Made any wonderful soups lately? Tell me about them!

Cafe Society
1

Last night, I made Avgolemono for the first time. It’s a zippy, zingy Greek lemon and rice soup, thickened with egg yolk. It was yummy!!!

I also made my Tomato Bisque soup for the Hubby Who Wouldn’t Like Avgolemono. It was yummy, too. I don’t have a recipe for this one… I just made it up (cooking by Karma, I like to say).

I didn’t start this thread only to gloat about my soup-making skills. If you’ve made any wonderful soups lately, I want to know about them! I want to replicate them, or tweak them to make them my own.

2

Last week I made a lovely, heavily modified version of a kale, barley & tomato soup from one of the Moosewood cookbooks (Daily Special?)

It took 1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley, 4 cloves of garlic (the original recipe calls for onions, but I leave 'em out and double the garlic), a can of white beans (my own addition), a big can of tomatoes, and 1/2 a bunch of kale. The secret, though, to get a really rich tomato flavor, is a handful of dried tomatoes, soaked and diced, about half a small can of tomato paste (another of my tweaks, discovered when I had half a can left over from another recipe and threw it in to use it up).

It’s an excellent way to get an intense tomato fix in the dead of winter.

3

Mmmm, sundried tomatoes. With the soups, I made two quiches: cheese & onion and bacon & sundried tomatoes. Lovely.

[/pats herself on the back] :slight_smile:

Podkayne, your soup sounds excellent!!! I shall put it on my “soups to do” list.

4

I’ve got a recipe for potato-leek soup that is simply TO DIE FOR. Very simple. Involves cream. Mmmmmm…liquid fat is so alluring.

5

I made a fennel leek soup that turned out really, really well recently. In case you’re interested, I copied the recipe out in my LiveJournal for a friend just yesterday.

6

I made a lovely soup the other day: Anasazi Butternut Squash with Chorizo. Since I’m a vegetarian, I substituted “Soyrizo” for the chorizo, and vegetable bouillon for the beef broth. I also left out the pepitas because I was too lazy to go hunting for them at a specialty market, and I substituted black-eyed peas for the kidney beans because that’s what I happened to have around the house (the cooking time of the peas was much less than 1 hr, too). It was delicious, and I bet it would be even better with pepitas. I pan-fried the Soyrizo until parts of it were dark brown, almost charred, and this really worked well in the soup–the bitterness and complexity of the browned sausage balanced out the sweetness of the squash, corn, and peppers.

7

Ok Kalhoun, you can’t just make a statement like that without coughing up the recipe. So start coughing, already.

8

Oh! Dill! I forgot! You must add lots and lots of dill!

9

This gets rave reviews when I make it. I’ve shared it on SD before; not sure anyone else has ever given it a try!

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
6 servings; vegan

1½ to 2 lbs. pumpkin or other winter squash
2 tbs. olive oil
2 medium leeks, (white and pale green parts) halved, well-washed and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
5 to 6 cups vegetable stock or canned broth
15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbs. tamari or soy sauce
1 tbs. grated peeled fresh gingerroot
1 tsp. ground cumin
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Quarter and seed pumpkin. Steam until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic and cook, stirring often, until leeks are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Scrape pumpkin from peel. In large pot, combine pumpkin flesh, sweet potato, bell pepper and 5 cups broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sweet potato is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

In food processor or blender, puree soup, in batches if necessary. If soup is too thick, add additional broth. Return mixture to pot. Add leek mixture and remaining ingredients. Simmer until heated through. 10 to 15 minutes.

Per 1-1/2 cup serving: 163 ca.; 6G prot.; 4G total fat (1G sat. fat); 29G carb.; 0 chol.; 467 MG sod.; 4G fiber.

Recipe is honorable mention in Vegetarian Times’ soup recipe contest. By Marie Donadio of Seattle, Wash., who says, “When I serve this soup to my husband, I call it “Autumn in Jamaca.” It has a harvest feel with an island spice.”

Ellen’s notes: I recommend chopping the leeks. Just slicing them produces long stringy pieces that are difficult to eat. I did steam the pumpkin, but several people have told me that it’s easier to bake a pumpkin than steam it. I don’t know; I haven’t tried.

10

Here’s my Kimchi soup, modified from a recipe a Korean friend gave me. Maybe more of a stew than a soup, but anyway the ingredients are:
[ul]
[li]Several strips of bacon, cut ino smaller pieces[/li][li]1 cup water or broth[/li][li]Some minced garlic (maybe 1 tablespoon)[/li][li]1/2 bunch of nappa cabbage, cut to about 1" lengths[/li][li]1 package tofu, cubed[/li][li]1/2 to 1 cup of kimchi[/li][li]1/2 daikon, sliced (optional)[/li][/ul]
Just throw everything in the pot and simmer until cabbages are soft, maybe 1.5 hour. Season to taste.

11

On second thought, make that at least 1 cup of kimchi. I do it by feel and I’ve never botherd to measure it, but I don’t think 1/2 cup would do it.

12

My best soup started out with another project, glazed onions. Every now and then, when onions are on sale, I slice up a 5 pound bag of them. I put 'em in the big crock pot with a 1/4 pound stick of butter or margarine. After 4 hours on high, I’ve got heavenly, sweet, mahogany brown glazed onions. I spoon them into sandwich size Ziplocs® and freeze them. (Put the little bags into a gallon freezer bag, or everything in the freezer will taste like that.) I make the little bags thin enough so I can break off a chunk to put into a dinner-in-progress.

Anyway, I had about 12 ounces of onion liquor in the bottom of the pot after I finished bagging the onions. I said, “Oh, baby! I gotta make some soup with that!”

I cut up 1 1/2 lbs. of chicken breast and browned it in EV olive oil. I set that aside in a bowl, and sauteed the veggies: some of the glazed onion, green bell peppers, Hungarian peppers, thin thin sliced potatoes, and carrots. I sloshed in about a cup of white wine to deglaze the pan, and slowly sprinkled in a few tbs. of flour to thicken it. I put back the chicken, then I added tarragon, thyme, sage, and a bit of cayenne pepper.

I let it simmer awhile, to let the flavors wrestle with each other, and it was ready. I toasted some whole grain bread, and I cut it up for croutons.

Sweet Mercy Magruder, that was some wonderful soup.

13

I made a rather simple Chicken soup the other day.

I first pounded flat a couple of chicken breasts, seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. I then cooked them for about 12 minutes in a medium skillet in about a teaspoon of light olive oil (I find EVOO has too strong a taste for soups and sauces.)

While the chicken was cooking , I diced up a medium onion, and sautéed it in two table spoons of butter. After the onion was clear and tender, I added a teaspoon of corn starch and stirred it until it was a sticky, ugly mess. I then poured in about 2 cups of Chicken Stock. (I had already reserved a cup to use later.)

By this time, the chicken was cooked, and ready to be moved to a cutting board to cool a bit. Using the chicken stock reserved earlier, I deglazed the skillet and added all that yummy mess to the soup.

Once the soup was hot, in went the cut up chicken. Simmered for another ten minutes.

Salt & pepper to taste.

It came out quite nicely, if I do say.

14

I’ve made this soup twice in the last two weeks. A friend sent me the recipe and both I & the housemate really like it. It’s pretty simple, but hearty.

Italian Pasta And Bean Soup

1/2 cup dried pinto beans
1/2 cup dried pink beans
1/2 cup dried kidney beans
1 14-15 oz can diced/crushed tomatoes (plum tomatoes work great)
1 cup small bowtie pasta
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon instant chicken broth granules
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion

Rinse beans. Cover with water and soak overnight. Rinse and place in a 5-quart Dutch oven with 8 cups water, 1 can (14-15- ounces) crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender-firm. Uncover, add spices & veggies, increase heat to low and boil gently for 35 minutes, stirring until soup has thickened slightly. Stir in pasta, increase heat to medium and cook 10 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.

Pretty easy, and tastes great.

15

The other day I was making a batch of lentil and linguica stew and decided to vary my usual recipe a bit, producing many oohs and aahs from my wife. Here it is:

Lentil and Linguica Soup

1 lb. lentils
water
1 package linguica, chopped into 1/2" pieces (weight varies; approx. 1-2 lbs.)
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. sage leaves, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
a few grinds of pepper
(Spice measurements are approximate. Um, that includes the water too.)

Sort the lentils to remove rocks and mutant lentils, then rinse a few times to remove chaff. Cover with water to about double the depth of the lentils. Add everything else. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are just soft (slightly beyond al dente). Add water if needed to maintain a soupy consistency.

Usually when I make this dish I use less water and cook the lentils a little longer, producing a thick stew. Also, this new version uses more onions and less cumin, for a lighter, onionier taste overall.

16

Well, you can read my thread on why I shouldn’t be allowed to own a food processor. Though I don’t think cream of potato really counts as a wonderful soup.

17

Bah. It’s yummy. My husband practically inhaled it.

18

CajunMan

19

so sorry - wrong thread. see previous post