All content copyright Katrina Hall 2008 through 2025

Friday, December 11, 2009

martha's vegetable soup



The first incarnation of this soup came straight from Martha Stewart's Entertaining , but over the years it's evolved into quite a different soup. However, when I first made it for the kids, I dubbed it "Martha's Vegetable", and the name stuck.
It's a great, simple soup, bright with basil and easy on the stomach if one has ( now who would that be?) indulged in a few too many Double Chocolate Chunk cookies, as well as six Italian Anise cookies. A small handful of either vermicelli or gemelli pasta adds a little oomph to the hearty mixture of fresh veggies, and if you have some, a spoonful of pesto is always good, too.
To make about 4 plus servings:
1/2 large onion, quartered and sliced
2 T. olive oil or unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup zucchini, quartered and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup large dice red or green peppers
1 cup large dice red skinned potatoes
1 cup canned plum tomatoes, diced
3 T. gemelli pasta or small bunch vermicelli pasta
2 t. basil
salt and freshly cracked pepper
1 t. tarragon ( optional)
2 T. chopped parsley
4 1/2 cups half water, half vegetable or chicken stock
Pesto - one tablespoon per bowl (optional)
In a pot, heat the olive oil and/or butter and toss in the onions. Stir and cook for five minutes or so.
Add the potatoes , the stock, and the celery and peppers and simmer until the potatoes are just barely tender.
Add the zucchini, garlic, basil, tarragon, green beans, tomatoes, parsley, and pasta and cook about 15 minutes, or until pasta is just tender.
Taste the soup for seasoning, and add more basil and salt and pepper to taste. Swirl in the pesto if you're using it, and serve.
Enjoy!

8 comments:

Martha said...

I seem to crave soup this time of year -- perhaps the cold -- perhaps too many cookies! This looks good and I love a dollop of pesto in vegetable soup!

katrina said...

Chilly here, too, Martha, and relieved I'm not the only one that dips into the cooling cookies, waiting to be wrapped in baskets. See? That's why I usually give them away ASAP, but with Christmas coming, there are entirely too many cookies around:)
And you are so right - pesto swirled into soup is a dream! Glad you stopped by!

La Table De Nana said...

I made Martha's Gingerbread..She gets around:)

Your soup looks heavenly.

Michelle said...

So cold here this week with mostly below zero temps. Today it's much warmer so hopefully some of the ice will melt.

This soup looks so pretty and I want to dig right in!

katrina said...

She certainly does, Nana! And speaking of gingerbread, I hope you've made the Fresh Apple Gingerbread of mine - it beats Martha and the NYT Cookbook hands down. Well, I think it does, anyway. Delighted you enjoyed the soup.....

katrina said...

Oh, you poor thing, Michelle. The dogs must not be happy in that weather AT ALL! We don't usually get 15-20 below until January ( now watch: no doubt it'll hit those temps tomorrow!)....and to think for 5 years I carried water to the horsebarn in that kind of weather! Glad you liked the soup - it's a beautiful balance of color and flavor. Merci!

Patti at Worth The Whisk said...

You had me at "soup." This has my complete attention and, even though California isn't considered a very chilly place, I'm going to make your soup immediately.

katrina said...

Awesome, Patti! You'll love it!