Tag Archives: soup

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup

Posted on by
1

Not too many years ago I was standing in the produce department at a grocery store, gazing at a variety of pears. I was planning to make a special dessert that involved poaching pears. I’d never poached pears. I had no idea what kind of pear to use.

Lucky for me, the produce manager recommended Bosc pears for poaching. He explained that their flesh is firmer than most pears, so they tend to hold their shape well during the poaching process. His voice took on a note of passion as he described their wonderful flavor, “Like the best white wine you could ever taste,” he said. “That is what a ripe Bosc pear tastes like.”

The cinnamon-colored skin of the Bosc makes them stand out in a crowd of Anjou and Bartletts. Their elongated neck flowing down to a rounded bottom gives them a look of regal elegance. The produce manager helped me choose Bosc pears that were ripe, but still firm. I tasted one as soon as I got home. That man was absolutely right. The juicy pear was divine. That was the day I fell in love with the Bosc pear.

The pears looked perfect after poaching and tasted divine.

When I brought a bunch of Bosc pears home from the store the other day, I had no plans for poaching. I made a batch of Honey-Glazed Roasted Pears and served them for dessert with a generous dollop of coconut milk yogurt. I made enough so that some of the roasted pears could go into the refrigerator to be used another day in my breakfast bowl of hot oatmeal.

The rest of the Bosc pears got peeled and cored and cooked into soup. Bosc pears marry perfectly with Garnet sweet potatoes. Garnet sweet potatoes are moist with dark orange flesh. I didn’t even peel the sweet potatoes before chopping them and cooking them in water with a cinnamon stick. While the sweet potatoes simmer to softness in cinnamon-spiked water, the pears simmer in white wine to reach tenderness. Then everything gets pureed together in a blender or food processor. I like to use my blender for this soup. It gives a velvety texture to the soup that the food processor doesn’t offer.

I made the soup dairy-free by replacing butter with the organic coconut spread I had in my refrigerator. Rather than using half-and-half to add a touch of richness to the soup, I used coconut milk creamer. These substitutions actually make the soup perfect for vegans.

I served the the thick, creamy soup with flaky turnovers filled with spinach, sundried tomatoes, onions and tofu. The turnover recipe came from “Moosewood Restaurant New Classics.” I’ve got four of the Moosewood cookbooks and use them often. I’ve never been disappointed with any of the recipes I’ve tried from the books.

It’s also a nice soup to start your special Valentine’s meal. Velvety, rich, creamy, not sweet with a hint of cinnamon hiding in the background while the pears and sweet potatoes marry and become one. Perfect!

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup

  • 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into small pieces
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter or organic coconut spread
  • 3 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup white wine or apple or pear juice
  • 1/3 cup half-and-half or coconut milk creamer
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Combine sweet potatoes, water, cinnamon stick and salt in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender. Remove cover and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Discard cinnamon stick and set sweet potato mixture aside.

Melt butter or organic coconut spread in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pear pieces and saute 5 minutes. Add wine. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until pear pieces are tender.

In food processor or blender, puree sweet potato mixture and pear mixture in batches. Return pureed soup to Dutch oven. Add half-and-half or coconut milk creamer and pepper. Stir well to combine. Heat through and serve. Makes about 8 cups.

Recipe adapted from Perennial Palette, by Southborough Gardeners in Southborough, Massachusetts. 2001.

 

A creamy soup that will help add fruits and vegetables to your New (healthy) Year

Posted on by
4

As the New Year begins, it only seems right to offer a recipe for a soup that is chock full of vegetables and even a little bit of fruit. The creamy soup will incorporate nicely into a regime of healthful menus.

I’ve been making this soup for years. A long time ago, much longer than I’d like to admit, I joined a group of women once a month for a Sunday afternoon meal. We called it our Recipe Exchange Group. We would each prepare a part of the meal and bring along the recipe to share. Elsa, our friend from Argentina, brought this soup to one of those long-ago meals where we’d not only eat, but also chat about our kids, our husbands, and food. It was an appreciated outlet for all of us in this small group of moms who liked to cook.

If you have made a resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables each day, this soup will make it easy. There is a fair amount of chopping involved, but once that task has been accomplished, the soup will be ready to eat in no time.

Chopped leeks, onion and celery saute in butter until tender. Be sure the butter is nice and hot when you add the vegetables. You should be able to hear them sizzle in the hot butter. I typically use butternut squash in the soup. This time, though, I had some other kind of winter squash on hand — a big green one that I picked up at the farmers market in the Fall. Use your favorite winter squash. A small turnip adds a very mild cabbage-like flavor, but it’s hardly detectable after it cooks with all the other fruit and vegetables. Apples and carrots add sweetness, along with a little apple juice. I use local orchard-fresh apple cider when I make this soup in the Fall.  The secret ingredient is added just at the end. Shredded Gruyere. Just 2 ounces melts into the soup and offers an amazing flavor that no one can figure out. Taste the soup before adding the cheese and once again after the cheese has incorporated into the soup. You’ll never want to make the soup without Gruyere. If you’ve never eaten Gruyere cheese, it’s a semi-soft Swiss cheese with a nutty, slightly sweet and salty flavor. It’s a good melting cheese and is often used in fondue.

You decide whether or not to add 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream before serving the soup. I usually leave it out, unless I’m planning to serve the soup at a dinner party. The cream adds rich, silky texture to the soup, but it also adds fat and calories.

I am one who will be focusing on daily doses of more friuts and vegetables than I have consumed in 2011. I’ll continue my daily walks with Gracie, my golden retriever. I promise to go to yoga classes more consistently. I’m going to eat little meat and when I do I will prefer organic or locally-produced meat. I’m going to start the year being vegan one day a week, consuming no food that comes from animals. I’ll see how that goes. And, I’m going to eat more greens, a wide variety of greens. And, I’m going to try to always have some of this soup in the freezer.

Happy New Year. May it be a healthy one for you and all those you love.

Apple-Butternut Squash Soup

  • 2 medium-sized leeks
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 pound butternut or your favorite winter squash, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped
  • 1 small turnip, peeled and chopped
  • 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup apple cider or organic apple juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried whole rosemary, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried whole sage, crushed
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • Croutons, optional

Remove root, tough outer leaves, and tops from leeks, leaving 2 inches of dark leaves. Wash leeks, and chop.

Saute leeks, onion, and celery in 3 tablespoons butter in a large Dutch oven until vegetables are tender.  Add squash, apples, turnip, carrots, and chicken broth, stirring to combine.  Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Puree soup mixture in blender to make it smooth.  It will take a few batches in the blender.  Add apple cider, salt, pepper, nutmeg, rosemary and sage to one of the batches of soup in the blender to puree.  Put pureed soup back into pot.  Stir well.  Simmer soup, uncovered, 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  Add shredded cheese and whipping cream, stirring until cheese melts.  Ladle soup into individual serving bowls.  Garnish with croutons, if desired.  Yield: 12 cups.

Tip from the cook

If you think of it when you are cleaning the leeks, save some of the thin, slender pieces from the middle of the leek to use as garnish on the soup.

 

 

 

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Posted on by
10

The first time I saw the word Hungarian describing mushroom soup, I was perplexed. I am a descendent of grandparents who came to the United States from Hungary when they were young adults. My mother was 100% Hungarian. I don’t remember ever seeing mushroom soup on the dinner table. No, I’m sure if I’d grown up eating Hungarian Mushroom Soup, I would have always enjoyed eating the earthy fungi.

The truth is, I’ve never cared for mushrooms. The texture, the taste — not for me. Since last August, that’s all changed. My transformation from mushroom-challenged to fungi-infatuated began with an unexpected hunt for chanterelles when I was in Duluth. It developed further when a farmer in Frazee, Minnesota shared some of his freshly-harvested shiitake mushrooms with me. A recent weekend at Fall Mushroom Camp at Little Elbow Lake Park on the White Earth Indian Reservation clinched it. Done deal. I’ve become a lover of fresh mushrooms. Stuffed, stir-fried, paired with pasta or simmered in soup, I eat them. I’ll admit, it’s a remarkable transformation.

At Mushroom Camp, I thought it best to try to learn to identify just two or three edible wild mushrooms. I focused on Shaggy Manes, Lobster Mushrooms and Honey Mushrooms. Now, after spending time at Camp with very experienced mushroom foragers as my teachers, I feel confident I can safely harvest and eat these three mushrooms.

Morning walks with my dog, Gracie, have become forays. I wear my hiking boots so we can veer into the woods when I spot oak trees, a honey mushroom’s favorite place to propagate. With my “mushroom eyes” turned on, I hunt for honeys.

I was surprised to find honey mushrooms growing right in my own yard. I discovered a large cluster of the mushrooms growing at the base of an oak tree.

As I circled around the tree, I continued to find more honeys.

In no time, I had a small basket filled with honey mushrooms from my yard.

I made a pasta dish with some of the mushrooms. That recipe is in my column this week. Then, I dug out my Hungarian cookbooks in search of a recipe for soup. Last week I hosted my Simple, Good and Tasty Book Club for our monthly meeting. We decided on a mushroom potluck dinner. One of the members brought Hungarian Mushroom Soup. The recipe I’m sharing with you is an adaptation of that recipe combined with a couple of variations in my Hungarian cookbooks.

I served my Hungarian Mushroom Soup with Bacon, Green Pepper and Tomato Sandwiches today. Full of creamy mushrooms, dill weed and paprika, the soup is marvelous.

I looked back at some pictures I took when I was in Hungary a few years ago. Sure enough, I spotted honey mushrooms in a shot I took at Central Market Hall (Nagy Vasarcsarnok) in Budapest.

I’m not sure why the woman selling them looked so unhappy — maybe just tired after foraging for all of those wild mushrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m hooked on mushrooms. I find it thrilling to forage for them — it’s a wonderful way to enjoy a Fall day of sunshine and crisp air.

And, my Hungarian taste buds relish this Mushroom Soup.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 pound mushrooms, stems removed, sliced (honey mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms or cremini mushrooms work well)
  • 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
  • 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 4 cups vegetable, chicken or beef broth, divided
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, plus extra for serving
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in soup pot. Add chopped onion, green pepper and carrot. Saute 5 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Add garlic. Saute 2 or 3 minutes more. Add mushrooms. Saute 5 minutes.

Add dill weed, paprika, soy sauce and 2 cups of the broth. Bring soup to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Whisk milk and flour together until mixture is smooth. Pour into soup, stirring well to blend. Cover pot and simmer soup for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add remaining 2 cups broth and lemon juice. Stir. Heat to a simmer. Take pot off of heat and add sour cream, stirring until completely blended into the soup. Return pot to heat and warm soup until hot. Do not allow the soup to boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle hot soup into heated bowls. Add a small dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of parsley to each serving. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

 

 

Seasonal Vegetable (and zucchini) Soup with a Fresh Basil Dollop

Posted on by
3

A friend came to my house last week to help me prepare for an open house/book signing event that my Simple, Good and Tasty Book Club was hosting. Our guests of honor were to be the authors of the recently published book, “The Minnesota Table: Recipes for Savoring Local Food Throughout the Year,” Shelley N.C. Holl and B.J. Carpenter. It would be held at my house and we were expecting 70 to 75 people to come meet the authors. I definitely needed help getting ready for the special evening. My friend was planning to arrive around lunch time, coming from another appointment. I decided the least I could do would be to offer her a nice lunch before we got down to work.

My refrigerator was loaded with produce that I’d received in a market basket filled with fresh, local herbs, vegetables and flowers.

I cooked up a pot of vegetable soup, added some whole wheat elbow macaroni and stirred up a small batch of basil pistou (the French version of the Italian pesto). It was a simple and flavorful lunch, combined with a Marinated Zucchini, Tomato and Mozzarella Stack nesting on a bed of fresh spring greens and a slice of whole-grain peasant bread. It was just the fuel we needed as we began work on things that needed to be done for the open house.

The next day, Minneapolis authors Holl and Carpenter arrived at my house just in time to make some of their mint iced tea and honey lemonade and freshen up before guests began to arrive.

Members of my book club prepared food for guests to sample, using recipes from “The Minnesota Table.” One of the favorites was Wild Rice Salad with Dried Cranberries. Oh, what a party it was. The authors seemed to be bursting with passion and pride as they talked about their book, how it came to be and the experiences they had in the process.

They graciously signed many cookbooks, but not without a short visit with each purchaser in order to make more personal comments with each signing. Not every author does that. Everyone was impressed.

There were a few tidbits of food remaining after all the guests had gone home. My friend, Polly, stopped over as the two authors and I were nibbling some of the leftovers and sipping wine. Polly and Shelley Holl graduated from high school together. What a small world. Polly snapped this picture of Shelley, B.J. and me.

Two local bloggers were in attendance that evening and both have posted nice photos. You’ll enjoy reading their take on the book signing/open house. Get right to Heather Hanson’s blog post by clicking here. Rachelle Houle has her story about the event along with beautiful photos, right here.

Read more about the authors, their book and see their recipe for Wild Rice Salad with Dried Cranberries in my newspaper column this week. You can also listen to a short audio interview I did with Shelley Holl.

Added 9-9-10: Watch B.J. Carpenter make Honey Lemonade, a recipe from “The Minnesota Table.” If you’ve ever tasted the Honey Lemonade at the Minnesota State Fair, B.J.’s version tastes just like it. Yum! Click here to watch the segment B.J. did with me for Lakeland Public Television.

And, before I forget, here is the recipe for the soup I made for lunch the day before the book signing open house. It might be just the thing you need to warm up on a cool Labor Day weekend.

Seasonal Vegetable Soup with a Fresh Basil Dollop

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 large carrots, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 large leek, trimmed, cut lengthwise into four equal pieces and sliced (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
  • 1 cup peeled, cubed potatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 cups chopped zucchini
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 pound fresh tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
  • Pistou

Heat butter and olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add carrots, onions and leeks. When vegetables are crisp-tender, add potatoes, broth and water. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer gently until potatoes are almost cooked through. Add green beans, zucchini, crushed tomatoes, chopped tomato and beans. Continue cooking, uncovered, until vegetables are tender.

Cook macaroni separately according to directions on package. Add cooked and drained macaroni to soup in pot. Stir in 1/4 cup Pistou. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Spoon a small dollop of remaining Pistou on each serving. Makes about 12 cups of soup.

Pistou

  • 1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 chubby cloves garlic
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Process fresh basil leaves and garlic in a mini-food processor or blender. Gradually add olive oil and continue to process. Scrape mixture into a bowl and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Makes about 1/2 cup.

This Pistou is delicious stirred into an omelet, a bowl of hot pasta, or homemade tomato sauce. Spread it on homemade pizza, too. A little dollop on top of tomato soup is good, too. Oh, so many ways to use this versatile Pistou.

Choucroute Chow

Posted on by
Reply

 I made Choucroute Garnie last week. Pork, kielbasa, sauerkraut, potatoes cooked together in one pot. You really can’t find anything better for warming you up on a cold winter day.

But. it’s hard to make just a little bit of Choucroute Garnie. And, when only two people are feasting on the one-pot meal, you can bet there will be plenty remaining in the pot after the tummies have been filled with all they can handle.

In my kitchen, any food waiting for its second time around can be tossed into a soup pot. That includes Choucroute Garnie. And how easy it was to transform it into a steaming, satisfying and flavorful soup.

A can of crushed tomatoes, a little broth and, of course, a hit of paprika. That’s it. You’ve got soup.

How easy is that? Chow down on Choucroute Garnie the second time around.

Oh, you’ll need to make the Choucroute Garnie before you can make the soup. You’ll find my recipe for Choucroute Garnie prepared in a slow-cooker, when you click to my column right here.

Please don’t have the soup without the Caraway Rye Croutons. They are so good, you’ll want to eat them without the soup.

Choucroute Soup

  • 4 cups leftover Choucroute Garnie
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes 
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika

Mix all the ingredients together in a soup pot. Heat to steaming. Serve with Caraway Rye Croutons.

Caraway Rye Croutons:

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons caraway
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 6 ounces dark rye bread, cut into 1 inch chunks
  • Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small skillet, toast the caraway seeds over moderate heat for about 1 minute, shaking the pan frequently. Add the butter and garlic and stir until the butter melts. In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with the caraway butter until evenly coated. Spread the bread cubes on a large rimmed baking sheet and toast, turning once, until lightly browned and crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt. Transfer the croutons to a basket.

 

Warm Up with Enlightened Winter Soup

Posted on by
3

When you live in the Midwest, northern Minnesota to be more exact, where below-zero temperatures are no big deal, but just part of winter life, a hot bowl of hearty homemade soup is highly appreciated.

A few weeks ago I received a copy of "Enlightened Soups," by Camilla V. Saulsbury. As I was in the midst of holiday preparations, I didn’t have much time to look through the cookbook. But as the New Year rang in, I was ready to get back to a more healthful eating routine. And, during the first week of the new year, a few of Camilla’s Enlightened Soups have been a part of my lower fat, lower calorie eating plan.

As I paged through the cookbook filled with more than 135 light and healthful soup recipes, I soon noticed the recipes used ingredients that can be found in most supermarkets and that the soups did not take long to make. All can be prepared in an hour or less, some in just 20 minutes. Each recipe has a small illustration that shows how long it takes to prepare the soup. As I soon discovered, enlightened soups don’t need to cook for hours to deliver wonderful flavor.

Another feature of "Enlightened Soups" is the nutritional information included with each recipe.

I first tried Red Lentil Mulligatawny. It was rich with flavor and took 45 minutes to prepare from start to finish.You can read about that recipe in my column this week.

As a guest writer on my blog, Camilla Saulsbury agreed to share her top ten tips for enlightened soup-making. Her helpful tips can be applied to the recipes from her "Enlightened Soups" cookbook or they can help you turn your own favorite homemade soups into enlightened soups.

Camilla also shares her recipe for Dijon Vegetable Chowder, pictured above.

Learn more about Camilla as well as other enlightened cookbooks she has written by visiting her Enlightened Cooking blog.

******************************************************************************************************************

Hi everyone. I am so happy to be guest-posting here on Sue Doeden’s blog, and share a recipe from my cookbook, Enlightened Soups: More Than 135 Light, Healthy, Delicious and Beautiful Soups in 60 Minutes or Less. Although I’ve written 10 cookbooks to date, Enlightened Soups is my very favorite; developing the recipes was a labor of love.

And soup is what I’ve been making—almost every day—since Christmas. It’s so warming on these chilly January days (yes, it’s even cold here in Texas; not as cold as Minnesota and the Dakotas, but in the 20s), and it is the best fast food around.

My objection to most “fast food” is the adjective “fast.” Loading myself (and my 3-year -old son) into the car in freezing temperatures, only to drive to a line of 15+ cars, is anything but desirable; or fast. I’d much rather stay in my warm kitchen, listening to NPR, and making a batch of Dijon Vegetable Chowder, a favorite recipe from my book It’s ready in minutes, a cinch to prepare, and made from pantry ingredients. An added fillip? It’s light in fat and calories despite its rich, velvety taste.

I hope you’ll give it a try. I’ve also included my top ten tips for streamlining all of your soup-making. Soup’s on!

Dijon Vegetable Chowder

Total Time (Prep + Cooking): 60 minutes

Creamy and rich—despite containing neither cream nor butter—this soup wards off winter with every spoonful. Don’t skip the addition of the Dijon mustard—it adds tremendous flavor and depth in one easy step.

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 2 medium red bell peppers, seeded, diced
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups 1% lowfat milk
  • 3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 medium baking potatoes (about 2 and 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  • 1 16-ounce bag frozen white or yellow corn
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 16-ounce bag frozen cut green beans

Heat the oil in a large saucepan set over medium heat. Add the onion, bell peppers, and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Add the garlic, milk, broth, water, and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in corn and simmer 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer 3 cups of the solids and 1 cup liquid to a blender. Add the mustard and puree until smooth. Return to pot and add green beans. Bring to a simmer, cooking 8 minutes or until beans are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition per Serving:
Calories 142; Fat 4.9g (sat 2.9g, mono 1.0g, poly 0.3g); Protein 6.6g; Cholesterol 15mg; Sodium 509mg; Carbohydrate 24.8g.

Camilla Saulsbury’s Top 10 Tips for Enlightened Soups
Whether you’re making Classic Tomato Soup, Garden Gazpacho, or Rice Congee Soup, it helps to remember that soup is a forgiving dish, making it one of the best ways to learn about the magic of cooking. Soup offers the opportunity to learn about the fundamentals of cooking, from sautéing to caramelizing to the blending of techniques, textures, and flavors, all with easy-to-follow steps. Further, soup is flexible, meaning you can tweak it to your palate’s content.

Nevertheless, it’s always important to begin by reading through the recipe before cooking begins, checking that you have all the necessary ingredients, and then gathering together all of the needed equipment for the task.

And for even greater assurance of success, follow my top ten tips for enlightened soup-making:


1. Know Your Salt & Pepper.
Proper seasoning with salt and pepper is the key difference between a great soup and a blah soup.

Salt is about as close to a magic ingredient as there is. Proper seasoning with salt doesn’t make a soup salty; rather, the myriad complex flavors of the brew come to the fore. But add too much, and all your hard work can be ruined.

Fresh peppercorns are likewise key to creating great soup. They have tremendous flavor, especially in comparison to the pre-ground stuff. You can use your own pepper grinder, or look for the new peppercorn bottles in the supermarket with the grinder built in.

2. Cut the Fat in the Sauté Step.
Many soup recipes begin by cooking and stirring aromatic vegetables—e.g., onions, garlic, peppers, ginger—in butter or oil.

You can slash the fat in most traditional recipe by cutting down to a few teaspoons or tablespoons of oil or butter. The results are still delicious (the vegetables are softened and slightly caramelized), and the technique can be applied to other soups in your repertoire. Note that if the vegetables stick a bit, simply add a small amount of broth or water to the pan.

3. Don’t Go Stir-Crazy
In the first phase of cooking the soup (i.e., cooking and stirring the onions, aromatics, and other vegetables), don’t stir the vegetables too often; once every two minutes or so is plenty. This helps them brown, caramelizing their sugars. That, in turn, will further enhance the flavor of the soup without adding excess fat.

4. Puree Soup in Blenders, in Small Batches
When making pureed soups, use a blender for the creamiest texture. A food processor will give a slightly grainy texture. Handheld immersion blenders are excellent when you only want to blend soups a little bit, but they are not effective for making creamy purees.

Be sure to purée in small batches and crack the blender lid slightly (or remove the center cap from the lid). Steam can build up once you start blending, and if the lid is on tight or the blender is overfilled, it will spray hot soup all over you and your kitchen. For protection, cover the top with a dishtowel while puréeing.

5. Steer Clear of HIGH Heat.
As one who has scorched her fair share of soups in days gone by, I urge you to consider the following: keep the burner dial away from HIGH, even when bringing soup to a boil. It can take mere seconds for a soup to scorch if left unattended boiling at high heat.

6. Handle Dairy Additions with Care.
Follow the directions carefully for adding dairy products to soup. Keep the heat relatively low to prevent the dairy product from separating; boiling will create an unpleasant texture. If you’re making a soup ahead of time, prepare it up to the point of adding the dairy, then cool and store. Reheat the soup when ready to eat, adding the dairy for a quick heating just before eating.

7. Give Yourself Permission to Use Ready-Prepped Ingredients
Sure, fresh is best. But when you’re exhausted and hungry, my position is that a homemade soup made with a few shortcuts is still so much better—both in terms of taste and good health— than fast food. So go head and plan for those emergency moments and stock the pantry and freezer with plenty of ready-made broths, vegetables, rice, beans, and pasta.

8. Cut Vegetables Small for Faster Cooking.
A 1/2-inch size chop or dice needs no more than 10 minutes of simmering before it’s soft, speeding soup to the table in no time.

9. Head to the Deli Counter for Cooked Meat & Poultry.
You don’t need to simmer meat and poultry for hours on end to pack a healthy and flavorful addition to almost any soup. Instead, head to the deli counter of your supermarket for a wide selection of fully cooked meats. Shred the meat from deli rotisserie chicken (discard the skin, and freeze any leftover meat for future meals), or request thick cuts of roast beef, smoked turkey, and ham, then easily dice into small pieces at home.

10. Add Instant Dazzle with a Drizzle, Splash, or Sprinkle.
Elevate any Enlightened Soup, whether for everyday or entertaining, with a sprinkle or drizzle of one of the following: a few shavings of Parmesan cheese, made with a vegetable peeler, flavorful oil (fruit extra-virgin olive oil, hazelnut oil, toasted sesame oil), finely grated citrus zest, or ready-made condiments such as black olive tapenade, sun-dried tomato tapenade, or basil pesto. A very small splash of citrus juice (lemon or lime), red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, or good-quality balsamic vinegar, can brighten and enhance the flavors of many soups, too.
 

Mango Soup…Hot, Hot, Hot!

Posted on by
2

There are two things in my world that tell me spring is officially here. One, the call of the loons wake me from my morning slumber as they float on the river just outside my window. That just happened Wednesday morning. Two, the small juicy yellow-skinned mangoes are ready to purchase by the case at my favorite little Asian market in Fargo. Done. Spring is here.

This year the mangoes are from Mexico and are called Adolfo (Ataulfo). I’ve seen some that look similar that are called Champagne mangoes. All I know for sure is that these small mangoes are the sweetest and juiciest I’ve ever tasted.

If the mangoes you bring home from the store look like the ones pictured above, let them sit out at room temperatue until the skins get all wrinkled with a few little brown spots. Then you will know the mangoes are sweet and ready to eat.

I decided to prepare a savory mango soup for a Caribbean-themed dinner I was planning to attend. To add some coconut flavor to the finished soup, I tried to recreate a coconut custard I recently tasted.

While I was working in Minneapolis last week, I had the opportunity to have dinner at Heidi’s, a cozy little restaurant near 50th and Penn. The food was fantastic. I was especially smitten by my entree. Sauteed halibut on a Haupia cake was that evening’s special. The haupia cake was made of coconut custard that had been cut into a plank, coated with Panko and fried.

I wanted some of that coconut custard to top my hot mango soup.

I cooked up some custard using coconut milk, coconut cream and a little curry paste for some kick, thickening the mixture with cornstarch.

The mango soup is very easy to make, but the real key is to use the ripest, sweetest and juiciest mangoes you can get your hands on. I’ve had an opened container of tamarind paste/concentrate in my refrigerator for ages and am always trying to think of ways to use it up. It’s very tart, so 1 teaspoon in this soup is just right. It balances so nicely with the sweet mangoes.

Top each bowl of hot soup with a small scoop of Coconut Cream Custard. Garnish with a curl of lime. Serve. And then, just listen to all those satisfied ooohs and aaaahs and sighs.

It’s a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy.

At the Caribbean dinner it will be served just before Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Black Bean Salsa and Curried Citrus Rice, all prepared by our host. I’ll be sure to give you a report on the whole meal.

I plan to make the soup again while my favorite mangoes are still available and serve it with some spiced and grilled shrimp.

Coconut Cream Custard

  • 1 1/2 cups water, divided
  • 8 ounces cornstarch
  • 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (not the Lite style)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 of a 16-ounce can of Coco Casa Coconut Cream
  • 1 teaspoon curry paste

Using a fork, mix cornstarch with 1 cup of water, stirring to dissolve cornstarch. Set aside.

In a medium saucepot, mix coconut milk, sugar and remining 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Pour cornstarch mixture into the hot liquid, stirring constantly with a fork or wire whisk. When mixture is quite smooth, return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in cream of coconut and curry paste. Set aside while preparing cooling dish.

Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or waxed paper. Pour coconut custard into lined dish. Press a piece of waxed paper over the top of the custard so it is completely sealed. Chill in refrigerator until firm.

Custard can be made the day before and kept in the refrigerator until time to serve the soup.

 Smooth & Savory Mango Soup with a Coconut Cream Dollop

  • 5 medium-sized white onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 6 very ripe Adolfo (Ataulfo) mangoes, peeled, seed removed, chopped
  • 1 serrano pepper, seeded, minced
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • Lime zest for garnish, if desired 

In a soup pot, melt butter. Saute chopped onions in butter until tender but not brown. Add chopped mangoes and minced serrano. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add chicken broth. Bring soup to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in tamarind paste, salt and pepper.

Puree soup in blender in several small batches. I always cover the lid of the blender with my kitchen towel before I turn it on, just in case that hot soup spurts out of the top.

To serve, ladle hot soup into serving bowls. Place a small scoop of Coconut Cream Custard on each serving. Garnish with a curl of lime zest, if desired.