CURRIED PUMPKIN BISQUE

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Five ingredients and about 25 or 30 minutes is all it takes to whip up this super easy Curried Pumpkin Bisque. I love this bisque because it’s savory. So many of the pumpkin—and squash like butternut for that matter—soups and bisques I’ve had are on the sweeter side, using warming spices like nutmeg and cinnamon you would find in pumpkin pie. There might even be apple or maple syrup in the recipe. They’re good, but I tend to prefer savory to sweet, unless I’m really in the mood for something sweet and then I’ve going for the chocolate cake, bowl of ice cream, piece of pie, brownie, and so forth, NOT the pumpkin bisque. Let’s get to it.

So when I say 5 ingredients, I’m not including extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. These are pantry staples I always have on hand and I highly recommend you have them too.

CURRIED PUMPKIN BISQUE

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree (I really like Trader Joe’s Organic Pumpkin for this soup. I stock up on it every fall when it returns to the stores, although any good organic canned pumpkin would work as well.)

3 cups good organic chicken stock or broth. Substitute vegetable broth if you want to make it vegetarian.

1 cup organic whole milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat some olive oil in a cast iron or saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring often, until they’re translucent and softened. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the curry powder, stirring it into the onions. Continue cooking for about 3 minutes, then take off the heat.

Add the curry onion mixture, chicken stock and milk to a blender, then blend just long enough to get a smooth consistency, only a minute or so, it won’t take long.

IMPORTANT BLENDER NOTE: If your blender is a smaller classic size like my old-school Oster, you’ll only be able to add 2 cups or so of the stock and milk at a time. You’ll have to blend in 2 batches, easy enough.

Pour the blended bisque into a pot and heat over medium, stirring occasionally until heated through.

Serve in bowls or mugs— like it in mugs, it’s highly drinkable. Also, it’s great as is, but you can dress it up with a shaving of parmesan cheese or a little dollop of creme fraiche and sprinkling of chives.

The next time you’re in the mood for a nice warming mug or bowl of soup, give this quick and really easy pumpkin bisque a try, and let me know what you think.

A VERSION OF RIBOLLITA...

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Hot soup might not seem a likely addition to your repertoire heading into summer, but facing meat shortages even those among us who haven’t readily made attempts to embrace a more plant-based diet may be finding it necessary, at least in the near future. This version of Ribolitta, a spin on the classic Tuscan bread soup, keeps the bread, a la Sally Albright, on the side. (IF you’re scratching your head you need to watch When Harry Met Sally, like right now, stop watching things like Tiger King, please.)

So lets get to it. This is one of those “meal in a bowl” soups and you can make it 100% vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. You could also skip the white wine by adding more broth, but why, it adds flavor, I love cooking with wine… let me re-phrase, I love wine.

A VERSION OF RIBOLLITA

2 15 oz. cans of white beans (cannellini, great northern, navy, whatever you have or can find, sometimes they’re just called white beans.)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

4 to 5 shallots, chopped medium-fine

5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

2 to 3 carrots, 2 if they’re medium/big, 3 if they’re skinny. I actually look for skinnier carrots, I find them to be more tender.

½ cup fresh sage, leaves only, chopped

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme tied together with kitchen string for easy removal later. No one likes twigs in their soup.

2 bay leaves, fresh if you have them, otherwise dried works too

½ cup sauvignon blanc, or any dry white wine

2 ½ cups good chicken broth

Half a bunch of swiss chard, stems chopped into half inch pieces, leaves rolled and cut chiffonade

To Finish:

¼ cup heavy cream

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Empty beans into a colander and let drain. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the shallots and carrots and let cook, stirring often until softened and the shallots are transparent. Add sage, thyme, bay leaves and swiss chard stems and continue cooking for another 3 minutes or so then add the minced garlic, followed by the wine and beans about a minute later. Let that cook down for a couple minutes then add the chicken broth.

Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, then add the swiss chard leaves. Continue simmering for another 10 minutes. Take off the heat, fish out the bay leaves and thyme stems and add the cream, stirring to combine. Give it a taste and season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Ladle yourself a bowl, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top and pair with a nice piece of toast, on the side, for dipping. It’s healthy, meatless, inexpensive and delicious. Enjoy!

WINNER, WINNER ROAST CHICKEN DINNER

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True story, I roast a chicken every week, with few exceptions. It's one of my all-time favorite dinners, also one of the easiest, and smells oh so good while it's cooking. I almost always use a lemon and some combination of fresh herbs, this recipe is no exception. 

Lemon, Rosemary, Thyme & Lavender Roast Chicken

Preheat oven to 425° / 400° if using convection

1 4-4 ½ pound organic chicken (it doesn't HAVE TO BE organic but if you can then why not)

1 to 2 lemons (use 2 if they're small, and Meyer's are always the best choice—personal preference—when they're in season)

6 to 8 sprigs each of fresh rosemary & thyme (a good handful of each, really, no need to count exactly)

1 ½ teaspoons dried culinary lavender, crushed in a mortar and pestle (yah, people still use them)

3 tablespoons butter

Olive oil

Kosher salt & pepper

Cooking twine, small piece just to tie the legs (if you don't have it, don't fret, it'll still be great without the bondage)

First things first, mash the butter and lavender together—presto, lavender butter. On to the chicken ... rinse, or don't, it's up for debate, and up to you. I rinse with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Using your fingers, carefully separate the skin from the chicken breast. Stuff the following under the skin on each side of the breast: ⅓ of the lavender butter, 2 lemons slices, and a couple of sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Stick a lemon slice and a sprig of rosemary and thyme in the little pocket between the body and thigh. The rest of the herbs, lemons and lavender butter go inside the chicken along with some salt and pepper. 

Tie the legs. Drizzle a little olive oil over the chicken and generously season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Pop that bird in the oven, kick back and relax. Have a glass of wine because what you choose to serve with it can be as simple and easy as a salad. It's going to roast for about an hour. It's done when the juices run clear when you poke the thigh with a sharp knife. If you prefer to go by temperatures, everybody says 165°. Just be careful not to over cook it, dry chicken is sad. When it's done let it rest a good 10 to 15 minutes, makes all the difference. Whip up a simple green salad and you're a winner, winner, cuz you chicken dinner is going to be delicious.

Who doesn't love some shrimp ...

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Okay, maybe there are some out there that don't care much for shrimp but I'm not one of them. They're just good, fast cooking and it seems like you did something fancy when really, you didn't. I made this the other night, my take on a shrimp scampi pasta. You'll need about a half pound of cleaned and peeled—except for the tail—shrimp and roughly a half pound of pasta, I like linguine, you may like something else, it's all good.

Here's a quick run down of what you'll need to have around in order to whip this up:

Half pound of cleaned, peeled shrimp

Half pound of dried pasta

Couple of garlic cloves, smashed

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dry Vermouth, or White Wine (not a sweet one)

Capers, about a spoonful + or - depending on your love of capers

1 lemon, zest and juice

Butter, about 1 ½ tsp to 1 tablespoon

Fresh parsley, roughly chopped, to finish

Put a large pot of well salted water on to boil for the pasta while you make the shrimp and sauce. Reserve a little of the pasta water to use if the finished sauce needs to be a little saucier: 

In a skillet/saute pan over medium heat add some olive oil, about 2 teaspoons along with the butter. Once the butter is melted add the garlic and stir. You should be smelling some garlicky goodness, give it about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp, salt and pepper them. Cook these guys, turning occasionally, until they are just opaque. Add some dry vermouth, about a ¼ cup but go ahead and just eyeball it, be crazy. Pour in the lemon juice. Add the capers, lemon zest and the just al dente cooked pasta and toss it all together to coat those noodles. Finish with a sprinkling of fresh parsley. Told you it was quick and easy, but it looks kind of impressive right? You can also easily double this for more people or more for a few or just you, no judging here.

Need more sautéed shrimp in your life? Here's something else you can do. I stretched out some homemade pizza dough—we'll get into that another time—you can also use store bought. A little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil smeared around, sprinkle of salt and pepper, then I spread a thin layer of pesto. Top that with some sautéed leeks, love leeks, and toss around some mozzarella cheese, fontina would be great too. That goes onto a screaming hot pizza stone in a 525° oven, hotter if your oven will do that. The greens you see are sautéed broccoli leaves—lots of sautéing going on here—which are truly great but you can use anything you want, it's pizza. When the pizza comes out of the oven top it with more cheese of course, this time fresh mozzarella, the greens or whatever you're using, shrimp and a final dusting of grated Pecorino Romano. Let's eat already!