Soup!

[Legs]

A fall chill is in the air - time to start making soup again.

Please post your tried and true soup recipes here!

Tomorrow I am making White Cheddar Cheese & Beer Soup


1/2 lb bacon cut into 1/2 in. pieces
3 celery ribs cut into 1/4 in pieces
3 cups milk
1 medium red onion cut into 1/4 in. pieces
2 tbsp butter
3 cups water
3 dashes tabasco
1 cup flour
1/2 cup beer
1 lb. grated white cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a soup pot, start to brown the bacon over medium heat. When the bacon is starting to get crisp, add the onions, celery and butter. Cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the flour and incorporate with the butter. Cook for 4 minutes, constantly stirring.

Add the water and whisk. Make sure there are no lumps.

Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stir every couple of minutes.

Add the milk and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Do not boil after you add the milk.

After the last 15 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in the cheese then the beer. (Canadian Beer is best)

Add the tabasco and season with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick you can thin it out with a little milk.

Serve with your favorite bread and top with some chopped scallions or chives. I like to reserve a little bit of bacon & shredded cheddar to sprinkle on top just before serving.

I have made this recipe twice before and it has been absolutely decious - it also freezes very well and tastes even better the second time round!

<-- need smilie

[pescifish]

Damn! That sounds decadent, Legs!

[pescifish]

<-- that might work for soup.

[livius drusus]

I've posted this before, I think, but it more than bears repeating. This is without question the best soup I've ever made, and pretty close to the best soup I've ever had.

Roasted Garlic and Brie Soup

2 heads garlic, unpeeled cloves
6 Tblsp olive oil
1 med. onion, finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
7 oz. brie, rind removed, cut into pieces
1/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken stock
1 Tblsp chopped fresh oregano (1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 Tblsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F Place garlic in glass baking dish; drizzle with 2 Tblsp oil. Cover with foil and bake until golden and tender (30 min). Cool on rack. Heat rest of oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent (10 min). Add celery and carrot and saute for 10 min. Add flour and stir for 3 min Gradually stir in stock. Bring to boil, stirring frequently.

Reduce heat to med-low and simmer until soup is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally (15 min). Peel garlic and transfer to a food processor. Add 1 cup soup. Puree until smooth. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir in oregano & thyme. (Can be prepared one day ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

Bring soup to simmer over med-low heat. Gradually add brie, stirring until melted after each addition. Season soup to taste with white pepper and salt.

[Legs]

liv that sounds wonderful!

[RevDahlia]

I invented this. To the best of my knowledge they do not have collards in Morocco; you could also use spinach or any dark green leafies that tickle your fancy.

The merguez sausage is essential. It's available in specialty stores. I have tried making this soup with ground lamb, and it was not a success -- the lambiness permeated everything unpleasantly. If you wanted to I think you could make little lamb meatballs and fry them, then add them at the end, if you can't find merguez anywhere.

Moroccan-ish Lentil Soup with Merguez Sausage and Greens

Couple tablespoons EVOO
1 small onion, 2 stalks celery, 1 large carrot, chopped
1 tsp each cumin, coriander and turmeric
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
Chicken or vegetable broth -- start with 1 quart, but you may add more
1 cup lentils
Bay leaf
1 bunch collard greens, washed well, woody stalks removed, roughly chopped
1/4 lb merguez sausage, roughly chopped (you could add more if you like lamb more than I do)
S&P

For topping:
Plain whole-milk yogurt (I like goat yogurt)
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint

In partially covered soup kettle, sweat mirepoix (that's the onion, carrot and celery) in EVOO over medium heat. When almost soft, add spices and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mirepoix is limp and transparent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. (The garlic MUST. NOT. BURN.)

Add 1 quart broth and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Add lentils and simmer, uncovered, until lentils are half-done. If too much liquid boils off or is absorbed, add more -- this should be quite loose, not porridge-y as lentil soup can be.

When lentils are halfway done, add collards and continue to simmer. When lentils are well and truly done, add sausage and simmer until sausage is warmed through. Remove bay leaf. Add S&P to taste. (I always use red pepper flakes instead of black pepper, but this shouldn't be excessively spicy.)

Mix yogurt and mint in a small bowl. Serve soup with a dollop of minty yogurt on top.

[Veritas]

I made soup once.

I ate it.

I did not die.

Result!

[Dingfod]

All my soup comes from cans. Even though the can's directions say to mix another can of water in when heating, the soup is usually better undiluted.

[RevDahlia]

I totally forgot the half-can of whole tomatoes you're supposed to put in the lentil soup. Break them up with your hands. They go in with the chicken broth.

[Dingfod]

It was my can post that made you remember that, wasn't it? Huh? I was kidding... sort of. I've been known to make semi-homemade chicken noodle soup, and turkey noodle soup with Thanksgiving leftovers. Does chili count as soup? I make a pretty decent pot of chili now and then. Oh, yeah, and then there's my crockpot stew.

[lisarea]

Sorry about the vagueness, but here's a really easy one that's especially good for fall. (You can do it with pretty much any kind of squash you want, but pumpkin's my favorite.)

Curried Pumpkin Soup

However much...
Pumpkin
Chicken stock
EVOO
Garlic
Curry powder and tweak spices
...you want

(You should probably also use onion, but I'm not allowed to cook with onions.)

Cut, core, and bake the pumpkin, then scoop out the innards. (Or cut, core, and dice the uncooked pumpkin, then cook it in the chicken stock.)

Sautee some garlic (and onions, if you got 'em) in EVOO, then add the chicken stock and pumpkin. Throw in the curry powder, and whatever else you need to make it smell right, depending on the mix you're using. I usually add at least S&P and a bay leaf, and usually put a little extra turmeric and cumin. Cook and cook and cook, tweaking spices during the process, until it's mushy and the flavors marry.

Take out the bay leaf, if you put one in, and puree in the blender, in batches.

Serve with sour cream and fresh cracked pepper on top.

[cappuccino]

I'm in soup heaven

[RevDahlia]

Originally Posted by Warren

It was my can post that made you remember that, wasn't it?

Yup! And you won't hear any snobbery from me on the canned-soup front; I love canned soup. I eat so much of it I'm probably going to die of hypertension from all the sodium. I am the only person I know who eats Campbell's cream of mushroom soup as a soup, instead of a component of kwik-n-E-Z recipes. It's my favorite thing to eat when I'm hung over. I always add chopped parsley, which I feel is essential. I am also fond of canned tomato, canned vegetable-beef and canned minestrone. A word to the wise: avoid Healthy Choice's soups at all costs. The taste foul, they're expensive and they actually have more calories than the vastly superior (and usually on sale) Progresso. (Healthy Choice frozen dinners are totally OK, though.)

Not Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup

This is stupid easy, and takes half an hour from start to finish. If the bit with the flour makes you nervous you can skip it; the soup will be much more liquidy but still delicious.

Soak dried porcini or mixed wild mushrooms as per package instructions, and while they're soaking wash and roughly chop some regular button or cremini mushrooms. (You want the ratio of fresh to dried mushrooms to be about 2:1.) In a soup kettle, melt some butter and cook the button mushrooms and a little onion, finely chopped, in it; when the onion and shrooms are done add a smidgen of flour and cook, stirring, until flour is no longer raw (about 2 minutes). It's OK if it browns a tad. Add chicken stock, bring to a simmer, then roughly chop the dried mushrooms and add them and some thyme, fresh or dried. Simmer together for 15 minutes or so, then add half-and-half until the soup looks adequately creamy. Serve with the all-important chopped parsley. As always, the amounts depend on how hungry you are.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by RevDahlia

I am the only person I know who eats Campbell's cream of mushroom soup as a soup, instead of a component of kwik-n-E-Z recipes.

Come to my arms! I LOVE Carmpbell's cream of mushroom. I have loved it as long as I can remember.

I'm so making your Not Campbell's asap. I have a monster container of dried porcini in need of a purpose.

[lisarea]

I do me the canned tomato and mushroom, too, but only as soup. I don't cook with it.

And I make a similar mushroom to the Rev's, but a little different. I make this in huge batches and freeze it, like with chicken stock.

This recipe is vague too, because the only rule I live by is "No limits." (OK. So I just stoled that off a guy on a commercial for some kind of singles thingy on teevee. I just mean because I am too undisciplined to use recipes. Also, because I don't know how to read, OKAY?)

Neither Campbell's nor Dahlia's Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms, as many kinds as I have. Usually standard (Agaricus, which I only know what they're called because I just looked it up), plus shitake, portabello, and crimine.
Chicken stock
Garlic
Butter
Flour
Milk
Spices

Saute some garlic in EVOO, because that's how you start everything. Clean and cut the mushrooms up into fairly uniform pieces, then add them and enough chicken stock + water to cover, and simmer until they're cooked, seasoning to taste with whatever savory spices you like, but this must include sage, thyme, salt, and white pepper.

Once they're cooked, blend it in batches, reserving some pretty mushroom slices, and transfer the pureed soup plus the sliced mushrooms to another container. Make a white sauce in the pan you cooked the soup in from butter, flour, and milk, then slowly add the soup back, correcting the spices and the consistency (use little balls of flour + butter to thicken).

I make hugeassed batches in a saucelike consistency, so I can freeze it, then either add more stock or white sauce to make soup, or just heat it up to use as a sauce for meats, rice, noodles, or something.

[lisarea]

OH. Am I going to get in trouble for posting to this thread too much?

I love soup, and it's really hard to screw up soup, so I make it a lot.

This was one that I made from some leftovers once, and it turned out better than the original dinner.

Duck Soup

Make a stock from duck leftovers, a bay leaf, whatever other savory spices, and water. Skim the fat off, either using a clean unused sponge, or by refrigerating/freezing the cooked stock until the fat separates and can be lifted off with a spoon or something. Duck is really, really fatty.

Add wild rice and quartered brussells sprouts and cook until they're done. You do want to overcook the brussells sprouts until they're mushy enough that the leaves separate.

Um. That's all. Because I never have duck, I normally make this with chicken, but it's not quite as good that way.

[livius drusus]

Oo... Marx Brothers chic. I like.

[RevDahlia]

SAGE! Next time I make my Non-Campbell's Mushroom Soup, it will so totally have sage in it! Thanks, lisarea!

Imna get in too-much-posting trouble too, because the duck soup reminded me of leftovers, and leftovers reminded me of this. It is a little tricky, kinda time-consuming and very, very delicious. Make too much of it, because tomorrow you are going to roast a chicken. (Or beef, or pork. More on that later.) Have this on Saturday, served with a huge leafy salad, and the roast on Sunday.

I will not call this "French" onion soup, because the recipe would probably make French onion soup purists faint dead away. But onion soup it certainly is, and if you're not serving purists you can get away with calling it French. (I'm sorry you can't have this at your house, lisarea; come over sometime and I'll make it for you.)

Onion Soup

Half a stick of unsalted butter
3 large red onions (must be red -- not yellow or white)
1 cup decent dry red wine
1 carton chicken broth
Bay leaf
Thyme
S&P

Crusty bread, like levain
Gruyere
Parmesan

Special equipment: a heavy, nonreactive kettle -- enameled cast iron is perfect

Roughly chop the onions (a food processor is ideal for this.) Melt butter in bottom of kettle over medium-low heat and add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are limp and transparent. Then kick heat up to medium-high and stir persistently until onions begin to brown. This is a bit touchy. You want the bottom of the kettle to achieve a very dark-brown coating, and you want the onions themselves to be thoroughly browned, but you don't want to burn them. If their edges get black and start to frizzle, you've gone too far. Still: very dark brown. You really must stir constantly. This takes about 15 minutes.

Add red wine and cook, stirring, until liquid evaporates. Add chicken broth and herbs and simmer for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make croutons: cut thick slices of bread and toast them with a layer of Gruyere on top and a thick grating of Parmesan on top of that.

Fish bay leaf out of soup, correct seasoning, and serve in bowls with croutons floating on top. Ignore people who say you should bake the croutons on top of the soup; this always makes a nasty soggy mess.

As for the roast part: this soup is the base for the best gravy in the world. The Platonic ideal of gravies, the kind of gravy people who dream about gravy dream about. (I am aware that I may be the only person alive who dreams about gravy, but still.) You roast your roast, then pour the fat out of the pan and brown some flour in the drippings as usual for gravy, but instead of stock or other liquid use leftover onion soup. You will not be sorry. There must be mashed potatoes to smoosh the gravy into.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by RevDahlia

(I'm sorry you can't have this at your house, lisarea; come over sometime and I'll make it for you.)

Oh, well, to hell with that. The no onions rule is a Little Muffin thing, and he ain't never here no more, anyways. It's mostly just that I forgot how to cook with them after living with that guy for almost 20 years.

I am going to make this because that just looks insane good. The LM can fend for his own damned self.

[Godwhacker]

Was wondering if anyone has a good recipe for Chinese style Hot and Sour soup?

[RevDahlia]

Originally Posted by Godwhacker

Was wondering if anyone has a good recipe for Chinese style Hot and Sour soup?

This one looks promising. Three and a half forks on Epicurious usually = reliable.

[inland wave]

Full Moon Cafe's Tortilla Soup--This receipe comes from one of the cafe/bars on cherry street in Tulsa. It was donated to the Goodwill receipe book several years ago and it is an excellent soup.

1/2 gal. chicken stock
1/2 tsp. white pepper
Combine these ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to meduim. To thicken make a roux.
Roux: Melt 1 cup butter. Stir in 1 cup flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and thickened. Stir roux into chicken stock.
1 c. Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese mixed
1pt. half and half
2 tsp. diced jalapenos (more or less to taste)
1 (10 oz) can Ro-tel tomatoes with chilies
1 c. cooked diced chicken meat ( more or less to preference)
Add cheese to stock and stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients to stock and heat. To hold, place soup on top of double boiler over water. To serve, sprinkle individual servings with strips of flour tortillas that have been deep fried. Garnish with a dollop of guacamole and mixed cheeses. Makes 16 (8oz) servings.

[Suds]

I had a thought about soup. Don't you just boil the hell out of the ingredients?Is there anything left but the bulk? I really want to know.I've not made soup.
My mum makes russum( I don't know the spelling) it's basically pepper water. It's really warming and good with bread or rice. It's not curry, it's very watery.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Suds

I had a thought about soup. Don't you just boil the hell out of the ingredients?Is there anything left but the bulk? I really want to know.I've not made soup.

I don't know if I understand what you mean. You mean as far as nutrients?

As I understand it, there are certain heat-sensitive nutrients, which would be destroyed by any cooking; and there are nutrients that are leached out into the cooking water, so that'd be a problem with boiled vegetables where you discard the cooking water, but not soup.

(All soups aren't just boiled all to hell, either. You usually add different ingredients at different stages of the cooking process to allow for varied cooking times. In vegetable soup, for example, I add most of the vegetables just shortly before the soup is ready to be served.)

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by inland wave

Full Moon Cafe's Tortilla Soup--This receipe comes from one of the cafe/bars on cherry street in Tulsa. It was donated to the Goodwill receipe book several years ago and it is an excellent soup.

1/2 gal. chicken stock
1/2 tsp. white pepper
Combine these ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to meduim. To thicken make a roux.
Roux: Melt 1 cup butter. Stir in 1 cup flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and thickened. Stir roux into chicken stock.
1 c. Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese mixed
1pt. half and half
2 tsp. diced jalapenos (more or less to taste)
1 (10 oz) can Ro-tel tomatoes with chilies
1 c. cooked diced chicken meat ( more or less to preference)
Add cheese to stock and stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients to stock and heat. To hold, place soup on top of double boiler over water. To serve, sprinkle individual servings with strips of flour tortillas that have been deep fried. Garnish with a dollop of guacamole and mixed cheeses. Makes 16 (8oz) servings.

I just had some of the leftovers of this for lunch today. In the "words" of Andy Griffith, it's mmm-mmmmm good.