The Soup Topic (2007–2012)

[Cleo]

Wow, that carrot soup looks great!

Although I'm not a huge fan of soup, I've been trying to make more of it lately. Can anyone point me in the direction of a broccoli soup, but one that is somewhat healthy (meaning, not a ton of cream, etc)?

Thanks!

[zeffer81]

I make broccoli soup by simply boiling it and blending it with a bit of the cooking liquid (cook it in stock or water; either one is fine.) Add a hefty splash of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste and call it a day. I add some parm as well and find that a little goes a long way. As usual, it's even better for lunch the next day!

[menuinprogress]

Recently, we had some left-over gelatinous stock from making coppa di testa. Since it has a somewhat similar flavor profile to Pho' stock (hints of cinnamon, clove and allspice), we used it to make this "Faux" Pho':

We added a few slices of the testa into the mix to provide some "meaty bits".

[baroness]

I make broccoli soup by simply boiling it and blending it with a bit of the cooking liquid (cook it in stock or water; either one is fine.)  Add a hefty splash of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste and call it a day.  I add some parm as well and find that a little goes a long way.  As usual, it's even better for lunch the next day!

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This is very similar to Gordon Ramsay's broccoli soup (just omit the lemon, and serve it over slices of Montrachet-type goat cheese with a few toasted walnuts or almonds). Delicious!

[KatieLoeb]

World's Quickest Broccoli Soup recipe, for the time chellenged, or the lazy.

Take one bag of pre-cut broccoli florets and dump into a microwaveable casserole (shallow and long is best - I use a glass baking dish). Cover with one carton of vegetable stock, add two or three garlic cloves and a half cup of frozen mashed potatoes or leftover cooked rice. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for four or five minutes until soft, stirring once halfway through. Season to taste (I like Penzey's French Four Spice and salt), add a negligible amount (1/2 cup or less) of fat free half and half or evaporated skim milk, drop it into the blender in two batches and puree. Reheat gently and serve. Total time start to finish is about 15 minutes.

This works for caulifliower or baby carrot soup too.

Edited January 14, 2008 by KatieLoeb (log)

[purplewiz]

Vaguely Asian Noodle Soup:

No recipe, just thrown together from all the yummy ingredients I was inspired by at our local HMart. Very good, very filling.

Marcia.

[Pille]

Three more recent soups:

Creamy Beetroot Soup with Horseradish:

Sauerkraut Chicken Soup:

Salmon Vegetable Soup:

[Cleo]

World's Quickest Broccoli Soup recipe, for the time chellenged, or the lazy.

Take one bag of pre-cut broccoli florets and dump into a microwaveable casserole (shallow and long is best - I use a glass baking dish). Cover with one carton of vegetable stock, add two or three garlic cloves and a half cup of frozen mashed potatoes or leftover cooked rice.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Microwave for four or five minutes until soft, stirring once halfway through.  Season to taste (I like Penzey's French Four Spice and salt), add a negligible amount (1/2 cup or less) of fat free half and half or evaporated skim milk, drop it into the blender in two batches and puree. Reheat gently and serve.  Total time start to finish is about 15 minutes.

This works for caulifliower or baby carrot soup too.

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Certainly sounds easy! I actually found this recipe and I will probably make it tonight. I guess the pureed beans help to thicken the soup...

[KatieLoeb]

Cleo:

I never thought about using beans to thicken soup (other than bean soup, of course) but it certainly makes sense, as long as it doesn't give the soup a mealy texture. I like the mashed potato or rice + a little bit of low/no fat dairy to get a cream soup texture and flavor without all the calories and fat. Works with almost anything.

edited to add:

Tonight's dinner was a riff on a Rachel Ray recipe from Food TV that I accidentally caught her cooking while flipping channels a few days ago. My version uses more bok choy, only one pound of frozen shrimp with the addition of some cubed firm tofu, vegetable broth and shrimp boullion, fresh Thai chiles instead of red pepper flakes and Japanese spinach noodles instead of vermicelli. I served it with a big squeeze of fresh lime and some chopped fresh cilantro and it was delicious. I have leftovers enough for a couple of days of lunches too.

Pretty easy and quick after all the slicing and dicing was done. And very tasty as well. Definitely something I'd make again.

Edited January 16, 2008 by KatieLoeb (log)

[lucylou95816]

Cleo:

I never thought about using beans to thicken soup (other than bean soup, of course) but it certainly makes sense, as long as it doesn't give the soup a mealy texture.  I like the mashed potato or rice + a little bit of low/no fat dairy to get a cream soup texture and flavor without all the calories and fat.  Works with almost anything.

edited to add:

Tonight's dinner was a riff on a Rachel Ray recipe from Food TV that I accidentally caught her cooking while flipping channels a few days ago.  My version uses more bok choy, only one pound of frozen shrimp with the addition of some cubed firm tofu, vegetable broth and shrimp boullion, fresh Thai chiles instead of red pepper flakes and Japanese spinach noodles instead of vermicelli.  I served it with a big squeeze of fresh lime and some chopped fresh cilantro and it was delicious.  I have leftovers enough for a couple of days of lunches too.

Pretty easy and quick after all the slicing and dicing was done.  And very tasty as well.  Definitely something I'd make again.

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What are Japanese spinach noodles?

[monavano]

Chicken soup with carrots and farina "spaetzle"

[ludja]

^ What a great idea, monovan. That looks delicious and I really do like farina dumplings. They're a common condiment in Austrian beef soups but this looks like another wonderful use for them. I will try this soon.

I made a classic Italian soup that I had heard about before but never made: chickpea parsley soup with lemon. I started with dried chickpeas and pureed about half of the mixture. The final flavor was pretty incredible; more than the expected some of the parts.

I adapted the recipe from a book edited by Jeni Wright, "Italy's 500 Best Ever Recipes". (I added in carrot, celery and garlic to the mirepoix and also seasoned with some crushed red pepper.)

3/4 cup dry chickpeas

1 med onion

1 med carrot

1 stalk of celery

2 fat cloves of garlic

1 bunch fresh Italian parsley

2-3 Tbs olive oil

5 cups chicken stock

juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste

salt and bl. pepper

crushed red pepper

lemon wedges

chopped parsley for garnish

Soak chickpeas overnight, then cook for 1 1/2 hrs in unsalted water until just tender. Drain and reserve.

Finely chop onion, carrot, celery, garlic and parsley. Saute the chopped vegetables in olive oil over low heat until they are softened a bit. Add chickpeas and cook for an additional 3-4 min then add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, season with salt and peppers and then simmer for about 30 min until chickpeas are tender. Roughly puree about half of the mixture and then add back to the pot.

Before serving, add lemon juice and again check the seasonings. I also garnished the soup with a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh parsely just before serving.

*I let this soup sit for a day before we had it.

Edited January 16, 2008 by ludja (log)

[KatieLoeb]

What are Japanese spinach noodles?

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They are thin, long and straight green noodles I found with the soba noodles at my local Asian Market. I'd never used them before, but they're pretty tasty. They are opaque, and a very pale green color. They cooked in about 4 minutes.

My Asian Market probably has about one hundred different types of noodles. An entire aisle, in fact. I was a bit overwhelmed yesterday when I was looking for something to put into my "faux-pho" soup. I started reading the packages and looking for English descriptions and directions. That cut out at least half of the possibilities. The spinach noodles looked good so I bought them. I was pleased with the result. They're definitely kind of like a thin soba noodle. But green.

[BarbaraY]

I made Butternut Squash and Leek soup. Sorry no photos as I didn't think about it.

A simple recipe that I got from a Bon Appetit mag about 20 years ago,

Roast squash and peel

Sweat leeks in a little butter

Add roasted squash and a few sprigs of thyme

Chicken stock to cover and simmer till it's done.

Blend with stick blender or in regular blender until smooth.

Garnish with crumbled bacon and some sour cream. Maybe some more thyme leaves if you have them or minced chives.

I don't have a copy of the recipe anymore. Now I just wing it.

[phatj]

I made a really good chowder with pretty pedestrian ingredients yesterday -- canned claims, store brand bacon. My secret ingredient was some leftover roasted (in goose fat) potatoes and carrots that I whizzed in the chopper and added in place of flour. The carrots added a little color and sweetness and the potatoes basically dissolved into the broth, thickening and enriching it.

Alas, no pictures.

[Milt]

Last Wednesday evening after dinner I made Cream of Butternut Soup to serve to my bridge group at noon on Thursday. Last fall I had printed out a recipe from Taste of Home and finally tried it. My primary adjustment to the recipe was to use buttermilk, rather than the 1% milk called for in the recipe. Besides getting those two butternut squash off the counter, it tasted really good.

[dividend]

I've been on a soup kick since re-starting full time work, plus soups fit nicely into my new year's pledge of frugality.

Two weeks ago it was this turkey soup . It's so quick and easy, and this time I used smoked turkey stock I made after Thanksgiving using Michael Ruhlman's method. The smoky stock turned this easy soup into something craveworthy.

Last week it was this ham bean soup entirely with on-hand ingredients. My aunt had sent me the remains of her Christmas ham, which I stashed in the freezer. Definately a non-pretentious recipe, and wonderfully comforting.

This week it'll be french lentil soup, again pretty much entirely from the pantry. I'm going to use some locally made smoked sausages in place of the ham, and this suprisingly drinkable $3.99 wine. Should feed the BF and me for at least 3 days.

[monavano]

Sopa di Mani- peanut soup. This was so easy. It's like a beef vegetable soup with peanuts and a kick from chili flakes.

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/12009769...5_1826_4256.jpg

[Lindacakes]

This is nice, a new soup thread. I have the old one bookmarked and haven't made my way through it yet. Better to start from the beginning.

Funny this should come up right now, in another thread about embarassing cookbooks to have on the shelf, someone said The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. This weekend I made the potato leek soup from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, one of my favorite soups.

Potato Leek Soup

The Gypsy Soup from the Moosewood is also exceptionally good, and unusual in flavor.

Gypsy Soup

I like to have this in my freezer all winter long:

Minestrone

My Costco is currently carrying some sort of clam chowder in the same case with the hummus. Exceptionally good.

I'm looking for bean soups if anyone has a good one. Some way to use yet another bag of Rancho Gordo beans.

Important details: the soup pot and the immersion blender. I see some folks are using Le Creuset or similar. I do that, and I have a 10 quart (hard to find size) stock pot. Then there's the Bamix. This has changed my life. I read that "cool the soup, place the soup in the blender in batches and blend, return to pot, reheat" and laugh with joy.

I want to go over to eat at Hummingbirdkiss's house and give her a hug.

[Anna N]

Leek and potato soup from Bouchon. The rolls are Fat Guy's dinner rolls from Bread in Half the Time (but I cheated and didn't use the microwave).

I over filled the bowl but since there was no one to see but me................

[monavano]

Cream of kohlrabi and potato soup garnished with shredded and sauted tat soi and chopped egg.

If it sounds interesting, the recipe is here.

Edited February 1, 2008 by monavano (log)

[Milt]

Yesterday, I prepared a Chicken Mulligan Stew from an About.com recipe and served it to a group of dinner guests last night. I got so far behind on everything (this is a new experience for me - fixing a complete meal for eight) that I forgot to take any pictures. A 23 ingredient recipe isn't something I generally do, but it turned out to be very good. Having rice, pasta and potatoes in addition to cannelini beans made the dish very interesting.

[monavano]

Wedding soup with tat soi, escarole and pork meatballs.

[DCP]

Just under 2 weeks ago after grocery shopping, realized that a massive butternut squash still needed to be used. Defrosted some mystery sausage from the freezer (from a friend's farmers' market around Harrisburg, PA, but the label disappeared - tasted a bit like a sage-y breakfast sausage, only in full-size links) and loosely based the rest on this recipe. Somehow, it came out smashingly, and I'm not tired of it yet - had it for ~8 days' worth of lunches and still 3 quarts in the freezer.

Departures from the recipe: 1 ~5 lb. butternut squash; roasted in the oven at 450 F first with salt/pepper/curry powder/EVOO until tender; 6 C vegetable stock and 4 C chicken stock (less squash, less soup, I reasoned); 1 lb. sausage - not smoked; no onions - but about 1/2 C dried mirepoix to simmer in; no wild rice; 3 generous cups corn (canned); replace half & half with milk; add red pepper flakes and some seasoned salt.

Doesn't bear much resemblance to the original save inspiration, but mighty tasty - silky from the squash, sweet from the corn, spicy and rich from the sausage.

[Pille]

Spicy Red Lentil Soup, based on a recipe in Claudia Roden's "Tamarind and Saffron" (dinner on Saturday and Sunday):

And Vietnamese chicken noodle soup pho ga (dinner with girlfriends on Wednesday; recipe from Jackum Brown's "The Vietnamese Collection"):