Anonymous wrote:I make an awesome broccoli cheddar soup. I usually use chicken broth or stock, but I'm cooking for vegetarians this time, and the flavor just seems lacking. Having used bay leaves and lots of onion and celery to make the base, what else can I put in to round out the flavor?
The main ingredient is the acceptance that vegetarian soups will never taste like the meat-based soups. Then you can try some tricks that I have learned:
* saute the vegetables
until brown before adding liquid
* saute shrimp or lobsters
with shells on and add liquid
* (Vietnamese) add
anchovie paste or anchovie sauce
* (Chinese) use hot pepper flakes, soy sauce and vinegar like
Hot n Sour Soup
* (Japanese) add
miso paste
* (Korean) add
hot miso paste, and rice cakes
* add
butter
* substitute water with
cream
* add
potatoes as thickener