Category Archives: Fall Recipes

Yam and Kale Soup with Coconut Milk and Curry

yam and kale 2

Sometimes the very best way to stay healthy in the flu season is to eat food that can repel the plague.  Spicy stews and soups are invigorating, warming, and healthy.  This particular soup is a variation on one I made years ago from either Moosewood’s Low Fat cook book, or from Vegetarian Times.  I have forgotten because it’s been so long now.  The original had some fresh Serrano chilis in it and I’m not sure what else since I couldn’t find the original.  I was feeling low this week and wanted to make a soup that could help me bounce back and not get sick.  This soup did the trick!  It is always satisfying that what I want to eat is actually in season, most of the vegetables in this soup came from my organic CSA!


Yam and Kale Soup

Ingredients:

3 onions sliced in thin rounds and then in quarters

2 lbs yams* (sweet potatoes), cut in 1″ pieces

1 large bunch of kale chopped smallish

2 quarts stock or water

1 can coconut milk

2 Tbsp olive oil

1″ piece of fresh ginger peeled and minced

3 garlic cloves minced

1 red dried hot chili such as cayenne

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

Method:

In a soup pot on medium heat: saute the onions in the olive oil until they caramelize.  This should take about 20 minutes.   When the onions are soft and browned and slightly sticky add the minced garlic and ginger.  Cook for a couple of minutes with the onions, stirring frequently, then add the 2 quarts of water to the pot and turn the heat up until it comes to a boil, then turn down to medium/high.  Add the yams and cover the pot.  Let the yams cook until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

When the yams are tender add the curry, salt, chili pepper, and the kale.  Stir well and then cover and let cook until the kale is well-cooked, about five minutes.  Now add the coconut milk and when it is completely blended into the soup it is ready.

This recipe makes approximately 8 servings.

Recipe Notes: If you are short on time you can simply saute the onions until they are transparent rather than caramelize them.  That will save almost 15 minutes off the cooking time.  I like the onions caramelized here because it compliments the spiciness and deepens the flavor of the broth.  If you want to shave even more time off of the cooking time you could cut the yams in smaller cubes which will cook faster (try doing 1/2″ cubes).  This is an easy and versatile soup to make and you can make many substitutions to please your own palate:  chard instead of kale, winter squash instead of yams, and of course if you don’t have coconut milk it is excellent without it.
*When I was growing up my mom cooked with yams a lot.  Our favorite was the “Garnet” variety.  I have always known them as yams…however, what I grew up eating weren’t true yams.  True yams are an African tuber that is very rarely available in the United States.  What I grew up eating are actually orange varieties of sweet potatoes.  This knowledge is becoming more common and now there is almost always someone who feels the need to correct me when I say “yam” instead of “sweet potato”.  So why do I still call them yams?  Because that is what most Americans (particularly in the West) know them as and it’s what I’ve called them my whole life.  I choose to continue to call them yams but if you choose to do as I do, just be prepared to have people pipe up with this information!
Soup Philosophy An article about soup making basics.

Oeuf Cocotte: Eggs Baked In Marinara

oeufs cocotte 2

Oeuf Cocotte* is a dish consisting of an egg baked with other ingredients in a ramekin.  Chocolate and Zucchini has a recipe on her site for this dish and explains that it is usually made with ham and creme fraiche, however I first heard of this dish from a French vegetarian cookbook in which the egg was cooked in a mushroom saute.  The recipe I’m giving you here is my current favorite in which an egg is baked in a marinara sauce and topped with parmesean and served with toast fingers.  I will list the ingredients you will need per one 8 ounce ramekin, so if you’re making more than one you need to multiply all ingredients by the number of servings you wish to make.

This recipe doesn’t include the marinara recipe.  You can use any that you have on hand.  This is a simple and satisfying meal.  I especially like to eat it for breakfast.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup marinara sauce (my favorite is a mushroom marinara)

1 egg

1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

the veriest smear of oil or butter to grease the ramekin

2 slices buttered wheat toast cut into fingers

 breakfast in progress 2

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400°

Grease your ramekin.
Set it in a larger deeper dish (see picture above) and fill halfway with water (this will help heat the dish evenly).  Ladle about a half a cup of the marinara into the ramekin.

 eggs 2

Crack your egg into it then cover the egg with the remaining 1/4 cup marinara.

 breakfast 2

Sprinkle the Parmesan on the top and put in the oven to bake.

Baking times vary depending on your oven and how you like your eggs.  The times I give here are approximate according to how my oven heats:

20 minutes: if you like your egg whites almost runny like Parisians do, this is probably long enough.  They will just barely be set up at this point and the yolk will be very runny.

25 minutes:  the whites should be completely cooked but the yolk will still be runny.

30 minutes:  the yolks will be thick but not completely hard cooked.  This is my favorite way.  I like the yolks to be tender and soft but not runny.

35 minutes:  the yolk should, at this point, be thoroughly hard cooked.
When the dish is almost ready to come out of the oven make the toast.

*I have also seen this spelled “oeufs en cocotte”.