But here, the winter refuses to show it's face. Last week we had 5 days of winter- wonderful rain (we so desperately need the water here), cold "cuddle up on the couch with a blanket" weather and finally, soup! I made lentil soup which got devoured within a day and then quickly made a Middle eastern red kubbeh soup ( I will post about that in more detail soon). That got inhaled over the weekend.
So now it's Sunday (our weekend here is basically just half of Friday and Saturday- what a bummer!)and no soup. Mind you, no winter either. The rain made a showing and then decided to move on. Yesterday was 90 F, and the forecast is the same for the rest of the week! Ugh! I am so tired of the hot weather!
But soup is staying on the menu regardless. It's November and I come from ( originally ) Upstate New York,and November is winter. I'll just pretend I'm there,ok? So here we are on Sunday, no soup and I go to my trusty soup book to look for this week's choice. I think after the fairly heavy soups of last week I 'll go with a country vegetable soup. Simple, delicious, healthy.
Country Vegetable Soup- serves 6
50 grams butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, grated
1 small celery root, cut into squares
1 red pepper, cut into squares
1 tomato, peeled and cut ( I don't bother peeling it)
1 parsely root, coarsely grated
1 cup frozen peas
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
salt, pepper
8-9 cups broth or water
1 cup of chopped parsley
For serving:
120 grams grated parmesean cheese
2 tablespoons soft butter
6 slices of baguette, cut diagonally
Melt butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add all the vegetables, coverand cook 10 minutes.
Add the flour and stir for a minute. Season with salt and pepper and add the broth or water. Bring to a boil and cover. Reduce heat to low and cook 1 hour.
Add the parsley and remove from heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning
To serve: Heat oven using top heat( broiler). Mix parmesean cheese and butter, spread on the baguette slices and toast until browned. Serve on top of the soup or on the side.
Happy Winter! Wherever you are!
