Today I'd like to introduce a new series of posts called "Cooking the Books", where I'll share three recipes from a single cookbook over the course of each month. It's inspired in part by one of the first food blogs I started reading - Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks. Much like Heidi, I found myself with a bookshelf full of cookbooks that I cooked from all too rarely. Browsed for inspiration? Sure. Actually cooked from? Embarrassingly little. So I've decided to start cooking, one book at a time, and share those meals with you.
My cookbook
collection includes a broad range of culinary perspectives - meaning a
fair amount of my cookbooks aren't vegan. That said, I'll only be featuring recipes that are naturally vegan or those I've "veganized" with a
simple change or two. You might be surprised at how many vegan recipes sneak
their way into a "traditional" cookbook!
The first book on my
list is the much-acclaimed Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami
Tamimi. The book is stunning, with beautiful photos
and prose that introduce you to the complex culture, history, and people of
Jerusalem via the region's ethnically diverse cuisine. It’s as much an anthropological study of
the city as it is a cookbook, which only makes me love it more. Jerusalem features
120 recipes, many of which place vegetables, grains, and beans front and center. My first time through, I earmarked 42 recipes that
caught my eye.
The first recipe I made ended up being served to a group of twenty-odd
strangers at a dinner party! Just as I was beginning to plan this
series, I discovered that The Pantry, a local cooking school/community kitchen,
was hosting a series of cookbook club potluck dinners. What cookbook was
featured in September? Why, Jerusalem, of course! I scoured the cookbook for a
unique vegan (or veganizable) recipe to share with the group and landed on page
138 - Pistachio Soup.
The recipe's
introduction describes the soup as a traditional Iranian Jewish dish that "reveals its true glory" with the simple addition of fresh orange juice. It's a dish easily made
vegan by replacing chicken stock with a light vegetarian stock, so I pulled out
my favorite vegan bouillon and got to work. Here are my thoughts:
1. This recipe is GOLD.
It is, without a doubt, one of the most delicious and interesting things I've
ever eaten. Pureed pistachios give the soup a decadent, creamy texture that's
accented by succulent little ribbons of leek and bits of soft shallot. The pure
pistachio flavor - delicate, vaguely floral, nutty - becomes other-worldly when joined by smoky cumin, spicy ginger, and a bright citrus punch from
orange and lemon juice. The resulting soup is comforting but exotic - a
stand out dish, perfect for a special occasion.
2. This recipe is not
inexpensive - but that's easily fixed. The original recipe calls for saffron and a half pound of
pistachios, which can add up quickly if you don't already have them in your pantry. For the potluck, I made the recipe to spec and included
the saffron. While I do think it pumps up the color of the soup, I felt the
saffron flavor was lost in the magical combination of
pistachio-cumin-ginger-citrus. When I made the soup again, I left out the
saffron entirely to no ill effects. Let's save that insanely expensive spice
for recipes where it really shines.
3. The recipe as written is a bit time intensive - but there's a shortcut! The original calls for blanching shelled
raw pistachios, removing the papery skins, and then roasting them in the oven.
I did all this the first time around, and it's more than a little tedious. The next time I bought pre-shelled, roasted, unsalted
pistachios, making life a million times easier. Trader Joe's sells an 8 ounce bag for $4.99, which measures out
just a tad shy of the 1 2/3 cups called for (close enough). If you don't have a
TJ's nearby, the widely-available Wonderful Pistachios brand sells bags of shelled, roasted pistachios that are salted, so you'll want to give those a thorough rinsing to
remove some of the salt and keep a close eye on the sodium levels in your broth
to avoid an over-salted soup.
4. Pistachio soup is RICH.
Really, really rich, in fact - making it better enjoyed in smaller servings. If
you're serving it as a meal in and of itself, the recipe yields 4
"large" (1 cup) servings. As an appetizer or part of a light lunch, a "small" (2/3 cup) serving is plenty. My
adapted recipe reduces the butter called for by half and I didn't notice a
difference in richness - the pistachios do the heavy lifting.
Pistachio Soup
adapted from
Jerusalem
makes 4 large (1
cup) servings or 6 small (2/3 cup) servings
1 tablespoon
nondairy butter or olive oil
4 shallots, finely
chopped
1 large leek, halved
lengthwise, rinsed well, and finely sliced (1 1/4 cups total)
1 ounce fresh
ginger, grated on a microplane or peeled and minced
2 teaspoons ground
cumin
3 cups
"chicken"-style vegetable stock (I used 3 cups water plus 2 teaspoons bouillon paste)
1 2/3 cups shelled
roasted & unsalted pistachios (about 8 ounces)
1/3 cup freshly
squeezed orange juice (1 very large or 2 small oranges should do)
1 tablespoon freshly
squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly
ground black pepper
Bring a large
saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat and melt butter. Add the shallots,
leek, ginger, and cumin, along with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black
pepper. Saute for 5-10 minutes, keeping the heat low enough to soften the
vegetables without turning them golden. Add the stock, reduce heat to low, and
simmer covered for 15 minutes.
When the soup is
done simmering, grab your blender and a clean dishcloth. Add the pistachios and
half of the soup (a scant 2 cups) to the blender. Remove the center piece of
the blender's lid, cover hole with the dishcloth, and puree for a good minute
or so, until the pistachio mixture is extremely smooth. Add the mixture back to
the remaining soup, followed by the orange and lemon juice. Stir to combine and
reheat. Adjust seasoning as necessary - I've found that some additional grinds
of pepper are a nice finishing touch. You can serve the soup immediately, but
it will keep nicely in the fridge for about 5 days. The soup tends to
thicken up a bit with time, but adding a teaspoon or so of water when reheating
will loosen things up.
This is a truly amazing soup. So full of complex flavor. Thanks for sharing. It is going on my 'keeper' list.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you loved it! It blew me away the first time I made it. :) Definitely a keeper.
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