Work lunch: Miso white bean soup with bacon and kale

Hello from my lunch break, everybody. I thought I'd show you the chic spot where I eat most mid-day meals.

Check out that stylish desk phone!

We're 11 days into the New Year, but already 2012 has been a busy one for me: less time for blogging, more time for working, hula hooping, and cooking at home. I figured you're also pressed for time, so let's have desk lunch together.

To our virtual picnic, I've brought a round of Babybell cheese, a slice of apple tart and miso white bean soup (with bacon and chard, zuh.) Please excuse the sub-par photos I took with my cell phone just now.

You can make a French apple tart like this one by reading the "Apple Butter Magic" post on Dramatic Pancake. (Actually, Dinah's apple tarte tatin is way sexier than the one I baked.)

I concocted this soup last night around 10. Starting a soup with just-soaked beans at 10 ensures that you'll be up past midnight, waiting for the beans to finish cooking. Despite the late hours, I think that night-time is the best time to experiment with soup. I'm a bit sleepy and loopy and crazy enough to try new things.

I'll give you my best approximation of how to make it. You should have just enough time to finish your lunch and bookmark this recipe before you bop along in your day. If you throw some beans into water for a soak when you get home from work, we can make more of this soup together tonight!

Miso White Bean Soup with Bacon and Kale

from my fevered mind

• 2 cups small white beans
• 2 slices smoked bacon
• 1 - 2 stalks celery, diced
• 6-10 green onions, sliced
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups fresh kale, torn into small pieces
• 1/2 cup fresh mire poix veggies or 1 Tb. dried mire poix (optional)
• 1/4 cup mild white miso paste
• bay leaf
• 
  

Soak the beans in cold water for 4 - 8 hours. Discard the water and pour beans into a medium-sized soup pot. Cover beans with enough water to have 4 - 5 inches of water on top. Bring the water and beans to a boil, along with a pinch of salt. Let the beans cook at a low boil while you chop veggies.

In a skillet, cook the bacon slices 'till they're crispy. Use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the bacon into small pieces and set the bacon aside. Saute the carrots, green onion, and garlic in the bacon grease-coated skillet.

Stir broth (veggie or chicken) and the miso paste into the simmering beans. It'll take a while for the miso to dissolve, and you may want to add a little more to taste. If the broth is too salty, add more water. The broth should taste slightly salty and have a faint ring of miso flavor. Toss in a bay leaf, then add the sauteed vegetables, kale and bacon pieces.

Let the soup simmer until the beans are soft. Adjust the seasonings before serving (Does it need more water? More miso?) and serve.

I've added a sprinkle of furikake seasoning to it for a nice Japanese touch (you can find furikake at Uwajimaya), but a swirl of Sriracha chili sauce is always in style.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

Butternut squash soup

Potato and caramelized onion soup

Cozy lentil-squash soup

Escape the family with fruitcake

Is family time getting you down? Would you like to escape your relatives and get some "me time" during the crazy Christmas shuffle? If the answer is yes, now is the time to cultivate a burning desire to bake fruitcake. Become obsessed. Decide that Christmas isn't Christmas until there's a big plate of home-made, alcohol-spiked, fruity cake on the table.


The Diva of Domesticity, Martha Stewart, says the rhythm of creating a fruitcake can be soothing during the holiday rush. She also says you can excuse yourself from holiday obligations by saying "the fruitcake needs tending."

Depending on how patient you care to be, fruitcakes can take between one day and one year to finish. The process breaks down into three steps:

1. Chopping an infinite number of fruits and nuts and soaking them in rum for a day or twelve. (I hear that in the Bahamas, people soak the fruits and nuts in rum for several months before assembling the cake!)

2. Baking the cake on low heat, then brushing it with brandy while it's still warm. (Fans of alcohol abstinence may substitute delectable fruit juices for the brandy glaze.)

3. Letting the cake "cure" for a day, a week, or a year...and brushing it intermittently with rum to keep it moist.

If the idea of "aging" fruitcake scares you, try to think of fruitcake as a sweet variety of cheese; it must ferment for the flavors to develop.

Do you know what this needs? More rum!

My mom went on fruitcake kick for a while. I remember her buying giant jars of red and green candied cherries for it. She doubled the recipe and filled the kitchen with gift-size fruitcakes, wrapped in colored cellophane. I'm pretty sure she skipped the rum part, but I was also too young then to know the difference. Whether boozy or not, I thought those fruitcakes were sure fun. Anything involving green maraschino cherries has to be fun, right?

Now that I've tried baking fruitcake, (loosely) based on the recipe mom used, I know that fruitcakes are a labor of love. By chopping the nuts, candying the fruits, letting the cakes age...you're basically creating an edible testament to the triumph of the human spirit. If dotty Aunt Dottie ever presents you with a home-made fruitcake, know she's also giving you hours of her hard work and thank her accordingly.


At the outset, I thought I could buy pre-candied fruits at the store, stir in the nuts and bake the cake in under an hour. When the store-bought red-and-green cherries tasted like dirt and sawdust--even after a good soak in rum--I candied the contents of our kitchen fruit bowl (tangerines) along with some cranberries and apricots. Once I candied the fruit, I thought, "In for a penny, in for a pound! Let's soak everything in rum for a day, too!"

Once the cakes baked, I wrapped them tightly and let them age in the fridge for a week, brushing them with a bit of brandy every few days. If you'd like to bake this in time for Christmas dinner, just let the filling soak in brandy all day today, then bake the cakes Christmas morning and serve. You could also start a new Christmas tradition: bake the fruitcake, wrap it tightly, and let it age in the freezer until next Christmas. People do this!


I hope you're able to incorporate some fruitcake into Christmas this year. Call it "me time" or share the prep with your family. Also, from my nutty heart to yours, have the happiest of holidays--whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, or just winter solstice.

(I first wrote about baking these fruitcakes for OPB's Arts & Life page. They did a whole article on how people either love fruitcake or love to hate it. Check out the controversy here!)

Crazy Aunt Fruitcake
liberally adapted from Janice Scott’s Brazil Nut Loaf

Makes 2 quick bread loaves or four mini-loaves

Fruits and Nuts:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup roasted & salted cashews (Brazil nuts or pecans)
• 8 oz. pitted dates, diced (about 1 heaping cup)
• ½ cup dried apricots
• 1 cup red maraschino cherries, drained and soaked in rum
• 1 cup fresh-frozen cranberries
• ¾ cup glacéed (candied) tangerines or orange peel (with a little fruit left on) (glaze = ½ cup sugar & ½ cup water)
• 1 cup spiced rum (yes, you’ll have leftovers)
  

Batter:

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  

The day before (or up to a week before):

Drain half the liquid from 10 oz. maraschino cherries. Replace the drained liquid with spiced rum. Let the mixture sit.

Snip the dried apricots into quarters, then soak them in a small bowl filled with hot water. Let them sit for 30 - 60 minutes while you dice the dates and prep other fruit.

Use kitchen shears to cut the dates into small squares. Place the dates in a medium-sized bowl. When the apricots are re-hydrated, drain the water and douse the fruit with spiced rum. Stir the dates and apricots well. Place a clean cloth over the bowl and let the fruits soak up more rum. Stir the fruit every so often.

Glacé the tangerines. Slice six small tangerines into quarters, using a sharp knife to cut away most of the fruit. Keep the rind plus a ¼” of fruit on each slice. Next, bring ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar (plus any tangerine juice you can save from your cutting board) to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the tangerine rinds and let them roll on a medium boil for 5 - 10 minutes, until the skins turn semi-translucent and the syrup reduces.

While the citrus is being candied, take a cup of frozen cranberries and place them in a heat-proof bowl.

Remove glacéed tangerines from heat and poured the mixture over the cranberries. Let everything sit for a few minutes before stirring together the candied citrus, still-whole cranberries, and sweet syrup. Top with (you guessed it) rum, cover the bowl, and let the fruit sit.

On the day of baking:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two loaf pans. Line the pans with parchment paper, then grease the paper. Set aside.

Drain the excess brandy off the fruits, but SAVE THE LIQUID. You’ll need it later, to brush the cakes with while they cure.

Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Dump in the nuts and preserved fruits, and mix everything together with your hands. Set aside.

Wash your hands, then — using a clean, even larger bowl — beat the eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add in the fruit/nut mixture a cup or two at a time, mixing on a low speed. (You could also work with your hands again here.)

Pour the batter into your baking pans. Bake for between 1 ½ hours and 1 hour 45 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel away the waxed paper while the loaves are still hot. Brush the cakes lightly with rum while they’re still warm.

You could eat the cake now, or you could go for the gold and:

Let the cake cool, then wrap in rum-soaked cheesecloth. Place the loaves in an air-tight container for a week, checking every so often to add more rum to the cloth. Cure the cake for at least a week or even a month in a cool place (like the fridge.)

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:
Ms. Rita's Banana Bread
Drunken berry cobbler
Dried fruit pie

Chai-spiced pumpkin streusel bread...in pictures

I'll bet you're busy with Thanksgiving preparations. Do you have time to read a long, heartfelt post about Thanksgiving? No.

Do I have time to write one? No. I've got candied yams and cranberry sauce to make. Instead of foisting a lengthy hunk of written word on you, I'll show you how to make chai-spiced pumpkin streusel bread. In pictures. Give your brain a break today!


First, assemble the best ingredients you've got. I scrounged up organic brown sugar, unsalted Rose Valley butter, sea salt, Stash tea, Oregon hazelnuts and my favorite Kansas flour, Hudson Cream (which I found it at The Dollar Tree, of all places.)


Don't forget the pumpkin! You'll use a whole can of pumpkin puree for this bread; spring for the good stuff.


Grease two loaf pans and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Steep 4 - 6 bags of chai tea in 3/4 cup hot water. I chose double spice Stash tea for extra punch, but you don't have to live that dangerously.

This photo is an excuse to showcase my 1970s mixing bowls

Stir together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices, optional dry chai mix) in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil/butter, tea concentrate and pumpkin in another bowl.


Whisking helps offset the calories from the mashed potatoes you will eat today. Keep that in mind as you whip together the pumpkin, sugars, and oils.

Whiskin' ain't easy, folks

Pour the wet ingredients into your flour mixture, then stir until just combined.




It's like a lava flow of delicious, isn't it?

At this point I should tip my hat to Lauren, who let me borrow her camera for this baking adventure. She also took half of the photos, in case you wondered how I photographed myself mixing batter with both hands.


Please wait until after pouring the batter into the bread pans to lick the whisk. I'm pretty sure the oven will bake out any cook cooties, but not 100 percent sure.


Divide the batter evenly between the pans, then create the streusel topping. I use my hands to mix together the chopped nuts, butter, sugar and flour in a small bowl. If you're feeling fancy, you could use a pastry cutter for this part.

Sprinkle the streusel on top...


Then bake for 60 - 70 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While you wait, sneakily eat some batter.

Don't mind me!

You'll know the bread is done when your house smells like fall and a knife inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing . This is the hardest part.


Serve on a pretty plate or wrap up the bread for later.

Happy Thanksgiving, all. I'm so glad I've met you. If we ever meet in person, I'll bake this bread for you and we can enjoy it with coffee.


You can find the full story behind this pumpkin bread here at OPB.

Chai-Spiced Pumpkin Streusel Bread
makes two loaves

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cup organic (if you’ve got it) cane sugar
• ¼ cup powdered chai mix - optional
• 1 cup butter, unprocessed coconut oil or canola oil (I use ½ butter, ½ coconut)
• ⅔ cup hot water and 4 - 6 bags chai tea
• 4 eggs
• 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)
• 3 ½ cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. cloves
• ½ - 1 tsp. cardamom

Streusel Topping

• ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup nuts (any combination of walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts), chopped fine
• 2 Tb. flour
• 2 Tb. softened butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and steep the tea bags in hot water. Grease two bread pans with butter or oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil and eggs until fluffy and creamy. Stir in pumpkin and chai tea until smooth. In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, spices and dry chai mix. Mix the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, stirring until just combined.

Pour the batter into the bread pans and set aside.

For the streusel topping, mix together the softened butter, brown sugar, flour and chopped nuts in a small bowl. I typically use my hands to work everything together until the butter, flour and sugar have mixed into fine crumbs.

Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of both loaves and bake for about 60 - 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into each bread’s center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of each pan. Turn each loaf out onto a cooling rack. Once the bread is cooled, slice with a serrated knife and serve.

To keep the bread for later, wrap each cooled loaf tightly in plastic wrap, then again in aluminum foil. Keep the bread in the fridge (or freezer) until ready to eat.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

Ms. Rita's banana bread

Apple pie with cranberries

Pumpkin cream cheese muffins

Yes, fall is here

Fall has arrived, folks. I've been trying to deny it, trying to squeeze a few more verdant days out of Portland's pathetic excuse of a summer, but Halloween plopped its pumpkin ass down on my sofa. It gazed quietly into my eyes and whispered, "Fall's here, dude. Can't deny it. Check out the leaves."

Oooh! Nice couch!

A storm of raindrops and a parade of red, orange, and yellow leaves are flying by my window. Trees fling leaves like confetti. I've been pretending not to notice. It's November now. Time to wake up and smell the pumpkin spiced latte.

Thanks to Neighbor Kristen, I even carved a pumpkin and ate roasted pumpkin seeds! Kristen hosted 2011 The Great Pumpkin Carving at her apartment, followed by mulled wine an The Nightmare Before Christmas. Who could resist such a sincere invitation?



That's what I like about fall: the sincerity. We celebrate harvests, press apple cider, honor the spirits of those who came before us, then give thanks for those who are with us. We cuddle up with books, wear warm clothing, and snack our way to the holidays.

Instead of sharing an fall recipe for you, using the hippest ingredients of the season--like fresh nutmeg or caramel apple cider cookies--I'd like to share a few low-key ways my friends and I like to celebrate fall. There's still time for pumpkin lattes, roasted pumpkin seeds, and butternut squash before the holiday haze pushes them out of the way. Snuggle up and enjoy the foliage.


Classic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• seeds from a freshly carved pumpkin. (Some grocery stores sell seeds still in the shell, or raw pepitas. These sub nicely.)
• coarsely ground pepper
• Worcestershire sauce
• kosher salt
• butter or olive oil (optional)
  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lay a sheet of parchment paper in two baking sheets.

Rinse pumpkin seeds under cold water and pick out the pulp. This is easiest to do right after the pumpkin is carved and the pulp hasn't dried onto the seeds. If you've waited, you may want to soak the seeds in warm water to remove the pulp.

Pour the cleaned seeds into a bowl, then stir in Worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon or two of melted butter or olive oil, salt, and cracked pepper. Adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes.

Spread the seeds onto the baking sheets in a single layer. (You may need a third sheet if you carved a large pumpkin!) Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the seeds are toasted, about 25 - 35 minutes. The seeds should be a light golden brown. Serve immediately or let them cool and store in an airtight container.

** Playing with the flavors of roasted pumpkin seeds is half the fun. This version uses Worcestershire sauce to evoke fond holiday memories of Chex Mix, however, I also like to make these with soy sauce.



Neighbor Kristen is the queen of effortless entertaining. She can throw together a holiday fete in minutes, with as little as an open bottle of wine, freshly cooked popcorn, and a well timed mass text message.

Last weekend at the Great Pumpkin Carving, Kristen mulled this wine using her wily simmer-it-'till-you-make-it ways. Many people crash and burn (literally) when they cook on the fly; Kristen always wins when she cooks without script. It's the perfect thing to sip while you dance along to Jack Skellington's antics in Halloween Town.

Now this is Halloween!

Fast Mulled Wine
a la Neighbor Kristen

• 1 bottle of "skunked" - aka opened and unused - red wine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tb. brown sugar if the red wine is particularly dry
  
• 1-2 Tb. mulling spices (Kristen recommends Penzys' brand)
• zest of a fresh orange (optional)
  
• 4 oz. brandy (optional)
  

Whisk wine and sugar(s) together in a large saucepan. Add brandy, mulling spices, and orange zest. Bring the wine to a simmer but do not boil. Let the wine simmer for at least 20 minutes and serve. Mulled wine is also a great crock pot recipe; make a double batch and let it simmer all evening during a holiday party. Guests can sneak up for another ladle-full as needed.

Dr. Brian approves of mulled wine

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:
sweet n' spicy curried nut mix
Cracker Jack peanuts
quickie pumpkin seeds
pumpkin cream cheese muffins