Sopita de arepa

Sopita de arepa

Sopita de arepa is another traditional Colombian soup and one of my favorites. It hits the body and soul. For this recipe you have to use a specific texture of arepas. I use the veggie arepas we make at The Beneficial Bakery ( @thebeneficialbakery ) but you can also use corn arepas that you can find in Latin markets. You cannot use arepas made with masarepa or precooked corn meal. Trust me, I tried, and the soup was not as it should be. This soup is simple, delicious, and easy to make. Enjoy!

Serves 4

• 7 cups stock (vegetable or chicken )

• 2 large potatoes peeled and diced

• 1 cup hogao – see below

• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

• Salt and pepper

• 3 arepas cut into pieces

• ½ cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped

How to:

In a medium pot place the stock, potatoes, cumin and hogao. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender. About 25 to 30 minutes.

Add the arepa pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 4 minutes more. Add the fresh cilantro and serve.

Hogao

Hogao is one of the most traditional Colombian seasoning sauces. We use Hogao as a base for many typical Colombian dishes or just as a dipping sauce for plantains, veggies, or as a topping for arepas. I keep it refrigerated for up to 1 week or freeze in ice cube tray for a few months.

I prepare this Hogao the way I can remember my biological mother doing.

Makes 2 cups

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup chopped scallions

• 1 clove garlic minced

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ¼ teaspoon salt

•  ¼ teaspoon ground pepper

• 2 cups diced tomato

How to:

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the tomatoes, scallions, garlic, ground cumin and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring until softened.

Reduce the heat to low, add the salt and, cook for 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Check and adjust the seasoning.

Colombian Lentils Recipe

Lentils can be a love or hate type of situation… thankfully my husband and I are in the love love love. Especially Lentejas Colombianas (Colombian Lentils). These are special because you make a charred veggie salsa of sorts and serves as the flavor backbone for it. This is not something my Colombian mother would do, but a Colombian neighbor during my foster care years taught me.

Incredibly easy, can be enjoyed with rice with plantains (my favorite way), thinned with more broth to make a soup, or blended for a creamy experience with a chunk of crusty bread is perfection!

For 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried green lentils

• 3 ripe plum tomatoes

• 1 yellow onion

• 4 garlic cloves

• 1 jalapeño (taste for heat and use as much of chile as you’d like)

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 medium carrots, diced ¼ inch

• 5 scallions, chopped. Or a small onion

• ½ tablespoon smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon regular sweet paprika

• 2 bay leaves

• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

• 8 cups of broth

• Optional but very delicious: ¼ cup red wine

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions:

Rinse the lentils and cover with cold water in a medium bowl. Soak for 1 hour

Heat a medium-sized pan over high heat until hot. Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno onto the pan and char, training occasionally with kitchen tongs so that all sides get nice and charred, about 7 to 12 minutes. This is what gives such a delicious flavor to the lentils. Don’t be scared of getting really charred. It’s flavor!

Turn off the heat under the pan and allow the vegetables to sit for 10 minutes. Peel off the skins of the tomato, discard the skins.

In a blender add the charred vegetables with one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Set aside. You can even make this mixture 4 days ahead (I do it the night before)

To cook lentils:

in a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add carrots, onion, green onions, paprika, bay leaf and oregano. Cook until the onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the drained lentils and wine (if using), stir. Allow the wine to bubble and evaporate for two minutes

pour your veggie puree and give it another stir. Cook for five minutes. Add your stock, season with salt and pepper to taste and bring to boil. Give the lentils a good stir then lower the heat to medium low. Cook for a 30 to 45 minutes. This depends on how long your lentils take to cook. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot every 10 to 15 minutes, until the lentils are tender but still hold their shape. Add the vinegar, stir, adjust seasoning as you feel is necessary. Lentils require more seasoning than you think!

serve the lentils with white rice and sweet plantains (recipe to follow) we love it with a simple arugula salad or cilantro and avocado on top.

Bean Soup with Masa and Queso Fresco Dumplings

Ingredients

Makes: 6 servings

How to:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until it has completely softened, the edges are golden brown. Add the whole garlic clove and cook for another minute until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in the tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes have cooked down to a soft, thick paste.

Add the beans along with 2 cup of their broth, as well as 6 cups of the chicken or vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover partially and simmer for 10 minutes. The beans should be completely soft.

Meanwhile, prepare the masa for the dumplings. In a medium bowl, combine the corn masa flour with the water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, queso fresco, cilantro, and mint, and mix together until the dough is very soft, about 1 minute. Set aside, covered.

Working in batches, puree the bean soup in a blender until completely smooth or use an immersion blender directly in pot.. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low.

Begin forming the dumplings. Scoop a tablespoon of masa to make small, 1-inch balls, roll them between your hands (moisten your hands with water if they stick and, one-by-one, gently drop them into the soup. Once all the dumplings have been shaped and added to the soup, gently stir with a wooden spoon to make sure none stick to the bottom. Cover the pot partially with a lid and let the soup simmer gently for 15 to 20 more minutes until the masa dumplings are cooked through. They will thicken the soup as they simmer. You can add more broth if you would like your soup thinner.

Taste the soup for salt and add more if need be. Serve hot, add toppings that speak to you.

Delicious!

Frijoles de la Olla (beans of the pot)

Although you can buy canned beans, if you make them at home they have a much nicer flavor, are creamier and are so incredibly easy. You can make a large batch refrigerate for about 4 to 5 days. You can also freeze which will last for months.

Two tips, if you make them at home:

1. Don’t add the salt in the beginning or it will toughen the beans. Add it at least after an hour of cooking when the beans are already a bit soft.

2. You don’t need to soak them the night before cooking. Yes, that helps to reduce the cooking time, and phytic acid but it is not necessary, especially if you add hoja santa (a dried herb that is amazing at breaking down acid and components in legumes). If you do soak them, don’t soak them more than 12 to 14 hours, because they may begin to ferment and that’s not the flavor you want. I like to soak for an hour or two.

I like making them with any bean, most popular are black beans and pinto beans. 

Traditionally Frijoles de la Olla are cooked in an earthenware pot. It does impart a special Pueblo style flavor. I have one that I gifted myself from Plaza Bolivar. It is my all-purpose pot. A normal pot is just fine. You can use the instant pot but that’s a different recipe.

Makes: 5 cups beans, 2 cups cooking broth

Ingredients

• 1 pound (or about 2 1/4 cups) dried beans

• 1/2 white onion, outer skin peeled off

• 10 cups water may add more if necessary

• 1 tablespoon sea salt or to taste

• Optional: dried Hoja Santa. Available online and in Latin American stores.

How to:

Rinse the beans in cold water and drain. If soaking, place in a bowl and cover with warm water.

Place beans in a large pot and cover with enough water to come up to at least 3″ above the top of beans, about 10 cups of water. Add the onion and Hoja Santa (if using) and bring to a boil. Let the beans simmer, partially covered, for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until the beans are so soft they come apart if you hold one between your fingers, and the broth has thickened to a soupy consistency. If the beans are not yet soft and the broth is drying out, add more water. Before eating, remove the cooked onion with a slotted spoon and then add the salt. 

Veggies and Mushrooms on Toast

Serves 2-3

· 2 tablespoons of your choice: unsalted butter, ghee, olive oil - more as needed

· 1 pound thinly sliced portobello or cremini mushrooms

· ¼ pound Jerusalem Artichokes ‘sunchokes’, or baby turnips

· ½ cup chopped onion

· 1 teaspoon chopped thyme or rosemary

· 2 small garlic cloves, minced

· 1 cup turnip greens (from turnips) or spinach, rough chopped.

· Salt and pepper

· Splash of white wine, sherry or Marsala (optional)

· 1/4 cup crème fraiche, coconut yogurt, cashew cream, sheep’s milk yogurt. You pick, something creamy and not too tangy.

· 2 thick slices country bread, for toasting. I used our Sourdough! (available beginning 11/01)

· 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

· *optional: fresh chile sliced

How To:

1. Heat a wide skillet over medium high heat and add fat of choice, swirling pan. When it begins to sizzle, add mushrooms, turnips, and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

2. Add rosemary or thyme, chile, and garlic, and stir to coat. Season well with salt and pepper and continue to sauté for a minute more, then add sherry, if using. Add your creaminess of choice crème fraiche, coconut yogurt, cashew cream etc. and let mixture simmer 2 minutes. If it is too thick, add water. Imagine Alfredo Sauce consistency.

3. Meanwhile, toast bread slices until golden. Lightly butter/olive oil them and place on individual warm plates.

4. Spoon mushrooms and juices over toasted bread. Top with chopped parsley.

Tid Bit: This is great as is, but it would be amazing with a side salad, an egg, extra protein on the side!

Enjoy!

Much Love,
Diane

Instant Pot Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup. A soup I despised as a kid because it was served cold, from the famous can, non-stop at the children’s home I stayed in for a period of time.

Many many years later I went to a restaurant in NYC and had it with a piece of crusty bread (back when I didn’t know gluten was part of the cause to my aches), I fell in love.

This is not that exact soup but it is a really good soup. Straight-down-the-middle, simple, tasting tomato soup with long-cooked flavor, thanks to a generous amount of aromatics and a short but intense cook time under pressure. This is pretty delicious on its own but is the ideal teammate for crusty bread to sop up… like our new Sourdough, or focaccia, or your favorite.

INGREDIENTS

·         ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
·         2 medium onions, chopped
·         1 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced (save the fennel tops)
·         2 cups of frozen cauliflower rice
·         2 carrots, grated
·         1 cup frozen butternut squash
·         Sea salt
·         2 tsp. Sweet paprika
·         1 tsp. Cumin seeds, lightly crushed
·         ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
·         3.5 lbs of fresh tomatoes or 2 28-oz. cans organic whole peeled tomatoes (I prefer canned, just being honest)
·         1 cup of water, vegetable stock or bone broth – you pick
·         Freshly ground black pepper
·         3 Tbsp. avocado oil, ghee or grass fed butter
·         1 tsp. (or more) honey
·         Something creamy for topping. Coconut yogurt, Cashew cream, Heavy cream, yogurt, or sour cream (for serving; optional)
·         Flaky sea salt
·         You favorite crusty bread. I used our new Sourdough!

 How-to

1.       Heat oil in Instant Pot on the Sauté setting. Add onions, carrot and sliced fennel; season with a big pinch of salt (2 teaspoons). Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften and sweat, about 2 minutes. Add paprika, cumin seeds, cayenne (if using), frozen cauliflower and butternut squash and stir to coat vegetables with spices. Set lid on pot askew and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are very soft but have not taken browned about 10minutes. Add tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you go, then use 1 cup liquid of choice to rinse out cans and add to pot; season with salt and pepper. Seal lid and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.

 2.       Release pressure manually, then uncover and add fat of choice and 1 tsp. honey to soup. Using an immersion blender directly in pot, blend until smooth. (Alternatively, allow soup to cool slightly and purée in small batches in a blender.) Taste and season with salt and pepper; if soup tastes acidic, add more honey, as needed.

 3.       Divide soup among bowls. Serve with a drizzle of something creamy (if using). Season with sea salt.