10.19.10--Dinner

I have a tendency to buy extremely large bunches of greens at the market. Now, there are definitely worse tendencies that I could (do) have, because if I don't get around to eating massive amounts of greens in a week, my rabbit, Kevin, will help me out.

As a healthy-minded vegan, I know it's important to include lots of dark leafy greens in my diet. Not only do they provide you with loads of calcium, they're also packed with iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, magnesium, iodine and other trace elements. This week I bought collards, which I usually use to make boston beans and greens (I'll post that sometime). Unfortunately, I don't have any black eyed peas, so I opted for a new recipe.

I have this cookbook called "Clean Food" by Terry Walters. Although it's not 100% vegan, it's very hard to find something that isn't vegan. Most of her recipes center around beans and greens and some sort of tamari-sesame oil dressing. But there are some great ideas for shaking things up, which is important when you're trying to eat locally and in season.

I found a soup in her Fall section called "Autumn Harvest Soup" and I just so happened to have all of the ingredients, except for acceptable fresh ginger. So I substituted ground ginger. No harm done.

Here is the recipe, along with my tweaks:


AUTUMN HARVEST SOUP

4 dried shitake mushrooms
6 C water
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
3 carrots, diced
4 C chopped kale or collard greens (or both)
2 C cooked cannellini or pinto beans
1 block of firm tofu, cubed
1/4 mirin or red cooking wine
Splash of tamari
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs miso (I used organic sweet white miso)
4-5 dashes toasted sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, add the dried mushrooms and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the mushrooms, chop, and return to the water. Meanwhile, saute the onion, garlic and ginger for 3 minutes in the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots and saute another 3 minutes. Add the beans, greens and mirin or wine and saute until the greens are deep green and soft. Add the tofu, broth, mushrooms, tamari and vinegar and simmer 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat and use about 1 C of broth to dilute the miso. Stir until incorporated, then pour the mixture back into the pot. Season to taste with sesame oil and pepper.

Miso is a great fermented food. It is sort of alive, so you want to be sure never to boil it. I generally don't reheat miso soups, but eat them cold from the refrigerator. This soup serves 6.