Chickpea Vegetable Soup With Parmesan and Rosemary

It's almost the end of soup season! I bought ingredients for this soup and then the weather went up to 70 degrees....madness. This soup is really delicious though - even when it's cold, so it's not a bad choice even with the wonky weather. I made a few changes to the original recipe based on what I had/found at the grocery store - this might have actually been better with dried chickpeas, but Market Basket failed me!

1 whole clove
1/2 onion, sliced root to stem so it stays intact, peeled
1 28 ounce can chickpeas
1 teaspoon (approximately) rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 dried bay leaves
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 small Parmesan rind
1 cup diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
2 medium carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Insert the clove into the onion. Put the onion in a large pot with the chickpeas, rosemary, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, salt and cheese rind. Add 5 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about an hour.

Add the tomatoes, carrots, and pepper, cover loosely, and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes longer.

Original recipe here

Baked Quinoa with Spinach and Cheese

Easy, and delicious!! I added a bit more cheese than was called for, so it wasn't quite a "recipe for health" as written :). Also tastes great re-heated!
(I skipped the step of drizzling olive oil on the top, and it still tasted great!)


1 6-ounce bag baby spinach
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 plump garlic cloves, minced
4 cups cooked quinoa, (1 cup uncooked)
2 large eggs
3 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (3/4 cup)
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Oil a 2-quart gratin or baking dish.

2. Heat a medium frying pan or a wide saucepan over medium-high heat. Wash the spinach and without spinning dry, add to the pan and wilt in the liquid left on the leaves after washing. You may have to do this in 2 batches. As soon as the spinach wilts, remove from the heat and rinse with cold water. Squeeze dry and chop. Set aside.

3. Wipe the pan dry and heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in it over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir with the onion until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the spinach and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

4. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir in the quinoa, the onion and spinach mixture, the Gruyère, and the rosemary. Add freshly ground pepper and stir the mixture together. Scrape into the gratin dish. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top and drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Place in the oven and bake until nicely browned on top, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to sit for about 5 minutes, and serve.


Original recipe here 

Parsnip Gnocchi

 

Parsnip gnocchi?! Whaaaat?! Another specialty a la Mark Bittman.
(Not the prettiest dish, but delicious. Another fun Saturday activity).
This was my first time making gnocchi - it's actually not all that hard, and it is definitely one of my favorite foods. Next time I'm going to try sweet potato gnocchi.

Parsnip Gnocchi
4 servings (or 1 Dave serving plus 1 Kristen serving)

1 pound parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional) - I forgot about this so left it out, but I'm sure it would have been delicious (even if dried)

1. Roast, steam, or boil parsnips until very tender (I boiled - only took 15-20 minutes or so). Be sure to drain well before proceeding. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.
2. Puree the parsnips in a food processor until smooth; sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Add about 1 cup of the flour, the Parmesan, and the nutmeg and stir; add more flour until the mixture forms a dough you can handle. Knead for a minute or so on a lightly floured surface (I more than "lightly" floured it). The idea is to make a dough with as little additional flour as possible.
3. Roll a piece of dough into a rope about 1/2 inch thick, then cut the rope into 1-inch lengths; traditionally, you would spin each of these pieces off the tines of a fork to score it lightly. As each gnoccho is ready, put it on a sheet of wax paper; do not allow them to touch. (There is a good drawing of how to score the gnocchi, which I cannot reproduce, but I'm sure there are good instructions online somewhere).
4. A few at a time, add the gnocchi to the boiling water and stir. A minute after they rise to the surface, the gnocchi are done; remove with a slotted spoon. Put in a bowl and sauce or reheat in butter wthin a few minutes; these do not keep well (so eat them in one sitting like I did!).

Sauce: Butter, Sage, and Parmesan

4 tablespoons of butter
20-30 fresh sage leaves
1 cup Parmesan

Heat 4 or more tablespoons butter with 20 or 30 fresh sage leaves; the butter should brown and the sage sizzle. Toss pasta with the butter, sage, and Parmesan, thinning the sauce with pasta cooking liquid if necessary.