Soup recipes, anyone?

Our household is very busy over the next few weeks and with cold weather pulling up an armchair and settling in for the next few months, it seems appropriate to pull out the soup pot. I'm wondering if anyone has a favorite recipe or two they'd like to share?

Thanks...

- Mike

Yes, I posted a somewhat similar thread a couple years back...

I have previously posted this elsewhere...via my wonderful Ukrainian roommate, from my semester in Leningrad in the fall of 1989:

Irina Marchenko’s Fabulous Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Ukrainian Borsch

(NOTE: Like all good East European home cooking, but especially like all late Soviet-era perestroika cooking, specific ingredients and proportions are highly approximate, as they frequently depend on what is available. The first time Irina set out to show me this recipe, she and I spent all goddamned day running all over Leningrad and standing in zillions of lines, only to discover that there was nary a can of tomato sauce, or indeed any tomato product at all, to be found anywhere in northern Russia unless one had the foresight to grow and can one’s own tomatoes the previous summer at one’s dacha garden plot. Finally, we gave up, and with her sad puppy-dog eyes she convinced me to go buy some at the hard currency store.)

Anyway:

4 qts. water
2-3 lbs. meat (preferably beef, ideally a couple of nice meaty shank bones, but if all you have is pork, then by all means use it)
2-3 medium cooked beets, diced (I usually bake them in the oven in tinfoil first while the beef is simmering, then peel and dice them, adding them almost at the end since they’re already cooked)
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled
2 onions, diced
3 whole peeled cloves garlic, or more, to taste
2 bay leaves
½ small head shredded cabbage
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 bunch finely chopped fresh dill
Salt, freshly ground black pepper, and vinegar to taste

Simmer meat in water until almost tender with bay leaf. Add garlic onions, carrots, and potatoes. Simmer until almost tender, then add tomato sauce, beets, cabbage, and black pepper. Just before serving, add salt, dill, and adjust level of vinegar to achieve pleasant sweet/sour balance. Serve with a large blob of sour cream in the middle of each bowl (none of this nonfat garbage! My mom always tries to cut calories by using yogurt instead of sour ream, but this is just WRONG!), and additional chopped dill as garnish, if desired.

Variations: some people also like their borsch with a few dried mushrooms cooked in it, or even kidney beans. I have no opinion on the kidney beans, but mushrooms are indeed an authentically Ukrainian variation. Never try to separate a Slav from his mushrooms! Also, some people like to use sour salt (powdered citric acid) instead of vinegar, but this is modern cheating.

Martha Bayne's kickstarter page has a (possibly soon more) soup recipe to be included in the upcoming Soup and Bread cookbook. I fully intended to go to one of these, and never made it, but I hear the soups were fab (many recipes from LTHers) White bean and escarole sounds yummy to me!

The latest issue of Fine Cooking has a very tasty Autumn Vegetable Soup
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/autu ... -soup.aspx



Fine Cooking's Baked Potato Soup with Bacon and Cheddar is also superb-- a loaded baked potato in a bowl.
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/bake ... _soup.aspx

The Fine Cooking links may require a subscription to view, sorry...

Cheers, Jen

The Davooda clan regularly feasts on this corn chowder and I hope you will enjoy it too:

1 lb. thick cut bacon, cut into 1/4” pieces (I use whatever's on sale)
2 – medium-sized yellow onions, diced ¼”
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
6-8 large Yukon Gold potatoes, skin on and diced ½”
1 tsp dried Thyme flakes
1 tsp dried Rosemary flakes
Kosher salt to taste (at least 1 tsp)
Ground white pepper to taste (about ½ tsp)
1 large can Sweet Sue chicken broth
2 – regular-sized cans of sweet corn (including liquid)
8 oz sour cream

Remove the bacon from the package in a block (it helps to put it in the freezer ½ hour before you begin to make the soup) and use a heavy, sharp knife to slice it perpendicular to the existing slices into ¼” strips. Place the bacon into a heavy soup pot (at least 1-gal in capacity) on medium heat until the pieces begin cooking and start to separate. Turn heat down and, stirring often, allow all the fat to render and the bacon pieces to become very crispy. This should take at least :30 minutes to render as much fat as possible and crisp the pieces of bacon.
Remove bacon pieces with slotted spoon and reserve in a bowl. Increasing the heat to medium add the flour to make a roux. Cook the roux, stirring frequently, until a dark tan color. Add the potatoes, onions and the spices and stir the whole mixture well. It will be quite dry, but add the butter and increase heat a bit to begin cooking the potatoes and onions.
Continue to stir often as it cooks, scraping the flavorful residue from the sides of the pot. After a few minutes of this, add the cans of corn with the liquid (do not drain the corn – this adds a lot of flavor) and the large can of chicken broth. Stir carefully to incorporate the soup base and reduce heat to medium. This will cook for :20 - :30 and thicken as it cooks - you should stir it every few minutes.
When the potatoes are fork-tender, incorporate the crispy bacon and sour cream. Serve with a crusty bread and a dry white wine. You can garnish with chopped scallions or slices of red bell pepper for color. This hearty soup keeps for a week in the refrigerator and freezes well, too.

Jane Brody's Turkey Carcass Soup is a wonderful post-Thanksgiving soup, much looked forward to at my house. I recommend making it with barley rather than rice. If you have a small turkey carcass, or one especially picked clean, using turkey necks helps round out the stock.

Funny you should post, Evy, because I was just hunting for this post of yours! We do a lot of my very-non-kosher version of this when the weather gets icky (read: we've eaten a lot of it this year.)

Michele,
Those red lentils are really tasty, aren't they? I'm glad you have been using them. I made a very nice split pea soup on Sunday with a smoked turkey leg from Fresh Farms--not because I've turned kosher but because those smoked turkey pieces are easy and quite inexpensive. FF even sells chopped up ones, which I didn't buy (and then ended up having to split the drumstick in half with a cleaver to fit in the soup pot). I still had to add hot dogs, not because we didn't have enough meat but because my son loves them in pea soup. With the cold weather, I guess all of us have been thinking soup. I stocked up on all the dried legumes for soup and have the red lentils waiting!
Evy

This is sort of an combination of 4 recipes, including the one from Geo's student, Matthew. I made this for a tailgate last weekend and it was very well received.

Bacon, Chicken and Roasted Corn Chowder

1 package bacon, sliced into 1/8" pieces and rendered, fat reserved
8 large ears corn, grill roasted in husk, shucked, charred lightly, kernals removed
5 Usingers andouille sausages, grilled quickly and cut into 1/4" disks
2 lbs chicken thighs - skinned, boned, grilled and cubed
2 serrano peppers, minced
2 yellow onions, diced
2 red peppers, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
12 small yukon gold potatoes, diced
3/4 cup flour
4 TB butter
13 cups chicken stock
1 qt half and half
2 limes, juiced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Salt, pepper

Seasoning:
4 t cumin
1 TB smoked paprika
1 TB dried oregano
1 TB dried thyme
1 t cayenne

Heat 2 TB bacon fat & 4 TB butter in a large stockpot
Sautee onion, serranos, and red peppers and garlic until soft. Add corn kernals
Add seasoning and sautee 2 minutes
Add flour, stir
Add potatoes and chicken stock to a boil, let thicken
Add half and half and return to a boil
Add chicken, sausages, lime juice and crisped bacon
Adjust seasoning by adding salt and ground pepper to taste
Stir in cilantro and serve

The result? Purdue 26, Ohio State 18.

bacon, chicken thighs, andouillie, butter, 1/2 & 1/2, butter, and peppers... sounds like my kind of soup, Ill be making this sooner rather than later.

thanks for the recipe Andy.

Ill be doing some clam chowder, and another batch of cream of broccoli soon recipes to follow.

Here's what lunch has been for three days this week:

I started out just wanting a side of greens for lunch, having bought a 1lb bag of mixed chopped greens at Jewel (Turnip, Mustard & Collard).
So I cooked two slices of bacon in a 4qt pot, and rinsed half the bag of greens in a collander. Thinly slice a clove of garlic into the cooking bacon.
When the bacon looked crisp, I poured off about half the fat, and added the wet greens, a generous pinch of salt, and a pot-lid full of water.
After a couple minutes, I realized that that's a lot of greens: they don't collapse the way Chard does, which has been my more recent greens usage. So, I decided to find a way to spread it out:

Add to the pot:
One can of cannelini beans, rinsed
1.5 C cooked rice (basmati from Sabri Nehari leftovers)
32oz chicken stock
Black pepper to taste
1 oz parmesan, shredded

simmer for another ten minutes
serve with croutons

I just realized what I probably left out: a splash of cider vinegar. I'll try that on the last bowl full today.

Easy chickpea soup I adapted off of the recipe Central Gyros on Central & Belmont has always used for their Sunday Soup (I grew up on it!)

Dill Chickpea Stew

1 can of chickpeas
1 quart chicken stock (or enough to cover your ingredients)
1 red bell pepper
1 medium can of diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh tomatoes)
2 medium russet potatoes (diced)
1/2 medium yellow onion (diced)
2 carrots (diced)
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
Dill to taste
Allspice to taste
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
Salt & pepper

Saute potatoes & carrots in butter for 5 mins then add onions and red pepper, salt and pepper and reduce to low heat to cook for another 5 mins. Add the rest of your ingredients (add water if stock doesn't cover the contents) and simmer for atleast 20 mins or until your root veggies are tender. Take out the bay leaf and then I like to add a little extra dill at this point to make it brighter. Take a potato masher and just mash it into the pot about 5 or 6 times. You just want to mash up some of the soup to get it thick and yummy.

Enjoy!

This soup will be served at the soup party posted on the events board. http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26112

It was adapted from a recipe found in Readers Digest:

Roasted Tomato Onion and Black Bean Soup

5 large or 7 medium plum tomatoes, cut in half (or 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, no salt added)
1 large onion, cut into large pieces (about 1" - 1½“)
Olive oil
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups of cooked black beans (or 15 oz. can, drained and rinsed)
1½ tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

Optional:
1 cup water
roasted garlic
Splash of lime juice

garnishes:
hot sauce
cilantro
sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a bowl, toss tomatoes and onion with olive oil, salt and pepper. (If desired, you can also some garlic cloves.) Transfer to a roasting pan or deep baking sheet lined with parchment and roast until edges of onions have browned and the tomatoes have collapsed, 35 - 40 min. Stir once after 20 min. Allow to cool in roasting pan, until cool enough to handle, 10 minutes or so.

2. While tomatoes and onions are roasting, simmer beans in 2 cups of the broth in a soup pot. If using canned tomatoes, add the puree or juice from the can to the soup pot. After 30 - 45 minutes, puree in a blender (in small batches) and return to soup pot.

3. Puree the roasted tomatoes and onions in small batches (add a small amount of broth as needed) and then add to the soup pot. Add cumin, chili and remaining broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 min. Adjust seasonings to taste. If desired, add some lime juice. If soup consistency is too thick, add up to 1 cup water until reach desired consistency.

4. Garnish with hot sauce, sour cream, and/or cilantro. If desired, serve with tortilla chips.

Alternate method for immersion blender: don’t cool the roasted tomatoes and onions. Instead add them directly to the soup pot with the beans, broth and spices. Simmer for 10 or 15 minutes. Remove from heat and blend to desired smoothness using an immersion blender.

Recently made a bacalao chowder of sorts lightly adapted from Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud Cookbook, which is available on google books to anyone interested. I used a bit more salt cod than the recipe called for so that i could reserve some prior to pureeing and have some nice chunks. Anyone into salt cod would enjoy this stuff.

mrsm wrote:This soup will be served at the soup party posted on the events board. http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26112

It was adapted from a recipe found in Readers Digest:

Roasted Tomato Onion and Black Bean Soup

And very tasty it was, too. Here's the dessert soup I made for the same event:


Photo by Ms. Ingie

Birnensuppe
German chilled pear soup

Make this soup at least one day before you plan to serve it; it really benefits from a long chilling time to let the flavors meld.

2 1/2 cups golden raisins
1 cup dry sherry
2 tablespoons brandy
12 ripe Bosc pears, cut up
9 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 lemons
4 tablespoons aniseed, crushed, or to taste
2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste (depends on how sweet the pears are)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the raisins, sherry and brandy; set aside.

In a stockpot, combine the pears, water and cinnamon sticks. Cut several strips of lemon zest and add to the pot. Put the aniseed in a teaball or cheesecloth sachet, and add it. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the pears are very soft, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

Remove the spices and put the pear mixture through a food mill, discarding the skins and seeds. Juice the lemons and combine with the pear nectar, raisin mixture, sugar and vanilla.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. 12 servings.

Notes: This recipe is more or less as I made it, based on several traditional recipes. I used mainly Bosc pears plus the odd Anjou and red pear I happened to have on hand. I think I might cut down the water by a couple of cups next time for a thicker soup.

The one change in the above recipe from what I actually did is that I did not put the aniseeds into a sachet, and had to strain them out afterward because they gave the soup an unpleasantly gritty texture. The traditional recipes called for half again as much aniseed, but I thought the licorice flavor would overwhelm the pears. They also called for more sugar; between the pears and raisins, it was sweet enough, however.

If you don't have a food mill, you can push the pears through a strainer with the back of a wooden spoon. Some recipes call for peeling and coring the pears before cooking and then putting the cooked pears in a blender, but that seemed like too much work.

Instead of, or in addition to the raisins, you could use dried cranberries, as Ms. Ingie suggested, or cherries or any other dried fruit you like. I also wonder whether the pear flavor might be intensified by roasting some of the pears, or adding dried pears to the poaching mixture.

If the idea of dessert soup weirds you out, call it "compote."

The soup gathering was very fun!
Here is my oh so simple contribution. What makes or breaks this IMHO is the quality of the ham bone.
I have also done this soup with beef short ribs, and it is equally wonderful!

Classic Split Pea and Ham Soup

1 Meaty Ham Bone (I like to use one from a spiral sliced honey glazed ham, with lots of leftover meat on it)
1 lb dried split green peas
1 qt chicken stock
1/2 lb carrots, med dice
3-4 ribs of celery sliced
1 large onion, medium dice
1/2-1 tsp dried thyme
1-2 bay leaves
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Sherry to taste (maybe 2 oz)

Sauté the onion until the edges turn brown in some bacon drippings if you have them. Otherwise you can use olive oil or butter. Toss in the carrots and celery and sauté for a few minutes for flavor.
Add the chicken stock, 2 cups of water (or more stock if you have it), the ham bone, the peas, and the spices.
Simmer for maybe 2-3 hours until the peas fall apart. Keep the fire low, and stir often, at the end this soup burns easily- you may want to transfer it to a crock pot on high.
Remove the bone and take the meat off the bone, chop it into big chunks and return it to the pot. Discard any pieces of bone, gristle and outright fat, and the bay leaf.
Adjust the spices to taste, and add the sherry.
Enjoy!

Here is a recipe for Spicy Roasted Vegetable Soup.

It is delicious and low-fat too. Perfect if your family likes a little heat with their meals. Enjoy!

Spicy Roasted Vegetable Soup
http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=89438

Ingredients:
1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 can (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 cup packed fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

1/2 tsp salt
1 large red potato (about 1 cup diced)
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash (about 3 cups diced)
1 carton (32 ounces) vegetable broth
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
Lime wedges, warm tortillas and sour cream (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat broiler. Chop bell pepper and onion into 2-in. pieces. Place onto Medium Sheet Pan; spray with oil. Broil 5-7 minutes or until lightly charred and softened. Place roasted vegetables, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, chipotle pepper and salt into blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Meanwhile, dice potato and zucchini into 1/2-in. cubes. Place potato and broth into (4-qt.) Casserole. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook 6-8 minutes or until potato begins to soften. Add roasted vegetable mixture to Casserole. Cook 7-8 minutes or until potato is tender, skimming often using Skimmer. Add zucchini and beans. Cook 4-5 minutes or until zucchini are tender. Serve with lime wedges, tortillas and sour cream, if desired.
Yield: 6 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 90, Total Fat 1 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrate 20 g, Protein 4 g, Sodium 920 mg, Fiber 5 g

Diabetic exchanges per serving: 1/2 starch, 2 vegetable (1/2 carb)

Cook’s Tips: For best flavor, use an all-natural vegetable broth that does not contain mushrooms.

Drain all but 2 tbsp of drippings from Skillet. Add onion to bacon in Skillet; cook 2 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add beans, rub and garlic pressed with Garlic Press; cook 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add water; lightly mash beans using Mix ‘N Masher. Divide bean mixture among cups. Garnish with sour cream, tomato and cilantro, if desired.

I thought about posting soup recipes I've made recently but then I realized I had already posted the most valuable thing I have to add to the soup discussion... vegetable stock.

I add a small jar of this to almost anything I make that you'd expect to find, say, onions in. Obviously there are some more delicate soups, like carrot, that it would be too much for. But if you're stewing some stuff like onions or celery in a soup, this adds depth to it that you won't get from merely simmering an onion end or two in your soup before serving. Some examples recently: a leek-cream soup, or a corn-red-and-green-pepper cream soup. It doesn't really change the flavor, it just gives them "bottom" that vegetable soups don't have otherwise. I'd post recipes but, hey, I pretty much wing stuff like this now, because I know with the stock in hand, it will work no matter what.

So my advice about soup is, first, take an afternoon to make yourself a decent pot of vegetable stock, and then freeze a bunch of it in small jars. (You can, of course, make an actual soup alongside it, and put some of it straight to use that night.) You'll be glad you did.

This Butternut Squash Soup recipe was adapted from a recipe from the October 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine. This recipe makes about 3 quarts of soup, maybe 12 small servings.

2 butternut squash (about 5 pounds total)
Olive oil (canola is fine too)
48 oz. Chicken Broth (I used lower sodium)
Water (to thin soup)
White pepper (about 1/2 tsp. or to taste)
Cinnamon (at least 1 tsp. or to taste)
Fresh ground nutmeg (at least 1 tsp. or to taste)
Ginger (about 1/2 tsp. or to taste)
Kosher Salt (maybe 1/2 tsp. or to taste)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut squash in half, discard seeds and membrane. You can put some oil on a baking sheet or brush to cut sides of the squash with the oil. Place squash cut side down on a baking sheet. Roast for about an hour or until squash is tender.

Let squash cool until it is easy to handle. Scoop out one shell, place in blender with some of the broth and puree until smooth. Pour into a soup pot. Repeat with remaining squash and broth. Heat puree over medium-low heat. Add spices to your taste. I uses the lower sodium broth so that I can control the amound of salt. I found I need just a 1/2 tsp. or so of the kosher salt. I didn't measure any of my spices, I would just shake, taste, adjust, new spoon, taste, until I got it to a place that was happy in my mouth. I probably added about a cup of water to thin it a bit.

After our first snowfall of the season in Tahoe, it was time for gumbo. This was a recipe from Emeril-I may have gotten it from a magazine. I'm not sure if it's in one of his cookbooks. Delicious.

Duck and Wild Mushroom Gumbo

10 Servings


1 4-5 lb. duck, excess fat removed, backbone removed, quartered
3 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1 1/2 pounds assorted wild mushrooms
1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
3/4 cup celery, chopped
3/4 cup red bell peppers, chopped
7 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces stout beer
6 cups chicken stock(I prefer the taste of minor's chicken base in this recipe)
4 teaspoons Emeril Essence, or cajun seasoning
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5 cups freshly cooked white rice
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped




1. Heat heavy large pot over medium-high heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle duck with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add to pot, skin side down, and sear until golden brown, about 8 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer duck to plate.

2. Add vegetable oil, then flour to drippings in pot; stir with wooden spoon to blend well. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly until roux is chocolate-brown color, about 25 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high if necessary. Add mushrooms, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic to roux and cook until mushrooms and vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes. Add stout; stir to blend. Add chicken broth, Emeril's Essence, bay leaves, thyme, cayenne, and remaining 2 teaspoon salt; stir to blend well. Return duck pieces to pot. Increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered until duck is tender, skimming foam from surface and stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Using tongs, transfer duck to plate; cool until easy to handle, about 20 minutes. Remove meat from bones; discard bones and skin. Cut meat into 1-inch pieces. Spoon fat off top of gumbo. Return meat to gumbo; season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Divide cooked white rice among 10 bowls. Ladle gumbo over. Sprinkle with green onions and parsley and serve.

MAKE AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold. Cover and keep refrigerated. Bring to simmer before continuing.

I recently ate at a Midwest Restaurant: Machine Shed. You can check them out online where they also have posted their signature soup: Machine Shed Baked Potato Soup. I visited the Appleton, Wisc. restaurant. When I got home I surprised to find out I had their signature dish!

not as fancy as everyone else's I'm sure, but it's my mom's and we love it:

Cheeseburger Soup

1 ½ lb. ground beef
¾ c. chopped onion
4 big carrots, shredded (recommend food processor)
¾ c. chopped celery
2 tsp. dried basil
16 oz. Velveeta
7 tbsp. butter
3 cans chicken broth
5 c. diced yukon gold potatoes (about 8 or 9)
½ c. flour
3 c. milk

In large pot, brown beef. Drain and set aside. In pot, sauté onion, carrots, celery & basil in 1 tbsp. butter till vegetables are tender (about 10 min). Add broth, potatoes & beef. Simmer 10 min. till potatoes are tender. In skillet, melt 6 tbsp. butter. Add flour – cook, stirring 3-5 min. or till bubbly. Add to soup & bring to a boil. Cook & stir for 2 min. Reduce heat - add cheese, milk and salt & pepper to taste. Cook till cheese melts.

I'm going to try that Bacon Chicken and Corn Chowder for our tailgate this weekend- maybe it will bring our D3 team some luck...

This cream of pea soup from Marion Cunningham/Fannie Farmer is very simple and good. If you have a stick blender it's even easier.

Loser Alert - I spent Saturday, Halloween night making vegetable stock. Had a better offer, sent the Husband to the party alone, so that I could, hopefully, bond with a new cookbook. Clearly, there's something wrong with me....whatever.

Anna Thomas, whose Vegetarian Epicure and New Vegetarian Epicure had a huge influence on me has a new soup cookbook out - "Love Soup."



My usual "basic" vegetable broth consists of onion, carrot, celery, garlic, water, bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley stems, and a bit of salt. Hers is a bit more complicated with the addition of parsnips, fennel tops, fresh mint and kale stems.



Finished product a nice golden color:




Freezing half, and using the other half tomorrow to make her Roasted Poblano Chile Soup. More to come...

One of the best soups ever:
Pea and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk
>
> Prep Time: 10 minutes
> Cooking Tome: 15 minutes
> Yield: 6 servings
>
> Nutritional information per serving: 179 calories, 51 % of calories
> from fat, 11 g fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrates, 5.8 grams
> protein, 1,324 mg sodium, 3.2 g fiber
>
> Adapted from "Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's
> Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison
>
> 2 T. unsalted butter
> 2c. thinly sliced sweet onions
> 1 c. water
> 2 T. white basmati rice
> 2 t. curry powder
> 4 cilantro sprigs + extra for garnish
> 1 1/2 t salt
> 1 quart vegetable broth or water
> 3/4 c. coconut milk
>
> 1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat; add onions, water,
> rice, curry powder, 4 cilantro sprigs, salt & pepper to taste. Simmer
> over medium-low heat 12 minutes.
>
> 2. Add spinach, peas, and broth. Heat to a boil; cook 3 minutes.
> Turn off heat; add coconut milk. Puree about a cup of the soup in a
> blender(optional); return to pot. Season to taste. Serve garnished
> with fresh cilantro leaves or puree all of the soup until smooth,
> about 1 minute, and pass through a strainer. Or leave completely
> unblended.

Hmmm, I think I'm going to have to make this very, very soon.

As many of us probably do at this time of year, I found myself possessing squash. Specifically, I had four delicata squash. Squash and I have usually had a pretty harmonious relationship-- I don't buy them, and they don't bug me about cooking them. But that's why I signed up for a CSA this year, to force myself to make things I don't make.

Searching online, I found this recipe by one Grant Achatz (can this really be from 1999? Wasn't he like an assistant bottle washer at French Laundry then or something?) Don't worry, no xanthan gum or reverse griddles, it's actually very straightforward and much like any other delicata squash soup recipe, except for the truffle at the end. (I have some butter with bits of black truffle in it, thought about garnishing with that if it needed it... but it didn't.) Of course, I had my secret ingredient (especially appropriate given that it's Achatz' recipe), Thomas Keller-approved vegetable stock.

All told, about 70 minutes of cooking, of which the first 35 are just roasting the squash. Blend with the hand blender, and... came out really well. Squash ain't so hard after all. Who knows, I might even buy some on purpose sometime.

Eva Luna:

I made the Borscht recipe (early in this thread) this weekend and very much enjoyed it (and am still enjoying the leftovers).

Jonah

My wife and I went to cooking school in Tuscany in September. This is a Tuscan bean soup that we made in class and a couple of times since.

Ribollita

3 cans cannellini beans, drained, reserve liquid
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
4 carrots chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
4 large leaves of chard, chopped
½ cabbage, chopped
1 chard stalk chopped finely
1 large can (28oz) peeled tomatoes

Heat reserved bean liquid with equal amount of water to near boiling. In another pot, heat olive oil and cook carrots, celery and onions slowly for about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic, cook another 15 minutes, add the beans along with some of the bean/water mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook together on low for 30 minutes. Add the chard and cabbage, cook for another hour, adding water/bean liquid as needed for correct consistency.

Serve on cubed stale Italian bread

as a cook at heart, I enjoy tinkering with existing recipes, here is a bastardized but excellent version of a chicken and okra gumbo from chef paul prudhomes family cookbook( a must own imho).

I used some smoked turkey thighs, some polish sausage, and some smoked ham hocks in the recipe(the bones of the smoked thighs, and the smoked ham hocks were put in chicken stock to infuse it with smoked pork and turkey goodness

-1.5 lbs okra
-1/2 cup tomato sauce
-1/4 cup seasoned flour
-3 quarts infused chix stock
-1cup chopped onion
-1 cup chooped green pepper
- 1 cup choped celery
-.75 lb polish sausage cut into 1/2 pieces
- 2 tbsp chopped garlic
- 3 hard boiled eggs
- 1 bay leaf
-3/4 cup chopped green onion
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp lard
-cooked white rice
-gumbo file

I took about a cup of lard, and melted it down, then added half the okra, and cooked it down(15 minutes), then added the tomato sauce, and set aside.

in a seperate pan, I took 2 tbsp lard, and melted it doen til it smoked, then added the 1/4 cup seasoned flour, and cooked the roux til I was happy with the color(about 10 minutes. I started adding the infused stock 1 quart at a time until 2 quarts were added & added the reserved okra. Covered the pot, brought it to a boil, stirring it. Once it reached a boil, I uncoverec it and boiled it for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. I then added the onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic, polish sausage, and bay leaf. Simmered 20 minutes, stirring. I then added the uncooked okra, and my shredded smoked turkey. and the rest of the stock. simmered for 20 minutes. Next I added the whole hardboiled eggs, and green onion, and simmered for 10 minutes. By now it was ready.

took some rice, tossed it in the bottom of the bowl, ladeled over the gumbo, and tossed 1/2 of of one of the hardboiled eggs in the bowl as well as some gumbo file, and hot sauce.

The harboiled egg was a surpirse, a nice texture adder, and added to the dish. Popping with flavor, and just great imho(even better the 2nd day)

heres some pics for those interested: