Share your best recipes. I am thinking split pea and/or a really good chicken noodle.
Split pea is easy in the slow cooker. I put in a bacon hock, a bag of split peas, a big pinch of dried sage and/or summer savoury, a box of chicken stock (or equivalent if homemade is available), a diced onion, a diced carrot and 2 vanes of diced celery. When you’re almost hungry, slice up a keilbasa or other smoked sausage of your choice and either heat in the micro if you need it NOW or put in the soup to warm up. You can also strip the bacon off the skin/hock at this point and add back in.
OK, I’ll be gross because I don’t think many people dig fish soup, but I made this the other day and it was delicious and made 5 meals. I totally made it up, was hungry and lazy and just dug around the cabinets until I came up with this.
1 can (15oz) wild-caught Alaskan pink salmon. Dump the whole thing into 3qt saucepan, find the spiney/ribby bits and smash up with a fork (or remove, also remove the skin if you don’t like it - I just sort of chop it up), leaving the meat in chunks. Dump in dry pasta of choice - I used some large rotini - enough to fill the pan about halfway. Add whatever bouillon you have laying around (I used 4 cups worth of vegetable bouillon), add some turmeric and some paprika and a couple cloves of garlic. Cover with water plus a half inch or so, bring to a boil, then simmer until the pasta is done. Add salt/pepper to taste if still needed. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.
I’ve never been able to eat soup without dribbling it down my chin at some point during the meal.
Both of those sound awesome.
I made bean soup today. Dried beans soaked overnight, then simmered with a smoked ham shank and some carrots, and a couple squeezes of ketchup for color. The hardest part is not eating all the ham while taking it off the bone.
I suppose I could add some herbs or spices, but this soup really doesn’t need any.
Believe it or not, the beef barley soup recipe on the side of the box of Quaker Oats medium barley is really pretty good. Don’t think I can copy it here so just grab a box next time you’re out.
Here’s a link:
Wait. Is it oats, or is it barley?
1/2 cup QUAKER Medium Barley, uncooked
Potato/leek soup - creamy but no cream/milk.
3 leeks, white and pale green parts only
2 lbs potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch pieces (peeled or not - I peel them)
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth, or two cups broth and 2 cups water
Marjoram (pinch)
fresh chopped parsley
fresh or dried thyme
Chop leeks and wash thoroughly, then drain. Cook leeks in butter over medium heat for 10 minutes. Be careful not to let them brown, because they’ll get bitter.
Add broth (or water and broth). Add potatoes, and simmer for 20 minutes over medium-low heat.
Scoop out about half of the mixture and puree it, then add the puree back into the soup.
Add herbs to taste. You can also vary the herbs - I’ve used sage, oregano and basil, or whatever’s on hand - for different styles.
You can also add hot chile sauce, like tabasco, if you want some spiciness.
Here’s something a little more elegant.
Butternut Squash Soup with Star Anise and Ginger Shrimp
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
2/3 cup chopped shallot
1-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 whole star anise
1 tablespoon sweet curry powder
2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-3/4 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch pieces (5 cups)
4 cups chicken stock or broth
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Garnish: fresh cilantro
Toss shrimp with ginger in a bowl and marinate, chilled, no longer than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook shallot, garlic, anise and curry powder in butter in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until shallot is softened, about 5 minutes.
Add squash and stock and simmer, uncovered, until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove star anise. Puree soup in 2 batches in a blender until very smooth, about one minute per batch, then transfer to cleaned pan and keep warm, covered.
Sprinkle marinated shrimp with salt. Heat oil in a large skillet over moderately high heat, then sauté shrimp in batches, stirring, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes per batch, and remove to paper towels. Bring soup to a simmer and season with salt and pepper. Place in shallow soup bowls, mounding three shrimp in the center and garnishing with cilantro.
If that’s too hoity toity, try this, which is excellent:
Chicken, Peanut and Yam Stew
2 pounds chicken meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp salt
1 15 oz. can whole tomatoes in juice
¼ cup water
2 TBSP tomato paste
¼ cup peanut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced and mashed into paste with 1 tsp salt
1-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
½ cup smooth peanut butter at room temperature
1-3/4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 lb sweet potato or yam, cut into 1 inch chunks
Sprinkle chicken with salt and let stand for 30 minutes.
Pulse tomatoes with juices in a food processor until finely chopped.
Stir water into tomato paste in a small bowl until smooth.
Pat chicken dry. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high until hot, then brown chicken. Remove from pan. Pour off excess oil, leaving about 2 TBSP, then add onion and cook over medium heat until lightly golden, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken, tomatoes, tomato paste mixture, garlic paste and cayenne to pan (or use a pot, if needed).
Whisk together peanut butter and one cup broth in a bowl until smooth, then add to chicken along with remaining ¾ cup broth, stirring to combine well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, about 30 minutes. Add yam chunks and simmer until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Serve over rice, if desired.
No specific recipe but I make a root vegetable soup on cold days. I just use what I have available, boiled until tender, add butter, cream and cheese. Thicken if needed with corn starch (to be gluten free) or make a roux with the butter and flour.
Mixed bean soup with tomatoes
Soak 16 ounces of beans overnight. They can be any kind of dry bean, mix 'em up for good color.
Drain and rinse.
Boil beans for 2 hours with a split ham hock or several end pieces of smoked pork chop. The exposed bit of bone marrow is central to flavor so ask a butcher to cut the hock in half for you.
Pull the ham hock out of the beans.
Add to the beans two medium onions, roughly chopped and two cloves of crushed garlic.
Add one quart of home-canned tomatoes or a 28-oz. can of store bought tomatoes, liquid too.
Add a tablespoon of lemon or lime juice.
Add a tablespoon of chili powder, whatever strength or type you choose.
If you wish, add a chopped up chili or two. I usually chop up a couple of Serrano chilies and add them in a cheesecloth bag so I can pull them out again. This prevents small children from freaking out over the heat of the actual pepper.
When the ham hock has cooled a bit, cut off all the meat and add back to the soup.
Simmer for 1/2 to 1 hour more.
Serve with buttered toast on the side.
This stuff will warm you up on a cold day, and keep your tummy satisfied on a long day.
I am going to try both of these this week.
My own recipe for chicken and rice soup:
one kosher chicken
four cups water
diced celery
peeled and chopped carrots
one onion
two smashed garlic cloves
peppercorns
fresh dill
bay leaf
salt
a little chicken broth
chicken wings or turkey legs
Throw all together for a three hours. Remove bay leaf. Drain out broth. Boil rice. Mix up chicken, veggies, and rice in bowl. Eat. Or better yet let sit for a day to deepen flavors. Kosher chicken is essential. You will not get good results from a bad bird.
My wife made a chicken, lentil and kale soup with shredded parmesan last night that was awesome. I’ll get the recipe from her later.
My neighbor makes a gumbo that tastes unlike any traditional gumbo I’ve ever had; I suppose it’s a gumbo in name only (GINO). I don’t know what’s in it, but from the taste I assume you catch an angel and boil it alive in its own tears. There’s also a whole hard boiled egg in it for some reason. I would ask her how to make it, but I’m pretty sure “next, sell your soul to the devil” is somewhere in the directions.
No soup for you!
Seriously. I don’t have a recipe. Sorry.
Pasta e Fagioli is simple, hearty, and delicious
Cioppino is a bit more involved but worth it (perhaps more of a stew than soup).
Does it have spaghetti noodles in it? Yakamein is a New Orleans soup that has a voiled egg, but I wouldn’t call it a gumbo. I’ve seen boiled eggs in green gumbo but not often. (Green gumbo is made with greens, like kale, collards, spinach).
I like to make this soup when I have a cold. It’s my own recipe, so it isn’t fancy or professional. I wrote it down as I cooked, and I’ve made it since with variable amts of ingredients.
1-2 pounds shrimp (you need the heads later, so fresh is best)
3 inches peeled, slivered ginger
5 chopped green onions, including the green part
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
8 oz fresh mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 cups chicken stock (veggie or beef will work,too)
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
A couple handful of shredded fresh greens (I’ve used kale, collards, and mixed)
Fish filets cut into 1 inch pieces (redfish or some other firm, not too fishy fish)
De head the shrimp, setting heads aside for now. Boil shrimp in very salty water (Don’t overcook!) When cool peel and set aside as shrimp won’t be added to soup until the end.
Boil shrimp heads in plain water to make a stock. With the chicken stock, this is the soup base.
Sauté ginger, onions, jalapeño, garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil until mushrooms are tender. Place veggies into soup base. Add fish sauce and taste to adjust seasoning. Throw in some fresh greens. If using collards, 3 or 4 torn up leaves is plenty. Unless you like a lot of greens.
Cook soup until greens are tender, then gently lay in the fish pieces. They don’t take long to cook. I then turn the pot off and add my shrimp, allowing it to sit until the shrimp has warmed up. This is when I toast some garlic bread or set the table.
The first time I made this, I had some leftover grilled pork tenderloin that I sliced and threw in. It’s very forgiving. The fish isn’t necessary, but I like it. Also, my daughter likes hers HOT so she adds cayenne.
^^^ This is the first time in my life I’ve ever heard of someone using shrimp heads. Is this common or am I sheltered?
OMG I didn’t say anywhere in there DON’T PUT THE HEADS IN THE SOUP! the shrimp stock is drained, like you would any stock, to get the bits and bobs out that you don’t want to eat.
Use use shrimp stock a lot, even saving my heads when we fry shrimp or grill them or whatever. I freeze them for later or make stock right then.
I do it so often that I just assumed people would know to take them out.
This is why I don’t give out recipes LOL
Using shrimp heads to make stock is very common - so much the better if they have the orange fatty roe inside the back of the head.
Somehow I overlooked this thread from last year. I have a recipe I put together. You can change it up as needed.
Potato corn soup
16 ounces potato, peeled and diced into small pieces
9-1/2 ounces fresh corn cut off the cob*
4-1/2 ounces chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cup good chicken broth**
1 cup dried instant mashed potato flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt***
1/4 tsp black pepper***
Place all ingredients except for the potato flakes, salt and pepper, in a pot on the stove. I have a gas stove, I put the flame on the lowest setting, and cover the pot. Stir every so often until diced potatos are tender. Add the potato flakes, salt and pepper, and simmer a little longer.
- You can use canned corn if fresh not available, but hey, in summer, sweet corn is awesome!
** I like to use chicken stock I’ve simmered myself but don’t always have it, so canned or bouillon can be used.
*** The salt and pepper can be to taste, or use whatever seasonings you like.
I’ve been meaning to try sweet corn with bits of hot pepper, called “fiesta style” The farmer’s market has some good veggies lately.