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Use What You Have Soup

This soup is exactly what the title implies. I had some turkey broth in the freezer that desperately needed to be used, celery and carrots in the veggie bin, an onion the looked like it might sprout soon, and a can of corn looking slightly lost on my pantry shelves. Which are definately looking trimmer than they had previously. So I am succeeding at paring down in at least one area of my life. I think it's good though, to not have so many cans and boxes and bags lying around that one doesn't even have to think to make a meal. Because all the obvious stuff gets eaten and you end up with limp celery and a can of chopped clams.

This is how I made my soup:

Saute a largish chopped onion in 1 TBSP canola oil. Chop up some celery(I used the interior stalks of some celery hearts I'd been nibbling on over the week) and 3 carrots and add those to the pot. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Meanwhile, defrost 6 cups broth, or prepare using boullion, or pop open a can, and add to the sauteing vegetables. Drain a can of corn and add that. You could use frozen. Add a little bit of rice--I used 2/3 c. which ended up being FAR too much. You could probably get away with 1/3 c. Or use noodles if that's what you have. Bring to a boil and then simmer until rice is cooked. YUM!

I didn't have any crackers, so I made some instant crescent rolls. Very acceptable.

Spinach Soup

Spinach Soup

Yum! A co-worker bought a 1.5 lb bag of spinach for a soup that called for two handfuls. She shared her excess bounty with me. I didn't really understand how much spinach makes up 1.5 lbs.  My plans for a quiche or frittata were quickly dashed. Also, I was craving a nice, simple soup (something like that wonderful carrot soup). Just a little bit of on-line searching resulted in this recipe, which of course I modified to suit my circumstances (use everything up). I left out the green onions called for in the original and used Better than Bouillon to good effect. The soup was thin, actually soupy, not like the thicker stews I normally make.  The onions and potatoes both deepened and mellowed the spinach. Pecorino-Romano grated over top was a nice touch. It was the perfect meal for the end of winter---still warm and satisfying, but not heavy or overly rich. It was also good as leftovers with a bagel, a toasted cheese sandwich and just plain toast. Although by that point I was a little spinached out.

Spinach Soup
(adapted from here)

1.5 tsp canola oil
2 small onions, chopped
2 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
3/4 lb cleaned spinach leaves
6 cups vegetable stock (6 c. water and 1.5 Tbsp BtB)
1/2 c. half and half (or heavy cream)
salt and pepper to taste
Pecorino-Romano as desired

Heat oil in heavy bottomed stock pot. Add onions and potatoes and saute until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Add bouillon and water, stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until potatoes are softened. Add spinach and stir until leaves wilt (30-60 seconds). Remove IMMEDIATELY from heat, allow to cool briefly and then puree. A stick blender works well here--just be sure to get all those potatoes. Or not if you don't mind a few chunks (I didn't). Stir in cream and season to taste. Serve with a little pecorino grated over top. Tasty!

Soup of the Week: Carrot Soup

This isn't the greatest photo, but it's the only one I was able to take as we were a) hungry, and b) trying to be on time for a movie (Pan's Labyrinth, by the way--very deserving of all the rave reviews).  I made the soup from a recipe on Epicurious.com.  It was my first opportunity to use my brand new immersion blender--how exciting. I can't decide if it was faster to use the immersion blender, but I think it was much easier and also created fewer dishes.  And it worked like a charm!  We ended up with a lovely orange puree. 

I like Epicurious because tons of great recipes from relatively reliable sources are archived there.   And I like the review factor, although, like with any open to the public forum, you have to take everything with a grain of salt.  For example, someone made this soup (who didn't enjoy the taste of cooked carrots) and complained of it tasting too much like cooked carrots! Why would you make a carrot soup if you don't like cooked carrots?! I digress.

The soup was yummy, reminiscent of the Pumpkin Bisque, although not really the same at all.  I stirred the cream into the soup rather than merely drizzle it on top.  And I added a dash of nutmeg, as one reviewer suggested. Served with a baguette and a very simple spinach salad--nicely sliced spinach tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.  According to the recipe, this will serve six.  Maybe it you are serving it as a first course. As a main course, we got four servings.

CARROT SOUP
    courtesy Epicurious.com

2 tbsp. olive oil
2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 large garlic cloves, peeled
5 whole cloves
4 cups canned vegetable broth or water
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
pinch of sugar

1/4 cup of heavy cream

Chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat.  Add carrots, onion, garlic and cloves and saute until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes(this is where I added the nutmeg). Add 3.5 cups broth. Cover and simmer until carrots are very soft, stirring occasionally, about 30 mintues.

Remove cloves from soup and discard.  Puree soup in batches in blender(or use an immersion blender). Return soup to saucepan.  Mix in lemon juice and sugar (can blend in cream here). Thin to desired consistency with more broth. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Whisk cream in small bowl until slightly thickened, about 10 seconds.

Stir soup over medium heat until heated through. Ladle into bowls. Drizzle cream over. Top with parsley.

Serves 6

   

Soup of the Week: African Peanut Pineapple Soup

This rather gelatinous looking stew is one of my very favorites from a cookbook that never lets me down, The Moosewood Restuarant Cooks at Home, by the Moosewood Collective.  I have a couple of cookbooks published by the Collective and they are all fabulous.  The recipes all result in really approachable vegetarian food, which is great if you are cooking for less than enthusiastic friends or family.  This particular book won a James Beard award, maybe in 1994?  At any rate, my book is so used and loved that it's appearance is rather on the grubby side.  It falls right open to this recipe, which just goes to show my true fondness for it.  I served it over couscous, but if you prefer (or eat wheat-free) the stew can be served over rice (the book also suggests millet, but I've never tried that).  Especially yummy is serving this stew over coconut basmati rice--I've used several different recipes and they've all been fab.

Unlike most of my cookbook interactions, I follow this recipe pretty much the letter.  Well, I forgot to pick up cilantro and didn't especially feel like cleaning my blender blades just to crush a quarter cup of peanuts, but those are minor adaptations.  It's no big deal if you leave out the cilantro--I like it, but cilantro does have a tendency to take over.  And I think that the whole peanuts are actually quite attractive on the top of this stew.  If you can't find kale in regular bunches--almost never in Publix--your store will probably have the big bags of GLORY brand chopped greens.  They are perfect and a timesaver.  You'll need about half the bag.

AFRICAN PEANUT PINEAPPLE STEW
    from The Moosewood Restuarant Cooks at Home

1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves
1 T. vegetable oil*
1 bunch kale or Swiss chard, about 4 cups sliced
2 cups undrained canned crushed pineapple (20oz can)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 T. tobasco or other hot pepper sauce (don't skip!!--it's not hot)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste

crushed skinless peanuts
chopped scallions

In a covered saucepan, saute the onions and garlic in the oil for a bout 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are lightly browned. While the onions saute, wash the kale or Swiss chard. Remove and discard the large stems (don't skip this, as otherwise you will feel like you are eating sticks) and any blemished leaves. Stack the leaves on a cutting surface and slice crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices.

Add the pineapple and its juices to the onions and bring to a simmer. Stir in the kale or chard, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until just tender. Mix in the peanut butter, Tabsaco, and cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste, and garnish with peanuts and scallions. Serve with extra hot sauce to pass around.

*You really should use vegetable or canola oil here, olive oil adds a certain flavor that isn't bad, just not congruous.

Soup of the Week: Potato Garlic

Well, I know my holiday break from soup posting was rather long, but I'm back with this tasty soup from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven.  I really love some of the recipes from that cookbook!  And mostly everything that I tried has been pretty good.  There are some that have become regulars, most notably Pasta with Chickpeas and Hominy.   YUM!

This soup was good--the recipe calls for roasted garlic, which I didn't have on hand and so I just  boiled the potatoes and garlic together to mellow out the flavor a bit .  A carrot or two and some rosemary are thrown as well. When the root vegetables are tender, you stir in some silken tofu that you've mashed--this is messy and not altogether pleasant to look at--and then blend.  The soft carrots turn the soup that pretty orange.  Altogether it's a yummy soup that is low-fat (no dairy), although I recommend using the roasted garlic if you have it.  Otherwise, the soup ends up thick and creamy, but with not much depth.  It was very tasty with more of those Cheddar Biscuits.

Potato Soup with Rosemary and Roasted Garlic
    from Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven

1.5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium sized chunks
8 large cloves garlic, peeled
6 cups water
2.5 cups chopped onion
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tsp salt
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or a teaball with about 2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp roasted garlic
1 10oz box silken tofu (soft variety)
White pepper to taste
Additional sprigs of rosemary for garnish

Place potatoes in a large saucepan or Dutch oven along with the garlic, water, onion, carrot, salt, and rosemary. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the potatoes are very soft (about 20 to 30 minutes). Remove from heat; fish out and discard the rosemary.

Stir the roasted garlic into the soup along with the silken tofu, mashed slightly or broken up into pieces. Transfer the soup--in several batches--to a blender or food processor, and puree each batch until very smooth (you can also use an immersion blender).  Return the puree to another pot and stir well.

Heat the soup gently; adjust the salt and add white pepper to taste (I used black to no detriment but appearance). Serve hot, garnished with a sprig or two of fresh rosemary, if available.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Cream of Tomato Soup

Yum!  I've been craving soup all week; it's actually been cold enough to wear a hat and gloves in the morning.  Of course, it's in the mid-60s or 70s by the afternoon, but still...the weather has had me craving soup even more than usual.  So this wasn't the first soup I made or ate this week, but it is the first one I thought to photograph.  I made my favorite spicy black bean soup early in the week, but that was gone before we could even blink.  My attempts at photographing the ingredients were awful.  Last night we made a vegetarian harira, from this recipe, for some friends who came over for dinner.  It was fabulous, and probably photogenic, but I didn't really want to break up the party for a photo shoot.:)  If you have any intentions of making the harira, you should know that it is pretty amendable to substitutions and adaptations.  We used sweet dumpling squash instead of eggplant, no vermicelli, couldn't find preserved lemons or the harissa (and didn't feel like making our own) so we used a fresh lemon and a couple of shakes of hot sauce.  It was still super yummy and authentic tasting.

Enough about those soups...tonight's soup was a little different.  Not spicy or new or anything but yummy and comfortable.  I mostly followed the recipe in Didi Emmon's book, Vegetarian Planet.  I really, really enjoy reading that cookbook.  Every recipe that I have tried has been tasty, too, although I don't always turn to it first because the recipes (at least for what I'm craving) are a little involved.  That said, I LOVE the cinnamon snap recipe and also a hash recipe that mainly uses brussels sprouts.  Neither are especially complicated, and this tomato soup wasn't either.  The butter, onions and garlic lend depth, the subsequent roux creates a velvety smoothness even before pureeing, and the orange juice (which I substituted for the Madeira) brightened the flavors.  It was great!

Cream of Tomato Soup
(Adapted from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons)

1.5 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves
1.5 Tbsp. unbleached white flour
Juice of 1 orange
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, juice drained and reserved
1 pinch cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/3 cup half and half

In a heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until they soften.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.  Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Stirring with a whisk, add the orange juice.  Then slowly add the juice from the diced tomatoes, whisking so that lumps don't form.  Add the tomatoes and stir well.

Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Puree in a blender or food processor, in batches if necessary.  Return to pot, season with salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Stir in desired quantity of cream, and gently reheat.  Serve hot (we had them with cheddar biscuits).