Tag Archives: soup

Sweet Pea and Leek Soup

13 Apr

It’s been a busy Spring at our house and although I have been rather out of touch, there HAVE been delicious things going on in my little kitchen. This was our soup for our Easter meal and since it is lovely and simple and seasonal, I knew I would eventually get to sharing it with you! It is almost like a bisque, because the texture is that creamy, but there is no cream or milk!

This was a delightful starter for our Spring meal!

This was a delightful starter for our Spring meal!

Enjoy, and happy Spring!

Sweet Pea and Leek Soup

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs butter

2 Cups leeks cleaned and sliced, white part only

1 Tbs fresh thyme

1 Cup frozen peas plus ¼ Cup set aside

1 quart good vegetable stock

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black or white pepper, fresh cracked

In a soup pot heat the oil and butter at medium high. When the foaming subsides, add leeks, stir to coat and lower heat to medium. Cook the leeks, stirring occasionally, until very soft, adding the thyme after about 5 minutes.

Add the peas (setting aside that extra ¼ Cup) stock and nutmeg, Bring to a steady simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the peas are very soft.

Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add the remaining peas, salt and pepper and serve with croutons, if desired, or a dollop of plain yogurt.

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Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup

1 Mar

(Reminder to vote for my piece on Watermelon Mojitos for an #EDDYS2015 Award by clicking here! Vote daily until March 15!)

Here on Long Island we are having one of the coldest winters on record. Since you can’t reasonably spend the entire winter drinking hot toddies all day — as much as the idea appeals –, the second best, more sensible and certainly more sustainable response is soup.

Light winter lunch

Light winter lunch

Here is an easy-peasy soup recipe that is warming and light, inspired by my dear friend Deborah Rivera Pittorino’s matchless soups at her restaurant La Cuvee Seafood & Grille in the heart of Long Island’s North Fork wine country. She shares some her recipes on her blog, The Seasoned Fork, by the way.

This recipe adds a little nuttiness (nutty flavor, not crazy person nuttiness) by dry roasting the cauliflower for 10 minutes. This amount makes four appetizer servings or two meal-size bowls and reheats really well in the office microwave for lunch!

Office lunch

Office lunch

Roasted Cauliflower and Leek Soup

3 Cups cauliflower (stems and florets, trimmed)

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs butter (salted or unsalted)

3 Cups leeks, white and pale green part, carefully cleaned and sliced into ¼ inch rounds

1 Qt veggie stock (if using store-bought, choose low sodium and season accordingly)

¼-1/2 Cup milk (optional)

1 tsp mild curry powder

salt & pepper to taste

On a baking sheet or in a baking pan roast cauliflower at 400˚F for about 10 minutes (I do it in my fancy, full-service Breville toaster oven) until getting browned at the edges.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed soup pot at medium. When the foaming subsides, add the leeks. Stirring occasionally, allow the leeks to get very soft (5-10 minutes). Add the cauliflower, stir and cook a minute or two. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then add curry, lower heat, add milk and simmer for at least 30 minutes, until cauliflower is falling apart. Using an immersion blender or (in batches) a blender or food processor, blend until you reach the desired smoothness. Season to taste and serve, topped with a dollop of plain yogurt or croutons if you like.

 You might also like

17 More Warming Winter Soups!

 

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17 Easy Soups to Warm Your Winter (Vegan Soups included)

9 Jan

We all love soup in my house. And when it is bitterly cold outside, there is nothing better to warm your insides than a hearty winter soup.

Here is a collection of favorites that are easy to put together and delicious both on the day or warmed up the next day at the office. Many are vegan. I like to make a vegan base in one pot, then separate the appropriate portions, adding  something meaty for the unrepentant carnivores.

Bon appetit! Stay warm, my friends.

1. Andouille, Kale and Sausage Soup

Aye me hearties...

Aye me hearties…

2. Canellini and Chard Soup (Vegetarian or with bacon)

Hearty, Dense, Soul-Satisfying (and great re-heated!)

Hearty, Dense, Soul-Satisfying (and great re-heated!)

3. Escarole Soup (vegan with drop-in meatball option for carnivores)

The veggie version

The veggie version

4. Lentil Soup (The one I make most often, especially in bitter cold weather! So textured and complex and hearty and cozy!)

2012 January office, cranmuffins 023

The secrets to a great lentil soup!

 

5. Silky Leek and Potato Soup (butter yes, cream no)

I dot a bit of nonfat plain yogurt for fun!

I dot a bit of nonfat plain yogurt for fun!

 6. Bok Choy, Carrot and Ginger Soup (vegan)

I find this bok choy soup kind of pretty!

I find this bok choy soup kind of pretty!

7. Caldo Verde (Portuguese Sausage and Greens Soup)

A delicious soup for a cool day when you want a soup that warms but doesn't overstuff you

A delicious soup for a cool day when you want a soup that warms but doesn’t overstuff you

8. Three Step Vegan Vegetable Soup (with non-vegan tortellini add-ons to please everyone’s food quirks!)

A grating of parmigiano reggiano or grana padano finishes this soup admirably. Vegans can try nutritional yeast!

A grating of parmigiano reggiano or grana padano finishes this soup admirably. Vegans can try nutritional yeast!

Read on for nine more recipes!

Continue reading →

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Silky Leek & Potato Soup (no cream)

7 Nov

Soup season is here! Here is a simple leek and potato soup, more silky than creamy. I don’t like too much richness competing with the loveliness of the leeks so I skip the cream and the potatoes give it a good mouth feel. Having said that, I use homemade vegetable stock (usually made from vegetable clippings) that tends to bring a lot of vegetable flavor and sweetness of its own. I call that complexity and like it!

Wash leeks thoroughly as they can hold onto a lot of dirt!

Wash leeks thoroughly as they can hold onto a lot of dirt!

I don’t have much else to say about this one, except that it does everything a busy person needs: easy prep, tastes great on the day and reheats beautifully in the office microwave for days to come. Oh yeah, and it’s in season now!

I dot a bit of nonfat plain yogurt for fun!

I dot a bit of nonfat plain yogurt for fun!

Leek and Potato Soup (makes four generous bowls)

3 Tbs unsalted butter

1 lb leeks

1 pinch salt

1 lb potatoes (Yukon Gold preferred), peeled and chopped into 1/4” chunks

1 quart vegetable stock

Salt and fresh ground pepper

Melt the butter at moderate heat in a soup pot.

Meanwhile, cut off the green part of the leeks and the root end and discard. Clean the remaining white parts thoroughly. Slice the leeks roughly. Place the leeks in the butter and a generous pinch of salt and sweat the leeks for five minutes, Then lower heat to medium low and let the leeks cook for 25 minutes, until really tender.

Add the potatoes and stock and simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 15 minutes). Puree with an immersion blender or mash with a potato ricer to desired consistency. Check for salt and serve with grated pepper (and croutons if desired).

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Bok Choy, Carrot and Ginger Soup (just chop and simmer)

25 Oct

This was one of those late-season, gotta use up some veggies because tomorrow is another C.S.A. pick up, type of recipes that came together so quickly and made everyone so happy that I have to share it, even though it is embarrassingly easy and yes, I used a stock cube because I was out of chicken stock and my found veggie stocks didn’t seem the right flavor for this.

My parents went wild for this delicate soup.

My parents went wild for this delicate soup.

Bok Choy (Brassica rapa, Chinensis group) is also called chinese white cabbage and pak toi or variations thereof. There are also different varieties within this group; the one we get from Restoration Farm has kind of a bulb-like bottom (like fennel), wide stalks like chard, and green leaves like wings on either side. Look for firm yet tender stems and glossy, spot-free leaves. It is very versatile for salad, fried rice, stir fry and the like.

We loved this soup because it was so delicate and yet clearly expressed the flavors of the vegetables, the ginger, and the sesame oil. You can remove the ginger slices if you like; we didn’t. A couple of shrimp or shredded beef would not go astray here either! Done in a flash and ever so delicious!

I find this bok choy soup kind of pretty!

I find this bok choy soup kind of pretty!

Bok Choy Carrot and Ginger Soup (serves 4 as an appetizer; 2 as a very light main course)

4 Cups chicken or vegetable stock (or a stock cube and 4 Cups water)

1 knob ginger, roughly peeled and sliced in thin rounds

1-2 heads bok choy, bottom sliced off, separated and carefully washed*

½ Cup onion, sliced into half moons

2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias

¼-1/2 tsp sesame oil

½ – 1 tsp soy sauce (low sodium, if using commercial stock)

Place all ingredients in a soup pot. Add liquid to cover, if necessary. Bring just to a boil, lower heat immediately and simmer until vegetables are tender.

*My mom prefers the bok choy sliced smaller, but my dad and I like it whole. My son thinks it’s a joke that we would even suggest he try it.

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Caldo Verde (Portuguese Sausage and Greens Soup)

26 Sep

It is late in September and I haven’t posted for you guys in weeks! Back-to-school is a challenging time, and this year my college teaching career has taken a turn for the better and busier (tenure track, presentations, grant-writing, event-planning AND a new edition of the textbook), so I have been all-in at the college and all out of commission in the food-writing biz.

But that doesn’t mean I have been ordering take-away dinners. I just haven’t been narrating our every meal! (And I haven’t been doing much new stuff either, but sticking to my tried-and-true reliable recipes.)

Andouille sausage is not, perhaps the most traditional choice, but it works!

Andouille sausage is not, perhaps the most traditional choice, but it works!

However, a good price on some D‘Artagnan andouille sausage at Fairway Market and armfuls of late summer greens from Restoration Farm CSA and a kicking homemade beef stock in the freezer assembled themselves in my head into a delicious soup for the cool early fall air. When I say assembled themselves, I mean it: this is an easy-peasy soup that doesn’t take much effort.

I will post more in the coming days, I hope; I have a few Edible Long Island articles to catch you up on as well!

A delicious soup for a cool day when you want a soup that warms but doesn't overstuff you

A delicious soup for a cool day when you want a soup that warms but doesn’t overstuff you

Caldo verde (Portuguese green soup with sausage)

2 generous tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 oz andouille (or other spicy, robust sausage), sliced in ¼ rounds

1 Cup onion, diced fine

2 Tbs garlic, minced

6 Cups sturdy, leafy greens (kale, collards, escarole, chard, beet greens), cleaned and torn into largish pieces

2 Cups potatoes, cubed

6-8 cups cooking liquid; at least four Cups being a good, flavorsome, low-salt stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in your soup pot until rippling. Add sausage and lower heat to medium. Cook sausage until browned and remove to a plate, setting aside for later.

To the seasoned oil, add the onions and garlic and sauté at medium-low until translucent and tender (the longer the better). Add your leafy greens and wilt briefly. Then add potatoes and cooking liquid. Bring to a boil, then simmer until greens and potato are tender (15-20 minutes). (some people mash or put the broth into the food processor at this point; I don’t, but might start to convince the little guy it is pesto soup?) Return sausage to the pot, warm for five minutes and serve in bowls with crusty bread.

 

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Best Ever Italian Wedding Soup

10 Dec

You don’t need a wedding invitation to tuck into this soup, quite possibly the best Marianne and I have ever made on our Sunday night cooking projects. And that’s saying something, as we have made some kicking soups (escarole and lentil in particular). Regular readers know that my friend Marianne and I like to cook big on Sundays, not to eat at the moment, but to pack up for weekday work lunches. We couldn’t agree on what to make — she wanted white chili and I wanted minestrone — but the fact that I had a bunch of chopped meat and both I and her husband, Ted, had rich turkey stock from our respective Thanksgiving roasts decided it for us.

Tiny little meatballs packed with cheesy-herby flavor....

Tiny little meatballs packed with cheesy-herby flavor….

The stock is everything in a good soup, which is why I try to always have some homemade stuff on hand. Please, please, please…next time you roast a bird (or get a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket), simmer those bones with some onion, garlic (unpeeled), herbs, maybe a carrot or a stalk of celery, and a few peppercorns for a couple of hours and strain yourself some stock (freezes well). The commercial stuff is too salty and just can’t hold a candle to the real thing.

Italian wedding soup , as far as I can determine, is an Italian-American favorite, based perhaps on a minestra maritata that dates back to Spanish-controlled parts of Italy (Lazio and Campania) and Toledo. The maritata part refers to how well the flavors marry together, not how the soup will fortify newlyweds for the tasks at hand.

Simmering away merrily on a Sunday night

Simmering away merrily on a Sunday night

Continue reading →

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Rich, Hearty and Creamy Turkey and Mushroom Soup (dairy-free leftover solution!)

3 Dec

A 13-lb turkey is really too much for four people, but that’s what we got from the farm and of course we are going to use and enjoy every last bit! Over the weekend I posted on how to make delicious stock from the carcass of your roast. Now, here’s how to incorporate that stock with the leftover meat and loads of mushrooms to make a creamy soup that you won’t believe has no cream or butter!

The moms pronounced this turkey and mushroom soup "heavenly:

The moms pronounced this turkey and mushroom soup “heavenly:

The instructions are kind of longer than my usual, as normally for soup I would just sauté the basic veggies a bit, bung the rest in and leave it to simmer away. But the added steps of sauteing the vegetables separately and then making a roux (a cooked up paste of fat and flour) adds a creamy silkiness that makes this a bit more special. Don’t be afraid to try it…I have separated everything into easy steps that I believe will be easy to follow!

I found some of my inspiration from Kalyn’s Kitchen Turkey Mushroom and Wild Rice recipe, so thanks Kalyn for the idea of a roux.

Luscious and velvety leftover turkey soup

Luscious and velvety leftover turkey soup

Dairy-free Creamy Turkey and Mushroom Soup

2 Cups leftover roast turkey meat

1 quart turkey stock (or whatever you have on hand), plus more water to cover

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or one teaspoon dry (not powdered)

Handful garlic scapes or two cloves chopped garlic

1 Tbs olive oil

½ Cup chopped carrot

½ Cup chopped onion

½ Cup chopped celery

½ Tbs olive oil

20 oz chopped fresh mushrooms (white button, baby bella – no dried)

1.5 Tbs olive oil

3 Tbs flour

Salt and pepper

Step One: Place turkey, stock, thyme and garlic scapes in a big pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer.

Step Two: In a separate skillet, heat the olive oil until loose and fragrant, then sauté carrot, onion and celery at medium low until translucent and browning. Add vegetables to stock mixture and return the skillet to the heat, adding additional ½ Tbs olive oil.

Step Three: Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté until they begin to soften, brown and release their juices. Add the mushrooms to the soup pot along with an additional two cups of water and return the skillet to the heat source, raising heat to medium high.

Step Four: Add the remaining oil to the skillet and add the 3 Tbs of flour, whisking to combine. Lower heat to medium and cook the roux a bit until relatively smooth and colored (you want to cook the floury taste out of it). Then add two cups of the turkey soup liquid to the skillet and whisk briskly until smooth and beginning to thicken.  Pour the thickening liquid back into the pot of soup and stir well.

Salt and pepper to taste and serve over rice or barley (you can throw cooked rice or barley directly into the soup and heat through, if desired) or on its own. Makes about 1.5 quarts.

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Chick Pea, Sausage and Winter Squash/Calabaza Stew

9 Nov

Soup and stew season is upon us!

Funnily enough, I was working on a story on Indian food for Edible Long Island when I spotted my kind of calabaza in the pumpkin section of Patel Brothers (a nationwide chain of Indian/South Asian groceries stores) in Hicksville, and made sure to buy a big hunk on the way out after my interview with the manager.

Calabaza

Calabaza

I say “funnily”, not just because I found Caribbean calabaza in an Indian shop — which in and of itself has some sort of sardonic Christopher Columbus karma about it — but that because of immigration patterns, i can no longer find the Puerto Rican variety in Latin groceries where it belongs. All the Puerto Ricans have married out or moved out and been replaced by Central Americans who use kabochas or some other varieties which are not quite right for me!

(For more on calabaza and a classic Puerto Rican rice and beans recipe, click here!)

This smells ever so good bubbling up on the stove....

This smells ever so good bubbling up on the stove….

So, the calabaza inspired me to soak some garbanzos, dig out some chicken andouille from Aidell’s that was in my freezer and get busy making stew. I brought some to my colleague Jainy, who is from India and was my guide through the research for the article, and she loved this different treatment of pumpkin. So did her mom, apparently, which is high praise indeed. They had them with parathas…I love New York and our jumble of cultures!

Thick and delicious and packed with interesting textures!

Thick and delicious and packed with interesting textures!

Chick Pea, Andouille and Winter Squash Stew

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Cup onion, chopped

1 Cup green pepper, chopped

1-2 Tbs garlic, chopped

1 small tomato, chopped

1 Cup andouille or other spicy heat and serve sausage

4 Cups cooked squash or pumpkin in the cooking liquid

2 Bay leaves

1 tsp oregano

2 Cups garbanzos, drained

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot until fragrant. Saute the onion for a minute at medium, then add the green pepper, cook another minute, then the garlic, cook another minute, then add the tomato and allow it all to cook at low for another five minutes, adding a bit of oil if you need more moisture.

Stir in the sausage and raise the temperature to medium high. Add the sausage and sauté for 2 minutes or until it stats to brown. Then add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for ten minutes. Serve with rice or couscous.

 

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Green Tomato and Tomatillo Bisque (Life-Goes-On-Lessons from the Garden)

4 Sep

I got my first inkling of disaster from the Blogosphere.

The fabulous Karen of Backroad Journal chronicled her battle with late blight in a recent post about her tomatoes. I gasped. In my myopic focus on avoiding the blossom end rot that plagued my tomatoes last year – a result of uneven watering while we were gallivanting about the island keeping the boy on the hop and too busy/tired to cause trouble — I had neglected to consider the possibility of late blight. After all, wasn’t that all done with in the catastrophic 2009 season? (It should have been done with after the Irish Potato Famine of 1845, but apparently not). Continue reading →

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