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In the Kitchen With ... Favorite Fall Soups
updated: Nov 21, 2009, 8:20 AM
By Leah Etling
Every fall I look forward to making soup again. It's such an easy meal to make, satisfying to the stomach, the options are endless, and almost any soup can be made as a healthy dish with the right adaptations.
I have several soups that are mainstays and I make them several times each fall/winter season. I also experiment with new recipes and I'd love to try some of yours. I hope you can share suggestions for your favorite flavorful soups in the comments section of this column.
Last week I made carrot soup from Anna Thomas' Vegetarian Epicure II, and Wild Rice Soup, which is a family favorite from Betty Crocker.
Here are the recipes:
Wild Rice Soup, from Betty Crocker's 40th Anniversary Edition Cookbook
2 tablespoons butter
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, shredded
1 small onion, diced
Half a large bell pepper, diced
3 teaspoons flour to thicken
Pepper to taste
1 cup wild rice
1 cup water
1 can chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup half and half or milk
Slivered almonds and parsley (or microgreens)
Cook the vegetables in the butter until soft. Add pepper and flour. Then add the wild rice (cooked separately first), broth, and water. Heat to near-boil. Then add the dairy and toppings right before serving.
This soup will be richer if you make it with half-and-half, but as I said last week, I'm really trying to cook healthier lately, so the low-fat milk was a good substitute. I took a lot of leeway with this recipe, adding mushrooms, substituting a leek for the celery, and putting a little white pepper in it in addition to the standard black, and it turned out great. It made a nice comfort dinner, paired with artisan toast and baby artichokes, on a cold night.
Carrot Soup, from Anna Thomas' Vegetarian Epicure II (recipe also available online)
Note: I recommend doubling this recipe so you have some left to freeze. It's not overly labor intensive, but easier and a time saver to make a double batch.
4 tablespoons butter
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ginger (or use fresh ginger, about 3-5 small chopped chunks)
1/3 teaspoon each mustard seed, ground cumin, cinnamon, and hot pepper.
6-8 sweet carrots. Get the big ones from Farmer's Market to maximize peeling efficiency.
3.5 cups water
2 cups yogurt, sour cream, milk or thickener of your choice
1 tablespoon of honey (leave out if you don't want soup to be sweet)
Cook the chopped onion and garlic in a soup pan with the butter until golden brown. Add the spices. Slices the carrots into discs, add to pot with 2 cups water, and cook for 30 minutes. Puree in food processor or blender. Return to pan, add additional water, thickener, and honey, and heat to taste but don't boil (if you have added dairy it will curdle). Serve with fresh ground pepper and microgreens.
Adding microgreens to the top of soups is a great way to add some additional nutrition to your meal. They are packed with vitamins and can be added to all sorts of dishes. Talk to Jan Ziegler at the Farmer's Market (also the designer of the Edhat t-shirts!) who can help you decide which variety of greens is best for your soup. She also has a lot of good recipe ideas that are greens-friendly.
Looking forward to getting some new soup recipes from Edhat readers.
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