Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (52 page)
Read Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook Online
Authors: Isa Chandra Moskowitz,Terry Hope Romero
Tags: #food.cookbooks
The wood ears should be ready at this point, so remove them from the bowl, cut into bite-size pieces, and add them to the soup as well.
Mix the arrowroot with the water until dissolved. Add to the soup and stir until just slightly thickened, a minute or two. This soup isn’t going to be very thick, just more cloudy than anything else. But the starch gives the soup a little body.
Add the shredded carrots and tofu, and cook just until heated though, about 5 more minutes. Ladle into bowls and garnish with scallions to serve.
MIDSUMMER CORN CHOWDER WITH BASIL, TOMATO, AND FENNELSERVES 6 TO 8
TIME:
1 HOUR 30 MINUTES
1 HOUR 30 MINUTES
This fresh, soothing corn chowder uses the best of the season’s produce. You can expect the unexpected with the bold and tasty addition of fresh basil and fennel bulb. Make this on a lazy summer evening when you don’t need to be anywhere anytime soon, and use that extra time to prepare the Fresh Corn Stock (next recipe), which gives this soup a rich, complex base. We like this corn chowder recipe because it doesn’t rely on the addition of any soy dairy products (which usually is the case with vegan creamy soups) to achieve a smooth, velvety texture.
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If there’s no time for broth-making, Mr. or Ms. Jet-setter, and you absolutely insist on using just water, try simmering the soup with the corn cobs tossed in after adding the water, taking care to remove them before you add the tomatoes and basil.
This soup just screams “I just came back from the farmers’ market! Look at my bulging canvas sack!” Here’s an opportunity to try out different varieties of local, fresh corn in the peak of summer, purple or Thai basil,Yukon gold or Russian banana potatoes, and any heirloom tomatoes.
6 ears fresh corn, husks and silk removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 large onion, cut into fine dice
1 small bulb fennel (about ½ pound), diced
1 stalk celery, chopped finely
1 large carrot, diced
1 pound white, waxy potatoes (about 2 medium-size),
peeled and diced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 quarts Fresh Corn Stock, vegetable broth, or water
1 pound tomatoes, seeded and chopped finely
⅓ cup fresh basil leaves, tightly rolled and chopped
into thin strips
Salt and freshly ground pepper
ON A large cutting surface or in a large bowl, hold an ear of corn by the thicker end and run a sharp knife carefully down the length of the ear, close to the cob, to slice off the kernels of corn. Repeat with the remaining ears. Set aside the kernels, break each cob in half to use in the corn stock, or add to the soup when simmering.
Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the garlic in oil for 30 seconds, then add the onion. Stir and cover, sweating them for about 5 minutes. Add the carrot and celery, stir, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the fennel, stir, cover, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes; then add the chopped potato, stir, cover, and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Finally, add the corn, stir, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the stock, stir, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and allow the soup to simmer, covered (with lid tilted so a small amount of heat can escape), for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat, ladle 1½ cups of the soup into a separate large bowl, and allow to cool until only slightly warm.
Puree the bowl of soup with an immersion blender, then add back to the remaining soup in the pot. Place the pot over medium heat, add the chopped tomatoes and basil, and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, until the soup is hot.
FRESH CORN STOCKThis stock is very free form. Try tossing flavorful vegetable scraps (such as onion skins, carrot peelings, etc.) in with the rest of the ingredients.
8 cups water
6 corn cobs, broken in half
2 carrots, chopped coarsely
2 stalks celery, with leaves
1 leek, washed well and chopped coarsely
1 onion with skin, cut into chunks
Handful of fresh parsley, torn coarsely
1 teaspoon whole black or red peppercorns
Optional:
carrot tops, additional celery leaves and stems, additional onion skins, lacy fronds from the fennel tops
IN a large stockpot, combine the water, corn cobs, carrot, celery, leek, onion,parsley and peppercorns. Add one or more of the optional vegetable trimmings. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Remove cover, reduce heat to medium-high and allow to simmer for 1 to 1½ hours.
Allow the stock to cool until tepid. Strain the stock with either a large metal strainer or cheesecloth. It can be refrigerated in a covered container for up to a week.
ROASTED YELLOW PEPPER AND CORN BISQUESERVES 6 TO 8
TIME:
1 HOUR 20 MINUTES, LOTS OF IT INACTIVE
1 HOUR 20 MINUTES, LOTS OF IT INACTIVE
Yellow peppers, yellow corn, and yellow summer squash make for a bright and beautiful—you guessed it—yellow soup. Red chile peppers dot this soup and save it from a monochrome yellow, plus they add just a little spice. Partially pureeing everything makes this bisque really luscious and creamy, while nutmeg and lime tie the whole shebang together. Again, this is a great farmers’ market soup, when everyone has yellow squash up the wazoo and you are sick another night of yellow squash sauté.
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To better manage your time, you can prep the roasted peppers up to a day ahead and leave them tightly sealed in the fridge overnight.
4 yellow bell peppers
3 cups fresh corn, cut from the cobs (you can use
frozen, too, but fresh tastes better)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium-size Vidalia or Walla Walla onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
2 hot red chiles, seeded and sliced thinly
1 yellow summer squash, cut in half lengthwise and
sliced thinly (about 3 cups)
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1½ teaspoons salt
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (lite is fine)
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
Juice of 1 lime, or to taste
1 whole nutmeg
PREHEAT THE oven to 375°F. Cut the stems off the peppers and pull out the seeds. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (cover with baking parchment to protect the sheet, or just ignore that if you don’t care about your sheet) and bake for about 40 minutes, turning once. The peppers should be very soft and collapsed.
When the peppers are done, place them in a plastic bag for about 30 minutes. This will steam them and make the skin very easy to peel away. Remove from bag, peel away the skin, and roughly chop the peppers.
Preheat a soup pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion in the oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and chiles. Sauté for another minute or so. Add the corn and squash, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until moisture begins to release from the squash. Add the roasted peppers, vegetable broth, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, covered.
Add the coconut milk and puree the soup, either by using an immersion blender or by slightly cooling and then transferring the soup to a food processor or blender in batches.
Let the soup heat through again and grate the nutmeg with a microplane grater directly into the soup. Add the maple syrup and lime, stir, and serve!
BAKED POTATO AND GREENS SOUP WITH POTATO-WEDGE CROUTONSSERVES 6
TIME:
30 MINUTES, NOT INCLUDING BAKING THE POTATOES
30 MINUTES, NOT INCLUDING BAKING THE POTATOES
Kids really love this soup, as far as we can tell, so if your kids says they don’t, please explain that we said yes, they do. There’s a giant french fry in it, for heaven’s sake—that is, a potato wedge that’s been dredged in cornmeal and lightly fried. As for the healthy part, we use kale here, but escarole or spinach would be good, too. Make the baked potatoes the night before so that you can have this soup ready in thirty minutes. Or microwave them instead; just don’t tell us about it. Sincerely, the Anti-Microwave Squad.
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