Dinner At Sheila's

Belated Happy New Year to all!   I’ve taken a bit of a break from blogging (always feel guilty when I haven’t posted for a week), but don’t assume that means I’ve taken a break from cooking.
This week we had our first dusting of snow.  The temperature suddenly dropped yesterday, and when  I glanced out the sliding glass doors in my family room I was shocked to see a continuous gust of wind carrying with it a flurry of small snowflakes.

Within 10 minutes the snow had stopped, but the cold temps have remained.  A good day to make a pot of soup, and at the same time use up some things that have been lying around the kitchen for awhile.

So I came up with this Yellow Split Pea Soup With Winter Squash.  I had a bag of yellow split peas in the pantry that had been there for some time.  (I’ve also been on a mission to use up some of the items in my overflowing pantry).

The day before I had roasted a butternut squash and 2 small carnival squash that had been sitting around being decorative since Thanksgiving.  (It’s amazing how long winter squash will keep if in a cool place)!

With the addition of packaged organic chicken stock from the pantry and some onions, carrots, celery and herbs I had the makings for this warming, thick and fiber packed soup with just the right amount of sweetness and texture.

Also, if you substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock this would be a great vegetarian soup as well.

Perfect as is, but just begging for a hunk of good bread for dunking…

Yellow Split Pea Soup With Winter Squash

1 package dried yellow split peas, rinsed and any pebbles removed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 and 1/2-2 medium onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

2-3 celery stalks, diced

1 package organic chicken stock (32 ounces)

2- 3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Kosher salt to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper

1 bay leaf

fresh parsley sprigs (or a few pinches of dried parsley if you don’t have fresh)

butternut and carnival squash (or any winter squash of your choice)… which has been cubed, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted with a couple sliced shallots…(a good way to use up left-over roasted squash…add it to a soup)

In a large pot, cook the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent and golden, but not browned.

Add the chicken stock and water to the pot along with the rinsed yellow split peas. 

Stir well.  Add the carrots and celery, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and kosher salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, and cook for about 2 hours.  If the soup is too thick you can add more stock or water.  Remove the bay leaf.

At this point you can add the roasted squash and continue to heat, checking for seasoning.

If you prefer, you can puree the soup, removing the carrots and celery (or not, it’s up to you) with an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor or blender. 

Then you can put the soup back into the pot and add your cubes of roasted squash.

If you want the entire soup pureed you can puree the squash along with the other veggies.  I prefer a pureed soup, but like the added texture of the veggies left whole.

Either way, heat before serving  and taste for seasoning.

This is a recipe I adapted from  the current issue of Fine Cooking magazine.  The original recipe calls for serving it with blue cheese croutons, which is a mixture of butter, blue cheese and walnuts spread on baguette slices and broiled til crisp.  I preferred to serve this more as a soup than a stew with a plain baguette alongside.

It also turned out that I had everything I needed, except for the blue cheese, for this dish, so that meant no last minute trips to the grocery store if I didn’t make the croutons.  I had a little more squash and a little less beef than the recipe called for, but no problem there. Since I didn’t have any Sauvignon Blanc, I used Pinot Grigio. That’s the great thing about cooking as opposed to baking …you have a good deal more flexibility to tweak the recipe according to your tastes, or for that matter, what’s in or isn’t in your pantry.

The recipe calls for beef chuck, which is a cut of beef used often in stews.  Although quite flavorful, chuck requires a long, moist cooking method such as the oven-braising used here to turn this otherwise tough cut into a tender piece of meat.  And wouldn’t you know it?  I had a small piece of chuck in my freezer that I hadn’t used in my Boeuf Bourguignon, so it was my destiny to make this dish!

However you decide to tweak the recipe you’ll find this is a delicious hearty dish.  It is loaded with good veggies, barley, and  the essence of sage and nutmeg making it a great seasonal entree for lunch or dinner.

Beef, Barley, and Butternut Squash Stew ( Fine Cooking, Oct/Nov 2010)

Serves 6

1 and 3/4 pound boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 large leeks (white and light-green parts only), halved and thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium ribs celery, chopped

1 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

6 cups lower-salt chicken broth

2/3 cup pearl barley

3 dried bay leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg

1 small butternut squash (about 1 and 1/2 lb), peeled, seeded, and cut into1/2 inch cubes (about 3and1/3 cups)

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup half-and-half

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Season the beef with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and then toss in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of the flour.  Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and the oil in a 5 and1/2-to-6 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Cook half of the beef until browned on several sides, about 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a plate.  Repeat with the remaining beef.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot.  Add the leeks, carrots, celery, and a pinch of salt, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon, until evaporated, 7-8 minutes.  Stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons flour and cook for 1 minute.

Whisk in 5 cups of the broth.  Stir in the barley, bay leaves, sage, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the beef along with any accumulated juices.

Bring to a boil.  Cover the pot snugly with foil and then a tight-fitting lid and braise in the oven until the beef is almost tender, about 1 hour.  Stir in the squash and the remaining 1 cup broth.

Cover with the foil and lid and continue braising until the beef and squash aare very tender, about 30 minutes more.

Remove and discard the bay leaves from the stew and then stir in the parsley and half-and-half.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Blue Cheese Croutons (optional)

1 and 1/2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

3 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (about3/4 cup)

3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts

18 1/2-inch-thick baguette slices

In a small bowl, combine the softened 1 and 1/2 tablespoons butter with the blue cheese, walnuts, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Spread the mixture evenly onto the baguette slices.  Transfer to a baking sheet.

Position a rack about 8 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler on high.  Broil the croutons until deep golden-brown and crisp, 2-3 minutes.  Serve the stew with the croutons.