Sustainable Winter Eats: Carrots, Onions, and the Secret to Soup

With the exception of you lucky readers in California, many sustainable eaters face real winter challenges. Farmer's markets are closed and most grocery store produce costs more and tastes worse.

What to do? Here's the first of a few tips I'll be posting to help you eat through the winter without compromising your values or denying your taste buds.

Soups are my absolute favorite in the cold weather, and the base for any soup can be made with just a few simple ingredients. Carrots and onions are a responsible winter vegetable choice. Both vegetables are cool weather, late-season harvests, and are particularly well-suited to long term storage under proper conditions.

It is important to buy organic, however: Onions are extremely poor competitors to weeds, and as a result, when grown conventionally, can require a large amount of chemical applications. Fortunately, there has been a movement recently among onion producers to promote more sustainable practices by lengthening the crop rotation cycle and using more responsible water management techniques. But on to the soup.

• Start by chopping your onion and carrot into a uniform dice.

• The next step is the most important, and is the key difference between a good soup and a great soup: you want to sweat the vegetables. That means cooking them in a small amount of oil and salt on low heat to avoid any browning. When you brown, or carmelize, the vegetables, they taste great eaten on their own, but the flavor becomes sealed inside. When you sweat the vegetables, you allow the full flavor to be released and infuse itself into the liquid of the soup. I usually start by sweating the onions for 5 minutes alone, then add the carrots for another 5-7 minutes. If you notice any browning, just lower the heat and stir more frequently.

• Add liquid to the pot and you're on the way to a soup. You can simply use water, or you may choose to use a prepared stock, wine, canned tomatoes, or any combination. Whatever you decide, allow it all to cook for at least 20-30 minutes to really develop the flavor.

Potatoes, cabbage, and beans are all great additions for hearty winter soups. Regardless of what you choose, just remember the basic principle of sweating the base, and you will consistently have a delicious and sustainable winter meal.

To get you started, here's a simple Carrot and Parsley Soup.

• Sweat 1 onion, diced, and 3-4 carrots, peeled and diced, as described above.

• When sufficiently tender, add 1 clove minced garlic and stir for a minute or so.

• Add enough vegetable stock to cover everything by an inch, add a bay leaf and/or a pinch of thyme.

• Cover and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Remove the bay leaf, salt to taste, and puree the soup in a blender along with a cup or so of coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves.

• Use some reserved stock (or water) to adjust the consistency of the soup. You should have a slightly thick puree of bright orange flecked with green. A beautiful, delicious, and sustainable winter option!

Photo: Muffet