Soups

Celery Root Soup

February 1, 2013 by Erica

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

Do you ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something… and it’s about food?

Without warning, everywhere you look, you start seeing a certain ingredient. It’s on Facebook. It appears at the grocery store. It shows up on your favorite blogs. Co-workers start mentioning what they’ve made with it. Finally, although you had never even heard of it before a few weeks ago, you decide that you just can’t ignore its presence any longer and have to make a weekend project out of cooking with it.

Does that ever happen to you? No?

Well, it’s exactly what happened with me and this weird-ass root.

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

Just look at this thing. I mean, there’s a reason it’s never made it onto my cutting board before this. Never mind the fact that I didn’t even know it existed.

But based on all the signs the universe has been sending me, the celery root and I are destined to be together.

So finally I went out and bought one. This was quite easy because, as I mentioned, my grocery store is displaying them prominently. But then the question remained: what do you do with this thing?

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

Turns out, you put it in a soup.

Well actually, first you hack it to pieces.

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

But then you put it in a soup. And drizzle it with truffle oil. And dip crusty hunks of bread in it. (Why did I not get some bread for these pictures? Food blogging lesson learned.) And then you get that comfy cozy feeling that comes from being warmed from the inside out.

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

So maybe the celery root and I are destined to be together.

And maybe you two are destined for each other, too. Don’t worry, there’s enough to go around.

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

If you haven’t met this soulmate of a root vegetable yet, let me tell you what to expect. Not surprisingly, it tastes like celery! Well, like that but more flavorful, and maybe a little more peppery. It has a texture close to a potato, but not as starchy. It has the same creaminess, but with an added delicious flavor. Overall, it has everything I could want in a wintertime soup. I liked this much more than any potato leek soup I’ve ever tried, and I can definitely imagine making a vegetable soup or stew with chunks of celery root in it.

So… you and the celery root. Together forever.

Consider this your sign from the universe.

Celery Root Soup | coffeeandquinoa.com

Celery Root Soup

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
kosher salt to taste
4 lbs celery root (I used 1 large plus 1 small)
5 cups vegetable stock made without tomatoes, such as Whole Foods 365 (or chicken stock)
2 cups water (reduce to 1 cup for a thicker soup)
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
scant 1/8 tsp chile powder
truffle oil or olive oil for serving (optional)

Instructions:

First of all, peel and chop the celery root. Here is a tutorial from The Kitchn on how to peel a celery root. It’s really not as hard as you think it will be. Once you’ve got that done, you can move on to the next step! My 4 lbs of celery root turned into about 7 cups when chopped.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add leeks and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not let the leeks brown at all; turn down the heat if they start to. Add the garlic cloves and a pinch of salt and continuing sauteing until both the leeks and garlic are soft and translucent, another few minutes.

Add the celery root, vegetable stock, and water. Cover, bring to a boil, and then reduce to what David Lebovitz calls a “strong simmer.” Simmer until the celery root is tender. (A fork should slide easily to the center of a cube when pierced.) This will depend on the size of your cubes, but took me about 25 minutes.

Once celery root is tender, add the pepper and chili powder. Puree using an immersion blender (or in batches in a regular blender) until the soup is smooth with no remaining chunks. Add more salt as desired.

Serve hot with a drizzle of truffle or olive oil and a side of rustic bread.

Enjoy!

Time:

45 minutes to an hour

Asian Noodle Soup To Cure a Cold (Vegan)

January 9, 2013 by Erica

I guess I forgot to knock on wood last week when I said that I had a cold, but wasn’t going to stay home from work.

On Friday morning, I woke up coughing and sneezing all over everything. Gross.

I thought I was done with colds this winter, after fighting one off just before the holidays, but it turns out that was wroooong. And based on my recollection of getting sick right around the Bachelor premier 2 years ago, apparently I get sick at this time every year.

It doesn’t help that it’s been absolutely freezing in Salt Lake for the past week – highs in the teens. Who wouldn’t get sick?

So on Friday morning, instead of going into work, I cuddled up on the couch with my laptop, a box of tissues and a cup of tea.

Tea is good… but soup is better.

Luckily, I also had the ingredients to make this soup.

Soup fixes everything. So I made it and proceeded to eat it for lunch and dinner all weekend.

What is it about soup that makes me feel so much better – nature or nurture? It must be both… warm fragrant broth to warm you up from the inside out and clear the sinuses, plus the recollection of exactly the same sensation every time you’ve been sick since childhood.

Mmmmm… yep, nothing better to cheer you up when you’re sick than hot, noodley soup.

So can I recommend that you make this immediately? If it’s cold where you live, if you’re coming down the the sniffles, if your boyfriend or roommate or co-worker just sneezed… take action and cook up a big pot of (vegan!) soup. And don’t forget the sriracha… or tissues!

4.8 from 4 reviews

Asian Noodle Soup To Cure a Cold (Vegan)

Hands-on time

5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

30 mins

This fragrant vegan soup will warm you to your toes. Recommended for times when you're sick and feeling sorry for yourself.

Author: Erica

Yields: 3-4 bowls of soup

Ingredients

1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 heaping Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 a jalapeno, seeds removed and thinly sliced
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (preferably one without tomatoes, such as Whole Foods 365 Organic)
3 green onions plus extra for serving, sliced
3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
3 baby bok choy, chopped
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into very thin coins
7 oz extra-firm tofu, cubed
5 oz soba noodles
chopped cilantro, for serving
sriracha sauce, for serving

Instructions

In a large pot, heat sesame oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add jalapeno, vegetable broth, and green onions. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes.
While broth is simmering, cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. (These are cooked separately to keep your nice broth from getting murky!)
Strain broth into a large bowl. (This step is optional, but I prefer to remove the solids.) Once strained, pour broth back into pot. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, vegetables, and tofu, and simmer until veggies are heated through, 1-2 minutes. Add soba noodles and heat for 1 more minute, until both noodles and broth are hot.
Remove soup from heat and ladle into bowls. Serve alongside sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and sriracha.
Note: This soup is best eaten immediately, as it won't reheat well once the vegetables and noodles have been added. If you're planning to have leftovers, I recommend saving half the broth just after straining and before adding anything else. For leftovers, you can assemble the bowl of soup just before reheating, which will prevent mushy veggies and noodles.

Noodles in Spicy Lemongrass Broth

December 7, 2012 by Erica

Things I want to do before Christmas:

1) Take a week off from work and wander around Whole Foods.

2) Take a week off from work and bake Christmas cookies.

3) Take a week off from work and make Asian soups.

Shoot. I don’t even have enough weeks before Christmas, never mind vacation days. Will someone pay me to do those things? Great.

Well, I may not have started on the Christmas cookies yet (or my Christmas shopping – eek! – which sadly cannot be done at Whole Foods), but I’ve been making my fair share of Asian soups lately because:

1) I just finished Lisa See’s Dreams of Joy, which left me craving Asian food (which is odd because there is a lot of starvation in the book as well as, uhhh, cannibalism).

2) I am fighting off a cold and want to eat ramen noodles all day long. (Why is that? It’s uncontrollable.)

3) OK, three things. Did I mention it looks like this outside?

Fortunately, this soup contains only plants and is healthier (and MUCH spicier) than ramen. You can cut back on the chilies very easily, though, and it will still be plenty flavorful with the lemongrass, ginger, etc.

Basically, you add a bunch of flavorful Asian things to a pot (or Dutch oven if you haven’t done your dishes recently!) with some broth:

And simmer until it looks like this:

Then strain the solids out. Get your bowl ready with noodles, tofu, and veggies!

And then pour in as much broth as you like! I didn’t use much here, as you can see, but you can certainly fill your bowl to the brim.

Then slurp, slurp, slurp!

I love this broth and can’t wait to make it again soon. It’s perfect for that pea soup whether we’ve been having recently, not to mention colds.

Have a great weekend! Next week, Christmas recipes – I promise. Plus an announcement!

Noodles in Spicy Lemongrass Broth

Adapted from Sunset

Serves 3

Time: about 40 minutes

Ingredients:

3 stalks fresh lemongrass (10 to 12 inches long)
1/2 bunch cilantro, rinsed
1/2 cup chopped green onions (including tops)
6 thin slices (quarter size) peeled fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 fresh red Thai chilies, rinsed, stemmed, seeded, and quartered (if you can’t handle spicy food, I recommend cutting the chilies down to 1 or skipping them altogether and serving sriracha sauce alongside the soup)
1/4 tsp ground pepper
5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
4 oz thin rice noodles
7 oz firm tofu, cubed
3 baby bok choy, rinsed and chopped

Instructions:

First, prepare the broth. Rinse the lemongrass and cut off and discard tough tops and root ends. Peel off and discard the coarse outer leaves. With the flat side of a knife, crush the inner lemongrass stalk. Chop cilantro leaves and set aside for garnish. Reserve the stems – these are what you will use in the broth.

In a pot, combine the crushed lemongrass, cilantro stems, 1/4 cup green onions, ginger, chilies, garlic, ground pepper, and vegetable broth. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Pour through a strainer over a large bowl and discard the solids.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Divide noodles between two to three soup bowls. Top with tofu and 1 baby bok choy per bowl. Ladle broth over noodles. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and remaining 1/4 cup green onions.

Enjoy!

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

December 3, 2012 by Erica

I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one on the internet with a soup recipe today.

From what I hear, it’s been raining on the West Coast for the past week, and every California food blogger I follow has spent the whole time making soup. Who can blame them? Even here in Utah, where it’s not raining, it’s been cold and gray and just DARK all the time, so of course I’ve made my fair share. And it’s all culminating in one big soup throwdown in the blogosphere today.

So here is my submission: A yummy spiced butternut squash soup with apples, carrots, and onions from the archives of the lovely blog Daily Garnish. I have to say, if you were considering making the Mexican Squash Soup I posted a few weeks ago, make this one instead. Then make that one next week! This soup, with the apples and spices, is so warm and fragrant… it’s perfect for when it’s midnight-dark at dinnertime and you need something to cheer you up. It’s actually what I was making when I took the picture that’s now my blog header. See?

Apples, carrots, and squash, oh my!

Seeing that squash on my cutting board reminds me that something exciting happened this past Friday: a Trader Joe’s opened in Salt Lake!! I drove by on Saturday and the crowds looked INSANE – I am definitely staying away until after the holidays. I already have about 5 grocery stores too many in my regular rotation, but I’m excited to have Trader Joe’s around for things like pre-chopped butternut squash. (Now you see where this tangent came from.) Sadly, no wine at this new TJ’s because we’re in Utah… sigh… but I’ll take it!

Anyway, I love soups like this because the only dishes you get dirty are a peeler, a cutting board and knife, and a soup pot and a ladle. Unless you’re like me and splatter soup all over the kitchen as you’re cooking, there’s very little clean-up involved. Enjoy!

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe from Daily Garnish

Time: about 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into about 1/2-inch chunks
2 apples, cored and chopped but peels left on (I used Gala)
2 carrots, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup almond milk (or your choice of milk)

Instructions:

In a soup pot or large dutch oven, saute the onion with a bit of olive oil over medium heat until until softened and starting to brown. Add squash, apples, carrots, broth, and spices (everything except the almond milk). Stir, cover and bring to a boil.

Simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are soft and even starting to look a bit mushy. This will depend on how small you’ve cubed up your veggies, but generally takes me around 45 minutes.

With an immersion blender, blend until smooth. (You could also transfer the soup in batches to a regular blender and then to a bowl.)

Remove from heat and stir in the almond milk.

Serve hot!

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

November 21, 2012 by Erica

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Do you know what you’re eating?

Not for dinner, silly. What kind of question is that? If you’re like me, you’ve been dreaming about Thanksgiving dinner for the past two weeks. I have lists made, not only of the dishes I’m making and the groceries that I (still – eek!) have to buy, but of when I should prepare what. Organization is kind of my thing.

Anyway, no, I’m not asking if you’ve given any thought to your Thanksgiving dinner, because I’m sure you have. I’m talking about lunch, the oft-forgotten Thanksgiving meal. If you’re eating dinner around noon, you can obviously forego lunch. But if you eat Thanksgiving dinner around 3:00 or 4:00, as my family typically does, you might find yourself in the kitchen come 1:00, trying to put together a sandwich or salad out of scraps from the fridge. It’s kind of weird to realize that in the frenzy of dinner planning, you’ve totally forgotten to plan a lunch… especially if you have holiday house guests. You don’t want anyone going hungry!

Luckily, my mom is always prepared (in this situation, as well as most others). Her solution is soup.

Soup for Thanksgiving lunch – it’s perfect! It’s autumnal and comforting, but not too filling, so you’ll still be able to stuff yourself in a few hours. Mom likes to serve her lunchtime soup in big mugs, although you can feel free to use a bowl.

This soup has a butternut squash base and uses chipotle chiles in adobo sauce for a nice little Mexican kick. Top with cilantro and a squeeze of lime, and you have the perfect light but satisfying lunch.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

Hands-on time

15 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Coffee & Quinoa

Yields: 6-8

Ingredients

1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (or more if you’d like it spicy!)
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
½ cup non-dairy milk (I used regular unsweetened almond milk)
cilantro, for serving
lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

First, chop all vegetables. To make the butternut squash easier to peel and chop, consider piercing it several times with a sharp knife and nuking for 2 minutes or so. This softens the skin and makes it just that much less likely that you’ll cut your finger off!
Heat a bit of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes, until the onion is softened and beginning to brown.
Add the rest of the vegetables (squash, carrots and celery), vegetable broth, and bay leaf. Simmer until vegetables are tender and starting to get mushy, about 45-50 minutes.
While soup is simmering, chop chiles, cilantro and lime wedges.
Remove bay leaf from the soup. (If you don’t, it’s no big deal. I actually forgot and it turned out fine!) Add chopped chiles and puree until smooth using an immersion blender. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup in batches to a blender and then into another pot or a bowl.)
Stir in cumin, coriander, and milk.Taste and adjust seasonings - you can add more chiles if you’d like it spicier!
Serve hot. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Notes

Adapted from http://www.anothermarvelousmeal.com/2011/10/mexican-spiced-butternut-squash-soup.html

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