This week on hive top chef by @qurator, the theme is Comfort food.
This could be a variety of things. It could be a family favourite, traditional foods that we grew up with, or just something we crave at the time. I would imagine that in many cases it would be hot. However some people have told me that ice cream is their comfort food. I totally get that.
I didn't grow up with any traditional foods. My favourite meals were soup from a can. Those were moments of comfort when I sat on the couch, watching cartoons, eating a bowl of canned soup.We never ate at the table, except for special occasions. To this day I do the same, minus the cartoons.
Today I am sharing what I consider a comfort food. Soup.
This one is my plant based version, of a Polish soup, made with pickles. The simplicity, is part of what makes it a comfort food.
Pickles in a soup, would seem unusual for the average person around me. However it really works for me. I love pickled things. The soup can be customized to suit your taste. I like to balance the acidity.
This soup could be made with water. However, for me it's always better to add a good broth. I usually keep homemade broth in the fridge. I also have a back up of vegan instant vegetable powder, or cubes on hand for certain times. Here in the city we have stores that carry many vegan products.
Making vegetable broth is easy. I don't usually measure the ingredients but in this case there is a rough guide for a basic vegetable broth.
Starting with the base broth.
If you don't want to make broth fast forward to soup ingredients.
Vegetable broth
300g celery root
70g celery
1700g carrot
50g parsley
200g onion
60g garlic
150g leek
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper or 7 to 10 peppercorns
1 tablespoon onion granules
3 bay leaves
I usually don't put leek in my broth, but this time I added one stalk. It is roughly chopped.
Only on occasion do I add celery root (celariac). It really does give an extra boost to a stock. I just washed it and took off the wiry top. No need to peel this. It is roughly chopped.
I usually use a neutral oil to coat the bottom of a pot. It's heated to medium high. The onions are added in halves face down to brown.
I add the other ingredients and let them braise in oil for 5 minutes or so.
It's covered with a lid, for a while and cooked in the liquids of the vegetable.
This whole step could be omitted to save time. Everything can be put in a pot and covered with water, then brought to a boil. I have done that before and it's still good.
I don't measure the water. I just cover it well to the top. After bringing to a boil, it's simmered.
After a good hour I strain the vegetables. They don't have much value left so they're usually discarded. This time I put them in a freezer bag. I may decide to do something with them later.
Having a supply of vegetable broth to boost your soups is very satisfying. It can have added ingredients to suit whatever you make. It can be turned to gravy by adding a thickener. It can give other sauces a boost.
I'm preaching to the choir I know.
Now that the broth is available, the soup ingredients are prepped.
The carrots were grated which they typically are for this soup.
The common traditional pickle soups, usually don't have many green vegetables, but I wanted to add green and texture. I chose green beans and chopped them into smaller pieces.
I chopped the pickles to match the size of the other items. The amount of pickle chosen is based on the acidity of the pickle. I knew that this would be the right amount. It's also a personal preference.
Even though there was celery in the broth, I added one stock for extra texture and flavour.
The traditional Polish pickle soup would, likely have chicken or some kind of meat. I chose a vegan smokey sausage. I also did the unthinkable by adding a chili pepper. It didn't do much.
A Polish Babcia may shake her finger at me for doing this.
I chose everything to be rather small for this soup. A taste of everything in each spoon.
Polish inspired pickle soup
600g Potatoes
180g onions
30g garlic
150g carrot
60g celery
100g green beans
160g smokey vegan sausages (optional)
200g dill pickles
30g fresh dill or 1teaspoon dry dill
100g butter
1 small red cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste
1 1/2 litre vegetable broth
1 cup vegan yogurt
200 ml soy cooking cream
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
I started with vegan butter in the pan, making sure it didn't burn.
I added the onion and cooked until translucent, then the other ingredients.
I waited a bit for the green beans so they didn't get overcooked and lose colour. In the end it was pointless.
On a whim I added white wine. I'm guessing this would rarely happen with a soup like this. I saved some wine last week, that we didn't drink. It's crazy I know. We didn't drink it.
This was a step that was not needed, but I wanted to use the old wine.
I added enough broth to cover the pot. Later I added more to make it more soupy.
The yogurt and soy milk were added at the end.
I was originally going to add flour to the milk and yogurt to thicken it, but I changed my mind.
At this stage the potatoes are cooked and tender.
I cubed some potatoes and roasted them in the air fryer until golden and crispy. This added an extra texture to each bowl of soup.
I also added a few more pickle pieces, and some fresh dill.
I had purchased some sourdough bread a day before. This was a perfect accompaniment to the soup.
This soup would not be understood by everyone. Growing up in Canada, exposed me to all kinds of tastes. Everyone from around the world lives here.
When I think of comfort food, hot soup, is the first thing that will always come to mind.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.
design by: @KidSistersPhotos taken with a Nikon D7500