Asparagus and Pea Soup

Yup, that there is a bowl of spring if I ever did see one. This Monday Alayna and I had a soup party. Friends as far as Vermont came for a bowl of blended vegetables and artichoke leaves, or rather, another vehicle to melted butter. "People ask me, what's my favorite food? And I always say lobster of course," Alayna tells the group. "But I really just mean butter."

P.J. might have said it best- "Peas are so hot right now." Peas ARE hot right now. Do you guys utilize a pack of frozen peas as often as you should? Those things are like popcorn. I love when they are still a little bit frozen in the center so they sort of burst in your mouth like a veggie-gusher. I swear, that tastes good.

If you live in NYC, which you probably don't because my Google Analytics say you're more likely to live in Canada or Dubai, you'd know it's been a hot week. Probably not as hot as Dubai right far flung soupettes? This is a great soup warm but I can imagine would be wonderful cold with a dollop of yogurt. Okay friends, enjoy!

Asparagus and Pea Soup

• in a medium saucepan, put 4 chopped medium red potatoes in water to boil and take a bag of peas out to thaw. you don't really have to thaw them if it's warm enough outside that they'll melt (they also make a delicious cooling snack in the meantime)
  
• chop and saute one large yellow in olive oil on medium low heat
  
• add 3-4 leeks, white part only, also chopped and half a bag of baby carrots (or 2-3 large carrots)
• cook covered until onions are translucent
• add two bunches of asparagus, also chopped, bring heat up some and cook covered
  
• when asparagus is bright green, add the thawed peas, and min
• when asparagus is easy to poke through with a fork (about five minutes) add potatoes in their water, a handful of parsley and top off with as much more as you need, adding vegan bouillon
• voila! vegan soup

Delicious artichokes

• cut the stems off your artichokes
• cover with cold water and bring to a low boil
• boil for 35-45 minutes.. when they are done, you should be able to easily poke through the bottom with a fork and pull leaves out of the center
• drain and serve with melted garlic butter (microwaved or stove melted butter with two cloves of chopped garlic)
• TO EAT: pull the leaves off, dip them in butter and scrape them with your teeth to get the meaty part, discarding the rest. the further in you go, the more tender the leaves will be. when you get to the tiny leaves, grab a spoon and scrape the babies leaves and the thistles (which you do NOT want to eat b/c they hurt when you swallow them, so clean thoroughly) to get to the HEART, which you can just cut into bite-sized pieces of butter dipped heaven and eat

Persian Lentil Soup

I love when Mo is in town because it makes Monday's Soups feel like a whole lot less work (uhm, maybe just for me) and a whole lot more wine. Mo introduced us to the mung bean, explained how to make our own yogurt, and told us about how wonderful sour cherries are from her uncle's trees in Iran. That all sounds nice doesn't it?

It especially sounded nice on red wine bottle number 2.5. This soup might win for overall bulk. See picture below. Not even that time we used an entire Halloween pumpkin have we filled the soup pot so high. This soup took longer than normal to cook, because we had to soften all those beans, but that was fine by me. We ate Alayna's baba ghanoush, I realized I need to buy a small food processor, and we talked about how stupid the Atkins Diet is and my new obsession with potted herbs and how maybe putting them all on my bathroom windowsill isn't the smartest idea. A few hours later I walked home, all 30 blocks north, with the heaviest giant pickle jar of soup I've carried yet. So many lunches. So exciting.

• saute one large yellow onion in olive oil with a generous bit of turmeric until soft
• add three cups of mung beans and cover with water and bring to a low boil
• after the mung beans have been simmering for about ten minutes, add about two cups of green lentils, one cup of rice, and about 3/4 a stick of butter (butter is delicious), adding more water if necessary, and get back to a simmer for another 30-40 minutes until all parts are soft and mushy
• at this point you can also chop 2-4 carrots and throw them in (optional)
  
• chop up two bunches of chard (red or swiss) and put them in about the last ten minutes, as well as a generous handful of parsley
• adjust turmeric, salt and pepper flavoring as necessary
  
• serve with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream

Calabash/Calabassa Soup

Annnnd I'm back! I am back from the jungles of Guatemala. I come back with new parasite friends, wall to wall hand woven carpeting that looks ridiculous in my apartment, and the new ability to carry laundry on my head.

It was exciting to see Alayna because it's been weeks. Or months, I swear. We talked boys and soup and then went to Back Forty, best bar ever. Best bar because they make delicious cocktails and it's perfectly situated between my apartment and Alayna's. Lovely Mo was there and taught us the ways of the Texan belt. Texan belt? Did I just make that up?

In other news, Alayna's moving. I know we've been touching on her grad school application process over the last few months but somehow I never put together that applying to grad school in different states means, you know, you will probably then move to a different state. Horror of horrors, I know.

So we're figuring out how Monday's Soups can not only go on, but can prosper, as we report live from two different states. Don't fret folks, the principal of everything you need to know about cooking, which is soup... will go on. Suddenly Celion Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," just started playing in my mind. And I like it.

This meal was da bomb. Roasting stuff and then cooking it and then blending it always makes for deep rewarding flavors. Or, what we say in the biz, "RCB'ing." I mean, no one says that but I'm going to start right now. Oh, I also wanted to shout out that I had the best black bean soup of my life in Antigua. I think it's because it was filled with pig lard. And let me tell you pig lard is delicious. And so is this, sans lard.

• Take 3 half calabash (this is how they're usually sold at the market... no idea why) and roast them at about 400 for 30-40 minutes by punching some holes in them with a fork, putting a splash of water in each and covering in tin foil
• when your squashes are pretty soft, roughly chop one white onion and saute in olive oil until opaque, adding a few shakes of cinnamon and chili powder
• add one zucchini, chopped, and cook covered, stirring occasionally until mostly cooked... at this point if your squash are done, you should take them out so they have time to cool off a little
• add two cans of drained sweet corn
• scoop out the innards of the calabassa and add to the soup
• top off with veggie broth and blend
• Delicious with avocado on top!

Friendly Fennel

(A cold soup made of fennel)

People often ask me how I come up with recipes for the soup blog. Honestly, it’s a hodgepodge. Sometimes Mary will send me something she wants to try (that’s how we discovered kale! And porcini mushrooms!), sometimes it’s something I ate in a restaurant (watermelon mint), and sometimes its opening my fridge and saying, “well, I have x, y, and z and am too lazy to go to the store (hello too many bbqs leading to a veggie detox). Although I follow recipes more closely when I’m working with a new ingredient (hey, fish sauce can be scary), they never make it through the cooking process untouched. This week, as Mary is still out of town, my sister agreed to soup with me and had an extra fennel bulb (who doesn’t?). She reeeeally wanted a cold soup that our mother makes (which I’m pretty sure I’ve never had).

This was her response to me asking for the recipe:

AMTRK:

hi alayna-

i will bring a fennel bulb and an onion tomorrow for cold fennel soup! other ingredients are chicken broth, lemon juice, and cream.

Love
your sister

…. And you wonder where I get it from

Friendly Fennel

• Chop 1.5 medium sized yellow onions (or one small) and sauté in olive oil
• And the 3 bulbs of fennel (only the white parts) roughly chopped, but small enough to cook quickly, and cover
• Add five medium-small red potatoes (you can skip this step if serving as an appetizer, but I like the weight it gives the soup if you’re having it as a full meal)
• Once the fennel and potatoes are cooked through, add room temperature vegetable broth, the juice of 1.5 lemons and salt and pepper to taste
• Blend and let sit in the fridge (or freezer) until cold

Notes:

• This soup is also delicious warm (as long as it’s not too hot out)
• I think it would be even more delicious if you added leeks with the onions
• For some reason I made a LOT more soup this week than normal… for a normal sized recipe, just use 2 fennel bulbs and 3 potatoes, one lemon

More happy soupers!