Spring Vegetable Minestrone with White Beans & Pesto

After a tease of summer-like weather last weekend, we've been making up for it all week here with rain, rain, and more rain.  Just in time for the long weekend!

For us Canadians, this May long weekend is sort of the unofficial kickoff to summer, but almost invariably ends up being cold and rainy.  So while soup isn't the type of recipe you would normally kick off a late May long weekend with, it's pretty appropriate for this wet and rainy spring weather we've been experiencing!

This is not a traditional minestrone soup, using asparagus and yellow peppers for some bright spring flavour along with the tomatoes, white beans for protein, no pasta, and with pesto and parmesan added in at the end for a boost of richness and flavour.

I realize now that my pictures don't really do this soup justice with the way I slightly overcooked my asparagus and then pretty much covered the whole bowl in pesto, but I do love pesto!  This was the perfect type of comfort spring food that's needed this time of year as we patiently wait for summer to kick in for good - hopefully not that long now!

Spring Vegetable Minestrone Soup with White Beans and Pesto

Adapted from Food & Drink Magazine

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 small yellow onions, peeled and diced

2 cups finely chopped yellow bell peppers, (about 1-1/2 peppers; red or orange would also work)

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

1 (540mL) can cannellini or white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

6 cups vegetable broth (I use low-sodium broth)

1-1/2 cups chopped asparagus (half inch pieces; woody ends of asparagus removed)

Salt and pepper

For Topping:

~1 tablespoon prepared pesto per serving

Grated parmesan cheese

Chopped fresh basil, parsley, or green onion (optional)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.  Add onions and peppers and sauté for another 10 minutes, stirring often.

Add tomato paste and sauté for 30 seconds, stirring often.  Add grape tomatoes and sauté for another minute.  Add white beans and vegetable stock, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer 10 minutes.  Add asparagus and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender (I did 10 minutes and my asparagus was a little overdone).  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide among bowls and serve warm, topped with pesto, parmesan cheese, and herbs, if desired.  Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

So I realize this isn't the most attractive looking plate of food you've ever seen...  I was cringing as I put together this post, wondering why I thought brown on brown on brown was a good idea for food styling, or why I didn't add a garnish on top for some colour.  I will hopefully redo these photos in the future, but I wanted to make sure I shared this now while you're still in the mood for hearty winter comfort food.  Not that winter seems to be showing any signs of ending soon!

Hopefully you're willing to get past appearances here because I promise the taste is worth it.  And not only is this dish comforting, filling, and full of flavour, but it's also really good for you!

This stew is made with lentils (obviously), onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, vegetable broth, plenty of seasonings, and a splash of red wine for good measure.  So you're getting a ton of vitamins, fiber, and protein to fill you up and keep you energized through the day or night.  I love using lentils in meals because they're a great source of protein, they're easy to cook, and they're really cheap!

And to make this even more of a protein power bowl, I pureed white beans with cauliflower to serve as the base for the stew.  Steaming and pureeing cauliflower is one of my favourite ways to eat it and I honestly like it even better than regular mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I'll puree cauliflower with chickpeas or white beans and some flavourful mustard and just eat that for dinner on its own, but it goes even better with a hearty stew on top! 

In case you're skeptical, or plan on serving this to picky eaters, I told Ryan that the cauliflower was just mashed potatoes, and after I'd finished watching him eat his meal while trying to hold in my evil grin the whole time, I told him it was really cauliflower and beans and he was completely surprised!

You can also eat the stew on its own if you prefer, and if your leftovers thicken up more than you like in the fridge, just add a splash of water or vegetable broth before you warm it up (this makes great lunch leftovers!)

It may not be pretty, but this is just what you need to get through these never ending winter days!

Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

Recipe adapted from Unprocessed People’s Lentil Not Roast

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Lentil Stew:

1 cup dry green or brown lentils

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 lb (two 8oz containers) white or crimini mushrooms, chopped (around 2.5 cups)

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 cup red wine

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce to keep this vegetarian/vegan)

Salt and pepper

For the Cauliflower:

1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

~1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add lentils, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and water is absorbed. Set aside when done.

Meanwhile, in a separate large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add mushrooms, carrots, onion, garlic, and dry seasonings (cumin through thyme), stir, and let cook for around 5-7 minutes, stirring often.  Add tomato paste, stir to coat, and let cook for about a minute. Add cornstarch, stir to coat, and cook for another minute.  Add red wine and let simmer for about 3 minutes.  Add vegetable broth and bay leaves and lower heat to a simmer.  Add lentils and let simmer for at least 5 minutes.  Remove bay leaves, stir in Worcestershire sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

While your lentil stew is simmering, prepare the cauliflower bean mash.  Add cauliflower and garlic to a steamer basket and steam over boiling water, covered, for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor, add white beans, and process until smooth.  Slowly add olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

Serve lentil stew warm over pureed cauliflower.  Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Pizza Hummus

It's a long weekend here in Canada, and I'm currently on a train headed toward our nation's capital, Ottawa, for a wedding weekend!  The weather is supposed to be hot and sunny over the next few days so it should be a great weekend!

I had a bit of a rough start to the trip this morning, waking up at the ungodly hour of 4:30am to be at the train station by 6am for a 6:30 train.  Around the time our train was scheduled to arrive, they announced that it was actually cancelled due to an accident, and we'd be switched to a later (and much less comfortable) train that would allow me only 15 minutes to make my connecting train in Toronto.  I haven't taken a train in ages so I was a bit panicked when we arrived at the station and I had no idea where to go or how to get to my next train!  I followed a crowd down a set of stairs, carrying my giant heavy suitcase along with three other bags, only to realize at the bottom that the exit led out to the street.  I turned around to try to go back up the stairs against a swarm of people trying to go down.  Just when I was sure I was going to topple backwards with all my bags in tow, an extremely nice guy carrying his bicycle down the stairs saw me struggling, grabbed my suitcase, and carried it AND his bicycle backwards all the way back up the stairs for me.  I'm definitely not a girl who gets offended from offers of help from strong men - I was so grateful!  I eventually managed to figure out how to get to my train and hopped on with about 5 minutes to spare before it left, and before the lump in my throat started to turn into tears haha - I'd had a dream the night before that I missed my train so I was so worried it was going to come true!  Anyways, the rest of the trip should be smooth sailing now, and I'm really excited to see a bit of Ottawa and also Quebec, which I rarely get to visit!

As I have about four free hours on the train before we arrive, I wanted to share a quick snack recipe that I made a while ago and have been dying to share!  You probably know by now that I love making hummus, but I was a bit nervous about the idea of pizza hummus, which I'd seen in my Food Network magazine a while back.  I loved their buffalo wing hummus from the same issue though, so I decided to give this one a shot too, and I was so glad I did!

I noticed that Tessa from Handle the Heat recently wrote about this hummus too, so I thought now would be a good time to share it and spread the pizza hummus love further!  I made quite a few changes to the recipe though, as the original calls for 3 cups of chickpeas, which is an odd amount when working from canned chickpeas.  So I adjusted all the amounts to work with just  one regular can, and also added in some nutritional yeast, because what's a pizza hummus without cheesy flavour!

While it may seem odd, this hummus truly tastes like pizza, with just the right combination of tomato, herb, and cheese flavours.  Though the tomato paste gave it a rather unfortunate-looking pinkish hue, the taste totally made up for it!

I could not stop eating this hummus right after I made it, but I managed to force myself to put it in the fridge to save for later.  It still didn't last too long though!  I ate it with garden herb pita chips and I loved how the extra herbs in the chips enhanced the flavour of the pizza hummus.  I think I've seen parmesan herb pita chips before though, so if you can find those then they'd probably be an even better match!

Hope my fellow Canadians have a wonderful long weekend and get a chance to enjoy the sunshine!

Pizza Hummus

Adapted from Food Network

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 (540mL) can chickpeas

1/3 cup liquid from the chickpea can

3 tablespoon tahini

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

2 teaspoons olive oil

Additional salt and pepper for seasoning

Directions:

Add all ingredients except for the olive oil to the large bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.  Add olive oil to feed tube and process as the oil slowly mixes in.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired; adjust any amounts to your liking (e.g. Add more dried herbs for a stronger herb flavour, add more nutritional yeast for a stronger cheesy flavour, add more tomato paste for stronger tomato flavour, etc.)

Red Wine Lentils with Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese

Greetings from Singapore! As I mentioned in my last post, I've gone to Singapore for a research conference, which my sister and I will be following up with a very brief trip to Thailand. I've been here for a couple days now and absolutely love it! I've gotten to do a bit of sightseeing and shopping, and I've tried some great food so far - I'll try to do a post about the food when I get back!

As promised, I'm trying not to ignore my blog while I'm away so I'm sharing a recipe I made before I left. This is also my second entry in the Canadian Lentils Recipe Revelations Contest which ends March 19th, so I wanted to make sure I posted it on time!

If you saw my recent recipe for peanut butter lentil granola bars, then I don't have to bother repeating how healthy and versatile lentils are in cooking. They pair really well with meats like fish, but they are a good source of protein themselves and I love eating them as a base for a vegetarian main course, as they're used in this recipe for red wine lentils with roasted vegetables and goat cheese.

This dish was inspired by a recipe I saw on Cooking Light, but I ended up changing around so many of the ingredients and steps that I think it's safe to call it my own now. It's made of green lentils mixed with root vegetables that are roasted in a red wine dressing, then the whole thing is mixed with a really flavourful red wine sauce and topped with a bit of crumbled goat cheese. The result is a truly delicious dish with an earthy flavour from the lentils and vegetables that's deepened by the red wine sauce but brightened up by the bits of tangy goat cheese.

I know this dish wouldn't win any beauty awards looks-wise (and it doesn't help that it was getting dark at the time I tried to photograph it), but despite its looks, you have to trust me that this really is a wonderful dish! What amazes me most about it is how it actually reminds of me meat - every time I heated up leftovers in the microwave, I could have sworn I could smell steak, probably because of the red wine sauce. That also makes me think that this would be a great dish to introduce skeptical meat eaters to vegetarian proteins like lentils. I gave some of my leftovers to my meat-eating boyfriend who has never had lentils before, and to my vegetarian sister who's quite familiar with them, and they both loved it!

The ingredients list may look a little intimidating, but a lot of the items are actually pantry staples (I only needed to buy carrots, parsnips, beets, tarragon, and goat cheese), and the recipe isn't difficult to prepare if you time all the steps right. I've tried to write the recipe directions in a way that makes it easy to know exactly when to do everything so that the dish will come together quickly and easily.

As with my lentil granola bars, if you want to help me out with this entry to the Canadian Lentils contest, feel free to leave me a comment on this blog post or head over to my post on the Canadian Lentils Facebook page to 'like' it. As the contest is now coming to a close, you'll also be able to find lots of other entries on their page, so be sure to check them all out if you're interested in finding more recipes using lentils! Thanks guys! :)

Red Wine Lentils with Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese

Inspired by Cooking Light

Serves about 4-5

Ingredients:

For the roasted vegetables:

1 cup yellow pearl onions, ends trimmed and peeled
12 oz chopped peeled carrots (about 2 to 3 large carrots)
8 oz chopped peeled parsnips (about 1 to 2 parsnips)
12 oz beets (about 4-5 medium beets), peeled and chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon

For the lentils:

3 cups water
1-1/2 cups dry green lentils

For the red wine sauce:

1/2 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup water
½ a vegetable bouillon cube
Salt and pepper

For topping:

4 oz crumbled goat cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Chop all the vegetables (pearl onions, carrots, parnsnips, and beets) into small, even pieces, about ½” thick, and transfer to a large bowl along with the garlic cloves. Mix the red wine, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and tarragon in a small bowl, then pour over the vegetables and toss to coat. Transfer the vegetables to the baking sheet, place in the preheated oven, and set the timer for 40 minutes.

When there are 30 minutes left on the timer, combine the lentils and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 25 minutes (which should be the remainder of the time left on the vegetables).

Chop the onion and garlic and prepare ingredients for red wine sauce.

When there are 15 minutes left on the timer, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Once hot, add the onions and garlic, and sauté until softened and golden brown, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato paste, thyme, and tarragon, and stir for another minute. Add the red wine, water, and bouillon cube, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer about 5 minutes, until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

At this time, your lentils and vegetables should be done cooking. Check both, and allow to cook longer if they’re still hard. Otherwise, combine the lentils, vegetables, and red wine sauce and stir together.

Divide into bowls, top each serving with about 1 ounce of crumbled goat cheese (or more, if desired), and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve warm.