Eat your Greens! Basil and Gnocchi Soup

Many may agree when I say that Post Punk Kitchen is definitely one of the best Vegan website on the world wide web; all the recipes I took from there simply turned out great! Anyway, I can still say that I have one favourite PPK recipe, one that melts my heart every time I do it, and it is this yummy, savoury, texture wise genius gnocchi and greens soup! I simply love everything about it. The original use of fresh basil, the contrast between the “creamy” cauliflower base and the “chunks” of gnocchi, greens and beans, the fact that it is a really filling, nutritive soup and so on! Love, love, love!

Ingredients :

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florettes
• 4 cups vegetable broth, divided (preferably home made)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Big pinch dried thyme
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch
• 1 cup loosely packed basil leaves, plus a little extra for garnish
• 8 oz gnocchi**
• 1 15 oz can navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small bunch swiss chard, stems discarded, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces

**8 oz gnocchi represent half the regular gnocchi pack I find at the grocery store. When I do this recipe, I put the gnocchi I don’t need to use in the freezer so I’ll have the perfect quantity to do another batch of this soup later.

Directions :

Heat a big pot over medium heat. Add olive oil and cook garlic for about a minute (watch closely so it doesn’t burn). Add 3 cups of broth (only 3 cups, not 4!), cauliflower, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a broil. Bring the heat down to medium and let it cook until cauliflowers are soft (about 10 minutes).

In a small bowl, mix together the arrowroot (or cornstarch) with the other 1 cup of broth. Add this thickening mix to the cauliflower cauldron and stir until the broth gets a little bit thicker (about 5 minutes).

Remove the cauldron from heat and add the Basil. Use a blender (immersion one or regular… I always use my Vitamix) to smooth all of this preparation. Taste it and add some salt if necessary.

But this soup base back on the stove and bring the heath to medium. Add the gnocchi and cook for 3 minutes. Then, add the beans and the swiss chard and cook it until the greens look soft, stirring gently (about 5 minutes).

It’s ready to serve! Enjoy!

Hmmmm! Fresh Basil! ❤This is the “creamy base” made from cauliflower, broth and basil (holy miam!). This one was thicker than usual cause I let the cauliflower cook longer, so some of the broth evaporated… The thickness is really up to you. I could have add some broth but I like it thick so I didn’t

Hope you give a try to this wonderful recipe! What is your favourite soup recipe?

Cauliflower and Carrots Patties (or Veggie Pâté)

Ok! Since I began the blog, I’ve mostly posted recipes of my own. But I must admit I’m nothing like a real recipe developer and most of the time, I just follow everyone else recipe (which explains why I’m addicted to Pinterest and healthy vegetarian cooking blogs).

I’m spending hours and hours around the net to find some yummy recipes and here I’ll post the best of my experiments (with little modifications, from time to time). So, if your taste and your cooking skills are quite like mine, you should be happy of the selection I’ll bring here.

Today’s recipe is from Anja’s Food 4 Thought . Anja is an awesome blogger and photographer! You should really visit her page. I’m reproducing the recipe with her authorization. I’ve change the name of the recipe a bit but all the ingredients are still the same (there was nothing to change, as those patties are so good the way they are!).

To be honest, I’m trying so much different recipe that I underestimated this one when came the time to give it a try. I thought it would be “another good one”, but in fact, it is INCREDIBLY GOOD. What I found out is that those patties taste even BETTER the next day, when they have passed the night in the fridge, and are used as a spread on any kind of bread. This is why I specified they can be used as a “Veggie Pâté”. They would be great for a summer picnic.

I was also surprised by how quick it is to do those, and really impressed by how filling they are!

Ingredients :

2 to 3 servings

• 2 tablespoons flax meal (ground flax seeds)
• 6 tablespoons boiling water

• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 cup carrots, chopped into chunks
• 1 small red onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 cup fresh parsley leaves

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

• 1/2 cup almond meal

• olive oil for frying

Directions :

In am small bowl, combine flax seed with boiling water and stir until well combined. Let stand for a few minutes to thicken.

In a food processor, combine cauliflower, carrots, onion, garlic and parsley. Pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Add lemon juice, cumin, salt and cayenne and pulse again to blend. The mixture should be very finely chopped now. (I used my Vitamix. It was quick and effective, but I had to be careful so the ingredients wouldn’t get into a soup. I put the Vitamix level to 5 and juste pulsed the power switch on and off a few times.)

Transfer mixture to a bowl. Add flax seed mixture and almond meal and knead until mixture holds together. Add more almond meal if the mixture seems to wet. Add sesame and pumpkin seeds.

Form patties of the size of the palm of your hand. You should get about 6 patties out of the batter.

Coat a frying pan with olive oil and cook patties over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Manipulate them carefully, as they may want to fall apart.

Serve immediately with a fresh salad and tahini or yogurt dip.

**As you can see on my picture, I had mine with stuffed vine leaves I bought in store (yeah, I can get lazy), pita bread, greek yogourt ant cucumbers.

Here is the mixture before I formed the patties

And here is the final result! (Gosh it’s hard to get an appropriate lighting in my kitchen…)

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!