Best Vegetarian Soup?

I offered to make soup for a dinner party -- then found out that one of the guests is vegetarian.

I know some vegetarian gourmets hang out here (Rahsaan?) and I wondered if anyone had suggestions.

What I am thinking of is 1) Keller's French Onion soup, made with water (he says it works)

2) Mulligatawny -- a Madhur Jaffrey recipe, coconut milk, spices

3) My regular Zuppa di Pane, which is a thick leafy soup with carrots and beans -- if you reheat it you have Ribollito.

What brilliant ideas am I not thinking of?

Recently I've been making a lot of noodle soups with tofu and various pan-Asian seasonings (in fact, there is a pot on the stove right now for lunch). My wife and I find them very light, refreshing, and flavorful, great for lunch. But, that may not work for a dinner party.

In those dinner party situations, I often go for any-vegetable pureed and then taken to whatever consistency you prefer. So given the season, perhaps beets or a winter green. You could always do winter squash, but that seems more Nov/Dec and is so ubiquitous these days. Whatever you do, you usually get great color, very easy, you can mix ginger or literally whatever spice/stock direction you like.

This might be a common technique, but when I do this and include ginger, I usually roast the ginger first because it deepens and mellows the flavor and removes the fibrous character so the puree is smooth.

Interesting idea, I really don't think I ever heard of roasting the ginger.

And the people I'm cooking for would probably NOT think butternut squash soup would be hackneyed.

I watched Tampopo again recently and have been obsessing about trying to make some really good ramen. Of course that normally has a meat broth but it wouldn't necessarily have to. I'm stuck on menma, preserved bamboo shoots, hard to find without a trip up to Mitsuya. At any rate, probably not good as a first course since it is a belly filler.

Hmm. Thank you Rahsaan.

Carrot and ginger soup... yum.

Chestnut soup.

Basque pepper and rice soup?

Avgolemono, if eggs are OK.

[Jenise]

Perhaps the most successful vegetarian soup I've ever made used a vegetable stock base in which to poach celery root and pears, then pureed smooth and rounded out with a dollop of cream. Garnished with chervil and served with reisling--a guest was bringing a special bottle and that's what inspired my choice. It was absolutely ethereal and even my non-vegetarian guests swooned. I don't have a recipe, but it would be easy for a good cook to approximate based on that description.

Beans & Greens Soup. Of course, leave out the optional chopped bacon, ham, salami or pepperoni.
http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_submitted/recipes/rc_464708.html

Cream of Red Bell Pepper Soup
Ingredients
• 2 1/2 pounds red bell peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped shallots
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 3 cups (or more) canned vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Sliced fresh basil
Char peppers over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag and let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed and slice peppers. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic and thyme and sauté 3 minutes. Add 3 cups broth and all but 4 slices of roasted pepper. Simmer uncovered until peppers are very soft, about 20 minutes.
Working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth. Return to same pot. Add half and half, vinegar and cayenne pepper. Rewarm soup, thinning with additional broth, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with reserved pepper strips and basil.
*This is an excellent soup....be sure to use fresh red bells and char.

My favorite vegetarian soup is south Indian sambar. But that can be very spicy (it certainly is the way I make it).

If lacto-vegetarian is permissible, and you don't want the spice of something like sambar, cream of mushroom would be my preference.

-Paul W.

Dried shiitake mushrooms make a nice umami base. I sometimes include fresh jalapeno or serrano and/or dark sesame oil. Veggies depend on what I have on hand. If using light greens like baby spinach, I put the raw leaves in the bottom of each bowl and pour the hot soup over it.... makes a nice show if you can do it at the table without splashing.

This time of year, I am partial to heartier, potage-style soups. So, how about a barley soup made with a rich vegetable stock into which one can add any manner of tasty vegetables including several leafy greens? Were they not vegetarians, I'd toss a flavorful sausage into it, too, but that's neither here nor there (I once did [don't read this, Rahsaan!] serve some good friends who were vegetarians a black bean soup I'd made with a smoked ham hock, later removing the ham hock -- they fell over themselves with praise for the soup )

Mark Lipton

(I once did [don't read this, Rahsaan!] serve some good friends who were vegetarians a black bean soup I'd made with a smoked ham hock, later removing the ham hock -- they fell over themselves with praise for the soup )

At least you didn't salt the soup to death!

What a lot of good ideas! Thank you.

I don't know just what I am going to do just yet but something red or orange (pepper, or carrot, or squash, or a combination) seems pretty intriguing. I wonder how some rich Paprika would go with the red pepper soup? But then the idea of saffron sounds great.

Anyway I can only make one soup for the party but I now have lots of ideas for my own personal comsumption.

Thanks again.

PS oops, the saffron was in a post by Poppy Davis, elsewhere. Take a look at this recipe:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/food/R ... utons.html