Here is a dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free creamy bisque soup.
To make a traditional creamy soup, recipes call for a lot of cream and a roux mixture of butter and flour (sauce béchamel). However, in staying with my gluten- and dairy-free ways, I turn to coconut milk (in place of the cream). And, instead of roux I use cooked -and blended- veggies (potatoes, cauliflower, squash, beets, carrots). In this soup, I use cauliflower and squash.
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Makes about 12 cups.
Ingredients:
- 1 head cauliflower, roasted
- 1 medium-size butternut squash, roasted (or 4 zucchinis, chopped)
- 10 tomatoes, roasted (or one 28 oz can roasted tomatoes)
- 1 bulb garlic, roasted (about 12 cloves)
- 3 large yellow onions, sliced and caramelized
- 2 tbls vinegar (red wine vinegar or balsamic is best)
- 1 can of coconut milk (or more – to desired consistency)
- 1 quart vegetable stock (4 cups, 32 oz)
- Water, or more stock, to desired consistency
- 2 tsp salt (or to desired taste)
- 1 – 2 tbls coriander seeds, toasted and ground
Directions:
1. Chop and roast the cauliflower, squash (peeled), tomatoes and garlic in oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until soft. Remove and let cool, remove tomato peels and garlic casings.
3. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions: Thinly slice the onions, and cook in a 5-qt soup pot (no oil or liquid needed). Stir occasionally and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft.
4. If you have an immersion blender: add most –not all- of the roasted veggies to the onions in the soup pot. Add the coconut milk and stock. Blend well with an immersion blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.
5. If you do not have an immersion blender: add most –not all– of the roasted veggies and onions to a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth and creamy. Put mixture in the soup pot.
6. Add the remaining chopped veggies (bite-size pieces) and salt (to taste) to the soup pot.
7. Cook on medium low heat until heated through.
8. Ladle into serving bowls and dust with toasted coriander (about 1/2 tsp per bowl).
Directions for toasted coriander:
1. In small saute pan, bring to medium heat and add the coriander seeds.
2. Mix (toss) often and cook until well toasted.
3. Remove from heat, cool, and grind in spice grinder.
4. Place in small container with tight fitting lid and refrigerate.
5. Can be made 2 days before, bring to room temperature before using.
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TIPS: Roasting the squash, tomatoes, cauliflower and garlic, and caramelizing the onions.
1. Roasting the veggies:
- Slice the butternut squash in one-inch thick slices, remove the seeds, lay flat on baking sheet, leave room for the cauliflower.
- Slice the cauliflower in thin slices, lay flat on same baking sheet.
- Wrap the bulb of garlic with foil (remove outer dried paper casing), tuck onto same baking sheet.
- Quarter the tomatoes, put in 9×13 baking pan (de-seeding is optional).
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until veggies are soft.
- At the 15-minute mark, turn over (flip) the cauliflower and squash, squeeze the garlic (just for fun), stir the tomatoes.
2. Caramelize the onion while the veggies are in the oven:
- In soup pot, on medium heat, dry saute 3 yellow onions, thinly sliced. No liquids, no oils. Stir often.
- They will become translucent and wilt, and eventually will turn brown from cooking and from the glaze on the bottom of the pan, stir often.
- When all the onion slices are browned, deglaze the pan with 2 tbls red wine vinegar.
- Remove from heat, allow to sit for just a minute, the vinegar will loosen the glaze.
- Stir often, allowing the onions to absorb the vinegar. Some of the liquid will evaporate.
3. When veggies are roasted:
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Remove the skin from the squash pieces, put squash in large bowl with roasted cauliflower.
- Remove the skins from the tomatoes, put tomatoes with the squash mixture.
- Remove the paper casing of the garlic, put garlic with squash mixture.
NOTES:
- Keep the peels of the squash, tomatoes and garlic casings and dry in a dehydrator (or the oven, at 150 degrees or so with the door ajar) ….until dried. Once dried, grind them into a powder and use in this same soup recipe in the future (or use in soups, stews, rubs, sauces, etc.)
- This soup is warming, suited for fall and winter.
- The color is bright orange-y red, w/brown dusting.
- The texture is smooth, creamy, velvety with bits of tomatoes and squash.
- Can be made two days before serving (add toasted coriander just before serving).
- Can be frozen (add toasted coriander just before serving).
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NOTE: The recipe was inspired by “Creamy Butternut Squash Soup” in The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, 2009, by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre.