I absolutely love, love, love this soup. I’ve been told it’s like a broccoli cheddar soup without the broccoli or the cheddar. I think my guests are referring to the texture, which is thick and creamy, made possible by the starch in the golden and silky Yukon potatoes that are used here. Of course the half and half adds a whole lot of that rich cream, but you can also replace that with whole milk instead.
At the time I made this recipe, it still felt like summer.
Two short days later, it feels like we skipped right to Autumn and possibly on the verge of winter. Oh well, I’ll eat avocados at any time of year and when mixed with cucumbers and red onions, it reminds me of summer days. At least the cucumbers I’ve had to save in my garden can be put to good use still…and for just a little while longer.
I hope you’ll enjoy this super simple, really healthy and light salad recipe, too.
Do people ever question certain foods you like to eat or drink in the summer? Not the winter, but just the hot summer time.
They might say things like, ‘How can you eat that (insert said food/drink) when it’s so hot outside?” No one ever really questions you when you have a big bowl of ice cream in the dead of winter, just because you wanted it, right?
Well, that’s why I’m going to talk about soup.
In the summer.
Because it’s a good idea.
Especially during Ramadan.
And here are a few of my reasons why:
I’m a fan of soups, especially vegetarian ones so I may be a bit biased on the taste of it all, but the truth is that soups are a great accompaniment to main meals for all of the above reasons. The trick really is getting the base flavor done right, which all depends on what you want your soup to taste like, in terms of type of cuisine.
This soup I’m showing you how to make here is more of a Mediterranean style soup, but much of the ingredients grow in my Illinois backyard during the summer, so it can very well be an all-American summer soup recipe, too. What I love about it is that it’s vegetarian, so it can be eaten at room temperature and still taste good, and you can tweak it in all sorts of ways to make it different, make it your own.
It starts out with the basic base of almost every good soup: olive oil (or some kind of healthy oil), onion, garlic. Adding the peppers makes it a little more unique and could almost add a Latin flair if it were not for the eggplant.
If you were going for an Asian flavor, you might use sesame oil as a base; for a South Asian flavor you could try adding fresh ginger to the garlic and onion base; for something more Italian, add tomatoes/tomato paste, or even a mix of celery/carrot/onion- also known as mirepoix.
I chop up everything quite small in this recipe because vermicelli noodles (aka: “fideos” in Latin circles) are chopped and small, too. I don’ t want the veggies to overpower that; I want them to match.
Add olive oil, about 1/8 cup which equals 2 tablespoons.
Did you know that those handy small measuring cups make it super easy to measure out the commonly-called-for 2 tablespoons?
Once the oil is hot but not burning, of course, I add the onions. Don’t let them brown too much. Add the red peppers.
And the green ones. Or vice versa. It doesn’t matter which color goes in first, at least not to me.
Add the eggplant and the garlic. I don’t like garlic to burn- it turns dishes bitter when that happens. Instead, I always try to add it with another cushion- in this case, that’s the soft eggplant.
Next, add the freshest dried herbs you can find. I recognize that’s an oxymoron. But, it’s true. Find the best dried spices because they’re most pungent. I picked mine, let them dry out for three days in my kitchen and they were perfect. All I had to do was crush them. It’s a mix of about one to two tablespoons of basil, oregano and mint. Add sea salt and black pepper, to taste.
That should cook down and absorb all the oil, then you’ll add the best feature of the recipe, which is a low-sodium, all vegetarian and very rich vegetable broth. I use the Saffron Road brand because it’s not only what I trust to be good, it’s also halal- no added gelatin for sure, and the ingredients are pure quality. There’s a huge difference between adding water, good broth and really poorly made broth to a soup.
I use one entire box for this soup.
Look at how deep and complex the colors of the soup are.
Let it come to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer for about 30 minutes.
Then add the fideos/vermicelli (about 1 and 3/4 cups).
Let them cook until fully softened, about 5-7 minutes.
At this point, I add about one cup of water just because I’m trying to reach the consistency that my family and I prefer. If you feel like you don’t need any extra liquid, just continue cooking. Be aware, however, that the fideos/vermicelli noodles will expand and leave you less liquid than was there before. Adjust for salt and pepper, as needed.
Serve warm or hot, depending on how you like it.
Variations include adding tomato to the base, as well as adding small strips of chicken or beef for protein.
Have I convinced you to have soup throughout the summer, especially during Ramadan?
UPDATE:
The winner of this giveaway is Maritza Maritza. Please contact us as soon as possible with your full name, address and phone number!
If so, tell me what you would make with the Saffron Road Culinary Classic Vegetable Broth in the comments below and you could be eligible to win this lovely gift basket by Saffron Road, full of goodies such as their globally-inspired Simmer Sauces, the Culinary Classic Vegetable Broth I just showed you all about, an apron to keep you tidy in the kitchen, a bag of their crunchy chickpeas (which are nonGMO, by the way) and some coupons.
Isn’t that so generous?
To enter, see details below the picture..
And be sure to “Like” Saffron Road on Facebook to get lots of great information this Ramadan that will help you discover their line of halal products, many of which are gluten-free. They’re also part of the NonGMO Project, they’re Certified Humane by the Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) as well as certified halal by IFANCA.
Please read our official giveaway guidelines before entering, as leaving a comment for entry indicates to us that you have read and understood.
Winners will be notified at this blog post once the contest is over. Please re-visit this page to find out.
Contest ends on Sunday, June 22, 2014 at 12:01 AM CST.
I’m simply amazed at how much everyone absolutely loved this ever so simple recipe for fresh beet juice, made with only three (four if you include water) ingredients. It is the simplest drink recipe to make and so good for you. See the recipe below.
Kathy Hester is a food blogger and the author of some really great cookbooks that I’m happy to know about and have on my bookshelf because they demonstrate wonderful ways to substitute meat when you want to or you have to, for one reason or another. We met briefly at the Eat Write Retreat in Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago and later kept in touch when I interviewed her here about her book, The Vegan Slow Cooker. Now she’s published more cookbooks and I’m just getting caught up with her book, The Great Vegan Bean Book where I found lots of recipes I’ve wanted to try and share here on my own site.
One of my favorites that I finally got around to trying was this Indian Yogurt Salad.
Below I’ll show you how I make the recipe with several tweaks of my own for the ingredients I didn’t have on hand.
You’ll need some simple ingredients, all fresh and healthy. Most of the work comes from chopping, but that’s the therapeutic part, right?
I love that Kathy includes black salt in this recipe, as it’s not a common ingredient in American cooking cooking but it’s very popular in South Asian recipes.
Fortunately you can find it rather inexpensively at most Indian markets. This recipe calls for 1.5 to 2.5 teaspoons black salt (a.ka. kala namak).
Start out with cooked chickpeas then add the black salt. Kathy calls for three cups of chickpeas and I use two. You can use canned or fresh, but they should definitely be cooked. Additionally, add 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin, and one clove of garlic, minced. You can also add .5 to 1.5 teaspoons chili powder, if you have it.
Get about two cups of yogurt ready to go. Kathy uses one cup of soy yogurt and I use whole milk yogurt in my version.
Prep the fresh produce by chopping them up nicely. The recipe calls for 1 large cucumber, 1/2 small onion, minced and one large cooked potato. I didn’t have potatoes so I used tomatoes instead.
It’ll measure out to be about two cups cucumbers and one cup diced tomatoes.
Now this is what you should have all organized (a.k.a. mise en place, as the French chefs say). Also, I didn’t have cilantro on hand so I used parsley. I think cilantro is much better for this dish, but don’t let it stop you from making it if you don’t have the cilantro.
Into a larger bowl, pour the yogurt over the chickpeas and add all the freshly chopped veggies and herbs. Leave no yogurt behind here.
Once it’s all mixed together, it’s such a beautiful blend of flavors that can be eaten alone with a slice of rustic bread, or on top of a delicious dish of rice with a side of chicken, beef or lamb. Or not…
I decided to enjoy mine with a delicious piece of Persian bread that I was fortunate enough to find at a local supermarket.
I hope you’ll purchase a copy of Kathy’s book (you can do so here) and so you can get her exact vegan version of this delicious and healthy dish that can be made as a big as a meal or as small as a side dish. Thanks so much for sharing, Kathy!
Many of you have asked about the recipe for this dish that I served over the weekend, so I’ll give it to you simply- because it’s one of the easiest dishes to make, and super simple and healthy.
Enjoy!