21-Ingredient Vegetable Soup

⏱ 240 mins 🍽 8 litres, 32 serving(s) 🏷 Vegetable

This substantial vegetable soup is a celebration of produce, featuring a diverse mix of 21 ingredients. It starts with dried lima beans and a cheesecloth pouch of aromatics, simmered with a vegetable soup mix base. Pearl barley, split peas, and a colourful array of fresh vegetables are added in stages, followed by frozen corn, peas, and green beans. The result is a deeply flavourful, chunky soup that yields a generous 8 litres, ideal for feeding a crowd or for future meals.

21-Ingredient Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces baby lima beans, dried, rinsed and picked over
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 large leek, thoroughly cleaned, wihte part chopped, green part removed
  • 1 bunch fresh dill, trimmed anc coarsely chopped (1 cup packed)
  • 1 (6 ounce) package vegetable soup mix, such as Manishewitz
  • 1 small celery root
  • 1 medium rutabaga
  • 4 ounces pearl barley, rinsed and picked over
  • 4 ounces dried split peas, rinsed and picked over
  • 1 large sweet onion, chopped
  • 2 lbs carrots, thinly sliced
  • 3 cups celery, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
  • 2 parsnips, thinly sliced
  • 1 (1 lb) eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch dice
  • 1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch dice
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
  • 3 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
  • 10 ounces frozen green beans
  • 10 ounces frozen corn
  • 10 ounces frozen peas

Method

  1. Place the lima beans in a small saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and leave it covered to steam for a minimum of 1 hour.
  2. Create a cheesecloth pouch containing the garlic cloves, the green part of the leek, and the chopped fresh dill.
  3. In a large stockpot of at least 12 quarts capacity, mix the vegetable soup mix (excluding any separate flavouring packet) with 5 quarts of water.
  4. Add the whole celery root, the whole rutabaga, and the cheesecloth bag to the pot. Bring the liquid to a boil.
  5. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and allow it to simmer for 30 minutes.
  6. Drain the pre-soaked lima beans and add them to the stockpot. Stir in the pearl barley, dried split peas, chopped onion, sliced carrots, chopped celery, chopped bell peppers, sliced parsnips, diced eggplant, diced sweet potato, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Return the soup to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
  7. Add the thinly sliced zucchini to the pot. Continue simmering with the lid on for a further 40 minutes.
  8. Mix the frozen green beans, corn, and peas into the soup along with the reserved flavouring packet from the soup mix. Bring the soup back to a boil.
  9. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer until the frozen vegetables are cooked to your preferred tenderness, for about 10 minutes.
  10. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
  11. Before serving, remove and discard the whole celery root, whole rutabaga, and the cheesecloth packet.
  12. Use a blender to puree a small portion of the soup.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sodium842400 mg

Recipe details

CategoryVegetable
AuthorTempR