Yellow Split Pea Soup with Cilantro, Walnut & Pecorino Pesto

Hello and happy summer, it's been a while I know.

Here's a question: Lentils and split peas, are they warm or cold weather food? There are good arguments in favor of both, but we've had a weird, indecisive month of June so far anyway here in the Bay Area, so here we go with some split pea soup.

For the soup:

-2 cups yellow split peas
-8 cups broth, vegetable or chicken
-1 small, diced onion
-2 colves garlic
-1 pinch saffron threads
-Optional: 1 Persian black dried lime (Omani), chopped
-Sumac for topping (optional but highly recommended)
-salt and pepper to taste

For the Pesto:
-1 bunch Cilantro
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup chopped Pecorino cheese
-3/4 cup chopped walnuts
-3/4 cup water
-1 clove garlic, diced
-salt and pepper to taste

Make the soup:

Heat some olive oil in your soup pot, cook the onions until translucent, add the garlic until fragrant. Season with salt & pepper.

Pour in stock, stir and add split peas and black lime, if using. Cover, turn down heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add saffron, cook more until done, about 10 more minutes. Taste and season if Needed.

Make the Pesto:

Blend all ingredients. Taste, season if needed, add more water if needed for texture.

Top soup with pesto and sprinkle with Sumac.

And of course, enjoy.

White Bean and Cilantro Hummus

Yeah yeah, Hummus. Whatever, right? Well for your information I've been craving Trader Joe's wonderful White Bean Hummus quite a bit lately, and while the Kebab shops that are so thick on the ground here always have the regular chickpea stuff on the menu, it just wasn't quite as satisfying as making it myself from the lovely white bean (alubia blanca here in España).

I bought some Tahini the other day to make Baba Ganoush (didn't make that a post because it wasn't very pretty...) and had some dried white beans around already, so I figured it was meant to be. The only thing I didn't have that I think is pretty necessary for a good hummus was parsley. I could have gone out and bought some, but I already had some cilantro lying around, and while I'm well aware that they're completely different it just seemed silly to go out and buy another green leafy garnish, especially since cilantro is so darned delicious.

Thus, white bean hummus with cilantro was born. I hope you enjoy this tasty kitchen baby.

-1 can of white beans or dried white beans, soaked overnight.
-1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed butter)
-juice from 1 lemon or about 4 tablespoons
-2 garlic cloves
-cilantro leaves
-dash of cumin
-salt to taste
-a good quality extra virgin olive oil. It should be a little bit green.

If using dried beans, drain the water from soaking, then refill with enough water to cover them by about 1.5 inches. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until soft. drain water and sprinkle with salt.

combine all ingredients except olive oil and a few cilantro leaves and blend until smooth. Drizzle with olive oil and top with cilantro leaves. Enjoy with pita or crusty whole wheat bread (if you're a whole wheat sucker like me).

Cocido Madrileño

Cocido is a chickpea stew made from a collection of different meats. It's one of my favorite Spanish dishes. I can't think of anything more perfect that a hot plate of Cocido with some crusty bread on a rainy winter's day.
This is going to be a difficult recipe to write since the amounts of everything are all to taste. Apologies in advance if it's hard to follow, because I'm not going to write exact amounts at all. Basically, meat + stew vegetables + chickpeas=cocido. I hope you're good at math because that formula is key here.

you will need:

-cooked chickpeas
-chorizo
-chicken
-morcilla (blood sausage)
-fatty, streaked bacon in a block, or lard
-cured ham bones with some meat still attached
-sliced cabbage
-cubed potatoes
-cut carrots
-onion
-garlic
-salt
-pepper

cover meat in water in a large pot and cook slowly for about an hour. remove ham from bones.

add chickpeas, onions, and garlic. simmer for about 30 minutes and add vegetables. continue cooking until vegetables are done.

drain off all the broth. Save the broth or cook noodles in it to be served as the first course (as they do in restaurants here).

Mad Spatch's first birthday celebration: acorn squash stuffed with yellow split peas and oyster mushrooms!

I forgot to mention this in my last post but I've now officially been recipe blogging for a year! I've made a wishy-washy new years resolution to post something at least once a week, but we'll see how that goes now won't we?
On tap for this week is something STUFFED! And not only is it stuffed, it serves as a bowl, a bowl you can eat! I love things like bread bowls where you can enjoy the contents without being sad when you get to the bottom, because then you can just eat the bowl, and I think it's generally accepted that if you're not full by then you must have some sort of problem. With my stuffed acorn squash you can eat everything but the skin! (note: please don't try to eat the plate). This dish can take over an hour to prepare, so I like to make the split pea filling the day before to save some time.

1 acorn squash, halved lengthwise with seeds removed
1 1/2 cups dried yellow split peas
2 cups oyster mushrooms cut into bite-size pieces
1 Tbsp. curry powder
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Cover split peas with water (at least 2 inches above peas). Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour, then add curry powder and salt. Continue to cook until peas are soft.
Meanwhile, place squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until they can be pierced easily with a knife. Meanwhile again, melt butter in a frying pan and add mushrooms. Sautee until they start to wilt, then add the wine and cook until just a small amount of "juice" remains in the pan. Stir mushrooms into cooked split peas. Stuff the mixture into cooked squash halves and serve with a side of your favorite greens.

note: I'm sure it would be delicious if you timed it right and stuffed the squashes midway through the baking process, but it's good just like this as well.

Toni's Post-Session Stew

This stew has a few Japanese ingredients like seaweed, sake, and panko bread crumbs thrown into a pot with potatoes, crimini mushrooms and (!) chickpeas. This was another 'whatever's in the kitchen' experiment that became a cold weather favorite! It's very filling and satisfying, especially after mountain biking or surfing when I'm feeling hungry enough to eat my own leg.

2 cups vegetable broth
3 red potatoes, cubed
1 can chickpeas
4 sliced crimini mushrooms
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 pound tofu, pressed (optional) not necessary to deliciousness but more filling if you have it
1 large carrot, sliced
1 cup sake
1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/8 cup shredded dried green seaweed
1/4 cup bonito (fish) flakes (optional)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Asian chili oil (optional)
freshly ground black pepper

put a large pot of the veggie broth to a boil. add the potatoes and carrots. Meanwhile saute the mushrooms. after about 15 minutes add everything but the panko. simmer for about another 15. stir in the panko and serve.

serves 4-5

Two Bean Falafel

This recipe is modified from the one I usually use, which is from a vegan cookbook ("vegan with a vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz). The differences here are that I used pinto beans along with the usual garbanzos/chickpeas, left out the onions (just because I didn't have any) and baked the falafels instead of fry them like the book says. They're delicious fried as well, but I find it's hard to keep them from falling apart, plus they're healthier and there's not as much of a mess to clean up.
It looks like a long list of ingredients, but these are actually pretty easy to make. I mixed all the dry ingredients together in a bag the night before, and then all i had to do was pour it in!

FOR 12 FALAFEL PATTIES
1 3/4 C cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed if canned.
1/3 C canned pinto beans (reserve 1/8 C of the juice)
1/4 C bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/3 C flat-leaf parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
a few dashes of black pepper
pita bread (the pocket kind)

Chop the beans into a paste in a blender or food processor. transfer to a bowl and add the dry ingredients. mix lightly with a spoon. cut the stems off the parsley and chop it up really small. add to the batter and stir. wet your hands and knead the batter until mixed well. If my psychic powers are correct, the batter will be a bit dry, so add the 1/8 cup of bean juice for some extra moisture. (don't say "eewww" that's not polite!) spray or rub a baking sheet with olive oil. roll batter into golf-sized balls, then flatten with your hands until you have patties about 2 inches in diameter. place on baking sheet and spray with more olive oil.
bake 15 minutes, then turn the patties over and bake for another five minutes. cut the pitas in half and serve with your favorite falafel toppings (cucumber, lettuce, tomato, etc.).