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.

Corned Beef & Black Bean

I got this recipe from Cooking.com and made a few changes to it. I'm on their emailing list and get an appealing recipe about 25% of the time.

This soup was real hit at work this week! It was pretty easy to make, about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most challenging. This is also a surprisingly light soup even with the corned beef. Maybe my favorite aspect of this soup is the beautiful colors! Black bean, Yellow corn, Red bell peppers, Green jalapenos and cilantro, and the Orange carrots makes it nearly a ROYGBIV in a bowl.

A couple of shopping and prep tips:

• When buying the corned beef be sure you buy from a service deli counter. Look for it to be sliced from a bottom or top round cut which will be leaner than if it is from a brisket. It should look like the piece pictured here. The brisket cut is what you see in the meat case around St. Patrick's Day. You want the leaner bottom round cut so the fat doesn't make the soup too heavy. Have your slices between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Be picky with your meat! I always have been.
• For a great way to slice up the bell pepper check out this tip http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/11/11/how-to-cut-a-bell-pepper-the-easy-way/. 
• When you prep the jalapeno be sure to wear rubber gloves and don't ever, no not ever, touch any body part before removing the gloves. 

• If you have a Trader Joe's in your area be sure you buy the canned yellow corn from there. It is the best canned corn you'll ever buy, I like it much better than any frozen corn I've had and it is darn near as good as fresh off the cob. I know it is just canned corn but I'm huge on this one. 
• When you drain and rinse the black beans be sure you do it in the sink, I made a black mess when I missed.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 onion, chopped, yellow, red, white, doesn't matter
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced diagonally, about 1/4 inch thick
• 2 celery stalks, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, up to and including the leaves, they add great flavor
• 1 red bell pepper, diced, see the note above for prep tip
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups of water
• 1 quart of chicken stock (Costco's house brand is good and a good value)
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained (15 or 19 ounces, doesn't matter)
• 1 can of Trader Joe's yellow corn if possible, if not available just make do with the big green guy or store brand
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, diced, seeds, rib and stem removed. See the note above before messing with the jalapeno
• 1/2 pound of deli sliced corned beef, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips. See note above about shopping for the corned beef
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of red or white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. You can use Italian parsley if you don't care for cilantro, but I can't imagine why

METHOD

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until the onions begin to soften, no longer than 10 minutes.
4. Add the water, broth, and the remaining teaspoon of salt.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender but still firm, don't overcook!!! Nothing worse than mushy veggies. No longer than 8 minutes.
7. Stir in the beans, corn, and jalapeno.
8. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
9. Remove the pot from the heat and add the corned beef, vinegar and cilantro. Stir and allow the last 3 ingredients to warm, about 5 minutes
10. Serve.

If you make the soup ahead of time, wait to stir in the corned beef, vinegar, and cilantro until you're ready to serve. Otherwise, the corned beef will leach into the broth, the vinegar will lose its bite and the cilantro will turn brown, an ugly brown.

Cream of Fresh Tomato

 I have not made this soup in quite a while, not sure why because it is one of my favorites. Actually, this soup is the one that triggered my interest in making soups.  This recipe is from Ina Garten's show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. If you watch any of her shows you know she is not reluctant to use cream and butter in her recipes. This soup is proof of that with a good dose of heavy cream. Not skim, not whole, and not Half & Half, but Heavy Cream. That's one reason it tastes so good.

I mentioned previously that I changed jobs within the same company a few months ago. Having a new group of people to share soup with is so much fun. I am repeatedly surprised how much food and cooking breaks down people's barriers and inhibitions. Sharing my soups with people enables them to feel very comfortable to approach me and mention the soup of the week and strike up a conversation about how they enjoyed it and ask about why I bring them in regularly and how they recall growing up eating lots of soups and how they talk about the soup of the week with their family. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about it now.

This recipe makes 5 - 6 servings. This is the recipe that prompted me to buy an immersion blender. The first few times I made this soup I used either a blender or a manual food mill to puree the soup. The blender was a pain because the transferring of the tomatoes to and from the blender was very messy. The food mill was an improvement because I could puree the soup right over another soup pot which eliminated one transfer. The only downside was a fair amount of soup didn't get fully pureed and it was a bit of a pain to take apart and clean. Berdie bought a Cuisinart immersion blender as a birthday present for me a couple of years ago and I've never looked back. What a great idea! This device is really powerful and works great! Check it out on Amazon. This thing is powerful. You have to be careful when using in a pot because if you raise the blender too much you end up with a swirl of food stuffs being sprayed all over the kitchen and you. If you find yourself using a blender for different recipes you should consider an immersion blender. 

A couple of tips on the ingredients. For the minced garlic I use the jarred stuff from Spice World. You find it in the produce section. I don't enjoy peeling and mincing garlic. I end up with very sticky fingers and knife along with a cutting board that carries garlic forever. I find the Spice World garlic very good and real easy to use. For the tomatoes I've used different types, romas, beefsteaks and several from our garden of different varieties and they were all good tasting. For the tomato paste I end up using a whole small can because the recipe calls for only 1 tablespoon and the rest of the can would not get used. An option would be to buy the paste that comes in a tube so you use only what the recipe calls for and reseal the rest. I also added my usual dose of fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste. As I'm mentioned before I have found the lemon juice adds just the right bite to most of my soups that you might try to get with more salt. 

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1.5 cups of chopped red onions, about 2 onions

2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped

1 tablespoon of minced garlic (3 cloves)

4 pounds of vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped, about 5 large

1.5 teaspoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1/4 cup of packed chopped fresh basil leaves

3 cups of chicken stock

1 tablespoon of kosher salt

2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup of heavy cream

Croutons for garnish

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and carrots and sauté for about 10 minutes, until very tender.
3. Add the garlic and cook for 1 additional minute.
4. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, pepper and stir well.
5. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 - 40 minutes until the tomatoes are very tender
6. Add the cream to the soup and process it with an immersion blender, food mill or blender. 
7. Add the juice of 1/2 of a lemon or more to taste
8. Add salt and pepper to taste
9. Reheat the soup over low heat until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves and croutons.

Cream of Mushroom

This is a recipe I first tried a few years ago after Ina Garten made it on her show "The Barefoot Contessa".  I thought I had posted about it before but apparently I never did. This is a bit more labor intensive recipe than most I make regularly but it is worth it. The time is in both the ingredient prep and in the cooking so be prepared to devote a couple of hours at least on this recipe. You'll need two pots or pans, one large sauce pan for the stock and one large stock pot.

This recipe delivers a good amount of calories so this should be a planned indulgence. I double up on the amount of mushrooms than what is called for below because I love them and because I like a soup chock full of its star ingredient like clams in clam chowder and meatballs in Albondigas. Another different take I sometimes apply is to keep the vegetables used to make the stock and add them to the soup, I hate the thought of just tossing them and they add some additional chunkiness to the soup.

The recipe also calls for cleaning the mushrooms by individually wiping them with a dry paper towel or  using a mushroom brush. The reason for not washing mushrooms is they absorb water rather quickly and act like sponges. I use a lot of mushrooms in this recipe and cleaning them one by one is tedious so I checked out some info on the web about this and the other school of thought is that if you don't soak the mushrooms but rather quickly rinse them you don't run much risk of ruining your mushrooms. Geez, what is NOT answered on the internet?

INGREDIENTS
5 ounces of fresh shitake mushrooms
5 ounces of fresh portobello mushrooms
5 ounces of fresh cremini or porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 stick of butter, divided
1 cup of chopped yellow onion
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 sprig of thyme plus 1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves, divided
Kosher salt
Black pepper
2 cups of chopped leeks, white and light green parts, about 2 leeks (my regular store sells them in bunches of three so I just used the third one too, I also cut each leek in half length wise and then fully rinse them otherwise there always seems to be left over dirt)
1/4 cup of flour
1 cup of dry white wine
1 cup of half & half
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of minced cilantro

METHOD

1. Clean the mushrooms (dry method or wet, don't soak)
2. Remove the stems
3. Trims any dry parts from the stems, discard dry parts, coarsely chop the good parts, and set aside for use to make the broth
4. Slice the mushrooms into pieces large enough to be a good bite but small enough to fit on a soup spoon

Stock

1. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large sauce pan
2. Add the mushroom stems, onion, carrots, thyme sprig, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
3. Cook over medium to low heat for about 15 minutes, until the carrots are just getting soft
4. Add 6 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes
5. At this point you can either strain the liquid and reserve it or don't strain it and reserve it.

Meanwhile...

1. In the large stock pot, heat the rest of the butter and add the leeks
2. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes until the leeks begin to brown
3. Add the sliced mushroom caps and cook for 10 minutes or until they are browned and tender (don't fret if the mushrooms seem to be too much for the pot, they'll reduce pretty quickly)
4. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute
5. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of pot getting any fond loose
6. Add the mushroom stock (with or without the veggies), minced thyme leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper
7. Bring to a boil
8. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes
9. Add the half & half, cream, cilantro
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper
11. Heat through without boiling
12. Serve and enjoy

Corn Chowder with Tomatillos & Poblanos

I have not tried a new recipe for quite a while. One of the reasons is I changed jobs a few months ago and that means a new group of people that are new to Soup at Work so the recipes I've made before are brand new to my new co-workers so I have been going with the tried and true soups. This week's soup is a new one for me that I tried at home last weekend and found a couple of tweaks were in order.

The original recipe is from Rick Bayless. If you watch much PBS you may have seen Rick on his show "Mexico - One Plate at a Time". I enjoy his show because his dishes are straightforward and familiar to me since I love Mexican food, am married to a Mexican-American, and live in Tucson surrounded by a wealth of Mexican food. Lately Rick has been including his daughter in his shows and I find her annoying so I have not watched as regularly as I used to. Anyway, I have made a couple of changes to Rick's recipe and I note where those are.

There is one conundrum with my version of this soup. I use my wife's tomatillo salsa instead of Rick's "Frontera Roasted Tomatillo Salsa" which he calls for in the original recipe. The conundrum is that Berdie has sworn me to secrecy regarding her tomatillo salsa so I can't tell you how to make it for use in this soup. That means you're going to have to buy Rick's salsa or find another tomatillo salsa to use. Sorry for the trouble but I pity the poor soul that would leak the recipe of her salsa, I shudder just thinking of the consequences. That said, you should be just fine with another salsa...

This recipe makes about 6 cups, enough for 4 good eaters or 6 light eaters. I double the recipe for Soup At Work and get 7 quarts. Including prep time you can expect to spend about 60 minutes making the soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 white onion, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 large fresh poblano chile, stem, seeds, and ribs removed, roughly chopped (if you can't find poblanos you can substitute pasillas)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups of corn kernels (I strongly recommend the canned yellow corn from Trader Joe's, it is much better than any frozen corn I've had and darn near as good as off the cob and a lot less messy)
2 cups tomatillo salsa (see my comment above)
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of corn masa (the smallest amount I found to buy is 24 ounces at Sprouts)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or more to give it just the right tang (not in Rick's recipe)
Salt to taste
Garnish with chopped cilantro and shredded jack cheese

METHOD

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, cook the onion and poblano in the oil and butter until both are tender, about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add half of the corn and all of the salsa to the pot and process to a smooth puree with an immersion blender (a must have for making soups). If you don't have an immersion blender you will need to transfer the cooked onions and poblano to a blender, add half the corn and all the salsa, puree, and pour back into the pot. Rick's recipe calls for straining the pureed mixture when returning to the pot and I chose not to because I like the thicker consistency and it is one less thing to do and utensil to clean.
3. Stir in the broth, partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 30 minutes.
4. While the mixture is simmering, mix the masa with a 1/4 cup of water making sure there are no lumps. Rick calls for straining the masa mixture but I chose not to.
5. After simmering the mixture for 30 minutes add the masa mixture and stir until you see the soup thicken just a bit.
6. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste
7. Add the remaining corn
8. Return to a simmer
9. Serve with a garnish of chopped cilantro and jack cheese

Chicken & Avocado Soup

It has been a while since I've regularly made soup. Not sure why I slowed down, but I'll be getting back into the swing of things in the coming weeks. I'm looking to bring to the soup to different groups in addition to my place of work. So, if your office would be interested or if you know of someone else looking to do something out of the ordinary to break up the work week let me know, you can find me on Facebook or post a comment on this blog below.

This week's soup is Chicken & Avocado. I found it on Cooking.com which is a great site for all things cooking. Especially enticing about this recipe is the creamy texture you get without adding any cream and all the related calories and fat. It is also really easy to make with less than 15 minutes of cooking time, especially nice when it is 109 degrees or so like it is here is Southern Arizona this time of year.

I made four adjustments to the recipe. I added the juice of one lime (about 2 tbsp), 3/4 cup of loosely packed cilantro, and one teaspoon of white pepper. The tang of lime or lemon juice is something I add to many soups to add just the right finishing touch, cilantro has a great flavor that this recipe needed and pretty much asked for, and I use white pepper if I don't want to change the color but need to add some heat. The final adjustment was swapping in chicken thigh meat and not using breast meat, thigh meat is more tender, moist, and flavorful.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons of cooking oil (canola is what I use most often)
1 clove of garlic (check out this great device for peeling garlic)
1 jalapeno chile, halved lengthwise, seeds and rib removed
2 ripe avocados, skin and pit removed (check out this tip from Real Simple about how to pit and scoop avocados)
4 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice (best simple tool for juicing)
1 teaspoon of Frank's Red Hot Sauce from Durkee
3 1/2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of white pepper
1 red onion chopped
3 cups of chicken broth
3/4 cup of coarsely chopped cilantro, loosely packed
2 pounds of boneless chicken thigh meat cut into approximately 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch chunks

METHOD

1. In a blender, combine the garlic, jalapeno, avocados, 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, Frank's Red Hot Sauce, 1 1/2 cups of the water, 1 of the teaspoons of salt, and the black pepper. Puree until smooth, stirring may be necessary.
2. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat, when shimmering add the onion and cook until translucent, stirring frequently, should take about 7-8 minutes.
3. Add the broth and the remaining 2 cups of water and the remaining teaspoon of salt.
4. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
5. Stir in the chicken pieces and cook until just done, about 5 minutes, remove a piece to be sure it is no longer pink in the middle.
6. Add the avocado puree, the remaining 2 tablespoons of lime juice, the white pepper, and the cilantro, stir to fully mix and heat through, about 2 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Serves 4, per serving: 381 calories, 18g fat, carbs 23g, protein 35g.

Smokey Corn Chowder

I came across this recipe via the magazine Real Simple. It is a complete chick magazine but has good recipes and keeps me in touch with my feminine side.

Naturally this recipe is real simple but very tasty, Berdie gave it a big thumbs up and she's usually one of my toughest critics. I made a batch for dinner tonight and it turned out to be pretty filling. It was not as thick as I usually like my soups, especially chowders, but Berdie likes her soups (and now her hubbie) on the thinner side so she was a happy wife. Happy wife equals a happy life so I'm good.

I made two changes to the batch I made today. The first was the addition of the juice of 1/2 of a lemon. I have found myself adding lemon juice, lemon zest, or both to most of my soups when I'm just about finished and doing final tasting. The juice almost always adds just the right zing, I used to add salt to get that zing but I have switched to the lemon juice with better results. The second change was the addition of two cans of Trader Joe's Yellow Corn versus the 20 ounces of frozen corn called for in the original recipe. I've posted my ravings for TJ's canned yellow corn before but if you're new to my postings you will not believe how good their canned corn is. It is the crunchiest and freshest corn this side of a fresh cob. I used two cans but will use three the next time I make this recipe.

This recipe makes about 6 servings and about 40 minutes for prep and cooking.

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces of bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
3 cans of Trader Joe's Yellow Corn
3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of half-and-half
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal (Patterson Garden grown)

METHOD

1. Cook the bacon in a large soup pot over medium heat, about 6-8 minutes depending how crunchy you like your bacon.
2. Transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel lined plate, remove the pot from the heat.
3. Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Note: save the bacon grease you spoon off for use in other dishes like refried beans, we use a small olive jar with a wide mouth and refrigerate.
4. Return the pot to medium heat.
5. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 5-7 minutes, scraping up the fond left from the bacon.
6. Add the paprika, red pepper, and garlic and cook stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic burn, be attentive at this point.
7. Stir in the broth, half-and-half, and corn.
8. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
9. Remove the pot from the heat.
10. If you have an immersion blender give the soup a quick jolt with the blender, but don't fully puree, we want it on the chunky side. If you don't have an immersion blender, transfer half of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth and return to the pot.
11. Serve the soup topped with the bacon bits and scallions.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

My birthday is this coming Wednesday, number 54 btw, and I want to celebrate it with two of my favorites soups. One of them is Hungarian Mushroom and the other is my Chicken Tortilla Soup.

The Chicken Tortilla is spicily delicious, hearty, and chock full of vegetables. But my favorite thing about this soup is the colors. It shouts "I'm Mexican!!!". The red of the tomatoes, El Pato, and chili powder, the yellow corn, the white hominy, the green chili peppers, black beans, the light color of the chicken chunks, finished off by the cilantro, avocado, and jack cheese results in a kaleidoscope of chromas. With homemade tortilla chips and cheese on top it is one of my favorites.

I often use a whole chicken that I boil and make use of the de-boned meat and the stock used to boil the chicken. I like using the different cuts of chicken so I'm not limited to the drier breast meat but get to use the moister thigh and leg meat along with tossing in a whole wing drumette or two. To flavor the stock I'll toss in a bay leaf or two along with some dried basil and oregano. Salt and fresh ground pepper is always included. The whole chicken approach is when I'm doubling the recipe below, if you need only 4-6 servings then the recipe below is the ticket. The whole chicken and homemade broth approach is detailed below the METHOD.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion chopped
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (7.75oz) can of El Pato Mexican Tomato Sauce
• 1 (10.5oz) can chicken broth
• 1.25 cups water
• 1 cup cooked whole corn kernels (Trader Joe's)
• 1 cup white hominy
• 1 (4oz) can chopped green chili peppers
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 boneless chicken breast halves (cooked and cut into bite sized pieces)
• crushed tortilla chips, sliced avocado
• shredded Jack cheese, chopped green onion

METHOD

1. In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat and saute the onions for 10-15 minutes until tender. Add garlic and saute an additional 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, El Pato, broth and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the corn, hominy, chills, beans, cilantro and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Serve soup in bowls topped with tortilla chips, cheese, avocado and green onions.

When I make a large pot like the one from one of my crock pots I do two things differently 1) I double everything and 2) For the chicken and broth I use a whole chicken boiled in a stock pot large enough to hold the whole chicken and enough water to cover the chicken with water plus another inch over the bird. To the pot I add a couple of bay leaves, a tablespoon of dried basil, a tablespoon of dried oregano, salt and pepper. I boil the chicken for 40 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and put it aside on a plate or platter to cool. Use the broth as the soup broth in step 2 above but double the quantity. When the chicken has cooled enough to work with begin pulling the legs, thighs and wings off the bird. This should be pretty easy since it is fully cooked. Remove all the skin and discard. Debone the chicken by pulling all the meat from the bones. You can either leave the meat in larger pieces or dice smaller, I prefer larger pieces. Presto, you have your chicken called for in step 3 above. 

Curried Carrot with Tarragon Oil

I'm not a big fan of curry and most curry dishes, I don't have a huge dislike for curry but it is just not something I find myself ever craving.

That said, I found this recipe in the most recent edition of Food And Wine magazine very interesting and it read like a simple make with a reasonable number of ingredients with most already had on hand so I thought I'd take a run at it for a batch at home this weekend as a test to take to work next week.

Thumbs up, I really liked it. I put a bit too much pepper in my batch but even with that I really enjoyed the flavors and consistency. The curry does not overwhelm the soup at all but leaves a nice almost tangy aftertaste. It is all vegetables so it's good for a vegetarian diet. It was a simple preparation, the only dicing of note were the onion and carrots. This is a soup requiring pureeing and I always recommend the use of an immersion blender. The trouble and mess of transferring the soup to a blender and then back to the pot along with cleaning the blender is just not worth it. A good immersion blender is invaluable if you make a lot of soups. Mine is a Cuisinart with a food processor attachment that is pretty cool and easy to use.

I made two changes to the recipe. First, In addition to the lemon zest called or in the recipe I added 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice and second I used cilantro instead of the flat parsley the F&W version called for. I often add lemon juice to my soups because I love the subtle tang it adds without really being distinguishable as lemon juice. If you've read other Cocina Caldo entries you know that I am an unapologetic cilantro shill and use it whenever flat leaf parsley is called for. I was a bit worried with this batch because my backyard grown cilantro is bursting in the garden and it usually is stronger than the store bought bunches but this worked out just fine using the called for portion.

Ingredient tip: for spices that I don't used very often I buy from the bulk spice section at my local Sprouts. Having even s small jar on hand is just a waste of money since their shelf life is just a few months before they lose their edge. I bought about a tablespoon and it cost me all of 11 cents.

INGREDIENTS
Soup
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of minced ginger root, peeled
2 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 pounds of carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 6 really large carrots)
7 cups of water
1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Tabasco
1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
Snipped chives for garnish
Drizzling Oil
2 bunches of fresh tarragon
1 cup of flat-leaf parsley leaves or cilantro
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Cut up the onion, garlic, ginger and carrots
2. In a large soup pot (6-7 quart of larger) heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil
3. Add the onion to the pot and cook over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes
4. Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder and cook, stirring until it gets fragrant, about 3 minutes
5. Add the carrots and cook for 8 minutes to allow the curry to be absorbed by the carrots
6. Add the water and sugar, salt and pepper to taste
7. Simmer over moderately low heat until the carrots are very tender but not mushy, check at 45 minutes

While the soup is simmering prep the tarragon oil:

1. Fill a small sauce pan with salty water and bring to a boil.
2. Fill a bowl with ice cubes and water for an ice bath.
3. Blanch the tarragon and parsley/cilantro in the small saucepan of boiling salty water. 
4. Transfer the herbs to the ice bath and then squeeze out the excess water.
5. What I ended up doing was use a large wire mesh stainer to hold the herbs and lowered the strainer into the boiling water for 30 seconds to blanch and then just took the strainer to the ice bath and did the same thing in the ice water. No transferring of the herbs or spooning them out of either the hot or ice water.
6. Transfer the herbs to a blender, a small one if you have one, since we're not talking about a large amount of herbs or oil.
7. Add 1/2 cup of olive oil
8. Puree until smooth
9. Pour back into the wire mesh strainer and let the oil drain into a separate bowl without pressing down on the solids.

Back to the soup now that's it's cooked.

1. Puree the soup with an immersion blender right in the pot or transfer to a blender to puree. Puree until smooth.
2. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice
3. Add Tabasco, salt, and pepper to taste
4. Serve in bowls and drizzle with the tarragon oil and garnish with chopped chives