Posts tagged ‘soup’

Jan 4

Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup hearty and delicious!

Its cold outside and in the winter I really love to have a hot bowl of soup. I love lentils, they are nutritious, loaded with protein, fiber and vitamins, one of natures perfect foods. They are also so easy to make. I usually make the whole package, 2 cups dry lentils and this yields a big pot of soup, for me this is multiple meals and it freezes nicely. I divide into portions, stick them in the freezer. I like to add lots of vegetables, onion, celery, carrot, garlic and parsley. It is a healthful delicious meal as is, but I really love adding kielbasa to my lentil soup there is something about the smoky sausage that adds so much flavor. You don’t have to, this is optional of course. I’m sure all of you have your go to lentil soup recipe, this is mine. I sometimes add kale or spinach to the pot at the end of cooking time.

Ingredients:

2 cups lentils washed and sorted

1 small onion chopped

1 large stalk celery

1 medium size carrot cleaned peeled and chopped

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

6-8 cups chicken, beef, vegetable stock or water

1/2 lb smoked kielbasa sausage (Optional)

salt and pepper to taste

handfull of Spinach or Kale

Coat the bottom of your pot or dutch oven with olive oil (not too much), heat on medium high and add the onion, garlic, celery and carrot, saute stirring frequently until the vegetables start of soften, add the parsley. Heat the stock if you are using stock. Now add the cleaned lentils, give it a stir and add hot stock or hot water. Cover, bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Let cook stirring occasionally for approximately 1 hour or until lentils are softened and cooked through. Watch it carefully, if you think it’s too thick add more water or stock to thin. I threw in some spinach after it was cooked the heat of the soup wilts the spinach. NOTE: If adding Kale you will need to continue cooking for 5 minutes or a little longer. Spinach wilts instantly but Kale is a bit tougher and requires a small amount of cooking time.

May 21

13 Comments

Creamy Spring Turnip Soup With Wilted Radish Greens And Bacon

Creamy Spring Turnip Soup

The contest on Food52 is all about radishes and turnips. Honestly, I am not a lover of either but if I had to pick I guess turnips would be my choice. I do however love greens, turnip or radish they are delicious and anything is better with bacon, right? This soup is silky and creamy and can be eaten warm/hot or chilled. The wilted radish greens and bacon are delicious with the soup. I made this with young spring leeks and turnips and only added a little cream to smooth out the bite from the turnips. I am so pleased at how wonderfully this soup came out and it literally takes less than an hour to prepare. With the weather turning warmer I’m sure soup is not high on the priority list, I had it slightly chilled last night for dinner and it was wonderful.

The Soup

3 cups spring turnips cut in quarters

3 young leeks cleaned very well and sliced

4 cups broth (I used chicken but vegetable broth would also be good)

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Clean and slice your leeks, I like to clean, trim and chop into rounds and add to a large amount of clean water. The grit goes to the bottom, then I scoop them out and rinse again. Let them air dry while you prep the turnips. Peel, rinse and chop the turnips into quarters.

Heat only enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a heavy large saucepan, add the dried leeks and cook only until softened. Add the turnips and cook for a short time you don’t want them to brown only to start to soften, I cooked on medium/high heat, Add the stock, bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for approximately 30 minutes or until the turnips are very soft.

You may not need all of the liquid depending on how thick you like your soup, so drain the turnips and leeks and process in blender until very smooth, Pour into a bowl and add back the stock until it reaches the consistency you like. Now add the heavy cream. Adjust seasoning. Stir and set aside while you make the topping. If you are serving the soup warm pour back in the saucepan and keep on very low flame.

Greens and Bacon

4-6 slices bacon (I like maple cured)

the leaves from a head of radishes

Remove the greens from the radishes and clean very well to remove any grit, Lay on paper towel to dry.

Fry the bacon until crisp, remove from pan and lay on paper towel, add the dried radish greens and saute only until wilted, Remove to paper towel. Ladle soup into bowls lay some of the wilted greens and crumble some of the bacon on top.

Mar 5

2 Comments

Last Pot of Hot Soup, Maybe…. Chicken Noodle Soup

Crocus in bloom

During the cold winter months I sometimes make a pot of soup a week, this winter my thoughts were turning to gazpacho because the it’s been unusually warm. I walk outside and see bulbs have already bloomed, actually I saw the beginnings at the end of January and now we have full blooms. I really haven’t followed tradition, my own, and made soup. I’ve barely had hot chocolate or hot toddy’s. So I decided to make soup today, with temperatures in the low to mid 40’s and the weather forecast in the high 50’s low 60’s the rest of the week, I thought I better do it now or else I might just retire my soup pot. I made chicken soup with escarole and noodles. The noodles are homemade from dough left over from last weeks Italian offerings, made some stock with chicken, onions, celery, carrots, garlic and herbs (parsley). I will probably freeze what’s left after enjoying a bowl, you never know, next week we may get snow.

Chicken Stock:

1 whole chicken, organic if possible

1 whole onion peeled and cut in half

2 stalks celery cut in half

2 cloves garlic

2 big carrots cut into big chunks

handful of cleaned parsley and whatever herbs you like to add

enough water to cover the chicken

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups torn or chopped well cleaned escarole

noodles or whatever type of pasta you like to add to the soup. About 2 1/2 cups cooked pasta

Add everything except the escarole and noodles to stock pot and boil for 2-3 hours on med/high heat or lower heat if you want to cook all day. When done remove chicken and vegetables from pot, add the escarole and cook for 20 minutes. In separate pot boil your noodles and add to chicken soup when they are done, Cut the carrots on the diagonal and add back to soup, You can serve with some of the boiled chicken in the bowl and I like to grate some romano cheese on top.

Jan 15

2 Comments

Root Vegetable Potage

Hot soup on a cold day!

6 cups flavorful chicken or vegetable stock (preferably homemade)
4 medium size potatoes (I like yukon gold) peeled and quartered
4 carrots cleaned, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 medium turnip cleaned, peeled and cut into quarters
2 parsnips peeled cleaned and chopped into large chunks
1 large onion quartered
2 large cloves garlic thinly sliced
good size handful of mint chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil to cook garlic and mint
sour cream for topping soup
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Coat bottom of large pot with a little olive oil heat on med/high and add diced onions. Cook until onions are soft. Add the stock, now add the potatoes, carrots, turnip, and parsnip. Cook on med/high until vegetables are very soft. Remove from heat and puree either using your immersion blender or food processor. Add the butter and optional heavy cream. Adjust seasoning to taste.

In small fry pan on medium heat add the olive oil, now add the garlic and cook until its just starting to brown, add the chopped mint and cook on low heat for a minute or two, you don’t want the garlic burned but it should be crisp kind of like a garlic chip. Ladle some soup into a bowl, add a dollop of sour cream and spoon some of the garlic and mint over the sour cream.

ALTERNATE METHOD; Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees, line a sheet pan with parchment or aluminum foil, lay the cut carrots, parsnips and turnips drizzle with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes. They will just start to brown. Remove from oven and add as in step 1 along with the raw potatoes.