Pareve Mexican Vegetable Soup and Corn Bread Recipe
Pareve Mexican Vegetable Soup and Corn Bread
I saw an episode of Barefoot Contessa recently, and she served an enticing and decadent dairy cornbread with a mexican chicken soup. The flavor combination looked amazing if a bit verboten, and I set out immediately to try and see if I could make both pareve, so that these two dishes could be served with either dairy or meat dishes.
The cornbread came out light and airy and I left out the cheese and scallions she used, because I am a bit of a cornbread purist and I don't want anything mucking it up. The Mexican soup I watched Ina make bears little resemblance to what I ended up with, and it's now something new all its own. She used tortillas to thicken hers, and I used potatoes, but the whole thing is just gorgeously scented. Ina used coriander and cumin, which I used but also added a bay leaf and smoked paprika. She also used a jalapeno in hers (without seeds), but I didn't have any in the house so substituted a small pinch of cayenne. Plus, I don't like cooking with jalapeno because I ALWAYS end up forgetting that I just minced one and somehow touch my face hours later and it burns. Even when I wear plastic gloves!!
- Corn bread:
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 sticks margarine (1/2 pound), melted
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, or MimicCreme
- 1/3 cup scallions (optional)
- Sift together first five dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients and mix the dry and wet just until incorporated; do not overbeat. Let sit for 15 minutes before baking at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
- Mexican vegetable soup:
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 carrots, minced
- 1 box white mushrooms, minced
- 2 potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 2 leeks, white parts only, sliced
- 1 large can diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 small pinch cayenne
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 cups water
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- Before serving: 4 oz. almond milk, diced avocados, tortilla chips
Saute the onions, carrots and mushrooms in olive oil until softened. Add the rest of the ingriedients and simmer for 1 hour. Puree if you wish. Before serving, add several ounces of almond milk to add creaminess, and serve with tortilla chips, sliced avocado and of course, fresh hot cornbread!