fresh fall soup

the cool rainy vancouver weather always inspires soul warming food for me.  last night i threw together a delicious fall soup by pulling together a few simple ingredients i had on hand.  it was one of those moments when i didn't decide to make soup, i just found myself in the flow of it.  my food always seems to taste best when there is that ease & organic flow to it.

this is a super seasonal & local creation.  i am especially in love with celeriac right now.  it has a texture of potato and a light celery flavour.  delicious!  the potato like texture is great for me, as i love potatoes!  it must be in my maritime blood.  i am trying to limit inflammatory causing foods as party of my healing process, as i recover from injuries sustained in a car accident.  limiting the night shade family (potatoes, tomato, egg plant, peppers) is especially helpful. 

:: fresh fall soup ::

organic olive oil
sapo bravo organic onions & garlic
glorious organics carrots & celeriac
glen valley organic cabbage
backyard collards
nova scotia dulse
organic barley
maison coté tuscan herbs & cowboy salt & black pepper
city farmer bay leaf
cumin
homemade soup stock
tomato water

i make my soup stock by saving my vegetable trimmings as i cook.  i have my stock bag of trimmings in the freezer that i add to with each meal i cook.  when the bag is full, i throw the trimmings into my slow cooker, add filtered water & pretty much ignore it for ~12 hours.  if my timing is on, i will use it straight away in a soup or stew.  if not, i'll freeze the stock to have on hand for those inspired spontaneous cooking moments.  the flavour of the stock varies with each batch, but it always has onion, garlic, carrots as the base, and sometimes mushrooms, celery, herb stems, etc...

the tomato water added a slight acid note to the soup.  delicious.  i had rehydrated some of my organic dried tomatoes i dried summer '09, and i saved the water.  i also had some tomato sauce from a community canning project i was involved with this year, the jamboree canning collective.  the sauce was a bit thinner that i wanted for a what i was using it for, so i stained it off a bit, and added that tomato water to the soup as well.  not necessary, but it rounded the flavour out well, and created a use for something that may have been tossed out otherwise.  the tomato water did add a tiny bit of night shade to the soup, but that is just the way it goes sometimes.

some of the soup was frozen, for a ready to go nourishing meal when i need it.  i always try to do a bit of extra cooking on the days when i am not receiving a treatment.  that ensures that i will have good, tasty & nutritious food on the days i come home spent from a treatment. 

i did manage to get a quick photo before i ate the last of the soup for lunch today.  the photo really doesn't do it justice.  think i'll be making this one again soon though.  i have another celeriac just waiting to be used...