Cold Cucumber Soup
5-6 cucumbers (peel if desired)
2 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbs. chopped dill
1 tsp salt
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tsp minced mint
1 Tbs vinegar
black pepper to taste
Place all but one cucumber in the blender and process until smooth. Chop remaining cucumber and add. Chill.
Gazpacho
1 red onion
3 Red Fire Farm tomatoes
½ medium cucumber
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 ½ cups tomato juice
½ teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine vinegar
Garlic Croutons
6 slices bread
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Finely chop the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and peppers. Place in a large bowl with garlic.
Stir in the juice, sugar, salt and pepper, and combined oil and vinegar and mix well. Refrigerate. Serve soup cold, with a bowl of garlic croutons.
To make Garlic Croutons: Preheat the oven to moderate. Trim the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into cubes. Drizzle with combined oil and garlic and mix well. Spread on baking tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes, turning twice, or until golden brown.
Dekal’s Tomato Bean Soup
Here’s a recipe and notes from a Granby CSA member: “Since tomatoes are here and soon to be more abundant, I thought I’d share a simple recipe…this soup can be made with all seasonal RFF ingredients. We LOVE it. I’ve only approximate measurements, you really can’t go wrong.”
approx. 3-4 lbs tomatoes (seconds come in handy here / also can add a can of crushed/diced) quartered
1 large chopped sweet onion
approx. 2 quarts of yellow beans – trimmed and cut into 1 inch size pieces
handful of chopped dill
2-4 TBS olive oil
salt & pepper
water (as needed)
grated parmesean cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
Heat a large saucepan with olive oil over medium heat. Sautee sweet onion until soft and translucent.
Add beans and sautee a few minutes more.
Blanch tomatoes to remove skins prior to quartering. Add tomatoes to the sautee and let cook for 30-45 minutes over medium heat until tomatoes completely break down.
Add water, if necessary, for desired consistency. add dill, salt & pepper and simmer for 5 more minutes. top each serving w/parmesean cheese and/or a dollop of sour cream if desired. Reheats very well.
Bean and Swiss Chard Soup
From Chelle, a CSA member. She says: “We made this the other night in our crock pot with our most recent CSA pick up and it turned out great so we wanted to share it.”
4-5 cups Swiss chard leaves chopped (stems and veins removed)
1 zucchini, chopped
1 squash, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (low-sodium works well)
1 can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
Put all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
If cooking on a stove top, heat some olive oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic and saute until onions are tender. Add all other ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until chard is tender.
Golden Autumn Soup
From Red Fire Chef Kristen Schafenacker, 2007
2 red, yellow, or orange peppers
1 large winter squash, roasted in oven
1 head cauliflower, diced and blanched
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1½ ts. Ginger
2 ts. Curry
1 sprig rosemary
4 cups veggie broth
1 hot pepper, diced
1/4 c. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Saute onions, garlic, hot pepper, rosemary, and ginger in 2 tbs. olive oil or butter. Add the peppers and squash and saute for a few more minutes. Add remaining ingredients except cauliflower and simmer for 10 minutes.
Puree in a blender or food processor. Add cauliflower and heat for 5 more minutes. Serve!
Optional: Roasted Red Peppers add a smoky flavor to this dish. Simply add peppers during puree process.
Magnificently Green Kale Soup
3/4 lb. Kale (about 1 bunch) or other greens
7 cups water
3/4 cup cashews, preferably soaked in water overnight
1 tbs. butter or olive oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves chopped garlic (optional)
Pinch of nutmeg
2 tbs. beer (optional)
2 tbs. chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1 tbs. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop the onion and sauté in butter until caramelized. Add the garlic (if using) and cook for a minute. Puree kale in six cups of water and add to pot. Puree cashews with a cup of water and add to pot along with beer, nutmeg, lemon juice, parsley, and salt & pepper.
Simmer for 20 minutes, adjust seasoning, and serve it hot.
Butternut Bisque
From Sarah Voiland, 2014.
Roasting squash this way is awesome and worth doing in and of itself. Or you can make soup. Or you can make a lot of squash this way, eat some fresh out the oven, and make soup with leftovers the next day.
1 med-large Butternut Squash
sprigs from 1 bunch thyme, or dried thyme
1 med-large yellow onion, large diced
1 head or 6 or so cloves garlic, peeled
olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock or water
other vegetables to roast if desired
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375.
Slice squash in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds out of the cup. Put 2-4 cloves of garlic in each cup and a few sprigs of thyme. Sprinkle cut surface of squash with salt and pepper. Brush oil onto baking pan, and lay squash cut side down, keeping thyme and garlic inside the cup, and maybe a sprig or two of thyme laying under the long part of the squash. Roast squash until a fork goes in very easily.
In the nooks of your pan you can put other vegetables on to roast, like carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, whatever you have and like to roast. These can be great additions to the soup or garnishes for the top.
Let your squash cool a little bit. Taste some of it now too. Here is where you can abandon the soup idea if desired. Or if you double or triple the squash baking, have it roasted one night and make the soup the next.
Brown your chopped onions in olive oil. Then scoop the squash out of the skins and into the pan with onions to brown a bit too. (Save those squash skins and thyme twigs for making stock in a bag in your freezer). Chop up the roasted garlic (if not pureeing) and add. Stir in the stock or water. Heat and season with salt and pepper and more olive oil if desired.
We tend to not puree our soups, as it adds another step to cleaning, and having distinct chunks of different flavors is one of the joys of a spoonful. If you like the super smooth texture, go for it. Roasted butternut makes a nice creamy base even without pureeing.
I’ve had fun slicing up the other roasted vegetables to put on as garnish at the end, but you could mix them into the soup too.
Ladle into bowls and dress up with a sprig of thyme or any garnishes you have. Serve with hearty toasty bread and green salad.
