Recipes to warm the soul

Nothing beats spending a lazy fall Sunday hanging around the house and making a killer soup or casserole for family and friends. Clam chowder, corn chowder, lasagna, stuffed peppers…just about anything that gets better with time. The following are some recipes for just that kind of day. Enjoy!

Corn Chowder

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter Extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

1/4 cup all purpose flour

6 cups canned vegetable stock

2 cups heavy cream

2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced

6 ears corn Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down (this will help to thicken the soup and give it a good texture). Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

4 Whole Butternut Squash, cleaned out

1 Sweet Onion

1 Bunch Carrots

6 Cups Vegetable or Chicken Stock

½ Cup Orange Juice

½ Cup Cream

1 Tsp. Cinnamon

1 Tsp. Coriander

1 Pinch Cayenne

1 Bay Leaf

1 Stick of Butter

Nutmeg to Taste

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Dice the carrots, onion and butternut squash

Melt butter in a large roasting pan until simmering. Add the diced carrots and butternut squash to the butter and sauté. Add all the spices to the pan and (continued) sauté for two additional minutes until the vegetables start to brown.

Add the diced onions and bay leaf to the pan, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add 3 cups of stock, the cream and orange juice to the pan and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reserve the rest of the stock as needed.

Check the squash with a fork to ensure fully cooked.

Using a blender or blending stick, blend at low speed, gradually increasing the speed of the blender, until you reach desired consistency.

Season the soup with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste, then serve.

CLAM, HAM AND YAM CHOWDER

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

4 ounces diced country ham or tasso

4 small diced red chilis, or pinch of crushed red pepper

1 bay leaf

2 cups peeled and diced sweet potatoes

5 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ cup dry white wine

1 cup chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)

1 ½ cup low sodium chicken or seafood stock

¼ cups half-and-half

3 lbs. manila or littleneck clams, scrubbed

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

3 Tbsps. chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ham, chilies or crushed red pepper, and bay leaf and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes, garlic and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potatoes begin to soften, about 6-8 minutes.

Add the wine and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, stock and half-and-half and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a paring knife. Add the clams, cover, and cook over high heat until the shells open, 6-8 minutes. Discard any clams that do not open and remove the chilis and bay leaf. Sprinkle the chowder with the pepper and parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Recipe and photo by James Stefiuk

Stuffed Peppers

Sweeter peppers work best with these ground turkey stuffed peppers, but feel free to use your color of choice.

Ingredients

11 ounces long grain brown rice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 medium garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 medium white onion

1 pound ground turkey breast salt and pepper, to taste

One 32-ounce carton chicken broth

One 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes

7 ounces fresh baby spinach

1.5 cup Italian-blend shredded cheese*

5 medium to large peppers

1 cup bread crumbs (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the rice according to the package directions, and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic and onion, and sauté until translucent. Turn the heat up to medium, and crumble in the turkey meat, separating it as best as you can (it will become easier to separate as it cooks). Sauté the meat until it browns, about 7 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Once the meat has browned, add 1 cup of chicken broth and the diced tomatoes. Lower the heat and let simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Add the spinach and stir well. As the spinach is wilting, add the cooked rice. Stir often to marry the flavors and textures. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. Cut away the tops of the peppers. Discard the ribs and seeds. Add the remaining chicken broth to a baking dish; it should come halfway up the sides. Place each pepper standing up. Once the stuffing has finished cooking, fill each pepper completely. Top with a layer of breadcrumbs or cheese, if desired (this will create a crust when the peppers come out of the oven). Cover the pan with foil, and bake for 35-45 minutes, or when the peppers begin to wrinkle. Serve. Notes

*Note: Feel free to substitute a cheese of your choice. *Note: Recipe works great with meatloaf mix as well.

Recipe and photos by James Stefiuk

Golden State Papaya

With non-GMO seeds from the University of Hawaii in Hilo, business partners Adam Rhodes, a real estate developer who turned-on to permaculture, and Damien Raquinio, a surfboard shaper who grew up on the papaya-rich Big Island of Hawaii, have blessed our town with the sweetest, purest papayas in the state. Grown in a Carpinteria greenhouse and sold year round, the duo, after much trial and error, finally came up with four key elements - good genetics, good soil, right environment and right amount of light—to create the sweetest, freshest, healthiest organic papayas you will ever devour.

“We pick them the day before they are sold,” said Adam, “that’s why they taste so good.” –LW

Gold State Papayas, $5.00/pound at Tuesday and Saturday S.B. Farmers market; Ojai on Sundays, depending on volume. goldenstatepapaya.com

SLY’S

Partially boned organic free-range one-half chicken.