Sometimes I just need a simple soup that reminds me of home and does the trick to clear a stuffy nose (allergies I think). So when I received a copy of The Friendly Vegan Cookbook: 100 Essential Recipes to Share with Vegans and Omnivores Alike by Toni Okamoto and Michelle Cehn as a giveaway prize from my friends at The Book Club Cookbook, the first recipe I tagged to make was their Chickenless Noodle Soup.
In fact, I had trouble making it further than the soup recipes in the book because I wanted to make them all, not to mention so many of the other recipes. I am excited to have this book on my shelves and look forward to cooking more from it. But first, let's talk about this soup.
It's quick, simple to make, and gets its protein from tofu, that the authors recommend that you bake to give it a chicken-ish texture and it actually did remind me of the pieces of chicken you find in canned chicken soup--but in a good, nostalgic way. The only changes I made to the recipe was to use up fresh thyme instead of dried, add a touch of celery salt (because it's my favorite) and since I neglected to buy fresh parsley, topped my soup with some lovely nutty celery leaves instead.
Okamoto and Cehn say, "There's nothing a steaming bowl of chickenless noodle soup can't cure, which is why we turn to this comforting dish whenever we're feeling under the weather. In place of chicken we use extra-firm tofu, which adds texture and substance."
Chickenless Noodle Soup
Reprinted from The Friendly Vegan
(Makes 4 Large Servings)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 medium ribs celery, diced
3 medium carrots, sliced into thin rounds
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
8 cups vegetable broth (or equivalent amount of vegetable bouillon & water)
1 bay leaf
8 oz (half a 16-oz package) of your favorite pasta
1/4 tsp dried dill
8 oz (half a 16-oz block) extra-firm tofu, drained & sliced into small cubes
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and thyme and saute until the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the vegetable broth and the bay leaf and bring to a rolling boil. Allow to boil for at least 5 minutes.
Add the uncooked pasta to the pot and continue boiling until the pasta is cooked (using the cooking time suggested on you package of pasta).
As soon as the pasta is tender, remove the pot from the heat, remove the bay leaf, and stir in the dill and tofu. Serve garnished with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Friendly Suggestion: If you like firmer tofu, which better, replicates that chicken mouthfeel, you can bake the tofu with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper at 425 degrees F for 10-15 minutes before adding it to the soup.
Notes/Results: This hit the spot today with it's chickeny flavor and thick curly noodles and I love how quick and easy it was to put together. I liked the texture of the tofu (I pressed mine first, then cut it in half, seasoned and baked about 15 minutes, turning it over once, o get more of the lightly browned pieces of tofu). Next time i might try using some poultry seasoning on it first--although it does get flavor from the soup broth. I will happily make this again.
Now let's check into the Souper Sundays kitchen
The Craft Gardener brought Lentil Soup this week and says, "I’m a soup lover and lentil soup is another delicious one to make. It is a great way to get lots of veggies and fibre all cooked together and served in a bowl. I like to blend about half the soup and mix with the remaining part to make a lumpy consistency. The choice is yours. Choose what you prefer – smooth, lumpy, chunky or soupy. If you like soupy you can add more liquid."
Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog shared her Vegan Fast and Easy Sweet Potato Soup, saying "Like everyone else, I make winter squashes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes. In particular, I like to make steamed sweet potatoes in my Instant Pot which is easy and comes out soft and juicy. Of course, I always make too many and have leftovers."
Thank you for joining me this week Judee and Crafty Gardener!
(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...
To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:
To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:
- Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
and
On your entry post (on your blog):
On your entry post (on your blog):
- Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
- You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).
Have a happy, healthy week!
That soup looks delicious - I am so out of using cookbooks that the idea of reading one that I wanted to make every soup sounded like heaven - maybe I need to check out my cookbook collection soon (holidays coming up)
ReplyDeleteI love chickenless chicken soup type recipes. I 'll have to try this one and I love your tip about the tofu. Thanks for including my recipe and thanks for another Souper Sunday
ReplyDeleteI love noodle soup, so tasty. I might miss a week or so heading into the holidays, but I will be back, I’ll be enjoying my soup from the freezer while other types of cooking take over the kitchen.
ReplyDelete