I came up with this soup as part of our catering menu for Anthem. We were in the process of changing menus and we decided to go with a Mediterranean theme. All of our catering soups need to be vegan and gluten free for the artists so I decided to lean into a flavorful minestrone style soup without any pasta. It's quick and easy, very full of flavor, and you can change it in any number of ways. Though the final product we are making is slightly different than the initial offering I came up with, the base of the soup is the same.
The soup itself is similar to a minestrone but less tomato in the broth and more of a garlic lemon base. The body of the soup is based around chickpeas to add depth and protein. In this version I use fennel and I garnish it with crispy baked kale. As I said with this soup you can change it any number of ways to make it your own but the base of the soup is a perfect place to start.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 T
Fennel, diced, medium 2 ea
Bay Leaves 6 ea
Vegetable Bouillon 4 T
Water 4 qt
Onion, diced, medium 3 ea
Carrots, peeled & chopped 6 ea
Peppers, mini assorted, sliced* 10 ea
Tomatoes, canned 12 oz
Kale, cleaned and chopped 8 oz
Lemons, juiced & zested 2 ea
Chick Peas, canned, drained and rinsed 24 oz
Potatoes, peeled and diced, medium 3 ea
Thyme, fresh 2 tsp
Crushed Red Pepper** 1 T
Roasted Garlic 3 T
Herbs De Province 2 T
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
*I used the mini sweet assorted peppers you can buy at most grocery stores, feel free and substitute for larger bell peppers and use your desired quantity
**When I made this I used 2 dried thai chili peppers from my garden instead of crushed red pepper
Garnish
Method of Procedure
Heat your soup pot and add your oil. Once heated add your crushed red pepper, fennel, onion, preserved lemons, roasted garlic, and herbs de province and cook while stirring until fennel and onion have softened.
Put your carrots, peppers, chickpeas into the mix and add your vegetable bouillon. Stir to coat.
Put your chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme salt and pepper into and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and put your cut potatoes into the soup.
Simmer for 20 minutes then add your chopped kale. Continue to simmer until the potatoes have cooked through, around another 20 minutes depending on the size of your dice.
Season to taste and serve. Garnish with crispy baked kale and enjoy.
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