Broccoli-Edamame Soup with Goat Cheese

I’m not sure this is the best soup, visually-speaking.  I’m not going to lie, when I took it to work, I felt a little weird putting it into the fridge.  If anyone would look down, amongst the lunch boxes, sandwiches and salads… there was my neon-green soup.  Fortunately, no one commented on it, phew!  What could I say…delicious green soup?

I don’t think I have ever tried to warm up goat cheese, and I wish I had!  It is ridiculously delicious: cheese, soft and warm.  I smeared some of it on each of the bread slices, and then once I took it out of the oven, I pressed it down a bit more- smushing it all over the piece of bread.  Yum!  Definitely not just for this soup, I will have to try it out with more recipes.

Broccoli-Edamame Soup with Goat Cheese
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times (March 2011)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
6 cups broth (veggie or chicken)
3 cups frozen shelled edamame
1 lb frozen broccoli
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz goat cheese
4-8 slices from a baguette

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic and nutmeg, sauté for about 10 minutes.  Add the salt and pepper while it’s sautéing.  Then stir in 1/2 cup of broth, scrapping the bottom of the pot for the brown bits.  Once scraped, add the remaining broth.  Finally, add the edamame and broccoli.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 20 minutes.

While the soup cooks, preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Place the baguettes on a baking sheet, and arrange the cheese over the toasts.  Bake for about 6 minutes, or until the cheese has softened.

Once the soup is cooked, transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth (or to your liking, we prefer ours to be a bit chunky).  Return the soup back to the pot, and warm over low heat.

Finally, ladle soup into soup bowls, and float 1-2 cheesy breads on top of the soup.

Cucumber Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold, tomato-based soup which originated in Spain.  I spent the summer of 2004 studying abroad in Spain, while living with a Spanish family.  For my first meal with the family, my señora made gazpacho.  Having only had warm tomato soup growing up, I did not like it.  The idea of a cold soup just wasn’t appealing to me.  But she kept making it throughout the summer, and I kept on eating it a little at a time.  After the summer of falling in love with Sevilla, when I arrived back in the US, I realized I began craving gazpacho.

It’s a great summer staple for me: fast, easy, simple.  You can make it ahead and the flavors blend nicely.  It’s perfect when tomatoes are in season, full of flavors.

So when I was flipping through the April’s Cooking Light and saw a cucumber gazpacho, I was excited to try a new version of the cold soup.  The original recipe had shrimp, which is also a great addition, so keep that in mind.

Cucumber Gazpacho
Adapted from: Cooking Light

1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/3 cup cilantro, lightly chopped
2 large cucumbers, lightly chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup yogurt
1/4 cup onion, chopped
dash of red pepper flakes
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Add all of the ingredients, except the cherry tomatoes, into a blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  Ladle into bowls, and use cherry tomatoes as a garnish.