the thin chef

Today’s healing recipe is along the lines of warm, creamy comfort food…but without the heavy cream or cheese that often comes along with thick soups. Red lentils, unlike their green and black cousins, almost melt when you cook them. They lose all sense of the little hard rusty red discs they once were and become lush, soft orangey goodness with a creamy texture that’s oh-so comforting.

Full of fiber, protein, and iron, lentils are a perfect food to eat when you’re not feeling 100%. This soup also has turmeric in it, which has lately been the darling of health scientists who believe the marigold-hued ground root can ward off myriad ailments from melanoma to arthritis to Alzheimer’s. Impressive, no? Plus its vivid color pumps up the color of the soup, taking it from sun-faded orange to the gorgeous gold of a fiery sunset. (The addition of saffron does the rest.)

A drizzle of cool harissa-spiked yogurt gives this soup an added creamy-salty-spicy kick that I think completes it. When you deliver this soup to your ailing friends, place the yogurt in a separate container and leave a note about what to do with it.

Healing Red Lentil Soup with Harissa Yogurt
serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 large shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pinch saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 quart organic chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon harissa*
Juice of half a small lemon
2 teaspoons water

Heat oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add shallot, and cook until it’s soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until it’s fragrant and tender, about 2 minutes. Add spices and salt, stirring well, and cook 1 minute. Add stock, water, and lentils.

Increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, and simmer until lentils are soft and falling apart, about 30 to 40 minutes. Taste, and add more salt if needed.

In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, harissa, lemon juice, and water. Add more water if needed to reach a drizzle-able consistency.

To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls and drizzle with yogurt.

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After a weekend of indulging in one too many cupcakes and other not-so-good-for-us foods, last Monday night called for a clean, healthy dinner. Grabbing some of the CSA squash I had stashed in the freezer in August, and a bunch of beautiful red mustard greens and locally grown tomatoes from last week’s box, I made a brothy, rustic soup to detox our systems.

This soup actually came together a little randomly. I originally planned on a minestrone when I grocery shopped, so I had beef broth and a parmesan rind on hand for that. They went in. So I guess this is a minestrone-like vegetable-barley soup. If you’re making this now and you live anywhere north of, say, Orlando, definitely use canned tomatoes instead of the pale, mealy ones available in the grocery store. Even our CSA box tomatoes are realllly pushing it w/ their ripeness, but cooking them in the broth helped a lot.

I wanted something for body besides the veg, so I added some quick-cooking barley, mainly because we were starving and didn’t want to wait an hour for the soup to cook. In hindsight, I wish we’d waited—the quick-cooking kind of barley isn’t even close, texture-wise, to pearled barley. Other than that, I think this was a pretty tasty soup…not my best work, but good for a simple, healthy meal.

Vegetable-Barley Soup
serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 quarts low-sodium beef, chicken, or vegetable stock (the richer the better)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 parmesan rind (optional, but highly recommended)
1/3 cup pearled barley
2 big handfuls stemless dark leafy greens (such as mustard greens, Swiss chard, or kale), chopped
3 cups chopped summer squash
Grated parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil, for topping

Heat a large stockpot over medium heat. Add oil and onions, and cook until onions start to soften, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, and stir frequently until everything is soft and gold. Pour in broth, then add tomatoes (with any accumulated juices), herbs, and parmesan rind. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Taste broth, and add salt if needed.

Add barley, stir, and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer soup for 30 minutes. Add greens and squash, and stir to combine. Cook 20 to 30 minutes more, or until the vegetables are very tender and the barley is cooked. Remove herb stems and parmesan rind. Top each bowl with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of good olive oil. Serve.

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Jason has been under the weather, all sniffles and coughs and sneezes. I don’t know about you, but when I have a cold, it’s hot, brothy soup that tastes the best to me. There’s some science behind chicken soup actually being beneficial for your immune system, but unscientifically, I just know that steamy soup, if only for a moment, clears the head and soothes the sniffles.

Jason came down with a cold at the tail end of our trip, so on Monday night, after a wonderful long weekend of delicious meals, raucous evenings, and {a little too much} fun in New York City, the boy needed some soup.

Chicken noodle soup can be made a hundred different ways with a hundred different ingredients, and this is my version. It’s more a guide than a recipe, as you can swap ingredients according to your tastes and what’s stocked in your fridge and pantry. But it’s so simple to make that even when you’re the one under the weather, you can still whip this up before plopping back on the couch under a mountain of tissues and blankets with your bowlful of goodness. Sip, slurp, and feel better.

Feel Better Chicken Noodle Soup
Serves 2 with leftovers

1 generous tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 smallish stalks celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 big pinches coarse salt, divided
10 grinds ground black pepper
1 large sprig fresh thyme
2 large sprigs fresh dill
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 to 1 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 bone-in chicken breast, skin removed or 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 small handfuls short-cut pasta, such as corkscrews, rotini, penne, seashells, orzo, or elbows

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat, and add the carrots, onion, and celery. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, a pinch of salt, and pepper; stir to combine. Cook until vegetables are soft and fragrant, but not brown. If the vegetables start to caramelize, turn the heat down.

Add the herb sprigs to the pot, and stir. Pour in the broth and wine (if using), cover, and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken breast, and dunk it so it’s covered in the broth. Put the lid on, and lower heat as necessary to make sure that the broth doesn’t boil. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes for boneless breasts and 15 minutes for bone-in breasts.

When chicken is cooked through, carefully remove it from the soup, and set aside on a cutting board. Taste the soup at this point, and add salt to taste, if needed. Add the pasta, and turn heat to medium-high. Stir.

While the pasta cooks, shred the chicken with 2 forks. Add the chicken back into the soup, and stir. Cook until pasta is tender. Find and remove the herb sprigs from the soup before serving.

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It’s hard to make black soup look good (especially when you’re really hungry and don’t feel like messing with it).

So. I realize I post about beans a lot. But let’s be honest: what’s not to love? Creamy, low-fat, low-cal, high-fiber…and flavorful, too. They’re healthy and versatile, and they’re oh-so convenient from a can. (Though we all know I prefer them from Rancho Gordo.)

I know it’s been, like, a million degrees outside and soup seems like the last thing you’d want to be eating. But sometimes a soup can be so light and delicious, it doesn’t feel like a winter meal at all. One night last week I set out to make another clean-out-the-pantry dinner to save money. I had a can of black beans, some leftover chicken stock, a getting-wrinkly jalapeno, and a fresh tomato, so I decided soup was in order. I just randomly tossed everything together and played around until it was right.

Success! It was so yummy I decided to make it again this week and write everything down so I could share it here. I hope you’ll try it—if you want an easy and quick (and cheap!) weeknight meal, this is it.

Simple Black-Bean Soup
serves 2 as a meal
This soup is a perfect canvas for your kitchen creativity. I imagine the following would add more layers of flavor: roasted red peppers, a dash of cumin or chili powder, corn, and/or a garnish of crushed tortilla chips. This was enough for the 2 of us to have for dinner, with a little bit left over—a perfect lunch portion to pair with a salad or sandwich.

2 to 3 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 big or 3 medium cloves garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups chicken stock, divided
1 can black beans
1 medium fresh tomato, cored and diced
2 green onions, white and light green parts, sliced
Garnish: chopped cilantro

Heat the oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and salt, and stir to coat onion in oil. Saute for 4 to 5 minutes, or until onion is soft and starting to brown slightly around the edges. Add the jalapeno. With a microplane (zester), grate the garlic into the pot. Stir well to distribute the garlic.

Add 1 1/4 cups of the stock, and whisk to loosen any bits of caramelized onion from the bottom of the pan. Add the can of beans, including the liquid; add 1/4 cup stock to the can, swirl it around, then add to the pot. Increase heat to high, and boil soup for 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low.

Use a potato masher to mash the beans in the soup so about half of the beans are mashed and the soup is creamy. If the soup seems too thick, add remaining broth, a bit at a time, until you like the consistency. Stir in diced tomato and green onion; garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve immediately.

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Tonight for dinner, I made something that Jason would not touch with a 10-foot pole: Heidi Swanson’s Porcini Mushroom Soup. If you haven’t visited 101 cookbooks yet, go there immediately. Actually, finish reading this post, and then go there. Heidi uses good-for-you ingredients in some amazing dishes. I truly admire her wholesome, simple-yet-exciting outlook on food, as well as her equally inspiring photos.

This soup is a great example of how just a few totally pure ingredients make a delicious, perfect dish. I didn’t use quite as much oil as she calls for, but I wasn’t shy with it, either. I replaced the fresh rosemary with a big pinch of herbes de Provence, and I halved everything because my package of mushrooms was only 1 ounce, and since this is only for me, I figured half the soup would be enough…now that I’ve tasted it, I wish I’d made the full batch—I could eat this for days! *One big note that is not in Heidi’s recipe: make SURE you strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a paper towel or coffee filter. There was a lot a grit I got rid of, and it would be tragic to ruin this soup with grit. Even after straining, there was a small amount of grit, but I think that must just come with the dried wild mushroom territory.*

Earthy porcini mushrooms are excellently paired with red-skinned potato. Heidi is right about the salt—it’s important to add enough that the flavors really shine; since there are so few ingredients, the salt helps everything taste its best. With a hunk of baguette with garlicky olive oil and a glass of crisp white wine {I’ve been enjoying Three Thieves Bandit pinot grigio—don’t let the box fool you…it’s fantastic.} it was a perfect, light supper. And I’m not going to lie…as I was putting away the leftovers, I stood over the pot with some toasted baguette and sopped up more of the broth and ate it right there in the middle of the kitchen. Ah, the joys of eating alone…

P.S. My soup looked just like Heidi’s pictures. But my pictures…not so much. Hers do this soup much better justice!

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It was rainy and cold here today. Fitting for a Monday, especially for a Monday after a wonderful, beautiful weekend spent in sunny, breezy New Orleans with a lovely group of girls. (One of whose mother sometime reads this blog, which excited me to no end to find out.)

So…what to eat when the weather is nasty? Soup, bien sur. We had brothy soup last week, so creamy chowder was in order. I’ve made chowders before. But I wanted something different. I’d never made clam chowder, but it’s one of Jason’s favorites. So I found a recipe on Epicurious and made some tweaks to suit our tastes (and the contents of my fridge).

I’m sorry I didn’t make this sooner—it’s definitely one of those classic recipes I can check of my “to make” list. (And then put it right back on my “to make again” list.) I’m sure we’ve all ordered clam chowder at a restaurant and received a bowl of pasty milk with a few sad little rubbery clams and some mushy potatoes. (Meg—I’ll never forget your chowder from Cedar River.) Well, this one was nothing like that. It was creamy, flavorful, and comforting—and perfect for a cold, rainy weeknight. Serve with a green salad, and you’re golden.

Classic New England Clam Chowder
{adapted from gourmet magazine}
You could certainly use regular bacon in place of pancetta…and heavy cream or regular half-and-half in place of the milk and fat-free half-and-half. But I must say, the lightened-up version was very creamy and still delicious.
serves 6 as a first-course, 4 as a light supper

4 (tunafish-size) cans chopped clams, juices reserved
2 cups bottled clam juice
1 (1/4-inch) slice pancetta, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 bunch green onions, chopped finely
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled, diced small
2 cups whole milk
1 cup fat-free half-and-half
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Oyster or saltine crackers

Drain the clam juice from the clams, and combine with enough bottled juice to equal 3 cups of liquid. Cook the pancetta and butter slowly in a stockpot over medium heat until lightly browned and crisp, about 4 minutes.

Add the green onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2-3 minutes.

Whisk in the clam juice, bring to a simmer, and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally; it should be the consistency of heavy cream. Add the potatoes and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place the clams, milk, and half-and-half in a small saucepan, and simmer for 5 minutes.

When the potatoes are tender, add the clams and milk/half-and-half to the soup base. Simmer for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce. Serve in bowls with the crackers on the side. (The roux)

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Hi. I won’t make excuses, but I know I’ve been MIA for way too long. For my (however small) crowd of readers, I apologize for the abrupt halt of even remotely interesting posts. Especially after I set out last Sunday saying I’d be back. And then I wasn’t. Again, I come with no excuses, just an apology. And! A soup recipe.

We were craving something light but still warm since it’s mighty chilly here in Birmingham. A brothy soup fit the bill. And since we’ve been trying to stay budget friendly with our dinners, this was also a clean-out-the-pantry meal. A can of tomatoes, a can of beans, a box of broth…some spinach and chicken in the fridge needing to be eaten, and the the last of a bottle of white wine. An onion came from Publix, but otherwise, everything else was readily at hand. I kept the flavors very light and simple—feel free to add and adjust to suit your tastes.

And with that, I’m back.

Sunday Night Soup
serves 4 with leftovers
I didn’t want this to be too heavy on the chicken, so I only used 1 1/2 breasts. You can use one or two, or even none. I kept the chicken breasts whole and shredded them, because I prefer that texture in soups, but you could chop the raw chicken into bite-size pieces and toss it in the hot broth, and it would cook much more quickly.

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional olive oil for drizzling
1 onion, chopped or diced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 (14.5-ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed well
1 cup white wine (the drier the better)
1 (4-cup) carton chicken stock
1 1/2 chicken breasts
1/2 (16-ounce) bag spinach, chopped well
1/2 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and salt, and stir to combine. Cook until onions are soft and transluscent, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes including the liquid in the can, then add the beans. Add wine and broth; stir, taste, and adjust seasoning. Raise heat to medium-high, and add chicken. Lower heat if necessary to maintain an even simmer.

Cook chicken for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breasts. Remove, and set aside to cool slightly. Put spinach in soup, and lower heat to medium-low. Using two forks, coarsely shred chicken. Return chicken to soup, and stir to combine.

Ladle soup into serving bowls, and squeeze a wedge of lemon over each bowl. Drizzle with a touch of olive oil, and serve.

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I made two soups recently that were pretty great. Especially now that it’s beginning to cool off, soup just seems like the coziest meal to come home to. Both of these soups are fairly light—filling and hearty, but not heavy or rich.

The first one was inspired by this amazing aioli/dip at The Ravenous Pig, an awesome restaurant in my hometown, Winter Park, Florida. They have this fried okra that’s pretty much heavenly, and the creamy tomato-dill condiment they serve alongside it is addictive. I always think tomato-basil…rarely tomato-dill. But dill is my all-time favorite herb, and though it’s usually associated with summery foods, it’s a great way to freshen anything year-round. This soup is lovely in its simplicity. It was so good I ate two bowls.

Tomato-Dill Chicken Soup
serves 2 with leftovers for lunch

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups chicken broth
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh, diced
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
Garnish: chopped fresh dill

In a stockpot or large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add water or more oil as needed if the pan looks dry. Add garlic, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute.

Lower heat to medium; add tomato sauce, sugar, broth, and dill, and stir to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add chicken, and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Garnish with fresh dill, if desired.


Soup number two was inspired by a conversation I had weeks ago when my friend Jessica at work told me her mom made white chicken chili. This sounded intriguing to me—white chili? There’s this strange thing here in Birmingham called white barbeque sauce…have you heard of this? I’ve never had it, because it just sounds wrong. But white chili…well that sounded delicious. Of course it wouldn’t be real chili, I knew, but it just seemed like something Jason and I would like.

So I looked for a white chicken chili recipe to see what this was all about, and the best-looking one I found was from Cooking Light. I used to cook from CL all the time, and haven’t in a good long while. But now I’ll be looking to its recipes a lot more. This was great and low-fat, low-cal…and just yummy! I made a lot of changes, but the general recipe is pretty solidly based upon Cooking Light’s version, so I will link the original recipe and then give you my edited verion below.

White Chicken Chili
serves 2 with leftovers for lunch

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

In a stockpot over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the onion, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add some liquid from the can of green chiles to moisten pan. Add garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add cumin, coriander, and chipotle powder, and stir to combine. Add more liquid from the chopped green chiles to moisten pan as needed. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes more.

Lower heat to medium; add the chiles and any remaining liquid, beans, and broth, and simmer for 8 minutes. Add chicken, and stir. Cook for 8 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and let cool for 2 minutes. Add cheese, and stir well to melt and incorporate thoroughly into soup. Add cilantro, and serve.

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Soup just has a way of making you feel good. With minimal work and maximum payoff, soup is my go-to meal when I just don’t really feel like doing much, but when I want something warm and soul-satisfying.

I found this Ina Garten recipe for Soupe au Pistou on Food Network’s web site, and decided it looked like a nice, light summer soup. Well, it was one of the best soups I’ve ever tasted. In fact, the broth was kind of addictive. Fragrant with saffron and perfectly flavored with every ingredient, I could have had bowlfuls of just broth and been happy. But the creamy potatoes, crisp-tender haricots verts, and the combination of two onions (I used green onions in lieu of leeks, which cost almost three times as much at Publix) made the soup spectacular.

Last summer, my parents brought me a little glass vial of deep orange-red saffron. I saved it for the longest time, and recently cracked the bottle’s little wax seal. Now I’m obsessed. In the somewhat unlikely event that you have saffron on hand, this is the place to use it. If you don’t, I’d seriously consider “investing” in some (it’s not cheap!) because it was the single best flavor in the whole bowl.

As a side note, I made the pistou, but the garlic was SO overwhelming that we left it out of the soup completely. It tasted grassy and spicy, and just not right for the delicate, flowery soup. If I were to make it again, I’d cut wayyy back on the garlic…

Late summer is the perfect time to drink rosé, a Provençal specialty. Lightly fruity, with just a whisper of tannin, it’s not to be confused with that awful other pink wine. Anyway, with this soup, we thoroughly enjoyed Paul Jaboulet Aine Côtes du Rhône Parallèle 45 Rosé 2007. It was on sale at our local market for $8.99…but the regular price was $10.99, which is still pretty budget-friendly. It’s delicious and oh-so pretty. I couldn’t resist a picture…

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Fresh, sweet corn, tender scallops, spicy roasted poblano chili…mmm mmm good. Corn chowder and seafood is a flawless pairing—it’s light but still sufficient for a cool spring evening. You may recall that I am a big fan of chowders, and as delicious as the thick and rich ones are, I prefer the classic chowder flavors with a less-dense body. It’s a healthier way to enjoy a favorite recipe, plus since spring is upon us, it just seems more appropriate.

Spicy Corn & Scallop Chowder
serves 4 as a first-course, or 2 as a main, with leftovers

For creaminess, I used 1/4 cup skim milk and 1/4 cup fat-free half-and-half. You could substitute whole milk, 2% milk, or a combination of skim milk and cream for similar results.

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices pancetta or lean bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
½ teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
½ cup dry white wine
3 cobs fresh corn, kernels removed and cobs reserved
1 roasted poblano pepper, chopped (method follows)
2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
1 cup chicken stock
1 medium Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
½ pound bay scallops
¼ cup skim milk, divided
1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ cup fat-free half-and-half
Garnish: fresh chopped cilantro

In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add pancetta or bacon and cook until meat is crisp and fat has rendered. Remove pancetta with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon fat (or leave it alone if there’s about that much in the pan). Add onions and garlic, season with a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and stir. Cook until onions are beginning to soften and garlic is very fragrant. Add smoked paprika, if using, and stir to combine. Add wine and using a wooden spoon, scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer 1 minute.

Add corn, cobs, poblano, clam juice, stock, and potatoes, and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Remove cobs and discard, then add scallops. Combine 1 tablespoon milk with cornstarch to make a slurry. Add half-and-half, slurry, and remaining milk, and simmer until scallops are fully cooked and chowder is lightly thickened. Top each bowl with reserved pancetta or bacon, and garnish with cilantro, if desired.

Roasted poblano: situate oven rack to highest position and preheat broiler. Lightly rub poblano with olive or vegetable oil. Line a small baking sheet with foil, place pepper on prepared baking sheet and place under broiler. Broil pepper until skin is beginning to char, about 5 minutes. Flip pepper, and broil about 5 minutes more, or until it is uniformly soft and skin is mostly brown and black. Remove pepper from oven, place in a paper bag (or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap). Set aside for 8-10 minutes, then remove stem from pepper, and peel away skin (it should come off easily). Cut pepper in half, remove seeds, and roughly chop.

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