Soup – Page 3 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Roasted Zucchini + Tarragon Soup

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015by Rebecca4 Comments

I have a loose policy that for every new purchase of clothing or books that comes in, at least the same number of clothes or books must go out, to be sold or donated. I generally purchase only books that will be used over and over again and I tend to check out those of interest at the library first, renewing them repeatedly until the library decides it is time to give another person a turn. Then– often–I won’t purchase the book, thinking someday instead, and I’ll get back in the hold queue and repeat the process until it is practically my personal copy anyway.

Somewhere in between being a teenager with aspirations of growing up to live in a giant house and drive a fancy vehicle, I veered sharply in the other direction and wound up aiming for minimalism instead. Clutter and “things” make me cranky. Whenever relatives call and ask if we would like an item they are getting rid of, I default to no. If the item is used only once a year or so, it is no longer worth the space and headache.

Yet, I fail daily in keeping clutter to a minimum. I leave stacks of books in every room. Despite my library-tendencies, there are three fairly large and overflowing bookshelves in our small apartment and nearly all of them ‘belong’ to me. When I take a giant stack in to sell, I purchase two more with the profit instead of taking the change. There are clothes, too, in the closet which have not been worn in years, and in the kitchen, I aspire to make simple meals, letting the flavor and the freshness of our garden produce shine through. And then I go and make every meal (every meal folks!) overly time-consuming, with something like five or more steps and at least one appliance/gadget for each one. I almost went to culinary school. Twice. Given my affinity for recipes that should require several sous-chefs and an industrial dishwasher to boot, one would think I actually did. And if you can’t tell, I tend to overcomplicate just about every little thing I turn my focus onto.

I’ve been attempting (and struggling with) less steps and ingredients in meals lately, and mentally beating myself up about it. After listening to the most recent Pure Green Podcast episode, I realize I resonate so greatly with Jonathan MacKay’s style of cooking and food philosophy. Jonathan, the food editor at Pure Green Magazine, says,

I like food to be simple and complex at the same time. Complex because the textures and flavors are layered, but simple because they are practical to make and easy.

Listening to Jonathan share this and many more valuable tidbits made me realize I need to take a deep breath and stop trying so damn hard–in all aspects of life. It is okay–and often essential–for there to be many steps to make a great meal. It is okay for there to be a tension between leading a simple life and a complex one. It is okay to have more than I need, but infinitely less than I desire. It is just fine to embrace clutter and at the same time, strive to minimalize the accumulation of things.

Roasted Zucchini + Tarragon Soup, serves 4-6

This zucchini soup is a double-remake of an old family favorite. I’ve revamped the original to make a simple gluten-free and vegan version that has a tangy cashew cream stirred into the end to round out the flavors and provide healthy fats. True to me, I added another step by roasting the zucchini rather than simply cooking it on the stovetop until soft. The result adds a nice complexity that is well worth it and makes for a soup which rivals my memories of the original. This soup is a great way to use up larger zucchini that have gotten out of hand, and fits right in with the August Recipe Redux theme of getting ‘back to the dinner table’ after the busy summer season. Growing up, we tended to slurp zucchini soup all summer long, but since this summer has been such a cooker, I’ve had little inclination for soup until now. I know we’ve at least a month left of true summer, but the winding down of longer days and the gear-up for school starting in a couple weeks makes it feel as if the season is basically over. We are nearly into my favorite time of year when all the late-summer harvests are colliding with the onslought of fall flavors, but until then, I’m holding onto these slower summer days and enjoying the bounty they bring.

12 cups chopped zucchini

3 cups vegetable broth

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 large onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. fresh tarragon, minced

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours

1-3 Tbs. water

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large baking dish, toss together the chopped zucchini, garlic, and onion. Roast until soft at 400 degrees F, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly.
In a large pot on the stovetop, bring vegetable broth to a simmer. Slide roasted vegetables into the broth, add salt, tarragon, and pepper, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, to allow the flavors to meld slightly.
Transfer squash mixture to a blender and blend in batches until smooth. Return to the pot and bring back up to a low simmer.
Drain the soaked cashews and puree with lemon juice and water in a food processor until completely smooth. Add enough water so the mixture is slightly thinner than paste consistency.
Stir the cashew cream into the zucchini soup, taste, adjust seasonings as necessary, and enjoy!

Winter

Smoked Paprika Vegetable Chowder with Orange Zest

January 22, 2015February 4, 2024by Rebecca4 Comments

At the end of last summer, I purchased a tiny parcel of smoked paprika from the pepper man at our farmers market. I didn’t have a use for it in mind, but I’m all for buying my spices right from the source. I’ve had that paprika squirreled away until this last month, when I finally got my hands on the Ard Bia Cookbook. Ard Bia is a soul-food recharging station, institution, refuge, and dear spot for runners to drop their keys before going for their nightly jaunt, in Galway, Ireland.

I’ve been to Galway, once for a weekend. William and I ate pizza at a pub’s bar one Friday night, a music session going, families, babies, all the locals stacked around the “stage.” We didn’t know about Ard Bia then, though I know for a fact we walked right past it.

The Ard Bia Cookbook is gorgeous coffee table art for good food folks. The menu is a homey infusion of local and global flavors, and the cookies come standard gluten-free even though an assortment of diets are catered to. Fish is a highlight, being as Galway is situated; local meat, cheese, and vegetables are showcased galore.

I’ve needed to be taken to another place these last few weeks, if only figuratively, and this book has been a welcome reprieve. This winter seems to have hit hard, you see. For so many I know, this season has been awash in illnesses of all sorts, sick kids and sick families, joblessness and wondering where this life will lead next, injuries and aches. This too is a season for new babies, tired parents, soon-to-be moms, and tough little steps each day leading to big life changes {resolutions!} I fall right in there with the masses in feeling less than optimal, as if no matter how hard I try, life is a series of two steps forward, three steps back. The Recipe Redux January challenge was to make something smoky, and so I turned to the Ard Bia Cookbook pantry section, found an interesting Smoked Paprika and Orange-Infused Oil, and incorporated it into a comforting vegetable chowder to combat the winter chill.

When I sit down and reflect back on the day and all it brought, a bowl of warmth brings a little more cheer, a little more sunshine into my heart. Wherever you’re at on this winter day, I hope that if you too have broken pieces, they can be mended back together through the uplifting words of a friend, a bowl of warm soup, or perhaps in finding a sliver of light reminding you of one more thing you can try to make it through.

Smoked Paprika Vegetable Chowder with Orange Zest

Serves 4-5, inspired by Laura and Ard Bia.

Plan to infuse your oil a few days prior to making the soup. It will make a big batch that will keep for quite a while and can be used for all number of things. Alternatively, use another oil like coconut or canola as the base and add an extra 1/2 teaspoon or so of smoked paprika. There are also infinite combinations of winter vegetables that can be used here, so play around with something interesting, or use what you have on hand.

For the chowder:

1 Tbs. Smoked Paprika + Orange-infused Oil OR olive oil (see note)
1 large onion, diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 leek, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 thyme sprigs
1/2 Tbs. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. smoked paprika
1/16 tsp. black pepper
1/16 tsp. cayenne
1 pinch each: nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, cloves and ginger
1-2 parsnips, chopped
1/2 a celeriac, peeled and chopped
1/2 a head of cauliflower, chopped small
1 cup dry white beans, soaked OR 3 cups cooked white beans
1/4 cup orange juice
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
orange zest, for serving
additional infused oil, for serving

For the Infused Oil:
8 oz. good quality canola oil
2 tsp. smoked paprika
2 tsp. orange zest

Heat the infused-oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the leeks and celery and continue to sauté until they are soft, about 5 minutes more. Add the garlic, thyme, and spices to the pot and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the parsnips, celery root, and cauliflower and stir to coat in the oil. Next, add the orange juice, the vegetable broth and the beans, stir again, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove the lid and lower the heat to simmer. Let the chowder cook and bubble until the parsnips and celery root pieces are tender, about 25-30 minutes.

Remove the thyme stems and ladle half of the chowder into an upright blender. Purée until smooth. Pour the puréed portion of chowder back into the soup pot and bring it back to a nice simmer. Check the chowder for seasoning, adjust if necessary, and ladle into soup bowls. Top with a bit of fresh orange zest and a drizzle or two of the infused oil.

To make the oil, stir together the paprika, orange zest, and oil and pour into a glass container to store it in. On the stovetop, bring a small pot about half full of water to a simmer. Gently emerge the container of oil into the pot, and allow to warm up for about 15 minutes. Then, remove the oil container from the hot liquid bath, shake to nicely mix the spices, and set aside to infuse for at least three days prior to use. This concoction will keep for a few months in a cool, dark place.

NOTES:
If you do not have infused oil available, you can still make this! Simply use regular olive oil instead, and bump up the smoked paprika to about 1 1/8 tsp. total.

Journal, Seasonal Eating, Spring, Winter

Irish Vegetable Soup

March 11, 2014March 31, 2023by Rebecca1 Comment

There are experiences that move you. There are moments when you know. There are times when you take a leap and jump into the wide unknown beyond, certain you will be forever changed. On a particularly sodden and blustery day in the late winter of 2008, I knew. I was flying through the streets towards home from school on my bike, soaking wet, and mad at the never-ending Oregon rain. I slammed into our house, made straight for the fireplace where my roommate was curled up reading, threw down my bag, and proclaimed, “I am going to Ireland.”

And I did. Twice. Confidently. Decisively. Never-faltering in my belief that I just needed to be there. Experiencing.

Often, in the tiny spaces in between all the moments that make up each day, I catch myself. I look back at a fragment of time when the whole world was laid out and I knew my course. I knew how to make what I wanted happen, and the making it so came effortlessly.

There are only a handful of moments that I have experienced the kind of certainty I felt then. All the other days, I will myself to know which direction, which passion, which experience. Which one is the one?

I often feel that our lives are meant to be permanately hazy in the living. Some days are fogged in. Other days the sun comes out, there is a clear way forward, and it becomes spring again in our souls.

I am beginning to accept this nature of things; I am beginning too, to accept myself in the unknowing. After all, in both certainty and indecision, there is much beauty, and that, I think, should be lingered upon and celebrated.

Irish Vegetable Soup
Recipe Updated: 3/2023

This simple pureed vegetable soup is a comfort I seek in the harried moments when I crave simplicity. It is one of the meals I ate repeatedly in Ireland. It is ever on the menu at both small, quick cafes or pubs, and nicer restaurants, always served with a slice or two of brown bread. It fills and warms you up, and can contain whatever sorts of vegetables you have on hand. This recipe makes a large batch, enough for 5-7 servings. meals.

small handful of dried porcini mushrooms

small handful of parsley, roughly chopped

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup gluten-free quick oats

2 Tbs. olive oil

3 medium leeks, white and light parts, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

1-2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 celery stalks, diced

2 tsp. tamari

salt and pepper, to taste

6 cups of water

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound yellow potatoes, diced

2 medium turnips, peeled and diced

2 cups green cabbage, diced

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Grind the porcini mushrooms in a spice grinder. Measure out 2 teaspoons of the resulting powder. Save the rest for another batch of soup.
Toast the oats in a small pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant and they become golden. Transfer them to a bowl to cool.
In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add leeks, onion, carrots, celery, 1/3 cup water, tamari, and 1 tsp. salt. Cook this mixture, stirring it occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the onion and celery have softened a bit. You may need to add a little water in this process.
Stir in the ground mushrooms and oats. Add the water, herbs, and garlic. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add the potatoes, turnips, and cabbage. Return the mixture to a simmer and cook an additional 20 minutes, or until the potatoes and turnips are soft.
Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Turn off the heat, and let cool slightly.
If you’d like a completely smooth and creamy soup, puree it in a blender, working in batches. Or puree half and leave the other half chunky.
This is delicious, but necessary, with a good hearty bread.
Notes: Other Irish Recipes that might be included in your St. Patrick’s Day Festivities include Brown Soda Bread, Shepherd’s Pie, or Hearty Winter Curry Pie. Sláinte!