I know I said we were finished with our Standby Recipes series, but when a couple of cool late August-early September days came along, I started to crave this soup.  Once you’ve had it you’ll know what I mean.  Simple and deeply satisfying (and vegan and gluten-free if you want it to be).

My friend Alison first made it for me when I landed in England, barely awake and hungry after a long night of travel.  It revived me and felt so much more nourishing than any of the easy-grab things I would have eaten, left to my own devices.  When I’m feeling lazy or tired and debating whether or not I want to get involved with a butternut squash, I remember how bone-deep-wonderful this tasted on that early English morning and how it only took her half an hour. 

Butternut Squash Soup

1 small-medium onion, diced

1 T butter or vegetable/olive oil

2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped

1 small-medium butternut squash, peeled, seeds discarded, chopped into 1” pieces

1 quart vegetable stock

1 can white beans (like cannellini), rinsed and drained

Salt and pepper, to taste

Melt butter (or warm oil) in large pot or Dutch oven.  Add onion and sauté for several minutes until soft and translucent.  Add rosemary and continue sautéing for another minute or two.

Be careful peeling and chopping the squash.  (I use a good vegetable peeler (not a knife) to peel and then work on small sections at a time – it will be slippery.)  When you’ve tackled it, add it to the pot and pour in the vegetable stock.  Turn it up to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender and easily pierced with a fork.

When the squash is getting close to done, add the beans and some fresh black pepper. 

Before I had a blender, I used a food processor for this next part and it’s perfectly yummy and acceptable to do so.  But if you have a blender, I recommend using it.  The soft, velvety purée you can achieve with the blender is perfection.  So, get whichever device you are going to use and, in small batches, purée the soup.  It is very easy to have it explode out of the blender when it’s hot and you put too much in, so be conservative.  I keep a bowl handy and pour out the blended soup into it, while continuing to blend the soup from the pot in batches.

When you have it all blended (a few stray beans left in the bottom of the pot is fine and adds a nice random texture to the final product, so don’t stress about those), pour the soup back into the pot.  Turn it down to warm and taste.  Adjust with salt and more pepper, if desired.

That’s it.  Homemade soup in half an hour.  Bliss.  Yum.  Go, make and enjoy!

I started this Standby Recipes series to encourage folks who are swamped or inexperienced to prepare some real food, at least every once in a while.  I wanted you to just start somewhere and to feel confident messing around in the kitchen.  Well, I think you may be ready to fly, little birdies! 

Before I end the series with this post, I’ll mention again that Smitten Kitchen is an excellent site for browsing and finding your own go-to standby recipes.  Another favorite for weeknight meals is a book called Simple Suppers: Fresh Ideas for the Weeknight Table by The Moosewood Collective.  If you read through the “Well-Stocked Pantry” appendix and take some of the tips to heart, you will always have enough of the right ingredients on hand to pull together a quick, tasty, healthy meal.

Here is one of the many recipes I use from Simple Suppers, for Fettuccine with Walnut Pesto.  I know, I know.  Pesto is something you buy in a plastic container at the store or order at restaurants.  It seems hard or too fancy or way too time-consuming.  Not so!  This is the recipe to prove you wrong and to demonstrate that you don’t have to wait for summer basil, either.

Fettuccine with Walnut Pesto

Cook 1 lb of fettuccine or other pasta according to the instructions on the box.  When it’s done, drain it but reserve about 1 cup of the pasta-cooking water.

While that is cooking, toast 1 c walnuts, keeping a close eye on them so they do not burn.  Set aside to cool.

Put all of these items into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth: 

• 1 c chopped fresh or canned tomatoes (If it is any time but the height of summer tomato season, use diced, canned tomatoes.)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 T extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ t salt

Add walnuts to the blender/food processor and process until the mixture is well-mixed and the consistency is a lumpy paste.  (If you are using fresh tomatoes you may need to add 1-2 T water.)

Put the drained pasta into a large serving bowl and toss it with the walnut pesto, adding the reserved cooking water as necessary to make it saucy enough.  Top it with fresh chopped basil and grated parmesan cheese, if desired.

The whole thing might take you 20-30 minutes the first time, but I bet you can whittle that down to 10-15 with practice.  Bon appétit!

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photo credit:  © 2007 Michael Sauers, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

What’s wrong with this picture?

It’s Friday and you need some brownies this weekend.  I can tell.  Sure, you could pick some up at the coffee shop or the bakery section in the grocery store on the way home.  But I’m pretty sure what you really need are these brownies, hands down the best homemade brownies I’ve had.

So far in the standby recipes series I’ve gone easy on you and I’ve focused on dinner.  But everyone needs a little sweetness in life and what’s a snow day without a warm concoction to delight and indulge in?  I hope you don’t wait until it’s snowing again to try these because they are worth heating up the oven in summer.

Smitten Kitchen is a beautiful and tasty site for finding new gems and fresh takes on old favorites.  You don’t have to be an accomplished cook to follow along and you can spend a surprising amount of time hitting the “Surprise Me!” random recipe generator link. 

Here is the link to her “My Favorite Brownies” recipe, which is now my favorite brownie recipe, too.  A few tips from me:

• I make them exactly as she describes, though I had to go out to find “flaky sea salt” (Maldon salt – you should rub it together between your palms after measuring, to break it up a bit before adding it to the other ingredients).  It’s a fancy ingredient and you can certainly use kosher sea salt (I did this the first time or two I made them), but the Maldon salt is a nice touch – and then you have it around for sprinkling on other dishes.
• Before using this recipe, I had never tried her method of spraying and parchment in the bottom of the pan.  Try it!  It is wonderfully efficient.
• Please don’t fret if you have never tried melting chocolate and butter together in this double boiler method she describes.  It is easier than you might think.  You put about 1-2 inches of water in the bottom of a saucepan and put a bowl on top of that pan (a glass Pyrex bowl is perfect for this).  It just needs to rest on the pan without touching the water below.  You put the butter and chocolate in the bowl as she directs and stir while the water below simmers (once you’ve got it boiling, turn it down to a simmer or very low boil so it doesn’t get too hot and burn the chocolate).  It is really that simple and now you can impress people by throwing around terms like “double boiler.”
• One more note on ingredients:  Other than the splurge for the fancy salt, the ingredients are common kitchen staples and there are only 6 of them.  This is so easy to whip up!  I use regular Baker’s unsweetened chocolate and I have even made these with gluten-free flour on occasion and they were still amazing.

Happy Friday snow day in summer!

As I wrote recently, I’m posting a few of my standby recipes, and here’s the third one.  Since my aim is to share a few tried and true, go-to, standby meals, this is one of those simple but satisfying gems.  Because I want you to actually want to prepare a meal for yourself from genuine raw ingredients –at least every once in a while – this is about as low-prep and raw as it gets.

I present to you the humble baked potato.  Seriously.  Real food, the oven does most of the work, and you feel truly fed.  Comfort food at its simplest and best.

If you have no other choice, you can microwave your potato but you will thank me after you’ve tried it in the oven.  If you happen to have a gas oven, stand back and be prepared to swoon.

Here’s what you do (and just multiply this for however many people you are feeding, other than yourself):

Turn your oven to 400F.  Use any type of “white” potato you like (russet, Idaho, Yukon Gold).  Scrub it clean in water and trim off any eyes or bad spots with a paring knife.  Leave the rest of the skin intact.  Poke a few holes in it with your knife or a fork.  When the oven is up to temperature, put the potato directly on the oven rack in the center of the oven and set a timer for 1 hour.

Go off and enjoy a glass of something, read a chapter in your novel, or watch an episode of Frasier on Netflix.

When the timer buzzes, check the potato by sticking a fork or knife in it.  The skin should be somewhat crackly and the knife should go in easy and smooth.  If you meet resistance, let it cook another 15 minutes or so and check again. 

Even if you think you don’t like peas, get some frozen green peas and be prepared to change your mind (by all means, use fresh ones if it’s summer or you can find them).  While the potato is finishing its last few minutes of cooking time, put a generous ½ – 1 cup of peas in a small saucepan with about an inch of water.  Turn it to hi and let the peas cook in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes.  They barely need cooking and should still have some texture (not mushy) when they’re done.  Drain the water off.

When the potato is ready, use pot holders to take it out of the oven and plop it on your plate.  Immediately slice it open and insert copious amounts of butter, mashing it into the flesh so it all becomes one lovely substance.

Top your butter-infused potato with peas, salt, and pepper.  If you are in the mood, add grated cheese.  Allow yourself to moan as you enjoy it.

As I wrote last week, I’m posting a few of my standby recipes, and here’s the second one.  You are going to need a crock pot for this one but it will be a purchase that’s worth it.  This is satisfying and filling year-round and doesn’t heat up the kitchen the way an oven does.  You can let it cook overnight or during the day while you’re at work and you’re ready to go at dinner time.

Put the following ingredients in a crock pot and turn it on hi (if you want to eat in 3-6 hours) or lo (if you want to eat in 6-12).  Give it a stir every once in a while and add more liquid if it seems too dry.

• 16 oz package of dried kidney or black beans, rinsed under cold water.  Examine the beans and remove any small rocks that may be hiding out in the mix.  (You really don’t have to soak the beans before cooking in a crock pot.  Yes!)
• 1 can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted if you can find it
• Generous pinch or two of salt and some fresh black pepper
• 1-2 tsps of chopped jalapeno peppers.  I use prepared ones from a jar, so we always have a few in the fridge.  Test for heat if you are using fresh and adjust the amount as needed.
• Water or vegetable stock to cover the other ingredients by about an inch.  (I use store bought cartons of stock and just refrigerate any portion I don’t use.)

About 30-60 minutes before you want to eat, dice a medium yellow onion and sauté it in butter or vegetable oil until it is nicely browned or even blackened in a few places. 

Dump the onion and butter/oil into the crock pot and stir.  Let the flavors mingle while you make some rice and/or grate some cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top.  These beans are great ladled over rice or a baked potato, but they are fabulous all by themselves in a bowl, with or without a little cheese on top.

This should make about 6 full servings.  If you have leftovers, they make a tasty addition to homemade nachos.