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Monday, August 24, 2009

Summer Soup

I've never really understood the whole soup-as-winter-food thing. A light and fresh veggie soup is best enjoyed when all the ingredients are in season — like, um, now. Nearly every ingredient in my Summer's Bounty Veggie Soup came from the Memphis Farmers Market:

Whole, fresh tomatoes were cooked down to make the base, and then I added summer squash, okra, potatoes, onions, corn, carrots, celery, and purple hull peas (that I shelled with my very own hands). I even made the broth from scratch by cooking down odds and ends of veggie scraps.

The full recipe is going in my cookbook, but this is a meal I only recommend for summer or early fall. It just wouldn't taste the same with yucky old winter tomatoes and crappy canned corn.

On the side, I baked a loaf of my Whole Wheat Beer Bread:

I'd intended on purchasing a crusty whole wheat baguette to dip into my soup. But I couldn't find a purely whole wheat loaf without driving all the way out to Whole Foods. I had a few extra beers in the fridge and figured a beer loaf would be the quickest route to carb heaven.

I've posted the beer bread recipe before, but I've made a few changes since then. Here's the revised version.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
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3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Tbsp. evaporated cane juice (or white sugar if you please)

1/4 tsp. sea salt

12 ounces of tasty vegan beer (I used New Belgium black English ale, but PBR will work too!)

1 Tbsp. soy margarine


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Add beer. Stir to combine. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes, and then brush margarine over the top. Bake an additional 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

13 comments:

  1. That looks SO good! I totally agree with you, winter doesn't get a monopoly on soup, I'm making it year round. What a beautiful bowl of vegetable yumminess.

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  2. I'm kind of intimidated by baking bread, but I might be able to handle this recipe! Thanks!

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  3. I'm with you: why should soup only be for the winter?!

    :)

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  4. I want that beer bread! I don't think I've ever had anything like it!

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  5. I love soup, but I haven't been eating it because it's been hot and humid. I'll bet you have air-conditioning that far south, though. Looks very tasty and fresh!

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  6. OOoooo, Summuh Soup! Beer Bread! You make the greatest combinations of your meals. YUM!!!

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  7. YUMMMM!!!! This looks and sounds amazing. I love you....and Chunky Bryor loves you too.

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  8. I am a HUGE soup fan--love it!--and would love to make it now with all the fresh veggies. However...I don't have AC, and there is NO way that I am turning on the stove to boil and simmer soup! So maybe THAT is why they say soup is more of a winter thing? It looks delish, though!

    Courtney

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  9. My family loves beer bread!!! So easy and so good! Now I am craving some soup and bread!

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  10. My husband will be a fan of anything that involves beer. And I'm with you on the soup, I've been craving it lately..sounds yummy!

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  11. Awesome! It's so cool to see what came of the trip to the farmer's market. Looks super healthy! And yum, I'll have to try making that beer bread some time.

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  12. the weather is crap today so soup is perfect but i agree, i love it all year round too, even when it's hot!

    that does look like a perfect summer soup.

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  13. you mentioned vegan beer....isn't beer already a vegan product? *confused*

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