Tag: Soup

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

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I threw this together because I happened to have all these ingredients, winging it as I went. The final addition of the vegan queso really made the dish and it was pure chance that I added it (“oh, we have some of this left from last night, let’s see how it tastes!”). I’m always ad-libbing in the kitchen in this fashion but this one was good enough to share on The Epicurean Librarian.

This took about an hour from prep to final soup. Of course, the smaller you chop the squash and carrots the quicker they’ll cook. I used a potato masher to smash things up a bit before using the blender. Don’t blend too long – be sure to leave plenty of chunky squash and carrots.

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup (vegan) 

      • 1 medium butternut squash
      • 6-8 large carrots
      • 1 14oz can roasted sweet piquillo peppers
      • 5-6 cloves garlic
      • 1 large sweet onion
      • 32 oz vegetable stock
      • 2  oz (1/2 can) diced mild minced green chilies
      • 5-6  oz (1/2 jar) Siete Spicy Blanco Cashew Queso
      • 3-4 tablespoons vegan sour cream
      • 1 tablespoon cumin, or to taste
      • 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
      • salt and pepper to taste
      • olive oil

Veggie prep: Peel squash, remove seeds, cut into 1 inch pieces.  Peel carrots, chop into into similar size pieces. Chop onion and mince garlic cloves. Drain piquillo pepper, rinse and chop. Separate into two equal batches.

Saute onions in olive oil until nearly tender, add cumin, cilantro and garlic, then sauce 2-3 more minutes. Add stock and heat until nearly boiling. Add chopped squash, carrots, and half of the piquillo peppers, and enough water to cover.

Bring to boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add the rest of the piquillo peppers and the minced chiles.

Simmer until the carrots and squash are soft, then remove from heat. Mash the veggies with a potato masher, then puree with an immersion blender until it’s smooth but still chunky.

Add the queso and sour cream and stir until thoroughly mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with a dash (or four) of your choice of hot sauce. We’ve had it with crackers and homemade biscuits – the biscuits were especially nice.

Enjoy!

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

Butternut Piquillo Carrot Soup

Comfort Food: Quick Vegan Cream of Tomato Soup

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Cream of Tomato Soup with Fire Roasted Tomatoes

There’s something about cream of tomato soup that oozes comfort. When I was growing up my Mom would occasionally forgo our typical Southern meat-and-two-vegetables-with-ice-tea dinner and opt for something quick and easy. Often this approach involved her opening a can of cream of tomato soup, making cheese sandwiches, and suddenly we’d have dinner. Since I was a kid I probably missed the context of such a quick and easy meal (was Mom was stressed out? was she too tired to cook? was it was the end of the month and we were being frugal?) but such adult things didn’t really enter my pre-adolescent mind. I was just happy we were having tomato soup for dinner! The comfort element was further enforced do to the fact that Mom’s standard way to deal with an upset tummy was to serve saltines, ginger ale, and cream of tomato soup. Cream of tomato soup was a palatable panacea that was a cupboard staple in our house.

Thanks to Mom, I love cream of tomato soup. But as the years have gone by my taste for processed canned soup has waned. Enter this recipe – a quick and easy vegan cream of tomato soup. It satisfies my comfort food needs and is easy to make – I made a batch tonight in about 30 minutes. The leftovers are cooling as I write this blog.

Quick Vegan Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium red onion

Several cloves of garlic

Basil or herb/spice of choice

2 large cans of organic fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup or so of vegetable stock

Unsweetened almond creamer

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Optional: truffle oil, almond cream cheese

The cooking part: 

  • Chop the onion and mince the garlic, then sauté in olive oil. A dash of truffle oil adds some flavor.
  • Add the basil or herb/spice of choice to the cooking onions. When they are soft add the stock (you can use water if you want) and let this simmer for a few minutes.
  • Add the two cans of fire roasted tomatoes, bring to a boil, then let simmer another 5 or 10 minutes. I used one can of crushed and one of diced tomatoes.
  • Remove from the heat and purée with a blender. I usually leave it somewhat chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add the almond creamer to taste and stir it up.
  • Serve with a dollop of almond cream cheese. I also add a big dash or five of hot sauce. Tonight I used a medium chipotle and it was quite tasty.

Add a salad if you choose. Or some bread.

Enjoy!