I made this soup for a two-family dinner and all the kids gobbled it up. It cooks up with minimal prep — the only thing that take time is peeling the beets. This recipe is from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine — my go-to source for mid-week cooking. It too about 20 minutes to peel the root veggies, and then you can make a salad while the veggies roast.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht

2 lbs red beets
1 lb russet potatoes
2 shallots
fresh thyme
olive oil
salt and pepper
5 c veggie broth (can do some broth and some water)
red wine vinegar
sour cream
fresh parsley (opt)
green onions (opt)

Pre-heat oven to 400. Peel beets and dice medium. Peel  1 lb russet potatoes and dice medium. Add these to a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet. Coarsely chop 2 shallots and add to pan along with 3-5 springs of fresh thyme. Drizzel with 2T olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly to coat.  Arrange this mix in a single layer and roast until beets and potatoes are cooked through. (About 45min)

Discard thyme. Add vegetable to a soup pot along with 5 cups vegetable broth. Bring to simmer over medium-high. Use a potato masher to mash some of the veggies until the soup is think and chunky. Stir in 1 T red-wine vinegar and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top with sour cream, chopped fresh parsley, and thinly sliced green onions if desired.

Pfeffernuess is German for ”pepper nuts” and is a classic spicy holiday treat. This is my mother-in-law’s cookie recipe, and my husband’s favorite Christmas cookie. We made two huge gallon-sized ziploc bags this year, and they are already almost gone. This German version is anise flavored, but the Danish pebernodder (literally “pepper nuts) are made with black or white pepper.

1 c white corn syrup
1 c dark corn syrup
2 c white sugar
1 c butter, melted
2 c sour cream
1/4 tsp anise oil
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
8-10 c flour (or more)

 Put ingredients together in a very large bowl. Stir well after first 5 ingredients. Then add remaining ingredients. Add enough flour until dough is quite thick, but not overly dry. (I usually end up using all 10 cups.) Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Just a couple hours is not enough chill time for this recipe.) Roll out onto a very well floured board into thin 1/2 inch diameter snakes. Cut into small pieces. To prevent sticking, lightly shake the cookies in your well floured hands. Lay them out on cookie sheets, not touching. Bake 12-15 min at 375 degrees.

These cookies are meant to be quite crisp, almost like biscotti. But I also enjoy them made slightly large and cooked to a softer consistency. Paul says “drink them with Market Spice tea!”

I threw two parties this weekend: one for 15 11 year olds, and another serving dinner and dessert to 25 folks. Needless to say, I did NOT feel like cooking again come Monday night.

Alas, the children, they demand to be fed.

I had a bunch of leftover cornbread and wanted to make Katy’s Huervos Rancheros with Chorizo to go with it. But I didn’t have the right ingredients.  So this is what came up instead. I bet you could do something like it with what you have on hand as well. Here’s the un-recipe:

Roasted Veggies: Put a couple halved, seeded bell peppers cut side down on a baking sheet. On the other half of the sheet put a row of asparagus. (I snap the ends. Some people peel.) Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast at 375 until the asparagus are bite-tender. Set aside. (They are fine room temp.) Keep the pepper in there until the skins blister slightly. Remove peppers and cool until you can just handle them. Pinch off the skins and discard. Slice.

“Emergency” Rancheros Sauce: In a skillet or saucepan heat olive oil. Sautee a some onions (I used green) and a couple cloves of crushed garlic. Add a can of stewed tomatoes (mine had peppers in it). Add 1/2-1 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp chili powder. Adjust to taste.

Scramble up or fry some eggs and serve the whole feast with corn tortillas, chips, rice…whatever you have on hand. Have Yum.

Last night was our Annual Fall Chili Fest for the Autumnal Equinox. I try out a different chili every year, and this one got rave reviews from our guests. It goes well with easy Pineapple Salsa and Buttery Cornbread, both of which can be found here. Have yum!

Jamaican Black Bean and Rice Soup
(serves 10)

1/4 olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1-2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
2 tsp each cumin and oregano (adjust to taste)
2 tsp salt
4-5 cloves minced garlic
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
4 c veggi stock
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cup cooked brown or white rice
2-3 T red wine vinegar (I use balsamic)

Toppings: sliced radishes, sour cream, limes, pineapple salsa

1) Saute onions, bells peppers, spices and salt in a large pot until onions are tender.

2) Add veggie stock. Add beans and tomatoes. Heat thru.

3) Right before serving, add cooked rice and heat thru. When soup is steaming add vinegar and adjust salt.

Tip: Only add enough rice to the amount you are planning to eat right away. Store rice and soup separately to avoid the rice breaking down into starch in your leftovers.

¼ c butter
¼ c brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
2 sliced pears
¼ c chopped walnuts

 Melt the butter, brown sugar, and honey in an oven-proof cast-iron skillet. Arrange pears in concentric circles on the bottom of the skillet. Sprinkle walnuts evenly across the skillet.

1/3 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 squares (1oz) unsweetened chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1  1/4c flour
2/3 c milk

 Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add in eggs one at a time. Stir in chocolate, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually alternate adding milk and flour. Pour mixture over pears in skillet. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Invert onto a serving platter.

Wonderful warm with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon!

This recipe for Red-Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes is from my favorite cooking magazine, Everyday Foodwith Martha Stewart. My mom saved all my copies over the past year, and I had a blast tearing out the new dishes to try out. I made this one while at Pura Vida and it was a big hit. I’m allergic to walnuts, so I substituted pine nuts. And couldn’t get red leaf so I had to use Romaine as you’ll see in the photos.

Red-Leaf Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in chunks
1 med red onon, quartered
2 T olive oil
coarse salt and ground black pepper
1 package (10 oz) frozen cut green beans, thawed
1/3 c walnuts
1 c plain low-fat yogurt
2 T white-wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 head red-leaf lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces

Preheat oven to 450. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss sweet potatoes, onions, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast until sweet potatoes are tender, about 20min.

Add green beans and walnuts to sheet, toss. Roast until green beans are tender, about 5 min.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, vinegar, and garlic. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Top lettuce with roasted veggies, drizzle with dressing.

Too hot to cook? I’m a huge fan of “big salads.” (Remember how Elaine on Seinfeld always wanted to order “big salad.”) But sometimes you just can’t think of something yummy to put on your salad greens. My soulssitah Jen Payne to the rescue! Jen passed this great list of 101 Salads from the New York Times on to me, and I offer it now to you. (I understand #7 , the carrot blueberry salad  is especially great.)

In the meantime, here’s one of my favorite combos: Strawberry Spinach Salad. Start with clean, dry baby spinach leaves. Toss in a couple hand full mint leaves. Add very thinly sliced red onions, chevre (goat cheese), and cashews. The lightest splash of olive oil and rice vinegar, or poppy seed dressing is nice.

For almost ten years we hosted one kind of group or another that met in our home for dinner on a regular basis. This recipe for a chicken mole comes from a cook book one of those communities, The Well, produced together. Lisa Hashbarger contributed this particularly yummy dish, and while we’ve lost touch long ago, we still think of her fondly whenever this is on the table.

It’s very simple and you need only one special ingredient, Ibarra Mexican chocolate. This is a hard chocolate with a grainy, sugary texture and a cinnamon flavor. You can find it at most well-stocked grocery stores in the U.S. — tho’ I have to bring it back in my suitcase to Denmark. (Ibarra also makes fabulous hot chocolate when grated and melted into warm milk!)

Chicken Mole

4 chicken breasts
1 large onion, chopped
1 c broth
3-6 cloves
1 – 28oz can peeled and diced tomatoes
1/2 c raisins
1/4c cilantro, chopped
3 T chili powder
one round Ibarra chocolate
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cumin
2 T peanut butter
2 T lime juice

2 c cooked rice

Place the chicken in a pan and cover with water. Bring just to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from water and cool slightly. Then shred into strips. Saute onion in 2T  of broth, covered until softened. (4-5 min) Uncover and add garlic, tomatoes, raisins, cilantro, chili powder, chocolate, salt, cinnamon, cumin and peanut butter. Simmer 5 minutes. Add remaining broth and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken and lime juice. Heath through on low until hot. Spoon over rice and serve with lime wedges

It was Robert Frost who said that good fences make good neighbors. I always assumed that this meant you should have clearly delineated boundaries and not drag your neighbors into the family feuds, nor the other way around. But, then I read the rest of the poem, and it is the retelling of how Mr. Frost and his neighbor spend one day together each year repairing the fence between their lands. And I think perhaps the line refers to the fact that it is good to join with your neighbor, and undertake a task with mutual benefit that would be too large for either of you alone.

Last weekend I undertook such a task with my neighbor (the lovely Katy K) and we hosted a party for our coworkers. (Because Katy and I are friends, and neighbors, and coworkers all at the same time – there are precious few people in the world who can put up with that much of me, bless her soul.) Anyway, we decided to have a party in our shared backyard, and we decided to be lazy and make everyone else bring the food. All we supplied was sangria (and artichoke dip and two gallons of peach ice cream, just for kicks.) So three different sangria recipes were scouted, and three different bottles of wine were purchased, and three different sangrias were made – classic, berry, and basil peach. And by far, the best of these three was the basil peach.  And so many people liked it and asked for the recipe that I thought I would put it here, so the regular Food Hero readers could see the results and a few new people could discover Food Hero.

The sangria was so good I made it again for a boat trip when the divine Rachelle came back for a visit from Denmark. And this time I was running late and made it in 10 minutes (no kidding). So from personal experience I can swear that the whole part about cooling for an hour afterwards is purely optional – just add more ice to the glass. And without further ado, basil peach sangria.

Basil Peach Sangria

(from Gourmet July 2005)

1c loosely packed fresh basil leaves plus 8-10 sprigs.

¾ c sugar

¼ c fresh lemon juice – about one big lemon

2 cans peach nectar

1 bottle chilled dry white wine

1 large peach, peeled if desired, diced.

Put 1 cup basil leaves, sugar, and lemon juice into a small saucepan and bruise leaves by mashing with a wooden spoon. Add 1 can nectar and bring just to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes, then pour through a sieve into a pitcher. Discard basil leaves. Stir in wine, peach, remaining can nectar, a basil sprigs. Chill at least 1 hour. Serve over ice.

A few notes on the recipe. I bought one of the big tubs from the store and that was enough for two pitchers. I think the little flat tubs would not quite be enough, so either buy a big tub or two little tubs and plan for a few leftovers. I find peach nectar in the fruit juice aisle of the store, although sometimes it’s in with Mexican food. I really would pick a drier white wine for this – the peach nectar and the sugar give it plenty of sweetness and a sweet wine would just send it over the top. We used chardonnay.

I was quite pleased to find that Chambar’s drink menu was full of variations of vintage cocktails which are very much in vogue at the moment. This delicious trend seems to be presided over in the Pacific Northwest by Jamie Boudreau, a bartender from Vancouver who now practices his art in Seattle (and happens to have a blog on wordpress.com). I am personally grateful for such an agreeable diversion as fashionable cocktail-making.

I really enjoyed the Sang et Sable (as well as the Hughes’s Libation, and a selection of delicious edibles from the food menu) and wanted to try to make it myself.  Upon returning to Seattle and discussing this drink with a bartender at Cantinetta, I found out that ”Blood and Sand” is a classic cocktail named for an old movie (Blood and Sand, a 1922 silent movie, about a toreador, starring Rudolph Valentino, as it turns out).  I then consulted one of my most prized possessions, the Esquire Drink Book (1956).  There it was on page 275 – Equal parts of: Scotch, Cherry brandy, Orange juice, Sweet vermouth. I tried this mixture with a Rainier Cherry-flavored vodka (44oNorth) but the cherry flavour was too, perhaps, medicinal…yet interesting in a certain way… but I decided to experiment with the ingredients listed  on the Chambar menu.  I settled on the ingredients and proportions listed below.

The Blood and Sand cocktail is refreshing, with a cool round juicy note imparted by the sherry. For a whiskey cocktail the flavour is surprising – yet just right.  It’s a welcome addition to my repertoire. 

 Per Drink

1     oz  fresh-squeezed orange juice (or tangelo, or minneola…)
1     oz  whiskey (a lighter Canadian-style rye like Seagram’s 7 is good)
1     oz  sweet vermouth
1/2  oz  sherry (I’ve been using Manzanilla, La Gitana, Hidalgo) 

Pour ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker and shake, shake.  Strain into a cocktail glass and, for dramatic effect, garnish by floating a blood orange chip on the surface. To make the chips, slice a blood orange as thinly as possible and dry on a rack in a F 150 oven for many hours (6 or more). After drying the slices I’ve stored them in the freezer until needed.

A votre sante!