Anyone who loves soup knows that there are thousands of versions of Minestrone. Loaded with flavor, it’s a simple soup to prepare. This version is adapted from one found in Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor Latourrette. He and his brother monks live at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery in New York.
Category: Soup On Saturday
I knew I was going to be hungry when I returned from today’s first session of my ten week Fitness Challenge at the Y. Although it was a bit disorganized, all 36 of us got our marching orders for the weeks to come. It’s going to be fun 🙂
I wanted something different, and I came upon a recipe for Lentil Chili. Wow, two of my favorites, together for the first time 🙂
Making chili using lentils, along with pearled barley, bulgur wheat and ginger certainly makes for an unusual chili, but I liked it. Give it a try and see what you think.
This post is the first of what will be a weekly series entitled Soup on Saturday. Every Saturday, I’m going to post a soup/stew/chili recipe for you to try out.
Since it’s snowing here today, I was looking for something hearty. If you use this recipe, please post a comment and let us know how it turned out. Enjoy!
Black Bean Soup
1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight in cold water
1 1/2 tb olive oil
2 red onions, diced
1 red pepper, diced fine
1 green pepper, diced fine
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
2 tsp oregano
4 cups low sodium vegetable stock
2 tb tomato paste
3/4 cup corn kernels (I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn)
salt and pepper to taste
Rinse soaked beans under cold water, drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy sauce pan on medium. Add onion and cook for 6-7 minutes, or until soft.
Add peppers, celery and garlic and cook for another four minutes.
Stir in black beans, bay leaves, stock, tomato paste and oregano, along with two cups water. Simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, then add corn and cook for another 15 minutes or until beans are tender.
Remove bay leaves from soup, stir to taste, and serve.
Recipe serves six. Prep time 30 minutes. Cooking time 1 hour.
If you’re lucky enough to have a few days off this week, try this recipe out. I made it for some friends on Christmas Eve, and everyone loved it. Being the cautious type, and since I had never made this recipe before, I made the soup the day before. Given the complexity of flavors, I’d encourage you to do the same.
I raced home from the gym the other day and I was starving. I was craving a bowl of chili, and remembered that I had all the ingredients waiting in my kitchen.
Since the summer, I’ve been stocking my pantry with lots of canned goods, and I pick them up whenever they’re on sale. Be sure to get no salt added items whenever possible. I also have an assortment of dried beans, but they take an overnight soak before I can use them, so for this quick meal, I used canned.
Squash and apples are pretty bountiful right now. Roasting them together adds a nice depth to their wonderful flavors. Throw in some garlic, and you have a simple and tasty soup, perfect for a cold fall evening. Enjoy.
Roasted Squash and Apple Soup
serves six
3 lbs butternut squash
2 medium granny smith apples, halved and cored
1 head garlic
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of thyme
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Cut garlic head in half and place cut side down with squash on baking sheet.
Place apples cut side down on baking sheet as well.
Bake at 400º for 35-40 minutes.
Scoop squash and apples from skins and place in saucepan. Squeeze roasted garlic halves from their skins into saucepan as well. Add 3 cups of the vegetable stock and with an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add more stock to obtain desired consistency. Heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and thyme. Optional: Add a bit of curry powder, hot paprika or cayenne pepper for a bit of spice.
Yesterday morning, I was looking through one of my favorite cookbooks, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. I wanted to try to make something quick, simple, and, of course, tasty. I also wanted to prepare something I hadn’t made before. Brother Victor’s Swiss Chard and Lentil Soup met all my criteria, and the end result was one of the best soups I’ve made.
Generally, I don’t use swiss chard much, mainly because it’s not always available at the grocery store, but I have gotten some at my local farmer’s market. Determined to make this recipe, I went on the hunt for this main ingredient, and found it at the first store I went to. Perfect.
Categories
Tuscan Harvest Soup
As we continue to move into cooler weather, I’ve been looking for some new soup recipes. This one comes from the folks at Moosewood Restaurant in New York. According to them, this hearty soup is usually made around the time that olives are harvested. I know I just wrote about Italy yesterday….
One day, I hope I can make it there during the olive harvest. I heard recently that someone invented a machine that shakes the olives from their branches. That’s not what I want to see. Instead, I want to go someplace where they still do everything by hand. A place where they use heavy stone wheels to crush the oil out, as they have done for centuries. Take that back. Millennia.
Wouldn’t it be great to dip some crusty bread into that fresh, spicy, cloudy oil? I bet there’s nothing like that taste anywhere, certainly not out of a bottle. Of course, you’d have to be there to try it.
I don’t have time to watch the Food Network much, but the other day I caught Rachel Ray making a Vegetarian Shepherd Pie. While she was preparing the dish, she mentioned that she and her husband go meatless three or four times a week. Nice.
That got me thinking, and I made a trip to the Food Network website, which, I found out, is loaded with vegetarian recipes. While searching around, I came upon a great-sounding recipe for vegetarian chili from Emeril Lagasse. Since I was more in the mood for chili than shepherd’s pie, I made the chili first. Emeril serves his over rice, but I like my chili just by itself. It came out really tasty.
I brought in a batch for my coworkers, and they agreed. As the weather gets cooler, please give this one a try. You’ll be happy you did. Enjoy the weekend 🙂
p.s., I once again couldn’t upload my picture from iphoto. I do have one of this delicious chili and promise to get it up soon.