My neighbor who lives alone returned home from the hospital and is recovering from an intestinal problem. He is on a limited diet for now, consisting mostly of cooked starchy vegetables and is allowed no dairy products or spices.
I wanted to bring him dinner because since he has returned home it seems he’ s been microwaving or boiling vegetables for whatever meals he is able to eat.
He is a gentle man originally from Bangladesh who moved here with his wife six or seven years ago. It was a second marriage for both, and they were a lovely couple seemingly who had found their soul mates. He was a widower and she a divorcee, and it appeared they had many good years ahead of them.
Unfortunately within a year and a half of moving into the house his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She put up a good fight for several years, but in the end lost the battle.
I have fond memories of working in my garden and smelling the wonderful scents coming from her kitchen as she prepared her Indian specialties.
He has been a guest in our home for dinner occasionally and I have taken plates over to him now and then. He is always so appreciative.
With the limited diet he is on I wanted to come up with something more appealing than boiled vegetables. He told me he could eat pasta so I decided to roast a variety of vegetables and serve them with pasta. He could pick and choose what he wanted and save the rest for left-overs.
I roasted two trays…one with carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, and fennel…
and the other with zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers, onions, and garlic…
I tossed them all with a small amount of olive oil and seasoned mostly with salt and just a bit of pepper. No spices for him right now.
Roasting brings out the natural sugars in the veggies, and creates its own delicious sauce so who needs spices anyway?
I wanted to make a soup to send over as well, and as I surveyed the many veggies strewn on my kitchen counter I realized I had the makings of some sort of potato soup. I added garlic, onions, and fennel for flavor and texture, and substituted a vegetable stock for any milk or cream.
I found this recipe for Fennel, Garlic and Potato Soup and adjusted it accordingly, eliminating the celery, and the herbs and spices. I used a variety of potatoes including sweet, red and white.
It was surprisingly tasty and I think if you follow the recipe as it was intended it will be sensational. So here is the recipe as it appears online in the Fitness and Nutrition section of New York Times.com.
Fennel, Garlic and Potato Soup (Martha Rose Shulman)
This anise-scented soup is reminiscent of the classic potato and leek soup known as vichyssoise, but it’s lighter and contains no dairy. It’s good hot or cold.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ large or 1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 pounds bulb fennel, trimmed, washed and diced
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
6 garlic cloves or ½ head green garlic, peeled and cut in half
Salt to taste
A bouquet garni made with a bay leaf, a couple of sprigs each of parsley and thyme, ½ teaspoon fennel seeds and ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns, tied in cheesecloth
2 quarts water, vegetable stock or chicken stock
Freshly ground pepper
For garnish, choice of:
Chopped fresh fennel fronds
Lightly crushed fennel seeds
Paper-thin slices of fennel bulbs
Garlic croutons
Shaved Parmesan
1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion, celery, chopped fennel, and a generous pinch of salt.
Cook gently for about 5 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables have softened and lost some of their volume.
Add the potatoes, garlic, bouquet garni and the water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 45 minutes.
2. Remove the bouquet garni. Blend the soup until smooth with an immersion blender, or ladle into a blender, working in 1 and ½-cup batches.
Remove the center from the blender cover, place a towel over the cover and pull it down tightly to prevent splashing.
Blend and return to the pot. Heat through, add salt and pepper to taste and serve, or chill and serve cold, with your choice of garnishes.
Yield: 6 servings
For advance preparation: This will be good for 2 to 3 days. Whisk the soup before reheating or serving cold.