Entries Tagged 'Soups' ↓

Amy’s triumphant return from Budapest brought Grab ‘n’ Growl week to an end, as well as a large bag of authentic Hungarian paprika. Given these two fantastic new developments, it was time to cook it the hell down.

We’d been searching for a good recipe for Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup for quite some time, never really satisfied. I recently stumbled upon this one from Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen, in turn nabbed from the Candle Cafe Cookbook. It was sufficiently awesome that it required almost no modification–we added half a cup of soy creamer; that’s it. I also learned something really interesting: when a recipe calls for a dry white wine, it’s acceptable–nay, preferable–to use a dry vermouth. It’s cheaper, dryer, and saves better than an average white wine.

Not surprisingly, we rounded the soup out with breadsticks and an amazing salad based on our recently acquired paprika.

The salad was inspired by VeganYumYum’s Avocado Wasabi Salad, with paprika taking the central role in place of wasabi.

Check it:

Paprika Cashew Chickpea Salad

Cashews & Chickpeas

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 2 tsp sugar OR enough maple syrup to coat the cashews
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp soy sauce/tamari/shoyu
• salt & pepper, to taste

You can approach the cashews one of two ways: baking or sauteing. We sauteed them, but our friend Ryan has baked them with better results. So.

Baked Candied Cashews

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, coat the cashews in maple syrup. Once thoroughly coated, toss in 1 tbsp paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bake until brown, stirring often.

Fried Candied Cashews

In a medium-sized pan over medium heat, saute the cashews in high heat oil, coating in sugar, 1 tbsp paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cook until the spices and oil have congealed. Remove from heat. Note: they’ll seem soft at first, but they’ll firm up.

Paprika Chickpeas

In the same pan (if such a beast was used) as you cooked the cashews, saute the chickpeas in the soy sauce and remaining spices, until well coated and no liquid remains, salting and peppering to taste.

Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup hummus
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey/agave
• water, to desired consistency

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Finally, the salad

Toss the chickpeas, cashews, some diced purple onions, and cherry/grape tomatoes (optional) in with some fresh lettuce and enough dressing to coat lightly.

Since we’re just babies at raw, we’re still soliciting help. Our friends Danielle and Becky came to the rescue this week with info on raw sushi. This isn’t to be confused with eating raw fish, of course; rather, it’s about subbing (in this case) an almond carrot puree for the rice in standard sushi. In theory, you should really plan ahead and soak the almonds for 8 – 10 hours. Or, you can cheat like we did, as outlined below. We rounded the meal out with the Siamese Dream soup stolen from What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway? , in turn stolen from RAWvolution. Stealing from our favorite thieves.

Raw Sushi

We stayed pretty true to the sushi recipe, except I only soaked the almonds for about 30 minutes. To make up for this, you’ll want to add about 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of olive oil. I’d recommend soaking…but that takes more foreknowledge than I usually have. You might also consider peeling the almonds, as that’s supposed to make them even tastier.

For veggies, we used spinach, cucumber, beet, and yellow pepper.

You’ll notice that we cut it like a wrap, rather than standard nori-roll style. These are quite a bit softer than rice-based sushi, so they’re a lot tougher to cut small. For the sake of your sushi’s dignity, stick with the deli cut.

Siamese Dream Soup

This was very much like a raw Tom Khai, and almost mindlessly simple to make. The recipe calls for coconut water, which we didn’t have handy, so we used 1 can of coconut milk and 1 cup of water. The recipe also calls for 3 cloves of garlic–which is way too much. We tend to double the garlic in most recipes, so don’t write this off. One clove of garlic will suffice.

What’s really interesting about this soup, is that you almost don’t notice it’s raw. Cooking only tends to mellow the flavor in garlic, ginger, and coconut milk. So you can get away with using less, without losing any flavor. In a lot of ways, this is one of the key points of eating raw. Humans picked up cooking largely as a way of killing the harmful bacteria in meat. As vegans, we don’t really need to cook…though now that we’ve picked up the habit, it would be a tough one to kick without major motivation.

Since cats don’t cook, Wobbly Bob (AKA The Beast) decided he had some useful skills to lend:

Welcome to yet another iteration in our quest for the perfect chili.

One of our favorite local restaurants, Beezy’s, serves an amazing Pinto Poblano soup; it combines the best aspects of chili, black bean soup, and refried beans–with zang! The poblano features heavily in a lot of their scrambles as well. I was familiar with the poblano in its dried (ancho) form, but had never really paid this superlative pepper much heed. So I got to thinking: Why not switch things up a little and use roasted poblanos in my usual chili? And while I’m at it, why not ditch the carrots and celery and use red and green bell peppers? With the poblanos in action, I was able to tone down the spices, relying more on the fresh peppers for zest. The poblanos, along with a dash of smoked chili powder and a splash of red wine, made this a much richer, smokier chili. Best served with cornbread made in your grandma’s skillet.

Roasted Poblano Chili

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1/2 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 3 medium – large poblano peppers; roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 6 cups (1.5 large cans) cooked tomatoes, peeled
• 2 cups cooked red kidney beans (~3/4 cup dry)
• 2 cups cooked black beans (~3/4 cup dry)
• 1 cup cooked pinto beans (~1/4 cup dry)
• 2 – 3 cups liquid from beans and/or water
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 cup of red wine (we used a zinfandel [Paul Dolan is vegan])
• salt, to taste

If you’re using dried beans, start them first. They’ll be just about ready when you need them (if you’re pressure cooking them), as the poblanos will take a while too.

For the most part, this is a pretty easy recipe. It’s roasting the poblano’s that’s a bit tricky. Everyone has a different story about how this is best done. Some folks like roasting directly on an oven burner, some like cooking directly in a skillet, some like broiling in the oven, others like using a toaster oven. We have an electric stove, so the range (first) method was right out. And the toaster oven is just a smaller, more concentrated oven, right? So toaster oven it was. Pop the poblanos in on the toaster oven’s highest setting. When the tops start to bubble and turn black, flip them. Bake until both sides have bubbled up.

(Meanwhile, start the onions, red and green bell peppers, and garlic [in that order] cooking in a large pot over medium heat, in high heat oil of your choice.)

When they’re done, put them in a ziploc bag for 15 minutes. This allows them to sweat (which allegedly makes them less bitter and makes them easier to peel). For peeling and seeding, you want to wear latex gloves. These aren’t as bad as jalapenos or habaneros, but you still don’t want their juice in your eye. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, in which case you should invest in some Pukka Sauce ™ and be done with it. The skin should peel off pretty easily. The poblanos will be a bit soft, so you’ll want to be fairly careful. Once you’ve gotten the skin off, remove the seeds. You should be able to tear them open and just pull the seeds out. Now you’re ready to dice them up, which you should do.

Throw them in with the onions, peppers, and garlic.

Once the onions and pepper are soft, add in the herbs and spices, then the tomatoes. Next, add in the beans, along with 2 – 3 cups of bean liquid or water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes, ideally longer. Add in the wine if you’re using it and salt to taste.

Serve with cornbread.

Cornbread

We used this cornbread recipe. Secrets two, there are, spake thusly: (1) use your grandma’s cast-iron skillet to bake in, and (2) flip the pan upside down to dump out the cornbread cake, then flip it again so it’s right side up. Marvelous!

After making an Olive Garden-style minestrone, it seemed only natural to make the zuppa toscana as well. Since we had leftover breadsticks, it was another awesome replica. This soup is very much like the Spicy Potato & Kale Soup, but less spicy and much richer. I used a modified version of our tempeh soyrizo, and the leftover fakin crumblins from Tofu MarkMuffins. You’re always stuck with those crumblins, too thrifty to throw them out, but at a loss as to what to do with them. This soup is the answer!

Zuppa Toscana

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 package (1/2 lb) tempeh
• 4 tbsp fakin bits
• 3 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 large stalks (half a bunch) of curly kale
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 4 cups water
• 1.5 cups soy creamer
• salt & pepper, to taste

Soysage

Tear the tempeh into pieces, leaving some larger chunks. In a small-medium-sized bowl, mix the soy sauce, oregano, cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, and crushed red pepper. Put the tempeh into a large bowl, then stir in the mixture, coating all of the tempeh evenly. Let this sit for for 15 minutes or more before using–it lets everything soak in.

In a large pot, saute fakin bits in oil, over medium heat. When they’ve browned and are starting to get crips, add in the onion, tempeh, and garlic. When the onions are soft, add in the potatoes, veggie stock, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. When the potatoes are soft, add in the soy creamer and kale, salting and peppering to taste.

Serve with breadsticks!

If you’re like us, you often feel nostalgic for things that maybe aren’t that awesome. But there’s a context, a larger experience that imbues them with something better, gives them a prominent place in our happy memories. The Olive Garden is one of those for us. For both of our families, it was one of the “going out to eat someplace ‘fancy’” defaults. When we (independently of each other) became vegetarian, it became an even better option, since there were still many things on the menu we could eat. Once we became vegan, though, things got a little dicier. Depending on who you ask, the minestrone, breadsticks, capellini pomodoro, and salad are or aren’t vegan. The pasta may or may not have eggs. The marinara may or may not have meat broth. The salad dressing definitely has cheese in it–there are no vegan dressings.

Since (a) we’ve never been able to get a straight answer and (b) we now live in an area with other family-suitable options (namely, Chinese), we don’t eat at the Olive Garden any more. But every once in a while, we get the hankering for the enveloping warmth of minestrone and hot fresh breadsticks–and a big ol’ vegan salad. So last night, we created some real “hospitaliano”–vegan style.

The minestrone was only slightly modified from this excellent recipe.

Olive Garden-style Minestrone

• 1 medium-sized white onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 stalk of celery, diced finely
• 1/2 medium-sized zucchini, cut into small one-inch pieces or half-moons
• 1 small carrot (or half of a large carrot), grated
• a large handful of Italian/Spanish-style green beans (the flat ones–you can sub normal green beans in a pinch), cut into one-inch pieces
• 4 large stalks of kale (the curly kind), cut from the stalk and chopped coarsely
• 4 cups (2 cans) of cooked kidney beans
• 2 cups (1 can) cooked cannellini beans or white beans
• 4 cups (1 large can or 1 large jar) cooked tomatoes, with their juice
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 1.5 tsp dried oregano (1.5 tbsp fresh, minced)
• 1/2 tsp dried basil (1.5 tsp fresh, minced)
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme (1 tsp  fresh, minced)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup red wine (optional)

As you’d expect, saute the onion, garlic, and celery in a large pot over medium heat–in the oil of your choice (I recommend choosing safflower). When the onion has gotten soft, add in the broth, water, tomatoes, carrots, and herbs/spices. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. In a separate pot, cook the shells. When they’re done–but al dente–remove from heat, strain, and blanch with cold water. This will help prevent them from getting as bloated and mushy in the soup. A lazier person may decided to add the shells directly to the soup. But you wouldn’t do that. This is hospitaliano.

Once the 20 minutes is up, add in the remaining ingredients and cook until the zucchini and green beans are tender. It’s this crucial step that allows you to trump the Olive Garden–you can add veggies in at the end, ensuring their crispness, a paean to non-flaccid vegetables.

Now let’s trump their bread.

We used this recipe, unmodified, but reposted here for your convenience.

Breadsticks

• 1 1/3 cups of water
• 4 tsp melted Earth Balance ™
• 4 cups of flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast
• additional melted Earth Balance ™, for brushing on top
• additional salt, for sprinkling on top
• granulated garlic, for sprinkling on top

Combine all of the dry ingredients, minus 1 cup of flour, ideally in a mixer, using the bread hook attachment.

(We like to keep a giant thing of flour on hand so we can make bread any time we want.)

If you don’t have a mixer, you can theoretically mix by hand and then knead (we just got one for christmas and this was it’s maiden voyage–it was awesome). Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl/cup and then add slowly to the dry, while mixing. Now add in the remaining flour. Once the dough is mixed well (about 2 minutes in the mixer), roll out in to 16 long pieces. (We made about 12 and they were slightly fatter than the Olive Garden’s, but still awesome.)  Cover them and let them rise for at least 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Fahrenheit. Brush the bread with Earth Balance ™ and sprinkle salt on top.  Bake for 15 minutes. When you take them out, brush with Earth Balance ™ again and then sprinkle with granulated garlic.

And finally, the salad.

The salad, to be faithful to the OG original, should have lettuce (obviously), croutons, purple onion, roma tomatoes, black olives, peppers, and shredded carrots. We didn’t have any fresh tomatoes or black olives (which I don’t like) on hand, so we had to make due with some sliced zucchini instead. We made the croutons fresh, from a piece of bread cut into squares, lightly doused on olive oil, salt/pepper/garlic-ed, and toasted. The original salad should also have some sort of cheesy mayonnaise vinaigrette dressing, which we didn’t deign to copy. Instead, we made this vinaigrette, slightly modified.

Italian Vinaigrette Dressing

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a cruet and shake well.

When you’re vegan, you’re family!

There are two popular types of yellow dal–the heavily-spiced, tomato-y Indian version and the subtle, lemon-y Middle Eastern variety. At home, we tend toward making the Middle Eastern version–especially since our favorite Middle Eastern place Al Noor went out of business.

With the soup in mind, I need something else to round the meal out. Traditionally, this would be falafel or hummus & pita, but I’d just made hummus two nights ago and require substantial motivation to bust out the falafel. I was hankering, instead, for something more like pakora. I didn’t have any chickpea flour on hand, though, so I had to rethink things a bit. I came up with lightly breaded spinach-potato dumplings–to be eaten in the dal. Traditional? Nope. Delicious? Indubitably.

Middle Eastern Yellow Dal

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 cups yellow lentils OR yellow split peas (not quite the same, but either will work; yellow lentils can be tough to find)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
• juice from 1/2 lemon (or more, to taste)
• 9 cups of water
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

As you can see from the ingredients, this is a pretty simple recipe. I’ve of the school that a dal should generally be simple, letting the flavor of lentils or split peas really come through.  All you want to do is accent this flavor, not cook on top of it.

In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. When the onions are soft, add in the lentils/peas, stirring well. Let the lentils/peas cook for a few minutes, then add in the water. I like to add the water piecemeal–just enough to cover everything–and cover. This allows you to control exactly how thick or thin your dal is, but also requires a little babysitting. You can probably just add all of the water, cover, and occupy yourself with something else for a good 2 hours. Lentils/split peas take a while to cook.

When the lentils/peas finally get soft and are breaking apart, add in the spices and lemon. Cook for another 15 minutes or so.

Breaded Spinach-Potato Dumplings

• 3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
• 1/2 lb spinach
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 tbsp cornmeal/corn flour
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander seed
• safflower oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium-sized saucepan, boil the potatoes until they are soft–almost as soft as if you were making mashed potatoes. If you are using fresh spinach, steam it until it’s soft, then cut it into shreds. If you’re using frozen, you can boil it for a few minutes in the same water you used for the potatoes. I used frozen, but almost always prefer fresh. In a large bowl, mash up the potatoes with the spinach. Stir in the flour. You want the mixture to be thick enough to form balls. Add more flour if needed.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients. Form spinach-potato mixture into balls, roll in the oil, roll in the breading, then place on a baking sheet. This should make around 18 – 20 dumplings.

Bake 20 minutes to a side, or until nicely browned and somewhat crisp.

Serve in the soup:

If we were honest with ourselves, we’d call this this VeganSoups.org. Every non-soup recipe is really just a holdover until we can make another soup. At least in the 6 month Michigan winter. So here is yet another in a long line of vegan soups.

I saw this amazing-looking Potato Turnip soup on Vegan Eats & Treats a couple weeks ago and was intrigued. ‘What is this “turnip” you speak of’, thought I. I mean, I’ve heard of turnips. I’m even lead to believe they’re in my veggie stock. But ne’er have I cooked a turnip. Nary a one. (Much like the parsnip, which my good friend Jeremy turned me onto.)

As it turns out, a turnip is like a crispy potato with zang!.  This is perfectly complemented by lots of pepper and a healthy smattering of fresh rosemary. This soup can be seasonal for quite some time, too. We’re still getting local potatoes and turnips at the coop and our rosemary is happy as a clam (which is happy why?) indoors over the winter.

Potato, Turnip, & Rosemary Soup

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 4 large-ish russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 medium-sized turnips, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups veggie stock
• ~ 1 tbsp fresh rosemary (or 1 -2  tsp ground)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• salt & pepper, to taste

This soup is insanely easy. Saute the onion in a large pot over medium heat in oil of your choice (your choice would be awesome if it were Safflower). Add the turnips once you’ve finished peeling and cubing them. Ditto on the potatoes (they’re a bit softer, so they take less time to cook down). Once the onions are soft, add the veggie stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered until the potatoes and turnips are soft. Blend! If you’ve heeded past warnings, portents, and/or implorations, then you’ll use your immersion blender. Otherwise, do it the hard way and enjoy the $25 you’ve saved. I like to leave a bit of the potato/turnip intact, but you might like it smooth, like Barry White. Add the herbs and spices and you’re all set. That’s it! Easy!

Of all the soups on this Earth, the Thai Tom Kha is among my favorites.

We were introduced to it at the Thai Pavilion in DeKalb, IL–where I was introduced to Thai food in general. There seem to be lots of varieties of this tofu & coconut soup–some sweet and rich, others more savory–and the Thai Pavilion’s was sweet. Perhaps because that’s the Tom Kha I first loved, it’s the one I love best, and the one I’ve been striving for years to reproduce at home–with mixed levels of success. I had half an acorn squash and shloads of tofu on hand from the Indigenous Scramble, and a hankerin’ for soup, so this seemed like the perfect time to once again attempt a Tom Kha. This version is only slightly modified from Nancie McDermott’s Real Vegetarian Thai, a book I’ve been faithfully neglecting for years. Also, this version was pretty awesome.

Tom Kha w/Acorn Squash

• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1.5 cups of veggie stock
• fresh ginger, cut into about 20 quarter-sized disks (the recipe calls for galanga, but we never seem to have that on hand)
• 10 peppercorns
• zest from an entire lime (in theory, kaffir lime leaves are more authentic, but also harder to come by)
• 1/2 lb extra firm tofu, drained and cubed
• 1/2 acorn squash, skinned and cubed
• 6 mushrooms, cut into fourths (or slightly smaller if they’re large mushrooms)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 stalk of lemon grass (we left these out and it was still delicious; you can also use lemon grass powder)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
• green onions, chopped
• salt, to taste

In a medium to large pot, bring coconut milk and veggie stock to a boil. Add in the ginger/galanga, lime leaves/zest, peppercorns, and prepped lemongrass (if using) and reduce heat to simmer. We had leftover baked acorn squash, I just removed to skin and cubed it. For firmer squash, you’ll want it uncooked–which means that you’ll need to pare off the skin, then cube. Add the squash and mushrooms and bring back to a boil, cooking for 10 minutes. Add in the remaining ingredients, cooking until the tofu is heated through and has acquired some of the soup’s deliciosity.

This is best served (and we think traditionally) with rice on the side. Take a spoonful of rice and dunk it in the soup, occasionally grabbing some tofu, squash, or a mushroom. Place contents in your mouth. Rejoice.

We had this with a “Thai” salad–essentially a Western salad, but with a Peanut Sesame Ginger dressing, peanuts, sliced clementine, and a bit of wakame on the salad.

Thai Peanut Sesame Ginger Dressing

• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 tbsp water
• 6 tbsp safflower oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 1 large carrot, peeled
• 1 tbsp red thai curry paste
• 1 tbsp chopped onion

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Okay. So it’s not really white; it’s more of a yellowish-brown. But you get the idea. This is a lighter, more savory, more mellow version of a normal chili, substituting light beans–like white beans, chick peas, and navy beans–for the traditional dark beans–kidney beans and black beans. Mild green chilis, seitan, and a smidgen of nooch give it body instead of tomatoes. Props to Amy for conceiving of this genius chili.

While it’s not strictly necessary, this is a great candidate for cooking using bulk items. You can pressure cook the beans together (for this batch we didn’t have navy beans on hand, so used 3 cups each cooked chick peas and white beans–about 1 cup each dry, pressure-cooked for 35 minutes). We used our old seitan standby–the PPK’s to magically convert wheat gluten into seitan. You’ll probably want to have this on hand in advance. Admittedly, we used frozen corn and canned green chilis…so this guy wasn’t totally package-free and local. But it’s worth noting that it probably cost about $6 to make this–one of the many superpowers of our friend the bulk item.

White Chili

• 1 can (2 cups) white beans
• 1 can (2 cups) chick peas
• 1 can (2 cups) navy beans
• 1 cup corn
• 2 4oz cans (1 cup) mild green chilis, diced
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 6 -8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 5 small potatoes, peeled and cubed (optional)
• 1/4 cup nu yeast
• 6 cups veggie broth
• 2 cups water (optional)
• 1/2 batch (1 package) seitan, diced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, saute the onions, garlic, seitan, and chilis, adding them in order. Add in the potatoes if you’re using them. Once the onions are very soft–close to translucent–add in the beans and corn, then the broth, then the spices, and finally the nooch. Bring to a boil, then cover, cooking until the potatoes are soft–about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until you’re ready for the supreme white chili action.

If you like your chili a little brothier like Amy does, add in the additional water.

Best served with fresh croutons, if brothy, or crusty bread, if thick.

The soup must be brothy, a vehicle for croutons!, Amy demanded (and I paraphrased). And a vehicle for croutons it is! This soup was a hybrid actually, born in equal parts by Amy’s demand for a crouton-worthy soup and my need to use up those veggies we bought just in case the opportunity arose to cook for our friends and fambly over the holidays.

You know how it is. You start with the usual stuff, the onions, carrots, and celery, and then you get to the less usual: a green bell pepper, some broccoli. A pattern emerges; hey, a lot of this stuff is green. Therefore, we exclude the pasty white potato, eschew the black bean, renounce the purple cabbage. Maybe those carrots were a bad idea? No. They are there to remind you of how green everything else is. The flavor, it stands to reason, is then enhanced by red–the arch-nemesis of green–wine. It would be a war in your mouth if but for the courageous crouton.

Green Veggie Soup

• 2 medium white onions, diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into disks
• 2 stalks of celery, cut width-wise into half-moons
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 4 small stalks of broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
• 1/2 – 1 cup shelled edamame
• 6 cups of veggie stock
• 2 cups of water
• 3/4 cup red wine (Bolla Chianti is nice [and vegan])
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground mustard seed
• salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, start this like most soups–by sauteing the onions, carrots, celery and bell pepper in oil over medium heat. When the veggies have softened, scoop out as many of the carrots as you easily can (this isn’t critical–you just want something solid to chew occasionally). If you’re terribly worried, you can saute them separately. Add in the veggie stock and water, then blend with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular-people blender. Add in the broccoli, edamame, and carrots, then all of the spices, then the wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat until broccoli is tender–about 10 minutes–then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or more, salting and peppering to taste.

This is best served with fresh croutons. If you have leftover fresh bread, that’s best. Cut into whatever size croutons you like, douse with safflower oil (or whatever oil you have handy), then sprinkle very lightly with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bake at 400 until they’re slightly crisp. A toaster oven is the ideal candidate for this job.