Autumn Vegetable Soup with Cheese Toasts
This stew is completely flexible and allows you to use up any veggies in your fridge that you want. Hearty seasonal vegetables, cheese, and bread. What's not to love?
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Onion sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 Carrot peeled, and chopped
- 2 stalks of Celery chopped
- 1 Sweet Potato peeled and chopped
- 1 Eggplant chopped
- 1 Zucchini chopped
- 1 Bell Pepper any color, seeded and chopped
- 1 (15-ounce) can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 (28-ounce) can Peeled Whole Tomatoes
- 1 cup Vegetable or Chicken Broth
- ½ teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt and pepper
For the Cheese Toasts
- 1 large loaf French or Italian Bread cut into ½-inch thick slices
- 1 Garlic clove peeled, with the tip cut off
- Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil, then the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sprinkle with a little salt and let them sweat out a bit. Prepare the rest of the vegetables. Chop and add to the pot in order of longest cooking time: sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and chickpeas. Season every layer with salt and pepper as you add it to the pot. Add the thyme and chili flakes.
- Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Preheat your broiler.
- Add tomatoes, with their juice, to a large bowl and with your hands, gently squeeze them to break them apart. Uncover the pot, add the tomatoes and stock and cook for a few more minutes until some of the liquid has absorbed and the vegetables are tender. Taste for seasoning, and adjust with salt and pepper if necessary.
- Toast bread under broiler. Be sure to watch it. Rub with the cut tip of the garlic clove. Top with cheese and black pepper. Return to the broiler just to melt cheese. Serve cheese toasts with bowls (or mugs) of vegetable stew.