Walnut Beef Soup--Probably from Georgia

The soup season is in. After a month of unstoppable rain, a real fall chill has come. Last weekend for the first time this season it was so cold that the heating system went on and off the whole night. And every time I looked through the window at this depressing weather, I dreamed more and more about a bowl of warm soup.

On Sunday evening we had a dinner at our neighbours who served a pumpkin bisque soup. There was nothing that could taste better on that cold evening, served with fresh, home made bread. But because last week I already made many pumpkin dishes, I decided to cook a different soup. And, for that purpose, I reached for a recipe that has been intriguing me for a long time.

I have been reading a lot about less known cuisines and among them about the Georgian cuisine. And it struck how much walnuts they use. This makes me believe that this soup, which I do not know exactly the origins of, comes from Georgia as walnuts are its main ingredient. It falls into the Eintopf category. Although it is based on basically two main ingredients (walnuts and beef), the two of them already make it very rich. When served with bread that soup can be as satisfying as a main dish. Fresh herbs add a lot of aroma to that already unusual combination.

Walnut Beef Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb (about 500g) beef (any tender variety will work best),
1 cup of shelled walnuts,
1 tbsp all purpose flour,
1 tsp ground coriander,
2 garlic cloves,
2 tbsp tomato paste,
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves,
1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves,
1 tsp salt,
ground pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cut beef into about one-inch cubes and put it in a medium pot. Cover the meat with 8 cups of cold water and bring it to boil.
2. When the beef starts to cook skim the foam from the surface and let it cook until the beef becomes soft, which will take 30-40 minutes, depending on how tender the beef is.
3. Chop garlic on the cutting board and mix it with salt. Add to the beef stock.
4. Chop or grind the walnuts and add them to the soup.
5. In a small bowl mix one tablespoon of flour, tomato paste, coriander, and a little bit of water to make a smooth paste. When all the flour clots dissolve, add four tablespoons of beef stock to the tomato paste, mix well and pour into the soup. Stir and let it boil.
6. Remove the pot from the heat, add chopped basil and parsley. Serve with bread.

Spicy Afghan Pumpkin--First in the Season

My Afghan friend brought me this dish a couple of years ago, when our kids were still riding horses together. She often spoiled me with her national dishes bringing me on Friday afternoons some samples of what she was preparing for dinner. It happened to be during the Ramadan and this one was of the many dishes she prepared for the evening meal that day.

Until I met her, kebabs was all I knew from the Afghan cuisine. When I started to meet her regularly, I tried a new Afghan dish almost every Friday. These were often simple, vegetable dishes but I was always surprised how good they were. They were less spicy than Indian dishes but they always had a very strong aroma, which made me feel hungry long before dinner time. From those times I added many Afghan dishes to my diet. And even my fastidious younger son likes some of them, particularly if they are accompanied by a big amount of yogurt sauce and a fresh flat bread.

Yesterday I got my first pumpkin this season. Not too big and not for decoration only. First of all of course I took many pictures of it. Later on I used a half of it to make my family's favorite pumpkin risotto. And I used the other half to try this Afghan pumpkin recipe. I made a whole large dish and it was more than enough for a dinner. It was spicy but not hot. It also had a sweet and sour taste underneath, as it is served with the yogurt sauce, whose sourness compliments the sweetness of the pumpkin.

Spicy Afghan Pumpkin

Ingredients:
About 4 lb (2 kilograms) of pumpkin,
1 large onion, finely chopped,
4-6 garlic cloves,
about an inch (two and half centimeters) of fresh ginger, peeled off and grated,
1 tsp turmeric,
1 tbsp ground coriander,
2 tbsp sugar,
olive oil for frying,
salt, pepper,
a pinch of chili pepper,
1 cup of European or Greek Yogurt,
1 garlic.

Preparation:
1. Cut the pumpkin into thick slices, peel it off, and remove seeds. Cut pumpkin into smaller squares.

2. In a large frying pan heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add about a half of pumpkin pieces and fry on both sides until they turn brown. Transfer to an oven proof dish. Follow with the other half, adding more oil.

3 Preheat oven to 400F.
4. On the same frying pan that you used to fry the pumpkin, heat extra 2-3 tbsp of oil. Add chopped onion, ginger, and garlic, and fry until onion becomes transparent. Then add turmeric, coriander, salt, and pepper, and cook for another 1-2 minutes. When spices are cooked, add about a cup of water to make the sauce.
5. Sprinkle the top of the pumpkin with sugar and chili and pour the sauce over. Cover and bake the pumpkin for about 30-40 minutes, until it becomes soft (check it with a fork). At that point, remove the cover and let water evaporate to make the sauce thicker.

Serve warm with the yogurt sauce on top and Middle Eastern breads.

Chocolate Mousse--Doctor-Prescribed

Just recently, in one of the September issues of Time magazine, I read an article "What to Eat Now. Uncovering the Myths About Food" by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a mega TV celebrity, a heart surgeon, and also an expert on diet and healthy lifestyle. There has not been an article about food I read in recent years that I enjoyed more.

I am lucky to stay on the slim side and not needing to follow any diet, but a healthy nutrition is a very important aspect of my everyday life, which I try to respect, especially when it comes to teaching my kids to acquire good nutritional habits.

My diet is often vegetarian, rich in fruits and vegetables. I try to buy many organic products, and always organic milk and eggs. I do not like sodas at all and avoid "lite" dishes and artificial sweeteners. But at the same time I have also my nutritional weaknesses. I am not afraid of cream and butter, I love my coffee with whole milk, I snack on chocolate with my afternoon coffee (on a rainy day it can be the whole bar), have my dinner with a glass of wine (or two) and a nice dessert after that.

But it turned out, according to Dr.Oz and the new Dietary Guidelines that my nutritional sins could be considered a dietary advantage. Just read that:

"Want to get healthy? Forget about diet sodas and low-fat foods. Instead, tuck into some eggs, whole milk, salt, fat, nuts, wine, chocolate and coffee"

"... red wine every day: it has relatively few calories... and it is thought to raise good cholesterol and reduce the bad kind..."

"The polyphenols in coffee ... is in fact the No. 1 source of antioxidants in the Western world and in some studies has been associated with lower incidence of dementia, Parkinson's disease and Type 2 diabetes."

And most importantly for my today's post:

"Chocolate is another source of antioxidants--in this case, in the form of flavonoids, which are what give cocoa beans their pungent taste."

The other day on an already cooler and cloudy day I craved chocolate mousse. I made the mousse and in the evening I ate two bowls myself. And I felt no guilt: that delicious dessert was doctor-prescribed. At least in moderation.

Chocolate Mousse
(Makes 6 portions)

Ingredients:
1 full cup (7 oz) of bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips,
4 egg yolks,
3 tbsp sugar,
1 tsp vanilla extract,
1 and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (sweet cream with a minimum of 30 percent fat content),
1 tsp vanilla extract,
a pinch of salt,
1/2 tsp coffee extract.

Preparation:
1. Heat 3/4 cup of cream in a small pot, on a medium heat, until very hot, almost boiling.
2. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks, salt and sugar. When the mixture becomes smooth and well combined, add the hot cream.

3. Mix it again and put it back in the pot in which the cream was heated. Return to the heat and cook it slowly, stirring continuously, for about 3 minutes, until it turns into a thick custard.
4. Turn off the heat but leave the pot on the heater. Add all the chocolate and mix it with the custard until all the pieces melt completely and make a smooth, chocolate mixture.

5. Add the coffee extract and cool it down.
6. Whisk the remaining cream (3/4 cup) until stiff. Fold it into the chocolate mixture in three batches, until the whipped cream disappears completely in the custard.
7. Divide into serving bowls and chill in a refrigerator for 6 hours.

Serve dusted with cocoa powder.