Veggie Stew

I work for an organic produce delivery service.  Every week, our customers, of which I am one, get a box full of organic fruits and vegetables. Our boxes are very varied, and as a perk of working there I often to take home extra veggies.  At the end of the week I often have left-over vegetables. 

It's winter, and to me winter means stews.  Warm, filling but not heavy so you can eat it all night long while watching TV or curled up with a book.  I want warm, complex flavors and a thick broth.  I love making my soups!  Soups are one of the reasons I look forward to winter.

Pretty much all soups of mine start with a mire poix, which is celery, onions and carrots.  Plus,  I always use garlic.  Aside from the mire poix+garlic, the ingredients are all about what you have on hand.  Here's what I made last night.

Veggie Stew
Ingredients

• Mire Poix + Garlic
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 medium carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 small zucchini
• 4 small russet potatos
• 1 medium sweet potato
• The top half of a butternut squash
• 6 roman tomatoes
• 1 jalapeño pepper, diced
• Rubbed sage
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil

Preparation
I like rustic winter stews, so I cut the mire poix very roughly for this soup.
I don't like seeds floating around in my soup.  So, I removed the seeds from the zucchini, jalapeño pepper and tomatoes.  I also remove most of the pith of the pepper, because I don't want the soup to be too spicy.  I skinned the potatoes and squash and chopped into bite-sized pieces. 

Directions

• Soften the mire poix in a large pan with olive oil over high heat.  Try to get a little browning, but it's not important.  Salt and pepper liberally.
• Toss in the tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft and lose the raw, sour flavor.
• Add the sage and bay leaves and stir.
  
• Add the zucchini and toss until slightly softened.
• Add the potatoes and squash and stir.
• Cover with water.  You can use veggie broth, but I don't think it adds anything.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
• Cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes and squash are soft. 

If the soup is too watery, you can thicken by adding a handful of left-over rice.  Or, you can add a cornstarch slurry (dissolve 1 tbs cornstarch in cold water) and mash a few of the potatoes.

If you don't have fresh tomatoes, canned tomato paste works excellently.  Add it after the mire poix is softened and cook it until the bottom of the pan is crusting up.  The longer you cook, the more it browns, the better it tastes.  Be careful not to burn it. 

If you want a smooth, thick soup, take a stick blender to it.  I can't find the one I have, but this one will work fine:  http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-59735-Immersion-Blender/dp/B00023XDJ0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294010028&sr=8-4 .  Or, you can carefully pour it into a blender.  It's hot, don't let the liquid spew out when you turn it on!  Remember to remove the bay leaves first.

I added some smoked chicken from Wheat Ridge Poultry & Meat (29th and Depew in the Denver Highlands district).  I love their chicken!  It comes vacuum-sealed, so it stays well in the fridge.  And it makes the fridge smell awesome.