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Vegetable Noodle Soup

I just came back from a spiritual retreat… the ones I spend in silence, meditating about 10 hours a day and fasting. Yes… fasting. No solid food – only water, lemon juice and honey… We drink that “watered down lemonade” about 5 times a day, which helps our body use up all the energy it usually uses up digesting food to actually eliminate a lot of toxins that accumulate over time…

After these retreats, you feel light and energized, but you also you need to ease your body into taking solid foods again… We usually start with a huge fruit salad – today’s salad had a lot of papaya and bananas with a little bit of mangoes and other “sweet” fruits. But after that, your body starts getting hungry… and what better way to welcome your system to solid food again than with a hearty vegetable soup.

Literally, it took me 25 minutes to make this soup. It hit the spot…

VEGETABLE NOODLE SOUP

4 baby red-skinned potatoes, quartered

1 carrot, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

1 tbs sofrito

1 tbs olive oil

1 vegetable broth bullion cube

1 bunch of noodles – whole wheat vermicelli

Salt and Pepper to taste

about 2 cups of water

5-6 grape tomatoes, quartered – optional

2 handfuls of fresh spinach leaves – optional

In a medium pot over medium heat, pour olive oil. When the oil has heat up a bit, add sofrito and the vegetable bullion cube. Smash the cube a bit so that it dissolves better.
Add the onions. Saute for a little while.
Add the cut potatoes and the carrots. Saute for a little while to give it a head start.
Add the tomatoes.
Add enough water to cover the vegetables. Cover and let it boil at a medium roll for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, the potatoes and the carrots should be done.
Add the noodles and stir so the noodles separate and they don’t stick together. Cover again.
After the noodles have cooked, about 5 minutes, add the spinach leaves. They will wilt into the broth almost immediately. Cover and turn off the heat. Let the soup finish cooking with the residual heat.
After about 10 minutes… serve and enjoy.

This is the foundation recipe – to this you can add anything else you might have on your fridge – mushrooms, peppers, celery, etc. Your imagination is the limit…

This is also the same soup recipe I make when I am feeling “under-the-weather”… so you can say this is my “vegetable soup for my soul”. From my soul to yours… buen provecho.

Tags: carrots, potato, soup, spinach, Vegan

Comments 3 Comments
Categories main courses

Creamy Potatoes

19 Feb

I’ve spent the last 4 days cleaning one of my rooms trying to make it into an organized and functional home office. The more I threw out, the more things appeared. Amazing.

But more amazing was the bunch of old recipes I had written a few years back for the yoga center that I had completely forgotten about. I found this folder with about 5 potato recipes I had made a looooong time ago, just waiting for me to rediscover them again. Perfect for my Potato Festival theme…

One of these recipes is this Creamy Potatoes dish – it’s basically a potato gratin, but because the name in Spanish is Papas a la Crema, I thought I should stay true to the original name… It turned out to be a very creamy and satisfying little dish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

CREAMY POTATOES

2 lbs potatoes – I used russets – sliced as thinly as possible

1 medium onion – sliced as thinly as possible

3 cups of milk

4 tbs cornstarch

1/2 stick of margarine

2 tbs sofrito

1 1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese – optional

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash potatoes well and slice them as thinly as possible. I used a mandolin for the first time and I love the way they come out – Super consistent. Slice onion too.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour margarine and sautee sofrito for a few minutes. Pour 2 cups of the milk. In the remaining milk, dilute the cornstarch and pour in. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk until the sauce starts to thicken a bit.
Stack the potato and onion slices in a glass casserole dish. Pour the milk mixture over the potatoes.
If using, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the potatoes.
Bake in oven for 45 minutes.
Turn off oven and let the potatoes in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes. Let cool a bit before serving so the sauce does not run all over the place.

I served this together with Sauteed Corn.

Tags: gratin, milk, onion, potato

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Categories main courses, Potato Festival, side dishes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelon

16 Feb

I’ve been trying to “crack my head open” trying to figure out a way to translate the word “pastelón” for you guys. A pastelón is very similar to a casserole… but the difference being that things are mainly layered in instead of mixed all -together. So I figured that if Rachael Ray can invent a word in “stewp”, I can just use the word “pastelón” and you’ll learn to embrace it.

Pastelón is pronounced [pas-te-LON], and as I mentioned before, it consists of layers of ingredients, sometimes pre-cooked, sometimes raw and then baked off in the oven.

This is a new installment for the Potato Festival I mentioned a few posts ago… I know, the translation thing should have not kept me for posting this, but I guess I got caught up in it.

POTATO and FRIED EGGPLANT PASTELÓN

3 medium potatoes cut into 2″ pieces – you can use new, russet or red-skinned potatoes

1 small eggplant – try to buy the lightest eggplant available*

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tbs sofrito

¼ – ½ cup of water

2 tbs butter

2 tbs cream cheese

4 tbs grated Parmesan cheese, divided

A splash of milk

¼ cup Italian cheese blend

Salt, Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil – to fry the eggplant

* Note: The lighter the eggplant, the less seeds it will have and the less bitterness it will have.

In a medium sized saucepan with salted water, boil the potatoes until fork-tender. I find the potatoes boil faster when I use as little water as possible… I guess it’s a combination of boiling and steaming… I don’t even let the water cover the potatoes. Just let the water come up halfway the potatoes.
Then, you need to prepare the eggplant batter… Mix together the flour, water, sofrito and season generously with salt and pepper. Use enough water for the batter to have the consistency of pancake batter. Set aside.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil for frying.
Slice the eggplant your favorite way – in rounds or in long slices. Dunk the eggplant slices in the batter. Clean up any drips and fry until golden brown. Drain the fried slices over paper towels to soak up any excess oil. Set aside.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
When potatoes are done, drain any liquid leftover. Mix in butter, cream cheese, 2 tbs of the Parmesan and milk. Smash then until creamy soft. Season with garlic salt and pepper.
Pour half the mashed potatoes in a buttered casserole dish. Add in the fried eggplant slices creating a layer. Sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese (optional). Add in the remaining mashed potatoes. Top with the last of the remaining Parmesan and the shredded cheese mix.

10. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and golden brown and the flavors meld.

Tags: eggplant, pastelon, potato

Comments 4 Comments
Categories main courses, Potato Festival, Puerto Rican delicacies

Roasted Mustard Potatoes

27 Jan

I love making this dish!!! The smell of the mustard when it’s in the oven is divine…

ROASTED MUSTARD POTATOES

2 lbs red-skinned baby potatoes, cut in quarters or halved

6 tbs mustard – dijon, grain or spicy mustards will all work great here

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp Italian seasonings

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil spray

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place cut potatoes in the same bowl with the mustard mixture and toss to fully coat all the potatoes.
Move the mustard-coated potatoes into a baking sheet sprayed with canola oil spray.
Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes until potatoes are tender when speared with a fork.

Tags: garlic, mustard, potato

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Potato Festival, side dishes

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

27 Jan

This is one of the easiest and nicest side dishes you can create. I make it in a toaster oven while I prepare the main dish.

HERBED ROASTED POTATOES

2 lbs of red skin or other waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbs garlic salt

2 tbs Italian seasonings

2 tbs white pepper

2 tbs parsley – dried or fresh

2 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs paprika (optional)

4 tbs Liquid soy margarine – I eye-ball this usually… enough to coat the potatoes.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the herbs and spices – garlic salt, Italian seasonings, white pepper, parsley, kosher salt, lemon zest and paprika, if using.
Drizzle a small amount of the liquid margarine and “butter” the baking dish or roasting pan you’ll be using to roast these potatoes. This way you’ll ensure the potatoes will not stick to the bottom.
Place cubed potatoes in the roasting pan or dish in a single layer. Drizzle liquid margarine on top of potatoes and sprinkle the herb mixture. Using your clean hands, massage the potatoes with the margarine and the herb mixture until the potato cubes are all slathered with margarine and herbs.
Roast in oven for about 30-35 minutes – until potatoes are golden brown and soft when you pierce them with a knife. Move them around the half-time mark if you want. I sometimes forget and they usually turn out OK.