Chicken soup is so central to Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine that vegetarians have developed meat-free approximations of the classic. A generous amount of olive oil provides the glistening golden broth typically provided by the chicken skin, while dried onion powder adds savory depth. Serve this soup with noodles, rice or matzah balls.
Reprinted with permission from “The Jewish Cookbook” by Leah Koenig (Phaidon, 2019)
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Vegetarian Chicken Soup
This vegetarian chicken soup is a schmaltz-free version of the Jewish classic cure-all.
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Units
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
- 2 large onions, quartered through the root
- 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
- 1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 medium sweet potato (about ½ lb), peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ small bunch dill, plus chopped dill for serving
- ½ small bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1½ Tbsp coarse kosher salt, plus more as needed
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, parsnip, sweet potato, onion powder and garlic powder. Tie the dill and parsley bunches together at the stems with kitchen twine and add to the pot along with the bay leaves and 12 cups of water. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, partially cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced by about a third, 1-1½ hours.
- Remove the vegetables and strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Return the broth to the pot and stir in the salt and pepper. Discard all the vegetables and herbs except the carrots and celery. Cut those into bite-size pieces and return to the pot. Taste, and if the soup is still a little thin, stir in a drizzle of additional olive oil and, if desired, more salt, 1 tsp at a time.
- Serve hot, topped with chopped dill.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Entree
- Method: One-pot
- Cuisine: Ashkenazi
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Nu? It’s vegetable soup!
This recipe yielded a very disappointing result in my hands. Flavor wad not robust, lacked any resemblance to the richness or umami of real chicken soup or good vegetable soup after reducing the volume by a third. After reducing volume by half it’s sweeter but not satisfyingly savory. On the positive side, mouth feel is good. I used No-Chicken chicken soup rathet than water. Where did i go wrong, or is this just a lousy or oversold recipe? Is there a eay to improve this broth now that I have it?