A Light Lunch to Herald Spring

A GOOD FRIEND came to lunch yesterday, and with a lot of last summer's garden bounty still in the freezer, I decided to make a meal of frozen vegetables. Because I don't like to be busy with cooking when a guest arrives, I also wanted to choose recipes that could be wholly or mostly made the day before.

We had a particularly good carrot crop last summer, not only abundant but also exceptionally flavorful, so carrot soup was at the top of my list of things to make. To go with the soup, I wanted bread. To go with the bread I wanted some sort of spread, and I wanted the spread to be a color that would look good with the color of carrots. This called for spinach, the only dark green vegetable that I still have a lot of in the freezer.

Turning to one of my favorite cookbooks, the notorious 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking (which is not to be confused with any other edition of Joy), I chose recipes for Carrot-Ginger-Orange Soup and Spinach-Yogurt Spread, which I then adapted to suit the ingredients that happen to be available to me.

The day before my friend was due to arrive, I prepared the spinach-yogurt spread as follows:

1. Take two coffee filters and put them in a sieve, then set the sieve in a bowl. Into each of the coffee filters place a cup of fat-free plain yogurt, then leave this to drain for several hours. (Draining as much liquid as possible off yogurt gives it a consistency more like cheese than like yogurt. In fact, some people refer to drained yogurt as 'yogurt cheese.')
2. Meanwhile, thaw about 10 ounces of frozen spinach.
3. When the spinach is thawed, use the food processor to mince a couple of peeled shallots. (The original recipe calls for green onions and garlic, but I prefer shallots and I usually have them around because they're easy to grow.)
4. To the minced shallots add the spinach, the drained yogurt, 2 T grated Parmesan cheese, 2 T sour cream, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, and some salt. Blend all this until smooth, transfer to a storage container, and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Also on the day before my friend was due to arrive, I got the carrot soup started as follows:

1. Thaw about a pound and a half of frozen carrots. (You could also clean and chop the same quantity of fresh carrots.)
2. When the carrots are thawed, chop a medium onion and prepare 1 T peeled fresh ginger.
3. In a soup pot, melt 1 T of butter in 1/4 cup chicken stock.
4. Cook the onion and ginger, along with 1/2 tsp curry powder, in the butter and chicken stock until the onion is tender.
4. Add 4 more cups of chicken stock and the carrots to the soup pot.
5. Chop about 4 clementines (enough to make one cup) and add them to the soup pot. (The original recipe called for fresh orange juice, but clementines are abundant this time of year and delicious, so why not use them?)
6. Simmer until the contents are warm and the carrots are soft. Because my carrots had been lightly cooked before being frozen, I didn't have to simmer the soup for long. If you started with fresh carrots, you'd probably have to simmer it for 15 or 20 minutes.
7. When the carrots are tender, turn off the heat under the pot and let the soup cool.
8. Once the soup is cool, transfer the soup to the food processor for blending.
9. Transfer the blended mixture to a storage container and put it in the refrigerator.

The next day, when my friend arrived for lunch, the spinach-yogurt spread was already made. To go with it, cut slices of a good multi-grain bread (I bought mine from a bakery), brush them on both sides with a good olive oil, and toast them on both sides under your oven broiler.

To finish the carrot soup, return the carrot mixture to the soup pot, heat it, and add 1/2 cup heavy cream and some salt.

Served on white china, the orange carrot soup and the green spinach spread were very pretty together; the colors made me feel that spring was on its way. I wish I had remembered to take a picture, but by that time I was busy enjoying the company of my friend!

PS: This was such a light lunch that I thought we were entitled to a sumptuous dessert. My local grocery store sells excellent cheesecakes in small sizes (which means less leftover cheesecake, which means less temptation for ME), and I'd much rather spend time with friends than make myself crazy in the kitchen, so you can guess what the dessert was. (Think cheesecake, think chocolate.)

TIP

Often if a dish seems bland, salt is all that's needed to bring out the flavor.

Blueberry Nut Bread

Based on a recipe from Jane Brody's Good Food Gourmet, this is easy to make and is good for breakfast or snacks. The bread usually disappears quickly at my house (and if it doesn't, it freezes well), so I always double this recipe to make two loaves.

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour ("whole white" flour works too, but produces a heavier bread)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted (I have also used canola oil)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate plus 3/4 cup water, heated to almost boiling
1 cup (more if you're a big berry fan) of fresh or frozen berries (the recipe calls for blueberries but I often use a frozen mix of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)
3/4 cup chopped nuts (the recipe calls for pecans but walnuts would work too)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the butter or margarine, beaten egg, and warm orange juice to the flour mixture, stirring the ingredients to combine them. Don't overstir, as this will make the bread heavier.
4. Stir in the berries and nuts.
5. Transfer the batter to a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
6. Place pan in hot oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a knife or other tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.