Today is a snow day for the Seattle area, and being stuck at home is a perfect excuse to experiment with food. I was in the mood for a light breakfast soup to showcase my available frozen vegetables, and the end result turned out a LOT better than I'd expected it to.
Here's what I did:
Filled a small saucepan with water, added a little frozen spinach (about 1/2 cup), a little frozen vegetable medley (about 1/3 cup), and two extremely heaping tablespoons (closer to 4 tablespoons) of red-white miso paste. (Miso is my current favorite soup base, with ham hocks following in 2nd place.) I set the pot to boil until everything was hot and the miso was dissolved.
In a separate ramekin, I whipped two eggs and slowly tempered them by stirring in a little of the boiling soup. I continued to do this until the eggs were up to temperature and could be safely dumped into the soup without scrambling them.
The end result is creamy, beautiful to look at, and strikes a lovely balance between tasting rich while being low-calorie.
Estimated calories:
160 kcal for the two eggs
30 kcal x 4 tbsp = 120 kcal for the miso
15 kcal spinach
30 kcal mixed veggie medley
--------------------
= 325 calories for the whole pot of soup. Awesome!
If anybody actually decides to emulate this kitchen experiment, I have some advice:
1. Only use vegetables that you would willingly eat in an omelet or quiche. In retrospect, the vegetable medley was a questionable choice, but the spinach was spot-on.
2. The soup might benefit from the addition of ham. I was in the mood for a vegetarian breakfast and I found that the miso added enough savory saltiness for my own palate, but ham is delicious and would make the soup heartier.
3. Cheddar cheese should have been sprinkled on top. I didn't do this today (trying to keep it low-ish-calorie), but if I were serving a version of this soup to guests, cheese would definitely enhance the flavor in important ways.
4. Buttery toast also goes well with the soup. I did eat that, and I was glad that I did. Quiche benefits from crust, and this soup does well when paired with bread.
5. Fresh cracked pepper helps to dress it up, but please use pepper sparingly so that it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the dish. The same might be said for hot sauce, if anybody's feeling bold and wants to make the soup with hot sauce.
6. Please refrain from the spellings "eggsperiment," "eggcellent," et cetera. (Egg cetera?) I managed to restrain myself for the whole article, and I'm eggstremely glad that I did. Wait... NOOOO!!!!!
Here's what I did:
Filled a small saucepan with water, added a little frozen spinach (about 1/2 cup), a little frozen vegetable medley (about 1/3 cup), and two extremely heaping tablespoons (closer to 4 tablespoons) of red-white miso paste. (Miso is my current favorite soup base, with ham hocks following in 2nd place.) I set the pot to boil until everything was hot and the miso was dissolved.
In a separate ramekin, I whipped two eggs and slowly tempered them by stirring in a little of the boiling soup. I continued to do this until the eggs were up to temperature and could be safely dumped into the soup without scrambling them.
The end result is creamy, beautiful to look at, and strikes a lovely balance between tasting rich while being low-calorie.
Estimated calories:
160 kcal for the two eggs
30 kcal x 4 tbsp = 120 kcal for the miso
15 kcal spinach
30 kcal mixed veggie medley
--------------------
= 325 calories for the whole pot of soup. Awesome!
If anybody actually decides to emulate this kitchen experiment, I have some advice:
1. Only use vegetables that you would willingly eat in an omelet or quiche. In retrospect, the vegetable medley was a questionable choice, but the spinach was spot-on.
2. The soup might benefit from the addition of ham. I was in the mood for a vegetarian breakfast and I found that the miso added enough savory saltiness for my own palate, but ham is delicious and would make the soup heartier.
3. Cheddar cheese should have been sprinkled on top. I didn't do this today (trying to keep it low-ish-calorie), but if I were serving a version of this soup to guests, cheese would definitely enhance the flavor in important ways.
4. Buttery toast also goes well with the soup. I did eat that, and I was glad that I did. Quiche benefits from crust, and this soup does well when paired with bread.
5. Fresh cracked pepper helps to dress it up, but please use pepper sparingly so that it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the dish. The same might be said for hot sauce, if anybody's feeling bold and wants to make the soup with hot sauce.
6. Please refrain from the spellings "eggsperiment," "eggcellent," et cetera. (Egg cetera?) I managed to restrain myself for the whole article, and I'm eggstremely glad that I did. Wait... NOOOO!!!!!
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