The Soup Topic (2007–2012)

[Rover]

Rover: I have been about one year remiss, and I hang my head. I think the heart means the celery mass before the stalks, but it really doesn't matter.

I'm mad about a James Peterson recipe I made from his amazing book "Splendid Soups." Sweet Potato, Chile and Lime soup. Here's a really ruff description of the recipe: (Fellow soup fiends, buy the book.)

Oh my, that Sweet Potato, Lime and Chile Soup!. Apart from roasting a couple of poblanos, it was so easy and so good.Soften some onions and garlic in butter. Add chunks of sweet potato(4 Sweetps) 1 qt chicken broth, 2 jalapenos, 3 roasted chopped poblanos. Cook till the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree. Add the juice of 2 limes, and sautee some corn tortilla strips.Top the soup with tortilla strips. Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, chopped cilantro.

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Hi, Maggie, I used young, tender celery stalks and was delighted with the soup - I've made it several times to rave reviews.

Now, I'm very intrigued by the Sweet Potato, Lime & Chile soup. When I saw your review, I immediately took down my copy of Splendid Soups and went shopping for the ingredients. My question is about the poblanos. Did you roast yours in the conventional way over a flame, or toast them in a skillet?

Thanks,

Rover

[kayb]

Oh my, that Sweet Potato, Lime and Chile Soup!. Apart from roasting a couple of poblanos, it was so easy and so good.Soften some onions and garlic in butter. Add chunks of sweet potato(4 Sweetps) 1 qt chicken broth, 2 jalapenos, 3 roasted chopped poblanos. Cook till the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree. Add the juice of 2 limes, and sautee some corn tortilla strips.Top the soup with tortilla strips. Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, chopped cilantro.

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Lord. That sounds SO good. I'm going shopping for Splendid Soups, this afternoon.

[KatieLoeb]

Going to try my hand at Tomato Lentil soup later tonight. I had some recently that was soooo delicious. Hoping mine comes out as well. Seems simple enough. I have all the stuff in house now that I've shopped for a few odds and ends. Will report back on the results...

[llc45]

Rover: I have been about one year remiss, and I hang my head. I think the heart means the celery mass before the stalks, but it really doesn't matter.

I'm mad about a James Peterson recipe I made from his amazing book "Splendid Soups." Sweet Potato, Chile and Lime soup. Here's a really ruff description of the recipe: (Fellow soup fiends, buy the book.)

Oh my, that Sweet Potato, Lime and Chile Soup!. Apart from roasting a couple of poblanos, it was so easy and so good.Soften some onions and garlic in butter. Add chunks of sweet potato(4 Sweetps) 1 qt chicken broth, 2 jalapenos, 3 roasted chopped poblanos. Cook till the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree. Add the juice of 2 limes, and sautee some corn tortilla strips.Top the soup with tortilla strips. Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, chopped cilantro.

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That sounds so good I may have to make it while I'm on vacation next week because I am not sure that I can wait until I get back. Hoping my rental condo has enough kitchen equipment.

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Finally made it, sprinkled with mexican cheese blend left over from my daughter's spanish class cooking project, YUMMMMM!!!

[JAZ]

Experimenting for a class coming up, I made a West African chicken soup with tomatoes and pureed peanuts yesterday. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was fabulous -- spicy and complex. The peanuts added more body than flavor, so that if you didn't know what was in it, well, you wouldn't know what was in it.

[OliverB]

I finally made the French Laundry carrot soup and it's pretty amazing! You use about 10 carrots the end up with around 2 cups or a bit less of soup that has such an explosive carrot taste, pretty amazing. Each spoon must contain the essence of one carrot. It's a chilled soup, extremely orange (it almost looks fake) and very tasty but also quite heavy - well, it's from the French Laundry.

I forgot to take pictures, but mine looked way more orange than the one in the picture here:

FL chilled carrot soup

I made my own juice, you could probably also use bought juice but I'd make sure it's fresh and without any preservatives etc.

Also would be great as a sauce I imagine.

Oliver

[Jaymes]

Oh my, that Sweet Potato, Lime and Chile Soup!. Apart from roasting a couple of poblanos, it was so easy and so good.Soften some onions and garlic in butter. Add chunks of sweet potato(4 Sweetps) 1 qt chicken broth, 2 jalapenos, 3 roasted chopped poblanos. Cook till the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree. Add the juice of 2 limes, and sautee some corn tortilla strips.Top the soup with tortilla strips. Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, chopped cilantro.

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Lord. That sounds SO good. I'm going shopping for Splendid Soups, this afternoon.

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After reading this post, I, too, went shopping for Splendid Soups, came home and made the Sweet Potato, Lime & Chile Soup and am here to report that it is splendid, indeed.

Also rich and unusual. It would make a great starter for a dinner party - especially one with a Latin American theme.

[suzilightning]

lately a variation on hot and sour soup - no veg, no pork, no tofu. lots of chicken broth, rice wine vinegar, siracha, cornstarch slurry and two eggs beaten with sesame oil.

also did a lentil with plenty of carrots. finished with some sherry vinegar

[Peter the eater]

I had a big bag of cremini caps that had to be used pronto. I barbecued them gills down then gills up so the juices were retained. Simmered in chicken stock, pureed, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, blend cream and garnished with Sriracha . . . my kinda soup . . .

[emilyr]

I had a big bag of cremini caps that had to be used pronto. I barbecued them gills down then gills up so the juices were retained. Simmered in chicken stock, pureed, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, blend cream and garnished with Sriracha . . . my kinda soup . . .

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My kind, too! Yum. With lows in the 40s this weekend, I have a feeling soup will be in the plans soon.

I made a simple potato soup on Wednesday. Just potatoes, onions, tarragon and basil, butter, salt, milk and chicken broth.

[Corinna]

'tis the season, so I thought I'd give this thread a bump. So far this fall, I've made a yummy New England Fish Chowder and a Pumpkin Bisque. I'm looking forward to some version of Lentil soon.

[kayb]

This has been the firsr cool (read: soupworthy) week we've had. Thus, quickie tomato bisque (Bloody Mary mix and plain yogurt; don't knock it until you've tried it!) with grilled cheese, beef and barley soup, and today, tomato-lentil-chorizo soup:

8 oz Spanish chorizo, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 large tomatos, skinned and diced, with seeds and juice

3/4 cup dried lentils, soaked for about 20 minutes

3 cups chicken broth

1 tsp Hungarian paprika

1 tsp sugar

salt to taste

Saute the onion and garlic over medium heat; add the chorizo and let it stew for a few minutes while you peel and dice the tomatos. Add them and continue to cook over medium heat until the tomatos start to break down. Add the chicken broth and lentils, paprika and sugar. Let simmer 40 minutes, and then salt to taste.

[Corinna]

Thanks for posting this tomato/lentil/chorizo soup. It looks awesome. I can't wait to try it! This thread is so great. Yay soup!

[demo5]

Roasted orange and red tomato soup with mustard ice cream.

[Jaymes]

Roasted orange and red tomato soup with mustard ice cream.

That looks terrific and sounds even better. Could you link to the recipe?

[demo5]

Roasted orange and red tomato soup with mustard ice cream.

That looks terrific and sounds even better. Could you link to the recipe?

It's my own creation. I haven't really tried to write down the exact amounts of tomatoes and onion before, so you might have to deviate from the recipe and make some extra onions and then add them until you get the right flavor (that's how I normally do it). Also, the recipe is just for the one type of soup, the Roma, which is what I always start with and which makes the best soup. If you are only going to do one color, use Romas. Obviously, if you want to do two different colors, you can just make half the recipe Romas and half your colored tomatoes. To get the concentric circles, you either take a can cut at both ends or a ring mold, place it in the middle of the bowl and then pour the Roma around the outside and the second color in the center (or vice-versa) (keep the can/mold pressed firmly against the bowl while you do this) and then remove the mold. (You can actually fill the can/mold up a little bit higher than the soup that surrounds it. When you remove the can/mold the soup at the bottom disperses a bit but the top will still be perfect and the result will look as it should). If you plan on carrying the bowls a distance, the soup will tend to spread if it is thin. Since I tend to like this soup thick, personally, it's not an issue, but if you choose to make your soup thinner, you might need to plan around this. I also use the concentric circles technique in my two pepper soup.

Tomato Soup w/ Mustard Ice Cream

Ice Cream:

• 6 Large Egg Yolks

1.5 Cups Whole Milk

1.5 Cup Heavy Cream

• Mutarde L’Ancienne

• Ice Cream Machine

Soup:

• 3/4 to 1 lbs. of Roma Tomatoes Per Person

• ¼ lbs. onion per person

• Olive Oil

• Sugar

• Salt

• Chicken or Vegetable Stock

• Thyme

• Baking Tray

• Tin Foil

• Strainer

For the Ice Cream:

1. Place the egg yolks in a medium-size bowl and whisk to blend.

2. In a heavy saucepan, cook the milk/cream over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges. Slowly whisk the hot milk/cream into the egg yolks. It is very important to whisk constantly so that the mixture stays a little cool and the eggs don’t scramble.

3. Return this mixture to the saucepan. Rinse out and dry the mixing bowl, then set a fine mesh sieve on top. Set it aside.

4. Place the saucepan over low heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir the sauce gently but consistently, sweeping the entire pan bottom and reaching into the corners. As soon as the sauce is slightly thickened, remove the pan from the heat and stir gently for 2 minutes to complete the cooking. The sauce should be the consistency of heavy cream and register around 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. When the mixture is thoroughly cooled, add enough mustard to get a full flavor. The flavor should be strong, as it will mix with the soup, but do not make it overpowering to the point where your eyes water from the mustard. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker.

For the Soup:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tin foil.

3. Cut an X in the bottom of the tomatoes. Blanche the tomatoes for a few minutes until skins just begin to peel. Shock in ice water.

4. Peel tomatoes, remove bottoms, cut them in half and seed them. Place the tomatoes face up on the baking sheet.

5. Drizzle the Tomatoes with olive oil.

6. Make a mixture of ½ salt and ½ sugar and sprinkle it liberally on the tomatoes until each one has some on it (do not coat them, just make sure that each one has some of the mixture).

7. Place in oven for about 3 to 3 ½ hours. When the tomatoes have started to shrink a little bit they are done.

8. Coarsely chop and sautee onions and thyme in a little butter until the onions are translucent. Set aside.

9. Puree tomatoes & onions in a blender with the stock in batches. Use as little stock as is necessary to make the mixture thin enough to pass through a fine strainer with the help of a ladle.

10. Put the mixture through a fine strainer and force through with a ladle.

11. Once all of the tomatoes have gone though, return the mixture to the stove and add stock as needed to get to the right consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool and when the mixture reaches room temperature, refrigerate.

12. Take the stock out of the refrigerator, ladle soup into individual bowls and place a scoop of the mustard ice cream in the center. Drizzle olive oil. Serve.

Edited October 8, 2009 by demo5 (log)

[Jaymes]

For the Ice Cream:

The mustard ice cream sounds particularly intriguing. Is there anything else you use it for?

[demo5]

For the Ice Cream:

The mustard ice cream sounds particularly intriguing. Is there anything else you use it for?

I haven't used it in anything else, yet.

[LindaK]

In order to use up a couple of the four celery roots in my possession, I'm currently simmering a celery root, green apple, and onion mixture. Will puree when done. I've made it before and it's really good and easy to make. Will top with crisped pancetta.

This sounds like a must-try. I love celery root but had never tried it as a soup until a few days ago when dining out at a birthday dinner. Before the starters arrived. the chef sent out tiny portions of a creamy celery root soup topped with a bit of mushroom foam and a razor-thin drizzle of a sauce that most definitely included cocoa. It was delectable, and while the whole meal was excellent, it's the soup I'm still thinking about.

[Rover]

I'm making Les Halles Mushroom Soup this evening - one of the simplest, most tasty soups in my repertoire. I always have a cache of chicken stock in the freezer, so this is a cinch to prepare and what could be more cheering on a cool fall evening than mushroom soup garnished with parsley from the garden and a dollop of fino sherry?

Rover

[Corinna]

I'm making Les Halles Mushroom Soup this evening - one of the simplest, most tasty soups in my repertoire. I always have a cache of chicken stock in the freezer, so this is a cinch to prepare and what could be more cheering on a cool fall evening than mushroom soup garnished with parsley from the garden and a dollop of fino sherry?

Rover

I love this mushroom soup recipe as well. I agree, nothing I could be more cheering.

Tonight, we enjoyed the Curried Cauliflower with Coriander Chutney discussed up thread (http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies.blogspot.com/2008/09/curried-cauliflower-soup-with-coriander.html). I've been wanting to make this recipe for ages, and finally all everything fell into place. Delicious, simple soup with just the right seasonings. I've happily added this to my rotation of soups.

Have I mentioned I love soup?

[Rover]

I'm making Les Halles Mushroom Soup this evening - one of the simplest, most tasty soups in my repertoire. I always have a cache of chicken stock in the freezer, so this is a cinch to prepare and what could be more cheering on a cool fall evening than mushroom soup garnished with parsley from the garden and a dollop of fino sherry?

Rover

I love this mushroom soup recipe as well. I agree, nothing I could be more cheering.

Tonight, we enjoyed the Curried Cauliflower with Coriander Chutney discussed up thread (http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies.blogspot.com/2008/09/curried-cauliflower-soup-with-coriander.html). I've been wanting to make this recipe for ages, and finally all everything fell into place. Delicious, simple soup with just the right seasonings. I've happily added this to my rotation of soups.

Have I mentioned I love soup?

Corrina - I've had that soup on my To Try list since last year; thank you for reminding me... I can't think why I haven't made it yet.

Rover

[KatieLoeb]

Tonight I made a test batch of Butternut Squash and Asian Pear soup that I'm thinking of bringing to a Soup Swap party next weekend. I seasoned a sauteed onion with a bit of Chinese Five Spice, then added a carton of chicken broth + one carton of water, 1/2 cup of apple juice and a large peeled, seeded and diced butternut squash. Brought to a boil, lowered heat to medium and simmered for 15 minutes. Add one peeled, cored and diced Asian pear. Simmer for ten more minutes then cooled for an hour. Pureed in batches in the blender with a couple of ounces of fat free half and half. It came out pretty tasty but a little bland, so I jazzed it up after the fact with some chipotle powder and salted with some Alderwood smoked sea salt. It's also a little sweet for me, so next time when I double the batch I'll use lowfat sour cream instead of the half and half and add the other seasonings before blending.

Edited October 12, 2009 by KatieLoeb (log)

[nakji]

Tonight I made a test batch of Butternut Squash and Asian Pear soup that I'm thinking of bringing to a Soup Swap party next weekend. I seasoned a sauteed onion with a bit of Chinese Five Spice, then added a carton of chicken broth + one carton of water, 1/2 cup of apple juice and a large peeled, seeded and diced butternut squash. Brought to a boil, lowered heat to medium and simmered for 15 minutes. Add one peeled, cored and diced Asian pear. Simmer for ten more minutes then cooled for an hour. Pureed in batches in the blender with a couple of ounces of fat free half and half. It came out pretty tasty but a little bland, so I jazzed it up after the fact with some chipotle powder and salted with some Alderwood smoked sea salt. It's also a little sweet for me, so next time when I double the batch I'll use lowfat sour cream instead of the half and half and add the other seasonings before blending.

The flavours here sound intriguing, but when I think of an asian pear, I think of more of a textural element, and less of a flavour. In Korea, julienned nashi pear is used as a crispy garnish for cold noodle soup "mul naengmyeon". Have you thought of using the pear more texturally? Like in a cubed salsa-like garnish, maybe mixed with grated ginger, to drop on the top before serving?

[Corinna]

Tonight I made a test batch of Butternut Squash and Asian Pear soup that I'm thinking of bringing to a Soup Swap party next weekend. I seasoned a sauteed onion with a bit of Chinese Five Spice, then added a carton of chicken broth + one carton of water, 1/2 cup of apple juice and a large peeled, seeded and diced butternut squash. Brought to a boil, lowered heat to medium and simmered for 15 minutes. Add one peeled, cored and diced Asian pear. Simmer for ten more minutes then cooled for an hour. Pureed in batches in the blender with a couple of ounces of fat free half and half. It came out pretty tasty but a little bland, so I jazzed it up after the fact with some chipotle powder and salted with some Alderwood smoked sea salt. It's also a little sweet for me, so next time when I double the batch I'll use lowfat sour cream instead of the half and half and add the other seasonings before blending.

The flavours here sound intriguing, but when I think of an asian pear, I think of more of a textural element, and less of a flavour. In Korea, julienned nashi pear is used as a crispy garnish for cold noodle soup "mul naengmyeon". Have you thought of using the pear more texturally? Like in a cubed salsa-like garnish, maybe mixed with grated ginger, to drop on the top before serving?

What a delightful idea for a soup! I love the thought of using five spice. I find that roasting the butternut squash makes a huge difference, especially when it comes to using it in a soup. The freshness of the Asian pear would contrast nicely, especially if a couple slices are floated on top in addition to using it in the soup itself. Sour cream souds like a good idea too. Yum!

Does anyone have another cauliflower soup recipe?

I only used half of the monster I bought for the Curried Cauliflower soup. If not, maybe I'll just make another batch. I was hoping to have enough for work this week, but I guess we got greedy last night. It was tasty, and no need to feel guilty about another helping of this soup!

Edited because I forgot to say: I think this recipe would also be great over rice.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Corinna (log)