CHEEZY CORNY CHOWDER

While a lot of my Connecticut friends were suffering in the cold and dark, I was without my phone and Internet in Florida.  I'm not complaining, mind you, just dealing with the lack of all that the 21st Century has to offer.  Now that I am back online the good news is so are our northern friends.  I am so sad that they had to live through a week of no power.  Here is a soup that  may not turn your power on in your house, but may provide super-power for your energy level.

If you don't have fresh corn like we do in southern Florida, frozen corn will work just fine.  Please see my notes on nutritional yeast.  It is a life saver in the kitchen when you need a little something that will add a protein punch and it tastes good too.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 sweet onions chopped fine
4 ears corn cut from cob (approx. 2 cups)
1 - 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 13.5 ounce can coconut milk (light or regular)
2 cups water
4-6 small potatoes cut into bite size
1/2 cup nutritional yeast *
1 teaspoon  vindaloo spice *
1 teaspoon toasted cumin *
1 teaspoon  balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onions with the olive oil  until translucent - add corn and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.  Add water, coconut milk, and tomatoes with their juice.  Add potatoes, nutritional yeast and spices. Cook for about 20-30 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.  Use an immersion blender to cream half of the soup.

Season with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar to taste.

*nutritional yeast is not a baking yeast.  It is a yeast product that sprinkles like Parmesan cheese and has a slight nutty cheesy flavor.  It is full of protein, fiber and minerals and it is what give this soup a thick cheesy flavor.

 * Vindaloo spice is a mixture or ground coriander, garlic cumin, ginger, cinnamon, brown mustard, red pepper, jalapeño, cardamom, turmeric, black pepper and clove.  My jar is from Penzey's Spices.  Substitute with your favorite mixture if you would like.

* Please see a previous post on toasted cumin.  It is one of my favorite to make fresh from cumin seeds.  Purchased  ground cumin is fine.  I like the complexity in taste that the toasted cumin provides.

Black-Eyed Peas with Chard, Corn and Onions

Fresh Black Eyed Peas

I am now in love with black-eyed peas and I am not referring to the wildly popular music group, but the delicious legumes that I hope I can convince Madison to grow this summer in Connecticut.  My local farm in Boynton Beach, FL provided me with a bag of mature black-eyed pea pods that were dry and ready to be shucked or shelled.  It was kind of a fun project for my daughter.  She took the pods and spread them out in a rimmed cookie sheet and went to work getting the peas out of the pod.  Because the pod is dry, the peas mostly just pop right out.  I don’t know how long they will store this way.  I would recommend cooking them right away and freezing them, or freeze them just after they have been shucked.

When referring to recipes that ask for black-eyed peas (or cowpeas – I am not making this up), you don’t have to cook freshly shelled peas as long, so check on the progress as you cook them.  In my recipe, my peas were done in about 20 minutes.

I also discovered that black-eyed peas sprout beautifully.  (This has nothing to do with this recipe, but everything to do with different ways to enjoy black-eyed peas!)  They make an incredibly healthy and delicious snack as well as a crunchy addition to a salad.   See my previous post about sprouting mung beans.  (Black-eyed peas are related to mung beans too. Maybe that is why they both are easy to sprout.)

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly shelled black-eyed peas

4 cups fresh chard, stems removed and roughly chopped

(spinach or arugula could be substituted for chard, just add at the last minute and wilt them rather than cook them)

2 medium to sweet onions
3 ears fresh corn, cut off the cobb

1 Tablespoon freshly toasted and ground cumin (see previous post)

1 teaspoon dried chipotle pepper (optional)

¼ cup water to steam the chard

Start the black-eyed peas and three cups water in a saucepan and cover.  Simmer.  Check after 20 minutes.  Depending on how dry the beans are, they may need to simmer longer before they are ready.

Meanwhile peel the onions and cut in half.  Slice in ¼ inch slivers.  Sauté the onions in a medium sized sauté pan until they are golden.  About 5 minutes.  Add the spices and the chard.  While cooking the chard, add water to steam it.  The chard should be cooked through in 10-15 minutes.   I had older, more mature chard that took at least 15 minutes.  Most of the chard found in the grocery store will probably be done quicker.  Add the cooked peas and the fresh corn to the vegetables and heat through.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Black eyed-peas with collards are considered a good luck New Year’s dish too.  I will have to do some more research to find out why.  Happy healthy eating.