Hard to believe there’s a frost warning tonight. It’s a stutter step Spring, one that I’m sure has confounded more than a few Virginia farmers. But even though it doesn’t feel like May, I’ve still got Spring produce on the brain. I’ve been longing for some favas for weeks now.

Finally after a lucky Mother’s Day trip to Kroger, I had my bounty – a huge mess of favas that would very quickly be reduced to a quarter of its original size and then, not long after that, nothing at all. But the tedium of fava prep is one of my favorites. Busy the hands, free the mind. Soon you’ll be eating Spring’s tastiest bean.

Fava Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 lb. Favas; shelled, blanched, and shelled again
1 Tablespoon Mint, chopped
1 Tablespoon Parsley, chopped
1 Green Onion, sliced thin
2 handfulls Mixed greens
1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Parmesan to taste

Directions

Combine ingredients! Season, taste, season. Use a veggie peeler to shave Parmesan on top. You’re done!

One of the things that I most treasured when I had just given birth to Lily were friends bringing food. Jon, in a move of sheer brilliance, brought me a cheese shop sandwich, what seems like mere minutes after Lily was born, and Meg had Pearl’s cupcakes not far behind. The quiches and lasagnas that appeared in the next few days were a sight for sore, sleep-deprived, delirious eyes.

I made this kale tart on Pi Day when, full of good intentions but short on solid plans, I made a quiche for a new mom and then ended up eating it myself because, well, plans change.*

I mean, at what point am I not also a new mom?

Kale and Mushroom Tart

Ingredients

1 Standard Pie Crust, blind-baked and cooled

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups Crimini Mushrooms, stems removed, diced
1 bunch Kale, stems removed and torn in small pieces
2 cups Vegetable Stock
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 Egg
1/2 cup Ricotta
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook for 5-10 minutes, developing color. Season with salt and pepper. Add kale, and combine thoroughly. Cook for another couple of minutes, stirring as necessary. Add veg stock and worcestershire, and cook over medium heat until liquid is almost completely reduced. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, mix Egg and Ricotta until smooth. Combine vegetable mixture and ricotta mixture, taste, season, and spoon evenly into prepared pie shell. Top with Pecorino, and bake for about 20 minutes or until set and golden brown. Cool slightly on a wire rack, and then put it in a fancy pie box and GIVE IT TO A NEW MOM AND DON’T JUST EAT IT YOURSELF, YOU FAT PIG.

*Are you a new mom and a friend of mine who is reading this post?? It was probably for YOU! My b. But this could be your future!

Now that I have my own offspring to torture influence, I want to make sure that I create my own culinary traditions, having very few of my own to pass down.*  I’m having a great time with it already, picking only my very favorite things and then decreeing them Tradition to my unsuspecting young family.  It’s just splendid.

Enter chopped liver.  Did I eat it ONCE growing up?  No, dude.  Even my Dad, who actually grew up Jewish didn’t eat chopped liver growing up because kids are pretty much of the mind that it’s gross.  And my husband remembers, growing up, something like: his mom would eat chopped liver while his dad would eat pickled herring, and he and his brother and sister starved to death.  But that doesn’t matter!  In my world of DIY-Tradition, chopped liver is very Ganz.  We eat it every Passover….Starting now.

Chopped Liver

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Shmaltz (or 3 more tablespoons butter)
1 Yellow Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 lbs Chicken Livers, cleaned and patted dry
2 Teaspoons Paprika
2 Green Onions, chopped
1 cup Parlsey, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

6 Eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, chopped

Directions

In a large saute pan, heat butter and schmaltz. Add onions and garlic, and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the garlic and onion are translucent, you know, stirring. Add the chicken livers, and cook for another 10-15 minutes, cooking the livers just until there is no pink remaining. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika, and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly, and mix in the green onions, half of the parsley, and half of the chopped hard-boiled eggs. Allow to cool, and top with remaining eggs and parsley. Serve with apple slices, crackers, baguette, whatevs.

If you have no regard whatsoever for the nostrils of those closest to you, eat this stuff off of an everything-bagel-flavored pretzel chip. It’s choice.

* Ginger DID pretty much always make corn pudding and blueberry jello salad for Thanksgiving, so that could be an exception.  And it seems like there were always deviled eggs around…but no definitive family recipe.

One of my favorite things to do these days is to invite a friend over for lunch at Chez Ganz. It’s so much easier and more comfortable than trying to swing a lunch date with a toddler, and you can’t beat the price point. I’ve had a fun cast of characters (ok, mostly Jon) take me up on these lunch dates, and almost all of them involve soup.

One of my favorite people that I never get to see, Mrs. Holly Brown, joined me for one of said lunches a few weeks back, and she was charmingly impressed with a humble bowl of soup, this one comprised of mostly cabbage (surprise!) plus some chicken stock, potatoes, onions, a knob of ginger, and patience.

I promised her I would share the recipe, and weeks later, I am good on my word. Good thing it’s still totally soup season.

Cabbage Soup (For Holly)

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion, Diced
1 Clove Garlic, Smashed
1 Thumb-sized Knob Ginger, halved
1/2 Head Cabbage, Diced
1 lb. Yellow Fingerling Potatoes, sliced in 1/4″ rounds
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1-2 Quarts Chicken Stock, Homemade
1-2 Cups, Chicken (Baked, Shredded)
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed sauce pot on medium high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add cabbage and ginger, and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring and adding oil if necessary, developing a little color on the cabbage and onions. Add potatoes and chicken stock, and soy sauce; season with salt and pepper, and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shredded chicken, and heat through. Taste, season, taste.

This soup is a versatile fridge-cleaner, and a nice, friendly beige food for selective eaters (your kids!) It’s a great hiding place for carrots and celery, and it’s cheap as the dickens…literally, fit for a Charles Dickens character. And heartier than gruel!

Don’t have shredded chicken? Looking for protein? Beans.

Forge your friendship in a cauldron of soup!

Richmond loves a good Kickstarter campaign, especially when the rewards are edible. Pizza Tonight, Dollop, Proper Pie, and most recently Tim Bereika of Secco Wine Bar have all successfully backed their delicious projects on the crowd-funding website.

Tim’s project, A Fresh Look at Pasta in RVA, aimed to “elevate the beauty and diversity of fresh pasta to the forefront of the Richmond dining community,” and I can think of no one better to do so than Tim and the Secco team.

My faith in Tim’s talents was renewed this evening when I took my half pound of Chestnut Paccheri Pasta home to mingle with my own ingredients. Tim gave me a few pointers: Butter sauces will pair better than a tomato sauce. Think root vegetables and earthy flavors. And the rest was up to me.

What I came up with was Chestnut Paccheri with Roasted Parsnips and Mushrooms and plenty of butter with a hearty pinch of thyme and sage, finished off with a dollop of an herby ricotta. Sidled up next to a roasted chicken and an arugula salad, it was a way, way satisfying meal. The texture of the fresh pasta was amazing. There was a pleasant springiness, and the giant tubes became happy hiding places for little bits of parsnip and mushroom. The ricotta was a last minute inclusion, an effort to use up my last bit of the homemade cheese, mixed with thyme, chives, rosemary, and sage.

I’m easy when it comes to pasta salad. It doesn’t take much to convince me to take advantage of the fact that people are calling something a “salad,” even though we can all see it’s just a bowl of empty carbs. I’m there. Ya got me.

This is one of my favorites, so much so that it has made two notable appearances in the last year – One on the menu of prepared foods lovingly made by Pizza Tonight for Little House Green Grocery (sans tomatoes) and the other for Miss Lily Byrd’s first birthday party.

It was at said party where Dickie, beard-cultivator, cabinet-maker, and all-around cool Step-Dude, fell in love with the stuff, and he’s been asking me for a recipe ever since. And since Dickie’s always bringing me homemade chili and loads of yummy ingredients, I was obliged to comply.

Orzo Salad with Artichokes and Parmesan

Ingredients

1/2 lb. Orzo, Cooked according to package directions
1/2 cup Parmesan, Grated
1 (14 oz) Can Artichoke Hearts, Chopped (I use Cento or the ones from the olive bar. Because I’m fancy!)
1/2 cup Parsley, Chopped
Juice of 1 Lemon
2-3 Tablespoons (GOOD) Olive Oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved (optional!)

Directions

Combine ingredients! Taste! Season! Taste again!

If you haven’t nailed down a Super Bowl recipe yet (4 hours to go,) consider this my suggestion. People will be thankful to have a “salad” around, even if they all know it’s just pasta.

I’m not the biggest plated dessert fan. I don’t exactly run screaming from the site of sweets, but I prefer the savory more often than not. However, I find few things say fin like a cup of coffee and a chocolate truffle. Just enough, never too sweet, a couple bites to say goodbye.

If you make these truffles in batches and keep them stored neatly (parchment-lined container, sealed tight) in the freezer, you can make them last a month or so. They’re lovely for guests or, even better, presents, and they are comprised of but three ingredients. The hardest part of making these truffles is waiting for ganache to set. They’re the lazy bakers’ dessert, if you can even call them dessert; a cook’s dessert, but satisfying nonetheless.

Chocolate Pistachio Truffles

Ingredients

16 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, chips or chunks
1 pint Heavy Cream

2 cups Pistachios, finely ground

Directions

Place chocolate in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour heavy cream over chocolate, and mix thoroughly to combine. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Place the finely ground pistachios on a sheet tray. Prepare another sheet tray with a piece of parchment to receive the rolled truffles. Using a melon baller or small ice cream scoop (2 oz,) scoop the hardened chocolate ganache onto the pistachios. Roll the scooped balls around the tray to coat with pistachios, and then, working quickly so as to not melt the chocolate and get your hands all gross, roll the truffles into proper balls. You may need to dip the truffle back in the pistachios as you work to get the truffle well-coated. Use hot water after every few scoops to rid your scooper of excess ganache.

Refrigerate or freeze, and serve with espresso or strong coffee! If you freeze them, just move them to the fridge and allow them to ‘thaw’ for a couple hours before serving. Let them come up to near-room-temperature (room temperature in a cold room, I suppose) when you put the coffee on, for maximum enjoyment.

Hello from within the depths of soup season, where Summer-Sickness (I’ve heard it called “Seasonal Affective Disorder” as well) has me in its clutches!

What I would give for a plate of salty, slippery sliced tomatoes right now! Oh!

The sun goes down well before dinner is on the table, taking with it my magic hour for striking food photos. And I’ve fallen on a repetitive cycle of comfort foods, designed to make life easier if less adventurous. Sesame Chicken; Red Curry Tofu; Baked Chicken, Cous Cous, and Brussel Sprouts; Spaghetti with Clams; Pork Tenderloin and Roasted Cauliflower; Tacos, Tacos, Tacos.

Oh and then there were the holidays. I can barely survive them, let alone blog about them. They were splendid, but nothing to see here, folks.

But a recent trip to Rappahanock with my beloved “Mom Gang” inspired my face off, and voila, there’s a new soup in my life. We’re going to be together forever, I can tell.

The entire experience was fantastic (a table full of ‘new’ moms will always be the easiest to please,) but the show-stealer was this Rockfish and Oyster Bourride. Fennel and Potatoes in a gorgeous, aromatic broth, with Rappahanock’s own oysters and a whole heap of rockfish. And then there was a piece of grilled bread keeping a perfectly poached egg floating atop the whole affair. Pop that yolk! Bourride! Amazing!

What it inspired was similar in concept – a brothy soup with wonderfully soupy winter veggies, topped with grilled bread and a poached egg. This particular soup was influenced largely by (read: is the same as) 101 Cookbooks’ Rustic Cabbage Soup because it’s a soup I already loved that was just begging for someone to “Put an egg on it” (the culinary equivalent of “Put a bird on it.“)

Cabbage, Potato, and White Bean Soup (with an egg!)

Ingredients

1 small yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
1 pound Fingerling Potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch slices
1 quart Chicken Stock
1 1/2 cups Cannelini Beans, pre-cooked or canned, rinsed and drained
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Highly Recommended

4 slices Bread, crusty
4 Eggs, poached*

Directions

Heat a couple hearty glugs of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed stock pot on medium high heat. Add potatoes and some salt, and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add onions and garlic, and continue to cook for another few minutes. Add cabbage, and stir to combine. Cook for a minute or so more, and then add the stock and beans and stir again. Taste the stock for a preliminary idea of seasoning and adjust. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. You may need to add more stock or water (and then more salt/pepper,) depending on the volume of your other ingredients, so adjust as necessary.

While the soup is simmering, brush bread with some olive oil, and throw it on a preheated grill pan. Put that poached egg on it, and you are looking at a soup that eats like a meal, and the most important meal at that…brunch.

* I believe that this is exactly how you poach an egg.

Ever since introducing these turkey meatballs to the family menu, they’ve become a regular feature. They’re quick; they’re cheap; they’re healthy. Plus they’re quite tasty, like sneak-downstairs-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-come-back-upstairs-with-meatball-breath tasty. That’s a successful recipe.

But even a good thing can get boring and, when you accidentally get 99% fat free turkey, dry. Think hay bales, newspaper, dust. A bit of improvising resulted in this soup. It’s Chinese in the sense that it uses Chinese-y ingredients and reminds me of the delightfully sodium-laden Chinese soups I know and love. It’s by no means authentic to anywhere other than my house.

Chinese Turkey Meatball Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
1/4 head Cabbage, chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 Green Onions, chopped
1 (1 inch) knob of Ginger, cut in half
1 quart Chicken Stock
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1-2 teaspoons Sesame Oil (I went a little overboard, but whatever!)
10-12 Turkey Meatballs
1-2 teaspoons Sambal (optional, for heat-cravers)

Directions

Heat oil in a stock pot on medium high heat. Add garlic, cabbage, and carrots. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, developing a little color and stirring often. Add remaining ingredients, except the meatballs, and bring to a boil. Add meatballs, and reduce to a low simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, just to heat the meatballs through. Remove ginger before serving.

We had ours with a little tatsoi salad, because I’m just crazy about the stuff! Have you had it? It’s like spinach but Asianier!

I hear you out there, talking to me about sweaters and boots and bonfires, trying to buoy my spirits with cider and pumpkin spice. You’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m a summer girl, January birthday notwithstanding. Give me baseball, long days, hot heat, and secular holidays. This winter stuff is for the birds, specifically cardinals.

That said, I’m silver-lining oriented, and my personal favorite thing about the oncoming cold is predictable but earnest: It’s soup, y’all.

I love soup, and my love is well-documented. It is my sincere belief that a great chef can be measured by his humblest soup. There are a few soups that stand out in my memory: Ryan Wheeler made a chilled fennel soup that I still think about pretty much every time I see fennel. One of my old chef instructors, Gallagher, made a soft, clean consomme that I have yet to reproduce. And as I’ve opined on more than one occasion, The Wildflour in Roanoke can’t make a bad soup. Try the gazpacho, no the Hungraian Mushroom, or maybe the potato feta.

Of all the soups I’ve loved and made, this would certainly be the humblest, with a scant 4 ingredients: potato, onion, water, half & half (plus salt and pepper, clearly.) And if it were the soup by which I were to be judged, I’d be fine with that. It’s sturdy, practical, adaptable and only gets better with time.

No need to get fussy with the recipe. Just peel and dice a bag of potatoes. Dice one large onion. Combine them in a large stock pot, and just cover with well salted water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and maintain a steady (but not crazy) boil until the potatoes are sans resistance. Mash with a potato masher or perforated metal spoon. Leave some chunks. Add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of half & half (or milk) and pepper to taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

And there are as many ways to guild the lily as there are spoons. Celery salt, green onions, cheeeeese. The only real requirement in my book is a formidable bread for soppin. I’ve recently discovered that Norwood Cottage Bakery’s Rosemary Feta bread is such a bread, as would be pretty much any of them. Tomorrow, I’m going to take some roasted brussel sprouts and ham and add them to my soup, and I bet it’s going to be awesome. Maybe I’ll post a picture! That would be fun.