Winter White Soup Food

WINTER WHITE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir in the garlic, shallots, and ginger, and cook until fragrant but not brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green onions, cauliflower, parsnip, and mushrooms, and cook and stir an additional 5 minutes. Add the pear, beans, mustard, and dill, and stir just until heated, about 1 minute.
• Stir in the wine and thyme, and turn up the heat to high. Boil, stirring constantly, until the wine is reduced by half and is syrupy, about 5 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth. Return the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, partly covered, until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Allow the soup to cool slightly.
• Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
• Stir in cream, and, if needed, thin with additional chicken broth; serve hot. You may wish to serve this soup the next day. It will improve in taste with time.

WINTER WHITE VEGETABLE SOUP

Steps:

• Wrap beet in foil. Roast in a 400 degrees degree oven about 1 hour or until just tender. Cool. Peel and dice or grate; set aside.
• Meanwhile, in a 4-quart Dutch oven cook and stir onion in hot butter over medium heat about 5 minutes or until tender. Add cauliflower, turnips, celeriac, potatoes, fennel, parsnips, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until vegetables are very tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the 1 1/2 cups milk. Let cool slightly.
• Transfer soup mixture in batches to a blender or food processor; cover and blend or process until smooth. Return all soup to Dutch oven. Add additional milk to reach desired consistency. Heat through. Ladle into individual bowls and sprinkle with beets and, if desired, chives. Makes 10 servings.

WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP

Steps:

• Add all of the vegetables, stock, water and bay leaves to a large pot and bring to the boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are quite soft.
• Allow the vegetables to cool a little then puree in a food processor in batches until smooth. (Added January 2007: Include 2 cups of the cooking liquid reserving the rest to adjust the thickness later.).
• Return to the heat and stir in the pepper and soy sauce or salt.
• If using, stir in the yogurt taking care to not let the soup boil. (Added January 2007: If the soup is too thick for your taste, stir in a bit of the reserved cooking liquid.).
• Serve sprinkled with chopped chives.