Posts filed under 'soup'
This is a quick and simple soup with fairly flexible ingredients. I managed to buy some beans other than black beans (oh how I love black beans!), so I was inspired to make an Italian-style soup with ingredients I had hanging around.
I like this soup because you do the cooking and the prepping at the same time. While your onions are softening, you’re cutting the carrots and potatoes. While those are simmering, you’re draining the beans and slicing the seitan. By the time the kale goes in, the soup is nearly done. Chopping the carrots and potatoes very small not only makes this a quick cooking meal, but it also makes your very humble soup seem fancier. I also like how you’re able to get a little bit of everything in each spoonful.
Tuscan White Bean Stew
Serves two
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
2 Medium Carrots, sliced into very thin coins
1 Medium Russet Potato, cut into a 1/4″ dice
2 Cups Water
1 Can White Beans, drained and rinsed (I used Great Northern)
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbs Tomato Paste
1/2 Cup Seitan, sliced thin (optional)
2-3 Large Kale Leaves, deveined and roughly chopped
2-3 tsp Lemon Juice
Fresh herbs for garnish, optional
Saute the onions over medium-low heat in a medium sized, heavy pot that has a lid. Slice the carrots into 1/8″ coins and add to pot. Cut potato into 1/4″ dice and add to pot, stirring occasionally. Add water and loosen any stuff that has stuck to the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add salt, oregano, tomato paste and stir. Cover and turn head down to a low boil.
Slice seitan and kale, drain and rinse the beans. Add seitan and beans to pot and stir. The stew should be quite thick. Add kale and lemon juice. Taste and season if necessary. Simmer for a few minutes until kale is tender. Carrots should be tender, and the potato should be soft but still hold its shape. Serve and garnish with fresh herbs, shown here with thyme.
March 25th, 2007
I had made that lovely roasted pepper yesterday, and remembered I had some fresh broccoli in the fridge, so this is a little soup I threw together to use both ingredients. It’s not only fairly healthy, but very comforting. The sweetness of the pepper coulis goes well with the savory cumin and broccoli base. I also added lentils to give the soup some added body, flavor and nutrition. This was definitely a winner for us!
Broccoli Lentil Soup with Roasted Pepper Coulis
Serves two
2 Cups rough-chopped broccoli
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1/2 Cup Green Lentils
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Chili Powder*
1 Veg Bullion Cube
2 Cups Water
3/4 - 1 Cup Soymilk
Roasted Pepper Coulis
1 Red or Orange Roasted Pepper
1 Tbs Tahini
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
1/4 tsp Chili Powder
Fresh Black Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Salt
*Chili powder is NOT simply crushed chilies! It’s a blend of mildly spicy chilies and other spices like oregano, cumin and garlic. It’s usually dark red and milder than, say, straight cayenne pepper.
Heat vegetable oil in a large heavy bottomed pot that has a tight lid. Add onions. When they start to brown, add lentils and cumin and stir for a minute or two. Add water, broccoli, and bullion, turn down heat a little and cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes until the lentils are tender but still firm.
Meanwhile, add all the coulis ingredients into the bowl of your food processor or blender. Blend well until smooth, and set aside while soup is cooking to give the flavors some time to meld.
When the soup is ready, it should be pretty thick - too thick for soup! Blend it CAREFULLY (it’s hot!) until smooth (I didn’t even bother to wash out my food processor after I blended the coulis since it was going in the soup anyway). Return the soup to your pot and add soymilk until the desired consistancy is reached. I wanted a thick soup, so I added 3/4 of a cup of soymilk, but if you want it a little thinner plan on a full cup or so.
Place soup in bowls. Add 1/2 of the coulis on top of each bowl of soup - you can create a design if you want - partially swirling it in, or whatever. Add pita chips on top and serve with extra chips on the side!
I’m sure this would be delightful with coconut milk or soy creamer instead, but plain soymilk does the job beautifully and isn’t quite so heavy.
March 19th, 2007
I made this soup last night, and I thought it was tasty and satisfying. I can imagine people who aren’t used to kale, quinoa, and tahini might need some easing into this one, but here you are nevertheless. Here’s the version I made:
Creamy Kale Soup
Serves 2-3 dinner sized portions
1/2 Cup Green Lentils
1/2 Cup Quinoa (I like to use half-and-half)
1/2 Medium Onion, finely chopped
4 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Small Bunch Kale
5 cups water
Spices
1 tsp Cumin, heaping
1/2 tsp Curry Powder
1 Veg Bullion Cbbe
3 Tbs Tahini
2-3 Tbs Tamari or Soy Sauce
Wash and de-stem kale (I use kitchen scissors to cut along the sides of the stems), tear the leaves into smallish pieces. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat, and add quinoa and lentils. Sautee for a few minutes, add spices and kale. Mix well. Add water and bullion cube and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down heat to low. Simmer for 35-40 minutes.
Carefully blend the hot soup in a food processor or blender and return to pot. You can skip this step or blend only half of the soup if you want some texture, but I think it’s nicest smooth. Add tahini and tamari to taste.
To garnish, mix 1-2 Tbs of tahini with a small amount of water until it becomes smooth and bright. Drizzle on top of the soup and serve.
February 27th, 2007
This is my first experience with Kabocha squash, a japanese winter pumpkin. I saw them at the co-op and couldn’t resist their cute size - I immediately wanted to make little soup bowls out of their rinds. Besides being cute, they’re also tasty and good for you, rich in beta carotene, with a decent amount of vitamin C and iron to boot.
When I cut them open I was so surprised by their color. The flesh near the rind was avocado green, giving way to a bright yellow-orange. I roasted them before I scooped out the flesh for the soup, but only one of my squash rind soup bowls survived the roasting process. The second came out of the oven with large cracks in it. Since I’ve never worked with this squash before I’m not sure if I was extremely lucky to have one survive, or unlucky to have one break.
This soup is really simple, complicated only by creating the decorative bowl for it. The rich yellow color makes the soup look for all the world like it was spiked with tumeric. It’s very rich so a small serving alongside some hearty steamed kale was just the thing I needed for a cold February night.
Kabocha Squash Soup
Serves Two
2 Small-Medium Kabocha Squashes, of similar size
1 Cup Soymilk
1/2 Can of Coconut Milk (about 7 oz)
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 Vegetable Bullion Cube (package should state that 1 cube makes 2 cups of broth)
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Black Pepper to taste
Smoked Paprika
Parsley
If not making bowls from the rinds, halve squashes, scoop out the seeds and coat with olive oil. Sprinke with salt and place in a 400º F oven for 30 minutes, or until flesh is tender enough to spoon from the rinds.
Scoop out flesh into a soup pot, it will look sort of dry. Add remaining ingredients, less paprika and parsey. Whisk to break down lumps while simmering. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
The thickness of the soup will depend on how much squash you scraped out of the rinds, so feel free to add liquid (more coconut milk, soymilk, or even water) at this point to reach a consistancy you like. Reheat on the stove if necessary. Serve, garnished with paprika and parsley.
February 10th, 2007
Hi, I’m Stewart — It’s nice to meet you! Lauren wasn’t feeling well this evening, and when your wife is sick, you’re supposed to take care of her. You’re supposed to make sure that she has everything she needs. Failing that, however, you should at least make her dinner. So that’s what I did.
Walking home from work tonight, I had a plan. I knew that we had some leftover sourdough bread from last night, and I thought it was probably fairly crusty. Why not serve a thick soup with it? How about right on top of it? It would be some kind of, I don’t know, bread soup. I’m pretty sure I had something like that when I was a kid. Or maybe that was an open-faced sandwich. If you think about it, they’re on the same continuum. When I got home, though, I realized that I can’t just make a soup. Maybe you can; I know Lauren does it all the time. For a low-confidence cook like myself, however, soup isn’t something you play around with. It’s scary. You tell your friends, “I’m going to make soup,” and they laugh at you. Then they realize you’re actually serious, and they do their best to change your mind. “Peanut Butter and Jelly is good, too,” they tell you in a consoling voice. Actually, I don’t have any friends.
I decided to take the easy way out and make something from Vegan With a Vengeance. Isa doesn’t offer any bread soups, per se, but she does have something called “Moroccan Tagine with Spring Vegetables,” which looked pretty good. February isn’t such a good month for spring vegetables, though, so I had to alter the recipe significantly. The result:
Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup
Serves Two
1 Sweet Potato
2 Medium-Sized Carrots, diced
1/2 Small Onion, chopped
1 Lemon
1 cup Frozen Peas
1 cup Frozen Corn
1/4 cup Raisins
1 big handful Baby Spinach
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 Bay Leaf
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 1/2 cup Vegetable Stock
1 cup Water
1/2 tsp Salt.
Spices:
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Mushroom Stock Powder
1/4 tsp Cardamom
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Tumeric
1 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Cumin
Dash of Celery Salt
Sprinkle of Chili Flakes
Sauté your onion in a pan with some olive oil. Once the onion starts to brown, toss in your spices and let them cook in the oil for fifteen seconds or so. Then pour in the rest of the ingredients, except for the corn, peas, and spinach. Bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer until the carrots are soft enough for your taste. Chop your sweet potato into half-inch pieces while the soup is simmering, and sauté in some olive olive until soft. Be careful not to overcook them, though; they’re going into a bowl of soup, and you don’t want them to fall apart.
The soup and the sweet potatoes should finish about the same time, but it’s OK if they don’t. They’re both very patient. Set the sweet potatoes aside if they’re done first, or turn the soup’s burner to low if they’re not. When the carrots in your soup are the desired level of softness, add the peas and the corn and continue simmering for two or three minutes. Then add the baby spinach and stir it into the soup until wilted. Depending on what kind of vegetable stock you use, your soup may need some salt at this point. We use vegetable bouillon cubes, for convenience, and they have a decent amount of salt in them already. Definitely taste before you serve.
Ladle the soup into bowls and spoon the sweet potato bits on top of it. Make sure you take the cinnamon stick and the bay leaf out first. Isa and Terry recommend garnishing the original recipe with lemon slices, and even though I changed it quite a bit, I think it’s still a good idea. Crusty sourdough bread and Earth Balance is also highly recommended.
February 1st, 2007
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