Thursday, March 06, 2014

Dutch Lenten Vegetable Soup




I started with this recipe from my friend Mary:
and used this mainly for the instructions that I copied and pasted below... 
In the soup was:

two onions
3 cloves garlic chopped fine
two or three carrots ~ cut small
4 potatoes ~ peeled and cubed, kept in water until needed, the water added to the soup
some organic Swanson veg broth (about 1.5 cups; I did not measure)
2 celery stocks ~ cut small
1 small zucchini chopped 

instructions on order of how to make the soup:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. 
Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, 
and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the carrots and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes.

note: I added the celery in step # 2 

Add the celery and, if using, any hearty vegetables (such as cabbage and fennel) and the bay leaf and thyme. Season again with salt and pepper and cook an additional 5 minutes. {...}
Add the broth, potatoes, and any quicker-cooking vegetables (such as asparagus and peas). Let the soup come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, about 15 to 25 minutes. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

Towards the end I added the chopped zucchini, sometime in the last 15 or so minutes.  

In the last 10 minutes, while it was simmering, I added this Dutch soup mix.
I had put in some of the Maggi (Dutch soy sauce) in the soup while it was simmering, after I had tasted it a few times... 

The soup mix really adds the flavour you were tasting; it makes it really a different soup entirely! 

If need be, I think the oil could be omitted or
a different oil used if need be. 


I made a non-oil dressing for salad:
half cup honey, half cup lemon juice.
From this cookbook that
I used to make the wonderful
vegan chocolate cookies!


The soup was good!
it is NOT GF though, FYI.


I am hoping to make Lenten fare like this
for Lent.
This meal was made during the three weeks before 
Great Lent began.

5 comments:

Juliana said...

Have you gotten Mark Bittman's root vegetable soup? J-M at church gave it to me a few years ago and it is fab, esp. at this time of year when the fresh veg is scare on the ground. (And since I seem to be in a recipe sharing in the comments mode today, here it is:)

Barley Soup with Seasonal Vegetables

From How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman

2 tablespoons neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, or canola

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup pearled barley

8 cups vegetable stock (I use Better than Bouillon, Vegetable or No Chicken Base, depending on my mood)

2 cans cannellini beans

About 2 pounds of root vegetables—turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots, celery, waxy
potatoes like Yukon Gold or fingerling, alone or in combination—peeled and cut into ½-inch
dice (I usually end up putting in more than two pounds, adding more broth if I need to)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage

Combine oil, onion, garlic in Dutch oven or large soup pot, let sweat a bit and get soft. Add remaining ingredients and cook until barley is soft and vegetables are cooked. You can add the beans at the last 10 minutes just to reheat if you are concerned about mushiness. Lima beans also work well. This makes a big pot! And it freezes okay.

It also works well to do in the crockpot. If making this way, just put all ingredients in the pot (don't saute anything first) and put on high for 6 hours, or low for 8.

Serve hot with warm bread.

Martha said...

I know you meant "until simmering," but I think it would be really nice to have your saucepan shimmering! ♥ I think zucchini sounds like a wonderful addition. Do you like mushrooms? They're a favorite in our house.

The recipe Juliana shared sounds great (with barley), too.

elizabeth said...

Martha: hmmm, that is a question; was simmering or shimmering meant? that part was part that I copied from the online recipe (which is why it is italics)... I am still wondering if they meant shimmer since it was for the oil?

Apseed said...

Thank you for the recipe! I adore to eat soups. They are so simple and so nourishing at the same time.

GretchenJoanna said...

I think the original, "shimmering" would be right for oil. We don't usually simmer oil, do we...? Not that I am sure what shimmering oil looks like, either....maybe that's when it starts to quiver a bit, before it starts to smoke?