Sunday, September 7, 2008

Potato and Broccoli soup

With classes starting, and the hours of the day feeling very finite, our tactic for cooking is revised during the fall and into the winter. Rather than being concerned about how much a kitchen endeavor with heat up our tiny apartment, our focus shifts to how many meals we can get out of one dish. Bulk is our magic word. Giant pots of soups, stews, or chili. We eat something until we're sick of it, then the rest goes in the freezer, while another giant stew goes on the stove. It may sound redundant, but the truth is that I look forward to this time of the year. I'm something of a soup fanatic, and I love how brainless or creative making soup can be. It's also largely hands-off. Anyway, expect a lot of easy soups for the next few months.

olive oil
1 small onion, diced
garlic minced
8 medium potatoes, diced
1 stalk of broccoli, diced
Water (enough to submerge), And Better-than-Bullion vegetable flavor (added later)
oregano
basil
thyme
black pepper
cumin (a little)
chili powder (a little)
salt
1/2-1 Cup nutritional yeast
3-4 Cups cooked brown rice

Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large stock-pot over medium heat. Sauté onion until soft. Add garlic, and sauté another minute. Remove from heat and add vegetables, water, herbs and spices (to your tastes). Return to heat and bring water to a boil. Add Better-than-Bullion (just eye-ball it). Cover and cook over medium for 20-25 minutes.
Turn off heat. Add nutritional yeast, mix well, and blend or mash potatoes and other vegetables to your liking. Add rice, stir and serve.

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