Happy Gluten-free Awareness Month! New recipe: Tomato-Fennel Soup

In honor of Celiac/Gluten-free Awareness Month and Pamela's and GIG's Gluten-free Challenge, I'll be posting some new recipes throughout the month of May. First up is a chunky tomato-fennel soup that is delicious hot or cold and can be served alone or paired with a GFCF grilled cheese, GF fennel crackers, or a nice dark green salad.

I based this recipe on the one recently shared via email by VegNews Magazine (see the original here.) I get a lot of inquiries about how to cook for just one or two people, so I modified the recipe to serve 2 (or one, with a day's leftovers). I also adapted it to be guaranteed gluten-free by substituting water for vegetable broth (which works fine unless you make your own broth at home, in which case that would add natural flavor to the soup).

Changing the portion size means a lot of fennel left over. Try cutting it in wedges and roasting it with olive oil on about 375-425 (lower if you want soft fennel, higher if you like yours a little brown and crispier). You can add a little salt if you desire, or spoon soup on top of the wedges to make an even richer variation. Save your extra greens and add them to your salad throughout the week.

Happy eating!


GF Tomato-Fennel Soup
(gluten-free, casein/dairy-free, soy-free, vegan)
Serves 2
Prep time: appx 30 minutes

Ingredients

organic extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-large fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and chopped (reserve the fronds for garnish and salad)
1 or 2 small-medium shallots, chopped
1/2 a small organic carrot, or about 4 organic baby carrots
1 (14 oz.) can crushed organic tomatoes (I used Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted crushed tomatoes)
1/2 tsp organic cane sugar
1/4 filtered water
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbs fennel leaves, reserved, for garnish

Seasonings (to taste)

liberal fresh cracked pepper and/or ground black pepper
dash of Creole seasoning, cayenne pepper, and/or red pepper flakes
dash of Herbamare (herb salt) or table salt (optional)

Directions

Prepare your fennel, shallots, and carrots first. Heat the oil (about a tablespoon) in a medium stockpot and cook the fennel, shallots, and carrots until they are soft but not (too) browned. Add the can of tomatoes with liquid and all remaining ingredients and seasonings (except the fennel leaves, which should be used as a garnish just before serving).

Heat to boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until all the ingredients are hot and soft, and the flavors are well blended. (You can puree the soup at this point if you have a hand blender or food processor, or just leave it thick and chunky like I did.)

Serve hot with your favorite GF sandwich, Glutino Multigrain crackers (which have fennel as the main ingredient), or your favorite crisp green salad (try spinach or kale). (Don't forget your extra roasted fennel!)

Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and served reheated or chilled.

Lemon-Olive One Pot Pasta

This is my favorite go-to meal whenever I am feeling a bit off, have had trouble eating that day, or just don't feel much like eating anything else: I can always eat this simple pasta dish.

The ingredients are few, and as with many of my other recipes you can switch out some ingredients if you don't care for them, or just want a little variety. I make this most often with mushrooms and Cerignola olives (the big green kind), but you can substite artichokes or white asparagus for the mushrooms if you wish. Seasonings are simple: cracked pepper, a little garlic salt, lemon juice, and Vegan Topping, if soy is not a problem for you.

I'm calling it a "one pot" pasta because you can cook all the ingredients in the pot you boiled the pasta in. Really, you need just a pot and a colander.

I'm going to leave the serving size and quantities up to you on this one -- I just measure it by eye.


Lemon-Olive One Pot Pasta

Ingredients:

rice vermicelli (I use the Medium size of a Chinese brand called "Guilin Vermicelli Just As Fresh One" - no kidding, it's a great name!)

Cerignola or other flavorful green olives

fresh white mushrooms (may substitute artichoke hearts or chopped white asparagus)

extra virgin olive oil

lemon juice (fresh or bottled)

Vegan Topping (optional)

garlic salt (optional)

cracked pepper (optional)


Cook the rice vermicelli according to the package instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, cut the olive flesh from the pits and slice the mushrooms.

After the pasta is done, leave it to one side and gently saute the olives and mushrooms in olive oil in the pot you cooked the pasta in.

When the olives and mushrooms have softened, add the pasta back to the pot, adding lemon juice to taste and olive oil to coat. (If you don't add enough oil, the pasta will burn.) Add Vegan Topping, if using, and adjust liquids as needed - the Vegan Topping will cause the lemon juice to thicken noticeably.

Add cracked pepper and a dash of garlic salt to taste. Serve hot.