Meatless Monday: Soup for the Soul
Fall is here! Finally we can toss out our tanks and cut-offs, and cuddle up with a bowl of soup, a sweater, and our sweetie (and by that we mean our dog named, Sweetie).
Even if you don’t have a boyfriend to keep warm with, we’ve got the next best thing to heat things up: soup! Chef Marcella Dirks of The Sanctuary at Two Rivers – an Eco-Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica hooked us up with the recipe for this delicious vegetarian soup that will nourish your bod and satisfy your palate.
With hints of all 6 tastes, the soup includes celery, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, white beans, chard, and a fried egg with lemon to excite those taste buds! So try a cup and cuddle up (and it’s OK if its with your pup!)
Ingredients:
Note: all dice for this soup is on the small side, about 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/3 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
3 pinches cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/3 cup diced celery
3/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/2 cup diced fennel bulb
1 cup diced pumpkin
5 cups of your favorite veggie stock (if using store-bought, use 4 cups stock and 1 cup water)
2 cups cooked white beans (let sit in its cooking water with plenty of salt until ready to use in soup)
3 cups chopped chard, about 3 large leaves, stalks removed
4 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon juice and some more drops squeezed straight from the lemon
Curly parsley for garnish
black pepper, coarsely ground
Directions:
1. Heat a soup pot on low to medium heat, then add the olive oil. When the oil is warm, add the onions and the rosemary. Let onions caramelize for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more oil if necessary. Add the garlic, about 3/4 teaspoon salt, the spices and sauté for about 1 to 2 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
2. Add the tomato paste and stir. Then add the tomatoes, sage, thyme, celery, carrots, zucchini, fennel, and pumpkin. Stir to coat with the oil. Then add the veggie stock (and water if using). Increase heat and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, decrease heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. When the vegetables are tender, taste the liquid, season to taste. Then add the beans and the chard, cook until chard has wilted, a few minutes. Taste the soup, season again to taste with the spices, salt and pepper. If the liquid has concentrated too much in amount, in taste, or in texture, add a little more water. When you feel the soup is just the way you like it, if you have the time, let sit for a few hours or overnight allowing for more subtle flavor to develop.
4. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and cover bottom with some oil. Add the eggs and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, swirl to emulsify a little bit. Let set a little and squeeze some drops of lemon juice on top of each egg white. Ladle warm soup into 4 bowls. When egg whites are nicely set, crack some coarse black pepper onto egg and lift them out onto the soup. Garnish the eggs with curly parsley and serve with nice crusty bread or if available to you, cumin bread.
xx, The FabFitFun Team