sweet miscellany

Sweet-tart passion fruit nectar is paired with a lightly sweetened black tea for a delicious and refreshing treat! Enjoy this iced tea as-is or add some mint leaves to make it extra refreshing.

I always hated those questions where you’re prompted to pick your favorite of something. You know, like “pick your favorite fruit” or “pick your favorite season”. While I do have favorites, it’s too hard to narrow it down to a single answer. When it comes to something food related? Fuhgeddaboudit. My food favorites are usually conditional, based on the current season or temperature. Or the fleeting season of something like a mulberry. Or perhaps just a craving. Maybe you can relate?

So, if you were to ask me my favorite fruit, I’d be hard-pressed to give you a single answer. Because I really LOVE fruit. And that is something that has not changed since I was a kid. But if I had to choose, I’d most likely say that passion fruit would be at the top of the list. Have you ever had passion fruit? It’s incredibly fragrant with a sweet-tart flavor sort of like the lovechild of a pineapple and a peach. I love that the telltale sign of its ripeness is how wrinkly the skin is. It’s fascinating that something that looks so unassuming on the outside can yield something so beautiful and delicious!

Since I love passion fruit, and even made a passion fruit version of these vegan macaroon lime curd bars, I’m always on the lookout for it on menus. Which is why I started ordering passion fruit iced tea at a banh mi place I used to frequent on my way home from the farm. It was so delightful, especially when it was incredibly hot outside (which is half the year here). But when I changed the day I go to the farm, it just so happened to be the day of the week the banh mi place was closed. Since I always keep frozen passion fruit nectar on hand, I decided to start making my own iced passion fruit black tea at home. I hope you enjoy this simple and delicious recipe as much as I do!

Iced Passion Fruit Black Tea

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Author: Courtney
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2 servings 1x

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Description

Sweet-tart passion fruit nectar is paired with a lightly sweetened black tea for a delicious and refreshing treat! Enjoy this iced tea as-is or add some mint leaves to make it extra refreshing.

Ingredients

Units Scale

2 cups filtered water
2 black tea bags (I like Rishi Tea’s English breakfast)
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup passion fruit nectar
ice
fresh mint to serve, optional

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Instructions

Add the water to a stock pot. Set the pot over high heat and let the water come to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, remove the pot from the heat and add the tea bags. Steep the tea for 5 minutes, then remove the bags. Add the sugar to the tea and stir it in until it fully dissolves.

Add the passion fruit nectar to the sweetened black tea. At this point, you can chill the tea down in the fridge or the freezer if you like.

To serve, pour the passion fruit black tea over ice and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Notes

If you prefer green tea instead of black, you can easily substitute it. For a caffeine-free version, feel free to use rooibos, mint, or hibiscus tea.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Celeriac & Fennel Potato Soup with Smoky Shiitakes | seasonal plant-based recipes via the Sweet Miscellany blog

Creamy celeriac and fennel potato soup with smoky shiitakes is the perfect bowl of comfort for these late winter/early spring days!

If you saw this post on Instagram last week, it comes as no surprise that I love celeriac. Since it is one of my favorite vegetables (easily top 5!), I was incredibly excited when the farm I work with every week decided to try growing it this winter. It was a verrrrrry slow grower thanks to our erratic winter weather but it survived and yielded a delicious crop! I’ve been savoring every bite because local celeriac here in Houston is a rarity.

Do you like celeriac? In case you’re not quite sure what it is, it is often referred to as “celery root”. It’s a celery variety grown for the bulbous stem rather than the celery stalks. Though it might look ugly or unassuming on the outside, the inside has a sweet and mellow celery flavor. Once you cut away the rough outer skin, the flesh can be enjoyed raw or cooked. It pairs really well with potatoes, carrots, beets, fennel, apples, leeks, and parsnips.

Since it was relatively chilly last week, I decided to go the soup route with my celeriac, pairing it with creamy yellow potatoes and local fennel. Each bowl is topped with browned shiitake mushrooms sauteed with smoked paprika, tamari, and a tiny bit of granulated garlic. It’s a plant-based nod to the bits of bacon that are commonly served atop a bowl of potato soup. You can go an extra step and garnish the bowls with some vegan or traditional cheddar cheese shreds but I’ll leave that entirely up to you! For the photos I went with a few wispy fennel fronds.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe! If you decide to make it, make sure to tag me on Instagram or leave me a comment here. If it’s still pretty chilly and cold where you are and you’d like more soup recipes, head here!

Celeriac and Fennel Potato Soup with Smoky Shiitakes

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Author: Courtney
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 1 quart (2–3 servings) 1x

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Description

Creamy vegan celeriac and fennel potato soup with smoky shiitakes is the perfect bowl of comfort for cold days! Go the extra step and garnish these bowls of vegan and gluten free soup with some vegan (or traditional) cheddar cheese shreds if you like, or keep it simple with wispy fennel fronds.

Ingredients

Scale

1 large or 2 smaller fennel bulbs
1 large shallot
2 tbsp olive oil
3 small yellow potatoes
1 celeriac
1 can (13.5 oz) full fat coconut milk
1 vegetable bouillon/stock cube
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
sea salt to taste
4 oz shiitake mushrooms
1/8 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
Fennel fronds to serve, optional

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Cut your fennel in half legthwise. Remove the core from each half (the tough part at the root end) then give the fennel a rough dice. Cut your shallot into a rough dice also. Put the diced fennel and shallot on a baking tray and drizzle with 2-3 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle everything with a pinch of salt then toss to coat. Roast the fennel and shallot at 425 for about 25-30 min or until caramelized around the edges and tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

While the fennel and shallots are roasting, cut the potatoes into roughly 1-inch dice (this will be roughly 2 1/2 to 3 cups total). Add the diced potatoes to a large stock pot. Cut away the rough skin of the celeriac then cut it into a rough 1-inch dice as well. Add the celeriac to the pot with the potatoes, then cover the vegetables with cool water. Set the pot on a burner over medium high heat. Bring everything to a boil, then boil for about 12-15 minutes or until fork-tender. Strain and rinse the cooked potatoes and celeriac under cool water.

Add the coconut milk along with the roasted fennel, shallot, vegetable bouillon cube along, and the nutritional yeast to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Add potatoes and celeriac and pulse a few times to incorporate them into the soup. You want to pulse instead of blending so that you keep the potato starches from developing (which will yield a weird gluey texture).

Add the soup back to the stock pot and warm it to your liking. Give it a taste and season with salt as needed.

While the soup warms, make the smoky shiitakes. Remove and discard/compost the stems of the mushrooms then cut them into slices roughly 1/4-inch thick. Add 1 tbsp of the oil to large skillet set over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms along with the granulated garlic, smoked paprika, and tamari or soy sauce. Stir to combine, then allow the mushrooms to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden brown. This will take about 5-7 minutes.

To serve, top each bowl of soup with some of the smoky shiitakes. You can also garnish with some of the fennel fronds if you like or some shredded vegan or regular cheddar cheese.

Notes

Don’t be deterred by the lengthy cooking time as most of it is hand’s-off while the fennel and shallot roast in the oven. If you don’t have access to celeriac, you can use 1-2 large stalks of celery in its place. Or, you can sub in a small crown of broccoli.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes