Shaved Vegetable Soup

The first killing frost in these parts typically occurs the first week in November, so time is running out to harvest all the peppers, preserve basil (if I so choose) and bring in tender plants like curry leaf and moringa. Below ground crops like sweet potatoes, turmeric, ginger and peanuts will keep just fine in the soil until more extreme temperatures arrive. I pulled up a small turmeric plant and a cluster of ginger fronds to use the rhizomes in today’s soup.

 

It was a delicious soup made with shaved vegetables, mushroom broth, white miso, coconut milk, dried kaffir lime leaves and fresh basil. The shaved vegetables included:

• radishes
• carrots
• jalapeño
• ginger (fresh out of the garden)
• fermented garlic
• sweet onion
• turmeric (fresh out of the garden)
• mushrooms
• (celery)

 

All the shaved vegetables and the lime leaves went into a pot greased with toasted sesame oil, the sturdier veggies on the bottom and the mushrooms on top.

 

The veggies were briefly sautéed and carefully tossed before mushroom broth was added.

 

After the broth had come to a simmer I added white miso, which provided wonderful earthy flavor and all of the needed salt. Because miso can sometimes be gritty I dissolved it into the soup through a strainer. Straining turned out to not be necessary.

 

Celery was intended to be a foundational component of the soup but somehow was forgotten. It wasn’t too late to shave them directly into the soup.

 

Coconut milk was added and the soup simmered until it was time to eat.

 

A chiffonade of fresh basil was scattered on top after the soup was dished into the bowl.

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