Meeskite Soup

There's a sweet song in the musical Cabaret called, "Meeskite," about two ugly parents who give birth to the most beautiful baby their shtetl has ever seen.

That's a lot like this soup.

Lumpy, frizzy-skinned celeriac meets knobby, chin-haired jerusalem artichoke to produce a smooth, voluptuous soup with a complex herbal flavor and wonderful, yogurty tang. You would never guess that such unappealing roots could soften into rich knobs of earthiness; these are simple vegetables that only need a bit of heat and fat to turn into treasures.



You could leave out the bacon and make this vegetarian, but why would you? The bacon flavor really comes through to provide a lovely smokiness that sits very well with the sour yogurt. All you need to finish this soup off is some chopped greens for garnish (any greens you like: I used spicy, raw salad greens, but kale or savoy cabbage, lightly wilted and seasoned, would do well).


Meeskite Soup, or Celeriac Soup with Jerusalem Artichoke and Bacon


Olive oil

2 celeriac roots, peeled and chopped into 1-in cubes

1/2 lb jerusalem artichokes, roasted and cooled (optional, but so worth it)

1/2 C chopped shallots

2 slices thick applewood bacon, chopped

5-6 C organic chicken broth

1/4-1/3 C whole fat plain yogurt

seasoning to taste

greens for garnish (optional)



1. Roast the jerusalem artichokes, first cutting big roots into small pieces. Toss the raw jerusalem artichokes in oilve oil, coarse salt, pepper, a pinch of dried lemongrass and some red chili flakes. Roast at 425 degrees F for about 20 minutes, until tender. Set aside to cool.

2. Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat and add bacon. Sautee until bacon softens and add shallots. Sautee gently until shallots are soft and translucent (5-10 minutes).

3. Add celeriac to pan. Cover vegetables with a wet piece of parchment paper, put the lid on, and lower heat. Gently steam vegetables for ten minutes.

5. Remove parchment paper. Add artichokes and broth to pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until veggies are tender. Remove from heat and cool.

6. Blend soup in cuisinart or with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.

7. Add yogurt and blend until integrated. It's important that the soup be cool-ish, or the yogurt may curdle.

8. Reheat gently, adjusting for salt and pepper. Add extra broth if the soup is too thick.

9. Top with optional garnish and enjoy!

Molly's friend Glenn's Banana Bread with Bittersweet Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger

Hungry yet? I'll admit the lighting for this photo isn't ideal, but trust me when I say that this bread turned out perfectly: moist but light, with each bite a flavor blast of humble banana, dark chocolate and crystallized ginger. It's not too rich or sweet to eat for breakfast, but it would also make a lovely dessert, plain or with whipped cream and an espresso.

I've been making banana bread for years, ever since I went to college and decided to try the old Wendy Gordon Bake a Banana Bread and Find a Mate for Life trick. (Banana bread is how my parents fell in love. In our family, banana bread baking is synonymous with serious monogamy.) I didn't find my mate in college (in fact, in an odd turn of events, my first serious boyfriend baked me a banana bread), but I do make my mom's banana bread relatively frequently for T, and like to think that each loaf is a little dose of love potion.

What I like best about my mom's recipe is its focus on the banana. She uses canola oil instead of butter, which yields a wonderfully moist and banana-y taste without the distracting richness of butter-based breads. She also uses brown sugar and plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. When we were little she would make one plain loaf and one with chocolate chips, and that second loaf would maybe last two days, with each of us savoring the slightly sticky top and the banana flecked crumbs.

The bread I made last night is a fusion between Molly Wizenberg's, which I read about in her book A Homemade Life, and my mom's tried and true recipe. I swapped the butter for oil and the sugar for brown, and added a bit of vanilla extract to the batter. Otherwise, it's exactly as written on Orangette and it is perfect.

Bake some for your lover. Or...bake it, open the window and see who strolls by.

Winter Squash with Bacon-Walnut Pangrattato

When I opened my CSA tote last week and lifted out the enormous green squash of indeterminate title (let's call it the Hulk), several thoughts ran through my head, all delicious:

Squash soup with lots of fried sage leaves
Squash and black bean stew

Squash risotto with parmesan pangrattato and amaretti cookie crumbs

Two loaves of squash bread with dark chocolate slivers

But life gets busy and the best laid plans--lazy, slowly-stirred risotto, for instance--get shoved aside for quicker meals that fill us up and get us on to the next activity. And even though 5 nights out of 7 you'll find me munching an impromptu salad and some melted cheese and veggies on toast, alone on the couch with a book or even worse, Netflix, musing moodily on my students, I really do prefer exciting tastes and lovingly prepared dinners with multiple dishes. Which is why I decided to make something simple yet special for dinner tonight:

Steamed, mashed squash with a crunchy pangratatto of bread crumbs, crisped bacon, fried sage, ground walnuts, and parmesan spread over the top and rendered extra crunchy over the broiler.

I got the idea from Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie, which boasts some incredible, easy vegetable recipes. His version involves boiling butternut squash, cubing and frying it, and then serving a parmesan pangrattato with fried squash seeds on the side, for people to spoon over their forkfuls. My squash, steamed all day in the slow-cooker, was too mushy for Jamie's approach, and I was longing for something more substantial, too, like a mash with the richer accents of bacon and walnuts.

Make sure to save the seeds from your squash to either fry and add to the topping, or toast with sea salt, paprika and the smallest bit of cocoa for a great snack and salad topping. You can also choose to keep the squash skin on--especially for tender varieties like butternut--as it is sweet and difficult to separate from the flesh once cooked. (You can easily peel a butternut squash prior to cooking, though.) One last note: the pangrattato can be used as a poultry stuffing or a flavor blast for a squash risotto. It's also really tasty on its own, when all the flavors meld and the parmesan starts to melt and crisp and clump the bread crumbs in the nicest way possible...I finally had to kick T out of the kitchen in order to have enough for the squash.

This recipe yielded a creamy, sweet, salty, crunchy dinner, perfect with our brown rice and apple-fennel-cabbage salad. It also made enough leftovers for lunch, which makes going to work tomorrow almost enjoyable.

Winter Squash with Bacon-Walnut Pangrattato

Steam, bake or boil a butternut or other sweet winter squash.

Scoop out the seeds (save for toasting) and either remove the flesh and mash or cut the flesh into bite-size chunks.

Season the squash liberally with salt and pepper and place in a 8x8 baking dish (or whatever meets your squash volume needs).

While the squash cooks, prepare the pangrattato:

Blend 1-2 C breadcrumbs (I used homemade bread and didn't measure) with a big handful of raw walnuts until fairly fine.

Chop 3-4 slices thick bacon and saute until crisp. Add a handful of chopped sage and cook for 1 minute.

Add the breadcrumb-walnut mixture to the pan and toss to coat. Add a nice glug of olive oil and a few dashes of balsamic vinegar to the pan and mix well. Let it become toasty and golden. At the end, toss in a handful of good quality parmesan, mix, and turn off the burner. The residual heat will allow the cheese to melt and crisp up without burning. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat the broiler.

Spread pangrattato onto squash and broil for around 3 minutes, until crispy but not burnt.

Enjoy on its own or as a side, and happy fall!