Fragrant Spanish Creamed Vegetable Soup

In our travels, we’ve met a lovely fellow who is a cook for friends of ours whom we appreciate very much. Miguel served us a delicious vegetable soup which tasted like it was creamed but when I asked for the recipe, he graciously explained how he made it but I realized, there were instructions missing and he was giving me a general idea of how he made his soup and much depended on the veggies he had to hand. That’s okay, I like a challenge and I decided to recreate the soup which we so enjoyed.

Since it was both a fragrant soup and colored a gorgeous yellow, I knew he used tumeric in the soup and that’s the spice here that makes the difference. It’s far less expensive than saffron and I feel it also has more flavor, as well.

First take onions and sautee them in oil till pale yellow.

Then add one whole clove garlic and one crushed clove garlic and either fresh chopped parsley or frozen, and the tumeric, salt, pepper and celery salt and gently sautee till it starts to turn yellow and you can smell the aromatic scents.

Then add chopped carrots, celery and potatoes and briefly sautee them in the oil. This adds richness to the soup.

Cover with water, approximately 10 cups (can be as much as twelve) and bring to the simmer.

This should be cooked till all the vegetables are very soft. Now you could leave them as is and serve as a chunky broth but this was excellent creamed and I left a few chunks uncreamed just for texture.

Take your stick blender (yes you should have one by now, not expensive and makes your life easier) or blend in batches in a blender and puree till either all or most of the vegetables are creamed. No added flour or thickener, the veggies and potatoes do the work.

This gives you a beautiful spiced but not spicy hot soup which is just beautiful in color and taste. Thanks Miguel!

Fragrant Spanish Creamed Vegetable Soup

1/4 of a teaspoon celery salt

2 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon tumeric

1/4 of a teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley fresh or frozen

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 whole clove of garlic

1 large onion peeled and chopped roughly

4 carrots peeled and chopped roughly

3 nice size potatoes peeled and chopped roughly into cubes

3 celery stalks chopped roughly

3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

10-12 cups water

Directions: 
Sauté onion and whole garlic clove together till light yellow. Add crushed garlic and the celery salt, pepper, tumeric and the parsley and simmer on very low heat till they give off a fragrant scent and turn a pretty yellow color.Add all the roughly chopped vegetables stir to coat with oil and sautee briefly.

Cover with water, add salt and bring to simmer. Let it cook till all the vegetables are very soft.
At this point you can leave it as a broth with chunky vegetables but I liked the creamed texture leaving a few veggies uncreamed for texture. Take your stick blender (or blend in batches) and blend till mostly smooth. A beautiful color and taste and creamy without any added flour, satisfying and delicious.