Organic Recipe Friday #2: Wheat & Sweet Soup

Soup’s On!

I admit it. I freaked out. My final CSA delivery was last Friday and by Sunday, I was already worried about how I would feed myself—despite having a variety of leafy greens, two kinds of squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli and much more in my kitchen waiting to be cooked. I went to the Dupont farmers’ market and managed to spend every last dollar I had on me. I ended up with 15 apples, four kinds of squash, a bottle of cider, a loaf of bread, onions, garlic, ginger, a romanesco cauliflower and more. I staggered home like a yak without a yoke.

Now what?

My once-beautiful leafy greens were wilting, my pile of sweet potatoes seemed to be asking why I was ignoring them, and my collection of garlic was taunting me. I could definitely use these nutritious ingredients together but what sort of protein should I include? Of course, a big bag of wheat berries held the answer. Rather than start with a packaged vegetable stock or plain old water, I poured some liquid in which I had blanched kale (not pretty, if water can be pretty, but seriously healthful—kale is an amazing source of vitamins A, C and K) into a large pot, poured in some plain old water, and added miso and a whole bunch of halved garlic cloves. (P.S. This is another form of recycling.) Later on, I added mushrooms to lend it an earthy flavor.

While I would add a few more flavorful ingredients the next time—canned tomatoes, lemon zest, crushed hot pepper—I enjoyed it a great deal, especially on these cold, rainy days. I should mention that it took quite a while since I made the stock first, so I’d suggest this for a leisurely Sunday evening.

Wheat and Sweet Soup

Serves 6-8

• 1 cup wheat berries
• 12 cups vegetable stock (homemade or store bought), or water
• 3 tablespoons miso
• 2 large carrots, quartered lengthwise and diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• Handful of mushrooms, cleaned and chopped coarsely
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Bunch of kale, stripped from stems and chopped very well
• black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

In a large pot, bring vegetable stock or water (or reserved liquid from cooking vegetables) to boil. If starting with water or reserved liquid, add miso and either a roasted head of garlic (wrap in foil, bake at 400 for about 45 minutes, until it’s soft, slice off top and squeeze garlic into pot) or several cloves of garlic, chopped in half or quarters. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Add wheat berries and cook for 50 minutes, covered.

Add carrots, onion, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and cumin. Cook for about 20 minutes, until a fork can easily pierce potatoes. Feel free to add diced canned tomatoes or other vegetables. Add kale and cook for just a few minutes. Stir in pepper and zest, if using. Top each serving with a few bits of parsley.

Photo Credit: Flickr CC User (and author) bornOKthefirsttime