Vegan Chubosaurus

what this fat vegan eats

Archive for soup week

ribollita – soup week #3

November 18, 2009 at 9:32 pm · Filed under food is tasty and tagged: , , ,

My kid is awesome. I took him three different recipes – one for “cheesy” cauliflower soup, one for potato soup, and one for Vegan Planet‘s ribollita – and asked him to choose one for tonight’s dinner. I was sure he’d pick the potato soup, as his favorite – even more favorite than tortilla – soup before I became vegan was this cholesterol-laden (heavy cream! several cups of sharp Cheddar!) concoction called Cheesiest Potato Soup. He surprised me, though, and picked the loaded-with-cabbage ribollita. Awesome.

RIBOLLITA (4-6 servings)

  • 1 small head green cabbage, quartered and cored
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (I totally left this out – onions are the bane of my existence, etc. etc.)
  • 1 stalk celery, diced (I rarely have celery in the house, but when I do, it just seems wrong to make a soup without it)
  • 1 medium carrot, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch-thick half-moons
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced (yeah, I used, um, eight)
  • 2 small white potatoes, peeled and diced (first: I never peel my my potatoes; second: I used 5 or 6 wee Klamath Pearls)
  • 1/3 cup tomato paste blended with 1 cup warm water
  • 5 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked or one 15-ounce can borlotti or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannellini)
  • 4 to 6 slices Italian bread, toasted (I used a whole wheat sourdough from a local bakery [Essential Baking’s Pain du George, for you locals])
  1. Cut the cabbage into 1/2-inch-wide strips and set aside.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion celery, carrot, and garlic (I always add some salt at this point, to help the base vegetables sweat a little). Cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, potatoes, diluted tomato paste, stock, bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes. Add the beans and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, then taste and adjust the seasonings.
  3. To serve, place a slice of toasted bread in the bottom of each bowl and ladle the soup over the bread. Serve hot.

This was quite tasty and very filling, and an excellent choice for a windy, cold, and blustery night like tonight.

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tortilla soup – soup week #2

November 17, 2009 at 11:17 pm · Filed under food is tasty, veganism is beautiful and tagged: , ,

Tortilla soup is a big favorite around here. It’s probably the soup my son asks for the most, spanning pretty much his entire lifetime. I had a basic chicken (euuurgh) tortilla soup recipe for many years, before I gave up eating animals. Now I tend to jump from recipe to recipe, no longer having “the one”. Tonight’s was adapted from Keni‘s second vegan recipe zine, and it was incredible.

  • 4 cups diced red potatoes
  • 1 T oil
  • Several cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes
  • 1 T chili powder
  • ½ T cumin
  • 2 tsp Mexican oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 16-ounce bag of frozen corn
  • 2 T corn meal
  • 1 cup soy/rice/etc milk
  • juice of one lime
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
  • Cayenne, salt, and black pepper to taste
  • 6 corn tortillas, cut into strips
  • possible toppings: salsa, hot sauce, chopped avocado, vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, guacamole, lime wedges, chopped tomatoes

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
  2. Boil potatoes in a soup pot until barely tender. Drain, reserving the cooking water.
  3. Sauté the garlic, jalapeno, bell pepper, celery, and carrot in oil until soft. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt, and sauté for one more minute. Add one cup of the potato water, the potatoes, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, place tortilla strips on a cookie sheet and bake until crispy.
  5. Remove half of the soup and purée in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth. Return soup to pot. Add corn, cornmeal, soy milk, half the cilantro, lime juice, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
  6. Place a few tortilla strips in the bottom of a bowl. Ladle soup over tortilla strips, topping with fresh cilantro and a few more tortilla strips, as well as any other toppings you’d like!

I like mine with fresh, cool avocado:

Ooohhh, all pretty for the picture.

All mixed-up and ready for nomming. YUM.

This is really good with a cold beer – Pacifico would be perfect, but I had a Heineken (no Pacifico in the house, alas) and it was mighty fine.

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she returns! with chickpea soup! – soup week #1

November 16, 2009 at 11:43 pm · Filed under food is tasty, veganism is beautiful and tagged: , ,

Oh, blogosphere, I missed you! Between week o’midterms two weeks ago, and week o’visiting friend in hospital last week, I have had zero time for cooking, much less blogging about cooking. But this week! Well, despite having an alarming amount of homework due, the completion of which is an impossibility if I intend to sleep before Saturday, as well as a fever, I got myself back into the kitchen tonight. And I am returning to blogging with a theme! The offspring and I have decreed this Soup Week. The weather here is even more Seattle-in-November than Seattle in November usually is, and believe me when I tell you that it’s the perfect week for soup. Lots of soup.

We started, tonight, with Chickpea Soup with Golden Spices, from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven.

Recipe!

–  4 15-ounce cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
– 1 T extra virgin olive oil
– 2 C minced onion
– 4 T minced garlic
– 2 tsp salt
– 1 large carrot, diced
– pinch of saffron threads
– 2 tsp cumin seed, lightly toasted
– 2 tsp dry mustard
– 1/4 C fresh lemon juice
– black pepper and cayenne, to taste
– 2-3 T tahini, optional
– Optional, for the top: minced cilantro, parsley, or mint; a drizzle of sesame oil; 2 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion (I leave this out entirely, of course, as onions are my sworn enemy), half the garlic, half the salt, and the carrot, saffron, cumin seeds, and mustard. Saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the carrot begins to soften. Add the chickpeas and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and salt, along with the lemon juice (I didn’t have this tonight, and the soup really is better with it), black pepper, and cayenne to taste. You can also add some sesame tahini at this point, if desired. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth. (You might want to add a little extra water if it seems too thick.) Taste to adjust seasonings. Serve hot, with a spoonful of diced tomato, a small amount of cilantro/parsley/mint, and possibly a drop or two of sesame oil on top of each serving, if desired.

I chopped up the last orange tomato from our neighbor’s yard (the last remaining reminder of summer in our kitchen), and instead of cilantro, I added a dollop of leftover homemade salsa. Mmmm…my salsa is fabulous. And so is this soup – it’s one of my all-time favorites and I usually make it several times in autumn and winter. Tonight we had it with a very simple salad (red leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomato).

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