In my tiny cafe, we served up sixteen fresh salads, three soups and a daily special every day as well as homemade condiments. We made everything fresh from whole foods, so as you can imagine, we had to move pretty quickly. Mornings in the cafe were not the time to meditate on seasonings — so I developed templates for myself.

I had two soup templates — puréed soups, for which I relied on my pot and my VitaMix, and chunky soups, which needed only a pot and now my Instant Pot. This recipe is one of the latter, although I never made it in the Cafe. I just created it now from what I happened to have in my refrigerator.

My chunky soups almost all began the same way: I prepared my beans to barely al denté (oh my gosh, the IP changed my world of beans) and set them aside. The exception to this process was lentils, which I added after the initial veggie saute. I filled the bottom of a very large soup pot with extra virgin olive oil and sautéed lots of chopped onion and garlic in it. Sometimes I added petite diced carrots and celery to that. Then I added water sufficient for the soup (along with lentils if I was using those). Sometimes the cooking liquid included petite diced tomatoes, either fresh or canned, sometimes a little tomato paste, sometimes tomatoes and tomato paste, sometimes none of those, just broth. The water with the sautéed onions, garlic, carrot and celery made was a lovely broth base for anything else I might add — and now, if I want to get really fancy with extra layers of flavor, I can add an IP broth from veggie “waste” if I happen to have some on hand. I added beans back into the pot close to the end of cooking time.

My basic Middle Eastern seasoning set was 3:3:1 — Salt:Cumin:Hot Paprika, that is, the same amount of salt as cumin and one-third as much hot paprika. For a three gallon pot, that would be three tablespoons of salt, three tablespoons of cumin and 1 tablespoon of hot paprika. Of course, I always used a little less than the template so I could adjust for variations in how the soup mingled with the seasonings — and I often added a variety of other typical Middle Eastern seasonings for more textured flavors. These included fresh ginger root, crushed coriander, harif (Arabic: harissa), fresh mint and more. And of course lemon, which brightens everything.

So that was how this veggie soup came about. I wanted lunch from my Instant Pot today so took an inventory of my ‘fridge and found that in addition to the standard veggies I always have in the house, onions, carrots, and a little red bell pepper, I had some grape tomatoes, a head of cauliflower and redskin potatoes. Here’s what happened with that:

INSTANT POT VEGGIE SOUP MIDDLE EASTERN STYLE
Ingredients

• Onion, one large, finely chopped
• Garlic, two large cloves, minced
• Carrots, 1-2, petite diced
• Celery, 1-2 stalks, petite diced
• Water, 6 cups
• Tomato paste, 1/4 cup
• Red lentils, one scant cup
• Grape tomatoes, 1/2 pint, cut in half
• Red bell pepper, 1/2 large pepper, petite diced
• Redskin potatoes with skin, 2 large, scrubbed,  chunked
• Cauliflower, about 1/2 head, cut into flowerets
• Salt, 2 tsp.
• Cumin, 2 tsp.
• Powdered harissa, 2/3 tsp.*
• Cilantro or parsley, chopped, for garnish

* A word about the harissa: I prefer my own freshly made harif/harissa but didn’t happen to have any made. I had this powdered version in my cabinet and thought I might try it. It added a subtle Middle Eastern flavor but barely any heat I could detect — that was great for my husband, not so much for me. In the absence of the fresh harif another time, I would probably opt for something a little stronger like hot paprika or crushed red pepper.

Instructions

1. Add olive oil to Instant Pot and turn IP to Saute.
2. Add garlic, onion, celery and carrots and saute for 5-7 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, then add 6 cups (1-1/2 quarts) water, the red lentils, and mix all well. Let continue on Saute for a moment or two to start heating the water.
4. Cancel Saute. Place the lid on the pot, seal, close the vent and set to High Pressure for 30 minutes.
5. Do a Quick Release, and remove the lid.
6. Add all seasonings (hold the cilantro or parsley) and the tomatoes, red bell pepper, potatoes and cauliflower.
7. Place the lid back on the pot, seal, close the vent and set to High Pressure for 30 minutes.
8. Do a Quick Release, and remove the lid. Check the texture to determine if it needs more pressure. This time was about right for me.
9. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Add chopped cilantro or parsley.

I love red lentils. They have great flavor and texture, adding body and creaminess to soups — and they cook quickly.  Have fun with this recipe, adding to the basics (garlic/onion/carrots/celery/red lentils) whatever veggies you happen to have on hand.

Published in Bob’s Fresh and Local Newsletter, 10/25/2017.

I found this recipe last year on The Green Panda’s Kitchen. A group of women made it outdoors in Kenya, and when I read that, I started dreaming of making beautiful meals outdoors with veggies from Farmer Bob’s fields. The squash at this time of year is plentiful, and the fall weather has been amazing…just right for cooking outdoors. A cast iron Dutch oven, some heat, a place to cut up my veggies, and that’s all I needed.

But you don’t have to cook outside! You can use your kitchen cutting board and put a soup pot on your kitchen stove. I halved this recipe for the two of us, and I usually bump up the seasonings a little when I taste it toward the end.

MOROCCAN SOUP WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH & SWISS CHARD

Ingredients

• Chickpeas, 1 lb., rinsed and cooked until just tender
• Butternut squash, washed, remove seeds and fibers, cut into 1.5 inch cubes (Don’t peel – I tried this! It really works!)
• Carrots, 1 lb., washed and cut into medium dice
• Onions, 1 lb., cut into medium dice
• Tomatoes, 1 lb., cut into medium dice
• Swiss Chard, 1 large bunch, remove leaves from stems, finely chopped
• Garlic, 1 head, peeled and chopped
• Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup
• Smoked paprika, 1 TB
• Cinnamon, 1 TB
• Cilantro, 1 bunch, washed and coarsely chopped
• Lemon, 1/2 – 1, juiced
• Cumin, 1 tsp. (Most recently I used 1 TB and no coriander)
• Coriander, 1 tsp.
• Salt, to taste (I usually use about 1 TB per gallon of soup)
• Hot paprika, 1-2 tsp. (Opt.)
• Water to cover (between the chickpea liquid and water, about 5 quarts)

Instructions

1. Prepare the chickpeas by rinsing, covering with plenty of water, and cooking covered on low heat until tender (1-2 hours). Check periodically to make certain there is still sufficient water. Set aside with the remaining water.
2. Prepare the veggies (squash, carrots, onion, tomatoes chard, cilantro) and set aside. Note: you can replace the fresh tomatoes with one-half of a 19 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes if you’re in a hurry)
   Mince the garlic.
3. Add 2 TB extra virgin olive oil to a large soup pot. Saute the garlic and onion until softened.
4. Add the squash, carrots and tomato (or one-half of a 19-oz. can petite diced tomatoes) and the reserved chickpeas with their water.
5. Add additional water until all is cover — less for a more “packed” soup, more for a brothier soup.
6. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until the veggies are tender.
7. Add the seasonings and lemon juice and check the taste. Adjust seasonings if needed.
8. Stir in the cilantro and chard.

I hope you enjoy this delicious, aromatic soup.

Tonight I’m making pumpkin and black bean patties for dinner. I’d love to share the results with you next week, but we’ve reached the end of the season! I hope the winter isn’t too hard on us this year, and I’ll look forward to connecting with you all again when we start getting Farmer Bob’s veggies again in the spring.

For more, visit my blog, vegetatingwithleslie.org, “Like” me on FaceBook/Vegetating with Leslie or follow me on Twitter, @vegwithleslie.