Robin: This soup is so easy to make and produces a much tastier (and nutritious) soup than the kind you find in a can. You’ll use sufficient actual vegetables that you won´t even need to thicken the soup after you blend it, saving calories and making this dish gluten-free.
At the time and place where I was growing up, cream soups seemed to always come in a can, and they were mostly used an ingredient in a casserole-type dish. Except for the tomato variety, we would rarely ever even eat one of these condensed creations as an actual soup—and if we did, we doctored it up with more veggies.
In Mexico City, I became accustomed to eating a cup of soup almost daily as a first course to my early afternoon meal. Somehow, starting the main meal of the day with a soup elevated even the simplest fare to something just a little more significant. Sometimes this appetizer soup would be a cream of something, which I learned to love.
It’s interesting how cream soups turned into an authentically Mexican food, since milk products were unknown in Mexico before the Conquest. The Spanish introduced cattle, sheep, and goats to the land for their meat and in order to produce cheese and milk. Cream—an ingredient many people nowadays consider indispensable in Mexican cuisine—didn’t come into its own until the mid-1800s, when everything French became all the rage in among the Mexican upper class. It was during that period that delicate creamy soups became popular, and to this day it is highly likely that a ‘cream of something’ will be the opener for a fancy dinner.
Many Mexican cooks today still use cream in their first-course soups, and thicken that soup with flour. My own favorite way to make a basic cream of any-vegetable calls for 2% milk and enough of the veggies that additional thickening is usually unnecessary. I love to add a small pat of real butter (not margarine!) to each bowl when serving, both as a nod to the historical Frenchified element of Mexican cuisine and as a definite flavor enhancer.
Below you will see my “mother recipe” for cream of veggie soup. Experiment with your own exact quantities to create your own delights.
More easy and delicious soups:
Basic Cream of Any-Veg Soup
Ingredients
- Chopped fresh vegetables (choose one or mix two or more: broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini or other squash, asparagus, peas, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, etc.)
- A little chopped onion
- Seasoned soup stock (chicken or vegetable broth—homemade, from a can or jar, or made from bouillon cubes/paste)
- A small amount of milk (skim, 2%, whole, or evaporated)
- A little real butter
Instructions
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Place your chopped vegetable(s) and onion into enough broth or stock to cover them and boil until soft.
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Pour everything into a blender and process until smooth. (Strain, if necessary.)
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Return to saucepan. Stir in just enough milk to reach desired consistency. (Be very careful when adding milk, so that you do not use too much. Excessive milk will kill that great vegetable flavor.) Heat through, but do not boil so that milk will not curdle.
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Serve in bowls with a small pat of butter in each.
Recipe Notes
If you’d prefer your soup slightly “chunky,” blend only 3/4 of the cooked veggies with the soup stock. Add the reserved veggies back in together with the milk.
Absolutely MUST-TRY Mexican Soups:
- Chick Pea & Cactus Soup
- Mexican Shrimp Soup (Caldo de camarón)
- Sonoran Cheese & Potato Soup
- Mexican Meatball Soup
Latest update: 24 June 2024
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