Year of the Soup: Week 49

I had a dream about this soup the night before I made it.  In my dream, I felt so excited to make this soup for some reason – apparently because of the dumplings.  Just as I started to make the soup, someone informed me that I was disqualified because I had already made a Chinese dumpling soup earlier in the year.  (I have not made Chinese dumpling soup, just fyi.)  This upset me thoroughly, until I woke up and thought, “Disqualified?  From what?!?”  Perhaps my subconscious is taking this whole Year of the Soup thing a bit too seriously.  Like when I used to dream about failing finals the night before the test.  Is it finals time for my soup project?  I have to stop looking at recipes late at night…

As for this recipe, it certainly wasn’t worth losing any sleep over.  There are a lot of flavors in this soup, but the corn overpowers them all – particularly because the dumplings also contain corn.  The beans, zucchini and tomatoes are virtually lost in the mix of corn and dumplings.  Perhaps if you omitted the dumplings and added a few more veggies it would be good…but then I’m just recreating the Garden Vegetable Soup I made earlier this year (which was far superior.)  This isn’t a bad soup, but if you’re looking for a tasty vegetable soup, I guess I’d go elsewhere.

Vegetable Soup with Corn Dumplings

• Soup:
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 4  cups  finely chopped onion
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cloves
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  bay leaves
• 3  cups  water
• 3  (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
• 1  (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 1/2  cups  (1/4-inch) diced peeled sweet potato
• 1  (15-ounce) can navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 2  cups  frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
• 2  cups  sliced zucchini (about 1 medium)
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• Dumplings:
• 3/4  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon  cornmeal
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  sugar
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 1/2  cup  fat-free milk
• 1/3  cup  frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed

Directions

1. To prepare soup, heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, cloves, garlic, and bay leaves; cook 10 minutes. Add water, broth, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Add sweet potato and beans; cook for 10 minutes. Stir in corn, zucchini, parsley, and red pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
2. To prepare dumplings, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and corn; stir just until moist.
3. Bring soup to a boil. Drop dumpling dough by rounded tablespoonfuls into the vegetable mixture to form 8 dumplings. Cover, reduce heat, and cook over medium-low heat 10 minutes or until dumplings are done (do not boil).

Source: Cooking Light