Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Creamy Vegetable-Chicken Soup

THIS is what I mean by slow food.

Onions, carrots, celery, garlic and parsley are all things you can get in season right now.  I can buy them all from local farmers who use organic farming practices.

Nutrient dense, homemade chicken stock simmered with real vegetables and contains real chicken flavors without the chicken.  Nothing beats that delicious, lip smacking gelatin from a true bone broth.

Homemade noodles add such an amazing effect.  Here is a recipe for those so inclined.  If you are not up to making homemade noodles yet, soak some barley the day before and use that instead.  Barley is just as nourishing, but homemade noodles are so lovely.  The third option being brown rice pasta as brown rice is lower in phytates than other whole grains.

For kefir cream, just culture real cream with milk kefir grains and strain for a nice, thick, rich soured cream.  We love cream around here, fresh whipped cream makes anything a treat.  It is hard to find raw cream in my area.  The dairy where I get my raw milk does not have a real cream separator, so it is not pure cream and does not whip up.  I use Trader Joes brand, which is one of the only ones around that doesn’t ultra pasteurized and doesn’t add extra -- stuff.  Read the label, it should just be pure cream.

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped carrots
2 ribs celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups noodles or soaked barley
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup kefir cream (or sour cream)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Sautee onion, carrots and celery in butter until softened.  Add garlic, salt pepper and stock.  Simmer gently for 20 minutes.  Add noodles and peas, simmer 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir a small amount of stock into kefir cream to loosen up and add cream to soup, add parsley and serve.  Don’t rush through, take your time and enjoy.

For more slow food recipes, check these out:

8 comments:

  1. Yum!! I've been eating a lot of chicken soup too, and love stirring in kefir cream or sour cream. Delicious.

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  2. I am going to try this recipe tomorrow. I love thick, creamy soups, but this recipe looks healthy enough to actually eat! Thanks for sharing it.

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  3. It is ALL good fat that makes it possible for your body to absorb all those fat-soluble vitamins in the vegetables that you need!

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  4. What farmers market do you like best right now?

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  5. The one Friday morning on University and Center has a couple really good vendor's. I am not into all the crafts and food stuffs, just the produce. They have a ton of greens right now, herbs, root veggies and other cold weather stuff like broccoli, celery and citrus. Are you on my local finds email? Next week I am going to send out some new info for a local farms delivery company that just started up. Fun, fun!

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  6. This soup was sooo delicious. After eating a bowl, my husband and I both commented on how satisfied we were. I know this is one of Michael Pollan's points too-when we eat truly nourishing food and take our time, we don't need to eat a ton. Just a little bit goes a long way! Since I used to be a vegetarian I love the fact that you get all the good flavor/nutrition from the broth without huge hunks of chicken getting in the way of all the fresh vegetables. Thanks for another great recipe...btw, I haven't had a problem whipping the raw cream from S.Y.D....?

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  7. So true Jessica! I am glad to hear you have been able to whip their cream. I wonder if they have gotten better at separating is since I have tried it last. Is it still $5 a quart?

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  8. Still $5 per quart and I need to take back what I said because the batch we just got is super thin and there is no way it will whip. They did say that they would give us another quart for free if we weren't happy with it, which was nice. I guess every batch is different, so I'll keep you posted!

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It's rude to eat and run. Humor me with conversation please!

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