Barefoot Bloggers: Meringues Chantilly

When I first discovered that BMK of Reservations Not Required had chosen this recipe for the second February Barefoot Bloggers I was totally disappointed.  I mean, eggs freak me out so meringues aren’t something that hold zero appetite appeal to me.  Then they are topped with fresh berries.  It’s February in Ontario, all of our “Fresh” berries come from South America or Mexico.  Not my favourite.  THEN the recipe calls for orange liqueur and framboise in tiny amounts.  I of course wasn’t going to the LCBO to buy big bottles of this stuff and if anyone has ever tried to by alcohol in Ontario you know how hard it can be to find what you want especially if you want the small bottles.  I seriously considered using one of my Barefoot Blogger pass cards on this one but didn’t want to waste it.  I decided to “man up” to the task and make the darn Meringues Chantilly.

I have to admit, I was grumpy the entire time making these.  I didn’t read the recipe all the way through ahead of time so the 2 hour baking time and 4+ hour resting time was a bit of a surprise.   Don’t even get me started on my lack of pastry bag and the sticky, sloppy mess I made trying to use a Ziploc bag to pipe the meringues out.  It was soooo hard and soooo sticky and not fun at all.  But maybe that was the grumpiness talking.

The next day I quickly whipped up the berry topping and whipped cream and dare I say I fell in love?  MERINGUES CHANTILLY IS THE BEST!!!  Soooo good.  It feels like a dessert but doesn’t feel too heavy.  The flavours are delicious together and there are so many textures happening that it’s just perfection.  Why was this dessert not on my radar before and what else am I missing out on in the world of desserts?  Seriously.

I made a few modifications on this one.  The recipe in Barefoot In Paris is different than the recipe on the Food Network site so I used a hybrid of the two. I did a regular vanilla whipped cream instead of the orange and I used regular Brandy instead of framboise in the berries. Oh, and I skipped raspberries (too pricey!) and used strawberries and blueberries instead. LOVED IT.

Clearly I’m very passionate about this one!

Check out Barefoot Bloggers to see what others have to say!

Meringues Chantilly

Ingredients

* 6 extra – large egg whites, at room temperature
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* Kosher salt
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* Whipped Cream with Orange Liqueur, recipe follows
* Stewed berries, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass and a pencil, draw 6 (3 1/2-inch) circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face-down on the baking sheets.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and a large pinch of salt on medium speed until frothy. Add 1 cup of the sugar and raise the speed to high until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the meringue. With a large star – shaped pastry tip, pipe a disc of meringue inside each circle. Pipe another layer around the edge to form the sides of the shells.

Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight.

Spread some of the sauce from the stewed berries on each plate. Place a meringue on top and fill with whipped cream. Top with berries and serve.
Whipped Cream with Orange Liqueur:

* 2 cups (1 pint) cold heavy cream
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 tablespoon orange liqueur

Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar, vanilla and orange liqueur and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. Don’t overbeat, or you’ll end up with butter!

Yield: 4 cups
Stewed berries:

* 1 half-pint fresh blueberries
* 3 half-pints fresh raspberries, divided
* 1/4 cup water
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
* 2 teaspoons framboise (raspberry brandy)

Combine the blueberries, one-half pint of raspberries, 1/3 cup water, the sugar and zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook uncovered over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. The juice will become a syrup and the berries will be slightly cooked. Off the heat, stir in the remaining raspberries and the framboise. Set aside.

Yield: 8 servings

Horseradish-Crusted Salmon with Beet Sauce

The challenge with my Good Food Box is figuring out what to do with the vegetables.  I love beets but was feeling overwhelmed by the 6 of them in my fridge and needed to find something to do with them.  So of course I logged onto Epicurious.com to get some ideas.

Interestingly enough I came across a bunch of fish recipes involving beets.  This of course made me happy because I don’t love Chicken and have been limiting my red meat so the combo of seafood and beets seemed appealing.  I came across two recipes that seemed appealing.  The first was for Horseradish-Crusted Salmon with Beets and the other was for Pan-Seared Sea Bass with Beet Sauce and Beet Greens .

After reading some of the user ratings I decided to combine the two recipes.  I liked the idea of a horseradish crust and the idea of a beet sauce so I took the best of both dishes.

This turned out to be an interesting dish.  I liked the horseradish crust but would have added a but more horseradish to it.  My beet sauce was more of a puree instead of a sauce but turned out well.   It could have used a bit more of a kick… maybe more vinegar or some horseradish?  Not sure, it just needed another layer to it.

Also, do remember that beets will stain your hands.  There are all sorts of tricks out there on how to avoid this.  I peeled my beets under cold water and that kind of helped.  Kind of.

If I had more beets wasting away in my fridge I would make this again but I’m not rushing out to try it out one more time.  I’d definitely consider making the salmon sans beet sauce for a quick variation of salmon.

Rating: ***1/2

Ingredients

• 1 pound red beets with greens (about 3 medium)
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets
• 2/3 cup (Japanese breadcrumbs)*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, drained

Preparation

Trim beets, leaving about 1 inch of stems attached. Wrap beets tightly in foil and in a baking pan roast in middle of oven until tender, about 1 hour. Unwrap beets carefully. When beets are cool enough to handle, slip off skins and stems.

In a blender or food processor puree beets with water, soy sauce, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste until smooth. Transfer sauce to a small saucepan and keep warm, covered.

Place salmon on rimmed baking sheet. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in small saucepan; brush over salmon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix panko, horseradish and 1 tablespoon thyme in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Press mixture onto salmon, dividing equally. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover beet mixture and salmon separately; chill.)

Preheat oven to 475°F. Bake salmon just until cooked through and top is golden brown, about 8 minutes.

Serve salmon with sauce.

(Adapted from Epicurious.com)

Good Food Box #2

It’s week two of my Good Food Box and I have to say, I’m still pleased!

My haul the first week was pretty impressive and this one lived up to expectations.

In this week’s box…
1 green pepper
1/4 red cabbage *
4 oranges
1 lb onions *
1 english cucumber *
1 bag carrots *
4 bananas
1/3 lb spring mix
1 bag celery
1/2 cantaloupe
4 pears *
1/2 lb tomatoes
1 lbs yams/sweet potato *

(* denotes local produce)

Not bad.  There’s a good mix of local vs. non although I do wonder where one finds local Ontario pears in FEBRUARY.  I’ll have to inquire about that one.

Next box is March 5th… can’t wait!

Most Popular Posts

Every once in a while (ok, everyday) I like to track how people are getting to this site and which posts are popular on a particular day.

Here’s a rundown of the most popular posts at What’s On My Plate! (Ignore some of the early crappy photos – those were pre-tripod and pre-new-awesome-camera)

1. Shrimp Lasagna Rolls with Creamy Marinara
2. Poblano-and-Cheddar-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
3. Caramel Spiced Pear Jam
4. Martha Stewart’s Gingerbread Cake (sans Chocolate Ganache)
5. An Indian Feast! Chicken Saag, Yellow Rice with Peas and Chapatis
6. Magnolia Cupcakes
7. Spinach in Puff Pastry
8. Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

My faves of the punch are the Shrimp-stuffed portobello mushrooms, the shrimp lasagna rolls and the spinach in puff pastry.

The Magnolia cupcakes are also totally yummy and better than the bakery since you have more control.

Cod Baked in Foil with Zucchini and Tomatoes

I’ve really been enjoying my Cooks Illustrated subscription!  I love reading the magazine from cover to cover and love trying out the recipes.  A few months ago I even signed up to be a recipe tester for the magazine (I tried looking for the link to post but couldn’t find it!).  I actually got this recipe to test but didn’t get around to doing it soon enough so I was delighted to actually see the finished product in the magazine.

I’m a big fan of cooking fish en papillote.  It’s an easy way to prepare protein and vegetables with little to no mess.  Everything is neatly contained within this nice little package.  And the fish turns out moist and delicious!  It doesn’t get any better.  The folks at CI actually had three variations of this recipe with different vegetables.  I chose the zucchini/tomato combination because I had two tomatoes floating around my fridge from my last Good Food Box that I wanted to consume before my next box delivery (on Thursday… can’t wait!!!).

This is a great recipe to make ahead.  I didn’t read the directions all the way through so I only prepared the zucchini and tomato mixture ahead of time instead of assembling the whole contraption.  I thought that the wine might have an effect on the fish but I realize now I was thinking about the ceviche effect of citrus.  The head start definitely helped as I ended up going on a 12km walk with my girl Elvira.  We walked pretty much halfway across the city both horizontally and vertically.  Not even kidding.  So when I got home I was happy that half of my meal was ready to go!

Super easy and delicious.  I used Sole instead of Cod because that’s what the market had in stock.  I went to Kensington and no one had cod except for one place that had black cod for $16.99.  No bueno.  I figured that No Frills would have cod… NOPE!  So I bought sole.  Only to go to another No Frills later that day (we love supermarkets) and they had cod.  Tough life, I know.  I also used dried oregano instead of fresh and didn’t bother sprinkling with basil.  Life went on and it was delish.

This is a pretty good weeknight meal as well!

Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)

1 pound zucchini, ends trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
Table salt
1/2 pound plum tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped into 1/2-inch-pieces (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano leaves
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Ground black pepper
4 tablespoons vermouth or dry white wine
4 skinless cod fillets (about 6 oz each)
1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges

1. Toss zucchini with 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl; transfer to colander set over bowl. Let stand until zucchini releases 1 to 2 tablespoons liquid, about 30 minutes. Arrange zucchini on triple layer paper towels; cover with another triple layer paper towels. Firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl.

2. Adjust over rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut eight 12-inch sheets of foil; arrange four flat on counter. Mound salted zucchini in center of foil, drizzling vermouth, placing fish on top, then spooning quarter of tomato mixture over each fillet. Place second square of foil on top of fish, crimp edges together in 1/2-inch fold, then fold over three more times to create a packet about 7 inches square. Place packets on rimmed baking sheet.

3. Bake packets 15 minutes. Carefully open foil, allowing steam to escape away from you. Using thin metal spatula, gently slide fish and vegetables onto plate with any accumulated juices; sprinkle with basil. Serve immediately, passing lemon wedges separately.

(From Cooks Illustrated)

What I’m Eating This Week…

I’m a planner.  I can’t help it.  Every Friday night/Saturday morning I plan out what I’m eating for lunch and dinner every day of the week.   It’s quite the intricate process.  I evaluate what’s already in the fridge, what’s on sale at various supermarkets, what I feel like eating and what I’d like to have for lunch.  I usually pull about 5 cookbooks off the shelf and leaf through them for inspiration.  If there’s a particular ingredient that I feel like cooking with I’ll log onto Epicurious for ideas.

There’s usually a lag between when I cook something and when I post it.  Don’t hold it against me.  And some meals aren’t photo worthy so they don’t make it on here.

I also NEVER plan for Saturday.  Saturday is grocery store day or a day when I’ll go out or get takeout.  I usually make a plan on Saturday morning and stick with it.

Here’s what I’m eating this week…

SUNDAY – Sole in papillote with zucchini and tomatoes

MONDAY – Kashmiri Short Ribs served with a Sweet Potato Dal and Basmati Rice

TUESDAY – Quiche with Bacon, Mushrooms and Zucchini (Lunch: Prepared Indian food)

WEDNESDAY – Ma Po Tofu (Lunch: Quiche)

THURSDAY – Spinach in Puff Pastry (Lunch: Ma Po Tofu)

FRIDAY – Out for dinner! (Spinach in Puff Pastry)

Yummy Things on the Web – This Is Why You’re Fat

I had to share this site with you.  It’s called This Is Why You’re Fat and it has photos of really unhealthy foods.

Some of the stuff is gross like Gravy Covered Pizza but some of it sounds downright yummy like Sloppy Joe on Krispy Kreme.  Seriously.  I get how someone might label that “gross” but I love the sweet and salty mix.  Some may channel this love through Kettle Corn others not so much.

This definitely one of those sites that you can spend an hour or two going through because some of the food is just so random.  I mean a hamburger with chocolate covered bacon?  I don’t even know where to start with that one.

I haven’t done this site justice in my description but please visit it.  You may have some uncomfortable moments of self discovery when you realize that you kind of crave The Romellete (an omelette made with eggs and ramen noodles) or a Bacon Donut.
Just saying.

This Is Why You’re Fat

Italian Wedding Soup

More meatballs!  The picture does not do the soup justice, but trust me, it’s delicious.

This is another goodie from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics which is a current fave.  There has always been something super appealing about Italian Wedding Soup.  Pasta, meatballs and spinach in a yummy broth? Sign me up!  The photo in Ina’s book makes the soup look absolutely deicious.

I decided to get all homespun with this soup by making my own broth.  In a recent issue of Cooks Illustrated they investigated the intricacies of making the best chicken broth.  It essentially involved using pre-packed broth as well as ground chicken and chicken breasts along with the usual vegetable medley.  I skipped the ground chicken and used chicken legs because they were cheaper.  The broth turned out yummy but a bit fatty.  I got really tired of skimmy the fat off the top.  I had all intentions of letting the broth cool and the fat solidify but that didn’t happen.

As for the soup itself I made some changes as usual.  Ina suggests using ground chicken and chicken sausage for the meatballs.  I do not love chicken so I went for ground pork and pork sausage.  Yum.   I also skipped the Pecorino Romano cheese.  For no reason other than that I didn’t feel like buying any.  Other than those changes I kept the recipe intact.

This soup smelled AMAZING while simmering away.  I swear, if I just kept a pot of soup on the stove simmering away all winter life would be better.  Some people like the smell of an apple pie in the oven, I like the smell of soup.

This is definitely a recipe that’s being filed away in my mental filing cabinet.  It’s delicious and filling.  LOVE IT.

Here’s what others had to say…
Annie’s Eats
Pots and Pins

Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 3/4 pound ground chicken
• 1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
• 2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 10 cups homemade chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars
• 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
• 12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don’t have to be perfectly round.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

(2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics)

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

I may have mentioned this before but I recently joined Barefoot Bloggers. It’s a group of food bloggers dedicated to trying Ina’s recipe. Each month the moderator posts two Ina recipes (chosen by other BB bloggers) and everyone has to cook the recipes by a given day and blog about it. Easy enough. I joined because a.) I love me some Ina and b.) I like any excuse to cook some Ina dishes.

This week’s recipe is from her Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook (which I don’t own).  Now I recently made another recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs courtesy of Lidia Bastianich. It turned out great — just how I thought this dish could be. I didn’t think this recipe could top the last one but since it’s Ina approved I thought there was the possibility.

The first thing I loved about this recipe was that the meatballs required not one, not two but THREE types of meat.  Beef, pork and veal.  Let me just say that finding a small quantity of veal wasn’t easy.  Most of the supermarkets sell it prepackaged in quantities of a pound or more.  Not even the butcher up the street had it!  I ended up going to Whole Foods and picking up some FRESH GROUND veal.  How lovely is that?  You can’t top customer service at Whole Foods.  I also liked that the sauce had red wine in it.  I’m a sucker for pasta sauce with wine.  It’s my kryptonite.

This recipe was a lot less labour intensive than I thought it would be.  Sure it takes some time to form the meatballs but overall there was very little chopping.  The most intense part was frying the meatballs.  In retrospect I think I should have baked them.  It would have been a lot easier and had almost the same results (probably less overall browning).

I enjoyed this recipe not necessarily more than the Bastianich version and perhaps even a bit less.  I can’t put my finger on why.  Downsides included: meatballs weren’t as firm as I would have liked, meatballs need a bit more of a kick and the sauce was a bit too watery.  These are all things that could be easily rectified.

I wouldn’t give this Ina recipe a WOMP WOMP (not an abbreviation for this blogs title but the sound of something falling flat) but it’s likely not making its way into regular rotation.

Check out Barefoot Bloggers to see what other bloggers have to say.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
• 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 extra-large egg, beaten
• Vegetable oil
• Olive oil

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:

• 1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
• Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved

Manzana Chili Verde

I’ve been in the mood to eat more veggies recently.   I think it’s my body’s way of telling me to get healthy and not let these dreary winter months weigh on me.  When I want to eat healthy(ish) there are a few cookbooks that I turn to including The Whole Foods Market Cookbook , Supernatural Foods, and more recently, Veganomicon.

I’d been wanting to make some Mexican food for the past couple of week so when I saw this Chili recipe I figured I’d give it a shot.  It sounded just bizarre enough that it had the potential to be delicious.  I mean tomatillos, green apples, white beans and cilantro? YUM!  Or maybe not?  I was willing to give this a try.

Now, if you’ve read my blog before you’ve noticed that I’m not vegan.  So when I make vegan recipes I make certain substitutions.  Not like substituting steak for carrots but I’ll use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, which is what I did here.  Other than that I followed the recipe.

The results were good.  Not AMAZING but good.  My mom did NOT love it at all though.  She thought it was a joke – I’m not sure why.  I didn’t serve this with anything but next time (if there is a next time) I’d make some cornbread or serve with nacho chips.  The potatoes and beans make this a substantial dish but I could use a bit more of something.  Also, I didn’t garnish with avocado.  That could have been key and I missed it.

Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

Check out what others had to say about this recipe…
An Omnivore Cooks the Veganomicon
The Vegetable Diaries
We Heart Food

1 lb baby Yukon golds, cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced small
3 jalapeños, seeded and sliced thinly
2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped into 1″ pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb tomatillos, papery skin removed, washed, chopped into 1/2″ to 3/4″ pieces
2 Granny Smith apples, cored, quartered, and sliced thinly
2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
1/4 cup shopped scallions
1 15-oz can small white beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lime
Avocado slices for garnish

Place the chopped potatoes in a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Let boil, covered, for a little less than 20 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onion, jalapeños, and poblanos in oil for about 10 minutes, until everything is softened and the onions are slightly browned.
Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt. Saute for 1 more minute, until the garlic is fragrant. Add the white wine and tomatillos, raise the heat a bit to let the wine reduce and the tomatillos release their juices, about 5 minutes.
Add the apples, vegetable broth, scallions, and 1/2 cup of the cilantro. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
Use an immersion blender to partially puree everything, or transfer half the chili to a food processor and puree, then return to the pot.
Taste for tartness: if bitter, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to level things out. Add the cooked potatoes and the beans, simmer for a few more minutes, until everything is heated through.
Add the remaining cilantro and the lime juice. Ladle into bowls, garnish with the avocado and scallions, and serve.

(From Veganomicon)