one potato, sweet potato, miso soup and more.

japanese sweet potato conquered, time to keep on keepin on the sweet potato trail...next stop golden sweet and beauregard yams. well, here we go again, both of these vegetables are called "yams" but are actually sweet potatoes. technically all "yams" grown in the united states are sweet potatoes. and yet we call them yams. because we can do whatever we want, right? this is america. freedom of speech. i'd rather just call a spade a spade, you know? but this yam misnomer tradition is far older and widespread than me, so i'm going to have to suck it up at some point and just accept that although i may buy and cook a lot of yams, i have still never actually bought or cooked a yam.

okay, let's be honest, i'm a bird on a budget trying to be green. reduce, reuse, recycle, my friends. a great place to do this is in the kitchen. so i decided my next adventure in yamville needed to make use of the large amount of leftover scallion and miso that i had from my first adventure in the land of sweet potato. so i decided to make a variation on a miso soup. i chose two very different types of sweet potato: the golden sweet and the beauregard. the golden sweet has light skin and light flesh. the beauregard has dark copper skin and bright orange flesh. the golden sweet yam is much milder and much starchier, acting & tasting a little bit like a potato and a turnip, while the beauregard is much sweeter, like a very sweet carrot. they worked in nice conjunction together in a soup. and again, paired well with the mild white miso.

sweet potato seaweed miso soup with rice

garlic (we used no less than 6 cloves in 1 pot of soup, but we also have a slight garlic addiction here, quantity is up to you), chopped finely

a handful of kombu seaweed (dried)

1/4 cup thai jasmine rice

1/2 cup hijiki seaweed (dried)

1 golden sweet yam, peeled & diced

1 beauregard yam, peeled & diced

1 small crown of broccoli, chopped

1 small head of choy sum, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

sea salt

1/2-3/4 cup white miso (again, depends on your taste. add 1/2 cup to start, add more if flavor isn't strong enough for you)

fill a large pot with 4 cups (or so) of water. add garlic & kombu seaweed. bring to a boil.

add rice. cover & simmer.

after 5 minutes, add sweet potatoes & hijiki.

when sweet potatoes are almost done, add the broccoli & choy sum. allow to simmer another 5 minutes or so.

add scallions, season with sea salt. simmer for a minute or two.

add miso, 1 tablespoon at a time, let it dissolve. allow this soup to simmer for just a couple of minutes.*

remove from heat.

enjoy.

*the key to miso soup is not allowing the miso to boil, hence adding it last, it will destroy the flavor and compromises the nutritional value and healing properties of the miso.

squash? soup? yes!

i was once afraid of squash. very afraid. i let it pass by my plate every thanksgiving year in and year out. strategically seated adjacent to my aunt joanie, who was a notorious squash hater, it was easy to keep it moving right along as the serving dishes of vegetables made their way around the long dining room table. and thus i cheated myself out of the glory of squash for at least the first 10 years of my life. luckily, i am not the girl i was back then - and i say that for many reasons, my neglection of squash and other weird eating-isms just a small fraction of my many childhood regrets, let's just hit the tip of the iceberg and say there are a lot of pin-rolled jeans and curling iron bang mishaps i am a better person without. so, now, here i am, by no means perfect, but no longer getting up at 5:30am to shower, scrunch my permed hair, curl my bangs, and then shellac the whole affair in a crap ton of cfc-rampant hair spray, so i'm going to have to claim a significant degree of self-improvement. and i am proud to say that in my *maturity* i love squash and no longer believe that soup only comes out of a can. and those two factors made tonight's early bird venture in the kitchen possible.

it is late october. even in berkeley, california that means pumpkins, squash, gourds, squash, pumpkins and more pumpkins. edible, decorative and everything in between. so i decided to pick out a lovely butternut squash and make a hearty fall soup. it met with the tiger's approval, which is good because we will be eating it for days. soup is simple and fast and satisfying. and it seems no matter how hard i try to streamline a recipe, always makes a metric ton. the key to the success of this soup came in reserving about a cup of butternut squash and steaming it separately while the soup simmered so that i could mash it (using a potato masher) with fresh sage, fresh thyme, coarse sea salt and pepper. adding the mashed squash mixture to the soup thickened it and really distributed and intensified the flavors from the herbs, so it didn't matter that i didn't have the time or inclination to let it simmer for hours.

butternut squash, kale and white bean soup

4 cups vegetarian broth + 4 cups water

4 cloves garlic, chopped finely

sea salt

pepper

fresh sage

fresh thyme

1/2 onion, diced

1 butternut squash - peel & cube: 3 cups for soup, remainder set aside to steam & mash

2 cups chopped fresh kale

1 can navy beans

in large pot, bring broth, water, garlic, pepper, sea salt and some sage & thyme to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.

add 3 cups of the cubed butternut squash and the diced onion, allow to simmer until squash is tender.

meanwhile, steam remaining squash separately.

once squash is tender, add kale and beans (including liquid), continue to simmer.

season simmering soup with sea salt, pepper, sage and thyme.

mash steamed squash with coarse sea salt, black pepper, chopped sage leaves and thyme. add to soup once kale is tender and cooked through.

stir. allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

enjoy.