Soupy Tuesday 2: Sweet Basil, Cauliflower, and Toasted Corn Chowder

Well, I've certainly made a dent in the current corn surplus in my apartment:

Not gonna lie, this was one of the best soups I've ever made, and I make a lot of soups. It's a great late summer evening soup for when you're still feeling bright and sunny but the weather is starting to cool down.

I'm not going to post the full recipe because frankly it was too experimental. I was just adding dashes of things I had around without really measuring. But I will give you what was basically the key to making this delicious: toasting the corn.

While my base was simmering I cut the corn straight from the cob (4 ears) and sauteed it in Earth Balance, black pepper, and the leftover basil sea salt. When it started getting all toasty I glazed the pan with a little white wine. This could make a great side dish on its own, and I'm pretty sure that whatever soup base I put it into, it would have made it heavenly.

Soupy Tuesday

Recently I was trying to decide what my "signature dish" should be. Very important work, I know. Though I've become somewhat known for my baking, I actually don't love doing it. It's too much of an exact science, having to measure out ingredients exactly. I tend to prefer just throwing things into a pot and seeing what comes out.

So I suppose it's fitting that I decided my signature dish is soup. I love it in all forms - creamy, tomatoey, full of veggies and beans. At a previous job I used to cook up big pots of soup on Sunday nights and bring them in for lunch for my co-workers on Mondays.  And it's perfect for using up leftovers, which is why yesterday I found myself cooking up a big pot of what I'll call "Mixed Greens and Noodle Soup."

It was so good so I figured I'd post what I did. Sort of a recipe... more like suggestions. 

I started with 3 Yukon Gold potatoes which I partially skinned, chopped up and boiled until they were soft.

While they boiled I heated 2 tbps of olive oil in my pot and added two cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, tarragon, and onion powder. When it got hot, I added some sherry to deglaze the pot. Then I lowered the heat and added a quart (32 oz.) of vegetable broth and 1/3 cup of white miso and stirred.

Next I chopped up about half a bunch of kale, maybe two or 3 cups of spinach, one stalk of broccoli, and one carrot and added those to the mix. I added two cups of water.

When the potatoes are cooked, pull them off the stove and pour out most of the water. I left a bit of water in the pot, added to it one cup of non-dairy milk, mashed it all together until it was nice and creamy, and then added it to my soup. 

I stirred everything well and let it simmer, covered for about 15 minutes. Then I added a handful of soba noodles and let cook for another 10. Voila!

Super easy and you could probably added any greens, cauliflower, celery, onion. Good stuff.