My favorite soup is vegetable soup, using whatever vegetables are in season.
- Start off with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy skillet.
- Sauté some minced garlic.
- Add a chopped onion and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- The longer you sauté vegetables the sweeter they become.
- Choose 3 or 4 other chunky vegetables, cut them into bite sized pieces, and add them one at a time to the sauté mix.
- As you add each vegetable, the oil seals in its distinctive flavor.
- Add the denser veggies first, as they take longer to become tender.
- Okra adds a nice gumbo texture for vegetable soups.
- Now it is time to add liquid.
- Add a little liquid, and you have a stew.
- Add more liquid, and you have soup.
- For more flavor, add stock. Organic chicken stock is good.
- If you cook beans or veggies, save the liquid to use as soup stock.
- Add a piece of kombu to the soup pot to add flavor and nutrients.
- Try out a little miso , which adds a salty flavor and body to the soup, and aids in digestion.
- For more flavor, add various herbs (oregano, basil, thyme).
- For a more traditionally American soup, add tomatoes or tomato sauce.
- Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are just tender.
- Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.
- This is especially true of green vegetables which loose their color if they are overcooked. You can add them toward the end, and serve the soup when the green vegetables reach their peak of color and are tender.
- For variety, add cooked beans or noodles.
- If you want a thick, creamy soup, puree some of the beans and add.
- Another thing to consider, is that letting a soup sit in a covered pot for a couple of hours gives time for the flavors to combine.
- A trick of the trade: if your soup is missing something, add a tiny bit of a high-quality vinegar.
A word of caution: As tempting as it may be, do not combine too many ingredients in the soup. Five or six is plenty. Think about what flavors go together as you plan your special soup.
Soups from the Heartwood Kitchen
- Measure 2 cups of red lentils, rinse and drain. Cook the lentils in a pot with double the amount of water. Be sure to stir frequently to keep them cooking evenly and so that they do not burn.
- Dice one large onion, mince one celery heart (the tender yellowish middle leafy part) and mince 4 cloves of garlic. In a sauté pan, heat olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent. Stir in the celery heart and let this cook together for a few minutes.
- While this is cooking, stir your lentils and scoop off and discard any foam that comes to the top. When the sauté is done, turn the heat up and add 1-2 tablespoons of curry powder. Stir and flash cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- Red lentils will turn a yellowish color and begin to break up. When this happens, add two thinly sliced carrots and cook together until carrots are tender. Add the sauté to the lentils. Remove browned bits that stick to the sauté pan with water or a little lemon/lime juice, again by flash cooking. Add this to the soup. Garnish with cilantro (optional: and fresh minced garlic).
Soak a cup of lima beans overnight. Pour off soak water. Combine beans, one piece of kombu, one onion chopped into half-moons and a clove of minced garlic. Cook all-day or overnight in a crock-pot. During the last half-hour of cooking, add one cup of corn (fresh or frozen kernels), a little tamari and black pepper. Remove from heat and add a teaspoon of red miso thinned with water. Garnish with chopped scallions.
For stock, boil green onions, cilantro, ginger root and a piece of kombu for 30 minutes. Strain the stock. Add your choice of vegetables: julienne carrots, more green onion, shallots, Asian cabbage, bok choy, daikon radish, greens, peas or winter squash. Other possibilities are already-cooked additions of meat, chicken, fish, dried fish, noodles (rice noodles, udon, soba, bean threads) or rice.