Vegetarian Lemon Orzo Soup

A couple of weeks ago I realized Trader Joe's carries bags of orzo, which was in the back of my mind. I wanted to try it out, but couldn't figure out a good reason. This weekend I decided to pick one up for soup. I had some extra lemons and decided that lemon orzo soup was on the menu. I didn't do research beforehand though and figured I could just use the 2% milk I had at home or powdered milk for the broth. I was pretty surprised when I finally got home and looked up the recipe and realized the milky-colored broth was actually made from a combination of eggs and lemon, as indicated by the real name for it that I hadn't heard before: avgolemono!

I did some searching around online & most of the recipes were made with chicken broth. I wanted to make it vegetarian, so I used way more veggies and spices to add flavor. Using information from these 3 recipes from: preventionrd.com, thefrugalveg.blogspot.com and closetcooking.com, I came up with a delicious, filling soup that my boyfriend and I have been savoring all week. The most complicated part of the recipe is tempering the egg and lemon mixture with the broth, but a bit of patience helps make such a delicious and flavorful soup that it's worth taking the time to do it. I also had some plain chicken tender quorn in the freezer, so I tossed a bit in to add in that chicken-y element. Between the quorn and eggs, this soup was not vegan. I'm not really sure how to get the same broth without the egg (although you could just use lemon juice instead) and you can add chicken as well as chicken or veggie broth instead of water.  I personally don't think this soup needs to be served with bread since the orzo adds a lot of carby type foods to the meal, but some people might like a bread to soak up the flavorful broth. Even after rewarmed, this soup still has a nice flavor and thickness. I will definitely be making this easy, bright & lemony flavored soup again!

Vegetarian Lemon Orzo Soup (~6 meal sized servings):

1 medium-large onion, diced
3-4 carrots,cut into half moon slices
5 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup of cut leeks (I used the frozen leeks from Trader Joe's)
5 cloves of garlic (or adjust to taste if you don't like it that much) diced or dried garlic powder to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil
8 cups of water
1 cup frozen spinach or a couple of cups of fresh spinach, chopped if not baby spinach
1-2 teaspoons of tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried oregeno, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried dill
2 teaspoons of dried parsley or ~1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper to taste (more salt than pepper in this recipe)
 8 oz dried orzo
juice of 2 lemons
3 eggs
toppings such as: fake chicken-y thing, real chicken & cheese

1. Prepare veggies. In a stockpot, warm the oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery & leeks to the pot and saute until onions become translucent. 
2. Add fresh garlic, if using, to pot and continue to cook for about a minute. Add the water, spinach & spices (besides parsley) to the pot. 
3. Allow the soup to simmer for a while, letting the flavor develop. If using quorn or other frozen/coldish meat things, you can add them in after at least 30 minutes & bring back to a simmer.
4. In a separate pot, cook the orzo according to directions and then add to soup. 
5. In a decent sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and lemon juice. Once well combined, begin tempering the eggs with the simmering broth and adding to the soup once warm enough. 
6. Allow mixture to reach a simmer again, add parsley and taste. If needed, adjust seasoning, salt & pepper, but the soup should be lemony tasting and you don't want to overpower that!
7. Remove Bay leaf before serving. Eat alone or top with chicken, cheese, etc.

Vegan Lentil Soup

the leeks disintegrate after cooking for a while....

I love beans, but for a while, I just couldn't find it in myself to cook and eat lentils. Every time I cooked them, they just seemed too dry, gritty and just generally unpleasant in texture. After trying some canned vegan lentil soup from Trader Joe's and realizing that I could like lentils, I decided I needed to figure out how to make lentils work. So far, I've made this lentil soup a few times and none of it has gone to waste. I like that lentils don't require the soaking of dried beans, which makes this a more spontaneous meal & still keeps it pretty cheap (dried pulses are usually cheaper than pre-cooked canned...) They also have the bonus of less associated trash and no potential chemicals leaching from the can lining. This recipe was inspired by the ingredient list on the Trade Joe's soup, but I generally like more veggies in mine. The recipe is super flexible and you can add, remove and replace items according to what you have on hand or don't like.



Vegan Lentil Soup (~4 meal sized servings); ~2-3 hours

1 cup dry black lentils (or whatever kind you have)
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
a few mushrooms
1 small onion
1 leek (or, if you have no leeks, use 1 large onion instead of a small one)
2 medium tomatoes (or substitute sun dried tomatoes or tomato paste)
frozen or fresh chopped spinach
tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
garlic/garlic powder
other desired spices like: thyme, paprika, cayanne, basil, rosemary
garnishes (I used green onions and pan-toasted croutons from stale whole wheat bread)

 Warm oil in a soup pot. As it is warming, begin chopping onion and leek. Once warm, add the onion and leek to the pot. Continue chopping items in this order, adding & stirring them in the pot as you go: carrot, celery, mushroom, tomato. Finally, dump in the lentils. Add at least 5 cups of filtered water & the bay leaf, cover and allow the pot to simmer for at least 1.5 hours. Keep stirring it every 10-15 min, making sure there is still enough liquid and adding more as necessary.

Once it simmers for 1.5 hours, check the lentils for doneness. I like them kinda mushy, so I usually keep on cooking for a while, but I'll start adding in spices at this time to desired taste. If you are adding fresh garlic, I'd recommend cooking it just until fragrant in a pan in a little oil (I've learned a key to cooking garlic is to not overcook it!) and adding it to the soup. Keep adjusting the water according to desired consistency. This is also when I usually add the spinach -add as much as you want. Keep monitoring the taste and liquid amount until things taste and smell good to you!

Remove bay leaf. If you used sundried tomatoes that couldn't be cut before adding to the soup, I fish them out now, chop them and add them back to the soup. Serve with croutons, crusty bread, green onion, cheese (vegan or not) & whatever else you want. This makes a filling meal on it's own!

a batch of soup without leeks and with more tomatoes and paprika

10 on 10, March 2012

Less 10 on 10 cheating this month since it was on a weekend day. It was kind of a slow day though spent hanging out and talking with people and tending to others.

Potato, Leek & Arugula soup

Inspired by the fact that I had leeks, potatoes and arugula, I happened upon this recipe for a Potato Leek and Arugula soup at farmgirlfare. I don't like turning on my oven and try to avoid using prepackaged broth, so this is my take on her recipe. As written this is vegan, but you can add in milk products if desired, which would make it vegetarian. Choose your own adventure!



Potato, Leek and Arugula soup (~3 meal sized servings)

-2 small/1 large leek
-1 carrot
-2 stalks of celery
-1 portabella/1 handful of mushrooms of some sort
-~1 lb of potatoes
-2 cups arugula (or more, if you're in the mood for lots of greens!)
-5 cloves of garlic (adjust to taste - 5 is a decently garlicy flavor)
-salt
-pepper
-dried or fresh dill
-few tablespoons of olive oil
-a few slices of dry bread

optional:
-few teaspoons of fresh chopped parsley
-chopped chives or green onions
-cheese
-greek yogurt
-milk/non-dairy milk

Wash the leek well and chop with the carrot, celery and mushroom. Warm a tablespoon of olive oil in a soup pot and add chopped veggies until they are soft. While veggies are cooking, wash and chop potatoes into 1 inch pieces. You can peel them if you want, but it is not necessary. Once veggies are soft, add potatoes, a pinch of salt and enough water to cover all vegetables in the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are soft enough to stab with a fork.

When the soup is close to being done, mince the garlic and cook just until fragrant and lightly brown in a little bit of olive oil and take off the heat. Add pepper to the soup (this is really to taste... I really like this soup very peppery, but a little bit of pepper also works.)

Transfer soup to a blender or use an immersion blender. Blend soup until smooth (you can add milk/non-dairy milk in this step if you want, but it is not necessary.) Return soup to pot, add garlic into the soup and warm.

Chop the bread into 1 inch small cubes and lightly toast in the same pan as the garlic was roasted in. If there is no oil left, add a little more, otherwise just use whatever is left from cooking the garlic.

Roughly chop the arugula and add into the soup with dill. Turn off the heat and allow arugula to soften. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, soy sauce, dill, etc.

Serve soup in bowls, garnished with croutons, chopped fresh parsley and any other toppings, such as plain Greek yogurt, chives, green onions or cheese.