ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Local-vore and local food enthusiast Kristi Wood eats a lot of vegetables. “My summer diet, I basically eat veggies for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and then whatever I can’t eat fresh right away, is what I preserve for the winter,” says Wood. And making vegetable soup is her favorite way to preserve her summer harvest, as well as sharing with family, neighbors and friends.
Wood chooses her vegetables carefully for her soup because she doesn’t like overcooked veggies.
“We’re going to cook with vegetables today that can survive the cooking, freezing and thawing process and they’re still going to have all the flavor, all the texture that they did the day we picked them and cooked them,” say Wood.
We start off with the broth. “The key to any good soup is a good strong broth,” says Wood. “You really need something that’s flavorful and supportive of your veggies.”
She starts off with a pan of boiling water and adds some herbs—thyme, rosemary and sage—and then adds leaves from a bunch of different plants, including celery leaves, beet greens, carrot greens, broccoli and kohlrabi leaves.
“The Brassica family of plants which is broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kohlrabi you can eat all the leaves,” says Wood. “Each one of these plants the leaves taste different, they each have their own flavor profile, you can have them fresh in salad, you can cook with them, you can kind of treat them like spinach they have tons of flavor.”
It won’t take long for the flavors to infuse the water.
“Anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour and I have all the flavoring that I really want,” says Wood “You can let it go a little longer but just be aware some of the flavor profiles might change, something might get a little bitter if it goes really, really long. You just kind of have to play with it and taste it as you go.”
That becomes a theme…taste as you go and adjust the flavors.
Next, we move to the vegetables that are going in the soup.
“One of the secrets to making sure your vegetables have the right texture when you take them through the cooking and freezing process is you cook each one for the appropriate time,” says Wood, which means those vegetables that take longer to cook—kohlrabi, beets, carrots—will be started first. She places those veggies in a large pot with some olive oil then adds a few scoops of the broth water to help them steam.
After about seven minutes, she adds the other vegetables—the ones that cook faster—and a little more broth water. This is when she adds her seasoning.
“I didn’t add any earlier because I didn’t want to burn the spices, you put it in too early, you will scorch your spices,” says Wood.
She lets those vegetable cook until they are at the right tenderness (it’s a matter of preference) and then adds the broth. All of the greens and herbs that were put in the broth are discarded and only the liquid is used. And in each step, she tests for taste.
“We are going to check this flavor because now of course we’ve combined the broth and the veggies, so our flavor profile has changed,” she says.
After she gets the taste where she wants it, she transfers the soup to a bowl sitting in an ice bath to cool it quickly. This will stop the veggies from continuing to cook.
Wood uses a variety of containers to freeze her soup but warns if you’re using glass, make sure you give plenty of head room since the contents will expand as they freeze.
“Once it’s cooled down to about room temperature, you’re ready to throw it into whatever is going to go in the freezer, then eat it in February and enjoy the taste of summer,” says Wood.
Basic recipe—adjust to taste
Make the broth.
Herbs such as thyme, rosemary, sage
Leaves and greens from broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, beets,
Let those cook for 20 minutes to an hour.
In a large pot, add a little olive oil.
Add your favorite veggies that take longer to cook (beets, carrots, kohlrabi, etc.)
Let those cook but check for tenderness.
After about 7 minutes, add your other veggies (Kristi uses onion, garlic, beans (both pole and bush work fine), peas (shelled / snap / snow all work fine), peppers (bell, sweet, jalapenos all work well), celery, cauliflower, beet stems, Romanesco broccoli)
Add broccoli in last.
Add seasoning to taste.
When the flavors taste right, add the broth (leaving the greens behind) and again taste and season.
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August 28, 2020 at 08:00PM
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