Vegetable Soup

This is by far my favorite comfort soup. Until I met Meme Suissa, who comes from Casablanca, I had been making a different version. But I swooned after trying her recipe, enhanced with an egg-lemon sauce, that she may have learned from a Turkish forebear. She has been making this for almost eighty years, first watching her mother, then cooking for her five children after she immigrated, like many Moroccan Jews, to French-speaking Montreal. A Muslim staple to break the daily fast of Ramadan, it has crossed over to the Moroccan Jewish tradition of breaking the fast of Yom Kippur. Although many cooks make this with meat, I have turned it into a vegetarian version and make it whenever I can.

prep time

15 min.

cook time time

55 min.

servings

Tags :soup dinner food

instruction

step 1

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot. Stir in onions; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and parsnips. Cover and cook until vegetables have softened slightly, about 5 minutes.

step 2

Stir in the pumpkin puree and stock. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

step 3

Ladle soup in batches into a food processor and blend until smooth (or use an immersion blender). If soup is too thick, thin with additional stock. Return pureed soup to the pot and heat through.

step 4

To make the garnish, heat olive oil in a small skillet. Cook garlic and parsley over low heat 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in paprika. Swirl a half teaspoon of garnish on each serving of soup.

ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil (Optional)

1 onion, chopped

1 cup peeled, chopped carrots

1 cup peeled, chopped parsnips

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 quart vegetable stock

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

½ teaspoon dried cilantro

2 teaspoons olive oil (Optional)

1 clove garlic, minced (Optional)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (Optional)

⅛ teaspoon paprika (Optional)

tools

meat knife

barbeque grill

measuring spoons

measuring cups