Souper food

This past week, we cooked a few of our favorite staple recipes, including vegetable upside-down cake and garbanzo bean soup, using almost all local ingredients.  We thought these dishes tasted good before, but you can really taste the freshness of the garden and locally grown veggies (or you could, if you were here eating with us).

Someone needs to work on her food photography skills . . . .

If you’re wondering how to make this soup, today is your lucky day.  In the past, I have been too lazy to post recipes here, but I  submitted this recipe to my church cookbook, so it was typed and ready to go.

Garbanzo bean soup

4 ½ c. cooked garbanzo beans, divided (= 2 ¼ cups dry beans or 3 cans)

4 ½ c. vegetable broth or water, divided

1 T. olive oil

2 c. chopped onion

10 cloves garlic, chopped

2-3 medium potatoes, diced

3 medium carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 t. salt

1 bay leaf

2 t. dry mustard

2 t. ground cumin

1-2 threads of saffron (optional, but delicious)

½ c. frozen peas

3 T. red wine vinegar

1 c. chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)

Ground pepper to taste

In a blender, puree 2 cups of the cooked garbanzos with 2 cups of the water or broth until almost smooth.  Set aside.

In large soup pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes.  Add potatoes, carrot, and celery, and sauté 5 more minutes.  Add pureed garbanzo beans and the rest of the broth, along with the salt, bay leaf, mustard, cumin, and saffron.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the remaining garbanzo beans, along with the frozen peas, red wine vinegar, and tomatoes.  Cook 5 minutes.  Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.  Remove the bay leaf before serving.  Serve with whole grain bread or muffins.