Monday, August 29, 2011

.White Velvet Soup.

Umm Yum. White Velvet Soup. Even the name sounds delicious!
This super healthy vegetarian soup was a total breeze to make – most of the work is done for you in the oven! Besides giving the lima beans time to soak, all it takes is a quick blend up and you’re done. So simple. Who says gourmet food can’t be incredibly fast and easy?
FYI: The only draw-back I have is that the consistency is a little like baby food, so if that bothers you, this may not be the soup for you. Just saying.
White Velvet Soup
{via. www.greenkitchenstories.com}
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
2 medium onions 
1 head garlic (about 6-8 cloves) 
3 cups cooked lima beans*How to cook, see below* (about 2 cans, if using canned) 
2 cups water 
2 cups vegetable stock 
Juice of 1 lemon 
Sea salt, to taste 
Olive oil 
Smoked paprika
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut up cauliflower into bite-sized chunks and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.
3. Peel onions and slice into chunks. Peel garlic cloves. Place onions and garlic on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Place all veggies in oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes until everything has golden edges and is nicely caramelized.
5. Let veggies cool slightly and add to blender along with all other ingredients except olive oil and paprika {process in batches if you have a small blender}. Blend on high until very smooth. You can also put into a pot, and use an immersion blender if you have one.
6. If the soup is not hot enough after blending, transfer soup to a large pot and warm until steaming. If the soup is too thick, simply add water to thin to your desired consistency.
Bonus: For each bowl of soup, combine 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil with 1/8 tsp. smoked paprika and drizzle as a garnish (this is optional, but there is something very delicious about the mellow richness of the soup, with a slightly spicy and smoky accent).
Not too Shabby, hey? Healthy and Tasty!
Tip: I always highly recommend using beans you cook yourself instead of canned, as the flavour of freshly cooked beans is simply better. If you choose to use beans you’ve cooked yourself, reserve the cooking liquid and use in place of the water and stock.
**HOW TO COOK LIMA BEANS**
1. Rinse dried lima beans in a strainer.
2. Now you need to soak the dried beans. Start by placing the beans in a pot and add two to three cups of water per cup of beans. Keep in mind that the beans will expand in size after being cooked, so if you need 3 cups of cooked lima beans, you will only need to have approx 1 1/2 cups of dried lima beans.
3. Then boil the beans for two minutes, take the pan off the heat, cover and allow to stand for two hours.
4. Then drain the beans from the soaking liquid and rinse the beans with clean water.
5. To cook the lima beans, place them in a pot and add three cups of fresh water or broth for each cup of dried beans. The liquid should be about 1 to 2-inches above the top of the beans. Bring the beans to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, partially covering the pot. Lima beans generally take about 45 minutes to become tender when cooking this way. *RESERVE the cooking liquid for this recipe, as per above!!!
Also, they may produce a lot of foam during cooking, which is normal, so just skim any foam off during the first hour or so of the simmering process. Then use your cooked lima beans as the recipe calls for!

3 comments:

  1. yumm, this sounds and looks so delicious! Can't wait to try it - thanks so much for posting!

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  2. FYI: t is SUPER healthy and a tastes yummy, but it is a little like Baby food, so be warned...if you don't like that this is not the soup for you :)

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  3. i have a similar recipe & i love it! i'll have to try this one!

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