Tis the Season for Soup
My friend Madelyn over at My NonProfit Experience asked that I send her my soup recipes. We are both vegetarian and like to recipe swap. I thought I would post them here as well.
I make and eat soup a lot. However, I will alter my usual recipes on the fly if I’m missing something or think something different that I have on hand may be good. That's the beauty of soup. My three go-to soups are Cannellini Bean Soup, Vegetable Soup and Minestrone Soup. In the summer I make Watermelon Gazpacho.
Like I said, I usually wing it, so if you have an intuition that something needs to be done but I haven’t written it here, by all means do it. Examples: adding water to your desired thickness, vegetable ratios (I usually try to put in equal amounts of each), more or less seasoning for your taste. Tip: Smell the herbs and spices before measuring them out and adding them. This will help you know what, if anything, you want to tweak when tasting later.
First up… bean soup!
Cannellini Bean Soup
1 Small Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Carrots
1 rib celery
½ Red Bell Pepper
1 Medium Potato (optional)
16 oz Vegetable Broth
2 Bay Leaves
1 tbsp Thyme
Crushed Red Pepper (to taste)
1 tsp Celery Seed
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Liquid Smoke (optional)
1 can cannellini beans (aka white kidney)
1 can stewed tomatoes (sub diced if needed)
1 vegetable bouillon cube (optional)
Tabasco (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
1. Dice and sauté a small onion until it begins to be translucent.
2. Add about 4 cloves minced garlic. (Sometimes more. I like garlic.)
3. Add a couple diced carrots, a rib of celery (some celery leaves if you have them), & half a red bell pepper. Sometimes I add a small-med diced potato if I have one.
4. Salt the vegetables and sweat for five minutes. (Sweat = stir periodically over heat lower than a sauté.)
5. Add a carton of vegetable broth, a couple bay leaves, tbsp of thyme, crushed red pepper (to taste, depending on how spicy you want it), tsp celery seed, and salt & black pepper (to taste). I keep a bottle of liquid smoke around and will sometimes add a few dashes of that to mimic that smoked meat flavor usually found in bean soups.
6. Bring the heat up to a simmer and cook until vegetable begin to be tender.
7. Add a can of cannellini/white beans (drained & rinsed), a can of stewed tomatoes (chop before adding), and more water (sometimes I will add a bouillon cube here, too).
8. Bring back up to simmer another 5 minutes. It is finished when vegetables are tender. I usually eat my bowl of soup with a splash of Tabasco and sprinkle of parmesan. Yum!
5-6 servings
When listing all of the ingredients I realized that it may seam like a complicated recipe, but it’s really simple once you’ve made it a couple of times. I’ve been making it for so long that most of these items are staples in my pantry now.
Happy eating!
I make and eat soup a lot. However, I will alter my usual recipes on the fly if I’m missing something or think something different that I have on hand may be good. That's the beauty of soup. My three go-to soups are Cannellini Bean Soup, Vegetable Soup and Minestrone Soup. In the summer I make Watermelon Gazpacho.
Like I said, I usually wing it, so if you have an intuition that something needs to be done but I haven’t written it here, by all means do it. Examples: adding water to your desired thickness, vegetable ratios (I usually try to put in equal amounts of each), more or less seasoning for your taste. Tip: Smell the herbs and spices before measuring them out and adding them. This will help you know what, if anything, you want to tweak when tasting later.
First up… bean soup!
Cannellini Bean Soup
1 Small Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
2 Carrots
1 rib celery
½ Red Bell Pepper
1 Medium Potato (optional)
16 oz Vegetable Broth
2 Bay Leaves
1 tbsp Thyme
Crushed Red Pepper (to taste)
1 tsp Celery Seed
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Liquid Smoke (optional)
1 can cannellini beans (aka white kidney)
1 can stewed tomatoes (sub diced if needed)
1 vegetable bouillon cube (optional)
Tabasco (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
1. Dice and sauté a small onion until it begins to be translucent.
2. Add about 4 cloves minced garlic. (Sometimes more. I like garlic.)
3. Add a couple diced carrots, a rib of celery (some celery leaves if you have them), & half a red bell pepper. Sometimes I add a small-med diced potato if I have one.
4. Salt the vegetables and sweat for five minutes. (Sweat = stir periodically over heat lower than a sauté.)
5. Add a carton of vegetable broth, a couple bay leaves, tbsp of thyme, crushed red pepper (to taste, depending on how spicy you want it), tsp celery seed, and salt & black pepper (to taste). I keep a bottle of liquid smoke around and will sometimes add a few dashes of that to mimic that smoked meat flavor usually found in bean soups.
6. Bring the heat up to a simmer and cook until vegetable begin to be tender.
7. Add a can of cannellini/white beans (drained & rinsed), a can of stewed tomatoes (chop before adding), and more water (sometimes I will add a bouillon cube here, too).
8. Bring back up to simmer another 5 minutes. It is finished when vegetables are tender. I usually eat my bowl of soup with a splash of Tabasco and sprinkle of parmesan. Yum!
5-6 servings
When listing all of the ingredients I realized that it may seam like a complicated recipe, but it’s really simple once you’ve made it a couple of times. I’ve been making it for so long that most of these items are staples in my pantry now.
Happy eating!