Healthy Butternut Squash Soup

There are times for luxurious butternut squash soup laced with brown butter and then there are times for a more austere version that doesn't involve homemade stock, a gaggle of aromatics, bouquet garni, and tedious straining. This isn't a knock on the former -- she's an elegant special occasion soup, and you can taste the extra fuss that goes into her. Sometimes though, you just want an everyday soup -- a practical gal that's into healthiness, nourishment, and minimum effort.

For times like these, I turn to my Healthy Butternut Squash Soup. Comforting, satisfying, zero-guilt goodness, step right up. Did I mention, it only requires 3 main ingredients? Butternut squash, onion, chicken (or vegetable) broth. How wholesome.

The recipe is simple. Cut up the butternut squash and onion, and roast until soft and delightfully caramelized. The roasting takes some time, but it's dead time -- just stick it in the oven, set a timer, and go do something else. Then, bring your broth to a simmer in a large pot, add the roasted veggies, and puree. That's it!

Finish with a drizzle of EVOO or spoonful of plain yogurt for a little extra panache. Serve with some tomato focaccia or garlicky bread sticks if you'd like. (I do.) Simple, good, healthy -- it's hard to eat this without feeling self-congratulatory.

Butternut Squash Soup and Tomato Focaccia

Healthy Butternut Squash Soup
Comforting, nourishing, zero-guilt goodness, using only 3 main ingredients. You just can't beat that.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash
1 yellow onion
32 oz. chicken (or vegetable) broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Peel, de-seed, and dice the squash into roughly 1-inch cubes (doesn't need to be perfect).

Peel and dice the onion into roughly 1-inch pieces.

Place the squash and onion onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 45-50 minutes until squash is lightly golden and fork-tender.

In a large pot, bring the broth to a simmer. Add the roasted veggies. Puree using an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor. (If using a regular blender or food processor, work in batches so that your container isn't full to the brim, and be careful not to burn yourself). Finish with a drizzle of EVOO or spoonful of plain yogurt if you'd like, and enjoy!

Where does inspiration come from? I don't know what Beethoven would say, but for me, inspiration pops up out of the blue when I'm writing recipes. Of course, during recipe creation, like for any creative work, the brain is always humming away, rummaging through sense memories, taste memories, old cookbooks, dishes tasted a dozen years ago and filed away under "try to reproduce," descriptions from novels, bits of poetry, mental snapshots, things learned in first-job kitchens 20 years ago.

One morning, I was gathering the ingredients to cater a lunch for a women's leadership seminar at the Oakland Center for Spiritual Living. Some of the attendees were vegetarian, others dairy-free. I'd planned some nice ladies'-lunch items--the chicken salad with curry and mango chutney I'd made by the bucketful at a fancy deli in the mid-80s, a vegan quinoa-adzuki bean salad I'd created for this column last year--when the sunny day suddenly turned chilly and overcast. Soup weather, my mother would call it, and so tomato soup, with its cozy, home-from-school associations, seemed like a natural fit. But it wasn't summer, and the fresh tomatoes available were mealy, Mexican, and overpriced. How could I make a canned-tomato soup that didn't taste like marinara sauce, or worse, have that unmistakable tinny flavor to it?

Roasting the tomatoes in plenty of olive oil concentrated their flavor, and warming, India-meets-North African spices like coriander, mustard seed, and cumin took them out of the pizza-sauce realm. Instead of cream, a rich slug of coconut milk would balance out the tomatoes' acidity, as would a drizzle of honey at the end. But what wintery thing would give the soup some heft? Some sweetness and ballast? I was driving around Lakeshore, looking for parking, when the solution suddenly turned on in my head, just like the proverbial light bulb: sweet potatoes! Perfect color, perfect earthy sweetness, and the starch, once pureed, would turn the soup to velvet.

These roadside bursts of brilliance don't always pan out, but thankfully, this one did, and the soup turned out to be the star of the luncheon. In fact, I could have skipped both salads, left behind the fruit and cookies and just ladled out big bowls of soup, breadsticks on the side, to make everyone very, very happy.

So, why this soup for New Year's Day? Well, it's a good pantry soup. Canned tomatoes, chicken stock, sweet potatoes...you probably have all these around from the holidays' cooking sprees. The spices can be rearranged depending on your taste and what's in the pantry. It's good for you, a welcome, spice-bright visitation of veggies after all those rich and indulgent holiday meals. You can easily make it vegan by using vegetable stock and leaving out the honey (or substituting agave or brown-rice syrup).

It's easy to throw together, and it doesn't take long, and the recipe's easily doubled or tripled, should you have a lot of friends and family on the couch. And it's good for sipping any time of day, whether as a warm-up after a brisk walk or while wallowing in that all-day Downton Abbey marathon. Plus, what better way to start the New Year than with a burst of inspiration?

Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup

Yield: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes, plus 45 minutes roasting time
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes, plus 45 minutes roasting time

Ingredients:
1 28-oz can plum tomatoes, preferably organic
5 tbsp olive oil, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch cayenne, or to taste
pinch cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
grated rind and juice of 1 small orange or tangerine
2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 tbsp honey, or to taste (agave syrup can be substituted for a vegan version)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain tomatoes, saving liquid. Halve tomatoes and spread out in a single layer in a non-reactive baking pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, until tomatoes have shrunk slightly and begun to brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

2. In a small, heavy pan (cast iron is ideal) over medium heat, toast mustard, coriander, and cumin seeds until mustard seeds start to pop and spices smell fragrant.

3. In a deep, heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat remaining 3 tablespoon olive oil. Add onions and saute, stirring frequently, until onions are softened and translucent. Add garlic and toasted spices, and cook, stirring, for another minute.

4. Add cayenne, cinnamon, ginger, rind and juice, sweet potato chunks, and roasted tomatoes. Add reserved tomato liquid and broth. Bring to a gentle simmer, reduce heat, and partially cover. Cook for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are very soft.

5. Add coconut milk and honey to taste. Taste for seasoning; add salt if needed. Remove cinnamon stick, if using. Let cool for a few minutes, then puree until smooth using an immersion (stick) blender. If using a regular blender, let cool for another 10 minutes before pureeing.

6. Taste for seasoning, and add honey or salt as needed. Serve hot.

Many Americans tend to associate instant ramen with college dorm life, poverty and hangovers. And who hasn't had a meal of Cup-O-Noodles born out of desperation and lack of resources?

But in Japan, ramen is comfort food. It's what many consider their national dish. And after the recent Earthquake and Tsunami, ramen served as a sign of normalcy and nourishment. Ramen houses are everywhere in Japan, and it's one of the most affordable and filling meals you can get there.

These days, especially in the Bay Area, ramen is becoming somewhat of a "trend." Recently, I've also noticed more places serving up different variations of the dish, all of which are fairly common in Japan.

Here are a few ramen houses outside San Francisco that serve three distinctly different varieties of these tasty soup noodles.

Shoyu (soy sauce) Ramen w/pork and kimchi from Santa Ramen

Santa Ramen -- 1944 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo, 650-344-5918
This place serves up the classic bowl of Japanese ramen with the typical three broths to choose from: miso (soybean paste), shoyu (soy sauce), and pork. It used to be THE place for Japanese natives to get an authentic bowl of ramen, but since moving to their newer location in a strip mall, the quality has declined.

Their broth and pork slices used to both taste like they took hours to make. However, on my most recent visit, the pork was actually cold. The noodles still had their classic chewy texture, but lacked depth and flavor. I was glad I had decided to add a little corn and kimchi for extra texture and kick. It’s still a decent bowl of noodles, but the joint’s lost some of its luster.

Kuro (black garlic) Ramen from Maru Ichi

Maru Ichi -- 368 Castro St, Mountain View, 650-564-9931
I chose this place for two reasons: 1) they make their own noodles in house, 2) they're known for a specific kind of ramen called "kuro" ramen, or "black" ramen. The black color comes from the browned garlic and was a kind of ramen developed in Japan in the 1960s, as the menu describes. The black garlic oil sits on top of the pork broth like an oil spill. It looks more like a film of dirt and soot floating on top of the bowl, but thankfully it doesn't taste that way. The rich garlic flavor is distinct but didn't completely overwhelm. You do, however, have to be a fan of garlic to enjoy the rich, hearty broth.

Their housemade noodles are thinner than most, but you can taste their freshness. It's something you don’t usually get at other ramen houses. It’s worth trying just to compare the difference in texture and flavor.

Overall, Maru Ichi's kuro ramen definitely isn't your typical bowl of ramen, and it was a nice change from the usual.

Garlic Pork Ramen with corn from Dojo Ramen

Dojo Ramen -- 805 South B St, San Mateo, 650-401-6568
This place is actually in the spot where the old Santa Ramen used to be, and is owned by the same folks. But the differences are vast.

They specialize in something called "sutamina" ramen, which literally means "stamina" ramen. I'd call it "extreme" ramen because of the loads of garlic, spice and heat (which you can request to be even spicier), amount of fixings, and sheer fattiness of the broth. It’s like ramen on steroids. Everything is bolder and richer.

And don't come here if you don’t like spicy food.

The meat that comes with the Garlic Pork broth variation is impressive. There were two big thick slices of pork belly that could serve as an appetizer at a four-star restaurant. I was kicking myself for not ordering extra. It was simply wonderful; fatty and meaty, just like the broth.

And the noodles were the most impressive of any of the other places I visited. Their texture was perfectly chewy without being too firm or too soggy, and had great flavor.

So even without the "sutamina" label, Dojo's was my favorite bowl of ramen simply based on the strength of its noodles and broth, which is really the sign of a superior bowl of ramen no matter where you are.

In case you haven't noticed it's pretty dreary out there. While this is a summer vacation compared to the dreaded East Coast winters I've faced in the past, I still love to curl up with blankets and soup on days like these (a warm dog sleeping next to you doesn't hurt either).

A favorite soup for everyone is ramen. Yummy broth, chewy noodles, and a medley of toppings. It doesn't get much better than that.

Unfortunately traditional ramen is not vegan; the broth contains fish (bonito), pork, and sometimes chicken, and the noodles contain eggs. So the option of going to a Japanese restaurant is out. But no need to fret! You can make easy and delicious vegan ramen at home with just a few tweaks.

I use O'Hana House noodles that are available at Rainbow and Whole Foods in the refrigerated section. The "chow mein" variety has a surprisingly similar effect as regular ramen. It may be taboo for me to make this comparison, but it's the closest thing we've got and it works really well. If anyone knows of a better alternative, I'd love to hear about it!

Vegan Shoyu Ramen

Makes: 2 servings

Ingredients:
1 package of O'Hana noodles (each inner packet is good for one bowl)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger (tip: freeze ginger and grate on a Microplane)
1 tsp sesame oil
3 cups water
1 cup kombu dashi soup stock (You can also buy instant kombu dashi like Riken Kombu Instant Dashi at a Japanese market like Nijiya.)
1 Tbsp sake
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp soy sauce

Topping options:
• tofu (I used Hodo Soy Beanery's braised tofu.)
• spinach (I like to blanch it, line it up, roll it in a towel to get some moisture out, and then slice it.)
• sliced green onions
• nori strips (You can cut your own, or buy a tub of pre-made strips at a Japanese market.)
• shichimi tōgarashi
• other options: shiitake mushrooms, veggie tempura, seitan, steamed or seared vegetables

Instructions:
1. Place noodles in a bowl of very hot water to loosen them up.
2. Meanwhile, heat sesame oil. Saute ginger and garlic for a few seconds.
3. Add water and kombu dashi soup stock and bring to a boil.
4. Add sugar, salt, sake, and soy sauce and simmer for a minute.
5. Pour broth through a strainer -- you want a nice clear broth with no bits floating around.

Place noodles into two bowls. Pour broth over noodles and arrange toppings. Make it pretty -- it makes a difference!

Enjoy!

Achooo! Is that you? Yes, despite the last few days' balmy temperatures, the winter sniffles, sneezes, and sore throats are here, and with them come the homemade remedies to cure them. First up, of course, is a daily shot of Fire Cider, if you took my advice and made a batch back in October just for this very moment. I must say, having taking my first dose last week during my own star turns as Sneezey and Dopey, that it's is not for the faint of palate. (Whiskey chaser: a very good idea.)

What you need next is something hot and steamy to warm you up, inside and out. Got a backyard Meyer lemon hookup? Then hot lemonade will soothe you. Squeeze the juice of a couple of lemons into a mug. Stir in a couple tablespoons of honey and add a cinnamon stick. Slice up another lemon and drop the slices into the mug. Top with hot water, stir, and sip, adding more honey if needed. (Plus, perhaps, a tot of rum to help you sleep.)

And then, bring out the big guns. Steph's Spicy Soup, as it's known around these parts, is inspired by tom yum goong, the clear, spicy-sour soup found on every Thai menu (no, not tom kai gai, the coconutty one everyone but me loves, but the other one). It started out based on the tom yum goong recipe in The Original Thai Cookbook by Jennifer Brennan, but has since evolved into a freewheeling kind of broth whose only constant characteristic is that it's very spicy and very sour, and will absolutely clear your sinuses and make you feel magically better.

Thai red chile paste, available in little glass jars in the Asian section of most supermarkets, is a fabulous condiment that lasts forever and zings up just about anything. I use it for this soup more than anything, but it's an excellent thing to have on hand.

As Laurie Colwin writes in More Home Cooking, "I do not recommend this to anyone who does not like things hot. This stuff is fire. It is also delicious and a surefire cure for colds, flu, and general weakness." She then goes on to say she only uses it one way, adding a tablespoonful to a quart of chicken stock, the juice of 2 lemons, some jasmine rice and scallions. As she writes, "You need to drink large quantities of water with this, but it is good for you, I swear."

Also, even if you're feeling rotten, it's worth tracking down the lemongrass here. It adds a certain herbaceous lemon-limeyness that can't be achieved by mere lime zest alone. Oh, and any kind of lime will do--regular Persian limes, our local Bearss limes, even small key (or Mexican) limes.

Adjust the hotness and sourness to your taste, but definitely make it as spicy and tart as you can. And don't forget the tissue box. If it doesn't make your nose run, it's not doing its job.

Thai-Inspired Soup for Sniffles
This soup can be changed to suit your taste in many ways. Love coconut milk? Add 1/2 cup of coconut milk at the end for creaminess. Adding shrimp, tofu, light or dark-meat chicken makes it more of a meal. I like a big spoonful of cooked rice in my soup, but you could also add some thin rice noodles or bean-thread noodles.

Ingredients
4 cups vegetable stock or chicken broth
1 stalk of lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp Thai red chile paste, or to taste
2 tsp Thai fish sauce, or to taste (optional)
2 limes
1/2 lb shrimp OR tofu OR skinless chicken breast OR chicken thigh
1 cup thinly sliced bok choy
1 cup spinach leaves
2 fresh green or red serrano chiles, sliced
6 scallions, trimmed and chopped
handful of cilantro, stems removed
2 cups cooked jasmine rice or cooked rice noodles

Preparation
1. In a large pot, combine broth, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, chile paste, and peel of 1 lime (in large strips). Bring to a simmer, cover, and let simmer gently over medium-low heat.

2. If using chicken, chop into bite-sized pieces. Add to soup and poach, stirring frequently, until cooked through and opaque, about 5 minutes.

3. Add bok choy, spinach, and shrimp or tofu, if using. Cook, stirring, until shrimp is opaque and bok choy is tender (2-3 minutes).

4. Add 4 chopped scallions, sliced peppers, and juice of 2 limes. Stir and taste for seasoning. Add cooked noodles to pot, if using.

5. Ladle into bowls. Add a scoop of jasmine rice to each bowl, if using. Top each bowl with scallions and a shower of cilantro leaves.

This time of year is all about soup, what with cold season in full swing. You know how it is... you drag yourself home from work, head full of cement, and all you want is something warm and comforting to eat that will make you feel better. If you're looking for lighter soup that's nourishing and easy to digest -- as opposed to a thick, rich stew -- you might consider having a big bowl of miso soup. More interesting that your plain old chicken soup, miso is comfort food with a little international flair.

For those uninitiated in the ways of Japanese cuisine, miso is made from fermented soybeans and other grains, which are made into thick paste that is rich in protein and nutrients. While there are many different kinds of miso, the two you're most likely to find at your local grocery store are red miso and white miso. Red miso is saltier, having been fermented longer, and white miso is a little lighter in flavor. For making miso soup, you want to pick up a tub of white miso, also known as shiro miso. Note: This stuff lasts forever in the fridge. Seriously. I think my tub of miso is over a year old and it still tastes the exact same. Also, a little goes a long way, so don't buy a huge vat of miso unless you plan on willing it to your grandkids.

Another important ingredient in miso soup is dashi, or Japanese soup stock. Dashi is the base of many Japanese soups and sauces. While you can just buy dashi mix from the grocery store, I highly recommend making your own dashi -- just like chicken stock, it's way better when made from scratch! Dashi isn't vegetarian by default, but you can find veg dashi at Asian grocery stores.

Miso soup is a particularly good soup to eat when you're sick, due to its ample protein and high electrolyte content. Plus, fermented foods are easier to digest if your gut is sluggish from the virus du jour at your kid's school, so if you're just generally feeling the ick, a bowl of miso soup might be the one thing that will make you feel better.

There are several places in the Bay Area to get an incredible bowl of miso soup:

Cha-Ya Vegetarian Japanese Restaurant
1686 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 981-1213
-and-
762 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 252-7825

Okoze Sushi
1207 Union St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 567-3397

Kahoo Ramen
4330 Moorpark Ave
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 255-8244

Gombei Japanese Restaurant
193 Jackson St
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 279-4311

Norikonoko Japanese Restaurant
2556 Telegraph Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 548-1274

O Chamé
1830 4th St
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 841-8783

Some Japanese restaurants still use a packaged dry mix, so if you're going somewhere else, I'd call ahead to make sure you're getting a quality bowl of soup made with fresh ingredients. Pre-fab miso soup is ok, but once you've had the real thing, you'll never go back.

Speaking of the real thing, why don't you try making miso soup yourself at home? It's super easy, and will be leagues better than most of the stuff you'll find in restaurants.

Homemade Miso Soup Recipe
Makes: 2 bowls of soup

Ingredients:
1 6x6-inch piece of kombu, soaked 30-minutes to overnight in 5 cups of water

3 tablespoons bonito flakes

1/2 pound silken tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3 tablespoons white miso paste

1 spring onion, sliced, for garnish

Method:
1. After the kombu has soaked overnight, bring the seaweed and its soak water into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, then allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add bonito flakes and remove from heat.
2. Allow soup to steep for another 10 minutes, then strain the broth into another pot. Bring to boil over a medium-low heat. Add tofu and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Ladle out about 1/2 cup of broth into a small bowl and mix in miso paste until it is completely dissolved and there are no lumps. Pour the miso into the rest of the broth and stir well. Place over medium heat just until the soup begins to simmer, then remove from heat and ladle into bowls. Top with sliced onion for garnish.

Still feeling sluggish? Here are a few other soups that will make you feel better. They're great if you're perfectly healthy, too:

• Homemade Chicken Soup
• Mom's Turkey Soup
• Tortilla Soup
• Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
• Gluten-Free Matzoh Ball Soup

Black Bean Soup + Cilantro-Lime Yogurt Crema with Quesadillas

Well, the first week of the New Year has come and gone. Chances are, those resolutions of eating healthier are starting to feel less bright and shiny than they did on January 2nd. Hmm? Is your New Year's cleanse struggling?

I'm not one for dieting. I'm pretty bad with self-restraint, and as a general rule of thumb, I'm not a believer in hard and fast rules. But, I'll admit, I maybe had one (dozen) too many Christmas cookies this holiday season because my wardrobe has consisted of leggings and flowy tops for a few weeks running now, and my skinny jeans haven't seen the light of day in who knows how long.

My game plan for Mission Fit-into-Jeans is pretty basic: up my fruit and veggie intake, eat out less, and skimp on the dairy. To help execute this plan, I've been scouring the internet for healthy recipes (if you have any favorites, please share!). Some sound like they're recipes for various preparations of cardboard. Others, however, like this Black Bean Soup I found in Bon Appetit are quite appetizing. I adapted it to items I had in my pantry and created a flavorful Cilantro-Lime Yogurt Crema to garnish it. The result was a hearty, satisfying soup, chock-full of vegetables and not an ounce of guilt.

Black Beans

Incidentally, this soup is also a breeze to make, and cheap to boot. (There, you can give yourself a star for being more fiscally responsible in 2011 as well.) The base of the soup is of course, black beans. You can use canned beans to save time, but dried beans are super cheap, and work well as long as you give yourself time to soak them. I soaked my beans overnight.

Peppers + Onions

Sweet red and green peppers, red onion, and garlic are the aromatics of this soup. Colorful, delicious, and full of vitamins. Simply chop them all up and saute in your soup pot with some olive oil until they begin to caramelize and deepen in flavor. Cumin and chili powder add a smoky heat to the mix.

Healthy Healthy

The beans are then added, along with water and a few bay leaves. Then the whole thing just needs to simmer for an hour and a half or so, until the beans are tender. Half of the soup is removed and placed in a blender (or use an immersion blender if you have one), and then added back into the pot. The pureed beans create a lusciously creamy consistency that makes you forget this is a healthy meal.

And, finally, some lime juice is added to the soup to brighten up all the flavors. A drizzle of crema, made with plain yogurt, cilantro, lime, and a spike of cumin is the finishing touch. The Yogurt Crema is cool and tart, a great contrast to the richness of the beans, and also brings out the lime and cumin notes in the soup.

I served the Black Bean Soup with whole wheat quesadillas stuffed with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and grilled chicken. Some salsa and more of that yogurt crema made great dipping condiments and distracted me from the fact that my quesadilla was sans cheese.

New Year's diet crash and burn averted.

Easy Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup + Cilantro-Lime Yogurt
Adapted from Bon Appetit.

This healthy and hearty Black Bean Soup is perfect for wintry days. Garnish with Cilantro-Lime Yogurt, and perhaps some avocado slices and sprigs of cilantro for a bright finish. This soup is even better the next day, and freezes well.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 pound dried black beans (approximately 2 cups)
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium-size red onions, chopped
1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (add more if you want it spicy)
Juice of 1 lime (reserve 1 tablespoon for yogurt topping)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a large, thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until the oil is hot, but not smoking. Add onions and both bell peppers and sauté until beginning to brown, about 15-20 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, and salt; stir a few more minutes.

3. Add 6 cups water, beans, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and let cook for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until beans are tender.

4. Transfer 4 cups of the soup (about half of it) to a blender. Purée until smooth and return to the pot of soup. (You may need to purée the soup in smaller batches -- don't fill the blender more than half way at a time and hold the lid while blending so that it doesn't splatter up and burn you.) Stir in lime juice, and salt & pepper to taste.

5. Ladle soup into bowls and top with a dollop of Cilantro-Lime Yogurt.

Cilantro-Lime Yogurt:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Zest of 1 lime
½ teaspoon cumin
Dash of salt and pepper

Preparation:
Mix together all the ingredients and let chill until soup is ready to serve.

Now that cold and flu season has set in, it's time to start hunting down comforting soup recipes. Besides the requisite chicken soup that we all need in our cooking arsenal, there's another kind of dish that will cure what ails you when you've contracted the creeping crud: congee. For those not in the know, congee, also known as jook, is a creamy rice porridge that's a staple in Asian cultures. Consisting of rice that's been slowly cooked down to the point that the starches disintegrate into a bowl creamy goodness -- think risotto, only cooked longer -- congee is warm and easy to digest. Plus it's gluten free by default, can be make either vegan or vegetarian, and keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days.

Congee can be eaten sweet for breakfast, but more traditional recipes add in any number of savory ingredients, such as chicken, mushrooms, onions, and egg. Simpler, blander congee recipes can be fed to infants, used as a cold/curative curative, and won't upset your stomach further when you've eaten something that doesn't agree with you. Overall, congee might be the perfect food when you need a comforting dish that's easy on your digestive system.

If you're looking for wonderful congee restaurants in the Bay Area, you've got several options:

• Gum Kuo in Oakland has an extensive congee menu, with over 20 different varieties, most under $5.
• Anh Hong serves up fabulous congee and has locations in San Francisco, Milpitas, Berkeley and San Jose.
• Hakka Restaurant in San Francisco has an impressive congee menu that includes both bland and more elaborate versions -- including frog!
• Sui Tofu, or Yang-Pyeong Sin-Nae Seoul Hae-Jang-Guk in Santa Clara serves up congee with a series of little side dishes that adds to your jook experience.

Congee is also easy to make at home. I like adding a tablespoon of butter or olive oil with just a sprinkling of curry powder, or else I make a more elaborate chicken jook for those days when I want something meaty. The recipe below is perfect for when you're not feeling well and find yourself craving a dish that's warm, nourishing, and easy to prepare.

Simple Vegetarian Congee

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 cup short-grain or glutinous rice (which is gluten-free, by the way)

4 cups vegetable stock

4-8 cups water

1 2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 small head of bok choy, chopped

1 teaspoon salt + more to taste

4 tablespoons scallions, finely chopped

Preparation:
1. Soak mushrooms in enough hot water to cover them. Once they are soft, discard water, drain mushrooms and remove the stems. Chop coarsely and set aside.

2. Rinse rice once and set aside.

3. In a medium saucepan, bring stock to a boil over high heat. Once the stock is boiling, add rice and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to very low, allowing to gently simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary to create a creamy consistency.

4. After 30 minutes, add mushrooms, ginger, carrots, and bok choy. Let cook for another 60 minutes, continuing to add water and stir occasionally. You'll need to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot every few minutes to keep from burning.

5. Once you've got a nice, creamy consistency and most of the rice grains have melted away into the stock, salt to taste. Serve hot in individual bowls and garnish with minced scallions.

The last turkey sandwiches and scraps of pumpkin pie are gone, the final breakfast of hot coffee and cold stuffing finished, and suddenly, another holiday is sending you back into the kitchen, this time to fry, fry, fry. Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, comes early this year, starting the evening of Wednesday, December 1st and ending 8 days later on December 9th.

Last year, I passed along all my must-have tips for latkes, the potato pancakes that are the festive centerpiece of family dinners during this holiday. Now, onto the borscht!

You wouldn't necessarily think, given how many people (Barack Obama included) shudder at the very thought of a beet, that a pot of beet-and-cabbage soup could best a platter of crispy, greasy, fried potatoes slathered in sour cream and applesauce, but I've seen it happen.

Every year at my annual Chanukah party, folks come for the latkes but stay for the borscht. Waiting for the next round of potato pancakes to come out of the frying pan, they drift over to the big pot of magenta soup at the back of the stove, scoop out a bowlful, dollop on the sour cream, and before I know it, they're at my elbow, demanding to know "what is in this soup??"

They don't really believe me when I tell them it's nothing but dowdy root vegetables like turnips and parsnips, dill, a little cider vinegar and a whole bunch of beets and cabbage. Inspired by the dreamy borscht served at the marvelously glamorous, original incarnation of the Russian Tea Room in New York City, my borscht has adapted over the years, to where there's hardly even a recipe to follow.

Onions, leeks, and garlic are sauteed to start with, then followed by a bowlful of whatever could survive a Russian winter, usually a combination of carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery root, and rutabaga, then chopped or grated beets and finely sliced red cabbage, all seasoned with plenty of salt, caraway seed, and a few twigs of sage or thyme. Because I usually make my borscht vegetarian, I add a big can of diced tomatoes (Muir Glen's fire-roasted tomatoes are particularly nice) to give body and a bit of acidity to all that root-vegetable sweetness. Water to make up however much liquid is needed, and then, the crucial splash of red-wine or apple-cider vinegar for tartness. A gentle simmer for 45 minutes or so, an adjustment of salt or vinegar, a hefty stir-in of chopped fresh dill, and the borscht is ready. Like every winter soup, it improves with age, and can be made a day or two ahead of time.

My Polish landlord has promised to have me over for borscht sometime this winter. The red borscht that I know, he says, is a specialty of eastern Poland and Ukraine. In western Poland, however, they make a white borscht with sausage, potatoes, and zur, a tart, cloudy liquid fermented from rye meal and rye-bread crusts. I haven't yet tried this kind, since it sounds like it needs a freezing-cold, months-long Eastern European winter to properly accompany it.

In my Jewish experience, there are two kinds of borscht: the cold kind, made only with beets, that you mix with sour cream to a lurid hot-pinkness and drink from a glass, and the belly-filling winter kind, chock full of cabbage, beets, and root vegetables, served with a dollop of sour cream on top, challah or rye bread on the side.

I generally make mine vegetarian, since I'm usually making borscht for a crowd, but many cooks make theirs with meat, chunks of fatty, tough but flavorful beef cooked on the bone to give body to the broth. A shot of vinegar keeps winter's appetite sharp, although now that everyone's madly pickling, you could add in some naturally fermented sauerkraut juice, perhaps and some sauerkraut, too, or a few diced pickled beets with their juice.

Winter Borscht
It's impossible to make a small amount of borscht. Anyway, why would you want to? It keeps well and can sustain you for days. The amounts listed here are approximate, since the amount of borscht you make should be constrained only by the size of the biggest pot you have.

Serves: 8

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil or butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped, and/or 1 large leek, trimmed and chopped
3 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 turnip, chopped
1 rutabaga, chopped (optional)
1 celery root, chopped
3 beets, peeled and chopped or grated
1/2 head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup cooked small white beans, optional
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes and juice
water as needed
1 - 2 tsp salt, to taste
2 tsp caraway seed
1 tsp dill seed (optional)
1 tsp dried thyme or several branches of fresh thyme or sage
2 tbsp apple-cider or red-wine vinegar, or to taste

Garnish:
1 small bunch fresh dill, minced
Sour cream--the real stuff, with no additives, and definitely NOT "lite" or nonfat. If you truly won't (or can't) bear the full-fatness, use non- or lowfat Greek yogurt instead.

Preparation:
1. Over medium heat, heat oil in a large, heavy soup pot. Reduce heat, add onions, leek, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until softened and translucent but not browned, 5 to 8 minutes.

2. Add chopped carrots, parsnips, turnip, celery root and rutabaga and cook, stirring, until vegetables are slightly softened, 8-10 minutes. Add beets and cabbage and cook for another few minutes.

3. Add salt, caraway, and thyme. Add tomatoes and juice, white beans if using, and enough water to cover vegetables. Add vinegar to taste. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to keep soup at a gentle simmer. Partially cover and let cook until vegetables are tender and flavors have blended, about 45 minutes.

4. Adjust salt and vinegar. To serve, top each bowlful with a generous sprinkle of fresh dill and a dollop of sour cream.

I'll admit it: I'm fickle. Sure, I've been swearing my undying pumpkin love these last few weeks. But sometimes, you reach perfection, and then you can let go and move on.

Walking down 18th Street with a little time to kill last week, I found myself--hey, how did that happen?--strolling right past Bi-Rite Creamery and its adorable soft-serve sidekick. Which just happened to be serving pumpkin soft-serve.

Well, OMG, as the kids say. Utter heaven, even better than the regular pumpkin ice cream at Scoops in Fairfax and Mitchell's in the Mission, my previous two standard-bearers for frozen pumpkin joy. Monday is their designated pumpkin day. Don't miss it!

So now, onto the other joys of autumn. Pomegranates! Red Starkrimson pears! Poached quinces! Shredded Brussels sprouts sauteed with pancetta! And chestnuts, lovely, shiny brown chestnuts.
Chestnuts, like quinces, take some dedication. These are not easy-munching foods. Quinces, cement-hard and astringently tannic in their raw state, need a long slow simmer in a nicely sugared bath to reveal their true mellow deliciousness. Chestnuts are rock-like and double-wrapped, with a glossy shell outside and a clingy, monkey-furred layer inside. You cannot eat them as is; they must be boiled or roasted to release the shell and soften the nut into delectable, sweet crumbly pastiness. And once cooked, you've got to work fast; getting the nut clear is only possible while it's still warm. You will shred the tops of your thumbs and end up with bits of chestnut meat caked under your nails.

So, by all means, spend the extra dough and buy them already peeled and jarred or vacuum packed at your favorite gourmet store. Me? Well, I'll be roasting and peeling, because can't resist the seasonal beauty of the nuts in their raw and shiny state, found at this time of year at both farmers' markets and in the supermarket. Also, because it just doesn't feel like the holidays without a sacrifice made to the demanding chestnut gods.

And while Thanksgiving at my house demands chestnuts in the stuffing, I do sometimes regret burying all that work in a panful of bready mush.

Last year, housesitting in a gorgeous Victorian complete with formal dining room, I decided to throw an elegant sit-down dinner for 12 for New Year's Eve, a party with complete with champagne and crab hors d'oeuvres in the living room to start, and popovers and chestnut soup as the first course. The inspiration was the Viennese-inspired, velvety-rich chestnut soup served at New York City's Cafe Sabarsky. Kurt Gutenbrunner, the chef at Sabarsky (as well as at its sister restaurants, the elegant Wallse and the bier-und-wurst Blau Gans), takes his soup to an elaborate extreme, making a woodsy mushroom-stock base, dropping in a surprise depth charge of brandy-soaked prunes, and topping the whole with a frothy cloud of steamed milk seasoned with nutmeg and dried porcinis smashed to powder.

But you know, with a multi-course meal, something (or your sanity) has got to give, and so I created a stripped-down version, minus the prunes and porcini, that still managed to capture the essence of a late autumn tramp through the woods.

You can make it several days ahead of time and heat up at the last minute (always useful when entertaining). It's intriguing without being weird, and elegant without being overly rich or madly expensive to make.

In weight and presentation, it's similar to a lobster bisque, but without the whole squirming-crustacean-dying-at-your-hands issue, which, frankly, is just too much to deal with when you're running out at the last minute for more butter, trying to find the guest towels and wondering whether you need to iron the napkins.

Chestnut Soup

Serves: 6, as a first course

Ingredients:
25-30 fresh whole chestnuts, or 1 cup peeled chestnuts
3 tbsp butter, divided
2 shallots, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 branch thyme, a bay leaf, and 4 or 5 sprigs of parsley, tied together
4 or 5 sprigs of parsley, minced
1/2 cup dry sherry or Madeira
3 cups chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream or half-and-half
3 tbsp crème fraiche
Freshly grated nutmeg
4 or 5 crimini mushroom caps, sliced, or 6 whole black trumpet mushrooms, halved lengthwise

Preparation:
1. To prepare whole chestnuts, cut a shallow "x" in the rounded side of each chestnut with a sharp knife. Roast at 325F until the meat is tender and the skin dries out and curls back. Peel chestnuts while still warm, otherwise skin will stick to the nut. Discard any discolored or wormy nuts.

2. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Saute shallots, carrot, and parsnip, stirring, until tender but not browned, approximately 5 minutes.

3, Add chestnuts. Sprinkle in a few pinches of salt and maple syrup, and cook, stirring, until chestnuts are golden-spotted and lightly caramelized, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sherry, and cook, stirring, over low heat for another 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Add herbs and chicken broth, and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, partially covered. Remove herb bundle.

5. Let cool for a few minutes, add cream, then puree in a blender. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or sherry as needed. For extra smoothness, crank through the fine disc of a food mill or pass through a fine-mesh strainer.

6. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook until lightly browned on one side. Using a spatula, turn mushrooms over and brown remaining side. Remove from heat and set aside.

6. Return soup to the pan and warm gently. To serve, top with a spoonful of crème fraiche and a few slices of mushroom. Grate a little fresh nutmeg over crème fraiche.