Roasted Vegetable Soup

Winter Sundays are always good soup days. For this Italian-inspired soup, I roasted a bunch of vegetables (mostly root vegetables) with fresh rosemary, chopped fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes. You can use whatever vegetables you want or can find, just be sure to have some starchier veggies in there like potatoes/turnips/parsnips. Using a food mill instead of a blender means that you don't have to peel the vegetables or fish out the rosemary, and it gives the soup a more rustic texture. I drizzled the top with reduced balsamic vinegar and some good extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:

1 red potato

2 small turnips (I did peel these because they put wax on them)

2 leeks, rinsed

3 garlic cloves

1 small floret broccoli, halved

2 parsnips, roughly chopped

3 carrots, roughly chopped

1/2 big yellow onion, peeled and halved

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp roughly chopped fennel seeds

4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Squid with Watermelon and Basil

After a long weekend of lots of food, Jamie and I wanted something fresh and healthy for dinner. I saw this recipe in Simple, Fresh, Southern and immediately started drooling. Watermelon just sounded so refreshing and nice, and I love fresh calamari. It's pretty simple - you just need to have an hour or two so it can marinate. It's pretty with bright pink and green from the watermelon and basil and it tastes great. Put in more jalapeno to give it a bigger kick.

Serves 2, double it for 4
Ingredients:
kosher salt
1 lemon, halved
1/2 lb cleaned squid, cut into 1/3" rings and tentacles cut in half
4 oz seedless watermelon cut into 1x1x1/4" tiles (about 1 cup)
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1/2 a jalapeno, finely chopped
a little less than 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
leaves from 2 sprigs basil, roughly chopped

Moussaka

Moussaka is one of my favorite Greek recipes. I love eggplant and the great flavors of cinnamon and onions and garlic in the tomato-meat sauce. This is a great alternative to lasagna and is good for feeding a large group (there were six of us and we ate the moussaka twice - once the first night and then another night we ate the leftovers, yum!). It's a bit of a labor of love, so you have to set out an hour or two to make it, but it's well worth it. It also tastes even better the next day.

Ingredients:

4 eggplants

Olive oil

4 medium onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (maybe more to taste)

2 pounds ground beef

1/2 cups dry white wine

Black pepper to taste