Hello Hive friends.
We travelled to the other side of town today to get groceries for my partner's elderly parents.
It's -15 C. When I get back from this trip. I need comfort food, which can be many different things. With my face almost cracked from the icy air, I can only think of one thing to have, and that is hot soup. Don't get me wrong. I love soup all year round.
Yesterday at the nearest store, I found some broccoli that was marked down for 50 cents a bunch. I bought 3 bunches. It was not pretty enough for the average person, but it was still green. The average price of broccoli is around 3 dollars a bunch if you're lucky.
This is perfect for making soup. I had a few other items in the fridge that I added. I intended on having a creamy soup, for extra comfort.
In the past, I used to throw away the stems of broccoli. Now I use them for soup, or even a stir fry.
The only thing I remove from the stem are the hard parts around the sides and the bottom of the stem. I just carefully shave it off with a knife.
Cauliflower can be pricey most of the time. When I see it on sale I grab it. The good thing is that it lasts for a while. I can use parts of it and keep the rest for later. Today was the later.
Fortunately my favourite, supporting items, onions and garlic, are always available and never too expensive.
Potatoes are also available somewhere for a decent price.
I guess I sound like I'm cheap. I would prefer not to throw money away if I don't have to. If one store sells lettuce for 7 dollars, and another for 4, then why would I choose to spend 7 dollars. I'm not exaggerating when I say 7 dollars. Winter in Canada you know.
Creamy vegetable soup
950g broccoli
600g cauliflower
100g carrot
400g potato
250g onion
50g garlic
celery
1/4 cup flour
2 cups soy milk
1 litre vegetable broth
3 tablespoons vegan butter
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
3 bay leaves
salt to taste
If it wasn't so cold, I may have gone to the store for other vegetables so I used up the fridge items. These are all I could scrape out. Not bad all the same.
In a large pot with oil on the bottom, I start with onion and carrots and potatoes. When the onions are translucent I add garlic. There is no need to chop the garlic as the soup will be blended later.
Next I add the broccoli stems.
The broccoli florets are kept for the end. They don't take long to cook. The pot was very full so I needed to cook down the items to make space.
After adding the cauliflower, I covered the pot to let everything braise without any added liquid.
I had already made a soup broth which needed to be strained
For this simple vegetable broth I add and onion, a bulb of garlic, a carrot, a stalk of celery, peppercorns, and a few bay leaves, then cover with water. Normally I add parsley but I didn't have much left, so I saved it for the soup garnish.
The broth was already salted and was added before the broccoli florets.
All of the ingredients were fully cooked and tender, when the broccoli florets were added. Some of the broccoli was reserved for the garnish.
I cooled the soup enough so that I could blend it.
My blender is small so it took a while to get it all done.
I wanted to further thicken and make it even more creamy. Yes it was thick enough to leave it the way it was, but I just wanted to give it an extra smoothness. I made a roux to add to the soup.
Roux
1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups milk
This is already listed in the soup recipe
Add the butter to medium heat, then whisk in flour, making sure the flour doesn't lump.
Add the milk, little by little whisking.
When the roux is smooth start adding the soup.
Keep whisking and mixing until everything is mixed together. I seasoned the soup with extra salt and pepper to my liking.
We often consume foods that are highly spiced and seasoned with warm exotic spices, hot peppers etc.
This soup was meant to be less busy for the senses and the stomach. I take a break sometimes with more simple ingredients.
The rest of the broccoli was kept raw, but chopped small for a garnish. The hot soup warmed the raw broccoli. I like the texture of it in a creamy soup.
I added just a few drops of hot sauce and parsley as well.
I have bread in the freezer that I turned into croutons. They were toasted in a pan with garlic and vegan butter.
I have used most of the items in my fridge for this and it feels good to have some space for my next grocery haul. We'll wait for a couple of days, when it's expected that the temperature will go up to a high of 0C. This will be a nice relief. However there will be snow.
I shouldn't complain like an old grump. The world is in so much turmoil, and people are suffering all over, that I have no right to complain about the weather. Sorry eh?. I can't promise to stop.
Thanks for dropping by.
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