Roasted Tomato Soup

We have a TON of tomatoes in the garden right now so I'm looking at as many tomato based recipes as I can. I found this delicious sounding recipe online and tweaked it a little to match what we had in the kitchen. It was FAB!

Ingredients:

3.5 pounds of tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved,
10 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1.5 tablespoons of dried thyme
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and paper
3 cups chicken, vegetable or beef stock

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F
2. Halve the tomatoes and place them into a roasting pan, cut side up.
3. Scatter the sliced onions, halved garlic and thyme on top of the tomatoes. Pour the olive oil on top of the tomatoes, sprinkle the sugar and salt and pepper
4. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 25 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and slightly caramelized.
5. Place the roasted tomatoes, with the onions and garlic, and juices in a saucepan. Bring the stock to a boil and pour over the tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve, reserving the stock.
6. Place the tomatoes into a blender and blend, adding it back to the stock until soup is smooth and creamy. To get creamier soup, pass the soup through a sieve again or through a food mill.
7. Reheat if necessary.

Makes around 5-6 cups, with a total calorie count of around 900 calories, which means each cup is around 160-170 calories.

Strawberry Pretzel Squares

 Ingredients:

2

cups finely crushed pretzels

1/2

cup sugar, divided

2/3

cup butter or margarine, melted

1-1/2

pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIACream Cheese, softened

2

Tbsp. milk

1

cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

2

cups boiling water

1

pkg. (6 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

1-1/2

cups cold water

4

cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Preparation:

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX pretzel crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 min. Cool.

BEAT cream cheese, remaining sugar and milk until blended. Stir in COOL WHIP; spread over crust. Refrigerate.

ADD boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until thickened.

STIR berries into gelatin; spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

Cabbage and Noodles

Ingredients:

4 cups wide egg noodles

1/2 cup butter

2 cups sliced sweet onions, about 1/8 inch thick

2 teaspoons brown sugar

6 cups cabbage, sliced thin

1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper

Preparation:

1. Cook egg noodles according to package directions, then drizzle with a bit of oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together and set aside.

2. While noodles are cooking, melt butter in large deep skillet over medium-low heat.

3. Add onion, sprinkle with brown sugar and saute, stirring occasionally for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until softened and just beginning to turn golden.

4. Add cabbage to skillet, stirring well to incorporate with onion, and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Stir in caraway seeds if using, then cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

6. Turn heat back to medium, add cooked noodles, salt and pepper, and stir well until noodles are heated though.

7. Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve hot.

Tomato Risotto

So, we got spigarello in our CSA this week and I had no clue what to do with it. I found a recipe online for a tomato barley risotto with spigarello on top, but of course the person didn't put in any measurements and I din't have barley, so I made up my own recipe. It was FABULOUS! So here it is:

Risotto Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup risotto rice

4 cups vegetable broth

1 large tomato, pureed

Risotto Preparation:

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan (something that can hold 4 cups or more), add the minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and stir getting the rice nice and coated. Continue to stir and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the pureed tomato and 1 cup broth and stir until all broth has been absorbed. Continue adding broth and stirring until the risotto is creamy and no longer crunchy. (It took me almost 4 cups of broth and about 45-50 minutes)

Spigarello Ingredients:

Spigarello, stock removed and leaves cut or ripped into smaller bits

1 tbsp olive oil

red pepper flakes, to desired taste

Spigarello Preperation:

Add olive oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet and heat. Add the spigarello and saute until the spigarello leaves edges get a little crispy.

Plating:

Put a scoop of the tomato risotto on a plate and put the spigarello on top. It make a really pretty plate with the red sauce and the dark green leaves and the taste combo is great!

Winter White Cobbler

Recipe provided by the Hogg! We had a ton of root vegetables from the CSA so we made this with some modifications due to our supply. For example, we added way too many parsnips since we had them and we didn't have celery root, but we had a rutabaga. The replacements were great and I think that makes this recipe super flexible.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

1 fennel bulb, core removed, thinly sliced

2 leeks, white part only, thinly sliced

1 pound turnip, peeled and diced

1 large celery root (celeriac), peeled and diced

1 parsnip peeled and diced

2 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups vegetable stock

salt to taste

3/4 cup cream

1 tablespoon flour

The Topping:

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon melter butter

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/2 cup parmesan

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

kosher salt and ground pepper

Instructions:

In a large pot, heat two tablespoons of the butter over medium high. Add the fennel and leeks and saute for 5 minutes until just soft. Add the turnip, celery root, parsnip, potatoes and stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt. Add the cream and bring to a low simmer. In a bowl, mash together the remaining butter and flour. Add to the vegetables, stirring well and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the topping:

Combine the milk, butter and egg and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cheese, baking powder and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the liquid ingredients and stir well.

Put the vegetables in a 10 to 12 cup baking dish.The filling should reach about 2/3 of the way up the dish; any more than that and it could overflow during cooking. Crop spoonfuls of the cobbler dough over the top and spread to cover big gaps (the dough will expand as it bakes to fill the rest). Bake in oven for 25 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Aloo Paratha

We got arugula flowers in our CSA and I found this amazing recipe online for Aloo Paratha (which is a stuffed Indian style flat bread) with arugula flowers. They were delicious!

To make the dough mix in a shallow, flat bowl or pan:

1 cup whole wheat flower

1/2 teaspoon salt

Drop by drop add warm water until you get a sticky bread-like dough, cover and set aside.

To make the stuffing:

1 large potato - peeled, boiled and mashed

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tbsp fresh arugula flowers

Mix all the stuffing items together well for the stuffing.

In the palm of your hand, create small balls or the dough, and flatten then. Take a spoonful of the filling, place in the center of the dough and gather up all the dough around the filling, then roll it out.

Heat a skillet on medium-high heat, add a tiny amount of ghee (clarified butter) and cook each paratha individually on both sides until browned.

Rosemary and Leek Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lb. yukon gold potatoes washed and cubed

1 leek, cleaned & chopped

1 Tbsp rosemary, fresh, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup milk, warmed

salt and pepper to taste

Preperation:

1. Boil potatoes for 15 minutes (or until fork slides through). Drain and mash

2. Skillet cook leek & rosemary in butter for about 5 minutes

3. Stir leek mixture, warm milk, salt & pepper into potatoes and mix well