cookbook_challenge | Entries tagged with soup

This is another recipe from The Adventurous Eaters Club by Misha & Vicki Collins

Purple Soup

Serves 6

2 tablespoons butter
½ cup roughly chopped yellow onion
2 medium raw beets (about 8 ounces total), roughly chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
2 medium yellow potatoes (about 12 ounces total), roughly chopped (about 1 ½ cups)
1 large carrot, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
Sea salt to taste
4 cups water
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sour cream for garnish

Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Toss in the onion and cook until softened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add your chopped veggies, salt, and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, or until the beets are very soft.

Let the soup cool slightly before pouring it from the pot into a blender. Blend until ultrasmooth and purple.

Return the blended soup to the pot and add the lemon juice. Stir and adjust the seasoning. Serve the soup in mugs or 6-ounce ramekins.

Kid’s job! Swirl in sour cream to create a purple fuchsia cyclone.

Notes:
My onion I had saved for this had gone off and it was storming out, so I subbed in onion powder. I don’t remember how I calculated it, but I came up with 1 ½ tablespoons.

I also used just under a half a cup of extra beets because I had that much left over and I wasn’t going to waste it.

My blender is not big enough to handle this much soup at once, so I had to do it in batches. It makes quite the extra mess. If I do it again, I am going to try using the potato masher and see how that turns out.

The beets I had defied all color logic and were no where near the any color normally associated with beets and were instead blood red. Everyone I sent a picture to with no context asked if I was making soup from the blood of my enemies for dinner, except one who wondered what “hella spicy” sauce I had conjured up. So just know that is a possible visual outcome.

Taste wise, it was quite good. It tasted most like buttered baked beets.

monksandbones

The Rebar Modern Food Cookbook has been my favorite since my mom gave me a copy to wish me well in my second year of grad school in 2007, long before I moved to the home of Rebar Modern Food itself. Most of the recipes in it that I haven't already cooked are lurking perpetually somewhere on my to-cook list. After I more or less lived through the winter on *mumble* cans of Amy's Organic Split Pea Soup and decided I should try making some split pea soup of my own, this recipe climbed to the top! Of course, after a cold and rainy/drizzly start to the week, this afternoon was warm and sunny and not perfect for soup, but oh well! It's a tasty soup, and one that I suspect will improve with sitting for a while!

From Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz, Rebar Modern Food Cookbook (Victoria, BC, 2001).

( Ingredients )

( Instructions )

I made a few slight modifications to the recipe: I didn't pre-heat my stock, and I couldn't face puréeing my can of chipotles in adobo so I substituted 1 tsp of chipotle chili powder, which I added with the red pepper flakes while I was sauteing the vegetables. My system can also only take so much garlic, so I skipped the two bulbs of roasted garlic and used six cloves of minced garlic instead of two. I used fresh sage, which I think from the volume given is what the recipe intended, although I think it would also work with smaller quantities of dry sage.

I had to add another teaspoonful or so of salt at the eating stage.

The soup has a pleasant heat to it with the quantities of red pepper flakes and chipotle given in the recipe. If you don't like things a little spicy, you could reduce the quantities, or maybe skip the red pepper flakes altogether. I'm also reserving final judgement until I've seen how the flavours develop over the next few days of leftovers, but I'm tentatively thinking that when I make this again, I might reduce the liquid smoke down to 1/2 tsp. It's a nice taste, but strong!

monksandbones

I've historically focused on cooking stew-type things in my slow cooker, but this weekend I decided to try one of my slow cooker soup recipes, which I left simmering while I was at work today, just in time to be my January post for my new 1–2 posts a month 2022

cookbook_challenge commitment!

The recipe is from Judith Finlayson, The Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

( Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Coconut )

The soup turned out to be decently tasty, and worth experimenting with making again! I think if I made it again I'd want it spicier–more red pepper flakes, definitely, and more curry powder and more effort to hunt down the right kind of fresh hot pepper as well. I think I would also try a smaller amount of tomato. The big can of tomato made the tomato flavour a little overpowering to me, especially compared to the squash. Finally, I would definitely use light not regular coconut milk next time. I don't know what I was thinking! Regular coconut milk is really rich and this is not that much soup for the amount of coconut milk!

yuuago

This recipe is from Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey Through Northeastern Italy by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford. Part of my family is from this region, so it's been really exciting to flip through this book. I've had a lot of these recipes bookmarked for ages. The results so far have varied.

Most of the ingredients in this recipe are easy to source/substitute. The recipe specifies pancetta, but also notes that a variation with smoked pork is typical in Trieste.

( Orzo e Fagioli/Barley and Bean Soup )
Adjustments:
+ Substituted dried herbs for fresh
+ Used smoked sausage instead of pancetta

Thoughts: Made it as directed, and the result was delicious, but the texture was not to my taste. It was very, very soft - even the carrots were as soft as butter. I prefer a chunky soup.

I'll likely make a version of it again, with the same ingredients, since I did like the way it tasted. But I'll reduce the cook time, and skip the blending. Pre-soaked Romano beans only require about ~45 minutes to cook, so this thing really doesn't need to be on the stove for three hours (?!). Plus of course there's also the option of precooking them or using canned beans to reduce the time further.

yuuago

Soup adventures! This lentil soup is from Soup Galore by Elizabeth Luard. Most of the recipes in this book have difficult-to-source/expensive ingredients, but this was one of the few basic/accessible ones. I've been meaning to try it for a while.

( Spiced Green Lentil Soup )
Additions and adjustments:

+ Added a carrot and some smoked sausage
+ Used chili powder instead of crushed dried chiles

This was all right, and it smelled nice, but it was missing a little something-something. I suspect this might be because of the chili powder substitution. Next time I'll see about using cayenne or hot Spanish paprika or something.

fuzzyred

I didn't cook anything last week because reasons, but I decided to venture a bit out of my comfort zone this week and cook with lamb. This recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I had a little less than 2 1/2 lbs of lamb (I didn't realize lamb was so expensive!), I used dried oregano and dried thyme (I couldn't find marjoram), 1 medium carrot and some baby carrots and 1 bundle of fresh spinach. I didn't read the ingredients list thoroughly, so I chopped the carrots and celery, rather than slicing them, though I think they were still a fine size.

This was a fairly easy soup to throw together, and despite my original uncertainty I did like the lamb. It was kind of fatty though (not sure if it was just this cut or if that's true of all lamb) so I think if I made this soup again I would use beef or pork instead. It was a very good soup, and a nice base for making adjustments to, if I felt like it in the future. I did try it both with and without the Parmesan cheese, and found it tasty both ways. All in all, I'm happy I made this one, even though I don't think I'd make it with lamb again.

Current Mood: pleased

spiralicious

Schwammerlbrühe (Bavarian Mushroom Stew with Dumplings)

I got the recipe from Craft Beering, but it's stashed on my phone, so sorry for no linkage.

Ingredients:
20 oz mushrooms
4-5 shallots
2 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
½ cup white wine (preferably dry)
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
thyme, (optional, 1 tsp dried or picked leaves of 4-5 sprigs)
2 cups heavy cream
1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped

Instructions:
1. Finely dice the shallots or onion. Clean and cut the mushrooms depending on their size – slice, quarter or cut in half.
2. Heat a large, deep pan over medium-high. Add the butter and saute the shallots for a minute or so. Add the mushrooms, stir well and saute for a couple of more minutes.
3. Deglaze with the white wine and scrape off all brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine evaporate, then season with salt, pepper and if using thyme add it.
4. Pour the heavy cream over the mushrooms, stir and bring to simmer. Let simmer for about 5 minutes until the cream begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and add finely chopped parsley just before serving.

I substituted one large onion for the shallots, used regular butter, only used half the salt, used dried parsley, and left out the thyme (and did not miss it). I only quartered the mushrooms, which I though was fine, but my mother complained were too big. Everyone agreed it was extremely tasty though, and that is really the point. I did not make bread dumplings. Instead, we ladled the soup over chunks of pretzel rolls.

There was a little bit left over, so the next day, I added some leftover hamburger to it and heated it up over noodles for an impromptu stroganoff for one. Also, very good.

yuuago

I've been wanting to make this Hungarian Mushroom Soup for ages. It requires a lot of fresh mushrooms, so it was a matter of waiting for a really good sale. ;)

( Ingredients and instructions )

I really liked this one. Would recommend. Definitely can see myself making it again.

gramarye1971

Another recipe nicked from a Giada De Laurentiis cookbook, though I've tweaked it slightly based on my usual greens-and-beans recipe.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 celery stalk, chopped rough
1 carrot, chopped rough
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Red pepper flakes and ground pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups cannellini beans (with liquid, if canned)
4 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth if desired)
1 pound of chopped escarole (1 bag, washed and pre-chopped)

Heat a large pot or Dutch over over medium-high heat, add oil and chopped onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Season with salt and sauté for about 4 minutes, until vegetables start to soften. Add red pepper flakes and ground pepper, then cannellini beans, and stir to combine.

Add broth and heat the liquid until it reaches a simmer, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes until beans are warmed through. Stir in escarole until wilted; cook for 5 minutes until tender. Makes about 4 servings.

This goes well with crusty Italian bread and a respectable sprinkle of parmesan. Unless you enjoy eating huge chunks of garlic, I recommend removing the smashed garlic cloves from the broth before serving.

yuuago

I've been wanting to make this one for a while; glad I finally got a chance to get around to it. :)

This recipe is from the WeightWatchers New Complete Cookbook.

( Senegalese peanut soup )

Overall, I liked this quite a bit! Very different from my usual, and pretty tasty. Can easily be made vegetarian-friendly if you swap out the chicken stock for vegetable stock. I could see myself making this again. Might add more vegetables next time - cauliflower could be nice. (Suggestions welcome.)

fuzzyred

This week, even with the awful heat and humidity, I made Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner, from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook Limited Edition.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I didn't find anything labeled "stewing chicken" so I just used a regular whole chicken, and I think it was just under 4lbs. I didn't have proper scissors of knives, so I wasn't really able to cut up the chicken. I did the best I could, and then just flipped it over in the pot about halfway through. I didn't measure any of the vegetables, just used what I think was a medium onion, two medium to large carrots, and three stalks of celery since two didn't look like enough. I didn't really know what to use for "medium noodles" so I used linguine and just snapped it in half. I also eyeballed the amoubt since I couldn't really measure it in a measuring cup; the bundle of snapped noodles was about 2 inches in diameter. I also left out the parsley.

This soup was really tasty. It wasn't complicated either, if you knew how to break apart a chicken. I really don't like handling raw chicken and didn't have the right tools for it, but the soup still worked anyway so at least the recipe was forgiving in that way. I also got a few suggestions on how to do the chicken next time, so I may very well try again. I might also cook the noodles separately next time and cool them before adding them to the soup. Between the chiclen and the noodles, pretty much all of my liquid got absorbed by the time I put the leftovers away. I've just been adding water as I heat the leftovers and it seems to be working fine.

All in all, this was a good recipe and I would make it again, though I will certainly be looking into alternatives to handling the raw chicken (or at least proper tools for doing so) and I may add a few more herbs and spices next time.

arthur_p_dent

Tonight I made this Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup from Spend With Pennies.

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup/

Aside from leaving out the onion and celery (somebody around here doesn’t like them), I followed the recipe as-is. Without sautéing the carrot I expected them to be undercooked. I was right, but they were only a little bit firm - not a deal breaker. I expect the same would have happened with the celery, had I used them.

Overall not bad, but the heavy cream makes it a pretty rich soup. A small bowl with a salad is plenty for dinner. No word yet on how it reheats, but I’ll find out at lunch tomorrow. I’ll probably make this again, but I’m thinking I’ll try substituting table cream for the heavy cream, to see if it lightens it up a bit.

Enjoy. =]

Updates:

First, leftovers reheat just fine. Like any cream soup you have to warm it slowly to keep it from breaking, but it ends up tasting about the same as the first time around.

Second, I want to reiterate that this is a very rich soup. Frankly, after finishing up the leftovers, I’m kinda sick of it already. I had a thought to leave out the cream altogether - make it more like a soup version of a pot pie filling. The weather forecast says this is a good week for soup, so I might just give that a try.

Current Mood: good

stellar_dust

Tonight, in my ongoing experiments with cast iron, I made the next thing on thekitchn's list of The First Five Things to Cook in Your Cast-Iron Pan: Pork Schnitzel. ( photos & evaluation under here )

To go with it, I made Company Potato Casserole from the little pamphlet that goes with my mini crock pot. ( photos of recipe & dish under here with evaluation )

arthur_p_dent

As I was looking for my pea soup recipe to use up my leftover Easter ham, I came across this recipe that I’ve been sitting on for some time now. Since I happened to have some potatoes that I had no plans for I thought I’d give this a shot instead.

Recipe taken from Baking Magic

Note: It says 30 minutes, but plan for an hour. Recipes are written by people who already know how to make it, not people trying to figure it out for the first time.

Substitutions:

Potatoes - I had fingerlings, so I used those. Unpeeled (ever try to peel a fingerling potato?).
Celery / Onion - I rarely have these handy. I used Penzies Celery Flakes (about 1/2 teaspoon) and Granulated Air-Dried Shallots (about 1/4 teaspoon).
Broth - I use homemade, which has considerably stronger flavour than store bought. For cream soups I cut it 50% with water to keep it from overpowering the other ingredients.
Milk - I only had coffee cream, so I cut it 25% with water (result is roughly equivalent to whole milk).

Results:

Overall a very good soup. Definitely stick with russets - they’re just much better potatoes for soups. If you typically shy away from recipes where you have to make a roux, just remember to stick with a medium heat and keep wisking, and you’ll be fine.

Enjoy =]

Current Mood: pleased

turlough

I'm continuing in my quest to try more of Nigella Lawson's recipes. This time I used one I found on her site, Spinach and Coconut Soup.

Changes: I used red curry paste instead of green and started out with one tablespoon, but ended up adding about half a tablespoon more when tasting the finished soup. Since I didn't have powdered vegetable stock I started out with half a cube, but as with the curry paste I added the rest of it after tasting. Also added a splash of fish sauce and if I'd had it at home I would have a added some lime juice too. (Didn't add any chilli though.) It tasted better after reheating so I would recommend making it at least an hour in advance.

Verdict: I liked it quite a lot. And since it was quick and easy to make, with ingredients I already had at home, I'm definitely making it again.

Current Mood: productive

adrian_turtle

Since I stopped eating dairy, I've missed cream of broccoli soup. I had some vegan recipes waiting for me to have the right combination of ingredients, ability to use my hand, and interest in a new vegetable soup. In the last few weeks, I made two variations; both were good, and one will go into regular rotation. Both are simpler than the original, using a stick blender, microwave, and mallet to reduce the need to transfer things to and fro. Both are scaled for my 3-quart soup pot.

https://www.kathysvegankitchen.com/vegan-cream-broccoli-soup/

( recipe using potato )

( recipe using white beans )

ane

This last weekend was soup/stew weekend. I made Beef Stew on Saturday and tried this Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup on Sunday. It's definitely a keeper.

Recipe

A couple changes.
I omitted the tomatoes and the sherry/wine.
To make up for the omitted liquids I added another cup of beef broth, but I think it would have been fine with the 4 cups of broth.

Next time I'll plan ahead and start with dried black beans.

fuzzyred

Tonight I made Wild Rice-Mushroom Soup from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook.

( recipe )

Thoughts and Variations
I thought I had wild rice, or at least brown rice, at home, but I didn't. So I used long grain white rice instead. Because the package directions said to cook the rice for 15 minutes, I simmered it in the broth for 13 minutes, then added the green onions and cooked for an additional 3 minutes (still covered). I didn't have (and couldn't find at the store) thyme, so I used dried oregano instead. I also didn't have sherry, or any acceptable substitutes so I simply left it out.

All in all it came together pretty well. It was warm and creamy and filling, and I think the onions kept it from being *too* heavy. The white rice wasn't mushy, so yay for not overcooking it, but using wild rice might have added a bit more flavour to it. I can think of a few variations to try next time, but I think I would make it again as is, or with the wild rice.

Current Mood: pleased

panisdead

This recipe is from Michelle Tam's Ready or Not! cookbook. I use a couple recipes from this repeatedly, but feel otherwise meh about it.

( Roasted Onion Soup )

Variations and Notes: I made the recipe as written aside from using one cup chicken broth and one cup bone broth each. I used about 1/4 tsp ground thyme instead of fresh, and could not taste it at all.

In and of itself, this soup was good and I'd be happy to eat it again. However, while this is an easy recipe with few required ingredients, it took a lot of time and generated a lot of dishes for about four servings of soup. To make a meal for two adults and a teenager, I served it alongside salad, half a pack of bacon, half a bag of freezer chicken strips, and half a bag of tater tots. I don't think I'd repeat this recipe for cooking at home, although it could be a nice potluck item when that becomes an option again.

If I did make this again, I'd line that baking dish with aluminum foil before I put the onions, garlic, and oil in. My uncovered pan is now basically shellacked with burnt-on olive oil.

adrian_turtle

It's soup weather here, and I had most of the ingredients of the "Cozy Cabbage and Farro Soup" that caught my eye on Smitten Kitchen a few years ago. I used barley instead of farro.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/01/cozy-cabbage-and-farro-soup/

I had less than half of what might have once been a 6 pound cabbage. (I never weigh produce anymore. It just turns up, mostly on request.) I contemplated it, and decided I ought to make a double batch of soup. Getting the big stock pot out of the cupboard, rinsing and drying it, and putting it on the stove, was pretty hard on my hand.

( Read more... )

It was AMAZING. I love this soup. Sauteed cabbage sometimes has a bitter edge to it, but the lemon smooths that out beautifully while keeping it lively. The little chewy bits of barley were great. I deliberately reduced the barley quite a bit, because I was planning to have the soup with toasted bagel, but if I make it again I will probably use more.

ETA: I say "if" because I can't really manage chopping the cabbage and lifting the pot. I might try to scale it down to fit in my little pot and/or use coleslaw mix when I can get that after the pandemic.

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February 2024

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Page Summary

spiralicious - Purple Soup
monksandbones - Smoky Green Split Pea Soup with Sage and Roasted Garlic
monksandbones - Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Coconut
yuuago - Orzo e fagioli/Barley and bean soup
yuuago - Spiced green lentil soup
fuzzyred - Lamb and Orzo Soup
spiralicious - Schwammerlbrühe (Bavarian Mushroom Stew with Dumplings)
yuuago - Hungarian Mushroom Soup
gramarye1971 - Greens and Beans Soup (Zuppa di Scarola e Fagioli)
yuuago - Senegalese peanut soup
fuzzyred - Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup
arthur_p_dent - Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
stellar_dust - Schnitzel, with Potato Casserole/Soup
arthur_p_dent - Easy and Comforting Ham and Potato Soup
turlough - Spinach and Coconut Soup
adrian_turtle - broccoli soup
ane - Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
fuzzyred - Wild Rice-Mushroom Soup
panisdead - Roasted Onion Soup
adrian_turtle - cabbage soup

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Cookbook challenge

Make new recipes you already own!

Entries tagged with soup

Purple Soup

Smoky Green Split Pea Soup with Sage and Roasted Garlic

Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup with Coconut

Orzo e fagioli/Barley and bean soup

Spiced green lentil soup

Lamb and Orzo Soup

Schwammerlbrühe (Bavarian Mushroom Stew with Dumplings)

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Greens and Beans Soup (Zuppa di Scarola e Fagioli)

Senegalese peanut soup

Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

Schnitzel, with Potato Casserole/Soup

Easy and Comforting Ham and Potato Soup

Spinach and Coconut Soup

broccoli soup

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Wild Rice-Mushroom Soup

Roasted Onion Soup

cabbage soup

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February 2024

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