¡Feliz Navidad!
We return to Mexico this week with Spicy Roasted Vegetable Soup with Toasted Tortillas. Being responsible meatatarians, we try to sprinkle our weekly menu with more eco-socio-supportive (and cheaper) vegetarian meals and this one goes even one step further to be vegan.
On the surface, this appeared as though it might be quite a lot of work for a weekday but it was deceiving; with two of us working on it, it wasn’t half bad. Most of the work involved roasting the vegetables but pretty much everything else got a brief turn in the blender before joining the roasters and happily simmering away for a couple of hours to produce a marvelous, spicy, hearty soup. The small amount of chipotles that we added really went a long way and brought a tangy, smoky flavour to the rest of the veggies. The squash gets the runner-up prize for adding chunkiness and a little bit of sweetness to balance the spicy. And I always love a spritz of lime on top of Mexican flavours- it just brings such brightness to a dish.
Tasty as this meal was, I’m afraid I could never, EVER be a vegan. If forced, I might consider being vegetarian but, to quote local musician Kris Demeanor “I’d rather live in hell than live a life without cheese.”