Tomato soup with cheesy herb dumplings

This is what I'm cooking tonight, so I thought I'd copy it over here. It's from the 'A cozy kitchen' blog, which has some good stuff. I think they took it from a vegetarian cook book. I like it because I like dumplings but prefer tomato soup to the broth you usually find them in. Mom claims that she and Dad like it, but in actuality, we are still waiting for Justin to come home to eat it :)


Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 ¾ cup vegetable stock
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes

Dumplings
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, chopped
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs ( I used thyme & oregano)
3 tablespoons water

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and tomatoes. You can blend with an immersion blender if you want a smoother soup, but I never have.

Stir in the chickpeas and bring to a boil. Once it boils reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the chopped butter and knead with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture starts to resemble fine bread crumbs. Stir in the cheese and herbs, and then make a well in the center of the mixture. Add in the water and mix together. I always find I need more water to get it to stick together.

Divide the dough into 8 portions and roll into small balls. Add the dumplings to the soup, cover and simmer for 20 more minutes.

I usually double this recipe, as is, this is about enough for 3 people. Also, it's a bit spicy from the ground chili; you may want to cut that back if you have little kids or wimpy palates. The dumplings puff up a lot--make them smaller than you think they should be.

Pumpkin Soup

Kristen made me promise to post this. I feel kind of dumb, as it's really, really simple. Feel free to laugh at us!

1. Roast a pumpkin (if you do this in the crockpot, you sometimes end up with slightly bitter pumpkin).
2. Scoop out the flesh and puree in the blender
3. Put the puree in a large pot over a medium heat. Add chicken or veggie stock (you should have roughly equal parts pumpkin and stock). Simmer together. *
4. Season with salt, pepper, and 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic. You can also add other herbs (Justin likes to add a bit of time, I tend to add a bit of cardemom). You can also add dry crumbed parmesan to taste. Thin with more stock if needed.

That's it. I serve it in bowls with a big dollop of sour cream, some chopped fresh herbs (cilantro is nice) and freshly ground black pepper. It's nice with cheese toast for dipping.

*Note: For a creamy pumpkin soup, add 2 parts pumpkin to 1 part stock and 1 part cream or half-n-half. You'll need a little more pepper in this version.

It's nice on a winter day. It also freezes really well--we tend to make a lot, and then freeze in tupperware.

Enjoy!