Zucchini Coconut Cream Soup

Yep, still going strong on my coconut milk kick.

I realize Zucchini is not considered gourmet in the US, but here in France it is simply luxurious. "I looove zucchini" is one of the phrases I hear the most often here. After "shit... I'm sick of that!" and other lude expletives, of course.

Anyway. DEEEElicious soup. Its really more of a velouté... a creamy, smooth vegetable soup. Perfect for Versailles, I'd say.

This was a 30 minute job and made enough for 4 large bowls of soup.

2 small onions
2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 garlic clove
3 zucchinis
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp marjoram
enough stock to cover all of it
(uh... 5 or 6 cups? I used 2 bouillon cubes and water as needed)
1/2 can of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp olive oil

In a pot (something about the size you would boil noodles in - you don't want it too wide or it will be too low to blend with the immersion blender)

Chop all the vegetables into rough chunks.

Sautee the onions, celery and carrot on medium-high heat.

When the onion and celery turn clear (about 7 minutes) throw in the garlic and the chopped zucchini.

Stir every couple minutes until the zucchini turns clear. If it starts to brown or stick/burn to the bottom of the pot, go ahead and go on to the next step.

Stir in your spices and the bay leave and then add the stock. Enough to cover the vegetables, and then some, depending on how thick or thin you like your soup.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, remove the bay leaf, blend that sucker with your immersion blender and stir in the coconut milk. I would say a whole can wouldn't be bad...

mmmmmm.

Carrot Coconut Soup

This soup was inspired by lunch yesterday at a chic, 'bio' cafe in Paris yesterday - and also by Karen and Mohammad's great love of coconut milk... Mohammad is from Comoros and his coconut milk rice is magically delicious. Karen caught the bug and serves us endless coconut milk delights these days, so now I have an eye for all things that contain it...

Carrot Coconut Soup

2 small onions
2 branches of celery
I had a parsnip, too and it was good
6 young carrots, or about as much chopped carrot as the rest of the veggies combined
6-10 cups broth ~ a cube or two of bouillon in water work just fine!
1 bay leaf
a handful of cashews
~almonds dont blend quite as smoothly, but you can soak them overnight first if you would like to try
1 can (or a bit less) of coconut milk
2-3 tbsp olive oil
spices: a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and curry was super yum, but spices aren't my strong point, so please do post some recommendations below!
Parsley as optional garnish

Heat oil in a pan. Chop all the veggies into chunks. Throw them in.

Sautée for about 10 minutes on medium high heat, until the onions are clear and the carrots softened.

Stir spices directly into sautéing vegetables.

Throw in broth and simmer for 10 more minutes, enough to cover the veggies, and another inch or so. Throw in cashews, 5 minutes more.

Pick out the bay leaf and immersion blend. A conventional blender would work too, but if you're working with curry pay attention to what the soup touches!! All plastic surfaces will turn immediately yellow... says the girl with a perpetually yellow-stained kitchen.

Stir in the coconut milk and let sit for a bit, but don't put it back on much heat after adding the milk, unless you're super vigilant and then even on super low heat. It will curdle/cause big chunks to form in the soup...

 Garnish with Parsley. Serves about 4

Tofu - recipe #2

Softer. Thats the word that designates this from the first. The process included 18 hours in the fromagerie (cheese maker) which keeps it at a warmer temperature (its this difference in temp that designates cheese from yogurt, by the way). The end result was smoother, much softer tofu with a lighter white color. I went ahead and drained the tofu to see how "firm" it would get, but I think that was a mistake. Seeing as it never really got firm, I am not sure what to do with it. It would dissipate in a soup, wouldn't hold together to stir fry, and isn't a nice enough texture to eat alone.

Conclusion: this process would be perfect if you stop after the aging, sprinkle it with sugar, and eat it as the soft "brain tofu" desert we used to eat in China.

The other lesson: your choice of soymilk is important. If you dont like the flavor of the drink, you won't like the flavor of the tofu.

To make:

Heat 1/2 liter of soy milk to just warmer than warm. Dissolve one heaping tsp of Nigari in 4 tsp of water, stir into the soymilk, and pour it all into the filters that come in the fromagerie (if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. It will be clear if you take the plunge with the fromagerie).
Set it to 18 hours on the cheese setting and do whatever it is you do for the 18 hours of the day that you are not making tofu.

Gently remove the filters from their cups, and you will see a whey left behind that is so clear that it looks like water, and a very, very soft tofu inside the filters. This was really where I saw the difference between the two tofus; the whey of the first, faster version retains a yellowish coloring and isn't completely clear. This time there was a complete separation of whey and tofu, meaning there was a much cleaner whey and a lot more tofu!

Place the filters on a plate (it will continue to drain, so the plate is to keep you from having a huge mess on your counter) and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain as much as you'd like through a cheese cloth, but I would suggest just letting it gently strain on its own, without too much squeezing to allow it to keep the soft, jelly texture. Sprinkle with sugar or find some other cool use and tell me about it! I need ideas!

Theory: this would be of great use in vegan recipes because of its texture...

Vegan coconut, pecan, caramel-ish bars of love

*Best with Turkish peppermint hookah

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!

This recipe is from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, an AMAZING cookie cookbook for vegans and non-vegans alike. They are more innovative and creative than most bakers can dream of becoming.

One of the best things about this vegan recipe is that the chewy coconut milk mixture cooks into the top of the graham cracker crust, imitating a good caramel.

Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly:

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
(if a film develops, just stir it back in)

Combine, until all moistened:

2 cups crushed graham cracker
- just put one of those little packages of graham crackers in a bag and crush them with your hands, no fanciness required
1/2 c margarine, melted (1 stick)
2 T sugar

Line a dish of your choosing (the book says 9x13, but I did more like 9x6, so it was extra thick and delicious) with parchment paper (or if its glass, no need. the margarine from the crust on the glass will make it easy to get out).

Smash the graham cracker mixture into the bottom using your hands and pack it as tightly as possible. The tighter it is packed, the better the final bars will turn out of the pan.

Pour the cooled, simmered coconut milk mixture over top.

Spread chocolate chips, flaky sweetened coconut flakes (redundancy is necessary), and chopped pecans, in that order, making sure they are all... incorporated (im too tired for preciseness... to be precise, whatever). moistened. submerged.

The book suggests:

1.5 cups chocolate chips
2 cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

But exact measurements are not a must here. sprinkle as generously, or not.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes - until bubbly around the edges.

Cool completely. Breezy windows work well.

Refrigerate overnight (or just shove them in the freezer for an hour because you dont want to wait until tomorrow. but seriously, 4+ hours in the fridge is best). enjoy.

Eating from pan with forks is acceptable. Especially in the event that everyone finishes their first slice and wants more.

Cream of Broccoli Soup, Broccoli Cheddar Soup... cheese in soup form, whatever.

1 medium-large Yukon Gold potato
1 large onion (sweet is best, but apparently they're not in season. Yellow was good)
3 broccoli stalks
~3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 broccoli heads
2 qt water

a few cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth, or just save the water from the cooking the broccoli heads, water, or any combination of the above)
2-3 bay leaves
generous marjoram
salt and pepper
2 tsp dijon mustard

1 cup cream (or soy milk, or coconut milk, or just plain milk)
LOTS of shredded cheddar cheese

*If you're making it vegan, add a couple of tablespoons flour along with the liquids to make it thicker.

Im going to guess a couple stalks of celery and/or chopped celery root would be good

ooh! or! I read in a recipe once the suggestion to use cauliflower and guillere cheese instead... mmm

Peel and cube the potato, onion, and the broccoli stalks. The potato will be easiest, but the onion and broccoli aren't all that complicated. Just make sure you peel them both, first, and try to make your cubes roughly the same size. And don't skip the broccoli stalks. They really make the soup.

Cut the broccoli heads into florets and boil the water. Throw in the broccoli heads and cook them for 2-3 minutes. They should be softer, but really shouldn't be cooked for too long. When they are done, use a slotted spoon (or something like it) to take out the florets, keeping the water! The less water used the more concentrated the flavor in the water.

Sautee the cubed veggies in a large pot with margarine, butter, or olive oil for about 5 minutes, stirring to keep the bottoms from burning. Add the garlic about half way through (garlic burns easier than onion. thanks Mirna!). Once they start to look softened and smell delicious, add the bay leaves, some salt, your liquid (broth, water, broccoli water), the marjoram (I really don't think you can add too much marjoram), and mustard. Simmer until the veggie cubes are fully cooked, and even a little longer if you'd like, adding more liquid if it starts getting too thick.

Add the cooked florets and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Remove Bay Leaves and puree the entire mixture, leaving chunks only if you prefer it that way.

Return to a very low heat and stir in the cream. salt, pepper, etc. to taste.

Only add the cheese right before serving (and I would suggest adding it to each bowl individually so as not to have left overs with cheese already mixed in). This is for two reasons; most importantly, the cheese will become tough if it gets over heated or boils in the soup. Secondly, cheese just seems to retain more of its flavor when it is just barely melted.

As with most soups, this is even better a day or two later.

Oatmeal Bread (don't be fooled, its great basic white bread)

Inspired by King Arthur's Oatmeal Bread on the side of their awesome Bread Flour:
I've made it vegan, though, and changed the method a little bit.

Forgive me, no pics for now. I probably make this bread recipe most often, and didn't think to put it up until a served it at soup night (best night of the week!!!) and Mirna asked.

This is a really, really easy, basic bread. Seriously, its awesome. Tender, fluffy, and great toast bread.

Ingredients:
3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 cup rolled oats (optional, though you cant call it Oatmeal bread without oatmeal. I dont want to hear any existentialist arguments to the contrary!)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/4 c lukewarm water
2 tsp instant yeast (about one packet)
3 tbsp brown sugar (or honey, though honey isn't vegan. Speaking of which, Ashley I owe you an apology. I think I have fed you food with honey in it before :( but that was before I knew it wasn't vegan! Ill be way more careful in the future!!! Me sorry!)

(makes 1 loaf)

Method:

Mix together the first four ingredients in a large bowl with a fork (flour, oats, salt, and veggie oil), making sure the oil gets mixed in well. It will end up looking kind of lumpy. Form a well in the middle by pushing this mixture out to the sides.

Stir the yeast into the warm water (not hot! Yeast is alive and if the water is hot you will kill it. You jerk. Why would you do that?) and once the yeast is dissolved, stir in the brown sugar.

Pour the yeast mixture into the well you formed in the dry ingredients (or mostly dry) and using a fork, stir the liquid vigorously, slowly incorporating a little of the flour at a time until it becomes a shaggy dough.

"Shaggy dough" might sound vague, but you'll know it when you see it. Most of the flour is incorporated, but it looks rough.

Cover this with a towel and let it sit for 10-20 minutes. This allows the flour to absorb the moisture, making it easier to knead.

At this point you have two options: knead it, let it rise to almost double, knead again, shape it into a loaf, and bake it.

Or, what I think makes it better:

Knead it for 5-10 minutes until it becomes a smooth, elastic dough. Let it rise for 10 minutes, and knead for ten seconds. Repeat this three times.

THEN proceed with the normal two step rising as described below:

Add some oil to a bowl after kneading the dough for 5-10 minutes (or until it becomes smooth and elastic) and "turn the dough in the bowl", meaning make sure it is coated in oil. This keeps it from sticking too much to the bowl as it rises. Let it rise to double (this should take 45 minutes to an hour) in a warm place.

My favorite rising trick is to turn the oven on to preheat, but only let it heat for a minute or two and turn it off again. This will make the perfect rising conditions (warm, not drafty) in your oven. But don't let it get too hot, and definitely remember to turn it off. I have ruined a few loaves this way :(

After this, the first rise, "punch it down" (meaning, knead it a little bit with your fists, getting some of the large air bubbles out) and shape it into a loaf shape. Using a serrated knife, slash the top of it so that it can rise as it likes as it bakes. Its also prettier.

Place it in a greased loaf pan (9x5 I think?) and let it rise again (this is the second rise).

It will look really fluffy when it finishes this rise and if you shake the pan it will shake and look kind of fragile.

(if you "over rise" it, then your slices of bread will kind of fall apart, but will still be edible. Just go for a little less than double the original size and you should be perfectly fine)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and cook 35-40 minutes (I usually go a little longer), on the middle rack. My mom always ignores rack placement, but its actually important. You don't want the top to brown before the middle is done. If this happens, put some tinfoil over the top of the bread.

Another cool trick: place a small container of water in the oven as it preheats and at least for the first 10-20 minutes of baking. The moisture will be absorbed into the middle of the bread, making it soft, and it will also allow for a crispier crust. This is actually a trick from making baguettes, but its hard to master at home, Im told.

To test if its ready, insert a knife into the middle and it should come out dry. Also, its usually better to cook it a little longer than I think I should so that it isn't gummy in the middle. A good baker knows good bread from the sound it makes when you thump the crust. Not too hollow, not too dense. But I am still working on cultivating that skill... alas.

Make sure to take it out of the pan to cool it or the sides will be soggy. And do allow it to cool for at least 5-10 minutes before cutting in. It still needs to "set" a little once it comes out of the oven.

Note: I keep meaning to put up a Baking: Lessons Learned post, but haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully I've covered the important points here!

Also, you can just make this in an electric mixer... Its so much easier to just pour all the ingredients in, but I am really in love with the method. Just mix till smooth with the dough attachment (on a kitchen aid) and rise as directed.


another note (im sorry! I keep thinking of things to share): the words I put in quotes are common baking lingo you will find in recipes, but I try to explain them after so that you can understand more professional recipes more easily!

Avocado Salsa

SALSA
This is a repeat from blackbeans and rice, but I felt it deserved it's own post. Yes, its that good. This is also more thorough.

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado (they mark the ripe ones at the store, if you grip it in your fist and gently squeeze it you should feel it give a little and it will leave a mark)
1 tomato
1/2 a red onion
1/2-1 lime, squeezed
a generous handful of chopped cilantro (about half the bushel they come in, minus the stalks)
note: I know cilantro is not something you keep sitting around, but DONT leave it out!!!
salt

Note: Jennifer told me to first skin the tomatoes, but its a lot more work, though its a nice alternative style salsa. If you'd like to do so: score the bottom of tomatoes (draw an x on the bottom with your knife), drop them in boiling, salted water just until the skin starts to crack around the score (30 seconds? a minute?) and then drop them into ice water. Once you can handle them the skin will come off easily. Proceed.

Chop everything, starting with the avocado and quickly squeeze the lime overtop, stirring it with your hand, so that it will maintain its color. Oh the joys of citrus acid.

Note #2: to cut up avocado, first cut the avocado lengthwise in half. The pit will stick to one side. Thwack your knife onto the pit, lodging it into the side, and it will come out easily when you twist the knife. Leaving the avocado in the skin, use your knife to score the avocado into a grid-pattern. Finally, use a spoon to scoop the avocado out of the skin. Or read here. To keep it green, squeeze lime over top of it quickly.

Chop everything else, and use your hand to mix them together, adding salt to taste.

This is my first foray into using red onion, and I have to admit I was a little nervous. But strong flavors are more amazing than scary, so rock on bad breath. You were delicious. and fresh cilantro? I need to come up with some new positive adjectives.

Its good on almost everything: for instance, a spanish omelet this morning!

Black Beans and Rice: But really, its the Salsa

I am officially making "Jon and Mirna" a tag in my recipes. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to have Mirna (and therefore Jon) as a source for food-knowledge. Its like anything you could want, they can tell you how to make it amazing.

And who knew?! There is a fresh produce market two hundred yards from my front door!!! I have been really sketched out lately seeing people duck into this boarded up shack behind Delmar. Yeah, in that sketchy parking lot.

Yesterday, curiosity got the best of me, so I followed a biker into one of those doorways that is guarded by heavy plastic flaps. Following a biker into plastic flaps sounds sketchy, I know. But so far this week I have seen a middle aged orthodox jew, a guy with a basket on his bike, an old married couple, and a few other stragglers in and around the sketchy boarded up building. So I followed him in. Yes, I fully acknowledge this was possibly a bad decision. Yes, I will probably do the same in the future. So far, even the things that go wrong have only taught me difficult lessons, so I shall proceed.

And voila! there was a twenty foot stretch of fresh veggies!!!! For six dollars I got three avocados, four oranges, a lime, four red peppers, and cilantro. Yum. Apparently its just boarded up for the winter. Summer always proves to be less sketch.

woot!

On to the Black Beans and Rice

Vegan note: minus the sausage (which I probably wont use next time, anyway) this should be completely vegan!

Also, Its the salsa that makes it. No joke. Don't leave it off.


Ingredients:
2 cans black beans, or the equivalent in dried beans that have been cooked
3-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1-2 peppers, chopped: any kind - I used a red pepper, Mirna's had 1 green and 1 jalapeno (hers is always better)
meat, if you'd like: 2 sausages in this version, ground beef is another option
a few tbsp vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
cumin and coriander (My roommate Zen is magic and had whole dried herbs in the cabinet, but crushed is fine)
salt and pepper

Method:
Chop the onions and start them sautéing on medium - medium/high in a large pot. If they start to brown/burn, your heat is up too high, but if you don't hear them sizzling it is down too low. As they start to caramelize, or turn clear (maybe not the same thing, but both mean they're cooking) add the garlic and chopped peppers.

Meanwhile: to cook the sausage, first simmer them in about 1/2 an inch of water, turning as they cook to make sure they cook evenly. As it starts to cook the outside will turn a light, almost white color. Before it is cooked all the way through, take them out and slice them. Forgive the ugly picture, but I thought it might help. You might want to take the skin off if its thick. Mine definitely needed to have the skin off, but I didn't realize it until I was eating. It got kind of messy trying to get it off...

Once the onions and peppers have cooked down a little bit, you can push them to the outsides of your pan so that they dont keep cooking as fast and add your meat into the center of the dish. If its ground beef, keep stirring it until the pink is almost gone, or if you are using sausages cook the slices well on each side.

As the meat finishes, stir everything together and add your spices. Be generous, and make sure to slightly crush your cumin and coriander if you're using whole, dried herbs.

Let these "get to know each other" for a while, and then add your black beans (dont drain the beans from the can).

Simmer on medium low for a while.

SALSA

mmmm salsa

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado (they mark the ripe ones at the store, if you grip it in your fist and gently squeeze it you should feel it give a little and it will leave a mark)
1 tomato
1/2 a red onion
1/2-1 lime, squeezed
a generous handful of chopped cilantro (about half the bushel they come in, minus the stalks)
note: I know cilantro is not something you keep sitting around, but DONT leave it out!!!
salt

Chop everything, starting with the avocado and quickly squeezing the lime overtop, stirring it with your hand, so that it will maintain its color. Oh the joys of citrus acid.

Chop everything else, and use your hand to mix them together, adding salt to taste.

This is my first foray into using red onion, and I have to admit I was a little nervous. But strong flavors are more amazing than scary, so rock on bad breath. You were delicious. and fresh cilantro? I need to come up with some new positive adjectives.

Cooked Rice:
I realize this may seem really tedious, but adding together a few different pieces of advice, I really feel like my rice has gotten much better. I even stopped using the rice cooker. So I wanted to share:

Ratio: 1 c dry rice to about 1.5 c water
- if you want it a little more moist, add a little more water, but stay below a 2:1 water:rice ratio. I tend to eat my rice (especially basmati) fairly dry, so probably dont go below this ratio unless you are rinsing your rice first, giving it more moisture (see below).

I am torn on this part: You are supposed to rinse rice before cooking it to get rid of some of the gluten. But Mirna taught me to sautee the rice in butter a little bit before cooking it, and I don't think wet rice would do as well. "Wet rice" also sounds weird. It also tends to throw off my water:rice ratio. So I haven't been rinsing it.

That said, a beautiful teacher of mine once told me you should wash rice three times for maximum love in your cooking. Yay for Persian mothers.

So I am torn.

Going with the first: melt 1-2 tbsp butter in a heavy bottomed pot (the heavy bottom part is important for regulating the temperature and not burning the rice)

Pour in your rice, stirring for a few minutes with a wooden spoon to get the butter evenly spread on your rice. It will sizzle at first, but then it will stop making noise.

stir in some salt and add your water.

Bring your temperature up to medium high until the water breaks into a boil and lower the temperature to medium.

Cover the pot and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, but the cooking time will vary a lot, so make sure to check it (see below). And dont let it boil very vigorously.

You will see holes develop in the rice once the water has mostly been evaporated/absorbed. By looking down these holes you can see if there is still too much water. After 15 minutes or so, simply taste some of the rice from the top of the pile to see if it is fully cooked; meaning, not hard to chew. Do not, however, stir the rice at this point.

When it seems almost done, and there is no water left in the bottom, remove the pot from the heat but leave the lid on. Let it continue to steam itself for 2-3 minutes.

Fluff. Stack. Enjoy. (or fluff and fold, if you wish.)

Mirna and Jon's Roasted Pepper Soup

**Note: I made this at home after Mirna taught me, but made some adjustments according to what I had in the cabinet, and it turned out to be a delicious second way to make it! I added about a cup of cashews before blending, and used 2 bay leaves and marjoram instead of thyme, used a can of cubed tomatoes instead of the Pomi sauce, only had three small red peppers, and also left out the broth, though the tomatoes had enough liquid. I tend to go for thicker soups, and really enjoyed this!**


Soup Night: the best night of the week

4-6 large red peppers
1 large sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
about 1 1/2 - 2 cups tomato puree (Jon suggests Pomi brand strained tomatoes, available at Whole Foods
- you can also use tomato paste, though you will need to add some liquid. Other tomato alternatives would probably work, too, but make sure the seeds aren't left in or it will not blend as nicely
Vegetable broth, about 2 cups
-more or less if you want to thin or thicken the soup
3-4 tbsp canola oil
1 bay leaf
some fresh thyme
salt and black pepper

Garnish:
cheese - try grated Parmesan or something else and tell me about it
chopped (fresh) basil and parsley
kalamata olives (ooo, I bet tapenade would be good)

**Note: Fresh herbs (instead of dried), and those beautiful vegetables you get from fancy grocery stores, make ALL the difference

optional:
1 boiled potato
~To give the soup a more creamy texture add the potato after cooking, before pureeing the soup. Cubing it before boiling is much faster.

Roasting the peppers:
I am SO excited to finally know how to roast red peppers. I feel the world loves me.

Turn the oven to 450 degrees and rub the peppers down with vegetable oil. Sexy. Not olive oil, because the smoking temperature of olive oil is lower (about 420 for virgin olive oil and 375 for extra virgin) so it will start to break down at higher temperatures, keeping you from being able to use the high temp necessary to blacken the peppers as you roast. Just use canola oil and stop asking questions. (I'm going to try vegetable oil, too, and see how it goes)

Put the peppers on a tray and into the oven for around 30-40 minutes, turning the peppers every few minutes so that they cook evenly. When they are blackened in spots and tender, they're done. Mirna say stovetop works, too with a deep pan, but I haven't tried.

Mirna's awesome trick: take them out of the oven and into a bowl, immediately covering them with seran wrap and let them sit for about 20-30 minutes. The peppers steam themselves, making it really easy to peel off the skins.

Which you need to do.

Okay, so finally:
THE SOUP
Chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a heavy bottomed pot and add the onion first. Mirna says the garlic can burn, so put it in after you sweat the onions (they turn clear).

Then, add the stewed tomato/tomatoe paste/pureed potatoes, your roasted red peppers, chopped, and the bay leaf. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. If you're using the paste you may need to add more liquid before pureeing.

Pour in the vegetable broth and the rest of the seasonings (salt, pepper, thyme), and simmer for another 10 minutes. or dont. whatever. It just makes it taste better if you let the flavors "hang out together."

If you're using a boiled potato for creaminess, add it now.

Blend the soup (definitely take out the bay leaf first) using whatever you have; bullet, blender, immersion blender... until smooth.

Top with chopped basil, parsley, cheese, and or kalamata olives as desired

Great with toasted brown bread!

Who knew? Cabbage, Potato and Celery Root Soup

I had checked out a three foot stack of cooking books from the library and was frantically copying some recipes before turning them in when I came across this recipe. Honestly, I copied it because it looked too simple to be good and I wanted to know.

Turns out, its not only simple (four ingredients?) but cheap (seriously, one potato?) and really good! who knew?

The recipe was originally from

"Vegetable Soups From Deborah Madison's Kitchen"

but I changed two ingredients (leeks to celery root, and of course Vegeta allspice)

1 lb green cabbage (they say preferably Savoy. I didn't know there was more than one kind of cabbage)

2-3 tablespoons butta

1 med-large celery root

1 Yukon Gold (or whatever, i guess) potato

salt and Vegeta allspice to taste (about 1/2 - 1 T each?)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Quarter the cabbage, cut out the hard center part, and cut it lengthwise into slivers. Im not really sure how to describe this, but it probably doesn't matter how you cut it. When the water is boiling submerge the cabbage into the water and boil for 1-2 minutes. Strain the cabbage.

Peel and cut your potato and celery root into 1/2 inch cubes (for 'how to peel a celery root' this site is great).

In your soup pot (it seems thick bottom is best, but I don't have one and it works perfectly fine) melt the butter and add cubed potato and celery root, stirring for a few minutes. Add salt and vegeta and stir (I think it would be good without the Vegeta, but try some other spices if you'd like as a substitute).

Add cabbage, stir, and pour in 5-7 cups water. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked: about 20 minutes. Season to taste: meaning, add lots of salt. The flavors in this soup are really warm and natural, so salt definitely helps bring them out.

They suggest adding sour cream or yogurt, and minced parsley or dill. I liked it best plain.

Thank you, little cabbage and celery root, for comforting me on my stay-at-home-with-a-cold Friday night :)