Okay, I know it sounds weird. But seriously. You have to try this. Known as "high mountain pasture" soup, this is a winter-time staple in Turkish cuisine. It's another one of those things that I turned my nose up at initially but eventually learned to love. Last winter, we had it at least twice a week. The original recipe calls for wheat flour, which I have found can be substituted for with potato starch or corn starch. Sometimes I skip the flours/starches altogether, and don't notice much of a difference. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup of white rice, but I only throw in 1 or 2 tablespoons. We have found we prefer it with less. For you dairy-consuming vegetarians, substitute the bone stock with vegetable stock or water with a little butter and salt added.
Do not skip the final steps for garnish - they complete this soup! Ingredients 6 cups beef stock or chicken broth 1-2 Tbsp rice 3 Tbsp butter 2 cups yogurt (plain, whole fat) 1 Tbsp corn starch, potato starch, or wheat flour 2 egg yolks 1 tsp salt Garnish: 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup dried mint 1. Bring stock to boil. Add rice and butter. Simmer over low heat until rice is well cooked (20 minutes). 2. Mix yogurt, starch or flour, and egg yolks together in a bowl. Add salt. Stir into boiling broth and rice, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Soup should have a creamy consistency. 3. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add mint. Heat for 1 minute. 4. Ladle soup into a bowl, then drizzle butter/mint dressing over the top. Enjoy! With a nice salad or oven roasted veggies, makes a great, satisfying meal.
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On Sunday, we received a very welcome gift of a ham, locally grown and smoked, from some good friends. Yesterday I baked it and we enjoyed a nice meal of baked sweet potatoes, salad, and ham last night. I saved the ham bone, and still have a good amount of meat left, so tonight we will have ham and bean soup.
To try to minimize the antinutrients in the white beans, I have soaked and boiled the beans extensively. Dry beans can be soaked overnight and cooked in about 2 hours. Smaller beans, like white beans, can actually be cooked without soaking if needed. I am using Great Northern White beans in this recipe, but would imagine this recipe would work with just about any bean you might have hanging around in your pantry. I found this recipe on cooks.com. I will make kale chips and a salad to eat alongside this soup. I am making the soup in the crock pot because I have a busy afternoon ahead of me, but you could make this on the stove top, as well. Allow about 2 hours for simmering if you use the stove top method. Ingredients: 1 ham bone 1 pound (or 2 cups) of dry beans, soaked and cooked 8 cups water 1 clove garlic 1 Tbsp lemon juice 1 Tbsp honey 1 bay leaf 1 large onion, chopped 1 tsp salt black pepper to taste Put all ingredients into a crock pot. Set to low and allow to cook for at least 6 hours, removing bone halfway through cooking time. If you have extra ham, chop some up and add it in after removing the bone. Red lentils are called "mercimek" in Turkish. Turkish is phonetic, so it's easy to read. The c says "j", so the word above would be pronounced mer-ji-mek. Mercimek soup is found everywhere in Turkey. It is served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It can be found in fine restaurants, kebab joints, or fast food style restaurants. And it is yummy. It quickly became a favorite for all four of us. It was one of the first recipes that I learned how to make, thanks to my wonderful neighbors who were willing to teach me.
I love mercimek soup for its simplicity. It only has a few ingredients and can be ready to eat in under 30 minutes. It makes for a great vegetarian meal, which we generally have 2-3 nights a week. Served with bread or pizza and a salad, it is a satisfying meal. And like all soups, it is fantastic on a chilly night. Lentils were probably first cultivated in the Near East, between 9,000 and 13,500 years ago. On a primal or paleo eating plan, legumes are typically avoided, or at least minimized. This is because legumes contain factors called antinutrients, which can actually bind to the good nutrients in the food and keep it from being absorbed by the animal eating it. Trypsin inhibitors and phytates are two antinutrients found in lentils. (Proper soaking and cooking legumes does decrease their antinutrient content.) They are also higher in carbs than other protein sources, so for those eating low carbohydrate, lentils can be problematic. I have found it beneficial to keep lentils as an occasional part of my diet, but not a mainstay. Some of the good things found in lentils are folate, vitamin B1, and minerals such as magnesium. Mercimek soup is a fantastic place to use up or hide all sorts of leftover veggies. Once you get the basics down, you can adapt it in many ways. And, of course, there are dozens of different "correct" methods of preparation, depending on who you're talking to. Some recipes involve making a roux or using thickeners. My favorite is simpler than that, but it's always fun to get online and find/try different methods. If you're into that sort of thing. The boys beg for this soup. In Turkey, we had it at least once a week, often more than that. I find it more difficult to find red lentils here, and find I don't think to make it as often now that we're in the States. I have found them at a Middle Eastern store in Manchester, NH, and once in a while, they show up at major supermarkets. Ingredients: 2 Tbsp butter 1/2 onion, chopped 1-2 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 Tbsp tomato paste 1 cup red lentils 3 cups water or broth 1 tsp salt Optional: zucchini and/or potato, about 1 cup, chopped. Add 1/2 cup water for each addition cup of vegetable. 1. Soak lentils overnight if desired. (I usually skip this step.) 2. Heat the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and tomato paste. Gently saute for about 5 minutes. 3. Add the water or broth, lentils, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and let cook for 20-30 minutes. 4. Blend with a hand blender or in a food processor. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon on top, and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper if you like spice. I love making soup, especially when I have a batch of good, hearty bone broth to use. Back in the day, when an animal was slaughtered, the whole animal was used. The meat was consumed, but the bones, skin, and organs were also put to good use. As we have gotten more comfortable with buying our protein in the form of pretty little packets of boneless cuts of meat, we have unwittingly lost touch with the benefits of using the whole animal. Using the whole animal (an animal that has been raised and fed properly, in humane conditions, and without the use of hormones or antibiotics) yields nutritional benefits far beyond the cuts of meat that we buy in the supermarket.
Broth made from bones is full of molecules from the collagen family, molecules that help to build joints. People buy capsules of glucosamine or shark cartilage, but those same molecules are found in the bones of animals and can be captured in a way that is much more natural and healthy through the proper preparation of bone broth. Bone broth is also rich in calcium and magnesium, two minerals vital to healthy bones. Stop spending money on capsules that have questionable efficacy, and eat bone broth once or twice a week. It is satisfying and delicious, too. Growing kids will benefit from bone broth, too. When you make chicken broth this way, it is literally golden in color. The flavor is amazing. The key to making good bone broth is to keep the cooking temperature to a very low simmer. High temperatures will tangle up proteins and molecules, making them hard or impossible for the digestive system to absorb properly. Keep temps low enough that the broth is just barely bubbling, or use your crock pot set at low. You can use any type of animal bone to make broth, though I personally have only used beef and chicken bones. Roast a chicken for dinner or buy a rotisserie chicken. Clean the meat off the bones, then crack the bones (as much as possible) and place in the bottom of a large pot. I use an 8 quart pot. Throw in a whole onion, a carrot, a stalk of celery, a few bay leaves, and a Tbsp of salt. Fill 3/4 full with water, and put on the stove at a medium-low setting. Alternatively, put everything into your crock pot, cover, and set to low. I let my stock go overnight and into the next morning. After a good long time, strain the stock into another large pot. Discard the solids that you catch in the strainer. Cool the broth to store and use later (it can be frozen in freezer bags) or use it for that night's dinner. Any vegetables will do. Today, I used: half a rutabaga, finely chopped; 3 whole carrots, chopped; a bag of frozen organic green beans; one-quarter of a head of green cabbage, finely chopped; and the remaining chicken meat from last night's dinner. If you have time, make it in the morning and leave on a low simmer all day. Serve with a nice green salad. Skip the bread, and eat two bowls of soup instead. You'll feel better later. I promise. |
AuthorI'm Emily. I currently work in online education management, but I also have a Masters degree in Nutritional Sciences (my true passion). In addition, I am a mom, cook, avid reader, novice gardener, and enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities. On my blog, you will find articles on food, fitness, weight management, and eating issues. ALL recipes on my blog are gluten-free. Many are low-carbohydrate. Most are grain free. Enjoy! Categories
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