Lotsa Veg Chowder

That's dill sprinkled on top of the soup. Extra bump of flavor. 

Here is a super easy and very quick soup for a week night meal; be sure to include something hearty like my basil-butter bread to round out the menu. I also made a simple onion and fresh tomato relish to serve on the toasty bread. Excellent. We ate every crumb and slurped every drip.

Lotsa Vegetable Chowder (from “Forks Over Knives” by Del Sroufe, pg 94)

Here’s what you need:

8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes

½ small onion, peeled and chopped

3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed, cobs reserved

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, chopped

½ C chopped red bell pepper

1 C chopped broccoli and cauliflower stalks – remove the fibrous outer parts

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 T fresh thyme or ½ T dried thyme or to taste

2 t ground cumin or to taste

3 T fresh dill or ½ T dried dill or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Here’s what you do:

Prepare all the veggies. Place the potatoes, onion, corn kernels, corn cobs, carrots, celery, red pepper, broccoli/cauliflower, garlic, thyme, cumin and 6 cups of water in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes or until all the veg is very soft.

Remove the corn cobs and use the back of a knife to scrape out the starchy corn bits still left in the cob. Discard the cobs and add the creamy corn starch back to the pot. Remove 1 cup of soup from the pot and mix in a blender until totally smooth. Return to the pot. If you like a smoother, creamier soup, you could blend 2 cups of soup.

Season with salt, lots of cracked pepper and lots of dill. I allowed the soup to simmer for another little while to thicken it more. I also seasoned it with some vegetable stock concentrate. 

For my Basil-Butter Bread I simply creamed some pesto from my freezer with some Earth Balance butter and smeared it over a crusty loaf of bread. Bake. Broil. Toast. Cut in slices. 

For my Onion-Tomato Relish I simply warmed sweet onions and sweet tomatoes over a very low heat until all juicy and melty. 

(printable recipe)