Pam’s Pictorama has a recipe post today for the first time in a long time. Like many of my past recipe posts, this one is a soup recipe. I am a fan of soup and make big pots of it all winter long and vary our meals between it as a main course or a smaller bowl for a first course or even brought as lunch for work.

Previous posts have been devoted to my grandmother’s split pea soup recipe (here) and a pantry tomato based soup which I also doll up as the base for a fish stew. (That post can be found here.) For those of you who prefer baking, posts devoted to cookies, cheesy bread, and quick cakes can be found here, here, and here!

I had a hankering for today’s recipe which I have not made in a long time. As it happens I made a big pot of it – just in time to land myself in bed with a miserable head and chest cold. It makes me appreciate it even more.

Miso paste (fermented bean paste) is a very flexible base for a soup. This recipe can be made with fewer additions (just the miso broth and veggie stock) for a lighter soup. I’ve made it with shrimp instead of dumplings. Corn and tomatoes come and go. The tofu is a constant for me – giving the soup some ballast. Time has evolved the seasoning to include sesame oil, rice wine and rice vinegar which I keep on hand for a salmon miso glaze. Another option beyond hot peppers or hot sauce is a discovery I recently made of Fly by Jing Xtra Spicy Chili Crisp which I think might work to spice this soup up. (I especially like this chili crisp on my broiled salmon mixed with preserves like marmalade as a sweet and spicy glaze.)

Recipe found below. Hope you enjoy this and that you don’t wait until you are sick to have it either.

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Miso based soup

Ingredients:

• Carrots, onion, garlic, new potato chopped
• Regular salt and black pepper, finish with ground sea salt and red maresh pepper
• Optional jalapeno peppers, scotch bonnets, chopped
• 1 pepper, red or green, chopped
• Tomato paste
• Mushrooms (if using dried soak in water half hour and reserve water for broth)
• Miso paste, two tablespoons dissolved in two cups of water
• Green beans, chopped bite sized
• 1 can of creamed corn (optional)
• 1 can chopped tomato
• Wine (white or red) to deglaze
• Dumplings (or tortellini optional)
• 2 containers veggie broth
• scallions

Seasoning to taste:

• Balsamic vinegar
• Rice wine
• Sesame oil
• Salt and pepper
• Bay leaves
• Marash red pepper

Instructions:

Soften carrots, onion, garlic and new potatoes, add tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Add peppers including hot peppers if using them, mushrooms and green beans.

Deglaze pan. Add broth, miso, corn, chopped tomatoes, bay leaf. Add sesame oil (about a tablespoon), rice wine tablespoon, balsamic vinegar (depending on thickness and quality of balsamic to taste. Bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning using rock salt and marash pepper. Add chopped scallions and dumplings. Reduce to a low simmer. Continue to check and adjust seasoning.

Although I have written this up with hot peppers optional, hot sauce also does the job if you want to give folks the choice of a bit spicy or not.

Recipe makes about 4 32 oz containers or 8 large bowls of soup. You’ll need to add a bit of water when reheating as it will thicken considerably!