When the world is on fire, what do you do? Make comforting, filling vegetable soup and the bread to go with it.
Seriously Easy and Uber-Delicious Veggie Soup
This soup is crazy-easy to make, and it stores really well in the fridge for a quick lunch or side. Feel free to add any other veggies you may have on hand and leave out anything you don’t like.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, sliced
1½ cups thinly sliced or shredded green cabbage
1 zucchini, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
3 carrots, sliced
12 cups chicken broth
½ cup canned crushed tomatoes
½ tsp sugar
Start by adding olive oil to your pot on a medium-high heat. When warm, add onions, celery, cabbage and zucchini. Let it get some nice colour and fry for about 5 min. Add garlic and about ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Let it do its thing for a few more min.
Add carrots, broth, crushed tomatoes and sugar. Turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring here and there. Taste it and add any extra salt if needed. It’s seriously that easy and goes extremely well with the French bread recipe below.
Drool-worthy Crusty French Bread
This bread is the BEST! It makes two loaves (one for you to eat warm out of the oven schmeared with butter, and the other to share with your family…maybe). You can use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, but if you don’t have one, you can totally just mix it in a bowl. Either way, you will want to knead it by hand for a few minutes after combining all the ingredients on a floured surface.
Ingredients
1 tbsp instant yeast or Active Dry yeast
2 cups warm water (warm but not hot!)
2½ tsp sugar
5 cups flour (and some extra for your counter)
2½ tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
Add the yeast, warm water and sugar to a medium-sized bowl. Let it sit for about 5 min. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, add flour and salt to the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer onto a low/medium speed and add the water/yeast mixture. If the dough is too sticky, add up to one extra cup flour. When the ball of dough comes together, turn onto a floured countertop and let the dough rest for 1 min. Then continue to knead by hand for about 3 to 5 min.
Sprinkle oil over dough, put it in a bowl with a clean tea towel on top and leave to rise for about 15 to 20 min.
Divide dough in half and roll the first half onto a floured surface into a rectangle shape about ½ in. thick (don’t worry about being exact). Roll up dough lengthwise into a log and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the seam-side down (pinch the ends under on each side). Repeat with the second half of dough.
Let dough rise again (I know, a lot of rising—but trust me, this bread is totally worth it!) for about 30 to 45 min. While it’s resting, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Make a few lines on the top of the loaves with a sharp knife but don’t cut all the way through (think French bakery bread). Bake for about 18 to 20 min, until your loaves are golden.
Cut into the first loaf while it is still warm and slather that baby with butter. Serve with Veggie Soup or any pasta dish.
Post image: Sven Brandsma/Unsplash