Soups Archives - vespresso

Tortilla Soup (Vegan)

Hearty and flavorful, this Mexican – inspired soup is the best option whenever you feel like eating something satisfying and flavorful but time isn’t exactly your best friend. The juxtaposition between the hearty and tangy soup and the crunchy tortilla croutons is simply wonderful. This dish is ready in practically no time and it requires only budget-friendly ingredients. It’s so tasty that I find it simply impossible to limit myself at just one bowl. It’s packed with veggies, each and every one of them doing its own thing, transforming this dish into a color and flavor symphony. Simply amazing…

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

1 can of corn
1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of chopped tomatoes
½ red bell pepper
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
3 Tbsp olive oil
800ml vegetable soup
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
¼ tsp chili

for the tortilla croutons:

2 large tortillas
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp brown sugar
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp salt

Method:

Preheat de oven at 400°F/204°C (treapta 6).

Peel the onion and give it a chop. Remove the seeds from the red bell pepper and cut it into small cubes. Peel the garlic and mince it.

Preheat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and sautee it until translucent. Add the minced garlic and sautee it as well until fragrant. Add the spices and give the ingredients a stir.

Add the canned tomatoes and the soup and bring the pot to a boil. Simmer the soup for about 5 minutes.

Add the beans and the corn and boil it for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the tortilla croutons. Slice them into 2 cm thick ribbons, lay them over a parchment paper-lined tray and bake them in the preheated oven until golden.

Carefully remove them from the oven, drizzle the 2 Tbsp of olive oil over them and sprinkle them with the spice mix.

Serve the soup in large bowls garnished with the tortilla croutons.

Cream of Zucchini Soup

Creamy and flavorful, this zucchini soup saves me each time I have less than 30 minutes to make something rich and filling. And I say it from the bottom of my heart, a bowl of zucchini soup is the only thing you’ll need after a long working day. It’s tasty, it’s smooth and creamy, it’s delicate and hearty at the same time.
For making this soup, my oraganisational skills come in handy. Therefor, I chope the onions and I sautee them in a saucepan. Meanwhile, I heat the soup in a small saucepan and I chop my zucchini. I season the onion with garlic and thyme, I add the zuchhini and the boiling soup, I cover with a lid and I cook the zuchhini until tender, for about 15 minutes. I blend the soup, I add the cream and I serve it. Quick, budget-friendly and heart-warming good!

Ingredients (for 4 servings):
⦁ 3 medium zucchini (1 – 1.2 kg)
⦁ 2 medium onions (150g)
⦁ 3 garlic cloves
⦁ 2 springs of thyme
⦁ 2 Tbsp olive oil
⦁ 3 cups vegetable soup
⦁ 50ml whipping cream

for serving:

⦁ grated parmesan cheese
⦁ crutons (I used Backerbsen)

Method:
1. Onion. Peel the onion, half it and and chop it. Take a large saucepan and heat the olive oil. Add the onion and sautee it over low heat until translucent (for about 5 minutes).
2. Soup. Place the soup in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer.
3. Zucchini. Wash the zucchini and pat it dry. Trim their ends, cut them lenghtwise and chop them.
4. Sautee the veggies. Add the minced garlic and the thyme leaves to the pot and sautee until the garlic is fragrant (for about 1 minute). Add the zucchini, the boiling soup and cover with a lid. When the soup starts simmering, boil it over low – medium heat until the zucchini are tender (it takes no more than 15 – 20 minutes).
5. Blending. Take about 1 cup of boiling liquid and set aside. Carefully place the vegetables and the remaining liquid in the bowl of a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. If the soup is too dense, thin it with the remaining soup.
6. Season. Place the soup in the same saucepan. Add the cream and season with salt if necessary.
7. Serve. Serve it in bowls with parmesan cheese and croutons.

Source: www.skinnytaste.com

Quail Soup with Homemade Noodles

Quail soup with homemade duck noodles is undoubtedly my favorite soup. Personally, I find this soup the very quintessence of a Sunday, it’s the reason we gather around that familiar, round, wooden table, it’s what makes a sunday, Sunday. It’s happiness in its purest form, it’s the very reason I felt deeply in love with gastronomy.

I’ve had quail several times before, and I grew fond of it more and more on each occasion. It’s definitely more chewy than chicken and it resembles from this point of view with duck breast. I’d rather place it in the dark meat category, it has an earthy, rich taste and a subtle gamey flavor. This quail soup manages to preserve that lovely aroma, it is tasty, rich and nutritious; also, homemade duck noodles are a wonderful addition to this flavorful soup. Since it’s may, I thought it would have been terrible if I didn’t use spring vegetables, freshly picked from my own veggie garden. I seldom use a bouquet garni for soups, but I found that the freshness of the thyme and the earthiness of the sage complements wonderfully the gaminess of the quail. Continue reading Quail Soup with Homemade Noodles

Tomato Soup with Smoked Sausage and Poached Eggs

Tomato soup with smoked sausage and poached eggs, a rustic soup with a great flavor profile. Nothing reminds me of my childhood more than this soups. It’s the soup of those sore – throat mornings and it’s the soup of those long days of July. It’s definitely a soup of contrasts, the refreshing tomato juice, the fragrance of the basil, the earthiness of the shallot and the smoked sausage. The perfect geometry of the homemade square noodles and the imperfect beauty of the poached egg.

Why I love tomato soup with smoked sausage and poached eggs:

it’s simply delicious, it’s hearty and fragrant
it’s ready in less than 30 minutes
it prepares almost by itself
it takes about 5 budget-friendly ingredients
it’s great all year round

Continue reading Tomato Soup with Smoked Sausage and Poached Eggs

Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Cream of pumpkin soup is one of my favorite soups. I know I say the same thing about almost every soup I try and I’m also aware of the fact that I might have a problem. I wouldn’t call it a problem, though. I would rather call it an affinity for everything that’s nutritious, delicious and hydrating.
Pumpkin-wise, this year has been extremely productive and rewarding. I harvested some huge pumpkins from my own veggie garden. And when I say huge, I mean huge-huge, that’s-the-biggest-vegetable-I’ve-ever-seen kind of huge. If last year I had two semi-decent looking pumpkins (who am I kidding, they were a cross between a melon and a tennis ball, to be more accurate), this year I had about a dozen giant ones. And they were so incredibly tasty! Sometimes I looked at them and I felt it would be a shame to cook them, and then I remembered their perfect flavor and their addictive sweetness. And that was the nudge I needed to get things going! Continue reading Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup

As soon as the first leaf turns brown, I immediately start preparing soups, creams, stews and other semi-liquid and preferably hot dishes. I simply love the idea of having a melting pot on a stove, a pot that simmers quietly and makes the entire kitchen smell like fall. On this chilly Saturday morning, I decided it’s suitable, if not perfect, to make a delicious Tuscan bean soup, a flavorful Italian cannellini bean and prosciutto soup. It is so easy to make, you just have to saute some prosciutto, onion, carrots and celery, you deglaze the pan with wine, you cover the ingredients with cubed tomatoes and broth and you let the soup simmer. Before serving you add the beans and some baby spinach and the soup is ready. Simple as one, two, thee! The most intriguing part of this dish, and the source of its complex flavor profile, if I may, it’s the addition of a parmesan rind. This element gives the soup an unbelievable flavor! Next time you’ll be tempted to throw away a parmesan rind, think again and let the rind elevate a Tuscan bean soup. You won’t regret it! Continue reading Tuscan Bean Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup with Parmesan Chips

Today we’ll talk about tomato soup, a simple soup yet fascinating in its simplicity. I think tomatoes are the most versatile vegetables (or fruits, if we approach the problem in a scientific manner), they taste so good in so many combinations, this is why there are hundreds, even thousands of extremely tasty tomato soup recipes out there. I have two recipes, one suitable for cold weather, and one for hot weather. The first one is a tomato soup with homemade quadretti pasta, smoked sausage and poached egg. The second one is a tomato cream, flavored with roasted garlic and fresh basil and served with laced parmesan chips.

The cream of tomato soup is so welcomed during hot summer days, when the tomatoes are in season. It is a veritable flavor, color and texture symphony and it is so easy to make. I half or quarter the tomatoes, depending on their size, I drizzle them with olive oil and I roast them until they caramelize; this extra step augments the soup’s flavor. I serve this soup with adorable parmesan chips, which give the dish not only flavor, but also an elegant touch. Continue reading Creamy Tomato Soup with Parmesan Chips

Cream of Carrot Soup

I’ve finally found a recipe for cream of carrot soup that doesn’t taste like baby food. It is made from roasted carrots and fennel, two vegetables that go so well together. I must confess that I picked my carrots from my garden this morning, on a warm summer rain. It sounds enchanting, doesn’t it? So, I chopped the vegetables, I drizzled some olive oil and I roasted them in the oven, just to enhance their flavor. After they were nice and brown, I simmered them in vegetable soup, with red onion, wine and thyme. At the end I flavored the soup with some fragrant roasted garlic. The result was a delicious and hearty soup. The funny thing is that only long after I enjoyed this divine soup I realized that it was in fact vegan. My family never suspected! Continue reading Cream of Carrot Soup

Spring Pea Soup with Flour Dumplings

Spring pea soup is my favorite soup. Even though I’m not a soup person, I felt deeply in love with this spring pea soup. It has a special place in my heart not only because it’s delicious, but because this was my grandmother’s signature dish. During May, while spring pea is the star of the month, I prepare this soup almost daily. Honestly, this is the only dish I could eat every single day without getting bored.

It is a lovely soup, very tasty and satisfying, even though it is made from five or six ingredients, all fresh and springy. The soup part is extremely easy to prepare. You just have to saute some veggies in olive oil, you cover them with water and you let them cook. The flour dumplings are quite easy to make, too. The first and the second dumpling is trickier, but from the third on, their preparation becomes a child’s play. I might be subjective, but from my point of view, this is the perfect soup for spring! Continue reading Spring Pea Soup with Flour Dumplings

Creamy Broccoli and Ricotta Soup

I love veggie creams so much, not because I am lazy (fine … that too, I admit), but because creams are a great method to include more vegetables in your diet. In my case it’s difficult to pick a favorite, in general I like everything that’s savory and creamy. Anyway, this broccoli and ricotta soup, which is a relatively recent discovery, has quickly become my obsession. It’s so rich, smooth and fragrant, and the subtle minty flavor gives this dish such a nice touch. Continue reading Creamy Broccoli and Ricotta Soup