And, More Soup!

Ok, yes, I love soup. I especially love soup for lunch. There's just so much you can do with the formula of soup, and the leftovers are usually even better than a fresh batch. However, I am a little picky. When I think of soup, I usually am craving some kind of vegetable puree with lots of flavor, preferably complex. I don't much like meat or excessive amounts of cream in my soup, though I'm willing to try almost anything. But as I've said before, I love pureeing soup with my new immersion blender. It's more fun than, say, planning a wedding or doing laundry. Definitely more fun than laundry. So, even if you are sick of hearing me talk about soup, I'm not sick of eating it. And you should definitely try this one. It's perfect for a cold winter's day. It might even be good served cold in the summer, as it's very gazpacho-like.


Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant Soup
Slightly tweaked from Bon Appetit, March 2001 via Epicurious

This soup is delicious and complex in flavors. It's also pleasantly spicy, but still has a rich and savory flavor. It's a bit labor intensive, so I wasn't initially sure if I wanted to share it with you, but this soup is so wonderfully delicious that I couldn't resist. Just block out a decent amount of time to complete the recipe. After the vegetable roasting, things move on pretty quickly.

1 eggplant, halved
2 red bell peppers
1/8 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing on eggplant
2 small onions, chopped
1 small leek, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced into half moon shapes (white and pale green parts only)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
4 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth (or vegetable broth, naturally)
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons dried basil
lots of salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Pierce eggplants all over with a fork. Brush the eggplant halves with olive oil and sprinkle salt all over. Place the eggplant cut side down on the baking sheet and roast until tender, about 45 minutes. You could chop and prepare the other vegetables during this time.

When the eggplant is softened and slightly browned, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Remove the peel and discard. This will be easy. Cut eggplants into large pieces. Rinse the eggplant pieces under running water. Drain well and set aside. The roasting, rinsing and draining will remove much of the bitterness found in full-sized eggplants.

Char the bell peppers, whole, in a broiler until blackened on all sides. This may take some patience. Enclose in paper bag 10 minutes. Peel, seed and coarsely chop peppers.

Heat 1/8 cup of olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and leek, season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute. Stir in eggplant, peppers, chicken stock, and tomato paste and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Stir in basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper once again.

Turn off the heat and allow to cool a bit, so you aren't splashed with scalding hot liquid. Place your immersion blender inside the mixture and then turn it on, moving it around slowly, though the blender will do most of the work. When you are satisfied with the puree, turn off the immersion blender and then remove it from the soup. Unplug and set aside.

Alternately, turn off the heat and allow to cool even more, then transfer the soup in batches to a blender or food processor. Be sure not to fill the blender or food processor too much, as hot liquid expands.

After the blending, stir the soup, then add butter and lemon juice; stir over low heat until soup is heated through, about 5 minutes. Add Parmesan all at once and stir. The soup is ready to serve, or pack some for lunch, like me.

Winter Warming: A Pot (or Two) of Soup

Is it any wonder that I've been craving soups lately? Warming, delicious, and nutritious, they are a great way to get a balanced meal. Especially for lunch, so I've been toting plastic containers of the stuff to work all month. These soups have been delicious and satisfying, and they just get better day after day (which is good, since I make a big pot on Sunday night and then eat it all week).

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures of the soup. However, both looked pretty much the same: smooth and orange. I recently acquired an immersion blender, and this tool has changed my life, so to speak. You see, I love a good, smooth pureed vegetable soup, but swapping cooked vegetables out to a blender or food processor is slow, annoying, messy, and potentially dangerous, if the liquid expands and you get burned. You can still do it this way, but now I gleefully puree these soups with the push of a button. It's just so satisfying, and I think I may be addicted to using it. I'm even beginning to wonder how I ever functioned without it. And so, without further ado, I offer two tasty and nutritious soup recipes that will make you feel warm and cozy.


Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with an Apple
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, by Ina Garten, and Orangette

This soup gets a lot of its warm flavor from spices, which isn't to say that it's spicy. It has a savory sweetness, and Sean even thought it smelled a little like maple syrup. I'd recommend using a two or three of these spices, in addition to the curry powder:nutmeg, allspice, mace, or cardomom. Whatever you have available. Mace and cardomom are expensive, so I skipped them. Just be sure to season carefully, or the flavor of the spices could become overwhelming. A day or two after I made this soup, I saw this article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This version of a butternut squash soup with apple suggests the addition of a sweet potato and apple cider vinegar. I'd like to try that version soon. Plus, they actually show you a picture!

1/4 cup canola oil, or light tasting olive oil (no EVOO here)
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into two inch pieces, about 2 cups (I chopped these last to avoid the icky browning)
1 large onion or 2-3 small, peeled and coarsely chopped, about one cup
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1+ quart vegetable stock (or chicken, if that's what you have)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in your largest pot over medium heat. Add the squash, apples and onion, and stir to coat with the oil. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and transparent, about ten minutes. Stir in the spices and continue to cook until the onion is nicely browned. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the hear to medium-low and allow it to simmer, covered, for 35 minutes, or until the squash is very tender.

Turn off the heat and allow to cool a bit, so you aren't splashed with scalding hot liquid. Place your immersion blender inside the mixture and then turn it on, moving it around slowly, though the blender will do most of the work. When you are satisfied with the puree, turn off the immersion blender and then remove it from the soup. Unplug and set aside. Stir the soup and add salt and pepper, as well as any additional seasonings, to taste. The soup is ready to serve (see below, however).

Alternately, turn off the heat and allow to cool even more, then transfer the soup in batches to a blender or food processor. Be sure not to fill the blender or food processor too much, as hot liquid expands. Place all of the soup back in the pot and reheat, stirring occasionally. You will need a large bowl or another large pot to successfully maneuver this. When the soup is sufficiently warmed, add salt and pepper, adjust the seasonings, and stir again.

This soup becomes significantly better after a day or two. Right after making the soup, I thought it was weak and underwhelming. By Thursday afternoon, it was a rich, complex puree.

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Week 2:

Ginger Carrot Soup

Adapted from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook, by Christopher Hirsheimer and Peggy Knickerbocker.


The end result of this soup is quite spicy. This is a very low-fat soup, with the creaminess coming from the addition of potatoes. I particularly enjoyed this with a piece of whole wheat baguette, buttered and toasted.


3 tablespoons canola oil or olive oil (EVOO would be fine here)
2 large or 4 small onions, chopped
About 5 ounces of fresh ginger root, chopped into six to eight pieces (do not make the ginger too small, as you will be removing later, but you do want to add enough of it, as the ginger is central to the flavor of the soup.)
2 pounds of carrots, trimmed, peeled and chopped
2 or 3 red-skinned potatoes or one russet potato (whatever you have at home), peeled and quartered
Salt and ground pepper
4 cups chicken stock (homemade is always nice!), or vegetable stock

In your largest pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent, about ten minutes. Add the ginger, carrots and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and stir. Pour in the stock, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and allow the soup to simmer. You want the carrots to be very soft, and to give the ginger enough time to incorporate its flavor to the soup. Expect this to take about one hour.
When the carrot has softened, turn off the heat and remove the ginger. It's too strong tasting and fibrous to remain in the soup, so it is important to get it all out. Allow to cool a bit, so you aren't splashed with scalding hot liquid. Place your immersion blender inside the mixture and then turn it on, moving it around slowly, though the blender will do most of the work. When you are satisfied with the puree, turn off the immersion blender and then remove it from the soup. Unplug and set aside. Adjust the seasonings. The soup is ready to serve.

Alternately, turn off the heat and allow to cool even more, then transfer the soup in batches to a blender or food processor. Be sure not to fill the blender or food processor too much, as hot liquid expands. Place all of the soup back in the pot and reheat, stirring occasionally. You will need a large bowl or another large pot to successfully maneuver this. When the soup is sufficiently warmed,adjust the seasonings, and stir again.