New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Chase away winter’s chill with this French peasant soup
This French peasant soup, a savory stew-like dish, satisfies the hungriest appetites and warms to the core on the coldest of winter days.
“Soup is a wonderful and delicious way to eat well, to feel comfort and to get vegetables and beans into your diet,” says Claire LaPia Criscuolo, cookbook author and owner of Claire’s Corner Copia, a vegetarian destination in New Haven since 1975.
Criscuolo loves the idea of “peasant foods,” basic dishes made simply, inexpensively and with modest ingredients.
“They feed both our souls and our bodies, often connecting us to our past or the past of other people,” she says, honoring her mother, who was a mainstay at the restaurant well into her 80s and the greatest soup maker she’s ever known, making a pot of soup every day year-round.
“It was an affordable and nutritious way to feed her four children, and what we lacked in dollars Mom always made up for in her love, served on plates and
in bowls. I’m forever grateful for her inspiration and lessons.”
A registered nurse, Criscuolo focuses on healthy home-cooked meals featuring fresh ingredients. Her restaurant is organic, sustainable, kosher, vegan and gluten-free.
“My beloved Mom taught me to know the difference between real food and food filled with preservatives. Once you taste real food, you’re forever changed,” Criscuolo says.
“Diet and better health are connected. Read the
science and pay attention to how you really feel. It’s simple — better health for us, the environment, the animals. Everyone wins!”
French peasant soup is a versatile dish. “It can be a first course or a perfect lunch with some good bread, but if you add a simple salad it’s a terrific dinner,” says Criscuolo, noting wine pairs well with it.
“I’d love either a Sancerre, or my favorite drink, Prosecco, because who doesn’t want to celebrate something?”
French peasant soup
Servings: Eight Preparation time: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces Great Northern beans
1 small onion, chopped 8 cloves garlic, minced
1⁄2 cup extra virgin olive oil1
⁄4 teaspoon dried thyme 1 bay leaf
1⁄4 teaspoon dried basil 6 carrots, chopped
1⁄2 bunch celery, chopped
1⁄4 cup parsley, chopped 4 tablespoons (half a stick) butter
1 small head green cabbage,
chopped
5 medium potatoes, diced Salt, to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large covered pot. Add the beans, reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
Chef’s tip: Criscuolo notes that some dry beans are very dry and you won’t know it until they start cooking, so she advises paying attention and reducing the heat if they’re boiling too high and the beans are still crunchy after the recommended time. “Sit in the kitchen while your soup
is cooking so you can stir as needed — open your mail, answer your emails, call your mother!”
Add the onions, garlic, olive oil, thyme, bay leaf, basil, carrots, celery, parsley, butter and cabbage. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1½ hours, stirring frequently, until the beans are nearly tender.
Add the potatoes, salt and pepper. Continue simmering for 30 to 45 minutes, until the beans are very soft and the soup is thick. Taste for seasoning.
There’s nothing quite like a suspenseful series to keep you warm during the winter season.
In the latest addition to Netflix’s page-to-screen adaptation lineup, the streaming giant released the twisty and chilling thriller “Behind Her Eyes.”
Having read the book a few years ago, I was curious how Netflix was going to present its adaptation without giving away the big reveal too early on in the show.
The series, based on the novel by Sarah Pinborough, tells the story of Louise, a single mother who has a fun night out with a man that ends in a kiss that causes the man to abruptly flee.
It’s only the following day that Louise arrives at work to discover that her new boss, David, is the very man she was locking lips with the night before — and she quickly realizes he’s married.
Louise later bumps into David’s lonely wife, Adele, in the street and reluctantly finds herself Adele’s new pal.
Louise is concerned about the odd nature of David and Adele’s marriage, and she quickly becomes trapped in a web of lies when she agrees to keep her friendship with Adele a secret from David, all while carrying out an affair with her boss behind her new friend’s back.
As the series progresses, viewers quickly note that not all things are as they appear. David and Adele’s marriage is anything but happy, but the two maintain their marital facade at the risk of revealing a dark secret.
As the plot unravels before the viewer, Netflix carefully constructs the story to avoid revealing the big plot twist too soon. This leaves the audience grasping to understand the strange cat and mouse game Louise is playing with David and Adele.
Dripping with suspense and eerie scenes, viewers will find themselves puzzled by secrets Adele keeps and the lengths she’ll go to keep her husband beneath her thumb.
Eve Hewson, as Adele, steals the spotlight as she plays the unsettling and calculating character brilliantly. Hewson’s physical acting easily creates an ominous atmosphere as she manipulates David and Louise through her mind games.
Simona Brown crafts Louise into a vibrant and hopeful character and portrays her with a dexterity that prevents Louise from coming across as a gullible figure.
“Behind Her Eyes” is a limited series with one season available on Netflix. The drama is rated TV-MA. Viewers looking for more eerie dramas might also enjoy Netflix’s perplexing drama “What/If,” starring Renée Zellweger.
Seller Amy Buhl came up with four simple words when asked what she missed most about her home at 26 Cromwell Road in North Haven; “it was…a home.”
After a pause, Buhl, who currently lives in Florida, said she had many memories of raising her family there. “I can’t even say…I guess I miss the familiarity of being there,” she said. “It was so safe. It was just a very nice place to spend 28 years.” Buhl was traveling for work when she and her husband were looking for a new home and trusted his judgement so much she agreed to his selection sight unseen. The house was still being built so he made changes, including moving the kitchen, replacing popcorn ceilings with “much nicer” drywall, and putting an extra bathroom on the second floor in place of a closet. “As far as we’re concerned, you can’t have enough bathrooms with five people living in a house,” Buhl said.
Elise Kamp, listing agent for Press/Cuozzo Realtors, said the house has “wonderful upgrades” and “really great space for everyone.” “They just utilized all the space in that house,” Kamp said. From the entryway, the eating area with a butcher block table comes into view. “A lot happened around that table.” Buhl said. “Homework, all big discussions, (we had) dinner there, highs and lows. (We asked each other) ‘What was your high?’ ‘What was your low?’”
The family spent most of their time in the open area that contains the kitchen, the eat-in nook and the family room. The updated kitchen has granite countertops and a Quimper French tile backsplash from a store in northern Michigan, where Buhl’s husband spent a lot of time when he was growing up. The family room has hardwood floors, a brick fireplace, and French doors to a deck overlooking the backyard. The living and dining room ceilings are framed with decorative trim, floor-to-ceiling windows and
Address: 26 Cromwell Road, North Haven
Price: $695,000
Rooms: 11
Features: This colonial sits on a cul-de-sac in the Ridge Road neighborhood. This home has many upgrades. The kitchen has granite countertops and island, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and an eating area and opens to the family room with a brick fireplace and French doors to the deck. The living room features a fireplace. There is also a library with built-ins, a formal dining room, and a playroom/office. The master bedroom has a spa like bathroom with a shower, Jacuzzi, and large walk- in closet. The finished third floor has a full bath, skylights, and a cedar closet, offering a perfect space for an au-pair suite, or a home office or studio. The professionally landscaped exterior features gorgeous stonework and an underground irrigation system. The house offers central air, a two-car garage, newer windows, gas heat, and a finished basement with tons of storage.
Schools: Ridge Road Elementary School, North Haven Middle School, North Haven High School there’s a brick fireplace in the living room. The library/ office has built-in cabinets and shelves that Buhl’s brother made. There’s a mud room with cubbies where Buhl’s children stored backpacks and coats. Over the garage is a playroom and computer room with California closets and a half-wall of built-in shelves.
The master suite has large windows overlooking the front yard, two walk-in closets, one of which was made by Buhl’s brother and “goes on forever,” she said. The upgraded master bath has granite countertops, a vanity with two sinks, a Jacuzzi, and a tiled walk-in shower. Two additional bedrooms share a bath and a fourth bedroom has an en-suite bath. The third floor contains a huge room with a bathroom and a
cedar closet.
The finished basement has plenty of storage and three rooms where the children spent countless hours at play and having sleepovers. “[Ping-pong] was my son’s study break,” Buhl said. “He would be like, ‘Mom can we play ping pong?’ Then he got too good for me, and then it was my husband.” Buhl has held informal gatherings and cocktail parties and hosted trunk shows. She would spread hors d’oeuvres on the kitchen table or island
and put dressing areas in various rooms. Her friend Lois DeLise would also be there with her handmade Fleur DeLise Jewelry. “People would just sort of roam around the house and sip wine and try on cloths and jewelry,” Buhl said.
Buhl said her children enjoyed growing up in the neighborhood, playing whiffle ball with neighborhood kids, going to block parties, and learning to ride bikes in the cul-de-sac. “Everybody looked out for everybody, it was wonderful,” she said.