It's soup! (vegetarian)

That is a terrific recipe.

1 Like

I really like this white bean, kale and roasted vegetable soup recipe from Epicurious. I do make a few changes, but mostly stay true to the recipe. To bolster the depth of flavor of the broth, I start by blitzing a couple of carrots, celery stalks and an onion in the food processor to make a mirepoix and then saute it over medium-high heat until lightly browned. I also add an extra can of white beans and a few parmesan rinds or a handful of grated parm. Make sure to add a few extra garlic cloves in the roasting vegetables in case some burn or disintegrate during roasting. The roasted garlic adds lots of flavor. Oh, and I use a 15 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes instead of fresh.

3 Likes

Last week it was one of my big pots of “time to clean out the vegetable drawers” minestrone - a completely flexible, usually very hearty and tasty, recipe:

2 Likes

Probably the last soup of “souping season” (terminology by @Ttrockwood, I believe) - it was good, but needs work:

2 Likes

I hadn’t been following this topic but saw it, and I thought you and @Ttrockwood may be interested in my recipe for peanut butter soup. The first part is a vegetable stock. One can, of course, substitute any other vegetable stock.3

Peanut butter soup

2 diced onions
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 diced carrots
1 small diced potato
2 diced parsnips
5 sliced mushrooms
parsley
2 liters of water (or less)
salt and pepper
*
bunch of Swiss chard, cima di rape, or kale
dried porcini
1 ½ cups canned tomatoes
1/3 tsp ground cumin
cayenne, chili powder, diced hot pepper (optional)
1 cup of peanut butter (or more)
2 tbsp lime juice

Sauté the onion in olive oil until quite soft. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook till fragrant. Add carrots, potato, parsley, mushrooms and salt; add water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain out the solids (or puree), then add the shredded greens, tomatoes, soaked porcini, and cumin. Simmer until vegetables are soft.
Add peanut butter and stir until melted.
Add lime juice before serving.

4 Likes

Ooooh, thank you this sounds FANTASTIC! I make a peanut buttery version of north african sweet potato black bean soup frequently that uses peanut butter and i love how it adds that peanutty flavor and some body to the soup.

1 Like

Some ten years ago I once made a peanut butter soup for a vegetarian friend. I completely forgot about it, but he mentioned it each time he saw me. So I finally went on the internet, cobbled something together, experimented with it, tinkered with it, and now we have something that everyone likes, vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It’s even vegan.

By the way, I make my own peanut butter. 4 minutes in the food processor.

2 Likes

That’s how the best dishes are created! Seriously one of the only reasons i want a food processor is to make nut butter… however my minimal kitchen space/storage situation means i own just a couple small appliances. I like to get the peanut butter from the machine at whole foods which i imagine is similar just a lot more expensive (sigh)

1 Like

I made the “Beige Soup” (as we’re now calling it) again, with more modifications. Think I’m getting to a point where I’ll stop experimenting and keep the latest version, 'cause it’s ticking all the right boxes for us.

1 Like

I am really intrigued by this recipe. Any idea how it freezes? (I’d not add the fresh lime juice until serving.) Also, is the peanut butter more chunky or smooth - or somewhere in-between?

When I make the soup, there is usually some left over, but we just refrigerate it and finish it the next day. I have no idea how peanut butter freezes, because I have never tried it. When we go on vacation, I put unfinished hunks of cheese and butter in the freezer, and they’re fine when we get back. If I have peanut butter, I just leave it in a closed container in the fridge, and it also stays fine. Maybe it would be best to freeze the stock in portions, and then just add the peanut butter, tomatoes and other vegetables just before serving. That way the cooking time will only be about 15-20 minutes.
The peanut butter is made in the food processor (4 minutes) and it comes out quite smooth.

1 Like

I freeze a peanut butter sweet potato black bean stew all the time and it’s totally fine. I would totally freeze bcc’s recipe

1 Like

Another recipe for Ash e Reshteh. Happy Nowruz!

1 Like

My white kidney bean ash e reshteh I omitted the lentils and chickpeas.

I liked it better topped with a dollop of sour cream than a dollop of yogurt.

Another recipe

5 Likes

Well, now you’ve made me haul out my old ash reshteh pix. This is my version:
File_000
And this is my ash reshteh guy, my inspiration for making it in the first place. His is way better, but mine is pretty good, too.
File_000(1)

6 Likes

I’m not much of a soup person so I keep it simple with chicken balls, lemon grass, galangal, lettuce, and egg tutu. (PS - I need to learn to read! Edited.)

A nice breakfast soup.

A version of hot and sour.

3 Likes

I made Anthony bourdains mushroom soup. Delicious, easy and no cream!
Recipe asked for button mushrooms, I had a bag of shiitake and miatake mushrooms that needed to be used and prob upped the flavor a bit.

3 Likes

Looks good, @small_h!

I haven’t ordered it at a restaurant yet. Some day. :wink:

1 Like

The restaurant, Taste of Persia, actually has a pretty interesting history. It began as a counter within a mediocre pizza place (and also as a vendor at the Union Square Holiday Market, which is where my picture is from). Eventually the mediocre pizza place got sick of housing a well-regarded Persian takeout operation and booted them out. And then started its own copycat Persian takeout operation. Which they had to close after an outcry. Now Taste of Persia is delivery only, and doing pretty well. More info here:

1 Like

Cool! Thanks for the info . Hope to check it out whenever I make it back to NYC. Maybe 2022? :wink: