This Week at the Greenmarket: Soup Season is Here!

Posted in Programs and Events on October 15 2013, by Ann Rafalko

Warm days, cool nights. This weather screams for soup! And the Garden’s free, weekly Wednesday Greenmarket has everything you need to cobble together a quick soup for dinner or for a long-simmered stock this weekend.

You can find everything you need to make the best soup ever at the Greenmarket. Produce aplenty is available from Gajeski Produce and Migliorelli Farm. Red Jacket Orchards has apples, pears, and ciders that are an exciting addition to your dinner table. And Meredith’s Bread has rolls for serving alongside your soup, and dessert, too.

All great soups start with alliums. If you’re making stock, be sure to choose yellow onions and leave the skins on. Purple onions and their skin will lend a deeper hue to beef stock. For weeknight soups, try leeks as your base. They cook more quickly and add a delicious pungency. Just be sure to wash them well. They tend to retain some grit between the layers.

Chowders can be cooked quickly and cheaply after work, especially if you omit seafood. Be creative. Why not add some late-season summer squash and a bit of corn? If you want your soup to cook quickly, cut your vegetables small.

For leisurely weekend soup action now is the time for pumpkin and squash soups. See a great recipe for Spicy Squash Soup below. Squash soups are also wonderful with apples, pears, or apple cider blended into them.

Need an idea for how to use a new-to-you ingredient? Ask the farmers, an NYBG staffer, or a Grow NYC representative. They’re the experts and happy to help!

The NYBG Greenmarket runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Wednesday through November 27, with free short-term parking for Greenmarket shoppers. The market accepts food stamps, EBT, WIC/FMNP, and Senior coupons, in addition to cash and credit or debit cards. Learn how to use EBT, WIC and FMNP at the Greenmarket.

Spicy Squash Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 1/2 cups squash, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons (or to taste) chipotle en adobo
1 pint cream

Preparation

Heat oil in a heavy pot on medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes or until tender.

Add squash and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes or until squash is soft.

Add chipotle en adobo and remove from heat.

Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth.

Stir in cream, then heat for 1 minute, making sure not to boil.