Cowichan Valley Fresh Veggie Soup Recipe

Vegetable Soup Recipe From Imagination to Reality 

Bet you didn’t see this coming 😉 Today I made a great big pot of hearty soup. And, in it, I crammed more than 8 cups of fresh Cowichan Valley veggies. I’m calling this post a soup recipe but really it’s just something I came up with today.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the perfect soup weather to arrive, and today it did! I’d heard rumours that we’d be enjoying some fall type weather this weekend so I got prepared.

Yesterday on the way home from Nanaimo, which by the way is absolutely stunning at this time of year, we stopped at Russell Farms Market on the highway.

So many times I make soup from what I can dig up at the bottom of the fridge. Which is great but, not as much fun as shopping for my chosen ingredients. Yesterday and this morning were all about shopping for vegetables to fulfill the requirements of the soup recipe that was brewing in my head.

Soup is a labour of love and today’s was no exception. Using all fresh Cowichan grown veggies required just over an hour of prep time.

Today’s Soup Recipe

I rarely measure when I’m cooking. But, this time I decided to do just that. Well, after I’d already peeled, diced and caramelized the onions. Oh, and I’d tossed in the sliced small leek as well. So I’m calling that ½ a large red onion, ½ a large white onion and a medium leek. All three of these beauties were grown in the Cowichan Valley.

We love onions. If you aren’t as big an onion fan as we are, go ahead and use fewer.

So here are the soup ingredients in pictures:

Soup Recipe Ingredients

• ½ Large White Onion, peeled and diced
• ½ Large Red Onion, peeled and diced
• 1 Medium Leek, sliced
• 4 Carrots (2 cups), peeled and sliced thick
• 1 Cup Green Beans, ends removed and cut up
• 1 (1 ½ cups) Large Orange Pepper, cubed
• 1 (1 ½ cups) Large Red Pepper, cubed
• ½ Large Yam, peeled and cubed *
• ½ Large Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed *
• 2 Medium Gold Potatoes, peeled and cubed *
• 4 Small Purple Potatoes, cubed *
• 1 Can Dark Red Kidney Beans, rinsed
• 1 Can White Kidney Beans, rinsed
• 1 Small Can Tomato Paste
• 8 Tablespoons Vegetarian Soup Base
• ½ Tablespoon Fresh Minced Garlic
• 3 drops of oregano oil

* 4 Cups of mixed potatoes total

Caramelize onions and leek in a frying pan.

Add onions, leek and 16 cups of water in a large pot. Gently stir in tomato paste. While simmering on low heat add all vegetables, kidney beans, garlic, oregano and soup base.

Simmered the soup for two hours, then sat down and enjoyed. Now that’s what I call a hearty meal; perfect for a rainy September Cowichan Valley day.

Hope you’re enjoying local harvests as much as we are. Thanks for visiting the I Love Cowichan blog.

Take care 👋

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