Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

As the evenings are cooler, a hearty soup makes a welcome supper.

The other night I made this southwest-style corn and sweet potato soup with cheese.

I took this picture on the second night of eating it. We re-heated it a little too much and the cheese curdled so it looks a little lumpy. It still tastes great.

Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

6 cups vegetable stock

1 bottle Mexican beer

2 tsp ground cumin

1 bay leaf

1 large onion, diced
1 tbsp oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped
14 oz packet frozen corn, defrosted
1 poblano, roasted, peeled and chopped (or 4oz can green chiles)

2 tsp chili powder

cayenne pepper

2 cups milk

12 oz Monterey Jack cheese, grated

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (optional)

Boil the sweet potatoes in 3 cups stock, beer, cumin and bay leaf until crisp tender, about 12-15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Do not drain.

Sauté onion and garlic in oil about 10 minutes until soft. Stir into sweet potatoes along with the remaining 3 cups of stock. Add corn, poblano, cayenne to taste, and chili powder. Gradually stir in milk. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes until warmed through.

Reduce heat to low and stir in grated cheese until just melted. Season with salt to taste.

Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

Serves 6

Slow Cooker Red Pepper Soup

I love red pepper season - there's nothing like that fresh sweetness, so during the next couple of months I will be indulging.

On Sunday I made this simple supper of beans and peppers cooked in the slow cooker. A little chipotle in adobe added the heat that played beautifully off the sweet peppers, and the beans made it a good stick-to-the-ribs meal after a day of gardening.

I pre-cooked some pinquito beans (28 minutes in the pressure cooker) for the soup. Other days I've used green lentils instead and added them in raw, adding an extra 2 cups of water for them to cook in. Sometimes I use half cooked beans and half lentils. You really can't go wrong with legumes.

Slow Cooker Red Pepper Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped
2 red peppers, cored and chopped
1 cup pinquito beans, cooked (yields about 3 cups cooked beans - you can use 4 cans of beans instead)

Warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion until it softens, then stir in the garlic and cook another minute. Add chipotle and cook, stirring another minute. Stir in the red peppers and let them cook 2-3 minutes until they are beginning to soften. Scrape the mixture into the slow cooker, making sure to get all the brownish bits off the bottom of the skillet.

Stir in the cooked beans and 3 cups water.

Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little red wine vinegar in if needed to balance the sweetness, or a little olive oil for richness.

Serves 8

The red peppers and onions before going in the slow cooker.

Vegetarian Posole

I got an awesome gift for Christmas: dried blue posole from Rancho Gordo.

I had never cooked posole before. In fact, I hadn't even eaten it, because local versions always include some meat.

But I found a recipe for vegetarian posole on the Rancho Gordo website, and dove right in.

(If you have not visited their site, it's worth it just for the photos of their beautiful dried heirloom beans - real bean porn. Then you'll probably feel the need to buy some of their beans, and then you will have the foundation of many wonderful meals.)

Posole, like hominy, is corn that is dried, then cooked, then treated with calcium hydroxide (lime) so the skins come off when they're rubbed. The corn is then dried again. This is a traditional process that makes dried corn - hominy, posole - that cooks up into a fabulous thick soup.

This is a soup with endless varieties. Start with the dried posole and some dried beans. Add a few vegetables. Simmer it all together and you'll have a fabulous stick-to-the-ribs meal. Serve it with warm corn tortillas for pure heaven.

I used zucchini in my posole even though it's winter. My freezer is full of blanched diced zucchini from plants that grew vigorously in my garden last summer. I grew four seeds of the Italian heirloom Trombetta di Albenga, and the vines romped up and over my rain barrels, through the fig tree and the neighbor's yucca, producing yard-long zucchinis that were tender and delicious, but a little overwhelming to this family of two. Fortunately, zucchini freezes well, so we've been enjoying it this winter in soups and stews like this one.

If you do not have a freezer full of zucchini, you could use green beans in this recipe instead.

Vegetarian Posole
1 cup Rancho Gordo dried blue posole
1 cup dried yellow beans (or pinto or other heirloom beans)
1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp red chile powder (the kind that is pure chile)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seed
3/4 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 to 3 cups diced zucchini
14 oz can chopped tomatoes, drained
cilantro and warm corn tortillas to serve

Soak the posole in water to cover for 6 hours. Drain. Cook in plenty of fresh water, simmering but not boiling, for about 2 hours until tender.

Meanwhile, rinse the beans and put them in water to cover by a couple of inches. Let soak for 6 hours, then pour them with their water into a large pot. Do not drain them.

To the beans in their soaking water, add the vegetable stock and enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring to the boil and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or two depending on the age of the beans. Do not drain. Turn off the heat and set aside until the posole is ready.

Sauté the onion, garlic, chile powder, cumin seed and dried oregano in the oil until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the zucchini and tomatoes. Cook another 5 minutes.

Add the cooked vegetables to the pot of beans. Then stir in the drained posole. Simmer about 30 minutes, adding water if it's too thick.

Serve in bowls, sprinkled with cilantro, with warm corn tortillas on the side.

Serves many. Fortunately it freezes well.

This zucchini grew on top of my rain barrel, which is why it has this great shape.

Mushroom Oat Soup

This photograph does not do justice to this soup.

I love to switch up my grains. Last week I made mushroom barley soup with oat groats instead of barley. It was yummy.

Oats are fabulous healing foods. They are good for the heart, help lower cholesterol, and contain beta glucan — an excellent immune booster. And they aren't just for breakfast.

For this soup I used the whole groats - not the ones with husks on that are used for sprouting. They look a lot like barley, and add a similar silkiness to soups when cooked.

The parsnip adds an underlying richness to the soup. If you don't have one, just omit it. Or stir in a couple of teaspoons of tamari at the end to deepen the flavor.

You can use any combination of mushrooms that total approximately a pound. And if you're not able to go outside and pick a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary, you can use dried instead. Start with a sprinkle and let it cook a while before you decide whether to add more. They should enhance the flavor, not stand out too much.

Also, if you're using fabulous roasted vegetable stock, you'll only need a couple of cups in the large pot of soup. Use water for the rest of the liquid.

Mushroom Oat Soup
1/2 cup oat groats
1/2 oz dried porcini or shiitake mushrooms
3 medium leeks
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb oyster mushrooms
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb (or 6 oz) cremini mushrooms
6 cups vegetable stock
2 medium carrots
1 medium parsnip
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp minced rosemary
2 tbsp minced parsley to serve

Put the oats in a bowl with water to cover by 2 inches and leave to soak 6 hours or overnight. Drain.

Put the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave until softened, about 20 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the liquid and slice them thinly. Reserve the liquid.

Cut the hairy root end off the leeks, then slice them in half lengthwise. Wash them thoroughly in cold water, making sure to rinse any dirt out from among the leaves. Thinly slice the white and pale green parts.

Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Slice the oyster, shiitake and cremini mushrooms thinly and add to the pot. Cook about 10 minutes until the mushrooms have released their liquid and it has evaporated.

Peel the carrots and parsnip and slice thinly crosswise.

Add the reserved mushroom liquid, drained oat groats, vegetable stock, carrots and parsnips to the pot. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook until the oats are tender, about 35 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley. Serve hot.

Serves 8

This soup reheats well too.

Bean and Kale Soup

With actual cool, dark evenings, I'm enjoying serving hot soup for dinner.

A good soup that sticks to the ribs is also a great lunch after a morning of gardening, especially if the soup includes beans and greens.

Here's the soup I made last week. It lasted us many days, and continued to get better with age. I'll be making it often this winter.

As with all good soups, the ingredients can vary depending on what you have in the fridge. I used pinto beans because they're a great size on a soup spoon, but you can use whatever smallish beans you have on hand. Half the beans are puréed to give some body to the soup. This is not essential, but a nice touch.

Plus I had beet greens in the fridge so I stirred them in. Chard, spinach, turnip greens or even rutabaga greens would work just as well.

I defrosted some vegetable stock to use in the soup. You could use all water if needed, just make sure it totals 6 cups, and add a little extra salt or a spoonful of tamari to give some umami. If you don't have fresh herbs, use dried but cut down the amount by a third until you taste and see if you like it.

Bean and Kale Soup

1 cup pinto beans

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 small carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

4 cups stemmed and shredded curly kale

1 potato, peeled and diced

2 ½ cups stock plus 3 ½ cups water

greens from 1 bunch of beets, chopped, about 2 cups

½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp minced rosemary leaves

1 tbsp minced parsley

1 tsp minced thyme

parmesan to serve (opt)

Soak beans for a couple of hours. Drain, cover with water and cook until tender, about 2 hours. Drain. Process half the beans in the food processor with a little water until puréed. Set aside the puréed beans and the whole beans separately.

Sauté onion, carrots and celery in olive oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add kale, potato, puréed beans, stock and water. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add beet greens, cherry tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, parsley and thyme. Season to taste. Simmer another hour until the greens are tender and the flavors are well blended. Add extra water if necessary. (This should be a thick soup.)

Stir in reserved whole beans. Warm through. Season to taste.

Serve topped with grated parmesan if desired.

Serves 8 - 10

Eating the Decorations

This time last year we were munching our way through the winter squash I had bought as Thanksgiving decorations. This year, I was restrained in my squash purchasing, and instead decorated with flowers and nuts.

The bowl of nuts decorating the hall table were chestnuts from Ha's Apple Farm. I love chestnuts, and I planned that we would roast them in our outdoor fireplace after Thanksgiving dinner.

But we're not lighting our fireplace in this time of drought — the air is too dry as it is. So instead of roasting the chestnuts, I boiled them, and combined them with pumpkin in a stick-to-the-ribs soup. Delicious!

Boiled chestnuts were a revelation. They were moist and sweet — unlike the black-edged lumps I pull from the fire when I roast them — and I started dreaming of chestnut mousse and marrons glacés. But I regained my focus and added the chestnuts to this soup where they added a wonderful rich creaminess. Best pumpkin soup ever!

If you don't feel like boiling and peeling chestnuts, you can use a one-pound jar of whole, peeled nuts.

When buying pumpkin or winter squash for this soup, ask the farmer for a dry starchy one like hubbard or buttercup. Roasting the pumpkin gives the soup more flavor than those made with boiled pumpkin. Also, because I was using my homemade stock, I used 3 cups stock and 5 cups water. Vary the ratio depending on your stock.

Pumpkin Chestnut Soup
4 lbs pumpkin or dry squash like Hubbard or Buttercup
1 1/2 cups chestnuts
4 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
8 cups vegetable stock (or stock and water mixed)
3 1/2 lbs potatoes

Preheat oven to 400°F. Carefully cut the pumpkins in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush the cut surfaces with olive oil and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake 30-40 minutes until flesh is soft and slightly caramelized. Let cool enough to handle. Then scoop the flesh from the skins and cut it into chunks. Discard the skins.

Meanwhile, put the chestnuts in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Let simmer 5 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and let cool a little. One by one, remove a chestnut from the pot, hold it in a kitchen towel, and remove both the thick outer peel and the thin brown inner skin with a small sharp knife. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add onion. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, cooked pumpkin, potatoes and chestnuts. Simmer over medium heat 45 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Purée the soup with a stick blender. Or let it cool and purée carefully in a blender. Add more stock if the soup is too thick (but it's delicious when it's thick). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 8-10

Vegetable Stock

As the days cool off, I look forward to easy dinners of homemade soup.

The key to a good easy soup is an excellent stock. This provides a base flavor that combines with additional vegetables, grains and beans to make a delicious meal.

My favorite vegetable stock contains parsnips, which fortunately Finley Farm has been supplying me with this fall. The other day I cooked up a batch in my slow cooker. I could make it on the stove too, but the aroma of it cooking throughout the day is heavenly, and I can leave it to simmer without worrying about it boiling over or burning on the bottom.

I don't know how a single parsnip makes such a difference to 8 cups of stock, but it surely does. Although this stock is good without the parsnip, when I can get one I use it.

Vegetables ready to go in the oven

Traditional meat stocks are made with the animal carcass - the waste that would not be eaten. Vegetable stocks are made with vegetables you could eat instead of cooking into stock. By the time the stock is cooked, all the flavor and goodness is out of the vegetables and they are only good for the compost pile. This might seem a waste of good vegetables, but the stock is worth it. And potatoes, carrots and onions are inexpensive.

The only expense in the stock is the dried mushrooms – another necessary addition to get the excellent umami of a good stock. When I buy fresh shiitakes at the market, I dry the stems on a rack in the kitchen and then store them in a jar until I'm ready to make stock.

This recipe makes a strong flavorful vegetable stock. When I'm making soup, I use half stock and half water. There's no point using too much of a good thing. However, if you're making a soup that is mainly broth, use the stock at full strength and then taste it to see if it needs diluting.

This is not a fat-free stock. The olive oil is essential for the roasting that caramelizes and flavors the vegetables, and also to give it a yummy stick-to-the ribs deliciousness.

When you've made the stock, strain it and freeze it in 2-cup containers. Then you'll be ready to make delicious soups at a moment's notice.

After roasting

Vegetable Stock
1 large onion
2 large carrots
1 large potato
1 large parsnip (optional)
1 stalk celery
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
4 dried shiitake or porcini
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp tamari
7 cups water

Preheat oven to 450°F. 

Remove the papery peel from the onion and slice it thickly. Scrub the carrots and potatoes and cut in 1" chunks. Peel the parsnip and cut in 1" chunks. Chop the celery in 1" lengths. Place the garlic cloves, unpeeled, on your cutting board and crush with the side of your big knife. 

Place the vegetables in a lightly oiled baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until lightly browned, turning once, about 30 minutes total.

Meanwhile, soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup water until softened. Remove them from the water and check for dirt or grit. Pour the soaking water through a coffee filter, straining out any grit. Reserve mushrooms and soaking water.

Put the roasted vegetables in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add mushrooms and soaking water, bay leaves, peppercorns, tamari, 1 tsp salt, and water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Let cool slightly, then strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Press the vegetables against the side of the sieve with a wooden spoon to get the most liquid possible. Discard the vegetables. The stock will be a rich golden color. Either use it right away, refrigerate it for a few days, or freeze for longer storage.

Makes about 8 cups.

Liquid gold

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup

The weather is cooling off in the evenings (down to the 50s), making soup a welcome meal.

A good vegetable stock and some vegetables and grains or beans makes a great soup.

This Bean and Tomato soup is a little more complicated than I usually make, but it's worth the extra time. First I made a thick tomato soup and puréed it. Then I added cooked beans and more chopped vegetables for texture. When they were tender, dinner was served. (For my simpler creamy tomato soup, see here.)

We ate this delicious soup three times this week, and I've frozen the rest to eat in future weeks. It makes a lot, which is a plus in my book.

I love good soup.

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup
3 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1 leek, white only, halved and sliced
3 onions, peeled and diced, divided use
3 cups diced celery, divided use
28 oz can tomatoes
1 lb tomatoes, quartered and stem removed
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
3 cups vegetable stock and 5 cups water (or some combination)
4 carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
2 fennel bulbs, diced (about 2 cups)
1 1/3 cups white beans, cooked (or 2 cans, drained)

Melt butter in large soup kettle and sauté potato, leek, 1 onion and 1 cup diced celery, stirring frequently, until onion just starts to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes; stir well, scraping any onion off bottom of pan. Add oregano, water and stock. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook, loosely covered, until soup begins to thicken, about 45 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender (or in batches in a blender). Season with a teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you used, you'll need to add more salt. I added close to a tablespoon. (Still very little salt compared to packaged soups.)

Stir in carrot, fennel, remaining onion and celery, and simmer gently until they are almost tender. Stir in the cooked beans, and keep cooking until all is warm and tender, stirring regularly, about 25 minutes total.

Taste and season to taste.

Serves 10-16

Lasts a week in the fridge. Freezes well too.

Cabbage Soup

I love my slow cooker - I can set it up in the morning, ignore it all day, and sit down to a hearty dinner in the cool of the evening. It's almost like having a private chef.

The other day I used it to make this cabbage soup. While I would never boil cabbage on the stove - the smell would linger for days apart from anything else - cooked gently in the slow cooker over many hours it becomes soft and tender, nothing like boiled cabbage.

I added protein in the form of white lima beans that I had cooked ahead - they only take a couple of hours simmering on the stove. I used 1/2 cup of beans to make the 1 1/2 cups cooked beans the recipe calls for. A 14 oz can of cannellini beans, drained, would work too. The color in the soup comes from the carrots. Also, I added a little red cabbage too because I had it in the fridge. By the time the soup was cooked, it was all pretty uniformly white.

The keys to the great flavor in this soup are the vegetable stock and the liquid smoke. I'm not sure what liquid smoke is, the ingredient is smoke, but I feel it's comparatively natural. And it adds the smoky, dare I say bacon-y, flavor that is traditional in a cabbage soup. Other smoky possibilities, if you prefer not to use liquid smoke, are smoked paprika or chipotles in adobo - which would add a bit of a kick too.

Cabbage Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups shredded cabbage (1 small head)
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups cooked white beans
6 cups vegetable stock
4 sprigs thyme
salt and pepper
1 tsp liquid smoke

Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in the olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape into a 5-6-quart slow cooker. Add the cabbage, potato, beans, vegetable stock, thyme, and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Just before serving, stir in the liquid smoke. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve.

Serves 6-8. Freezes well.

The finished soup.

Heart-Healthy Soup

Tonight Larry and I will be eating leftovers.

Yes, I know it's Valentine's Day, and we should be eating a special, romantic meal. That was the plan. I had selected a tofu recipe which includes lemongrass from our beautiful garden. (Tofu is a great Valentine's Day food because it is good for the heart. I served it up a couple of years ago. You can read that story and a great tofu recipe here.)

Unfortunately, in re-reading the recipe I was going to cook tonight, I found that the tofu has to be pressed for 4 hours, then marinaded in the fridge overnight. Way too much work during the work week. So that recipe will be saved for the weekend, and tonight we will be eating soup.

But not just any soup. This soup, which we first ate earlier this week, is full of heart-friendly garlic. Garlic is well known for its ability to lower high blood pressure and tonify the cardiovascular system.  The split peas that form the bulk of the soup are full of soluble fiber which binds with cholesterol-containing bile and escorts it out of your body. They also help reduce the amount of plaque in your arteries.

The browned onion and garlic give the soup an intense flavor even without the use of vegetable stock.  The seasonings are inspired by a recipe in Ruta Kahate's book Quick-Fix Indian. The split peas make it a meal that sticks to the ribs - no crackers or biscuits required.

Split Pea Soup with Spinach
3/4 cup yellow split peas
4 oz spinach
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seed
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Rinse the split peas and put in a pot with 3 cups cold water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the peas are tender but still hold their shape, about 20 minutes. Do not drain.

Stem and wash the spinach and slice it thin.

In a 2-quart saucepan, warm the oil and sauté the onion until it is browned. Stir in the turmeric and coriander. Add the spinach and toss to coat with oil. Pour in the dal and its cooking water, and one more cup cold water. Stir in salt, bring to a boil, and simmer about 5 minutes.

In a small frypan, warm the ghee or oil over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seed and cook, covered, until the seeds stop sputtering. Add the garlic and cook until browned. Add to the soup. Stir and serve.

Serves 4

Parsnip and Spinach Chowder

What have we been doing with all the excellent organic parsnips we've been buying at the Finley Farms stall at the Hollywood Farmers Market?

Well, mainly they go into vegetable stock to fill my freezer for the next 10 parsnip-free months.

But yesterday I cooked a few of them into this sweet creamy soup that was soothing on a cool end-of-holiday evening. I made it after reading Darra Goldstein's book The Vegetarian Hearth, which has beautiful pictures and some yummy recipes, including this one. Highly recommended.

Parsnip and Spinach Chowder
1 onion, peeled and diced

1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 lb parsnips, peeled and cut into ¾ inch cubes

1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾ inch cubes

4 cups water

¾ tsp salt

2 cups tightly packed spinach, washed and tough stems removed

2 cups milk

white pepper

dash of cayenne

2 scallions, finely chopped

1 tbsp minced parsley

1 tbsp minced dill

Sauté onion and garlic in butter until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add parsnips and potatoes, stir, cook 3 minutes. Add water and salt. Simmer, covered, until tender, 20-30 minutes.

Add milk, pepper, cayenne, scallions, spinach and parsley. Simmer 10 minutes. Don't let it boil. Stir in dill just before serving.

Serves 6-8

Preparing for the holidays

Most people prepare for Thanksgiving by brining turkey or making pies.

This year, I prepared by making Green Soup.

Holiday food is higher in fat and sugar than our regular daily fare, but it wouldn't be a holiday without butter and whipped cream and dessert. So Green Soup is our preventative medicine. We ate it last night, we'll eat it again next weekend, and I froze some to eat over the Christmas holiday too - in between the feasting.

Green Soup is a nutrition powerhouse - loads of liver support, blood support, bone support - you name it. Just what a body needs to feel strong enough to withstand the food assault of the holiday season.

After we ate the Green Soup last night, Larry thanked me for making it. It's not his favorite food - one bowl is enough - but he can feel the goodness while he's eating it.

The first time you serve Green Soup to your family, serve it in small bowls before the main course. And use greens you know your family likes, like chard or spinach or collard greens. A combination is nice. And of course, dandelion greens and nettles add to the mineral load, so add them if you think your family will handle it.

This is the recipe I made yesterday. It's unlikely you'll be lucky enough to have the diversity of greens I did, so use what you have. Use mild greens like collards and spinach to tone down the spicier mustard and turnip greens. (See my recipe for Radish Green Soup for another version.)

This recipe makes a large pot - make a half recipe the first time.

Looks like green goop. Tastes delicious. And your body will thank you for it.

Green Soup
3/4 lb potatoes

1 bunch turnip greens

1 bunch mustard greens

1 bunch collard greens

1 bunch nettles

1/2 large onion (1 cup diced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bulb fennel
1 clove garlic
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water


Peel and dice the potatoes. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain.

Gently rinse the nettles in cold water. Be careful touching them because they can sting. Remove the toughest stems, then cook them in a little water until they are very soft. Purée them with extra water if necessary - they make a wonderfully vibrant green liquid - and set aside.

Wash the other greens well. Chop them (including the stems), and set to one side.

Sauté the onion in olive oil until tender. Cut the stems off the fennel. Quarter the bulb and remove the core. Dice the remaining bulb and add it to the pot along with the chopped garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is soft.

Add the stock and water. Add handfuls of greens, stirring them and sprinkling with a little salt. When all the greens are in, cover the pot and let them simmer until they are very soft.

Let cool a little. Stir in the potatoes, then purée in batches in a blender or food processor. Make sure it's really smooth. Add extra water if necessary to make it soupy.

Return to a clean pot, reheat gently, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

A little lime juice or lemon juice or apple cider vinegar added at the end will brighten the flavor. Or serve lemon wedges on the side.

Makes 8-10 cups of soup.

Red Pepper and Lentil Soup

It's still hot during the day, but it's starting to cool off in the evenings. Last Sunday I made a lentil soup in the slow cooker that didn't heat up the kitchen, but warmed us up after dark.

I added a couple of the vibrant red peppers currently in season. Unfortunately they fade to brown when the soup is cooked, but they still add plenty of nutrients, including lycopene which helps prevent cancers of the lung and prostate. They've also been found to boost the metabolism, a boon to weight watchers everywhere.

I added chipotle chiles in adobo sauce to give the stew a smoky kick. Use less for a milder dish. For a different but good soup, throw in some diced fresh jalapenos or serranos when you sauté the red peppers. Or skip the chiles and stir a teaspoon of smoked paprika into the cooking peppers.

A bowl of this soup is a good light dinner. Serve it with a salad and some bread and cheese for a more substantial meal.

Red Pepper and Lentil Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

6 cloves garlic

1 chipotle pepper in adobo

2 red peppers

1 cup brown lentils

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Dice onion and warm in oil until soft. Add chopped garlic and cook 1 minute. Chop the chipotle pepper, add to the pan, and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Dice the red peppers and add them to the pan. Cook 3-5 minutes until beginning to soften.

Scrape into slow cooker. Add lentils and 5 cups water. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours.

Add vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Serves 6.

Root vegetable soup

I made this golden soup on the Winter Solstice to remind the sun to come back after the longest night of the year. (As you can see, it worked.) I floated a slice of golden beet on each bowl as extra encouragement.

This simple root vegetable soup was inspired by the baby rutabagas and turnips and the golden beets at the Flora Bella and Finley Farms stands at the Hollywood Farmers Market. 

Because I had run out of vegetable stock, I used a base of onions and garlic cooked in olive oil and butter - similar to the way I start risotto. I usually depend on good stock for well-flavored soup, but the flavors of the roots shone through in this dish.

I added protein in the form of pinquito beans, tiny little beans native to southern California that I buy at the Hollywood Farmers Market. You could use adzuki beans instead, or any other small bean.

Don't wait until next Winter Solstice to try this yummy dish.

Solstice Root Vegetable Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 cup diced onion

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 cup dried pinquito beans

3 golden beets

5 small turnips (5 oz total)

7 very small rutabagas (8 oz total)

2 carrots

5 cups water

1 tbsp salt

Cook the beans in a large amount of boiling water until cooked, 2-3 hours. Drain and set aside.

Scrub the roots, take off the tops and ends, and chop them in 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice.

Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil and butter until tender and fragrant. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, until all the roots are meltingly tender.

Serve hot with fresh pepper to add as desired.

Serves 3-5.

Tomato Spinach Soup

White beans are the surprise ingredient in this tomato soup.

Puréed white beans are a wonderful foundation for creamy soups and sauces, for dips, and even as a base (instead of rice or mashed potatoes) for a scoop of cooked greens.

In this soup, they substitute for dairy products to make a creamy vegan soup.

The recipe makes a lot, so it's perfect for a pot luck on a cool evening. And, because it has no dairy products in it, it will freeze well.

I used dried white lima beans that I buy at the Hollywood Farmers Market. They are last year's crop, so they cook quickly without soaking - about 90 minutes. If you don't have dried limas, use cannelinis or any other white bean. If your beans are older, you could soak them overnight to shorten the cooking time. Or use canned beans - although it will take 6 cans to make the right amount of beans. (And dried are way cheaper.)

Use a well-flavored vegetable stock (I use my standard one which you can see here) or add extra salt and pepper while the soup cooks.

If you don't have a lime, use a tablespoon or so of lemon juice or white wine vinegar - it's there to give a boost to the flavor.

And when you serve this soup, call it creamy tomato spinach soup - no one has to know it's full of protein-rich, fiber-rich, incredibly healthy beans.

They can just know that it tastes great.

Tomato Spinach Soup
4 cups dried white beans
2 cups vegetable stock
2 -14oz cans tomato sauce
4 cups spinach
juice of 1/2 a lime

Cook the beans in simmering water until they are very tender. Drain, then purée the beans in batches in a food processor or blender. Let the machine run until the purée is really smooth, adding stock as needed so it is not at all grainy.

Put the purée in a large pot with any remaining stock. Start it warming, covered, over medium-low heat. Stir in the tomato sauce and cook gently until it's warmed through.

Stem the spinach, and chop if the leaves seem too big.

Add the spinach and lime juice to the pot. Stir well. Cook until the spinach is wilted. Taste for seasoning and serve hot.

Serves 8-10

Radish Green Soup

One of the great things about shopping at the farmers market is I can ask the farmers and their helpers how they cook their produce.

Some growers are one-note cooks. "Chop it up and stir it into rice," says one about pretty much everything he sells. "Toss it in olive oil and roast it in the oven," says another about his produce. Both great ideas, but they get a little boring after a while.

I keep asking though, because on occasion I get a gem of a recipe. Like this radish-top soup that I learned about at the Flora Bella stand.

I had selected a bunch of black radishes for their roots, which are turnip-sized with a radish-y zest more potent than the small red radishes but less eye-watering than horseradish. I like to peel them and add them to dishes of roasted root vegetables. As I was paying for them, I thought to ask if their leaves were edible too.

I never thought of eating radish leaves, but I've since learned that the leaves of all radishes, even the little red ones, are good eating. They are a little hairy, but cooking and puréeing them breaks them down to a smooth consistency.

When the woman working the stall gave me this soup recipe (her husband's favorite), I decided I needed a second bunch in order to make a decent amount. She dug through the pile for one with excellent leaves, and I came home to give it a try.

Larry was a little dubious when I put the green goop in his bowl, but he really enjoyed it. As did I. It's creamy and light, yet with a radishy tang. I didn't think it would be filling - no beans or potatoes - but it actually sticks to the ribs. And in smaller bowlfuls it could be an excellent appetizer soup. It would certainly intrigue your guests while giving them lots of nutrition.

You can make the soup with the tops of any radishes, including the red ones. If you don't have enough greens, you could pad it with mustard greens, chard or spinach.

And you can substitute olive oil for the butter to make this a creamy vegan soup.

Radish Green Soup
1 bulb fennel
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
greens from 2 bunches of black radish (1 lb total greens)
2 cups vegetable stock

Cut the leaves and stems off the fennel and discard. Cut the bulb in half and cut off the tough bottom and core - discard these too. Chop the remaining segments into large pieces.

Warm the olive oil and butter in a saucepan and sauté the fennel, onion and garlic until softened.

Wash the radish greens and cut off the tough bottoms which are just stem. Chop the leaves and add to the pan along with the vegetable stock. Cook, covered, until the greens are very soft.

Purée in the blender.

Serve hot.

Serves 2-3.

Bad risotto

I have had two bad risottos recently, both in restaurants. One had too much lemon oil added at the end, and the other was missing the finishing touch of truffle oil that would have given it flavor.

Even if the chefs had been skilled in adding their flavored oils, the risottos still would have been one-dimensional. Risotto, like most complex dishes, requires layers of flavor cooked into the food. The rice is first turned in olive oil, butter and wine, then cooked gently in a well-flavored stock. A few vegetables can be added for color and texture. I sometimes grate some parmesan or lemon rind over at the end, but that's an extra layer, not a required flavoring.

Vary the flavors in this simple technique to make Asparagus Risotto or Corn Risotto - two of my favorites.

I think the trouble with both restaurant risottos was the lack of flavor in the vegetable broth. Few restaurant chefs know how to make a good vegetable stock - the essential basis for an excellent vegetarian risotto. Instead they rely on flavoring oils and end up with at best a one-dimensional flavor, at worse something inedible.

The best vegetable stocks are made by roasting the vegetables before boiling them - just as you would roast bones when making a meat stock. Add to this some dried mushrooms, and a little soy sauce to get that umami, and you have a great stock, suitable for the best risottos, soups and stews.

I love this stock from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson, an excellent source for stews and soups that are ready and waiting when you get home from work.

Once the vegetables are roasted, the stock bubbles away without me. When it's done, I store it in 2-cup containers in the freezer, ready to make delicious meals.

The parsnips add another dimension to the stock, and I make many batches during parsnip season. However, it's a good stock even without them.

With a few containers of this great stock in the freezer, you will be ready to make delicious soups and stews to warm your evenings in the winter months ahead.

Roasted Vegetable Stock
1 large onion
2 large carrots
1 large potato
1 large parsnip (optional)
1 stalk celery
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
4 dried shiitake or porcini
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp tamari
7 cups water

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Remove the papery peel from the onion and slice it thickly. Scrub the carrots and potatoes and cut in 1" chunks. Peel the parsnip and cut in 1" chunks. Chop the celery in 1" lengths. Place the garlic cloves, unpeeled, on your cutting board and crush with the side of your big knife.

Place the above vegetables in a lightly oiled baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until lightly browned, turning once, about 30 minutes total.

Meanwhile, soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup water until softened. Remove them from the water and check for dirt or grit. Pour the soaking water through a coffee filter, straining out any grit. Reserve mushrooms and soaking water.

Put the roasted vegetables in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add mushrooms and soaking water, bay leaves, peppercorns, tamari, 1 tsp salt, and water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Let cool slightly, then strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Press the vegetables against the side of the sieve with a wooden spoon to get the most liquid possible. Discard the vegetables. The stock will be a rich golden color. Either use it right away, refrigerate it for a few days, or freeze for longer storage.

Makes about 8 cups.

Split Pea Soup

Split peas make a wonderful smooth base for a vegetable soup. It's like a luscious cream soup with no dairy products.

I vary the vegetables depending on what I have on hand, but I think this is my favorite version. Turnips and dill are great together, and they really enliven the split peas.

They also add to the health benefits. Turnips are a good source of the insoluble fiber which helps prevent atherosclerosis. Dill is being studied for its effects on cholesterol and blood sugar. Split peas are rich in protein, fiber, and liver-supportive trace minerals.

The flavor of this soup improves as it sits, so I cooked it Sunday morning and then reheated it before dinner - adding extra water to make it soup-y. That's another bonus - because this soup thickens as it cools, you have to add water every time you heat it, increasing the number of servings you get from it. Split peas are inexpensive anyway, so this soup is a real budget stretcher as well as a yummy dinner.

Split Pea Soup
1 1/2 cups dried split peas, rinsed
6 cups water
2 onions, cut in large chunks (about 2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large tbsp chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried
1 lb (about 3 medium) potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/4 lb turnips (2 medium), peeled and diced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
salt and pepper and extra dill

Bring split peas and water to a boil in a large pot. Reduce the heat and skim off any foam that rises to the top. (This foam is why you should never cook split peas in a pressure cooker - the foam can block the vent.) You don't have to be obsessive about skimming - the foam isn't harmful, it's more an aesthetic thing.

Add the onions, garlic and dill. Simmer for one hour.

Remove from heat. Let it cool a little and then purée in batches in the blender until silky smooth. Return to a clean pot and add the potatoes, carrot, turnips, corn and 1 tsp salt. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. The soup is very thick and will stick on the bottom, so use a low heat and a heavy-bottomed pot, and keep an eye on it.

Season with salt, pepper and more dill to taste.

Serves 6

Freezer Soup

People ask me how I cook healthy food every day.

I don't.

I make it a point to cook food that makes good leftovers or that freezes well.

For instance, I love freezer soup.

These are the containers of leftover soup that I pull from the freezer when I don’t feel like cooking.

Most soups freeze well. The exceptions are ones with pasta or milk - the pasta loses all its texture, and the milk can curdle when you reheat it.

All vegetable, bean and grain soups freeze well. I recommend using them within 3 months, but I’ve found 3-year-old soups in the back of the freezer and they’ve been fine - although I tend to eat those when I’m alone, just in case they’re weird.

If you don’t like the texture of a defrosted soup, puree it in the blender. If the spices seem a bit off, add some chopped raw potato to smooth it out. When it’s cooked, taste the soup again and re-season as needed.

I rarely need to doctor freezer soup. I just defrost and serve.

This is a soup I recently pulled from my freezer. It's also delicious served fresh from the pot.

Lentil and Vegetable Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup diced onion
1/3 cup diced carrot
3 tbsp diced shallot (optional)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 quarts vegetable stock or water
1 1/4 cup dried brown lentils
2 tsp whole-grain mustard
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Sauté celery, onions, carrots, shallots, and garlic in oil until onions are translucent. Add vegetable stock and lentils. Cook uncovered until lentils are just tender but not too soft. Before serving, add mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Serves 4

Curried Squash Soup

Winter squashes are beautiful. Yet who can be bothered with all that peeling. And the thought of chopping the big ones leads to fears of finger loss.

Fortunately, there is an easier way.

I wash and dry the squash, then roast it whole in the oven. Once it's cooked it cuts and peels easily, and it's a matter of moments to discard the seeds and scoop out the pulp. You can save energy by cooking an oven full of squashes.

The pulp freezes well, and is great in quick breads or pancakes, cheesecake or creme brulée. You can substitute squash for canned pumpkin in any recipe. I always have at least one 1/2 cup container of squash purée in my freezer. (And I never buy canned pumpkin.)

Winter squash is high in beta carotene which is healing to the entire digestive tract. It soothes the villi in the small intestine, healing the inflammation of diverticulitis, and lessening autoimmune reactions.

I like to combine the sweetness of squash with the spicy heat of curry or chiles. This fragrant curry soup is a favorite when I want a soothing meal after a stressful day. A bowlful scintillates the tastebuds and fills the tummy. (If I want more scintillating, I add hot sauce to my bowl.) Leftovers freeze well.

This soup is very thick. Add more water or stock if you prefer a thinner soup.

Vary the squash based on what you find in the market. Measure the cooked pulp and adjust the quantities of the other ingredients accordingly.

Curried Squash Soup
1 acorn, 1 small butternut and 1 turban squash
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp curry powder
1 cup vegetable stock (see post Feb. 2010 for a good vegetable stock recipe)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash and dry squash, place on a cookie sheet, and roast until a knife slips in easily, about 45 minutes.

Let the squash cool, then cut each in half, remove the seeds and strings, and scoop out the flesh in chunks. You should have about 4 cups.

Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the curry powder and stir one minute. Add squash and vegetable stock and stir well.

Cook until hot. Puree or mash as needed, and add extra broth or stock to get the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

Makes 6-8 servings.