Warm Vegetable Pureed Soup with Quark and Scallions

 I had to drive into Palma early this morning to meet with a friend from Denmark to discuss the possiblities of a underground dinning club in Palma.  It was one of those mornings with crisp damp air and every piece of vegetation was drenched in the morning dew.  Sparkling silver grass dancing with the soft gentle breeze.  Mallorcan sheep grazing below the bare almond trees.  Donkeys with there heads bent over the medieval walls.  Orange blossoms filled the air with a citrus glow.  And I again thanked the lord for being so lucky.

From the Vegi Drawer

Diced and Sliced

Caramelize

Chopped, Diced and Minced

My family in Cleveland watching me make the soup in Spain

Brown sticky stuff on the bottom is muy importante

 I opened the fridge and decided I had to clean out the vegetable draw.  The vegis were starting to look a little tattered.  So I grabbed all that was in there including some green onions trying to hide in the back.

Smoked Spanish Paprika

Coated in Spices

Little tomato never hurts

Add water and let it simmer

So I started slicing and dicing, mincing and chopping.  Using all of these slightly neglected vegetables.  But once the aromatic vegetables start caramelizing and the house starts smelling like thanksgiving you know your doing something right.   The aromatic vegis are onions, carrots and celery.  I think maybe leeks and garlic might fall in there somewhere too.  I use onions and garlic in just about everything including my blueberry and garlic pancakes.  Just kidding.  But onions and garlic both suppress the growth of tumors as well as being potent antioxidants.  And they give such great flavors to a dish.










Caramelizing is a technique that gives added flavor to almost any dish.  It brings the sugars to the surface and then they caramelize and start turning brown.  At this point you add the other vegetables.

Thermomix

Finely dicing the vegetables does two things one it allows the vegetables to cook faster but it also allows for more flavor transfer.  So just remember practice makes perfect.  Or well almost perfect I think.  So then once the vegetables are in for a bit you really cook them until the bottom of the pan begins to get sticky and brown with love bits.  This is some of the loving your putting into the dish now.







My wife, her sister and her two boys were watching me make this soup via skype.  How fun is that.  They are on the other side of the world watching me make some super healthy soup for my blog and now tomorrow they will look at the blog and see themselves watching me.  Pretty cool.

If you take a look at the bottom of the pan you can see this brown sticky stuff I am talking about.  Thats the loving that you want.  That will give the soup its deeper more intense flavors.

Now you add the spices such as the pimiento dulce y picante (sweet and hot).  These are smoked paprikas that I just can't get enough of.







Here are the ones in my cupboard right now but there are many varieties of spanish paprika to choose from.  However the best are from De La Vera.  I normally use both together when I use paprika in a dish.



Once you have added all the spices you want to saute for about 5 mins or until the house smells like the streets of Bombay.  You don't want to over cook the spices.  And be careful now not to burn the bottom of the pan.


Then you add a little bit of tomato sauce and 5 mins later the aqua.  Put it on simmer for about and hour then throw it in a blender until smooth and divide among for bowls.  You might have some leftovers if don't allow them to go back for seconds.  Thats your call.
Everything in this soup is good for you cinnamon and curry.  The tomato sauce and sweet potato.  All just rock solid cancer fighting ingredients.

These are the simple steps it takes to turn a normal soup into something a little more special, step by step.

Buen Provecho

Warm Pureed Vegetable Soup

by Jeff Harter

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: blender soup/stew soup gluten-free low-carb nut-free soy-free sugar-free vegan vegetarian Mediterranean

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Pureed soups are a great way to make something easy, healthy and clean out your vegetable drawer and this tasty soup freezes well. It also can be reduced and turned into a sauce.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 onion diced
• 2 celery stalks diced
• 10 carrots sliced
• 2 leeks sliced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger minced
• 2 broccoli stocks
• 1/2 sweet potato diced
• 1/4 cauliflower head chopped
• 1 apple diced
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tbsp sweet spanish paprika
• 1/2 tbsp hot spanish paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp curry
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• salt and freshly groung black pepper
• 8 cups water
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

• Place a 4 quart pot over medium heat for 2 mins then add olive oil and heat for another 3 mins then add onion, carrots and celery. Saute until lightly browned about 10 mins stirring often. Then add leeks, garlic, ginger, broccoli and sweet potato then cook for about 5 mins. Then add cauliflower and apple and cook for another 5 mins then add the spices and cook for another 5 mins. Add tomato sauce and cook 5 more mins stirring often. Finally add water or vegetable broth, bay leaf and simmer for an hour. Then in four batches blend well with a blender.
• Correct seasoning and serve in 4 bowls. Garnish with your favorite herb or maybe a scoop of yogurt or better yet blended cottage cheese and flax oil. This soup is great to freeze. When thawing out leave soup on the counter and let it slowly come to room temperature over night.

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