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January 6, 2008

Grains of Paradise and Autumn Blend Lentils

I'm on a mission to try some of the interesting new ingredients that I've bought, but haven't made time to use. This lentil soup uses two items that have been sitting on my new ingredient shelf for a while: Grains of Paradise and an Autumn lentil blend. I bought the Grains of Paradise at A Market Natural Foods, a local natural foods store. The Autumn lentil blend came from Sid Wainer & Sons, a purveyor of specialty produce and speciality foods located in New Bedford, MA.

Grains of Paradise have a peppery taste, with a fruity flavor like coriander and an aroma that reminds me of cardamom. I'm going to add some to my pepper mill the next time I fill it.

The Autumn lentil blend was a rainbow of autumn colors. It would have been wiser to use them in dish that wasn't blended, but they've been on my shelf for a while, so in the pot they went.

My lentil soup recipe is a slight modification of a recipe from Alton Brown. Of course I had to make a few modifications. I didn't have any celery, so I added some extra onion and carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground celery seed. Soup needs garlic, in goes three cloves of minced garlic. Tomatoes are dreadful at this time of year, so I knew that I'd be using canned diced tomatoes. When I opened the cabinet to get the tomatoes, a can of fire-roasted tomatoes said "pick me". Oh, and I didn't bother finely chopping the vegetables because the soup gets blended with an immersion blender before serving.

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Posted January 6, 2008 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2007

My Orzo is Orange

A few weeks ago I was searching for whole wheat orzo. My grocery store has RiceSelect Whole Wheat Orzo, but I don't love it. I was looking for other brands. I came across Pappardelle's Pasta, which offers whole wheat orzo, along with many other interesting varieties of orzo. I want to try other brands of whole wheat orzo, so I decided to place an order. Along with the whole wheat orzo, I ordered sweet potato, tuxedo, asian, and spring medley orzos. I tried the whole wheat orzo and I liked it. I do need to test it side by side with the RiceSelect orzo to see if there really is a difference in the taste and texture.

Pappardelle's orzos are are beautifully packaged, but the packaging isn't ideal for shipping. When my shipment arrived, two of the packages of orzo had broken open. I emailed the company, they quickly shipped replacement packages and those packages arrived in perfect condition. They told me that they were working on their packaging. I'm 100% satisfied with their customer service.

orzo

Last night, I tried the sweet potato orzo. While it doesn't have a pronounced sweet potato flavor, it does taste delicious and it adds a beautiful orange color to the plate. When Tom saw the sweet potato orzo in my order, he wasn't thrilled with the idea of it, but I think he'll like it. I was hoping for both pronounced sweet potato flavor and color, but I'll settle for good flavor and beautiful color.

I tossed the sweet potato orzo with a bit of Parmesan cheese and some black pepper. Seared scallops over sauteed spinach rounded out the plate.

Sweet Potato Orzo with Seared Scallops and Sauteed Spinach

sweet potato orzo.jpg

Posted December 14, 2007 8:34 AM | Comments (1)

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