This is my basic recipe for a non-dairy "cream" soup. The cream refers to the fact that the vegetable is pureed.
1 quart broth (either chicken or vegetable)
1 pound vegetable ( this can be pumpkin, broccoli, carrot, kohlrabi, whatever)
Cook the vegetables in the broth. When they are tender, remove them from the broth and use either the blender or food processor to puree them. Add small amounts of liquid as needed, if you are making a lot of soup, process in smaller batches.
Return the pureed vegetables to the pot and combine with the remaining broth. Add appropriate seasonings, such as salt and pepper and/or ginger and nutmeg for pumpkin or carrot soup. Simmer until the flavours are married.
I make non-cream creamed soups by adding and cooking along with the veggies about 1/4 cup of rice in the soup. They when it is pureed it has a creamier look. If I really want to jazz it up, I can add about a tablespoon of crema and it really does give it a silky taste of cream but with very, very little cream. Of course if you can't tolerate cream, then that wouldn't work for you but even without the crema, it does taste like cream of whatever soup. I've served non-cream "cream of carrot soup" at a dinner party and no one was the wiser.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip billie!
ReplyDeleteThe next time I make "cream" soup I'll add some rice. I also have used instant mashed potatoes as a thickener for stews instead of making a roux. I bet it would work in soup too.
regards,
Theresa