Veggie Soup
It's been kind of a lousy week. I'm just in one of those crabby moods, you know, the kind you just can't get out of. I'm sure it doesn't help that the weather has been cold and wet. I did manage to get some of my sewing done yesterday though. I've had a pile of stuff on the sewing pile for... well, to be honest, the stuff at the bottom has probably been there a year. But yesterday I loaded up my iPod with podcasts and sat down to do some of it. I patched the strap of a cute top the Kürbis had chewed through, hemmed some jeans which turned out really really well, took in a blouse that kind of flared out too high (I guess I have kind of a long waist). Hmm... that doesn't really seem like a lot, now that I write it out. Maybe I'm forgetting something... But hey, I'm no seamstress, and at least I didn't have to pay to get that stuff done.
I was gonna make Kaiserschmarrn yesterday, which is an über-traditional kind of fluffy pancake. It's usually eaten as dessert though, since it's pretty sweet, so we usually make some vegetable soup to eat beforehand. The weather here has been cold and dreary for the past week, so it was perfect soup weather. I started off chopping veggies for the soup and soon realized that it was gonna be a huge pot of soup, much bigger than I'd intended. So we nixed the Kaiserschmarrn and just had bread and cold cuts to go with the soup.
The soup was excellent though. It was our standard recipe, but with chicken stock instead of water and boullion cubes. IIRC, a few months ago we roasted a chicken, and then I threw the carved up carcass into a pot, covered it with water and simmered the hell out of it. I strained the bones and meat particles out with a sieve (the cat got the meat) and filled the stock into plastic baggies when it had cooled. These went into the freezer.
So for the soup: Get a nice clean yellow onion, but leave one layer of the brown, dry skin on. Cut off just enough of the root part so its clean, but not so much that all the layers fall apart. Cut it in half (through the equator, not top to bottom). Preheat your soup pot (a big one) with a splash of olive oil (or the oil of your choice) and put both onion halves face down in the oil. You might want to put a lid on, it splatters a little. Don't turn the onion, let it get very dark brown on the face. When it's just about to burn (should smell a little burnt already), pour a quart or so of water (or in our case two baggies of chicken stock ice) into the pan and cover to avoid being splattered. That water will pick up the brown residue the onion left on the bottom of the pan, which is where all the flavor is. The onion skin will give the soup an awesome color.
While you're waiting for the soup to come to a boil, chop your veggies. I used one medium peeled potato, diced into cubes, one carrot sliced into thin slices, a quarter of a celery root (this stuff is great in soup, waldorf salad, and about nowhere else), about a third of a zucchini (dice this and the celery root to the same size as the potato, it looks nicer that way), a spring onion, and a handful of cauliflower. I also chopped a clove of garlic and a chili into thin slices.
When the soup was boiling, I added the potato, celery root and carrot, because those take longest to cook. After about five minutes, I added the cauliflower. I don't like mushy cauliflower, but if you do, just add it with the first batch of veggies. When the potato is about done, add the zucchini, garlic, chili and spring onion. I also added a handful of frozen peas. Or more accurately, I broke a fist sized chunk off the solid peas-and frost lump in the bag. Simmer about five more minutes. Season the soup if you haven't already (boullion cubes, some kind of Italian herbs or herb mix). We wanted a meatier soup, so I sliced up some frozen hot dogs and tossed them in too.
I ended up having to add more water because there were so many veggies. We ate 2 bowls of soup each, and there's plenty leftover, sitting on the stove for this evening.
I was gonna make Kaiserschmarrn yesterday, which is an über-traditional kind of fluffy pancake. It's usually eaten as dessert though, since it's pretty sweet, so we usually make some vegetable soup to eat beforehand. The weather here has been cold and dreary for the past week, so it was perfect soup weather. I started off chopping veggies for the soup and soon realized that it was gonna be a huge pot of soup, much bigger than I'd intended. So we nixed the Kaiserschmarrn and just had bread and cold cuts to go with the soup.
The soup was excellent though. It was our standard recipe, but with chicken stock instead of water and boullion cubes. IIRC, a few months ago we roasted a chicken, and then I threw the carved up carcass into a pot, covered it with water and simmered the hell out of it. I strained the bones and meat particles out with a sieve (the cat got the meat) and filled the stock into plastic baggies when it had cooled. These went into the freezer.
So for the soup: Get a nice clean yellow onion, but leave one layer of the brown, dry skin on. Cut off just enough of the root part so its clean, but not so much that all the layers fall apart. Cut it in half (through the equator, not top to bottom). Preheat your soup pot (a big one) with a splash of olive oil (or the oil of your choice) and put both onion halves face down in the oil. You might want to put a lid on, it splatters a little. Don't turn the onion, let it get very dark brown on the face. When it's just about to burn (should smell a little burnt already), pour a quart or so of water (or in our case two baggies of chicken stock ice) into the pan and cover to avoid being splattered. That water will pick up the brown residue the onion left on the bottom of the pan, which is where all the flavor is. The onion skin will give the soup an awesome color.
While you're waiting for the soup to come to a boil, chop your veggies. I used one medium peeled potato, diced into cubes, one carrot sliced into thin slices, a quarter of a celery root (this stuff is great in soup, waldorf salad, and about nowhere else), about a third of a zucchini (dice this and the celery root to the same size as the potato, it looks nicer that way), a spring onion, and a handful of cauliflower. I also chopped a clove of garlic and a chili into thin slices.
When the soup was boiling, I added the potato, celery root and carrot, because those take longest to cook. After about five minutes, I added the cauliflower. I don't like mushy cauliflower, but if you do, just add it with the first batch of veggies. When the potato is about done, add the zucchini, garlic, chili and spring onion. I also added a handful of frozen peas. Or more accurately, I broke a fist sized chunk off the solid peas-and frost lump in the bag. Simmer about five more minutes. Season the soup if you haven't already (boullion cubes, some kind of Italian herbs or herb mix). We wanted a meatier soup, so I sliced up some frozen hot dogs and tossed them in too.
I ended up having to add more water because there were so many veggies. We ate 2 bowls of soup each, and there's plenty leftover, sitting on the stove for this evening.