soup and millet

I love the way that things are enjoyed uniquely depending on the weather. In winter, the smallest gestures of warmth carry extra sweetness. Every little thing seems to have a big impact that is felt and held deeply.
Well, this is a simple thing but it was one of those meals that just feel kind of whole and soothing and lovely, like a blanket for your insides. I look forward to making soup in winter, and this mostly resulted from an unplanned combination of things I had at hand and left over. Every so often things just mesh in a beautiful way. Soups are good like that.

Soup:
-garlic (smashed whole cloves)
-onion, diced

-celery
-carrots
-cauliflower
-tomatoes if you have them
-daikon
-boiling water
-2 or 3 decent pieces of kombu

-lentils (I think they might have been du puy lentils? I'm not sure but they were very beautiful things)

-red kidney beans: I had already cooked these a couple of days ago. I soaked them overnight then cooked them for about a hour and a half with a couple of garlic cloves, half an onion, a bay leaf, a carrot and a stick of celery. I saved the cooking water, which was nice and thick, and added it to the stock of this soup.

-hummous: I also had made some hummous earlier in the week, and just put a couple of spoonfuls in.

-spinach (lots)
-lemon juice
-salt to taste

1) Wash the lentils and bring to boil in a saucepan with plenty of water. Let them simmer for about 20 minutes.
2) Heat up a bit of oil in a big pot and cook the garlic and onion for a couple of minutes.
3) Add all other vegies (except spinach) and stir. Add lentils and cooking water. Add more hot water if needed, just to cover everything. Add the kombu, making sure it is covered by the liquid, put the lid on and let simmer for a while. The longer the better I guess.
4) Later on I added the red kidney beans and cooking water, and the hummous. Add salt if you need it.
5) At the very end, add chopped up spinach (lots) and lemon juice (to taste but I think I may have put a whole lemon in).

Millet:
I served this with some millet, which is becoming one of my favourite foods. It completes this soup, so cook it while the soup is simmering away. This is how I like to cook millet:
-1 cup millet
-2 cups boiling water
-1 tbsp black mustard seeds
-2 tsp cumin seeds

1) In a dry saucepan, gently toast the mustard and cumin seeds until they start to become fragrant and pop, then added the dry millet and stir until it has a sort of nutty aroma.

2) Add the water (seems to work better if it's already hot), stir, turn the heat right down and cover with a lid to simmer/absorb for about 20 mins.

Put a big scoop of millet into each bowl and ladle soup over the top.

Los Microwaves

Is There Life After Breakfast?

Is There Life After Breakfast?

It takes more than wonderbread! 

It takes more than wheaties!

Footscray

Melbourne's winter is at it's dreariest. I took a trip out to Footscray yesterday and happened to pick up a jam doughnut from the Olympic Donuts van. The old Italian man told me that my doughnut was a special one, as he filled it with jam from a dolphin figurine jam squirt-er ( I will take a photo of this next time).

Most people don't know that these doughnuts are vegan, and they're warming on a winter's day.

Abundance.

Lemon season is upon us.

Nonna.

 

I visited my grandmother Maria for dinner last week. It was a rainy night and her house was toasty warm (we had to dry my clothes on her heater). Because I'm vegan, I think it's a challenge for my Nonna to resist making meat dishes, which are usually the special foods she prepares for the family. Instead she makes meals that are more everyday; peasant dishes like ceci and rice. This is a beautiful dish, the chickpeas are soft and melt in your mouth. Nonna said that she soaked them for one day and then slowly cooked them for 2 hours.

I also brought over some chestnuts and we roasted them in a special pan over the gas stove. They came out quite smokey. Like my mum, Nonna loves chestnuts.

 

One final tip for roasting chestnuts (courtesy of Holly Davis): after roasting, wrap your chestnuts in a thick tea-towel and let them steam. This helps greatly with peeling and also keeps them warm while you eat them.

Chestnuts.

Eating seasonally isn't a priveldged, elitist thing. Eating seasonally might mean that you walk around your suburb finding fruit hanging over peoples fences, or you grow your own produce, or you visit a market and buy things that have been grown locally. I'm sure that seasonal produce will give your body what it needs appropriate to the local conditions.

I have a real soft spot for chestnuts.  I've been roasting chestnuts in the studio this week and they've made me immeasurably happy. I remember eating them every winter with my mum, who probably imparted this passion on me. It's interesting how seasonal foods are good for producing memories; their regulated absence and seasonal specificity works on our senses and helps us to recall moments from other times. I find these memories aren't just nostalgic, but imbued with a whole lot of emotions mixed up together.

Chestnuts are usually ripe in late autumn and early winter. They are perfect for winter; roasted hot, they're a beautiful shape, have a golden colour and a gentle sweetness.

My advice for roasting;

- Using a knife, score each chestnut with a cross. This helps with peeling the chestnuts and also stops the nuts from exploding in the oven (a very powerful force, which used to scare the shit out of me as a kid).

- Roast chestnuts in a medium to low heat grill or oven for 25 minutes, give or take 5 minutes depending on the size of the chestnuts. A gentle heat is best, to avoid burning or drying them out (with a bit more attentiveness, you can also roast them on a fire if you have one going).

-Peel and eat them hot, the inner furry skin should come off easily if cooked well. Some chestnuts might be rotten, others will be heavenly. Take the good with the bad.

- A perfectly roasted, golden chestnut is a great achievement. Probably the greatest task a person might achieve in any given day.