Fast White Bean Stew

In an effort to eat better quality food, I recently started buying my meat from a local farm. This is advantageous in a lot of ways, but one of the few disadvantages is that you can’t pick and choose your cuts. With our recent pork order, for example, I received a few packages of thick, uncooked ham slices. I’m not a big fan of ham, so they sat in our freezer for the past couple of months until Mike, thinking that they were ordinary deli-style ham slices, put them in the fridge to thaw.

Imagine his disappointment when he realized that the contents of the package marked “ham slices” would not be going on a sandwich with mustard and cheese anytime soon. Instead we cooked the ham, cubed it, and, while Mike ate some of it in omelettes and the like, I went looking for a soup recipe to use it in. In my search I came across mostly split pea soup (which I love but Mike hates, so no go), or rich, creamy stuff like corn chowders that weren't what I was feeling at the moment.

I probably would never have made the recipe posted below if not for all the glowing reviews it received on epicurious.com. At first glance it seemed too minimalist to create a great soup and the ingredients struck me as kind of an odd mix. However, I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to trust in the reviewers and make a batch. And man am I glad I did. This soup was incredibly quick and easy to make, yet it had the complexity and flavor of something that had been simmering away for hours. It was hearty and satisfying but still healthy: a perfect weeknight dinner for the busy, food-filled holiday season. If only I had some more ham…

White Bean Stew (From Gourmet Magazine, January 2007, via epicurious.com)

I did tweak this recipe just a little bit. Like many reviewers, I used baby spinach instead of the romaine or arugula that the recipe recommended. I also added a little bit of paprika and cayenne pepper to the soup to give it a little heat. Red pepper flakes would probably also work well. Oh, and I skipped the toasts. I thought this soup was filling enough not to need bread served with it.

2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 (14- to 15-ounce) can stewed tomatoes (I used Italian style)
1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (3 cups)
1 (1/2-pound) piece baked ham (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (5-ounce) bag baby romaine, baby arugula, or baby spinach (10 cups loosely packed)
8 (3/4-inch-thick) slices baguette
pinch of paprika and cayenne pepper, if desired

1) Cook garlic in 1/4 cup oil in a 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes.
2) Coarsely cut up tomatoes in can with kitchen shears, then add (with juice) to garlic in oil.(I skipped this step and just broke up the tomatoes with a spatula when I added them to the pot).
3) Stir in broth, beans, ham, and pepper and bring to a boil.
4) Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in greens and cook until wilted, 3 minutes for romaine or 1 minute for arugula.
5) While stew is simmering, preheat broiler. Put bread on a baking sheet and drizzle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil.
6) Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat until golden, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

Toffee Apple Dip

I have kind of a complex about people coming over to my house. When we have guests over I don’t really care if the house is spotless or if my spaz of a dog is under control, but what I do freak out over is ---no surprise here--food. I need to feed people, plain and simple. So when Mike called me last week to tell me that friends were coming over for a Jazz game at 5:00 that night, my mind immediately went into panic mode thinking that I had no time to make anything for dinner.

Mike quickly reassured me that, since it was an early game, we could all go to dinner afterward and not worry about eating at our house. That seemed reasonable to me, so I went about my day fully planning on providing our guests only with a space to socialize and enjoy each other’s company without plying them with food the way I usually do.

However, the moment I walked in the door from work this sensible plan flew right out of my head, and was replaced by my characteristically dramatic stream of crazy thoughts: “What if people are hungry? What if they come straight over from work and need a snack? What if they don’t feel comfortable enough to ask for something to eat so they spend the game starving and never want to come back to our house again? What if we become known as the people that never feed anyone and everyone hates us?!” So I made this apple dip.

This dip is a funny thing to watch people eat for the first time. They usually take a bite and immediately say “what is this?” then marvel at the fact that something that is essentially just cream cheese and sugar could taste this good. Definitely a crowd-pleaser. And yet I still worried that there might be someone without a sweet tooth present so I went ahead and made nachos at half-time. Did I mention I have issues?

Toffee Apple Dip (from the Ivory Favorites cookbook)

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
About half of an 11 oz. bag of Heath or Skor bits (just add to your liking)

1) Beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.
2) Stir in vanilla and toffee bits.

Butternut Chicken Curry

It surprises me how often I hear people make a blanket statement about not liking curry, since the term doesn’t really apply to one specific food or spice but a wide variety of South Asian dishes. To me a tangy, runny Thai curry tastes completely different from a thick, cumin-y Indian one. But that could be because I have yet to meet a curry that I didn’t like. In fact, once the weather starts getting cold and snowy like it did this week I immediately start craving Chanon Thai’s red curry with tofu. One bite of that stuff will chase the chill right out of you.

The curry recipe posted below is very much an Americanized, mild dish—perfect for those who are skeptical about eating this kind of stuff. I found it while looking through my cookbooks for a recipe to use up some butternut squash, specifically a savory one since it seems like most methods for cooking squash favor a sweet preparation involving cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. I loved the way this turned out—the bland, sweet flavor of the squash was a perfect complement to a slightly spicy, flavorful sauce. It was also simple to make and made for excellent leftovers throughout the week. Highly recommended.

Butternut Chicken Curry (from the Keeping Up Cookbook)

I did have to make a few tweaks to the original version of this recipe. I could tell at the outset that the one tablespoon of fish sauce it called for was going to be way too much so I reduced that amount, as well as the amount of onion. I added some carrots and red pepper, but you could really use any other veggies you want (potatoes, snap peas, mushrooms, etc.). I also had issues with my sauce being way too thick. I’m thinking this is because my chicken took twice as long to cook as the recipe indicated, so the squash broke down a bit and thickened the sauce. I solved this problem by adding some hot water every time it got too gloopy, but in the future I think I’ll just start cooking the chicken earlier in the recipe.

Note: most grocers carry curry paste, coconut milk, and fish sauce but you can find this stuff for a lot cheaper at your local Asian market.

1 small butternut squash, seeded, peeled and diced
1 (14 ounce) can of unsweetened coconut milk, lite or regular
1 heaping tablespoon mild Indian curry paste, such as Patak’s*
1/2 medium onion, diced
3-4 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (I only used 2)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks (or a bunch of baby carrots cut in half, which is what I used)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
1 tsp. salt

1) Place squash and carrots in a microwave-safe dish and add enough water to just cover bottom of dish. Cover and microwave for several minutes until squash is tender. (mine took a lot longer than the "several" implies. About ten minutes total).
2) Drain water and set aside.
3) Bring 1/4 cup coconut milk and curry paste to a simmer in a large skillet over medium heat, whisking constantly.
4) Add onion and bell pepper and saute for 5 minutes (I would probably add the chicken at this point, too, but I can’t say that definitely because I haven’t tried doing it yet).
5) Stir in remaining coconut milk, sugar, salt, and fish sauce, then add chicken, squash, and carrots.
6) Simmer until chicken is cooked through, stirring often, 6-8 minutes. Serve over rice, couscous, or pilaf.

*I bought the “hot” version of the recommended brand and it wasn’t too spicy at all. If you like a little heat to your curry, I would suggest buying something stronger than the mild variety and adding more of it.