Roasted Baby Vegetable Irish Stew with Pearl Barley

Well hello again! And a rather late Happy New Year to you all! I do apologise for the extended break, I found myself quite ill over the holidays and thanks to the lupus/immune suppression it's just taken me forever to get over it. I'm still not out of the woods yet but am getting better, thankfully.

So, back to the recipes :-) I wasn't really intending on posting yet another soup/stew like dish as there have a been a few of them lately but came up with this the other day and just loved it. I've been wanting to do an Irish stew inspired dish for years now anyway and really love this version with deeply roasted baby vegetables and pearl barley. I was considering replacing the meat in Irish stew with some sort of faux meat like seitan or some beans but opted in the end to add lots of baby mushrooms and just keep it simple with the veggies. The mushroom broth, roasting the veg and Worcester sauce all give a richness to the dish that you will not miss either the meat or faux meat here :-) 

You may notice that I have not added any stout here. I'm just not a huge fan of stout in my stews and would much prefer having a pint of it with the dish instead. Plus, as my Irish husband told me "We NEVER had Irish Stew with stout in it..." So there you go! Personally, I would prefer a bottle of my favourite dark ale with this dish instead. In my case, Chimay blue label - that stuff is gorgeous!

I also wanted to have some brown soda bread to go with it. I didn't have any soy yogurt to make my basic Brown Irish Soda bread so I tried my beer bread recipe, replacing the white flour with wholemeal (whole wheat flour) and used a bottle of the Chimay blue label instead of a lager. It turned out nice, the texture was wonderful - really light and fluffy which was surprising for a brown bread and it was really nice with the stew, but a little bit bitter on it's own. I think this is down to the fact that Chimay blue label is a 9% beer. Still, it's a nice bread option for this stew although I would recommend a less powerful beer ;-)

~Recipe Notes~

♥ This recipe isn't overly 'brothy' - it is a stew after all - not a soup. So it's something you kind of eat with a knife and fork as well as a spoon.

♥ If you can't buy mushroom stock cubes you could make your own mushroom stock or if you able to buy vegan 'beef style' stock cubes or bouillon I would recommend that here. (I swear I'm not being paid by Kallo, lol - I just use those cubes a lot in my cooking).

♥ Leave the veggies whole if you are able to buy ones that are small enough. If not, slice them in half. I halved my shallots, new potatoes and carrots as I could only find fairly large 'baby' ones. I left my baby mushrooms whole as they shrink up so much.

♥ The length of time roasting with depend on many things - the size of the veggies you've used, the heat of your oven, type of pan you have, even how much water is in the veg is a factor. So, use my times only as a guide and check yours regularly. Note that the shallots will fall apart - that is fine :-)

♥ Initially I roasted the rosemary and thyme with the veggies but found they got a little burnt and added a bitter taste to the final dish so I now add them to the pearl barley while simmering.

♥ The Worcestershire sauce adds a nice flavour dimension to the dish but if you can't buy it or don't like simply don't add it.

Roasted Baby Vegetable Irish Stew with Pearl Barley:

Recipe yields 4 small servings.

Roasted Vegetables:

150g shallots, peeled 
300g baby new potatoes, washed, scrubbed and dried. 
300g small or baby carrots, peeled 
300g baby button mushrooms
1 large clove of smoked garlic, left in skin (you can use regular garlic here)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
½ Tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
pinch of sea salt 
some freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 220°C

Whisk together the olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Place the carrots, shallots, mushrooms, clove of garlic and potatoes in a roasting tin and pour over the oil mixture. Toss well. Roast for 40 minutes tossing a few times. Test them with a fork to ensure the potatoes and carrots are soft. When done, remove the clove of garlic and squeeze out the filling into the pan.

Pearl Barley:

50g raw pearl barley
2 bay leaves
sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme (1 of each)
1½ Kallo mushroom stock cubes
750ml water

Wash the barley really well. In a small-medium saucepan bring the water to the boil and dissolve the cube in it. Add the barley, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Bring back to the boil then cover and reduce to low and simmer for 45 minutes or until tender. Stir now and again.

Finishing the dish:

Combine the pearl barley (with stock) and all the roasted veggies into a large saucepan. De-glaze the roasting tin with a little hot water, scraping the tin to get all the flavour off. Pour this into the pot as well. Note: if for some reason your roasting tin ends up really burnt don't deglaze, only do this to add some of the roasted flavour into the dish. Bring to a simmer then cook gently, covered, for 5 -10 minutes for the flavours to meld. Taste, season if need be and if you have to add a bit more water do. Keep in mind this shouldn't have a lot of broth. Remove the bay leaves and rosemary and thyme stalks (leave the leaves). Stir in most of the chives then divide among 4 bowls and sprinkle with more of the chives.

Beautiful served with some brown soda bread and a pint of vegan stout or dark ale.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 4

Calories: 275

Protein: 6.5g

Fibre: 6.1g

Fat: 11.2g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Carbs: 37.5g

Sugar: 6g

Sodium: 853mg

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♥

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

I can't quite believe that after blogging since 2006 (including my vegetarian blog) I haven't posted a basic cream of mushroom soup until now! We are so in love with this soup, it's thick and super creamy with a velvety texture and great mushroom flavour. My husband, a huge fan of anything mushroom based was always disappointed by tinned cream of mushroom soup back when he was vegetarian as they never actually taste of mushroom - just  that rank artificial mushroom flavour. Well, he's  described this one as 'hands down the best cream of mushroom soup he's ever had' - so, yay!

I have made several cream of mushroom soups before but none have compared to this one. I think the reason for that is the outright simplicity of this recipe, I was probably trying too hard before, roasting the mushrooms, using exotic mushrooms, tons of fresh herbs etc.. when all it really needed was mushrooms, stock, cream, onion and garlic. Simple.

It's a great basic cream of mushroom soup recipe and would also work well in all those old time recipes that call for 'a can of cream of mushroom soup' that we all call old school and a bit naff but secretly love ;-) Remember noodle casserole made with a tin of cream of mushroom soup? Haha - delicious!

~Recipe Notes~

• For the mushroom stock I have used 1 Kallo Organic Mushroom Stock Cube dissolved in 500ml boiling water. If you can't buy this brand then I would use another brand mushroom stock, from either a cube or powder to make 500ml (2 cups) OR I would recommend you make your own mushroom stock (sorry I don't have a recipe but there are loads online). I wouldn't really recommend not using a mushroom stock here - you need that extra mushroom flavour happening.

• I have kept this simple with no herbs but if you like, thyme, marjoram and parsley all go brilliantly with mushrooms. Fresh would be best.

• Recipe makes 4 small servings or 2 large. We always go for the small servings as we have lots of bread with it, in fact I almost treat the soup like a mushroom fondue! Plus the soup is thick and rich so I find the small serving just perfect but keep in mind it doesn't look like much in the bowl. These photos have a large serving in them.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 Tbsp vegan butter
1 onion, chopped
250g white mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
500ml (2 cups) mushroom stock
250ml (1 cup) soy cream
1/8 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
freshly ground nutmeg

All the ingredients!

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and give it a good stir. Sprinkle over the salt and add about 12 grinds of black pepper. 

Fry until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are cooked through, about 10 minutes. You also want *most* of the liquid cooked off but not all of it, stop before you've cooked off all the liquid. Now add the garlic and give it a good stir then turn the heat down to low and add the flour. Stir well and fry gently for about 1 minute.

Dissolve the stock cube in the 500ml of boiling water and add a little bit to the pot, stir well to deglaze any flour then add a bit more stock, again stir well and keep adding more stock until it is all added. Now bring to the boil then reduce and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Do this with the lid off so that the stock reduces a bit. 

Stock being added.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes.

...after the 10 minutes, reduced.

Now add the cream (for those of you in the UK and Ireland this is handily a whole 250ml carton of Alpro single cream). Mix well then turn off the heat.

Transfer the soup to your blender and blend on the highest setting until velvety smooth. I used my Froothie Optimum 9400 blender and as always, it did an amazing job here. Absolutely no "mushroom graininess" in this soup!

Return to the pot, add a couple gratings of fresh nutmeg (not too much, it can overpower!) and bring the soup back up to heat.

Ladle into warmed bowls and serve with bread of your choice, a nice 'fresh from the oven' French crusty bread with some vegan butter spread on is ideal :-)

♥

Source: adapted from this recipe.

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 4 (small bowls)

Calories: 176

Protein: 3.9g
Fat: 12.7g
Sat Fat: 2.2g

Fibre: 1.3g

Carbs: 10.4g

Sugar: 2.9g

Sodium: 607mg

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliated links to Froothie UK, however all views expressed are my own.

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Smokey Vegetable Chowder

Well we are definitely into the season for warming soups and stews now! Cork has turned decidedly cooler and stormier lately which I love, autumn is easily my favourite season especially as I get to make warming comforting meals like this one :-) Rather shockingly, up until making this I had never had chowder before! I think it's probably because I grew up by the coast and chowder for us meant clam chowder and even when I ate meat and fish I drew the line at shellfish (too much like bugs, bleh! haha) So I was very excited about trying the clam chowder alternative of sweetcorn chowder. 

Most sweetcorn chowders seemed to call for potato as well and a lot called for bacon. I went even further with the veg as I felt this was calling out for some carrot and also added leeks which are really nice here. To honour the bacon factor I added both smoked paprika and smoked sea salt which is what gives this it's smokey angle and a wonderful flavour.

When I first made this I made it as a Vegan Chicken and Sweetcorn Chowder. Same recipe as here but with some added vegan chicken pieces in there. It was really good but I just felt that the 'faux-ness' of the vegan chicken was letting down the veg so I decided to omit it and just let the veggies shine on their own here. That being said, go ahead and throw in some fried vegan chicken pieces or some chickpeas or beans for added protein if you like. Just reduce some of the veg to make room for them, or increase the broth.

Smokey Vegetable Chowder:
~serves 2~

1 Tbsp vegan butter
80g sliced leeks ( 2/3 heaped cup)
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp smoked sea salt
500ml unsweetened almond milk ( 2 cups)
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder*
160g peeled and diced potato (1 cup)
80g peeled, sliced and halved carrot ( heaped 2/3 cup)
180g frozen sweetcorn ( 1 cup, heaped)

*As always I use Marigold Organic Vegan Bouillon Powder which has added turmeric which gives this a nice colour. If you are using a different brand bouillon powder then 1/8 tsp turmeric might be nice added to the milk. If you can buy a vegan chicken style stock where you are then I would recommend that.

Whisk the milk with the flour, stock powder, paprika and salt in a bowl or jug and set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan then add the leeks, bay leaves and some freshly ground black pepper. Fry gently until just soft, 2-3 minutes should do. Pour in the milk mixture and add the carrots and potato. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the potato is tender, and the broth has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir it now and again and don't worry if you see little white dots of flour or milk. It's not separating and as you can see by the photos it goes away by the end :-)

When there is 6 minutes left add the sweetcorn, turn the heat up to maximum to bring it back to a boil as the frozen corn will bring the temperature down. When it's at a boil again, reduce to a simmer. Check that the potato is tender then turn the heat off, take the lid off and let it sit for 5 minutes. This helps cool it down a bit and thickens the chowder a little more. Check the seasoning then remove the bay leaves and serve. 

This chowder is hearty enough on it's own but as with all soups, great with some crusty rolls or French bread.

♥

Nutritional Information: for 1 serving out of 2

Calories: 286

Protein: 7.8g

Fat: 10.7g

Sat Fat: 1.9g

Fibre: 6.7g

Carbs: 39.4g

Sugar: 6.3g

Sodium: 900mg

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Creamy Spiced Butternut Squash & Coconut Soup

 Butternut Squash•Ginger•Chilli•Garlic•Coconut

Now, I hope you'll forgive me for posting a hot, spicy soup recipe in the middle of July but this was just too good not too. Besides, maybe it's winter where you are....or maybe you live in Ireland like me! I'm kidding, actually the summer here so far has been incredible BUT we can have summers where all you want is a hot bowl of soup - that's no lie :-) One bonus is that this recipe doesn't roast the squash first so at least the oven won't have to be on!

I made this as I had a couple butternut squashes to experiment with and while I have often made soup with them I've always just 'winged it' and thus had no recipe to pass on. So, I thought I would jot down what I did this time so I could actually share it ;-)

This is such an easy, simple soup to make; it comes together in no time and has great flavour from the ginger, chilli, garlic and coconut. It's super creamy and even thicker the next day. I also got to use my new Froothie Optimum 9400 high performance blender here and I really didn't think it would make a big difference as obviously my old blender could process soups...but wow, not like this - it did such an incredible job, it only took seconds and the texture is absolutely silky smooth! Before, my pureed soups - especially with squash, would have a slightly fibrous texture but this one is like velvet, gorgeous!

Creamy Spiced Butternut Squash & Coconut Soup:

serves 4

1 small-medium butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cubed

(You'll need 470g prepared weight or 4 cups.)

2 Tbsp virgin coconut oil

2 onions, diced - 150g / 1 heaping cup

1½ Tbsp finely chopped garlic (2 large cloves)

1½ Tbsp finely chopped red chilli (1 large), I de-seed , if you want it spicier, throw them in! 

2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

850ml / 3½ cups vegetable stock, I made mine with 3 tsp Marigold organic vegan bouillon powder which has turmeric added, if you are using a different stock powder I recommend adding a little turmeric here - maybe 1/2 tsp?

4 Tbsp full fat coconut milk

sea salt to taste - I added 1/8 tsp

Melt the coconut oil in a large saucepan then add the onion, fry until soft and transparent. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and fry gently another minute. Add the cubed squash and stir until they are well coated in the oil and fry a couple of minutes. Add the hot stock, give it a good stir then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the squash is really tender. Stir in the coconut milk then blitz in a blender until really, really smooth. Return to the saucepan to warm up, taste and season with salt if need be. Serve with a swirl of coconut milk if you want to be fancy ;-)

Disclaimer: Froothie sent me an Optimum 9400 for review and this post contains affiliated links. If you purchase a blender through my link a little commission is thrown my way :-) All views regarding the blender are entirely my own.

♥

Nutritional Information: for 1 serving out of 4

Calories: 171

Protein: 2.9g

Fat: 9.8g

Sat Fat: 8.5g

Fibre: 3.2g

Carbs: 21g

Sugar: 5.1g

Sodium: 830g (will vary depending on stock used)

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Chilled Summer Lettuce & Pea Soup

No wait, come back!! I promise this is soooo good :-) As odd as it all sounds (lettuce in soup?? and COLD?) this really is quite delicious and is going to be a summer staple for us for sure.

It came about, as I'm guessing all lettuce soups do, because I had a major glut of lettuce in the poly-tunnel. About 10 big heads of lettuce came up at the same time and since my son doesn't eat lettuce (grrr) that's an awful lot for 2 people to get through, yes, even for vegans :-) 

After getting quite bored of salads and of wrapping almost everything I was eating in large leaves of lettuce I had a search online to see what else I could do with them. There were quite a lot of lettuce soup recipes around, some chilled, some not and I've based this one a few different recipes, taking ideas I liked best from each of them and putting it into one soup...Including my very own Minted Petite Pois and Potato Soup from 2009 :-)

This one has a potato added which I liked as it gives the soup some body, LOTS of fresh herbs which are essential - especially the mint! Lots of garlic and some petite pois - their sweetness really help balance out the lettuce. Then some soy cream is stirred in before blitzing, giving the soup a lovely creaminess.

Now, if chilled soups sound like an abomination to you, this soup is just as good hot. My husband isn't into the whole chilled soup thing so he heats his, in which case it's lovely with a sprinkling of my vegan parmesan on top. 

If it's cool out I'll heat mine and probably slightly prefer it that way but when I made this soup it was roasting hot here - my kitchen was 29.2 degrees! On those days, having a fresh green cooling minty soup with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a chilled glass of white wine was just perfect and oh so refreshing :-)

~Recipe Notes~

♥ Our lettuce was Cos but I'm sure any green leaf lettuce would work, especially romaine (not iceberg though!)

♥ I have made this with a Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot and with a Kallo Vegetable very low-salt Stock Cube, both turned out wonderful. I needed an extra ⅛ tsp of salt with the Knorr one and added ¾ tsp with the low-salt Kallo one.

♥ I used 1 whole 250ml carton of Alpro Single Cream
♥ Recipe provides about 4-6 servings and can be frozen!

Chilled Summer Lettuce & Pea Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped (2 Tbsp)
3 cups (750 ml) water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 potato, peeled and sliced thin
 (about 164g peeled weight)
5-6 cups lettuce, from about 2 large heads, chopped and lightly packed (250g)
1 cup frozen petite pois or peas (130g)
1 Tbsp each finely chopped fresh dill, mint and chives 
1 cup (250 ml) soy cream
salt and pepper to taste
~
lemon wedges to serve (if having chilled)
vegan parmesan to serve (if having hot)



In a saucepan, soften the onion and garlic in the oil with some black pepper until the onion is soft and translucent. Dissolve the stock cube in the water and add to the pot with the sliced potato. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potato very soft. Add the lettuce, peas and fresh herbs and cook for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the soy cream, let cool slightly.

In a blender, purée the soup until smooth and bright green, mine took a little while to get really green - just keep going. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Let cool at room temperature then cover and refrigerate until cold. 

When I'm having this soup cold I serve it with a wedge of lemon to squeeze in then season with a little salt and pepper - the lemon really goes well in this! If I'm having it warm I don't add the lemon but like a spinkling of my vegan parmesan on top and some black pepper. Both ways are great :-)

From various sources but mainly Ricardo Cuisine's Chilled Lettuce Soup.

Nutritional Information: for 1 serving out of 6

Calories: 153
Protein: 3.4g
Fibre: 3g
Carbs: 12.1g
Sugar: 2.8g
Fat: 9.4g
Sat Fat: 1.3g
Sodium: 332mg (depending on stock cube used)

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Zucchini, Lemon and Dill Soup with Orzo

Perfect with some crisp 'buttery' garlic toasts!

Here's another creamy soup to warm you up this winter, with summery flavours to boot! It's gotten particularly cold here in Ireland, we may even see some snow this evening - I hope so as I haven't actually seen a single snow flake yet this winter! The Canadian in me is in withdrawal :-(

I've been making this soup for quite a while now, you'll have seen it months ago on the daily blog. It gets it creaminess from adding a little potato, a great little trick in making creamy vegan soups! It has great flavour from the lemon and dill and the orzo in there really helps give this soup some body. It's become one of our favourite soups and is particularly handy if you find yourself with a few zucchini's that need using up.

Some recipe notes

♥ I made my vegetable stock with 3 teaspoons of Marigold Vegan Bouillon.

♥ You don't have to be overly exact with the weight of zucchini. I've made this with up to 750g of zucchini and when I've only had about 550g. 
♥ I've given a measure of garlic instead of cloves as the size of cloves can vary wildly. This would be about 5 or 6 small to medium size cloves. The soup is not overly garlicky though.

♥ If you have leftovers the soup will get very thick the next day. Simply thin down with a bit of hot water while reheating and re-season with salt and pepper. All of these photos were actually taken of my leftovers :-)

Creamy Zucchini, Lemon and Dill Soup with Orzo

Serves 4

• 750g zucchini, sliced and quartered (about 3-4 medium)

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 160g onion, chopped (about 1 large)

• 200g potato, peeled and sliced thin (about 1 medium)

• 1 Tbsp chopped garlic

• 1 tsp dried dill

• 800ml vegetable stock (3 1/4 cups)

• ½ tsp lemon zest

• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• Black pepper

• 100g orzo (dry weight, or 1/2 cup)

Heat the oil and fry the onion with a few grinds of black pepper until soft, stir in the garlic and potato and fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the stock, dill and zucchini, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes and zucchini are really soft, the potato should be falling apart. Stir in the lemon and zest and juice. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile get the water on for the orzo then cook in salted water according to package instructions until tender. Drain well.

Transfer the soup to a blender and blitz until smooth. Return to the pot and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the cooked orzo, taste and season with salt/pepper/lemon juice as you see fit.

This soup goes beautifully with these pan grilled garlic toasts. Simply slice a French baguette on the diagonal, spread with vegan butter on both sides and place on a hot grill pan, cooking both sides until golden then remove and rub a clove of garlic all over one side.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving (just soup)

Calories: 249

Protein: 7.6g
Carbs: 40g
Sugar: 7.3g
Fibre: 4g
Fat: 8.3g
Sat Fat: 1.3g
Sodium: 769mg (will vary depending on stock cube/granules used)

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♥

Creamy Smoked Paprika Sweet Potato and Dill Soup with Butter Grilled Garlic Rye Crisps

 So I had a very large sweet potato lurking in my vegetable basket for like a month, undecided in what to do with it. The current weather situation (freezing cold) had me warming to some soup, especially as I've never made a sweet potato soup before.

Next was what flavour to make it and I was instantly drawn to the smoked paprika sweet potato fries I make every Thanksgiving, they really are gorgeous and the flavours go so well together. So I decided to roast the sweet potato with the onion and garlic and smoked paprika first as it really brings out the flavour in everything. I then deglazed the pan and added all those yummy juices to the soup, which also means you don't need to use any stock powder or cubes here as it's pretty packed with flavour all on it's own!

The dill was a last minute decision however. In the final tasting I just felt it was calling out for it and I always feel paprika, dill and rye go beautifully together.

The 'butter' grilled garlic rye crisps go so well with soup I wouldn't dare make it without them! I've simply grilled rye bread which has been spread with vegan butter then rubbed a cut clove of garlic over them once out of the oven. They are crisp, buttery and garlicky and counter the sweet smoky soup perfectly. 

 Creamy Smoked Paprika and Dill Sweet Potato Soup with Butter Grilled Garlic Rye Crisps

Serves 2 - 4

• 400g prepared weight sweet potato

• 1 large onion

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1½ tsp smoked paprika

• 1 - 1½ tsp smoked sea salt

• 600ml water

• 100ml soy cream

• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 1 tsp dried dill

• plain soy yogurt or vegan sour cream to serve - optional

♥

• 2 - 4 slices of dark rye bread (1 slice per person)

• vegan butter

• 1 clove garlic

Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F. Peel and cube the sweet potato and roughly chop the onion. Place in a roasting tin with the whole cloves of garlic (skins left on).

In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, smoked paprika and 1 tsp of the smoked sea salt. Pour this over the veg and toss really well until everything is nicely coated.

Pop into the preheated oven and roast for 30 - 40 minutes. Give everything a stir a couple of times. They are done when the sweet potato is soft and some of the onions are charred. Some of the veg should be stuck to the pan as well with no liquid left.

Remove the garlic cloves and squeeze the roasted garlic filling out, stir this into the veg. Scrape the veg into a large pot then deglaze the pan with 100ml of hot water. Use a spatula to scrape all the burnt bits off, you should have a gravy coloured liquid now. Pour this into the pot with the veg and add 500ml of hot water. Stir well and bring this mixture to the boil, stirring often.

Turn off the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Puree in a blender until really smooth and return to a pot.

Make sure you taste it now before adding the lemon juice. I felt it was too sweet for my liking at this stage and added the lemon juice to counter that. You, however may like it just fine as it is. I also added another ½ teaspoon of smoked sea salt at this stage but again, that's down to personal taste. While bringing to heat stir in the dill and soy cream until well blended, taste and adjust per your liking. 

Note - you can of course use fresh dill here. Dill is just one of those herbs I don't find a huge difference in between fresh and dried. Just chop up some fresh dill and add enough that it looks nice and speckled with dill :-)

Ladle into bowls then place a dollop of plain soy yogurt or vegan sour cream on top, if using. I then dusted that with a really HOT smoked paprika I have, just for a little extra kick.

To make the butter grilled garlic rye crisps: put your oven grill on then cut a slice of dark rye bread into triangles. Grill on one side until crisp and golden, remove from the oven, flip over, spread with vegan butter and pop back under the grill until bubbly, golden and you have charred edges.

Remove from the oven and generously run a cut clove of garlic over the butter side of the bread. Make sure you use the cut side of the clove of garlic as well.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on soup only, 1 out of 4 servings.

Calories: 197 

Protein: 2.6g

Fat: 9.7g

Sat Fat: 1.4g

Carbs: 26.3g

Sugar: 6.3g

Fibre: 3.7g

Sodium: 943mg (for the full amount of salt)

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♥