Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Spring Onion Soup

This soup needs no introduction (...except to tell you that it was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe).

Spring Onion Soup
Serves 4


2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds spring onions (and I'm thinking Martha meant to add 'just the bulbs', since her soup doesn't have the slightest hint of green in it...)
5 sprigs asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tsp sea salt
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
chopped fresh dill

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent but not brown, about 15 minutes.  Add asparagus, salt, broth and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Using an immersion blender, carefully puree until smooth, 1 or 2 minutes.  Ladle into bowls and top with dill.

The dill really adds a nice, fresh flavor to the soup and it complements the deep onion flavor so well.  Try not to leave it out if you can help it!

Next on the list:  Curried Lentil Soup ~ Coming Soon!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Soup Spoons

I've been washing a lot of spoons lately.  That's probably because I've been making a lot of soup lately.  It must be the weather.


Since my last soup entry (Zucchini-Asparagus Soup with Basil), I've made several more.  The first was Spring Onion Soup, mostly because I'd gotten almost a dozen of these in my weekly box:



It's hard to make green soup look appetizing!  In fact, I'm wondering now if this was actually supposed to be made with only the bulbs of the red spring onions... Either way this was surprisingly delightful.  I was sure that anything prepared with that many onions, and not a lot of other ingredients, was bound to overwhelm even my taste buds!  Why I imagined it would taste like biting into a raw onion, I don't know.  Instead I found the taste of the onions to be subtle and almost sweet, even creamy.  

The next night I made a Curried Lentil Soup that seemed to get better with each reheating.  


The same could be said of this Lentil Barley Soup...


We had leftovers today and the flavors had fused together perfectly.  Pictures with no recipes...am I evil or what??  Here's one, with more to follow very soon (I promise!).

Lentil Barley Soup
Serves 8

2 Tbs olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
1 medium parsnip, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tsp cumin
10 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup barley
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, no salt added
3/4 cup lentils
1 bunch kale, cute into 1" thick strips
chopped fresh dill, for garnish

Heat oil over medium heat in a large soup pot and add carrots, onion, parsnip and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 7 minutes.  Add cumin and cook 1 minute.  Then add vegetable broth and barley and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered for 25 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes with their juices and lentils.  Continue to simmer another 30 minutes, or until barley and lentils are tender.  Add kale and simmer 10 minutes.  Garnish with dill and serve.

*If you're eating macro and avoiding tomatoes, they can easily be left out of the recipe, but you'll need to add another cup or so of vegetable broth so the soup doesn't get too thick.



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Love, Books, Photos and FOOD!

Hi, I'm back!  Now where was I...?

My husband and I celebrated our 9th anniversary last month at the Hard Rock Hotel.  Look how happy we are after 9 years...


It was fabulous!  The weather was gorgeous and we ate so many delicious things.  We decided to ditch the car and walk everywhere, which felt great.  We even partied like rock stars one night at Hard Rock's 207.  We're old, though, so we just danced, had a drink, and left after 30 minutes...

Let's see...what else?  I photographed my first wedding!


Wow, was that crazy or what?  I would have never survived if it weren't for the gorgeous and talented Tawny de Rue (who is also a major foodie, by the way).  We've been best friends for 30 years, and now we get to work together!  The wedding party was a ton of fun and so easy-going, they made our job easy.  Now I'm looking forward to the next one!

I bought a fabulous book today.  It's called The Foodie Handbook and it is full of fun and amazing pictures as well as recipes.  Granted, they're not vegan recipes but I don't mind taking the time to convert them and share them with you.  Check it out if you have time, though, because the pics will make you drool.  My favorite part starts on page 173 -  'Fifty Things Every Foodie Should Do, Or At Least Try, Once In Her (His) Life.'  How fun will that be?

Now that we're on the subject of food (FINALLY, right?), I want to tell you about the soup I made yesterday.  This pureed soup has not an ounce of dairy in it, but it is unbelievably creamy and delicious!  The best part is that it takes around 30 minutes to make.  No, no...that's not true.  The best part is that it tastes incredible!  Plus, it's a great way to use your spring veggies.


Zucchini-Asparagus Soup with Basil
Serves 3-4

2 Tbsp olive oil
6 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Cups low-sodium vegetable broth
10 sprigs of asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1" pieces
1/3 Cup packed fresh basil leaves

Cook garlic and onion in oil in a medium soup pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add chopped zucchini and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.  Add broth and asparagus to pot and simmer, partially covered, until tender, 15 minutes.  Add basil and carefully puree soup with an immersion blender until creamy, about 2 minutes.

*The major player here is the basil so make sure it's very fresh and fragrant as this makes up a lot of the soup's final flavor.

The ingredients of this soup may sound simple and the cooking method very basic, but don't let that fool you.  I plan on serving this soup as a first course at my next French dinner party!