We’re calling it – the official start of soup season.
For the next six months or so, we are fully committed to making and eating as much comfort food as possible. And, for us, one of the ultimate comfort foods is soup.
Right now, we are all about the comfort of creamy soups and hearty chowders. When we go in – we go all in. The problem with most creamy soups is that they are, obviously, cream-based. We’ve already switched to non-fat in our lattes, so this is a bit of a conundrum for us. Well, it was a conundrum until we discovered how to get that thick, creamy texture we crave, but without a single drop of cream.
The secret is oats. We know. You’re shocked.
Oats, or specifically the beta-glucan in oats, can turn a soup made with low-fat milk into something that you would swear is made with cream. If we didn’t see what went into it, we would too. Our Creamy Vegetable Soup is so rich and velvety that you are going to want to make it again and again.
And you can, because once you have the basic recipe down you don’t ever have to make the same soup twice. We added corn and green beans to ours, but there’s no reason you couldn’t add broccoli or cauliflower or kale or asparagus or mushrooms… you see where we’re going here? Our Creamy Vegetable Soup can easily become your Cream of Anything Soup.
Our soup starts as most good soups do – with a mirepoix (finely diced carrots, celery and onions). Once the mirepoix has been gently sautéed to release the sweetness of the vegetables, we add garlic and, you guessed it, oats. Just a half-cup of oats is enough to thicken five cups of liquid and add the rich, silky texture of cream, but without all the fat. Once the milk has been added, you can go crazy and make this soup your own.
Corn and bacon chowder? We like how you think.
Creamy Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp canola oil (15 ml)
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 celery stalk, finely diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 Tbsp butter (15 ml)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (125 ml)
- 1 cup vegetable stock (250 ml)
- 1 cup corn fresh or frozen (250 ml)
- 1 cup green beans cut, fresh or frozen (250 ml)
- 4 cups milk low-fat (1000 ml)
- 1/2 tsp thyme dried or a couple sprigs of fresh (2.5 ml)
- 1/2 tsp salt (2.5 ml)
- black pepper freshly ground, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Sauté onion, celery and carrot until softened.
- Add butter, garlic and oats and cook, stirring, for about a minute to toast oats.
- Add stock and stir until nearly absorbed.
- Stir in corn, green beans, milk, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasonings.
- Let stand for 5 minutes and stir before serving. (Soup will continue to thicken.)
- Note: if you used fresh thyme, don’t forget to remove the stems before serving!