Monday 14 April 2014

NCR Pumpkin, bean and apple soup for a protest

A market, a party, another market and a march.  It was a weekend full of perusing stalls, eating (mostly) good food, listening to ukeleles and walking with like-minded people to declare that we wanted Australia to welcome refugees.  Then I ate soup.  Here are some photos.

Above are photos from the Walk for Justice for Refugees - Palm Sunday.  I was glad to be there.  We saw people we knew, listened, walked and had ice cream afterwards.  Sylvia had a lovely time with a school friend we bumped into.

We went to the Fitzroy Market.  Above is the nice lady who sells the icy poles.  I had a rhubarb and raspberry one.  It was so good.  She is taking a break until Spring.  We will miss her.

Sylvia and I went to a first birthday party with my mum.  The little girl is part of a Burmese family my mum has become friends with.  They were so welcoming and friendly. 

I went to the Flemington Farmers Market.  Lots of good food.  I bought mostly fruit, vegies and bread.   The snail on my kale amused me when I hopped into the car to go home.  After the photo we parted ways.

After the march yesterday we arrive home with little energy.  The reason I had to go to the farmers market was to buy some nice in-season apples.  Those from the supermarket were disappointing.  The old apples went in the soup with some old pumpkin and some beans from the freezer.

Last night it was too hot and a little bland.  I enjoyed some rye bagels and cream cheese on the side.  Today we had leftovers for lunch and dinner.  Extra seasoning helped greatly.  The soup was thankfully light on a day of Easter baking.  We made chocolate nest and my first sourdough hot cross buns.  More on them another time.

I am sending this soup to Jacqueline for No Croutons Required, the monthly vegetarian soup and salad blog event co-hosted with Lisa.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Couscous salad and reflections on the week
Two years ago: Choc chip muesli slice
Three years ago: PPN Carrot Pesto Pasta Bake
Four years ago: Honest soup inspired by a Farmers Market
Five years ago: Tupperware, Arran and Tomato Soup
Six years ago: Family Favourite: Chocolate Pudding

Pumpkin Bean and Apple Soup
serves 4 to 6

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1kg butternut pumpkin
1 and 1/2 cups cooked white beans
2 tsp stock powder
1 tsp maple syrup 
2 and 1/2  tsp salt (or to taste)
2 large apples
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
black pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and fry onion for 5 to 10 minutes until translucent.  Add garlic and fry about a minute.  Meanwhile trim, peel and chop pumpkin.  Add pumpkin, beans, stock powder, and maple syrup to the pot.  Gradually add salt tasting as you go (if you use tinned beans you will probably need less salt - however the pumpkin and apple are quite sweet so I found this soup needs a bit of salt).  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until pumpkin is soft. Meanwhile peel, core and chop apples.  Add to pot and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Puree.  Stir in nutritional yeast flakes and as much black pepper as you like.

On the Stereo:
Just enough education to perform: The Stereophonics 

19 comments:

  1. It's looking delicious and comforting in your kitchen (thank goodness you left the snail behind!) and I like the sound of this soup very much indeed. I confess to not being very aware of the protest marches in advance but I saw our Perth version on Sunday and was pleased to see what it was for after I looked it up.

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    1. Thanks Kari - am sure the snail would have loved to be in my kitchen - ha ha! there were lots of posters around for the marches so I was quite aware of them - sometimes these marches pass me by though (not literally of course)

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  2. What a busy weekend!! I'm so glad you managed to doctor up the soup to your liking!

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    1. Thanks Joanne - soups are better the next day anyway so it makes it easier to doctor then then

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  3. A great cause to be marching for, a great soup to go with it. There's something delicious silky about using beans rather than potatoes that makes me very happy.

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    1. Thanks Joey - I actually looked at the regular pumpkin soup on my blog and decided the beans would sub well for the cream and potato - I tried some yoghurt but it didn't add to the soup - I think the beans had done the creaminess already

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  4. We couldn't get to the march unfortunately. There's just so much wrong with the state of things. I'm never a fan of snail-kale! And ditto about mehhh apples from the supermarkets, same for tomatoes (yet again), no flavour!

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - yes the state of the nation seems a bit like snail on kale - if only it was so easy to fix :-) I think I am fussier about my apples than my tomatoes - though I prefer both in season - there is a huge difference

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  5. So great you went to the protest and took Sylvia. The soup looks lovely- I love apples in savoury dishes

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    1. Thanks Kate - yes I love apples in savoury dishes - not sure I got these ones quite right but preferred them in soup to fresh :-)

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  6. Hehe snail on my kale rhymes. Small things amuse me :) And what a beautiful 1st birthday cake. Good for you for attending that protest!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - me too - I was delighted the the snail chose the kale so I could say snail on kale over and over :-)

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  7. I love the cake; it looks fabulous for a first birthday party. And I love the cup you used to put the soup in - very cute xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - the cake was pretty amazing - and that cup is a favourite one I have had for years and still love using - it is a large one so I love it for soup or a generous cuppa

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  8. I was at the refugee march too, and I met up with an old school friend, which was lovely. Not only that, but I had a snail on my silverbeet from the Vic Market this week. I love seeing snails and caterpillars on my vegies, because it proves there's nothing scary and toxic on them. Of course, I don't like it if they've eaten too much...or I find them too late!

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  9. What an interesting sounding soup. I am too lazy to go to the markets most of the time, but I enjoy going vicariously through your posts.

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  10. Gorgeous soup Johanna, I love the flavours. Thanks for submitting it to No Crouton Required, the roundup is now live.

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