Spinach and Baby Corn Soup

Spinach and Baby Corn Soup (UPDATED 4/4/20)

Adapted from Jain International Recipes by Tarla Dalal

by My Little Blue Heron

Here’s a soup recipe that’s EASY and pliable. You can use fresh/frozen or canned ingredients. During the pandemic, we need recipes that we can fool around with, improvise to eat delicious meals! This soup has just a few ingredients. It can be made with fresh, canned or frozen ingredients. 

Large clamshells of spinach have been available from the supermarket. It may be easier to get than lettuce. If you can’t buy it fresh, use frozen. In a pinch, use canned, but squeeze it dry. No spinach? Chard'll work. You can find baby corn at some markets. My Wegman’s in Brooklyn sells it fresh in little bags in their produce section. But as of today, Wegman's isn't delivering to me. Can that... literally. You can find cans of baby corn in brine in most supermarkets. No baby corn? Use adult (plain old) corn.

You’ll need coconut milk – whole, lite or powdered. If you live in New York and vicinity, mirchi.com will be opening its delivery window on April 10th. You'll get coconut milk. coconut milk powder, corn starch, ginger and probably spinach, too. If you don’t have corn starch, you can substitute with another starch like potato starch. Still shaking your head ‘no’? Here’s a solution. I like food52. 

Be fearless! It’s just soup.

You’ll need a very small amount of oil - olive or other, and if you have fresh ginger, this adds some deliciousness. If not, no big deal. I love the addition of a little ground mace (the outer shell of nutmeg). If you don’t have mace, grate in a little nutmeg. If you have neither, it’ll be really delicious. Really.

If you increase spinach or corn, add the whole can of coconut milk, which is more than a cup. (Or, you can freeze coconut milk for later use.) Add some vegetable broth/bouillon or water to extend the recipe. Add some more corn! 
Corn is corn. But it's so delicious.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it’s both flexible and forgiving. It's a teaching soup, something to drink in. Make it on the stove or in your Instant Pot (see below for Instant Pot directions).

This is a Jain recipe (that’s why I like it, uh huh uh huh), so no onion or garlic. This is a bonus if you have gut issues, are on a low fodmap diet, or if you’re low on onion or garlic. I added hing powder or asafoetida, which is frequently used as a substitute for onion and garlic. It’s supposed to be very good for you. J

Prep and cooking time: under half an hour!

Be happy, healthy, safe and try to have some fun in the kitchen (or anywhere)!

peace and love,

jane

        

Spinach and Baby Corn Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 cups chopped spinach (palak) (fresh preferred, but you can use frozen .. just don’t defrost it.)

10-12 baby corn, washed and cut into thin slices (or about ¾ cup, more or less, to taste, corn kernals)
1-2 cups of water or vegetable stock

1 Tbsp. corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water (see above for subs)

1 cup coconut milk (or 3 Tbsp. dried coconut milk dissolved in 1 cup water)

1 Tbsp. olive (or canola) oil

½-1” fresh ginger (optional) (organic preferred), sliced very thin

Ground mace (or nutmeg), to taste (optional)

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

Procedure:

Set aside the sliced baby corn, ginger and chopped spinach.

Heat the oil in a medium pot.

Add spinach, corn and ginger and sauté, over medium to medium/high heat until wilted.
Add spices (if adding mace/hing) and stir).

Add coconut milk and dissolved corn starch and stir.

Add water or vegetable stock to consistency of preference.

Cover and simmer for 10-20 minutes*. Adjust seasonings, to taste.

Serve.

Serves 2

*You can make this in your Instant Pot by first sautéing and then adding all ingredients, cover (no vent) on soup setting for about 7-10 minutes. Voila!  

Two Cranberry Sauces

Two Cranberry Sauces

In celebration of Bernadette Martin, the 'brain mother' of Blue Heron Kitchen

Happy Birthday, Bern!

Cranberry Sauce (spicy)

If you're still looking for a cranberry sauce that's not from 'the bag' or from a can, here are two great recipes. One's spicy and the other's boozy. The boozy one is "Blue Heron Blue Ribbon." (I just invented that one.) These are easy-to-make and great gifts for your host.

Either or both will complement your Thanksgiving feast or any fall or winter repast. Try them with roasted roots, fowl, game or meat. Serve the sauces with soft ripened cheeses! Use as relish or as a condiment on your sandwich. The NY Times reports that cranberries are abundant this year. So grab a couple of bags at your market. I'll get to work on some more recipes.

I'm volunteering for Thanksgiving this year. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday with family, friends .. or you, too, are helping others who have less .. or none.

peace and love.

with a smile and song,
jane

Cranberry Sauce with Jalapeño and Ginger

Adapted from David Tanis by Blue Heron Kitchen

1 c. sugar

2 jalapeños, preferably red, seeded and finely diced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

½ c. water

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cayenne

1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger or , if you don’t have fresh, 1 ½ tsp. dried

12 ounces cranberries

Procedure:

Put sugar, jalapeños, lemon juice, salt and cayenne in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add water, then stir to dissolve sugar, and simmer 2 minutes.

Add ginger and cranberries, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let mixture cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have softened and no liquid remains in pan.

Let cool and season to taste. Add more cayenne or jalapeños if desired.

May be stored in fridge up to two weeks.

Hot Stuff!

Cranberry Sauce (boozy)

Cranberry Sauce with Pears, Brandy and Walnuts

Adapted from notlazy.rustic by Blue Heron Kitchen

This may be the best cranberry sauce I've ever tasted. The recipe comes from the great food blog, “Food52”, a portal for foodists and a resource that I turn to when recipes and ingredients are “stale.”  Last year’s cranberry-port gelée is another great recipe and a keeper.

This recipe is chunky and boozy. Serve it at the grown-up table.

Perfect with cheese, mixed into morning-after-porridge or as a side for Turkey, chicken, duck or pork.

Here are Food52’s' Editors' Comments: "In this cranberry sauce, you won't find any of the punishing tartness you get in many -- it's all silk and fragrance. The pears, which are shredded, melt into the sauce. The cranberries soften and soak up the brown sugar and cinnamon. And the brandy smoothes any wrinkles. You add a little brandy in the beginning and some more at the very end, as you stir in toasted walnuts. We've made the sauce with grated apple and it's just as delicious. We've also served it over fresh ricotta -- make sure you have some leftovers so you can try this!"

“Notlazy” suggests fooling around with the amount of brandy. (It’s happily boozy.) I mixed Poire William with some good French brandy. You can change the nuts to pecans, but there’s so much sweetness in this that I think the walnuts lend an excellent balance. In general, we should all be the boss when it comes to nuts and other ingredients.

Cranberry Sauce 

with Pears, Brandy and Walnuts 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup, plus 2-3 tablespoon brandy, divided

water

2 cinnamon sticks, each broken in half

8 black peppercorns

12 ounces fresh cranberries, picked over

¾  c./75 g. packed light brown sugar

2 medium Bartlett pears, ripe but still quite firm, peeled (organic are best!)

½ c. chopped walnuts, toasted, 1 Tbsp. removed for garnish

Procedure:

Pour 1/3 cup brandy into liquid measuring cup; add enough water to reach ½  cup. Set aside.

Place broken cinnamon sticks and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth or if you are a loose tea drinker and have them, a large tea bag; and secure with kitchen twine.

In medium saucepan, combine cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon-pepper bundle.

Using large holes on a box grater, grate pears into saucepan.

Pear perfect.

Stir in brandy-water mixture.

Over medium-high heat, bring cranberry mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook 10-12 minutes, or until cranberries have burst and the mixture has come together, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons brandy.

Let cool. Remove and discard cinnamon bundle.

Stir in toasted walnuts. Transfer mixture to small serving bowl; sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of walnuts.

(ooh la la .. or.. la la la!)

Masala Chai Ginger Scones

Masala Chai Ginger Scones

with ginger glaze

Adapted from Joanne Chang by Blue Heron Kitchen

If you live in America, you’ve been battling a severe winter. It’s cold and it won’t stop snowing. 

Today, forget snow and sleet and ice and that you can’t remember the last time you went for a walk. Add these ingredients to your Fresh Direct delivery. Warm your kitchen and make your weary friends, fam and snow blower angels happy with masala (that means ‘spice’) chai (that means ‘tea’) scones.

Ahead of time note: You will have to infuse your cream and buttermilk with the chai (tea) by heating and then re-chilling the liquids. (Go out and shovel.)

Truc: If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, to make it: Emeril Lagasse (!) published this on the Food Network. Easy, You’ll need milk and white vinegar or lemon juice.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-buttermilk-recipe.html

Chai: The chai that you use will flavor your scones. I'm a fan of UptonTeas. I buy my tea from these nice people online and their masala chai is lovely. I’ve had some masala chai teas that have a too much black pepper in them (ugh). If yours does, your scone will bite you. Fortnum and Mason’s masala chai is also gorgeous. But whatever chai you choose, DON’T use a sweetened chai.

It's important that the butter is cold and firm - that way when you mix it into your dry ingredients, some of the butter remains unmixed and is recognizable. This is the same technique when putting together a pate brisée (flakey pie crust). These unmixed little pieces of butter melt while baking, creating steam and air pockets! Result: (as long as you don't overdue it with mixing, which will also toughen your scones) light and flakey.

Adapted from Joanne Chang’s gorgeous book, Flour, I’m so happy to share this with you. (Pick up a copy of her book. It’s spectacular!)

The glaze for these scones can be refrigerated for about a week. If you want to freeze some of the unbaked scones (also, for about a week), you’ll have glaze on hand.

Let it snow rain in California!

peace and love,

jane

Masala Chai Ginger Scones

Ingredients for the scones:

2 ¾ cup (400 grams) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tbsp. Masala Chai tea  (Do not use sweetened tea!)
1/3 cup (70 grams) granulated sugar
½ cup (80 grams) finely chopped crystallized ginger
14 tablespoons (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter
½ cup (120 grams) buttermilk
½ cup (120 grams) heavy cream
1 egg, size large (cold)

  

Procedure:

Ahead of time note for Masala Chai Scones:

For masala chai scones: place ½ c. cream and ½ c. buttermilk in a small saucepan. Add 1 Tbsp. masala chai tea (Upton Tea), cover and bring to a simmer and turn to low. In the lowest heat, cook the chai for approx. 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, strain into a measuring cup, replacing any evaporated liquid to measure 1 cup with buttermilk or cream or a combination. Place in fridge and chill.

Preheat oven to 350º F. and position rack in center of the oven. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, briefly mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, sugar, and crystallized ginger until combined.

Cut the butter into 8-10 pieces and add to the flour mixture; paddle for about 30 seconds on medium low speed until the butter is somewhat broken down but there are still pieces that are obvious and visible (about ½”).

Whisk together the chilled buttermilk/heavy cream and egg until thoroughly combined.

With the mixer running on low speed, pour in the liquid and continue to paddle for another 20-30 seconds until the dough comes together. There may be a little loose flour mixture at the bottom of the bowl. This is good.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Gather and lift the dough in your hands and turn it over in the bowl so that it starts to pick up the loose flour at the bottom. Turn the dough over in the bowl several times until all of the loose flour is mixed in.

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently roll (pat) out the dough about an inch thick.

Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles of scone dough, rerolling the scraps as necessary until they are all used up. (Truc: If you like, you can shape the dough into a long rectangle and cut on the angle, forming triangular scone.)

Truc: At this point the scones can be frozen, wrapped well, unbaked for up to a week. Add 5-10 minutes to baking time and proceed as
directed.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes until the scones are a light golden brown.

Cool on a cooling rack and when slightly cooled, spoon warm ginger glaze over each scone. The ginger glaze will set.

Scones are (always) best served the day they are baked; you may store them tightly wrapped for one day.

Yield 6-8 large scones

Ginger glaze

 

Ingredients:

2 ½  oz. (5 Tbsp./ 75g) butter, salted or unsalted (if you use unsalted, sprinkle in ¾ tsp. salt)

2 Tbsp. Lyle’s Golden Syrup (If you’re in the U.S., available at most supermarkets, markets with “International” aisles (it’s British) or online at Amazon.com)

3/4 c. (90g) 10X (powdered) sugar, sifted

1 Tbsp. powdered dried ginger

Procedure:

In a small saucepan, over medium-low heat, melt butter, Golden Syrup together.

Add powder sugar and ginger and whisk together until glaze is smooth and liquid.