Testing, testing...

I am trying out some recipes in a new cookbook: Vegan Soul Kitchen, by Bryant Terry. Today I tried the Succotash Soup, with Garlicky Cornbread Croutons. It's not a quick dish. I figure you should allow yourself two hours to be safe. It's a good recipe for those who are practicing their sidework skills (it's good to keep cleaning up after yourself as you go along, especially when there are several pans and bowls involved). It isn't a complex recipe and the ingredients are few, but there are enough steps that I felt very proud when I finished it.

The recipe calls for four fresh corn cobs, from which I cut off the corn and then cut the cobs in three parts. It also calls for 2 cups of lima beans, cooked in 10 cups of water until tender. When the beans are done, they are strained out of the broth and the cobs are then added to the bean broth. Thus:



While the cobs are cooking in the broth, giving up their flavor, diced onions (from one large onion) are sauteed until soft. In the cookbook they are sauteed in olive oil, but I used water.



Meanwhile the beans wait:


And the fresh corn waits:



The corn is added to the soft onions (1/3 c. of corn is reserved for later), and the mixture is cooked about five minutes longer, until corn is done:



When the broth is ready (it cooks 30 minutes), the corn cobs are removed and added to the compost pile if you have one (I don't, yet), and the corn and onion mix is added to the broth.



After it is cooked sufficiently (about ten minutes), it is blended in a blender and then strained through a sieve to get rid of the tough corn skins.



The sieving is easier than I expected. There was a bit less than a cup of fiber left in the sieve when I called it good.

The recipe calls for a topping of corn bread croutons that are toasted with a garlic-oil mixture as well as freshly roasted corn (done in the broiler). I actually prepared and served these parts, along with the chopped flat-leaf parsley.

The result:



It is so delicious! This recipe makes me want to make more from this cookbook. But honestly, it's the kind of recipe that I consider worth the price of the book.

Note: I tagged this post "McDougall" because with the water instead of oil the soup itself is cooked according to McDougall recommendations. The croutons and roasted corn were not.