Yes! Soup for me!

[noodle]

So, after eating out and eating crap and feeling yucky for awhile, S had the brilliant idea of us trying out a new soup recipe every couple of days for dinner... the idea being portion-controlled, many-leftovered, healthy meals that were more frugal and less heavy than what we'd been doing for a few weeks.
And I had a brilliant thought... I'll ask all of the awesome cooks/chefs/food-lovers on the TFP to share their favorites so we won't get too bored.
S made an incredible hungarian hot sausage-lentil soup that I'll share to start and I tweaked a Food Network tuscan veg soup with chicken and sriracha sauce.

Please share!

Rachael Ray's Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil Soup

2 T extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 1/2 pounds bulk hot Italian sausage **S used just a pound of italian chicken sausage and it was perfect**
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 portobello mushrooms, gills scraped out, chopped
1 cup pre-shredded carrots, available in sacks in produce department of the market
1 cup lentils
1 large starchy potato, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
2 t smoked paprika (or substitute a mix of 2 t cumin, 1 t sweet paprika and 2 pinches cayenne pepper)
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, in tact on stems **we decided TWO stems only next time**
1 (14-ounce) can fire roasted chopped tomatoes, such as Muir Glenn or, regular diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups kale or chard, a small bunch, veins removed and chopped
Crusty pumpernickel bread, to pass at table
Butter, for bread

Directions:
Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, then add sausage to pot and brown and crumble it, then add garlic, onions and mushrooms.
Cook a few minutes, then add carrots, lentils, potato, salt and pepper, bay leaf, paprika or substitute mixture and rosemary (leaves will fall from stems as stoup cooks).
Add tomatoes and broth and cover pot then raise heat to high and bring to a boil.
Uncover pot and place heat back a bit but keep stoup at a good rolling boil.
Cook 15 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender.
Wilt in greens in small bunches, remove rosemary stems and turn off heat.
Let stand 5 minutes.
Serve in shallow bowls with bread and butter to mop up stoup.
Reheat leftovers thinning it with broth or water.
**our leftovers didn't need any thinning, it was great the next day!**

[snowy]

Ooh boy. You're opening quite a can of worms here, lady. Awesome thread idea! I'll be back with contributions--soup is one of the things I make most often.

[snowy]

Saw this this morning when combing my food blogs:

Saveur: 15 Fall Vegetable Soups Lots of yummy soup recipes inside.

[snowy]

Found this recipe for soup and I really want to try it, but my enamel Dutch oven just died, so it will have to wait until I acquire an appropriate cooking vessel for soup. Given how soft red lentils are, if you want a chunkier soup I would consider running the cooked onion, garlic, cashews, and curry paste through the food processor before adding it to the lentils, or using an immersion blender. I wouldn't run hot soup through a blender or a food processor--that is just an accident waiting to happen.

Spicy Carrot and Lentil Soup
bawkbawkbawk: Spicey Carrot and Lentil Soup

4 large carrots
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup of dried (or 1 can of) red lentils
1/2 cup crushed cashews
1 - 2 tbsp good quality red curry paste (depending how spicy you like it!)
Greek yoghurt, coriander (cilantro), cashews & bread to serve.

Combine (pre-soaked, if using dried) lentils, grated carrots and veggie stock in a pot, simmering until the lentils are tender (around 15 mins). Meanwhile, sautee diced onion and garlic together with a tbsp of oil in a frying pan. To this mixture add cashews and red curry paste, stirring to combine. Add this mix to the stockpot and blend with a food processor until smooth. Add more stock/water here if needed. Serve with a dollop of greek yoghurt, coriander, extra cashews, and some crispy bread or naan on the side.

[Daka]

Anyone have the recipe for the Hungarian Cabbage soup that Whole Foods sells...YUM

[tony007]

I'me new here I had a link for you but for some reason I am not allowed to post it until I have made a good number of posts. But you can google it just type in hungarian cabbage soup in the search box there's plenty to choose from.

[Starkizzer]

I love to make a ginger chicken soup with shiitake mushrooms.

I don't really have a recipe as I just make things as I go along but I can tell you what I put in it.

Chicken breast
Fresh shredded ginger root (I use my plane zester on a fresh root sans peel)
Chicken stock
Shiitake mushrooms
Thinly sliced carrots
Liquid aminos or soy sauce
Toasted Sesame oil
green onions (sprinkled on top)

I also keep the zester and ginger next to the soup bowl for people to add extra if they so choose. I love a ton of ginger in my soup. Funny, since I dislike the pickled ginger with sushi.


It is really light and tasty soup. You could add in other veggies to suit your own taste.

---------- Post added at 02:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 AM ----------

A soup my mom told us about that I make when I am tired of our other usual sources of protein. She saw it on some show she was watching and she now has us hooked on it.


Day old bread, I like sourdough or French bread, cut into large cubes think one slice per person
Diced garlic (the more the better)
Chili pepper (the type you use depends on the amount of heat you want
Chicken or veggie broth (can even use water but you may need to season more)
Eggs (one or two per person depending on hunger)
Fresh tomatoes

A deep skillet works better than a pot if you have one

Place bread and garlic in skillet and drizzle olive oil over and sprinkle with chili pepper and a smidge of salt. When breaded is nicely toasted lower heat and add broth. Raise heat back and when the broth begins to boil, crack in eggs, try to ensure that the egg stays intact. Cover and turn off the heat. The egg yolks should still be a little runny. Tastes great with the bread.

Serve with fresh tomatoes on top.

Once again sorry about no specific amounts.

[snowy]

Soup is one of those things where no exact amounts is generally how my recipes end up--I struggle to put them into amounts

So here's a recipe I've been playing around with, since roachboy turned me on to the deliciousness that is black bean sweet potato chili. Since it's sweet potato season, this is a great time to make a big batch of this and freeze it; it freezes well if you reserve some liquid to add to it after. The tomato juice from the drained tomatoes works well. Mostly, you want to make sure that the food is covered by liquid to keep it from getting freezer burn Of course, this can also be accomplished by pouring a layer of beer over the chili when it's ready to freeze. This recipe makes a LOT of chili; sometimes I make less by cutting it in half, and still have 2 servings left over to freeze.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (the original recipe called for red onion; I like any onion here)
1 cup carrot, chopped into coins
1 red pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 28-can diced tomatoes
4 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or 6 cups freshly cooked)
1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped (if you don't have a fresh jalapeno, substituting dried cayenne for the heat seems to work well)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves, washed and dried

1. Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the onion, red pepper, garlic, and salt. Saute until soft, about 4 minutes.

2. Add the sweet potato and lime zest, and cook 10 to 15 minutes more, continuing to stir occasionally.

3. Add the tomatoes, black beans, jalapeno, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and cocoa, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

4. Serve over brown rice, if desired, with lime wedges and cilantro, or with corn bread, biscuits, or taco chips alongside.

Serves 6.

adapted from: Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili | Care2 Healthy & Green Living

The recipe didn't originally call for carrot, but I added it one time I made it, and loved it. I generally like carrot in my black bean chilis. I think it adds a note of sweetness. Also, I discovered the last time I made this that doubling the amount of carrot in lieu of adding red pepper works well, in case you don't have a red pepper on hand. As roachboy told me, this is a very, very flexible chili. However, it is required that it always have chocolate and beer. I like using a porter.

[Daka]

This sounds good, BUT I think I'll add about 1/2 lb of ground beef..so, first saute beef "lightly", drain off fat do the rest of the recipe and add the meat...simmer...sound good?

[Daka]

Well, recipe does not say when to add carrots, also it took about 2 1/2 hours to get this to a stage where it could be eaten, otherwise 10 minutes just "don't do it".
Not a disaster but not great.....and now I have 3 batches in the freezer,,,,

[snowy]

Generally, ingredients in a recipe are listed in the order they're to be used in cooking the recipe. Carrots are an aromatic and thus should be added at the beginning of cooking so that their flavor influences the whole dish. Don't know why it would have taken you so long--this chili usually takes me about half an hour to cook.

[Daka]

I cannot imagine how that all could cook up in a matter of even 1/2 hour...at that point everything was still "unmelded"
When I defrost it, I think i'll need to cook it down quite abit more...it had a kind of seperate ingredient taste...no chili like at all

[snowy]

Um, because it's vegetarian?

I'll be honest, Daka: I think your problem is that you added meat.

[Shadowex3]

College Soup:

1 packet Maruchan Chicken Ramen
1 teaspoon of McCormick chicken base
1 egg
2 cups water
1 Pot preferrably not much wider than the ramen brick
5 icecubes sized and shaped like the normal automatic ones (crescents basically)

Place water in pot, pour ramen packet into water, boil water, crack egg into to the water and then immediately "pull the egg apart" using the teaspoon, put the ramen (broken to preference) in the pot. Everything should cook within a minute or two. Pour out and add the icecubes.

[Daka]

Perhaps I'm wrong, but is adding 3/4 # of sauteed chopmeat really going to make that big a difference in the time it takes to finish cooking?

[amonkie]

Daka - from my understanding, meat has significantly less water than vegetables do.

When you cook vegetables, that water is quickly pulled out. With meat, you have to break down the fat and it takes longer for that moisture to heat the meat to a safe temperature and actually cook it.

For this reason, many recipes that start with raw meat tell you to actually cook the meat first, and then add the rest of the ingredients. At minimum, the amount of time the meat needs to cook to a safe temperature on the stove should be added to your total cooking time if you're thinking of adding meat to a soup recipe.

[Daka]

I did saute the chopmeat till it was just no longer pink, then added it to the soup that was already cooking...
I guess I will try another batch without meat, the meat batch is gone...unfortunately,
since I forgot to "melt" anything from the freezer (and it's 5:30 pm) I'm off to pick up some take out (ugh) but "you gotta' eat"

[amonkie]

Just the weight of the meat being in there will change things. It is the same philosophy of having 1 sheet of cookies in the oven and 2 sheets of cookies. There's only so much heat being generated, and the more things you have absorbing the heat, the longer it takes for them to cook.

[snowy]

A linky to a bunch of classic soup recipes: Chicken Dumpling to French Onion: 12 Classic Soups Recipe Roundup | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

[snowy]

Mark Bittman on soup: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06eat-t.html

Creamy, Brothy, Earthy, Hearty
By MARK BITTMAN

I’m not anti-recipe (obviously), but some things just don’t need them — and most vegetable soups fall into that category. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for making vegetable (vegetarian and, for the most part, vegan) soups with common ingredients, a variety of choices and terrific flavor. Print the following page, stick it on your refrigerator and work your way through it. By the time you’re done — 12 days or 12 weeks later — you’ll never again need a recipe for vegetable soup. Promise.

And you’ll need no special techniques, no advance preparation and, for the most part, not much time. You can use just about any vegetable (or bean) you have on hand. These are not stone soups, but they’re close.

I’ve created four essential categories: creamy (vegetables puréed with dairy); brothy (a strained vegetable stock, with quick-cooking ingredients added); earthy (with beans); and hearty (the vegetables sautéed first, to deepen their flavor).

A few practical notes: All of these recipes serve four, and you’ll want about a 2.5-to-4-quart (medium or large) pot. Most can be cooked for a while — but not so long that the freshness is gone. Most will taste as good or better the next day, so consider making a double batch and refrigerating (or freezing) the leftovers. But never boil a soup after you’ve added dairy to it; instead, reheat gently.

If you want a supersmooth soup (and just about any of these soups can be puréed if you like), use a standing blender — let the soup cool a bit first — which creates a finer purée than an immersion blender does; you might even strain the soup after puréeing it.

Garnishes are all optional, though herbs add a dimension that will be lacking otherwise. If you taste as you’re cooking, you’ll be fine, because there is really nothing to go wrong here.

1. CREAMY




Creamy Spinach Soup
Put 1 chopped onion, 2 peeled garlic cloves, 3 cups water and salt and pepper in a pot over high heat. Boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes. Add 10 ounces chopped spinach and 1/2 cup parsley leaves; cook until the spinach is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cup Greek-style yogurt and purée. Garnish: A spoonful of Greek-style yogurt and chopped parsley.

Squash-and-Ginger Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic and 4 cups chopped butternut squash for the spinach (it will take longer to soften). Skip the parsley and substitute half-and-half or cream for the yogurt. Garnish: A spoonful of cream.

Curried Cauliflower Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic, 2 cups cauliflower florets for the spinach (they will take longer to soften), 1 tablespoon curry powder for the parsley and coconut milk for the yogurt. Garnish: Chopped cilantro.

2. BROTHY




Vegetable Broth With Toast
Put 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped onions, 1 small chopped potato, 2 chopped celery ribs, 2 garlic cloves, 10 sliced mushrooms, 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine), 10 parsley sprigs, 1/2 ounce dried porcini, 8 cups water and salt and pepper in a pot over high heat. Boil, lower heat and simmer until the vegetables are soft, 30 minutes or longer. Strain and serve over toasted good bread. Garnish: Chopped celery leaves.

Egg Drop Soup
Beat 4 eggs. Boil the strained stock, lower the heat so it simmers and add the eggs in a steady stream, stirring constantly until they’re cooked, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped scallions, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Skip the bread. Garnish: Chopped scallions.

Rice-and-Pea Soup
Boil the strained stock, lower the heat so it simmers and add 3/4 cup white rice. Cook until tender, then add 2 cups fresh or frozen peas; cook for a minute or two. Skip the bread. Garnish: Grated Parmesan.

3. EARTHY




Bean Soup
Put 1 1/2 cup dried beans, 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery ribs, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves and 6 cups water in a pot over high heat. Boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the beans are soft, at least 1 hour, adding more water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish: A drizzle of olive oil.

Chickpea-and-Pasta Soup
Substitute chickpeas for the beans and rosemary for the thyme and add 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine). When the chickpeas are almost tender, add 1/2 cup small pasta. Cook until the pasta and chickpeas are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish: A few chopped rosemary leaves.

Spicy Black-Bean Soup
Use black beans and substitute fresh oregano for the thyme. When the beans are done, add 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 dried or canned chipotle and the juice of a lime. Garnish: Cilantro and sour cream.

4. HEARTY




Minestrone
Sauté 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery rib and 1 teaspoon minced garlic in 3 tablespoons olive oil for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups cubed potatoes and salt and pepper; cook for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine) and 5 cups water. Boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add 1 cup chopped green beans; simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish: Chopped parsley and grated Parmesan.

Mushroom Soup
Substitute 1 1/2 pounds sliced mushrooms (preferably an assortment) for the potatoes; sauté until they brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Substitute ½ cup white wine for the tomatoes, skip the green beans and add a fresh thyme sprig with the water. Garnish: A few thyme leaves.

Tomato-and-Garlic Soup
Use 2 tablespoons minced garlic and substitute 2 tablespoons tomato paste for the celery. Skip the potatoes and green beans; use 3 cups tomatoes and 3 cups water. Cook the tomatoes for 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish: Lots of chopped or torn basil.