Recipe by Emily Beaton
By this time in the season, you probably have an abundance of vegetables accumulating in your refrigerator. Soup is the perfect thing to make if you're trying to use them up. This recipe can be modified to incorporate any vegetables or herbs you prefer and can be seasoned to your liking. You may also modify the recipe by adding protein: beef, chicken, lentils, beans or chickpeas; grains like rice or barley; or noodles. Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
3 medium carrots, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, finely-diced (optional)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small cayenne pepper, finely diced, more or less to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
2 cups potatoes, diced
2 cups acorn squash, diced
1 cup cabbage, chopped
5 cups water or broth
1 cup tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 (lightly-packed) cups of kale, chopped
1 small zucchini, coined and halved
Juice from one lemon
Preparation:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Add the carrots and onion and simmer, stirring occasionally, until onions are clear
Add the garlic and ginger and spices and simmer for 1 minute.
Add the squash, potatoes and cabbage and stir to combine
Add the tomatoes and water or broth
Bring to a boil, reduce to medium-low heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the fresh herbs, kale and zucchini and cook until the kale is wilted and the potatoes, squash and carrots are tender (another 8 minutes or so)
Squeeze lemon juice into soup
Add more seasoning to taste
Enjoy!
Notes:
This makes a big batch, so its a great recipe for feeding a crowd, or you can eat some of it now and freeze the rest for a blizzardy, winter day.
I like the addition of butter for a little extra fat in the soup, especially when not adding meat to the recipe.