To Live and Eat in L.A.

I’ve got a lot of meals to post for you, but first off the one I’m most excited about, Chilled Asparagus Fennel soup. It’s exciting because not only did I make it from scratch, but also because it turned out amazingly good!

I’d been to the evening farmers market that they hold at the Northridge Mall. Among other things, I picked up a bunch of asparagus, which was organic and fresh picked on the farm just hours previous. Awesome. So with all this lovely asparagus to use up, I decided to try my hand at a cold soup. After looking through a number of online sources as well as my cookbooks at home, I found the perfect recipe in a book which I’d just picked up a couple of weeks ago (for super cheap at the used bookstore), “The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kitchen” by Marilyn Diamond.

For the most part I stuck exactly to the recipe, except for one significant change and a few minor ones. Below is the recipe, along with what I did differently.

Cream of Asparagus and Fennel Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 small potato, peeled and cubed (optional)
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch segments
1 bulb fennel, coarsely chopped
7 cups water
1 tablespoon powdered vegetable broth or 1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 tablespoon light miso (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/4 to 1/2 cup Cashew Cream (1 heaping tablespoon raw cashews liquefied in 1/2 cup water)

1. Heat oil with onions in a large soup pot. Add potato, asparagus and fennel, then saute briefly, stirring constantly. Add water, bouillon, miso and herbs. Mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Prepare Cashew Cream.

2. Cool soup slightly, then liquefy with a hand blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. Stir in Cashew Cream. Adjust seasoning and reheat but do not boil. (Serves 6).

Ok, so to begin with I forgot the green onions when I was gathering my ingredients at the market, but in my defense I did use the medium onion (which nearly killed me to chop… I don’t know how you people do it!). I don’t know if a red potato was what the recipe intended, but I wanted to keep everything organic and was only able to find organic red potatoes, so that’s what I used. And I didn’t peel it either (that’s where a lot of the nutrients are packed in). I used premade vegetable broth instead of powder or bouillon, substituting one cup of the broth for one less cup of water. Everything else was done just as in the recipe, until it came time to make the Cashew Cream.

I envisioned the cream being, well, creamy. It wasn’t though, so I added in more cashews. It still wasn’t very creamy, more like white watery stuff. So I poured out some of the water and poured in a lot more cashews, as in, probably closer to 1 1/2 cups worth instead of the heaping tablespoon called for in the recipe. Sure enough, a few more pulses in the food processor turned this into a nice, thick nutty cream. I then proceeded to liquify the soup (in batches as there was a lot of it), leaving it still a bit chunky, then mixed in the new and improved Cashew Cream. The flavor of the soup was excellent, but very mild. To boost the flavors a little bit I added in just a few shakes of black pepper and a dash of cinnamon.

It was so delicious! Light and yet at the same time filled with complex flavors. This was so great after a tough workout on a hot day, not only tasty to eat but wholesome and nourishing too… just what I needed. Even if you don’t fancy yourself much of a cook, you should give this one a try. I can’t really cook either, but as you can see by the directions, it’s super easy with not much possibility of messing up. Take my advice though and go overboard on the cashews, it was well worth it.

This is the miso soup from Vegan Plate (take out). Yummy miso broth with seaweed, mushrooms and tofu, which I served over steamed brown rice.

The “Green Power Salad” .This photo does not accurately convey the size of this beautiful monster! It’s so big that I’m really not sure how our tiny little waitress was able to carry it with one hand (I’m not kidding). Amazingly good, especially with their perfect peanut dressing. I ate about a third of it (along with the miso soup below) and was full, so I gave the leftovers to a homeless man.

Miso soup and iced chrysanthemum tea.

These are one of the various versions of vegan spring rolls they serve at Vinh Loi Tofu. They were interesting but a bit too dry. The funky looking drink behind it is made from basil seed. It’s really tasty (and full of sugar).

This is the “House Special” at Vinh Loi Tofu. It’s an all vegan soup with a delicious and very spicy broth, rice noodles, vegan fish, shrimp and beef, crispy garlic, cilantro, mint and probably other stuff I’m missing. It was served with the toppings shown in the next picture.

Toppings served with the soup.