I'll admit, I felt a little out of my element on this one. I adore all things containing beets and borscht is easily one of the first things I think of when I think of beets. My friend, Esther, makes the best borscht I have ever tasted, but I've always struggled with my love of it because it features beef almost as prominently as those magenta-hued taproots. Combine this love of borscht with an abundance of beets and a strong desire to keep cooking veg meals, the quest for vegetarian borscht was on!
I had my parameters pretty clear in my mind: I wanted something quick and/or simple that relied more on the strength of its veggies rather than a lot of grain/bean/legume filler. Not that I don't love my grains/beans/legumes - quite the contrary, as this blog will attest - I just didn't want them in the borscht, if they could be circumvented. Along those lines, I wanted the vegetables involved to stand out, for it to be pretty clear what each of them was. Several web searches yielded promising results, but nothing was quite what I was looking for. One recipe called for grating the beets before cooking them, which seemed a little odd at first, but on second thought I might give it a try if I make the soup again. Others called for ample additions of beans or lentils, something I'd already decided I didn't want. And so it was after about 45 minutes of interesting but ulitmately unsatisfying searching that my eyes began to wander in the direction of my slow-cooker (side-note: I need to come up with a name for her - it's definitely a "her"). And I was at it again, chop and toss and set on high while I scampered off to work (the midnight shift, bleargh).
I was happy enough with the results, but next time I might take a different approach. I had debated roasting the veggies before adding them to the slow-cooker, but was afraid they might fall apart completely (over-cooked beets = ewwww). Looking back, they probably would have been fine as long as the slow-cooker was on Low instead of High for those eight hours. That said, I let the raw veggies cook longer than eight hours altogether to make sure the beets were done. In the process, they lost all of their color and the soup itself took on a strange reddish-orange color. But it tasted great, so I'm not too concerned :)
Borscht for a Slow-cooker
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
3-4 medium beets, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch cubes
2-3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small sticks
1 large onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 bay leaves
1 28-oz can crushed/diced tomatoes
1/2-3/4 cup nutritional yeast
dried thyme
1 teaspoon dill seed, ground
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed, ground
2-3 Tablespoons liquid aminos/tamari/soy sauce
2 Tablespoons miso paste
flavored vinegar to taste (balsamic, red wine, cider)
salt and pepper to taste
water
To top: lemon juice, (vegan) sour cream, fresh dill weed
Combine everything in a slow-cooker and add enough water to cover. Set on high and check after six hours, continue cooking until all veggies are tender. Serve hot or cold with a dollop of (vegan) sour cream, a splash of lemon juice and fresh dill weed.
Showing posts with label Soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soup. Show all posts
01 December 2009
29 November 2009
Soup for Sally: Four-Bean and Kale
I love my slow-cooker. I love that I found it at a garage sale along with my pocket knife, tea pot, and lazy Susan that inspired Will to make me an amazing rotating Scrabble board. I love that it is huge and that one batch of soup made in it produces about 3 quart-sized containers. But what I really love is the whole idea of a slow-cooker: Throw a bunch of delicious things into it, put on high for a couple hours, and return home from a long day to a house that smells of pure delicious. My slow-cooker saves me money by allowing me to use dried beans in soups instead of canned - just soak them overnight (or cover with water, bring to a boil, then kill the heat and wait an hour). The flavors of the food are better - more beany goodness! - and nothing falls apart because there's hardly any agitation during the cooking process.
As a result of the "throw everything in and wait for the yum to happen" mentality, I hardly ever make the same soup twice (or most other foods, for that matter!). The beans are always a mixture of whatever I have on hand - chickpeas, red beans, black beans, kidney beans, maybe lentils - while the vegetables always include the staples - onions, carrots/celery, garlic - with whatever needs to be used up. I've learned from experience that it's best to keep it simple where spices and herbs are concerned. Bay leaves are a must, as is cumin for most of my bean soups, while dried oregano or thyme go well in tomato-based soups. Salt and pepper are usually best saved until the end, along with vinegars or lemon juice, since they'll toughen the beans' skins.
This bean soup combined all the different beans I had with what was left in my bare storage room - some onions, garlic, a big can of tomatoes. I put in close to a cup of nutritional yeast to act as a thickener - that extra vitamin B-12 won't hurt ya either - and used a dash of vinegar at the end. The final addition, after the soup was basically done, was 2-3 cups of kale that I had blanched and frozen this summer. The result was a delicious soup packed with healthy vitamins and minerals for mama and the baby :)
Slow-Cooker Bean Soup with Kale
1 1/2 cups dried beans (any mixture will do)
Soak the beans overnight - make sure they are covered by about two inches of water, since they will expand. Alternatively, cover them with at least two inches of water and bring them to a boil, then take them off the heat and let rest for at least one hour.
Drain and rinse the beans and empty into the slow-cooker. Add:
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 jalapeno peppers, minced (more to taste, the heat develops as the soup ages)
2 bay leaves
1 28 oz can of diced/crushed tomatoes
1/2-1 cup nutritional yeast
enough water to cover everything
Set the slow-cooker on High and let it work its magic until the beans are cooked through (I left mine on while I was at work, so 8 hours, but it could go even longer). Once the beans are cooked, add:
2-3 cups (as much will fit) blanched kale or collard greens
more nutritional yeast if needed
salt and pepper to taste
balsamic or sherry vinegar to taste
Turn the slow-cooker off or to Low and wait until the kale or collards are tender enough to eat. Taste again for seasoning and serve hot.
As a result of the "throw everything in and wait for the yum to happen" mentality, I hardly ever make the same soup twice (or most other foods, for that matter!). The beans are always a mixture of whatever I have on hand - chickpeas, red beans, black beans, kidney beans, maybe lentils - while the vegetables always include the staples - onions, carrots/celery, garlic - with whatever needs to be used up. I've learned from experience that it's best to keep it simple where spices and herbs are concerned. Bay leaves are a must, as is cumin for most of my bean soups, while dried oregano or thyme go well in tomato-based soups. Salt and pepper are usually best saved until the end, along with vinegars or lemon juice, since they'll toughen the beans' skins.
This bean soup combined all the different beans I had with what was left in my bare storage room - some onions, garlic, a big can of tomatoes. I put in close to a cup of nutritional yeast to act as a thickener - that extra vitamin B-12 won't hurt ya either - and used a dash of vinegar at the end. The final addition, after the soup was basically done, was 2-3 cups of kale that I had blanched and frozen this summer. The result was a delicious soup packed with healthy vitamins and minerals for mama and the baby :)
Slow-Cooker Bean Soup with Kale
1 1/2 cups dried beans (any mixture will do)
Soak the beans overnight - make sure they are covered by about two inches of water, since they will expand. Alternatively, cover them with at least two inches of water and bring them to a boil, then take them off the heat and let rest for at least one hour.
Drain and rinse the beans and empty into the slow-cooker. Add:
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 jalapeno peppers, minced (more to taste, the heat develops as the soup ages)
2 bay leaves
1 28 oz can of diced/crushed tomatoes
1/2-1 cup nutritional yeast
enough water to cover everything
Set the slow-cooker on High and let it work its magic until the beans are cooked through (I left mine on while I was at work, so 8 hours, but it could go even longer). Once the beans are cooked, add:
2-3 cups (as much will fit) blanched kale or collard greens
more nutritional yeast if needed
salt and pepper to taste
balsamic or sherry vinegar to taste
Turn the slow-cooker off or to Low and wait until the kale or collards are tender enough to eat. Taste again for seasoning and serve hot.
22 November 2009
Soup for Sally: Roasted Pumpkin and Root Veggie
I feel like there are still some DCF recipes I've yet to upload, but for now I want to post the most recent creation. Recent as in last night.
My friend, Sally, is within weeks/days/hours(?) of adding a new little guy or gal to her family up on Green Garden Hill. So in preparation for her lazing about the house and eating bon-bons (yeah, right), I'm whipping up a few soups that she can have on hand for when there's no time/energy to make food for her family after a day of chasing after a toddler and dog whilst caring for an infant. She's an amazing woman, so only the finest will do! Here's my first concoction for the expectant mama.
Roasting veggies is the easiest thing in the world; really the most difficult part is all the chopping, but if you're handy with a knife - which, I'm proud to say, I am - it's actually quite quick. The important thing is to make sure all your components are roughly the same size - the smaller they are, the quicker they'll roast. I like to do about 1 1/2-2-inch chunks for soup, it saves time. If the roasted goodness is going to be turned into soup goodness, you'll want to peel things like potatoes and carrots, but I left the peel on the pumpkin so it would hold together while roasting. And it's not like it's difficult to get cooked pumpkin off the rind.
When all your veggies are chopped and on a baking sheet or roasting pan, give everything a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and no more than two other dried or fresh herbs/spices (more than that and all the flavours get muddled). Lately I've been favouring Hungarian paprika and fresh thyme sprigs. Drizzle everything with a few teaspoons of olive oil and toss until everything's coated with oil. Then cover with foil and roast at 425 F until you can easily stick a fork into the veggies.
After everything's roasted, you can put it all into the food processor and let the machine do the work of mashing - which is a good idea if you have big chunks of onion or fennel, as I did - or just throw everything in the soup pot and squish with a fork. Then you're just a few cups of water or broth away from yummy yummy soup. Here's what I did for Sally's soup:
1 small pumpkin (or other hard winter squash), seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks
6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 large onion, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 fennel bulbs, quartered
4 sprigs fresh thyme
6-8 whole cloves garlic, peeled
sea salt
black pepper
paprika
olive oil
several cups veggie broth or water
splash of sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
other seasonings to taste
Combine the vegetables and fresh herbs and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and paprika. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Cover with foil and roast at 425 F for 30-40 minutes, until vegetables are easily pierced with a fork. Allow to cool slightly and remove rind from pumpkin, discard rind. Discard thyme sprigs and place pumpkin and other veggies in a food processor. Pulse until mashed but still chunky. Combine vegetable mash in a soup pot with 4-6 cups of veggie broth or water and remaining ingredients. Season to taste with other spices, such as turmeric, curry, cumin, etc. Serve hot.
My friend, Sally, is within weeks/days/hours(?) of adding a new little guy or gal to her family up on Green Garden Hill. So in preparation for her lazing about the house and eating bon-bons (yeah, right), I'm whipping up a few soups that she can have on hand for when there's no time/energy to make food for her family after a day of chasing after a toddler and dog whilst caring for an infant. She's an amazing woman, so only the finest will do! Here's my first concoction for the expectant mama.
Roasting veggies is the easiest thing in the world; really the most difficult part is all the chopping, but if you're handy with a knife - which, I'm proud to say, I am - it's actually quite quick. The important thing is to make sure all your components are roughly the same size - the smaller they are, the quicker they'll roast. I like to do about 1 1/2-2-inch chunks for soup, it saves time. If the roasted goodness is going to be turned into soup goodness, you'll want to peel things like potatoes and carrots, but I left the peel on the pumpkin so it would hold together while roasting. And it's not like it's difficult to get cooked pumpkin off the rind.
When all your veggies are chopped and on a baking sheet or roasting pan, give everything a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and no more than two other dried or fresh herbs/spices (more than that and all the flavours get muddled). Lately I've been favouring Hungarian paprika and fresh thyme sprigs. Drizzle everything with a few teaspoons of olive oil and toss until everything's coated with oil. Then cover with foil and roast at 425 F until you can easily stick a fork into the veggies.
After everything's roasted, you can put it all into the food processor and let the machine do the work of mashing - which is a good idea if you have big chunks of onion or fennel, as I did - or just throw everything in the soup pot and squish with a fork. Then you're just a few cups of water or broth away from yummy yummy soup. Here's what I did for Sally's soup:
1 small pumpkin (or other hard winter squash), seeded and cut into 2-inch chunks
6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 large onion, cut into 2-inch chunks
2 fennel bulbs, quartered
4 sprigs fresh thyme
6-8 whole cloves garlic, peeled
sea salt
black pepper
paprika
olive oil
several cups veggie broth or water
splash of sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
other seasonings to taste
Combine the vegetables and fresh herbs and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and paprika. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Cover with foil and roast at 425 F for 30-40 minutes, until vegetables are easily pierced with a fork. Allow to cool slightly and remove rind from pumpkin, discard rind. Discard thyme sprigs and place pumpkin and other veggies in a food processor. Pulse until mashed but still chunky. Combine vegetable mash in a soup pot with 4-6 cups of veggie broth or water and remaining ingredients. Season to taste with other spices, such as turmeric, curry, cumin, etc. Serve hot.
24 September 2009
Zuke Soup Riot (Curried Zucchini Soup)
This is one of the recipes I've developed this summer while volunteering at Dancing Crane Farm. I'll try to relocate more recipes from my cluttered inbox to this space as I have the time. Same with pictures of the recipes.
Great for using up that one giant zucchini that everyone always seems to get stuck with at some point during the season. Or if you've already put that giant one to use in zucchini bread, use about three of the normal-sized ones. Like most soups, this one will improve with time, so make it a day in advance if you can. Toast up some pita bread to dip and you've got a bowl of warm spicy goodness on a cool fall night.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8-10 cups finely diced zucchini or other summer squash (use one giant zuke or three average-sized ones; scrape out the seeds)
2-3 Tablespoons curry powder (the amount will vary depending on the amount of zucchini, the strength of the curry powder, and your preference for curry/spice - make it how you like it)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
scant 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2-3 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon molasses
1/2 bunch of parsley/cilantro, minced
Fry the onion with the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat until the onion starts to brown. Stir in the garlic, curry powder and cumin and keep stirring to keep the garlic from burning, about 2 minutes. Add the diced zucchini, red pepper flakes (optional) and a small amount of water (no more than half a cup). Stir to coat the zucchini with the spices, cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the zucchini starts to give up a lot of liquid, add just enough water to cover the zucchini. Continue cooking at a rapid simmer until the zucchini is soft and mashes easily, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in nutritional yeast, tamari, and molasses and remove pan from heat. Let cool slightly and blend until chunky, but not completely smooth. Stir in parsley and serve.
Great for using up that one giant zucchini that everyone always seems to get stuck with at some point during the season. Or if you've already put that giant one to use in zucchini bread, use about three of the normal-sized ones. Like most soups, this one will improve with time, so make it a day in advance if you can. Toast up some pita bread to dip and you've got a bowl of warm spicy goodness on a cool fall night.
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8-10 cups finely diced zucchini or other summer squash (use one giant zuke or three average-sized ones; scrape out the seeds)
2-3 Tablespoons curry powder (the amount will vary depending on the amount of zucchini, the strength of the curry powder, and your preference for curry/spice - make it how you like it)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
scant 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2-3 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon molasses
1/2 bunch of parsley/cilantro, minced
Fry the onion with the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat until the onion starts to brown. Stir in the garlic, curry powder and cumin and keep stirring to keep the garlic from burning, about 2 minutes. Add the diced zucchini, red pepper flakes (optional) and a small amount of water (no more than half a cup). Stir to coat the zucchini with the spices, cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the zucchini starts to give up a lot of liquid, add just enough water to cover the zucchini. Continue cooking at a rapid simmer until the zucchini is soft and mashes easily, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in nutritional yeast, tamari, and molasses and remove pan from heat. Let cool slightly and blend until chunky, but not completely smooth. Stir in parsley and serve.
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