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Recipe: Curried Split Pea Soup. 10 January 2008 2:49 pm

Posted by Tracy in : coconut, cooking, recipes, soup, sundance, vegan, vegetarian , 9 comments

When I adapted the Curried Spinach-Pea Soup from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics for the Sundance soup bar, the results were spectacular — and very expensive. Organic fresh spinach, frozen peas, and big cans of coconut milk are not cheap, so the soup turned out unprofitable, to put it mildly (we would have had to sell it for $8-$10 a quart to make money on it). If the soup hadn’t been such a hit, the story might have ended there, but I resolved to invent a cheaper version using frozen spinach and dried peas. The final recipe left out the greens altogether, but I never heard any complaints. In fact, based on the comments I got from Sundance staff and customers, this was one of my most frequently requested recipes. While I still recommend the soup that inspired it, especially in warmer weather, this recipe makes an equally intriguing blend of sweet and savory tastes, with a richer creaminess that makes it a great winter warmup. Enjoy! (more…)

Ask TracyFood: Freezing cilantro? 9 January 2008 12:25 pm

Posted by Tracy in : advice, convenience, cooking, food storage, friends, geekery, seasonality , 1 comment so far

Hey Tracy,

I bought a bunch of cilantro and used like 1/3 of it and I don’t want the rest to go bad but there’s really not a lot I’m planning for it right now. Can I freeze it, and how would I do that best?

Thanks,
Penny (more…)

Winter Squash 101: words and pictures. 8 January 2008 8:19 pm

Posted by Tracy in : cooking, friends, ingredients, pictures, winter squash , 5 comments

This post is dedicated to Debbie, who asked about prepping winter squash for Gladys’s Rice and Bean Stew.

Winter squash are delicious but labor-intensive, as I attempt to demonstrate in the following photo series. Whenever possible, I highly recommend roasting them in their more or less inedible hard outer skins, the better to scoop out their delicious cooked flesh without any of that pesky peeling beforehand. But sometimes you want chunks of squash, as in the above-mentioned stew, or winter squash risottos, and so on. In that case, you’ve got a little more work ahead of you, and here’s how I do that work. (more…)

Monkey Monday: yes I said yes I will Yes. 7 January 2008 12:48 pm

Posted by Tracy in : America's Test Kitchen, anthropology, fangirl, garden, geekery, school, seasonality , 2 comments

Happy 2008, everybody! I hope you are all enjoying the International Year of the Potato so far — I know I am, and not just because I finally finished Larry Zuckerman’s The Potato: How the humble spud saved the Western world. Oh no, I have many reasons. For instance, check out what the Gmail just dragged in!

from:	The Editors of Cook's Illustrated
to:	Tracy van Cort
date:	Jan 7, 2008 11:33 AM
subject: Become a Shopper for America's Test Kitchen

(more…)