Sweet Potato Soup

I found this recipe looking for a vegetarian soup for my friends at work who lean towards that nutrition approach. This recipe is from SimplyRecipes which is an excellent location for soup recipes.

This is a simple recipe with a minimum number of ingredients and prep time. The preparation of this recipe is one that really benefits from having an immersion blender. The expense of a good immersion blender is well worth it compared to the the hassle of ladling from the pot to a blender and back again. Berdie gave me this immersion blender as a gift a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorite tools.

A couple of tips I learned from making this soup a couple of times. The first is to be sure you remove the cinnamon stick before you blend the soup. My first time making the soup I forgot about the stick until after I began eating a bowl and kept coming across these small pieces of woody stuff in each spoonful. I finally figured out what I had done and had to strain the whole pot to remove the cinnamon. The second tip is to go very easy on the nutmeg. I was very loose with my 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and ended up with too much in the soup and the taste overwhelmed everything. A little nutmeg goes a long way. Be sure you use whole nutmeg and grate your own. Ground nutmeg loses its freshness quickly so whole nutmeg and a fine grater is the way to go.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons of butter
1.5 cups of chopped onion
2 small celery stalks, chopped
1 medium leek, chopped, white and pale green parts only
1 large garlic clover, chopped
1.5 pounds of yams, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces, about 5 cups
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, be careful here, less is more
1.5 cups of half & half
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
Leafy tops of celery stalks, chopped

METHOD

1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot
2. Over medium high heat add the chopped onion and sauté for 5 minutes
3. Add chopped celery and leeks, sauté for another 5 minutes
4. Add the garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes
5. Add the sweet potatoes, stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes
7. REMOVE the cinnamon stick, REMOVE the cinnamon stick
8. Puree the soup either with an immersion blender or by transferring to a container blender. If you use a container blender be sure to allow for the heat to ventilate through the lid. Return the now pureed soup to the pot if you used a container blender
9. To the soup in the pot add the half & half and maple syrup.
10. Stir over medium heat to blend and heat through
11. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste
12. Serve with chopped celery tops

Creamy Pasilla Sweet Onion

I found this recipe on the Copykat.com website. This is one of those sites that post recipes of dishes from restaurants across the country.

I had never made this soup until this last weekend. I love French Onion Soup but the recipes I've used have all been very labor intensive and very time consuming. This one is neither. The batch I made this weekend for the family was very good, spicier than I expected but not too spicy. A very good onion soup. Not low calorie by any means due to the cream but very delicious.


Prep time is 15-20 minutes, mostly slicing onions. You can cut this time down if you use a slicing mandolin. We have one I bought several years ago. I rarely use it because I'm scared to death of slicing off a finger tip. But I did use it for this recipe since the onions need to be sliced thinly. Berdie loves the mandolin, I have to leave the room when she uses it, all I see is me rushing her to the hospital with her hand bundled up in a blood soaked kitchen towel and her fingertip in a ziploc bag filled with ice. Full cooking time is 45-60 minutes. This recipe makes about 3 quarts of soup.

INGREDIENTS

2 large yellow onions or 3 medium ones, thinly sliced

1/2 stick of butter
2 teaspoons of minced garlic
1/4 cup of sherry
1/3 cup of flour
1 quart of chicken stock
3 dried pasilla chiles
16 oz heavy cream
8 oz pepper jack cheese, grated
3 green chiles, the canned variety, diced into 3/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Saute' the onions in the butter until just tender, about 8 minutes. I suggest you slice the onion rings in half so they are easier to eat with a soup spoon.
2. Add the garlic, sherry, and flour
3. Cook about 2 minutes
4. Add chicken stock and pasilla chiles
5. Bring to a boil
6. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes
7. Remove the pasilla chiles and discard
8. Add the cream, cheese and diced green chiles. Spread the cheese evenly over the top of the soup gradually so you don't end up with clumps of cheese
9. Simmer 5 minutes to meld the flavors
10. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste. If you need it a little spicier add either chile powder or white pepper a little bit at a time.

Albondigas!!

My group at work is celebrating Cinco De Mayo on Siete De Mayo this year. With the 5th being on a Sunday and wanting to minimize the impact of the forgetfulness of people over the weekend and have them showing up on Monday forgetting we were celebrating on the 6th we're doing it on the 7th. Whew, that was tough!

There's a salsa contest as part of the celebration and the Pattersons are bringing two entries, one is the red tomatillo based salsa we've been providing to friends the last year and the other is a green tomato based salsa we've made for years. Both recipes are from Berdie's Mom and we love making them.

To accompany the salsa contest I thought it would be good to bring in a Mexican soup and our Albondigas was one I thought of first. Albondigas is a Mexican meatball soup. It's a little more work than many of my soups, mostly because of the making of the meatballs but worth it when you're done. I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com and made some tweaks here and there. I have a pound of sausage instead of a 1/4 pound, that requires some additional portions of eggs, seasonings, and corn meal. Be sure you chop the onion into small pieces otherwise they'll make it tough to make small meatballs. I use our green salsa I mentioned above instead of buying something but Berdie has had me sign a non-disclosure agreement on all salsas so you'll need to procure your own. All I changed in the broth is the addition of lemon juice.

Hope you enjoy.

INGREDIENTS
Meatballs
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 pound of pork sausage
1 onion, finely chopped. Red, yellow, white, doesn't matter
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil
1/3 cup of cornmeal

Broth
6 cans of beef broth, 14oz each
8 oz of green salsa
1 onion, chopped
2 cans of peeled and diced tomatoes, 14.5oz each
1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 cup of white rice
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

METHOD

1. Combine all of meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly by hand. Squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze until fully blended.
2. Form meatballs to your desired size. Some people like them bite sized such that two can fit on a soupspoon, others like them larger and then chopped them up when eating the soup.
3. Place the meatballs back into the mixing bowl and refrigerate while you make the broth.
4. Combine all of the broth ingredients except the lemon juice and rice in a large soup pot
5. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer leaving uncovered for 20 minutes
6. Add the meatballs one by one and the rice
7. Simmer , covered, very slowly for 60-90 minutes. 60 if meatballs are small, 90 if they are larger.
8. Test a meatball for doneness. If not done leave for another 10 minutes
9. Add the lemon juice and stir completely.
10. Salt and pepper to taste and serve

Pasta e Fagioli

I came across this recipe via an email from Food & Wine magazine. Somehow I ended up with a subscription to their magazine without ever having subscribed or paid for it. I actually get two magazines each month and have one to give away if anyone is interested. I've contacted them twice to make them aware but nothing has changed and it's going on two years now. Oh well.

Anyway, I get regular emails with recipes via a link to their subscriber webpage. The most recent one had several spring time soups and the Pasta e Fagioli was the one that caught my eye. It is a straightforward recipe with a relatively short list of ingredients and a short prep time. Sometimes those recipes yield some of the best soups and other times not so much. This time was a winner, winner. The original recipe called for fresh Fava Beans. I had no luck finding fresh favas anywhere here in the Tucson, at least at Fry's, Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. I went with Cannellini Beans instead, easier to find and more fun to say "Cannellini" than "Fava", kind of like Gomez Addams saying "Cara Mia" to Morticia.

So in addition to substituting cannellinis for favas I doubled the amount of bacon and found I had to double the chicken broth from 1 quart to 2 quarts otherwise it was a stew instead of a soup. As always I added fresh lemon juice to add just the right finishing touch. Be sure not to skip the rosemary, it makes the soup. If you don't have rosemary growing in your garden check your neighborhood, someone's sure to have a bush you can pluck.

Prep time is about 60-90 minutes depending on your experience level, my modified recipe yields about 10-12 large servings.

INGREDIENTS

2 sixteen ounce cans of cannellini beans, rinsed
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 thick slices of bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces
2 carrots, unpeeled, sliced lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch half-moons
1 large onion, red, white, brown, whatever, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 three inch long sprig of fresh rosemary
2 quarts of chicken stock
1 cup of tubetti or other small pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to taste
Grated parmigiano-Reggiano for serving, Trader Joe's is the best I've found

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven and add the bacon and cook over medium heat until it starts to brown, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, onions, garlic, and rosemary. Cook about 5 minutes stirring occasionally, be sure not to scorch the garlic.
3. Add the stock, cover, and simmer over low heat until the carrots are just beginning to get tender, about 5 minutes. Be sure you scrape the bottom of the pot for the fond from the bacon.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan boil water with a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the pasta until al dente and then drain.
5. Remove the rosemary from the soup and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste
6. Add the beans and pasta, heat through.
7. Serve, drizzle with olive oil and cheese.

Gorgonzola & Tomato

We had dinner at Gavi's Italian Restaurant Friday night. I have a couple of favorite dishes there, Chicken Formaggio and Calamari Crema which they list as an appetizer but I order it as an entree. Friday I had their Spicy Wedge Salad and the Calamari Crema. At the last minute I saw they had a soup listed on their daily board, Gorgonzola Soup, so I ordered a cup of that just to try it. The soup was exceptional! I asked our server about it and she confessed that it was her overwhelming favorite soup at Gavi's. I asked her if the restaurant shared their recipes and reply was an emphatic "No!", she had asked the owner if he had ever thought about putting out a cookbook and was told to "Never ask the question again, if people could make the dishes at home they'd have no need to come to the restaurant!" I don't share this opinion at all. This philosophy assumes the only reason people go out to eat is the food. That's part of it of course but the social aspect is a large part along with having the wide selection of a full menu at your fingertips, no work in prepping, cooking, or clean up.

Anyways, when we got home I looked on the internet for some gorgonzola soup recipes. While eating the soup Berdie and I were evaluating the flavors to determine the ingredients just with our tastebuds. There was definitely a tomato base and of course the cheese, but there was some sort of other white cheese in the soup too. I tasted some basil and garlic, along with some onions and of course there was likely cream of some sort. So this was either a pretty simple soup or I was missing a lot of subtle flavors. The internet search yielded a few gorgonzola and tomato soups and just about all of them had almost the exact same ingredients and prep method. I chose one of the recipes and made the soup for Saturday night dinner as a test run for next week's Soup At Work. I made several ingredient and quantity changes to and also an important prep sequence change. With these I've just about changed the recipe completely enough that I could probably call this my first original recipe.

Thinking about this being my first original recipe made me wonder if it was in fact an original recipe at all. I ate a soup I really liked, found a recipe for something similar and changed that recipe extensively, can I legitimately call the result original? It made me wonder how many recipes are really, really original versus a modification of something the creator saw or ate and modified to their particular likes.

So, here's my version of Gorgonzola & Tomato Soup.

This version makes about 5 large servings and takes about an hour to prepare from first prep to spoon in mouth.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of diced red onion, about 1/2 of a large onion
• 1/2 cup of diced red bell pepper, one small pepper
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 16 ounces of crushed tomatoes
• 8 ounces of tomato juice
• 6 ounces of crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 6 ounces of cream cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 cup of half & half
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons of dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
• juice of 1 lemon

METHOD

1. Heat the oil and butter in soup pot until shimmering
2. Add onions and bell pepper
3. Saute over medium high heat until onion is translucent, about 4-5 minutes
4. Add the garlic and saute for 1 more minute
5. Reduce the heat to medium
6. Add half & half, tomatoes, and tomato juice
7. Bring to a simmer, let simmer for 5 minutes while stirring occasionally
8. Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture to the consistency you desire. A quick blend will leave small chunks of bell pepper, a longer blend will leave a thick puree (if you don't own an immersion blender, you'll need to transfer to a blender in batches and return to the pot when pureed, be sure you leave an opening in the blender lid so the hot mixture can release pressure, best to remove the center of the lid and cover with a folded towel)
9. Add the gorgonzola, cream cheese, lemon juice, salt, basil and white pepper
10. Return to a simmer, simmer for 10 minutes stirring constantly (the soup will quickly burn on the bottom of the pot if not stirred)
11. Serve

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

The making of this soup came about through a discussion with two co-workers. They asked if I was familiar with a certain soup from the Olive Garden, neither of them could remember the name of the soup so we called a third co-worker and he remembered the name, Zuppa Toscana. I told them about copycat websites that publish popular restaurant recipes and if they found it I'd give it a shot. A few minutes later I was handed a copy of the recipe. This was all done during lunch time so we were our usual productive selves at work.


I'm always a bit nervous with a new recipe, not knowing how it's going to taste. This time I put myself in a bit of a corner since I put up my little "Soup At Work" sign in the department eating area the afternoon before Soup Day promising the Zuppa Toscana the next day. So if I finished the soup and I didn't like it I'd be explaining why there was no soup the next day.

Luckily I needn't have worried about this recipe. It was excellent and a big hit. It is a fairly simple make with mostly ordinary ingredients but the combination of the flavors is extraordinary.

The recipe I was given is from Food.com. I modified the heck out of that recipe so you won't find this particular version on the site if you happen to look. The are more than two dozen versions of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana on Food.com alone so there are lots of options. I used hot Italian Sausage and found that no additional hot spices were needed. Most of the recipes call for red pepper flakes but I'm glad I was tasting frequently during the making of this soup (always using a clean spoon) because the hot sausage provides just the right amount of heat. If you find the soup needs thinning add more broth instead of water.

Prep Time is about 90 minutes. This recipe makes a large 7 quart portion of the soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb of hot Italian Sausage, about 4 sausages
3 large unpeeled russet baking potatoes, sliced in lengthwise strips not quite 1/2 inch square and then cut in half crosswise
1 large red onion, chopped
3 slices of thick bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces crosswise
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 heaping cups of kale, about 2 medium bunches, bottom portions of the thick ribs removed and sliced in 1/2 inch wide strips
32 ounces of chicken broth
2.5 cups of water
1.5 cups of half & half

METHOD

1. Cut the casing off of the sausage by running a knife down one side lengthwise and peeling off.
2. Brown the sausage in your soup pot while breaking the sausage up with a spoon.
3. While the sausage is browning, saute the onions and bacon in a separate pan until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
4. Add the broth, water, onions, bacon, garlic, and potatoes to the soup pot containing the browned sausage.
5. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are just fork tender, start checking at about 20 minutes. You don't want to overcook the potatoes because they'll start to break down and the soup will take on a puree quality, not what you want for this soup.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add the kale and half & half.
8. Keep on medium heat and heat through.
9. Serve.

Shrimp & Corn Chowder With Fennel

This is a rich soup so if you're being careful with your nutrition you'll need to plan for this little indulgence. If you're eating Paleo, you can stop reading now. This soup gets much of its good sea food flavor flavor from the clam juice and the lemon juice gives it a nice tang at the end.

I found this recipe in Real Simple magazine. I've mentioned Real Simple a couple of times before. Naturally I really like the magazine for its recipes and other food and equipment tips but it has other features too. But it has a real female focus that gets old after awhile. It would be good if they did a male segment every now and then.

A couple of prep tips before getting started. When using leeks be sure you get all the dirt out when washing them. I have found that splitting them lengthwise is most effective at this without peeling away too many layers. You'll be surprised at how much dirt is hiding in there. I use Half & Half instead of the whole milk called for in the magazine's version of the recipe. If you want to cut down on some fat and calories go for the whole milk. The original recipe calls for cooked shrimp but I use uncooked because the shrimp cook very quickly and if the soup is likely to be reheated even once the shrimp will get overcooked and end up too chewy and tough. Rather than frozen corn use either corn right off the cob or Trader Joe's Canned Corn. TJ's corn is amazingly good, the best canned corn you'll ever find and better than most frozen corn. Don't skimp on the lemon juice, it adds a real good tang with out having to add salt.

This recipe yields 4 good size servings.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons of butter
2 leeks, white and light green parts, chopped (see prep tips above)
1 fennel bulb, chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 8-ounce bottle of clam juice
3 cups of half & half
1 pound of yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pound of uncooked peeled and deveined shrimp
1 can of Trader Joe's canned yellow corn
2 stalks of celery, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons of fresh lemons juice, more to taste if desired
Garnish: bacon bits for topping

METHOD

1. Heat the butter in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat
2. Add the leeks and fennel, season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes
4. Stir in the flour
5. Add the clam juice, half & half, and potatoes
6. Turn up the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil
7. Quickly reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes
8. Stir in the shrimp, corn, and celery
9. Cook another 3-5 minutes, until the potatoes are firm but still tender and the shrimp are just finished cooking
10. Stir in the cilantro and lemon juice
11. Serve with bread and bacon bits if desired.