Thing-a-day.com

I’ve been thinking about sukogirl’s posts lately.  I don’t know if she’s in Saskatchewan, Siberia or Scandinavia, but wherever she is, it’s freakin’ cold.  One of my best shields against the cold is making a huge pot of soup.  When I cook, I’m into efficiency, and soup is pretty high on my efficiency scale: it utilizes a wide range of stuff in the fridge, one cooking event can yield days of enjoyment, vege prep is quick, and it doesn’t make that many things in the kitchen dirty.

Tonight I made a vegan Squash Potato Lentil Soup, as follows:

1) Fill a pot half full with water and heat to a boil.

2) While that’s heating, chop in large chunks (>3cm across):     

1 organic butternut squash, seeds removed, skin retained (only remove peel if it’s non-organic)   

3 small red & 3 small white organic potatoes, skin retained (ditto)

1/2 a large onion

6 cloves of garlic, whole

equivalent amount of ginger

2 carrots

Whatever other veges you want, especially roots like turnips and parsnips 

3) Boil the above until the squash is soft enough for a fork to pass thru effortlessly.

4) Using a slotted spoon, hand strainer, etc., scoop out the veges into a blender, add a bit of the stock, and blend on low until the major chunks are gone. 

5) Repeat with most of the veges and the stock, but retain a few chunks of the squash & potatoes on the side un-blended.  You will probably also have extra stock left.  Strain out the remaining vege pieces to add to the soup, and place the strained  stock in a jar, and freeze.  This is great for making stuff like risotto.

6) Chop the retained pieces of squash and potatoes from step 5 into 1 cm chunks (this will give the soup a bit more chunkiness).

7) Combine all of the blended and chopped veges in the same pot used in step 1.

8 ) Add: 1/4 cup cooking wine, a few Tbsp olive oil, salt & pepper to taste, curry powder, chopped cilantro (or whatever spices you like) and 1/2 cup lentils.

9) Bring to a boil, then turn the flame to low, and continue to slowly boil until lentils are cooked, about 20-30 minutes.  Stir occasionally to prevent the soup from sticking to the bottom.  Add some of the stock if necessary.

Last 5 posts by sea star

• last day first day - February 29th, 2008
• Impossible to believe - February 28th, 2008
• Monterey SF Package (burrito included) - February 28th, 2008
• motility - February 26th, 2008
• Partnership - February 24th, 2008