Fire Roasted Tomato ‘Bisque’ w/ ABC-rostini

Dan    Recipes, Soups, Vegan     appetizer, basil, delicious, soup, tomatoes, vegan, winter

Not my best photo, but hey! This was a spontaneous meal made from the heart!

What you’ll need…

2 14 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes

1 yellow onion

4 cloves garlic

1 french baguette

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 TBSP dried parsley

1 TBSP dried basil

1/4 cup fresh basil

olive oil

salt & pepper

A few days ago, one of my good friends was not feeling so great. After heading home from work I decided I would cook up some soup and bring it over to her. Personally, nothing quite hits the spot when I’m feeling under the weather as a hot bowl of tomato soup. I decided against alphabet pasta in the soup. After all, we are grown-ups right? A, B, C-rostini seemed much more appropriate…

I feel like all my recipes start with an onion and some garlic…I guess that’s ok as long as it’s not a dessert? Anyway…First off, preheat you oven to low broil. Then, chop up the onion and mince the garlic. Place them into a medium-sized pot with some olive oil and cook on medium-high heat. Once the onions have softened, add in the 1/2 cup of red wine and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the cans of tomatoes in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add them to the soup pot along with 2 cups of water. Turn to high heat and let it come to a boil. Turn down to low heat, add the balsamic vinegar, dried parsley, dried basil, and let simmer for 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering away, let’s get to these A, B, C-rostini ready. Basically, all you need to do is cut your baguette into 1″ slices and then make them into shapes with a good knife. I mainly did this to make my friend smile, so feel free to opt-out of the alphabet shapes. I won’t be offended! I laid the letters onto a baking sheet, brushed them with olive oil, and sprinkled some salt & pepper over top. Place them into your preheated oven for about 8 minutes. You’ll have some warm, toasty, and, not to mention, the cutest crostini ever!

After the 20 minutes have elapsed, do a quick taste test on the soup, add some pepper, and maybe a pinch or two of salt. When it’s time to dish out the soup, top each bowl with some fresh basil and some A, B, C-rostini on the side.

If you’re wondering, my friend is feeling much better now! It’s all in the soup!

Serves 4

Total cook time…35 min

Rustic Pumpkin & Dill Soup

Dan    Recipes, Soups, Vegan    

What you’ll need…

1 20 oz can pureed pumpkin

2 yellow onions

2 cloves garlic

1/2 bulb roasted garlic

1/2 pound baby potatoes

1 cup spinach

4 cups vegetable stock

1 TBSP red wine vinegar

2 TBSP fresh dill

salt & pepper

olive oil

Normally I would use a nice, fresh pumpkin and roast it first (along with the seeds for a garnish!) Alas, it seemed to be a week or two early for fresh pumpkin shopping here, but it was still a cold and rainy October-ish kind of day requiring some pumpkin soup, so really…what’s a guy to do?

So, shall we? Chop up the onions and the garlic then place into a medium-sized pot with a drizzle of olive oil. Turn to medium-high heat and cook until they’re softened, about 5 minutes. Add in the vegetable stock, pureed pumpkin, 2 cups of water, vinegar, and stir until everything is nicely mixed. Let it come to a boil.

While you’re waiting for the soup to boil, quarter the baby potatoes, chop your fresh dill, and mince the roasted garlic. Once the soup starts to bubble, add in the potato chunks, and the roasted garlic. Hold off on the dill for now. Let the soup simmer on low heat for about 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Once the potatoes are cooked, and everything is smelling lovely, stir in the cup of spinach and add a bit of salt & pepper (you shouldn’t need too much). Right before you’re ready to spoon out the soup, throw in the fresh dill for a smell that will waft through your house and maybe, just maybe, might change lives.

Serve it with some warm, toasty bread, light a fire (only if you have a fireplace…obviously), and get cozy!

Serves 5-6

Total cook time…25 min

Dolmades Soup

Dan    Recipes, Soups     autumn, dolmades, greek, hearty, lemon, orzo, soup

What you’ll need…

1lb lean ground beef

1 yellow onion

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup grape leaves (can be found in most grocery stores in the ethnic aisle)

5 cups beef broth

2 lemons

1/2 cup orzo pasta (uncooked)

2 TBSP dried mint

2 TBSP fresh mint

olive oil

salt & pepper

So, I’ve managed to turn my undying love for dolmades (Greek grape leave rolls) into a soup. I am a sucker for these things. I pick some up regularly (perhaps too often) from the mom & pop corner store just a block down from my place. Yum!

Get things off to start by chopping up your onion and mincing the garlic. Please them into a medium-sized soup pot on medium-highheat with some olive oil. Cook until softened. Add the ground beef and cook until it has completely browned. While it’s browning, quickly chiffonade the grape leave rolls (ie: roll them up and cut into thin strips, I’m getting all fancy with my wording here!).

Once the meat has browned add in the grape leaves, beef broth, and 2 cups of water. Increase the burner to high heat and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, add the juice and zest of one lemon (save the other for garnish) and the dried mint, reduce to low heat and let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Grape leaves can be rather tough, so the longer you simmer this soup the better.

About 10 minutes before you’re ready to serve, throw in the 1/2 cup of orzo and increase to medium heat. The pasta should cook within 5-7 minutes, and then it’s ready for the table. Grape leaves are fairly salty on their own, so depending on your taste you may not have to add any salt whatsoever, but probably add 1 TSP of pepper at least.

Top with a lemon slice and some fresh mint! Perfect!

Serves 4

Total cook time…1 hour

Roasted Cauliflower & Arugula Soup

Dan    Recipes, Soups     cauliflower, dinner, nuts, soup, vegetarian

What you’ll need…

1/2 head cauliflower

1 yellow onion

3 cloves garlic

1 pack arugula

1.5 litres homogenized milk (or soy if you want to keep it vegan)

1 TBSP yellow mustard seeds

1 TBSP dried oregano

extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper

1 cup walnuts

2 shallots

1/4 cup brown sugar

This is a soup worthy of a brisk autumn evening. That being said, I did come up with this recipe after walking to my local grocery store on a cold and rainy day in June! When the sun’s away it’s a soup kind of day! I promise this one will keep you warm.

First off, pre-heat the oven. A low broil setting will suffice for roasting the cauliflower. While it’s heating, chop up the half-head of cauliflower into approx. 1″ chunks. Place the cauliflower into a roasting pan with some olive oil, salt & pepper, and place in the oven to cook, uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the cauliflower is roasting away chop the onion and mince the garlic. When there is about 10 minutes of roasting time left you should start cooking off the onions & garlic with some olive oil in a mid-sized pot. Once the onions have softened add in the yellow mustard seed & oregano. Take the cauliflower out of the oven and add it to the pot, as well as 2 cups of fresh arugula.

When the arugula has wilted and everything is smelling really tasty it is time to blend it all together. Place the vegetable medley and cream into your blender and blend until it is nice and smooth (you will probably have to repeat this step a few times, unless you have a really large-sized blender). Place the soup back in the pot and let it simmer on low on the stove.

For a bit of a crunch with the soup I fried some of the leftover arugula leaves and candied some walnuts & shallots. To roughly chopped the walnuts, shallots, and tossed them with brown sugar & a bit of water so they got nice and sticky. I then popped them into the oven, again on low broil, for 15 minutes, then let cool slightly before topping the soup!

Serves 3-4

Total cook time…60 min.

Mexican Citrus & Beer Soup

Dan    Recipes, Soups     beer, mexican, soup, spicy, summer

What you’ll need…

• 1 beer (pref. Steam Whistle Pilsner)
• 1 carton (chicken stock…or veggie stock if you want to keep it vegetarian)
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 jalapeno peppers (1=not spicy 3=pretty damn hot…it’s up to you)
• 2 (ripe) tomatoes
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 bunch cilantro
• Salt & Pepper
• Tortilla Chips & Sour Cream (for garnish)
• 2 lemons
• 2 limes

Hmm..cooking with beer. I do enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, and I am very happy that this beer-inspired soup turned out so well. This soup can be served hot, or cold. Just chill it & blend it to serve ‘gazpacho’ style.

Finely chop the onion and garlic, then place in a pot on medium heat with some olive oil. Once the onions soften add in the beer. Let the mixture come to a boil then let simmer away until it reduces by half.

While it’s reducing, chop up your jalapeno peppers (if you remove the seeds you’ll get less heat from the peppers), tomatoes, & zest both the lemons.

When it’s reduced by half add in the chopped veggies, lemon zest, juice from the lemons & limes, chicken (or veggie) stock, chili powder, and salt & pepper (to taste). Let the soup come to a boil again, then simmer on low on the stove for 20 minutes so all the flavours have a chance to intermingle.

Right before you serve the soup throw in some chopped cilantro, then top with some tortilla chips & sour cream to balance out the heat! Enjoy!

Serves 3-4

Total cook time…35 min

Shout out to Steam Whistle Pilsner for featuring this recipe on their site!