Your favorite soups and stews

[SobaAddict70]

I'm really amazed at how many dishes in Italy, particularly Tuscan food, use bread in one form or another.

Minestrone invernale comes to mind -- the version I often make uses a piece of hearty bread (try salt-free bread if you can get it), rubbed with a clove of garlic as a base.  Place the slice of bread in a warmed soup bowl; ladle some minestrone over; top with a drizzle of EVOO.

Summer minestrone differs from winter minestrone in the quantity and variety of vegetables used.  The bread is optional; in the winter version, it serves to boost the heartiness level of the soup up to a "stick-to-your-ribs" version.  Another difference is that water is used in the winter version, as opposed to stock in the summer version.

Here is a recipe for minestrone invernale ("winter minestrone"):

from "The Classic Italian Cookbook" by Julia Della Croce (1996, Dorling Kindersley Limited)

1/3 c. (90 ml) EVOO (*extra virgin olive oil) + extra for toast

1 large onion, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and finely diced

1 small savoy cabbage (cavolo verza), shredded

2 medium zucchini, finely diced

2 celery ribs with leaves, chopped

6 oz. (175 g) string beans, trimmed and cut into pieces

1 lb. (500 g) winter squash, such as Hubbard, butternut or acorn, peeled and diced

2 c. (500 g) fresh or canned drained tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/2 head cauliflower, broken up and cut into slices

1 c. (250 g) dried haricot beans, soaked and cooked OR 1 lb. (500 g) canned beans, rinsed and drained

8 c. (2 l) bean cooking liquid (if used) or water

2 bay leaves

1/4 c. (30 g) chopped fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme OR 1 t. each dried

1 T. salt and 1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper

12 slices stale robust Italian or peasant bread

4 large garlic cloves, chopped into quarters

1.  Warm the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion and potato.  Saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and the potato leaves a starchy film on the pan, about 8 minutes.

2.  Add all the vegetables, the beans, cooking liquid or water, herbs and seasoning.  Simmer over medium-low heat, partially covered, until the cabbage is tender and the other vegetables are cooked through, about 1 1/2 hours.  Check the seasoning.

3.  Rub the bread on both sides with the garlic, then toast it lightly.  Drizzle each slice with plenty of olive oil and place two slices in each soup plate.  Pour the hot soup over the bread and serve.

Serves 6.

Note from Soba:  I prefer to use regular OO in place of EVOO initially, and use EVOO on the bread instead.  You can also vary the vegetables to reflect availability at the market.  The ones listed in the above recipe are a guide, in any event.

I view soup and stews as comfort food, on the same level as say, macaroni and cheese, home fries, and chicken pot pie.  Perhaps this is because in my family, soups such as bone marrow, beef and vegetable soup were such a big hit; certain childhood favorites dishes such as kari-kari (oxtails and vegetables in ground peanut sauce) and adobo lechon (pork with garlic, vinegar and peppercorns) are essentially stews.  I would be interested in hearing about other members' favorite soups and stews, and recipes for either, if any.

Soba

[Jinmyo]

Miso shiru.

Congee (kind of a soup).

Lobster bisque.

Leek and potato.

Wild mushroom.

Onion.

Soup made from last bits of a daube or pot au feu.

Pho.

[bigbear]

Cream of Garlic

Vichyssoise (cold)

[John Whiting]

Most of the European bread-based soups are methods of reclaiming stale bread which has totally ossified (e.g. French onion, gazpacho). When the bread is good, it's really worth reclaiming.

[researchgal]

Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup

with Lemongrass

(Canh Chua Tom)

Boeuf Bourguignon

5 onion soup

Avgolemono

Spanish pork stew (has green beans and olives in it)

I love soups and stews!

[tony h]

5 onion soup

Sounds interesting - tell us more. Do you have a recipe?

[researchgal]

I have a recipe at home and can post it next week. It's pretty much a basic onion soup recipe, but instead of all one type, calls for shallots, yellow onions, white onions, red onions and leeks. It's yummy.

[Blue Heron]

Jinmyo, how do you make your wild mushroom soup? What all do you put in it? What types of wild mushrooms do you use? It sounds sooo delicious.

[Jinmyo]

Blue Heron, I use what I can find. I always have on hand dried:

shitake

lobster

porcini (ceps)

honey

hua (flower)

hedgehog

morels

chanterelles

in huge quantities.

Even when I have an abundance of fresh mushrooms like porcini, I'll usually use some dried for the liquor that comes from soaking.

I saute some shallots, garlic, and a duxelle of cremini in butter and EVOO. Sweat the mushrooms. S&P. Add some white or red wine and reduce. Add soaking liquor and some vegetable or chicken stock. Add some smoked paprika and whatever other thing takes my fancy (such as ancho or Dijon). Simmer. Mounte au buerre.

But then sometimes I'll puree half of it.

And sometimes I'll use shoyu, mirin and such.

Or lemongrass and kaffir lime.

It depends upon the other dishes.

[Blue Heron]

Thanks Jinmyo. It looks like it is very versatile recipe, and one that can be seasoned in many different ways, which is handy. I bet one could even add cream, or coconut milk? yum, the possibilities....

[Jinmyo]

Yes, I often add cream.

Or use coconut milk. In the latter case, I use the fat to sautee with. The colour can become grim so I use turmeric to brighten it. Or beef stock and shoyu to darken it. Heh.

[Jinmyo]

Oh, another fun soup.

I make a vast pot of basic Italian tomato soup and instead of stale bread as in an aqua cotta I use cubed leftover grilled cheese sandwiches (extra old cheddar and San Francisco sourdough) with jalapeno.

Heh.

[rich]

Summer - Chilled Watercress

Winter - Red & Yellow Bell pepper - swirled to create a pinwheel affect.

[suzilightning]

this is one of our favorite meals and some of the things i make include:

chicken or turkey refridgerator velcro* soup

sweet potato soup with cinnamon and maple syrup

leek and potato

onion

manhattan clam chowder

scallop chowder

brunswick stew

venison stew

* refridgerator velcro - whatever can be added such as leftover rice, pasta, couscous, vegetables which includs my favorite 1 lb. bag of frozen peas

[Holly Moore]

Snert - Dutch Green Pea Soup

Snapper Soup as was made by the Old Original Bookbinders with a super rich veal stock base.

Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Soup with Dumplings, Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls.

Turkey Soup a couple of days after Thanksgiving.

My mother's lentil soup.

Oyster Stew prepared from heavy cream.

Made to order Cam Chowder (similar to Oyster Stew) as sometimes found along the Maine Coast

Mexican/Puerto Rican Fish Soup/Stew

[=Mark]

Ahhh, second day of summer, time to fire up those stockpots!

Got the idea for this after sampling a couple bowls of a regional style soup during a trip to the Firey Foods Festival in New Mexico, just substituted Chipotles for the green chiles:

Chipotle Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 6 lb. roasting chicken

1 32 oz can chicken stock

1 cup coarsley chopped celery (Save all veggie trimmings for stock)

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup sliced carrots

2 medium onions coarsely chopped

1 cup corn kernels

1 16 oz can diced tomato

1 cup chipotles in adobo sauce

1/2 tsp thyme

cracked black pepper to taste

salt to taste (I use heavy chinese soy sauce)

Roast chicken in oven till done, cool overnight.

Debone chicken and save all the bones & scraps. Cut meat into bite size bits removing fat & gristle. Refrigerate.

In a large stock pot add bones and carcass as well as veggie peelings, carrot butts and onion skins etc and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 to 3 hours, skimming and stirring occasionally.

Strain through a collander and add stock back to pot. Add celery, bell pepper, corn, onions and carrots as well as the canned stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until veggies begin to turn tender. Add chicken and canned tomato.

While soup is coming back to a simmer, take about a cup of it and put in a food processor with the chipotles & adobo. Whirr it up for about 30 seconds or untill the peppers are well pureed. Add salt, pepper and thyme to the soup, then start adding the chipotle puree about a quarter cup at a time, stirring and tasting for the desired pungency. Using all of it makes for a chileheads delite, but may be too much for some gringos to handle!

This makes a big old pot full which would probably serve 20 or 25 people. Good for freezing and serving at a later time. Like November...

You could use all canned stock and one of those rotisserie chickens from the store, but my life is dull and I got nothin' better to do...

[Jinmyo]

Mark, chipotle. Chipotle.

When I read tinned stock in your ingredients list my eyes narrowed. But I see what you're doing now. Might I suggest roasting the bones to get a darker colour and flavour instead? Anyway. Don't mind me.

A great soup.

[bigbear]

* refridgerator velcro - whatever can be added such as leftover rice, pasta, couscous, vegetables which includs my favorite 1 lb. bag of frozen peas

This reminds me of "mustgo" casseroles. When my father was stuck with making something for the kids and himself, he would declare a "clean out the icebox night." He'd check the refridgerator shelves for everyting that was about to enter the science project stage while muttering, "This must go. This must go. ....." He'd cut it all up, mix with pasta in a casserole, top with cheese and bake. Many different results, but all good memories now.

[John Whiting]

No one has mentioned that great French classic, soupe de poisson, or it's upmarket sibling, bouillabaisse. These are normally so much work and/or so expensive as to set themselves aside for special occasions. I have a version, however, whose cheapness and ease of preparation have put it into our regular rota:

Bouillabaisse for peanuts

One of the culinary ironies of our time is that so many peasant recipes which evolved to make economical use of ingredients in plentiful supply have, as these ingredients disappeared, been transformed into exotic and expensive gourmet fare. I’ve already described my localized and economized versions of cassoulet and brandade; now it’s time to have a crack at bouillabaisse.

Of course I’m using these time-honored names generically, much as one spoke of “California champagne” before such usage was prohibited by law and custom. When standards are constantly debased for commercial gain, such protection is essential. But much of the cassoulet and bouillabaisse served in regional tourist traps is “authentic” in name only. In the north of Scotland I made ersatz cassoulet from readily available local ingredients which I preferred to any I had been served in a restaurant, even in Languedoc.

Bouillabaisse belongs to a family of stews known the world over among fishermen who must sell or trade their catch and then feed their families on what’s left over. This includes virtually all of the small-boat fishermen who still survive, for there are very few who practice “subsistence” fishing in the totally self-reliant manner of old-fashioned smallhold farmers.

Just as pizza and lasagne, exported to America by impoverished Italian immigrants, were gradually converted into luxury dishes to match their consumers’ new-found prosperity, so bouillabaisse, in the hands of chefs, has come to include the most expensive shellfish and often has to be ordered a day in advance. Even those families making it at home in the basic traditional manner are now forced by the escalating price of fish in the markets to recapitulate the ingenuity of those original impecunious fishermen.

Waverley Root is quite correct in his opinion that bouillabaisse is at its best when made with an already constructed soupe de poisson. Some authorities even prefer this humble dish to its up-market sibling; there is a heartiness and complexity of flavor which cannot be achieved by just rapidly boiling a few fish in water.

Soupe de poisson may be made expensively with whole fish, extravagantly with fillets, or cheaply with fish heads and bones obtained from a friendly fishmonger. These are boiled up with the usual vegetables and herbs and then strained. If heads and bones or whole fish are used, this can be a fiddly process, depending on how much time you spend attempting to force some of the flesh through a collander without a plethora of small sharp bones.

I based my quick, cheap bouillabaisse on Colin Spencer’s classic straightforward version in his Fish Cookbook, with certain modifications enabled by a pressure cooker, a food processor, a blender, and a kosher fishmonger.

Cheap Instant Bouillabaisse

This recipe is for the smallest practical quantity, enough for six generous servings. The ingredients will cost as little as three to four pounds. It can be freely multiplied.

For the soup:

1 lb minced white fish (commonly sold by kosher fishmongers)

2 tbls olive oil

5 garlic cloves (or to taste)

1 onion

1 leek, cleaned

1 fennel root

1 small red chili pepper, or powdered cayenne to taste

1 can tomatoes

3 pints water

Julienne all the vegetables in a food processor. Put all the ingredients in a pressure cooker, bring to maximum pressure and cook for ten minutes. Depressurize under running cold water and blend at high speed to emulsify.

Allow a few minutes for the flavors to recover and combine. Half an hour’s preparation and cooking will give you a strong, thick, delicious soupe de poisson, ready to eat as it is, with croutons, grated gruyère and garlic mayonnaise or rouille. You may also cook in it, for about 15-20 minutes,

1 lb. diced or sliced raw potatoes

You can, at the same time as the potatoes, cook whatever additional fish and shellfish you prefer, depending on availability and the size of your wallet. To keep the first attempt notably cheap, I used

1 lb coley fillet, skinned [essential] and cut into small pieces

This I added for the last five minutes of cooking the potatoes. Cheap, boring fish – the sort you feed your cat – but, within the total context, nectar and ambrosia, made even sweeter by the fact that authenticity, as defined by the best authorities, would have added at least a zero to the cost. We had it two nights in a row and plan to make it again immediately. We could even afford to eat it twice a day.

©2001 John Whiting, Diatribal Press

[nyfirepatrolchef]

Definitely Congee...the few times a year I allow myself dry scallop..otherwise chicken.

When I could eat it..New England Clam Chowder. If it was good..Manhattan as well. Unfortunately I never got to make my grandfathers recipe for it before I had to stop shellfish.

Lately I can live on chicken soup with barley. Minestrone...tomato fennel, as long as I know it doesnt have nasties like preservatives and sugar, dairy, I can dive in.

[Jinmyo]

Bouillabaisse for peanuts

John, at first I thought you were talking about putting peanuts in boulliabaisse.

I scanned the ingredient list and instructions. No peanuts.

It wasn't until I had finished reading the entire post that I got it. Sad, really.

[Peachcreek]

I make soooo many soups that I don't have a favorite. But here is a partial listing of soups over the last week or two.

Gazpacho

Curried split pea

Spicy corn and beans

Asparagus leek

Tortellini veggie

Lemon pepper seafood

Chicken with wild rice

Thai chicken

Tomato pesto

Beer Cheese

Ranch beans with ham and sausage

Potato, tomato, and saffron

New England clam chowder

Lentil polenta

Hungarian mushroom

Veggie French onion

Jambalaya

Ox Tail

That is all I can remember off the top of my head. I serve 6-8 soup daily. I am often asked what soup is the "best". My PC answer is "They're like my kids.. I love them all"....

[Holly Moore]

Bouillabaisse for peanuts

John, at first I thought you were talking about putting peanuts in boulliabaisse.

I scanned the ingredient list and instructions. No peanuts.

It wasn't until I had finished reading the entire post that I got it. Sad, really.

I'm thinking Snoopy, Woodstock and Charlie Brown sharing a tureen at a sidewalk cafe in Marseilles.

[jhlurie]

There was a WONDERFUL discussion of Chicken Soup WAY back towards the beginning of eGullet. The improved search engine finds a lot of Chicken Soup discussions, but unfortunately not this one. The thread was even CALLED something like "Chicken Soup". Oh, well... the search is still about 100 times better...

Anyway, I think I had a slightly controversial position that Jewish Grandmother chicken soup (and I've had REALLY GOOD Jewish Grandmother chicken soup) was far from my favorite these days. I've had Thai and Mexican chicken soups with were MUCH more to my current taste. Other people mentioned AVGOLEMONO (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup) and CHICKEN PHO (Vietnamese).

[bigbear]

I enjoy chicken soup with quinoa. The consistency appeals to me.