MISO VEGETABLE SOUP FOR NAOMI

My very pregnant friend Naomi sent me a message last night asking if I had a good miso paste soup recipe, "hoping to make it tomorrow if I'm not in labour", she added. She thought it might be good for pre and post birth. Sounds a bit like she's getting ready to bring her second child into the world.

I've taken this directly from the often-mentioned Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. She recommends it for those fatigued or feeling unwell. Sounds like it's perfect for Naomi pre and post birth.

 VEGETABLE MISO SOUP FOR NAOMI

Makes 4 servings - designed to be a very light soup.


3 inch piece of wakame seaweed
4 cups water
1 very small potato, cut into half inch dice
1 small carrot, chopped
half cup bok choy, chopped
1/4 pound tofu, cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons light or mellow miso (or any, really)
2 scallions, thinly sliced for garnish


Soak wakame in small bowl of cold water for five minutes. Put the four cups of water with the potato, carrot in a pot and bring to boil.


Remove wakame and tear into pieces, removing the spine. Add wakame to soup. Lower heat, cover and let simmer 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.


Near the end of the cooking time add the bok choy and tofu and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.


Ladle about 1/4 cup of the broth from the coup into each of the four soup bowls. Dissolve a tablespoon of miso in the broth in each bowl. Add more broth with plenty of vegetables to each bowl and stir gently. Garnish with scallions. 


FOR BABIES 4-6 MONTHS AND UP: Remove boiled carrots and potatoes from soup after it simmers and mash with fork. Baby will benefit from the nutritious broth made by the seaweed.


FOR BABIES 10 MONTHS AND OLDER: Give cooked vegetables and tofu cubes as finger food.

MILES' SPICED PUMPKIN AND SORREL SOUP

Sarah has the day off for Hallmark's celebration of motherhood. So I'm at the Mac helm.
We spent a loverly day gardening, brunching with a friend, singing to Billie and finally chopping up a big ol' pumpkin to make a super soup.

 I did create this delish dish last week in my slapdash funnel of random ingredients way. Why make the same meal twice?

Sarah believes that if you, the reader, would like to share our yummy goodness you will need measurements. I had to agree. So tonight we did a re-creation of last week's soup; turning "oh a few spoonfuls" and "I think I just poured for like 5 seconds" into real figures.

The result is a very similar soup to my inspired melee a week before. It tastes better than desert, is mildly spicy and goes well with a nice slice of jalepeno bread from Bondi Junction markets.

This recipe should make enough for 3 and lunch the next day. Billie who is becoming somewhat finicky as she matures or just unpredictable ( devouring a particular meal one day and shunning it the next), vacuums this powerful blend of veggies into her mini-maw.

MILES' SPICED PUMPKIN AND SORREL SOUP

1/4 pumpkin, chopped into chunks (leave skin on)

olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 onions, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 stock cube, dissolved in 1 and 1/4 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon tamari (or soy sauce)

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t ground ginger

1 t ground cumin

6-8 sorrel leaves

4 stalks fresh coriander (use roots, stalks and leaves)

Heat butter and a little olive oil in a large pot on low to medium heat. Saute onion, garlic and celery until soft. Add pumpkin, sorrel and then stock. Bring to simmer and then lower heat, replacing lid. Combine spices and olive oil in small bowl to make a paste, then stir through soup with the coconut. Add chopped coriander - using the roots and all adds lots of flavour. Stir frequently, and once the pumpkin is very soft remove soup from heat. Use a stick blender to puree in pot, or transfer to blender/food processor. Reheat if necessary and enjoy.

While we have added a dollop of yoghurt for aesthetic purposes, it really isn't necessary for taste. In  fact, I would say go without. And this is a soup you can safely serve without bread. It's delicious.

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

I had a strange experience on Saturday night. We were sitting around the table with some dinner guests and I noticed something odd.

While we shared funny stories of fussy family members that only ate chicken nuggets , one of our guests appeared to not have touched her meal. Or rather, her soup. She was chomping back on sour dough toast okay.

A shiver ran down my spine. I had cooked a bad meal for our guests.

Now if the conversation had been hovering around a topic unrelated to food and eating and fussiness, I may have sat there uncomfortably all night wondering whether I had over-dilled the pea soup.

"Um, you having trouble with that soup there?!" I chimed in. Thankfully, plenty of laughs. "Oh yeah I just don't do soup. I don't like liquid food".

Now this is a particularly chunky soup. It ain't the blended type. Vegetables bob about quite obviously. Then came the confessions of 'oh well I actually mainly eat burgers and pizza and all that'.

But here's the twist: I can comprehend a non-cook person with no interest or knowledge of food taking such an attitude to my soup. But she went on to explain she normally cooks southern-style fish and seafood dishes, and a great vegetarian lasagna I must drop by for...

Well, despite this soup being rejected, I can heartily recommend it. The DILL IS ESSENTIAL, so don't be tempted to omit it. No pictures sorry, but it's a lovely light green base with flashes of orange, white and green from the chunky vegetables.

I slightly adapted this from Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family.

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

 Serves 6-8.

2 cups green split peas

2 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 t salt

2 large carrots, chopped

3 potatoes, diced

2 t ground cumin

black pepper

8 cups water

1 vegetable stock cube

2 large bay leaf

1 cup frozen peas

2 T snipped fresh dill

Soak split peas for about five hours in eight cups of water. Discard soaking water.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker or large pot. Add onion and salt and saute until golden. Add carrot, potatoes, cumin and pepper and saute few more minutes. Boil water and add a small amount to chopped stock cube and mix to dissolve. Add to pot with rest of water, split peas and bay leaves.

If pressure cooking: Bring up to pressure on high heat then lower and cook for 40 minutes.

If using a regular pot: Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 60-90 minutes. (Yes, it's worth finding that pressure cooker down the op shop).

Once split peas have softened and the soup has become creamy, add dill and frozen peas. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if needed. Cook a few more minutes (don't over-do as peas will go mushy).

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve some frozen peas/carrot/potato and steam until soft. Blend/mash and serve with no salt.

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve soup as is, but cut back on salt.

FOR BABIES/TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve soup just the way it comes.

STINGING NETTLE SOUP

Preparing the stinging nettles

 When Billie and I arrived to stay with friends in Melbourne on Saturday I admit I wasn't too excited when they announced what was for dinner. So I opted for the alternative of eating out - we were in Melbourne after all. But when Sunday evening rolled round I decided to take the plunge. I even offered to make it. Stinging Nettle Soup anyone?

Well, I'm now a covert to this fabulous SUPER VEGETABLE, which tastes like spinach and boasts a load of minerals and vitamins, including iron. In fact it's more than that. Stinging nettle has been used for many medicinal purposes by many different peoples for many, many years. To learn more, check out this Canadian article: WONDER PLANT . Or for some quick facts: stinging nettle on wikipedia

Stinging nettle of course stings when fresh and raw (soaking, cooking or drying remove the stings) so please note the rubber gloves.

Billie and Emily chat while waiting lunch at the Ceres' cafe

Sourcing this hardy weed may require a rummage in your local forest or garden. If you're in Melbourne, head to Ceres  -  Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies

It was by accident that Emily and Andrew wound up with an armful. Blame 6-week-old baby Oscar. By the time the new little family made it to Ceres Saturday organic markets, the cupboards were bare. Except for some lonely stinging nettle.

Billie enjoys the cafe at Ceres

When Billie, Emily, Oscar and I walked back to Ceres on Sunday for lunch at The Merri Table and Bar, serving delights straight from this urban farm, we suddenly saw stinging nettles everywhere along the Merri Creek route. But we're sure Ceres grows its own.

 This easy, yummy soup was adapted from one sourced online, Stinging Nettles Soup, but there is another version that looks pretty good included on the Wonder Plant link above which I may try next time we stumble across some stinging nettle.

STINGING NETTLE SOUP

 2 T butter

1 onion, chopped

1 pound of potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

1 large bunch of stinging nettles (handle with gloves)

5 cups vegetable stock (homemade better obviously but we used 2 cubes dissolved)

1/2 t nutmeg

1 t salt

generous amount freshly ground black pepper

cream (optional)

yoghurt (optional but encouraged - we only had yoghurt in stock)

Chop and peel potatoes. Chop onion. Melt one tablespoon of the butter in large saucepan with heaby base. Saute onion until soft. Meanwhile, get hot stock ready. Add to pot with potatoes and bring to boil. Turn down and simmer WITHOUT LID for 15 minutes. Meanwhile wash and trim nettle (with  gloves). We used stalks and all but I would suggest removing most of the stalks to avoid a stringy soup. Add nettle to pot and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Blend well and reheat with cream, if using. Serve with generous dollop of yoghurt and some decent bread/toast. And yes, Billie liked it - with plenty of toast of course.