The Joyful Hermit

Still a bit brisk outside but eager for spring?  Joyful Hermit shares this plight and decided to perk up the body and mind with some Springtime Soup.

Select fresh vegetables that come on sale this time of year: Brussels sprouts, carrots, asparagus, sweet onions, parsnips.  Ready the soup pot by the usual 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil, or add some sliced red sweet peppers or other such jarred item that you’ve purchased to use for other cooking adventures.  Slice 1-2 sweet onions and sauté lightly.  Peel and slice into bite-size chunks, 4-5 carrots.  Stir into pot 1 pound, washed and quartered, fresh Brussels sprouts.

Heat to medium and cook 2-3 minutes in non-oiled skillet: 1 Tbsp. of fennel seeds and 1/2 Tbsp. fenugreek seeds.  Grind with mortar in a pestle or use spice grinder.  Add to the sauté mixture.  Pour in to the pot a container of vegetable stock.

Peel and slice into bite-size chunks 3 large parsnips.  Add to the pot along with 4-6 cups water.  Add 1 cup rice or rice noodles broken into 2″ pieces.  Simmer until vegetables are just tender and rice or rice noodles are cooked. Season with white pepper, sea salt, 1 Tbsp. Joyful Hermit Soup Herbals™ (and 1 tsp. ground cumin if desired).  Any fresh, chopped parsley would be delightful, as well!  Add a cup of white wine if you like the flavor; Joyful used St. Anneliese Liebfrauenmilch [sweet white German wine] purchased at ALDI, $4.99.

Joyful Hermit later added an additional vegetable, quite healthy and full of springtime green: asparagus. JH utilized the firm stem pieces after steaming a $1.99 pound of stalks, having eaten as another meal, the tender tops sprinkled with Romano Cheese.  Between the asparagus and Springtime Soup (6-8 large bowls), plus options using the asparagus for other entrés, makes this week’s food budget as light as the increasingly sunny days.

Note: Keep asparagus fresh, longer! Remove most bundle restraints, snip ends, and place stalks upright in 1/2″ or less of water in container.  Cover standing asparagus with a bag to retain moisture, and refrigerate.  In fact, when purchasing, try to select asparagus stalks that are standing in water in the grocery display.  The thinner and greener the stalks, the more tender and vitamin-packed.

Ingredients and Process for Rice: 2 cups water, 1 cup brown (or white) rice, 1 Tbsp. butter.  Bring all to boil in saucepan; lower heat and simmer 40 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender.  Or, use leftover cooked rice from a previous meal.

Ingredients and Process for Mixture: 3 eggs, 1 1/2 c. rice milk (soy or cow), 1/4-1/3 c. brown sugar, 1/2-2/3 c. fruit preserves, 1/2 c. almonds or walnuts, 1/2 c. raisins, 2 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring, 1/4 tsp. sea salt, 1/2 tsp. each of nutmeg, cardamon and ginger; grate or sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Separate egg yolks from whites, placing yolks in large bowl and whites in small mixing bowl.  Beat egg yolks with milk brown sugar, preserves, vanilla, spices, and salt.  Add cooked rice, raisins, and nuts and mix thoroughly.  Whip egg whites until stiff.  Fold into the rice mixture.  Pour into buttered ceramic or other baking dishes.  Bake for 35-45 minutes (or until done, depending upon size of bakeware) at 335°.  Six servings: warm plain, or with whipped cream; also delectable at room temp, or served chilled in summer.

The Joyful Hermit uses brown rice or Basmati as these are healthier than white rice, but all is very good for us.  Sometimes use whatever dried fruits are around, plus or minus raisins.  Also, Joyful decided to try fruit preserves that had been in the refrigerator long enough–peach this time, but any would be good, or any jelly.  Just cut back on the amount of sugar used, or try some honey.

Have fun with spices.  JH experimented with tea masala (a mix of black pepper, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg).  “Presentation” highlights the loving efforts of cooking and baking.  Chantal™ heart bakeware Joyful happened upon at TJMaxx has endless use as a love theme.  Love is universal, and we all have hearts!

The Joyful Hermit decided to try out one of the suggested uses of tapenade.  After all, what if the ideas proved unflavorable?  As you can see from the photo, lunch today at the hermitage was definitely colorful.  And yes, this Tapenade Asparagus Omelet is everything a mortal could desire: looks, taste, simplicity in the making, a complete meal, and full of protein “pow”.

I used two eggs, beat them in a bowl with a couple teaspoons of water (helps omelet consistency), poured the mixture into a heated, small skillet coated with melted butter.  I already had some left-over, steamed asparagus (dinner last night), and snipped these remains into small chunks.  Any left-over vegetable would suffice, or mushrooms.

While the egg mixture with asparagus cooked (initial high setting lowered to medium), Joyful dabbed little forkfuls of  red pepper tapenade on top of the setting concoction.  Next I sprinkled a little grated Romano cheese (Ricotto would be lovely, too).  Covered the skillet until omelet had set, then folded, served on plate, dolloped a teaspoon of sour cream on top…and there we have it!

Ready for the taste test?

This omelet is everything it appears to be.  Authenticity is critical to a hermit’s or anyone’s existence, and so also should be important in temporal matter.  This Tapenade Asparagus Omelet is the real deal, inside and out.  It presents beautifully and meets all expectations.  No need for seasoning, and even mellow cheeses (Romano, cottage, mild grated Swiss) would be sufficient, for the tapenade takes center palate in this delectable entreé.

I received this request on The Joyful Hermit Facebook page:

Can The Joyful Hermit tell me what I can do with something called tapenade? I am taking your advice and bought it on clearance, but don’t know how to use it. There are 3 flavors: Vegetable, Olive, and pepper. It says you can use it on crackers, or toss it with pasta?

The Joyful Hermit thought, “How fun!”  Just a few minutes before reading the request, Joyful was thinking how it would be delightful if people would write in questions for The Joyful Hermit to bend the brain waves to come up with ideas.  A couple hours ago was on the phone with someone trying to deal with leg pain of a different sort, and how wonderful to be able to share some ideas and insights….

I’ll joyfully dip into tapenade (pronounced tah-pen-aahd).  It is a kind of paste that has olives as its main base, but can include vegetables, peppers, anchovies, garlic and various spices.  Used mostly as an appetizer spread on toasted breads or crackers, it is interesting to utilize such a flavorful little bundle of taste and texture in any number of creative ways.

In fact, I hit the same clearance items, and brought out the jars in question.  ALDI might still have some if you are so inclined; or I’m sure you can find various tapenades (look for sale priced!) at other discount groceries or stores such as Big Lots–whatever is in your geographic area that carries good deals on specialty items.  Or make your own….

Some ideas as to how to utilize tapenade:

• Dob it on an omelet as soon as the eggs set enough; add cheese and veggies
• Stir it into the sauteed onions and garlic base in making a soup; add broth and other vegetables and various soup ingredients
• Toss it into pasta or combine with rice; add chopped veggies, meat, cheese
• Spread on soft, warmed cheeses as a colorful appetizer; or spread on individual hard cheese slices and serve with a meal
• Put a dollop in the pitted half of an avocado (keep in peel), spread up and around the cavity with a spoon; eat as a salad course or main luncheon portion
• Mix it with ground round or turkey as a meat loaf addition
• Spread on grilled or baked fish, chicken or other meat it might enhance
• Spoon on warm black beans, garbanzo, or other legumes; sprinkle with cheese
• Toss with steamed vegetables (not overcooked)
• Plop some on a baked potato, still using butter and sour cream if you want
• Spread it in pita bread or use as a sandwich spread
• Smooth it over a pizza crust and use as the base ingredient; add toppings
• Use as a topping on hot-baked, cheesy grits or potato or rice casseroles
• Try it as a spread for wraps and roll-ups; or per usual, on crackers or bread
• Mix it in with a rapini stir fry, or steamed kale or other strong-tasting greens
• Spread it on a halved hard-cooked egg, or remove yolk and mix in, then stuff
• Put it in a puree of cooked cauliflower or turnip, or any kind of creamed dish

Joyful is just warming up to this exercise, but I’ll leave it to anyone interested to email any questions or comments, or other uses for a simple, taste-packed, healthy jar of tapenade….