Summer Vegetable Soup

It's Soup Day today at my house.  Or, more accurately, it's Clean Out the Fridge Day.

I woke up early enough to make it to the Farmer's Market shortly after it opened, so I had the greatest pick of some fantastic produce.  Even though I frequent the farmers markets for as long as they run (where I live it is until mid October), this 'early to the market' thing is such a rarity for me, I ended up making three trips back to my car today because I couldn't carry it all; baby romain and salad leaves, eggplant, corn on the cob, carrots, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, green and yellow beans, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, green and purple peppers (I have never seen a purple bell pepper before, and they were so pretty, so I bought some), kohlrabi, chard, and blueberries.  I think I bought something from every vendor there and spent just under $40 for everything.  Gosh, I love that place.

Anyway, when I came home, I realized I needed to clean out the refrigerator so I had a place to stash my haul.  A lot of the things I found in there were still good, but nearing the end of days, so I just set all the old contents on the counter and considered what kind of soup we'd be having for dinner.  Two giant tomatoes were very ripe, so I decided to make a quick tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic, onions, and basil, which would be the base of the soup.  To that I added about a cup of chopped carrots, a zucchini, about a cup of green beans, a couple stalks of celery, and some water (and of course, salt and pepper).  In simple, thin brothy vegetable soups like this one, I like to stir in some beans (in this case, Cannellini) and some greens (today I used the chard I just bought).  And, to off set the tomatoes, a little red wine vinegar.

My family always likes to eat soup with bread (who doesn't?), so I made focaccia dough in the breadmaker, topped it with garlic, olive oil, oregano, olives and parmesan, and baked it in the oven.  We had slices of cantelope for dessert.

Nice.  Simple.  Quick.  Delicious.

Before I give the recipe, would you like to see my purple bell pepper?  Seriously, the only time I've ever seen a purple pepper, the poor thing was about an hour from turning black and biting the dust.  But this one is not the same at all; it's crisp and tastes bright and fresh, like a green bell pepper, but a little more bland flavor, almost watery.  I was surprised to see it was green on the inside and the wall is firm and thicker than I had expected.  I think we'll use them in fresh salads, although I might saute some just to see what happens with the purple color.

Here is the Summer Vegetable Soup recipe.  All portions are approximate, so if you like carrots, add more, if you don't like green beans, add a cup of something you do like (peas are good), etc.  Serves 6-8.

Summer Vegetable Soup

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2-3 large tomatoes, diced, with all their juice (or a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes would suffice)
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 med white or yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped basil (not necessarily minced, but not a large chop, either)
• 2 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 1 c sliced carrots
• 1 c zucchini, chopped
• 1 c green beans, cut into 1" pieces (or use frozen if you don't have any fresh)
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 6 c water
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 c cooked white beans such as Cannellini, Great Northern or Navy (or 1 15oz can, drained and rinsed)
• 4 cups chopped chard or spinach leaves
• 1 Tbs red wine vinegar
• Freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil over medium/high heat in a dutch oven or soup kettle.  Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil and 1 tsp salt.  Cook, stirring occasionally, about 6-8 min until the tomatoes start to break down and onion is translucent.  Add carrots, zucchini, green beans, celery, water, remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper.  Bring to boil, cover and simmer 10-15 minutes, or until green beans are tender.  Stir in white beans and chard or spinach.  Simmer another 10 minutes, or until greens are wilted.  Remove from the heat and stir in red wine vinegar.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese.