the honey eater » soups

Vegetable Soup

naomi — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:35:43 +0000

When I cook, I try to use mostly seasonal, local ingredients. However, there are times, when say I’ve just come back from a trip where I’ve been eating mostly sausage and potatoes, when all I want to eat is the vegetable soup that my mom used to make from a recipe that came from Weight Watchers some 20 years ago. In such as a case as that I might just buy zucchini and some tomatoes that were grown in some far off place where it’s currently summer and call it a day. After the starchy excesses of Berlin I was craving this soup something awful. It’s super simple, easy to make but feels really good.

Vegetable Soup
adapted from Weight Watchers

olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 zucchini halved and thinly sliced (so you have semi-circles)
2-3 carrots, sliced
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
3-4 cups chicken broth
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onions are transparent. Add zucchini, tomatoes and carrots and cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer about 20-30 minutes. Stir in parsley and salt and pepper (I like to add lots of pepper). If you’re feeling up to it, you can roughly puree half of the soup, leaving the other half untouched. Serve plain or topped with grated cheese.

Chestnut and Kale Soup or a cure for holiday over-eating

naomi — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:15:11 +0000

We touched down in Newark at 6:00 Saturday morning and were in our double-wide matchbox of an apartment in Brooklyn by 7:30. After a breakfast of turkey sandwiches we settled in for a long winter’s nap. . . . that lasted two hours.

I went through the rest of the day feeling like I had a hangover without having had any of the fun that usually leads to one (unless a red-eye flight from L.A. to New York is your idea of a good time). Both Amir and I agreed that we were in need of a detox.

I had bookmarked this recipe before we went away because it seemed like a perfect post-thanksgiving meal, and it was. It was worth dragging myself to the market to get kale and a big bottle of chestnuts. It was worth soaking the beans. It was worth chopping the onions that always make me cry. It is surprisingly creamy, tangy, rich, nutty and sweet. It will cure what ails you, even if it’s just too much turkey and too many tacos.

Kale and Chestnut Soup
adapted from Gourmet, December 2003

I am so glad I chose this delightful recipe for the first (!) Gourmet Unbound*. It made three dinners for us and seemed to get better every day. I added a little water when I reheated it, and I added a little leftover rice on the last day, which made a nice addition.

I made some changes, which are reflected below. I cut out the pancetta, because I felt like it, and added butter, because it’s always a good idea. This soup was really perfect, tasty, healthy, and hearty.

1/2 pound dry white beans (I used cannellini), picked over and rinsed
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 (14-15 oz) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, juice reserved, tomatoes chopped
3-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 piece Parmesan rind (you save your Parmesan rinds don’t you?)
1-1/2 cups (8 oz) roasted, peeled whole chestnuts, cut in half (or smaller, if you like)
1/2 pound kale, stems and center ribs discarded, ripped into bite-sized pieces (they suggest using Tuscan kale, but I used White Russian Kale because it’s what I could find, it worked splendidly)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
grated Parmesan cheese

Soak the beans overnight or quick soak them. To quick soak beans: place them in a pot and cover with about 2″ of water. Bring to a boil and let boil for two minutes, cover the beans and let soak for one hour. Drain and rinse.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large (and I mean large, all that kale takes up a lot of space) 6-8 qt. stockpot over medium-high heat until butter is melted. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes with juice, broth, water, cheese rind, and salt and pepper, and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender, about 45 minutes to an hour. Once beans are tender, remove the cheese rind and stir in the chestnuts.

Transfer two cups of the soup to a blender and purée until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in kale and simmer, uncovered until the kale is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in thyme. Served topped with grated Parmesan.

*I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else cooked up for the month of December!

Roasted Tomato Soup

naomi — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:50:48 +0000

I wish I had a nice glamor shot of the finished soup to show you. I wish I had more than just these images of of tomatoes ready to be roasted on baking pans, but that’s not the way it worked out.

It was cold. And rainy. We were hungry and tired. We’d been shopping for Bosnian food in Astoria all day (Klas flour!). What’s more, this soup was really, really good.

It was one of those days when the kitchen gods smiled on me. We got home, and I was intent on making this before my tomatoes became moldy and sad. When I was nearly done, I realized I’d forgotten entirely about the half cup of cream the recipe calls for. Luckily for me, I just happened to have exactly 1/2 cup of cream, leftover from making ice cream, waiting for me in the fridge. Thank goodness.

Roasted Tomato Soup
adapted from Gourmet

We both agreed that there could be even more garlic involved, and I would have added more, but I had already used the entire claw of garlic and had no more.

The original recipe calls for pushing the soup through a fine-mesh sieve and I just didn’t feel like it. Sadly, there were these weird pieces of tomato skin floating in the soup, not off-putting, but not great either. My suggestion: Just tear of the peels after the tomatoes come out of the oven, problem solved.

I could tell you that this will be my last tomato post for a while (my love of heirloom tomatoes has become a bit of a joke ’round these parts) but we both know that would be a lie, and I ain’t no lying liar. There was the ratatouille I made that I need to tell you about, and then there’s pizza, and then. . . . Well, I’m sure something will come to mind.

4 lb tomatoes, halved lengthwise
6 garlic cloves, left unpeeled
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

Arrange tomatoes, cut side up (I didn’t read the instructions and placed them cut-side down, it was fine), in one layer on a large baking sheet along with the 6 (or more) cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast for one hour, then let cool in pan. Peel garlic cloves and tomatoes.

Cook the onion, oregano, and sugar in butter in a 6- to 8-quart pot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened, about five minutes.

Add the tomatoes, garlic, and stock, and simmer, covered, 20 minutes.

Puree soup in a blender. Pour soup into a clean pot and stir in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer two minutes. Enjoy!

*This soup is almost the exact recipe for my wintertime tomato soup, which calls for roasting canned tomatoes.