Broccoli-Potato Soup

I share's today recipe courtesy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Romero, my vegan chef idols. The recipe is originally titled "Broccoli-Potato Soup with Fresh Herbs,"* but since my mint was dried and my dill paste tubed I didn't want to put on airs. Isa's blog, the Post-Punk Kitchen, was my original exposure to vegan cooking. I still remember the first recipe I tried, Seitan Jerk Sloppy Joes, just a bit over a year ago. I was instantly hooked.

This recipe is great because it is easy and delicious. Some of Isa's recipes can get pretty technical but this one is pretty straightforward and most of the prep time is just letting it cook. And, like all soups, it just gets better the longer it's in the fridge!

Ingredients:

-2 Tbs olive oil

-1 med onion

-2 tsp minced garlic (3 cloves)

-½  tsp dried tarragon

-¼  tsp black pepper

-1 tsp salt

-6 C veggie stock

-just under 1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm chunks

-4 C chopped broccoli, florets and stems

-mint leaves, fresh or dried

-fresh dill or tubed dill

1. Heat a soup pot over med. Saute the onion in the olive oil for ~5 min, until softened. 

2. Add garlic, tarragon, black pepper, and salt. Cook for another minute.

3. Pour in stock and add potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

4. Add broccoli and simmer another 15 min.

5. Remove from heat. Scoop about half the soup into a blender and puree, then add back to the soup.

6. Stir in mint and dill to taste. Let sit 10 min. Serve or store.

Potatoes and stock simmering.

Stirring in the broc.

Cooked and ready for the blender!

*Source: Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. 2007: De Capo Press, Cambirdge, MA. Pp 138-139. ISBN 13: 978-1-56924-264-3

Homemade Vegetable Stock

Everyday, in kitchens across the world, people are throwing away perfectly good leftover  vegetable scraps. Potato skins, carrot skins, carrot tops, onion bottoms, rinds and roots, you get the picture. I am indiscriminate in what I include in my vegetable stock base, including things as bizarre as tomato vines and avocado skins. In my experience, the more diverse the base the tastier the stock. Plus you never know just what you’ll get: once Jill and I included beet skins and ended up with ruby-colored stock. It was still delicious. If you need inspiration, take a look at the included photos. It’s like a game of I-Spy where you can try and find all the source vegetables.

A tip on building your base: I keep several old plastic storage containers in the freezer and put all of my leftover veggie scraps in the containers. Once they are all filled up, I prepare the stock by the recipe included below. Measurements are very much approximate.

Ingredients:

-vegetable base (see above, in my case this means roughly 1.5 liters of frozen vegetable bits)

- hot water (roughly a liter? Enough to cover vegetable parts completely, at least)

1. Fill a large pot with water. Add veggie base and bring to a boil.

2. Once at a boil, drop to simmer. Cover and simmer for at least one hour.

3. Strain vegetables from stock using collander, strainer, or if you’re really particular about not having bits in your broth a piece of cheesecloth. (See picture below for my particular set up)

4. Carefully pour broth into jars. Freeze or refrigerate until ready to use. (If freezing, don’t forget that the broth will expand… I filled a jar to the top, left the cap on, and threw it in the freezer. The jar cracked and leaked frozen broth cream all over the bottom of my freezer)