Carrot soup with miso and sesame

 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 pounds carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 regular or 6 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped or grated ginger, or more to taste (it could easily be doubled)
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/4 cup white miso paste, or more to taste
Directions
 
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots, onion and garlic sauté until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add broth and ginger. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
 
Puree soup in batches in blender, or all at once with an immersion blender. In a small bowl, whisk together the miso an a half-cup of the soup. Stir the mixture back into the pot of soup. Taste the soup and season with salt, pepper or additional miso to taste.
 
Ladle into bowls and garnish each with a drizzle of sesame oil.
 

Braised Coconut Spinach & Chickpeas with Lemon

 

Ingredients
  • 2 teaspoons oil or ghee
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 4 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger, from a 3-inch piece
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 large lemon, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons juice)
  • 1 dried hot red pepper or dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
  • 1 pound baby spinach
  • 15-ounce can coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
 
Directions
 
Whole roasted sweet potatoes
Cilantro leaves, to garnish 
Toasted unsweetened coconut, to garnish
 
Heat the oil or ghee in a large, deep Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is beginning to brown. Add the garlic, ginger, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest and red pepper, if using. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
 
Add the chickpeas and cook over high heat for a few minutes or until the chickpeas are beginning to turn golden and they are coated with the onion and garlic mixture.
 
Toss in the spinach, one handful at a time. This will take about 5 minutes; stir in a handful or two and wait for it to wilt down and make room in the pot before adding the next handful. When all the spinach has been stirred in, pour in the coconut milk and stir in the salt, ground ginger, and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer then turn down the heat and cook for 10 minutes or until the chickpeas are warm through. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice, if necessary.
 
Serve hot over roasted sweet potatoes, with cilantro leaves and toasted unsweetened coconut to garnish.
 
Serving note: This is thick enough to eat on its own with a fork; it's not terribly soupy. But it's saucy enough to eat over pasta, rice, brown rice, quinoa, or another grain.
 
serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as a side
 

Paper Baked Halibut with Julienne Vegetables

 

Ingredients
  • 4x6 ounce halibut filets
  • carrots
  • asparagus
  • spinach
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olice oil
Directions
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Cut the vegetables into a julienne. Toss in a bowl with lemon zest, olive oil and salt and pepper.
  • Fold a 16” by 16” piece of parchment paper in half and cut out a large heart shape, with the fold being the centre of the heart. Open it up and then place some of the vegetables along the fold. Place piece of halibut on top of the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on a little lemon juice.
  • Fold the other half of the heart over and begin to fold and roll over the edges to create a package. Twist end to seal.
  • Put on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Thai peanut sauce

Ingredients

  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 inch ginger root, peeled and minced (I use way more than this)
  • 1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup lemon juice (I just use the freshly squeezed juice from two lemons)
  • 5 tablespoons tamari
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 cups vegetable stock

Directions

  1. Combine all the incredients in a sauce pan
  2. Heat gently for 15 minutes, or until hot (keep the heat fairly low and stir often - peanut butter can burn)
  3. Use an immersion blender if you like your sauces smooth.
  4. Serve hot.

Notes

  • Add more water or vegetable stock if the sauce is thicker than you'd like.
  • Serve this is with rice and marinated tofu cubes (pour the sauce on the tofu cubes to heat them up) and pile on your favourite veggies (I like raw grated carrot, tomato, cucumber, and sunflower sprouts with this combo).
  • The absolute best way to use ginger is to freeze whole fresh ginger root, and use a micro grater to finely mince as much as you need. Put the unused ginger back in the freezer until it's needed again.

Hey

My full name is Steven Basil Mishos, but you can call me Steve.

This is my (very minimal, and very experimental) effort to organize my thoughts and share things along the way.

On the internet, I go by the nickname flyzipper, but you can also reach me via this contact form.