Fantastic Fall Soup

Soup is good lovin' in a bowl, isn't it?  As soon as the weather turns chilly I'm thinking about a nice pot of soup.  I raided my just-delivered farm box for a lot of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

-Vegetable stock (mine was homemade and frozen in cubes).  You could use stock from the store, or even begin with a pre-made soup base found on most store shelves.  Anything will work!

-olive or grapeseed oil (about 2 or 3 Tablespoons)

-carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch segments

-potato (optional) cubed.  This will add some thickening to the soup base.

-yellow squash, cross cut into 1/2 inch segments

-grape tomatoes, cut in half (I used the equivalent of a cup, both red and yellow)

-2 bay leaves

-fresh cilantro (optional if you are a cilantro hater)

-3-4 baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

-1 cup yellow wax beans, snapped into 2 inch segments

-1 avocado, sliced into chunks

-salt and pepper to taste

(I would have added an onion but I forgot to get one at the store...duh)

I added the following to make it  a hearty soup.  Omit if you are vegetarian.  Add whatever you have available to increase protein.  It all tastes good!

-2 slices bacon, cut into 2 inch sections

-1 cup cubed roast beef

-1 cup pork

-1 lobster tail 

Other options as toppers:  

grated cheese

pesto

red sauce for more heat

sour cream

In a large soup kettle over a medium heat, allow pan to warm, then add oil.  Saute the garlic for a minute, and then if using protein add those ingredients to the oil and saute until cooked through.  

Add carrots & potato and allow to cook for several minutes to begin softening.  Add wax beans & tomatoes.  I like to "layer" the seasoning.  I added a small dash of dry curry mix (see link for recipe).  I did NOT add salt to this soup because I used bacon & lobster, which adds enough salt flavor.

Add squash, wait a couple of minutes, then add the mushrooms.  Once the vegetables have been "sweated" and begin to soften add the soup stock & the bay leaves.  Bring this to a slow, rolling boil and then reduce the heat and let the liquid reduce slightly.  The potatoes in the mixture will begin to thicken the soup base.

Prior to serving cut the avocado and cilantro and place in small bowls at the table.  Top the soup with these just prior to eating, if desired.   Some grated cheese or a dollop of pesto would be pretty fabulous additions, too.  The soup looks so colorful! 

One can add or subtract any combination of ingredients to suit your own taste.  Use what you have!

Taste, taste, taste with spoons (a new one each time!) to check the seasoning.  I suspect that my soup will be even better tomorrow, and I have enough to freeze a bit for later!  Isn't soup grand?

We ate our soup with a nice arugula salad, some noosa yogurt dotted with fresh blackberries for dessert.

Life is good!

Try some and let me know how it turns out!

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Green Chicken Chili with Truffle-oiled croutons

This is a quick and wonderful meal to use for leftover chicken or turkey, as well as a rotisserie chicken from the store.

Ingredients:

cooked chicken or turkey, shredded or cubed

cooked bacon or speck, chopped

onion, chopped,

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

one jar green chili stew

olive oil, 1-2 tablespoons

Optional:

shredded cheese

sour cream

avocado, cut into large chunks

croutons

To prepare:

Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil in a large soup pan or stockpot.  Add chopped bacon and heat through.  Add chicken or turkey, then add green chili stew.  Heat approximately 15 minutes on medium heat.

In the meantime, prepare croutons.

Optional ingredients may be added as garnish just prior to serving.  Enjoy!

chicken, roasted in the slow-cooker (not recommended!)

speck, oven-cooked and chopped

onion and garlic sauteing in a stock pot

roasted chicken is chopped and added to pot

green chili stew is added to pot

add chicken broth to desired consistency

ingredients finish heating

 For croutons:

mix small amount truffle oil with grapeseed or other plain olive oil

use a pastry brush to add oil to surface of bread

"paint" the bread with the oil mixture, then cube the bread prior to sauteing in pan

add to sautee pan.  Cook on medium heat until croutons are toasted on all sides.  Turn frequently.

The Best Hot & Sour Soup in the World!

Hot and Sour Soup

Recipe from the cookbook, “Soup:  A Way of Life”
by Barbara Kafka

Ingredients:

4 dried shiitake mushrooms (or ½ cup fresh)

5 ½ cups Roasted Pork Stock (or substitute chicken or beef stock)

¼ pound boneless pork loin, or leftover roasted pork loin, cut into matchstick strips

Two ¼ pound cakes firm silken tofu, cut into matchstick strips

3 tablespoons cornstarch*

4 to 5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Chinese soy sauce

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt**

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

One 8-ounce can bamboo shoots, drained, blanched for 2 minutes, and drained

2 eggs, lightly beaten

for serving:

2 medium scallions, trimmed and cut across into thin slices or thin matchstick sections

Toasted sesame oil

In a small bowl, soak the mushrooms in ½ cup warm water for 15 minutes.  Remove the mushrooms.  Strain the liquid through a coffee filter and reserve.  Remove and discard the mushroom stems. Slice the caps across into thin strips and reserve.

In a medium saucepan, bring the stock and mushroom soaking liquid to a boil.  If using fresh mushrooms, don’t worry about replacing this liquid.  Stir in the mushroom strips and the raw pork, if using.  Return to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.  Stir in the tofu and cooked pork, if using, and simmer for 3 minutes.

In a small bowl combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup water.  Stir some of the hot soup into the mixture.  Whisk into the soup.  Stir in the vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and pepper.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the bamboo shoots and heat through.

With a circular motion, pour the eggs into the soup.  Stir once to break the eggs into threads.

Sprinkle each serving with scallions and a few drops of sesame oil.

Makes 7 cups.

* This time I experimented with using xanthan gum, a thickener, as a replacement for the cornstarch.  It took a very small amount, the equivalent of ¼ tsp! to achieve the thickening I desired.  If you wish to replace the cornstarch to remove the gluten from the recipe I encourage you to try this, but start with a small amount and add it gradually to the soup base.  I couldn’t tell any difference in taste.

**I didn’t add salt while cooking.  I did add a small amount to my bowl at the dinner table.

Note:  Until I learned to blanch the bamboo shoots before adding them to a dish I didn’t like them because they always had a metallic taste.

The blanching completely removes that weird aftertaste!

One of the most satisfying things about this soup is the interesting combination of flavors and textures.  It is delicious!

blanching the bamboo shoots

leftover pork tenderloin, crosscut, then cut into matchsticks

I prefer cutting my scallions into thin strips

beaten egg

mushrooms added to soup stock

rice vinegar added to stock

stirring the soup in a circular fashion before adding the beaten eggs

here is the soup after eggs have been added and break into "threads"

garnishing the soup with scallions and a few drops of toasted sesame oil 

prior to serving.

Yum!