Chickpea Noodle Soup

We learned this soup from my good friend from graduate school who now lives in Switzerland. She’s a vegetarian, like my son, and so this magnified her magical hostess qualities - in his eyes especially - on our trip there in 2019. One of the meals she prepared for us, in a slow cooker, all day while she took us sightseeing in Germany, no less, was Chickpea Noodle Soup. My son, 7 years old at the time, was as tickled as I was by the name.

Rachel and Chef Laura, 2019, overlooking Bern, Switzerland

When we got home, we started making our own fast cooking version. I use two pots – one for the soup and one to cook the pasta, separately so that both soup and pasta better maintain their integrity. I like orzo for its rice-like shape and a size that works perfectly with the other components of this soup. Pastina would be another great choice. Whenever we make this soup, we regret not making more for leftovers and to more generously serve visitors who drop in. So, heed my warning and double it. 

If you do have leftovers, though, store soup and orzo separately to prevent the orzo from soaking up all of the broth.

Serves: 6-8 

What You Need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 shallots or 1 medium onion, diced

• Kosher salt

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme or 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary or 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

• 1 ¾ cup cooked or 1 can, drained and rinsed chickpeas

• 4-6 carrots, sliced into half moons

• 3 stalks celery, diced

• 6 cups vegetable broth

• 1 ½ cups orzo pasta

What You Do:

1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shallots or onion with a few pinches of salt and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. 

2. Add the garlic and sauté another minute. 

3. Add the garlic powder, thyme and rosemary and sauté for about 30 seconds.

4. Add the chickpeas, carrots and celery and sauté for about 2 minutes.

5. Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chickpeas and carrots are tender.

6. Meanwhile, bring about 6 cups of water to a boil. Salt generously. Cook the orzo for about 5-6 minutes or until al dente. 

7. Right before serving, add the orzo to the soup. 

Smoky Black Bean Soup

I developed this recipe while cooking for a client who has lots of food allergies, including all seeds. That meant no cumin, ever. To me, a world without cumin is incomplete. So I asked myself, what exactly would a soup without cumin be missing - Smokiness? Earthiness? Funk. And then, how could I bring that to this black bean soup without cumin? That’s where whole toasted dried chili peppers combined with already ground chipotle and smoked paprika came in, along with a hearty amount of onion and garlic that gets blended into the smoothness of the beans. Use the cumin if you can, but know that even if you leave it out of this soup, your experience will not be deficient.

Note about chili peppers and heat level: If you want the smokiness and fruitiness the chili peppers will provide without setting your mouth on fire, here are a few things to keep in mind. Choose peppers that have less intense heat, like Ancho and New Mexico (below left) or Pasilla (below right) as opposed to Chipotle, Guajillo and Pasilla Oaxaca. You can also control the heat by how long you simmer the soaked peppers in the black bean soup, and how much of the soaking liquid and how much of the rehydrated pepper you include in the blended soup. Add more of the soaking liquid, rehydrated peppers and especially their seeds to increase the heat. We often divide the soup before blending, incorporating more heat into one version and keeping the other fairly mild.  

Also, note: Ground Chipotle Chili or Chipotle Chili Powder, as called for in this recipe, is not necessarily the same as “chili powder”. Some store bought chili powders are made up of a blend of ground chili peppers, but also include other spices, like cumin or garlic, and additives like salt and anti-caking agents. Read the label on your chili powder to ensure you are using pure ground chili peppers. Or grind your own whole dried chili peppers into a powder using a spice grinder or coffee grinder dedicated to spices.

Yield: 8 servings

What You Need:

• 2 whole dried chili peppers (see note)

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large red onion, diced

• 1¼ teaspoon kosher salt, divided

• 6 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili or chipotle chili powder, plus more to taste

• 7 cups cooked or four 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed

• 8 cups (2 quarts) vegetable stock or broth

What You Do:

Arrange the whole dried chili peppers in a skillet and turn heat to medium high. Toast on each side for about 30 seconds, or until very fragrant. Put the chili peppers in a heat proof bowl and add boiling water to submerge them. Soak for about 20 minutes.

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. When hot, add the olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. 

2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and sprinkle with about ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Gently sauté onion until very soft, about 3-5 minutes.

3. Add the garlic with a few pinches of salt and sauté another 30-60 seconds.

4. Add the smoked paprika, cumin and ground chipotle. Sauté until fragrant. 

5. Add the beans, broth and  teaspoon kosher salt. Drain the chili peppers, reserving the liquid. Add the rehydrated chili peppers to the soup. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the beans and onion are super tender.

6. If you don’t want the soup to be too spicy, remove the chili pepper and set it aside. You can always blend it in later for more heat.

7. Transfer the mixture to a blender or use an immersion blender in the pot. Blend until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. If you want more heat, add about ¼ cup of the reserved liquid from soaking the chilis or the rehydrated chili pepper. Add broth or water if needed to thin to the consistency of melted ice cream.

8. Reheat over medium heat. Ladle into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt, pepitas and diced avocado.

Recommended: Cook your own black beans from scratch in a pressure cooker (or Instant Pot). Soak 2 - 2½ cups dried black beans in 10 cups of water, in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight. Drain, rinse and put in a pressure cooker (or Instant pot). Submerge in fresh cool water. Add 2 bay leaves. Seal the pressure cooker and bring to high pressure. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Turn off and allow pressure to release naturally. Drain, discard bay leaves, and use cooked beans in your soup. 

Vegetable Wonton Miso Soup

The vegetarian in our family loves miso soup, but can’t always enjoy it from restaurants. Classically, miso soup contains bonito, dried fish flakes used to season and fortify the broth. We make our miso soup at home with just vegetable stock infused with as much seaweed flavor as we can manage. When adding a healthy amount of strong white miso paste, you get a burst of salty umami flavor, and don’t miss the fishy bonito one bit. I recommend using homemade vegetable stock for this soup, if you have it, or find a store bought one that is light, clear and golden in color, ideally made without tomato. This provides the perfect backdrop to the delicate seaweed and tofu. 

Miso soup alone does not typically make a meal. But when you add a helping of dumplings to the bowl as well as a garnish of fresh thinly sliced vegetables in a variety of colors, it becomes a complete meal, and fills you up appropriately. 

To maximize the benefits, both flavor and health, of miso, don’t cook it. Simply stir it into your soup right before ladling into bowls. My tip for getting the miso into the soup without lots of lumps you need to furiously whisk out – in a separate bowl, combine the miso paste with a little bit of liquid, in this case the soy sauce and a spoonful or two of the warm broth. Stir until smooth and then reintroduce back into the pot of soup. 

miso + soy sauce

mix until smooth

gradually add broth

mix and add to soup

What You Need:

For the soup:

• ¼ ounce wakame seaweed 

• 4 cups vegetable broth or stock

• 1-2 pieces kombu seaweed

• 8-10 ounces tofu (medium, soft or silken will all work)

• 2 tablespoons miso paste

• 2 teaspoons soy sauce

• 16-20 frozen vegetable wontons or dumplings

For garnish, optional:

• 1 carrot, thinly sliced

• 1-2 scallions, thinly sliced 

• 4-5 radishes, thinly sliced

• ½ cup sugar snap peas, thinly sliced on a bias

What You Do:

1. Bring at least one cup of water to a boil. If needed, use clean kitchen scissors to snip the wakame into smaller pieces, about ¼ inch long. Put the wakame in a heat resistant bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Set aside and let the wakame soak for about 20 minutes. 

2. Meanwhile, combine the vegetable broth and kombu in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes. 

3. While the broth is simmering, prepare your other ingredients. Drain the tofu on clean kitchen towels to extract excess water. Do not press. Cut the tofu into ½ inch cubes. 

4. Arrange a steamer basket over a pot with a few inches of water in the bottom. Bring water to a boil. Gently arrange frozen wontons or dumplings in a single layer in the steamer basket and steam for about 5 to 7 minutes or until tender and cooked through. 

5. Remove the kombu from the broth and discard. 

6. In a small bowl combine the miso paste with the soy sauce. Gradually stir in about 2 tablespoons of hot broth to dissolve the miso paste further. Pour this mixture back into the pot with the hot broth. Stir to mix well. 

7. Drain the wakame. Discard the liquid and add the rehydrated wakame to the broth. Add the cubed tofu to the broth. 

8. Divide the steamed dumplings among 4 bowls. Ladle the soup over the dumplings.

9. Garnish each bowl of soup with sliced carrot, scallion, radish or snap peas, if desired.