Corn Chowder

I have two corn chowder recipes -- a thick and hearty winter stew and a lighter summer soup. This is the summer version, made with herbs and veggies from my garden and vegetables from this week's Door to Door Organics box. It's a little sweet, a little spicy, and surprisingly filling.

The onions were originally one onion that sprouted in my pantry. I planted it and it grew into three small onions. I trimmed the greens occasionally to use in recipes and just let the onion grow. Since the greens were starting to wilt, signalling the coming end of growth, I harvested the onions today so I could use both the bulbs and the remaining greens. The soup had a slight citrus kick from the lime basil I added from my garden, but you can use another variety of basil if you choose. I also grew the jalapeno, the first of my peppers to be ready this season.

Corn Chowder

3 ears of corn
1 jalapeno, minced
1 large (or 3 small) onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
small bunch of onion greens or 4 scallions, sliced thin
1 lb yellow potatoes, diced (include peels)
4-6 ribs celery, sliced thin (include the leaves)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh sweet or lime basil, chopped
pinch allspice
pinch ground cayenne
1 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
2 cups soy milk

Shuck the corn, then use a sharp knife to strip the kernels from the cobs.

In a large saucepan or a stock pot, saute the onion and jalapeno in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes, until onion becomes translucent. Add the potatoes and celery and saute for several more minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients except the soy milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until potatoes are soft.

Remove from heat and stir in the soy milk before serving.

Kohlrabi Two Ways

My garden has been in full bloom for a while. I planted four kohlrabi starts early in the season and they recently became ready to harvest. I wasn't sure what to do with the alien-looking vegetables since I'd never tasted them before, so I decided to treat them as a root vegetable. If you grow kohlrabi or manage to buy bulbs with the greens still attached, don't discard the greens. They are very edible with a mild flavor similar to collards or turnip greens. One fully-grown kohlrabi produces a 2.5-4 inch diameter bulb with a large bunch of greens.

In addition to gardening from starts and seeds, I have also been growing the onions that sprout in my pantry. The greens are edible with a flavor similar to scallions, so I snip a few as the onion develops and toss them in my dishes. South African Smoked Seasoning can be found in a spice grinder at Trader Joe's. It's optional, but adds a great flavor to food, so I recommend picking up a jar of it or looking for a similar product in other stores.

Kohlrabi fresh from the garden.

Roasted Root Vegetables over wild rice and Greens and Beans.

Roasted Root Vegetables

2 kohlrabi
2 small sweet potatoes
1 vidalia onion
3 carrots
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil
1 Tbsp minced fresh oregano
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
South African Smoked Seasoning, to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Peel kohlrabi and sweet potatoes, then slice into 1/4" rounds. Cut each round in half to make a half-moon shape. Peel and slice the onion. Slice the carrots into rounds.

Place all vegetables into a casserole dish. Toss with fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Cover dish and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover from dish and bake another 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Serve over wild rice or another grain of your choice. Season to taste with smoked seasoning, if desired.

Greens and Beans

1 bunch kohlrabi greens
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 onion greens, sliced thin (substitute 3 scallions if you don't have access to onion greens)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
South African Smoked Seasoning, to taste (optional)

Wash the kohlrabi greens well. Remove the stems and tear or cut the greens into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add garlic and onion greens and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the kohlrabi greens and saute for about 5 minutes, until greens are tender. Add chickpeas and seasonings. Cook long enough to heat the beans, then remove from heat and serve.

Adventures in Fermentation

(L to R) Pickled Onions, Moroccan Preserved Lemons, Sauerkraut, Sourdough Starter, Kombucha. The second sourdough starter in the back is being adopted by a friend soon.

About five weeks ago, I attempted growing my own kombucha SCOBY from a bottle of commercial kombucha. I didn't realize at the time that the instructions I was following were for the old formulation of kombucha prior to it being temporarily removed from store shelves in 2010. After a couple weeks, I tossed out the weird, transparent jellyfish-like-blob I'd grown and acquired a real SCOBY. My first batch is in its first fermentation now. In a couple days, I'll taste-test it and if it's ready, I'll bottle it up with interesting flavors like carrot juice, hibiscus flowers, or orange juice and send it into the dark for its second fermentation.

About two weeks ago, I began a rye sourdough starter using this method. It took off and grew into a monster ooze that bubbled out of the old spaghetti sauce jar I'd started it in. I split the starter into two jars, one for a friend and one to keep, and fed the cloned monsters succulent grains of organic rye for a couple days before capping the jars and storing them in the fridge.

Rye Sourdough Starter on day 3. So many bubbles and the monster is only hours away from overflowing the jar.

Today I took the starter out and made my first loaf of sourdough using this recipe. It was a test loaf to make sure my starter was good. Well, it was certainly good, and I ended up with a 10-inch in diameter fluffy loaf of sourdough bread with a chewy crust and a pleasant tang.

My lovely first loaf of sourdough bread.

I fed the monster to replace the starter I used and it bubbled out the top of the jar within an hour. I have some happy yeast in that starter! The spaghetti squash jar wasn't going to cut it anymore, so I picked up a 2-quart jar, added to my recently-fed starter, and watched the monster grow to fill 2/3 of the new jar. I sense a large quantity of sourdough recipe experiments in my future.

Not content with just a brewing kombucha and a happy sourdough starter, I felt compelled to find new things to ferment. I went shopping for organic produce - onions, lemons, and cabbage. I had a bag of onions already, but they sprouted in my cupboard and now I'm waiting for the frost to pass so I can plant them outside.

The cupboard dwellers. Their owls have not yet arrived.

In the span of an hour and a half, I made Moroccan Preserved Lemons, Sauerkraut, and Pickled Onions. They have taken up residence on a cookie sheet in the cupboard under my buffet counter, little jars of mundane things waiting to create some magic.

So, here I am after midnight, typing with briny hands and hoping everything works. Fermenting is a curious thing -  an exercise in patience and an obligatory strong stomach ready to ignore the oddness of what you're eating or drinking in favor of appreciating the beneficial microorganisms. I'm trying to figure out what I should make next. Any suggestions?

Onion Soup

Turbokid and I are both sick, so I brought out my favorite sick day recipe. I made this soup on a regular basis when I had hyperemesis gravidarum because it was one of the two things I could keep down at all (the other was Gatorade ice chips). It is gentle on the stomach, and good even when not sick. This is my simple comfort food and a vegan alternative to the omnivore's trusty chicken noodle soup.

Onion soup with Daiya grilled cheese.

Onion Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 onions, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup flour

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

4 cups water

3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce

1 tsp dried thyme

Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Saute onions and garlic in the oil until translucent. Add flour and nutritional yeast and stir until the onions are evenly coated. Add water, tamari, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until broth is slightly thickened.

Garnish with vegan cheese, scallions, and/or fresh herbs.

I usually make this soup with plain yellow onions, but it is especially good with sweet onions like Vidalias or Mauis.

Miso Soup with Avocado and Scallion

I started making this easy soup when I had work done on my mouth and couldn't chew well for a while. I didn't have time to make dashi so I used regular vegetable broth. The avocado turns a basic broth into a surprisingly filling comfort food.

Miso Soup with Avocado and Scallion

(one serving)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or 1/2 of a low-sodium vegetable bouillon cube in 1 1/2 cups water)
1 Tbsp white miso
1/2 avocado, diced
1 scallion, sliced thin

Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in miso until dissolved. Pour the miso and broth into a soup bowl and stir in avocado and scallion.

That's it! Slurp it from the bowl Japanese-style or go Western and use a spoon.