Basic Cream Soup

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02

Title: BASIC CREAM SOUP
Categories: Vegetarian, Vegan, Soups
Yield: 4 servings

1 md Onion
1 md Celery stalk
1 md Garlic clove
1 tb Olive oil
4 c Vegetable; chopped in 1/2 to
-1-inch pieces:
Cauliflower
Asparagus
Broccoli
Any other vegetable
5 c ;water
2 tb Miso, light OR
2 Vegetable bouillon cubes
Pepper, freshly ground, opt.

1. Bring water to a boil in a tea kettle. Coarsely
chop the onion and celery. Thinly slice the garlic.

2. In a soup pot, heat oil, onion, garlic and celery.
Cook and stir 1 minute over medium heat, then add
vegetable. Continue cooking and stirring 1 minute
longer.

3. Add boiling water and bring back to a boil over
high heat. Stir briefly and reduce heat to medium.
Cover and cook 8 minutes. Lift cover, stir in miso,
and continue cooking and stirring for another 2
minutes, until miso is dissolved and vegetables are
tender. (At this point, you may puree soup directly in
the pot with a hand blender, liquefying a small amount
of soup with the tahini in a separate bowl and
returning it to the pot. Or, follow steps 4-6.

4. Pour soup into a bowl to cool. Remove 1/2 cup of
broth from soup and stir remaining soup to cool it.
While soup is cooling, place tahini and 1/2 cup broth
in a blender. Blend to a smooth cream. Set aside.

5. Place three-fourths of soup in blender and
liquefy to a cream. Pour into original soup pot. Place
remaining one-quarter of unblended soup in a blender.
Pulse-blend for 2 to 3 seconds, allowing mixture to
remain lumpy and textured. Pour it into creamed
portion in the original soup pot.

6. Place soup over medium heat and stir in tahini
mixture. Gently reheat soup, taking care not to let it
boil and stirring frequently. Add pepper to taste.

Variations:

If you don't have light miso, substitute 2 vegetable
bouillon cubes, 2 tbs powdered vegetable broth, or 5
cups of homemade stock in place of 5 cups water.

Creamed soups can be served hot or cold. If serving
cold, skip the reheating.

Add 1/2 tsp dried thyme, basil or marjoram to the
sauteeing vegetables for fuller flavor.

Add 1 tbs nutritional yeast to the soup pot when you
add the water.

Note: After the tahini mixture has been added to the
cream soup, boiling will make the tahini itself
thicken and the soup will be too thick. Take care to
reheat it GENTLY, _not_to_boil_!

The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn
Diamond/MM by DEEANNE

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