There have been days recently when introducing vegetables into my husband's diet has been a challenge. Sometimes he would curl his lower lip out and pout like a petulant toddler; other days he might eat his vegetables only if I was willing to categorize them by priority, at which point he would dutifully pick out the high priority vegetables and shun the rest.
Enter the vegetable soup. In this case I would call it "salad soup" but the recipe name is actually, or at least as I recorded it in my file, Tomato Avocado Soup. According to my notes the original recipe was from Anne Marshall, but I have no idea if it was from her book "The World's Healthiest Food" or if I picked it up from some magazine somewhere. The original consists of vegetables, unadorned. I added olive oil, salt, and vinegar, specifically Cuisine Perel's Late Harvest Riesling Vinegar, effectively dressing my salad as I pureed it. Since we are coming in to tomato season, this has become a standarrd part of the lunch repetoire depite its vile color. No it is not the photograph.
Tomato Avocado Soup
2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 avocado, sliced
4 scallions
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil. I prefer extra virgin.
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 or 9 cherry tomatoes, chopped
Thickly slice 3 of the scallions. Mince the fourth scallion and set it aside with the chopped cherry tomatoes.
Combine the sliced scallions with all remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. The blender will make a finer puree than the food processor.
Divide into bowls and serve topped with chopped cherry tomatoes and minced scallion.
The recipe states that this serves 4. I added the oil and vinegar, but otherwise the recipe is pretty close to the original, although with a bit less basil. Perhaps I use smaller tomatoes, but I get 3 1/2 cups of soup which would yield 4 very small servings which might be fine as a side dish but not as main, even at lunch. As a main dish it serves 2 to 3 depending on how hearty the appetites.
Comments
10 responses to “The Vegetable Problem”
It sounds delicious! Notice I didn’t say it looks delicious :).
Susan, looks can be deceiving, and this can be a good thing. I did consider titling the post Bilious Green, and then thought better of it.
Good point about the color. At first I thought it was split pea. Avocados are so rich, I imagine if you can get one spoonful down the whole bowl is gone.
This is too easy and it sounds delicious. We are about to have an abundance of tomoatoes…so I’m going to have to try it.
It does look like split pea soup. Cold split pea does not appeal however. Better avocados. Rich but oh so satisfying.
Very easy. Very satisfying.
Doesn’t look vile to me! Soups are a great way to intro stealth vegetables- also pasta sauce. I can see how the oil is essential. Looking forward to trying it as a change from gazpacho.
Thank you, dear Mardel, for an addition to my repertoire of cold soups. It’s back to a reasonable temperature now, but will be hot again soon, and a cold soup is often all I can muster enthusiasm for.
I recommend the Cordobese cold soup “salmorejo” as a good way to use up an abundance of tomatoes — also a fitting destination for stale bread.
Robin, salmorejo is a lovely soup. I think I need to make some soon.
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Will kids love this? Im having problems when it comes to feeding them with vegies. I always try to find recipes for them.