Deborah Madison's Winter Vegetable Chowder
Food writer Deborah Madison may well be the most famous vegetarian cook who isn't, in fact, vegetarian. With book titles like "The Greens Cookbook" and "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" to her credit, those who may have assumed otherwise are easily excused.
While she is happy singing the praises of vegetable cookery, she is less at ease about preaching it as a philosophy. "For me it's not something I've ever been comfortable with because it's a very narrow platform," she says. "I've never been interested in a platform that pushes something away ... I'm interested in meat and what's happening and developments, how we're raising meats and different breeds."
Despite this, her latest endeavor, "Vegetable Soups From Deborah Madison's Kitchen
"I tried to explore some of the areas that are usually neglected, for example vegetable broths or very light soups or medicinal soups or soups that might help you recover from a cold or lose weight," she said. Here is a recipe that exemplifies the book's approach to soup.
WINTER VEGETABLE CHOWDER
MILK AND AROMATICS:
2 cups milk
4 large parsley branches
1 large thyme sprig or 2 pinches of dried
2 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, halved
10 peppercorns, lightly crushed with 5 juniper berries
THE SOUP:
3 tablespoons butter
4 leeks, about an inch across, white parts plus 1 inch of the greens, sliced diagonally about 1-inch thick and rinsed
8-10 cups vegetables, peeled and cut into big chunks (such as turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, a few celery stalks, and celery roots)
2 cups or 10 ounces of carrots, peeled and left whole if only 3 inches long, otherwise cut into large pieces
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons flour
6 large slices country bread, toasted
Grated or sliced Gruyere or Cantal cheese to cover the toast
Chopped parsley or tarragon or a mixture for garnish
METHOD:
1. Put all the ingredients for the milk and aromatics in a saucepan, slowly bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Cover and set aside while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Melt the butter in a wide soup pot. Add the vegetables, bay leaves and parsley and sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or so to heat them up, gently moving them about the pan.
3. Stir in the flour, then add 5 cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender but still a tad firm, 15-20 minutes. Strain the milk into a blender, add 1 cup of the vegetables, and puree until smooth. Add the puree back to the soup. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.
4. To serve, lay a piece of toast in each bowl, cover it with grated cheese, spoon the soup with its liquid on top, and sprinkle with the chopped herbs.
