As you peel the chestnuts will likely break apart a little, so make sure to have a bowl nearby to save the precious bits of peeled chestnuts.

Save in a container and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

Wait, it rains in Seattle?

It’s been gray and chilly, and little rainy, for the better part of the last week in Seattle. People did tell me it would get like that here (fact: every single person I told I was moving to Seattle responded with “But don’t you know it’s cloudy and rainy there all the time?!”) so I can’t say I am surprised by the change. I also may have tempted fate by making this warm grain salad with winter veggies a couple weeks ago when it was definitely still summer.

The photo above was taken at the top of a hill in my neighborhood. Even when gray and cloudy – or maybe especially so in that weather – I find the sky here to be just beautiful.

The way that the clouds and the light, whatever light there is, play off of one another is breathtaking. This weekend the wind was blowing thick storm clouds across the sky at a break-neck pace, so fast that there were moments when the next set of clouds couldn’t keep up and the sun broke through in bright, brilliant flashes. At times it felt foreboding and at times fantastical, like it should have been accompanied by the music from The Wizard of Oz.

On this same misty walk we found that we were walking on sidewalks covered with these little guys.

Though cute in their own way, seeing as many snails as we did out and about almost made me thankful we didn’t move here early enough to plant a garden this year.

In any case, I am welcoming the cooler weather with a soup – but it’s called Summer Minestrone Soup, so it’s still slightly rebellious. Take that weather gods!

In addition to being delicious, this soup is very healthy. That is important to me after my blackberry dessert gorging of late. I have recently jumped back into my pre-cross-country move workout routine, and it ain’t pretty. I can use all the help I can get. Although, I have gone running 5 of the last 6 days, so that is something to be proud of. Maybe I will make another blackberry dessert to celebrate!

Ok, so while I work on my willpower, let me tell you about this soup. It is from a cookbook I acquired recently at a huge used book store in Seattle. I bought it even though after moving all my books across the country I vowed to never ever buy another one (did I mention I have to work on my willpower?) It is called A Cook’s Guide to Grains by Jenni Muir.

The book is lovely, and quite informative, with a substantial section in the beginning devoted to explaining how grains are farmed and processed, and why they are good for your health. She also has a section for each of the grains in the book that discusses what it is, what it goes with, where it comes from, etc. All fascinating.

It’s not a vegetarian book, so I’ve generally had to make substitutions in the recipes I’ve tried. But a book devoted to grains is definitely vegetarian-friendly given how useful they are in providing that hearty substance in a meal that people commonly associate with meat. I use grains in my own cooking all the time.

Case in point, this soup. It is very substantive, and even though I pointed out its summery title above, it is definitely feeling like fall around here and this soup was warm and nourishing to match. It combines farro, fresh beans and pasta all in one dish – what could be better?

Its clear broth and the veggies I added to my version make it kind of like a souped up (sorry, couldn’t help it!) version of the classic Chicken Noodle soup…without the chicken of course. This also made it the perfect soup for me to prepare last week for my boyfriend who had our household’s first cold of the season – a sure sign of fall if anything is.

Sick or otherwise, this soup hits the spot and I hope you will make it for yourself no matter what season it feels like where you live.

Summer Minestrone

Adapted from A Cook’s Guide to Grains
Makes a big pot (about 10 cups) of soup

I adjusted the proportions of liquid and grains/pasta from the cookbook recipe, and in turn the cookbook author notes that she adjusted the proportions from the original recipe to suit her tastes. So, you should feel free to adjust the proportions as you see fit! Additionally, I would really use fresh beans if at all possible – even if they are not the type of beans called for (I used a different type than the book called for). You coooould use canned beans if you had to, but the fresh beans just give it such a different taste, a bright yumminess, if you will.

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup farro
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 14 oz fresh shelled cranberry beans
• 8 oz button or baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1 small-med zucchini, sliced
• 1 small-med yellow squash, sliced
• Up to 2 cups water (I used the pasta water from my linguine, but if you use leftover pasta you could use plain water)
• 4 oz cooked pasta (I used linguine), cut (when cooked) or broken (before cooked) into bite-sized pieces
• salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil is a large soup pot. Add the onion and cook over low heat until translucent (5-7 minutes), stirring occasionally.

If you are cooking the pasta fresh for this soup, put another pot of water on to boil for that. If you are using leftover cooked pasta, skip ahead to the next step.

Add the farro and garlic to the pot with the onions, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring.

To that, add in the stock, bay leaf and rosemary sprig. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

If you are cooking the pasta fresh for this soup, break the pasta up into bite-sized pieces before cooking (simply by breaking the bunch of linguine in half once and then again) and then cook according to directions. Once it is done, set aside. Make sure to stir a drizzle of olive oil into it so that it doesn’t solidify into a gummy mass while it’s waiting to be added to the soup.

Add the beans to the soup pot and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, zucchini, and squash to the soup pot and then add the water a 1/2 cup at a time until it is as soupy as you would like it. Then bring back up to a simmer and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, or until the grains and beans are tender.

Stir the cooked pasta into the soup and allow it to heat through briefly.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately (don’t burn your mouth!) It also makes great leftovers, although the grains, pasta and beans absorb a lot of the liquid so you may need to add more stock or water when you reheat it.