Category: Soups and Stews

Fall Minestrone

Fall is here, and like many of you, I am back in a routine. There are some parts of this routine I love – on most Sundays, I make a dish that will generate leftovers for the week ahead. Often, that means a big pot of soup. When things get busy, it’s reassuring to know that I have a supply of meals already prepared.

This week, I chose a Fall Minestrone recipe. A hearty vegetable based soup is the perfect healthy lunch. This soup did involve a lot of peeling and chopping, but is otherwise very easy. It features onions, carrots, potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, kale, white beans and orzo. The flavor is very mild, with just a touch of salt and pepper. When the soup was done, I let it cool for a few minutes and then divided it right up into containers, plus a bowl for dinner.

By the time I finish dinner and clean up, the soup has cooled down and I can put the lids on the containers and store them in the refrigerator or freezer. And of course, I also pack small containers of freshly grated Parmesan to bring with the soup. It’s the little things that make a packed lunch more fun!

Corn and Lobster Bisque

I think this is a fitting recipe to share heading into a long weekend, especially one that marks the unofficial end of summer. It was my sister who suggested that we make lobster bisque to serve with dinner. And so began a recipe search which led us to ask questions such as, “doesn’t bisque need to contain sherry?”, and “do we really have to use heavy cream?” This recipe, adapted from Emeril’s, seemed like a good compromise on all fronts, and also made use of some fresh corn.

We ended up using a mix of pricier lobster and less expensive crab, probably about 6-8 oz. total, and bulked up the soup with more onion and celery. We also used vegetable bouillon instead of fish stock. So while this wasn’t a pure lobster bisque, it was a good bowl of soup. One dinner guest gave this a big thumbs up, and my Dad said it was the best recipe we made all weekend. So there you have it – enjoy the long weekend!

Sweet Potato and Pea Chowder

Who took the bag of corn from my freezer and secretly replaced it with a bag of peas!? Yes, this was supposed to be sweet potato and corn chowder, but these days I just have to go with the flow. This was a super easy recipe; it does take the sweet potato chunks some time to become tender, but you can leave it on the stove simmering and not pay too much attention. I also meant this to be more of a milk based chowder, but there was already a lot of liquid, so I settled for just a splash of milk. Plenty of room for improvement here, so stay tuned.

1 onion, chopped
2 t olive oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 c. vegetable broth
1 c. frozen peas (or corn!)
Splash of milk

In a medium saucepan, saute onion in olive oil. Add potatoes, and saute for 5 minutes. Add vegetable broth, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove cover, add peas, and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, add a splash of milk, and season with salt and pepper.

Cream of Zucchini Soup

My cooking club theme this month was “Mini-Foods”, meaning miniature versions of your favorites. We had an excellent lineup including miniature gourmet sandwiches, pulled pork sliders, Martha Stewart’s mini mac and cheese, and lemon tartlets for dessert.

I read a tip about serving chilled summer soups in a shot glass, and wanted to give that a try. My last experience with cold summer soup was pre-blog, but my family probably still remembers the Watermelon Gazpacho disaster. I chose a completely different type of soup with this Cream of Zucchini recipe. I totally understand that cold soups aren’t for everyone, but this one is both visually appealing and refreshing. Shhhh – the creamy aspect was actually fat free sour cream! You can’t really drink it from the glass, but even if you have to take out a spoon it’s still a fun way to eat a healthy serving of vegetables.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

I was so excited to make this recipe the other day! I thought it was going to turn out to be a beautiful and delicious soup, with yellow split peas, red lentils, bright green scallions, carrots, and more. Most of the recipes I’ve tried from 101 Cookbooks have turned out well.

But it was such a disappointment – certainly an edible meal, but not great. To be fair, I am not sure I toasted the curry powder correctly. I swished it around in a frying pan for a bit, but perhaps not long enough. The soup had a lot of great ingredients, but nothing really stood out. I even let it simmer longer until it was quite thick, as suggested. I won’t try this one again myself, but I wanted to post about it anyway because you do have to keep trying new recipes to find the truly great ones.

Easy Shrimp Bisque

I was flipping through my most recent issue of Real Simple magazine, and came across this recipe for Easy Shrimp Bisque. I had some shrimp in the freezer and it sounded like a nice meal, but it calls for one cup of heavy cream, which didn’t seem necessary. So I revamped it quite a bit using ingredients I had in the house, and it was really good! It’s still a simple recipe, just a lot healthier. I don’t normally have fat free sour cream in the house, but I think Greek yogurt will work so I’ll try that next time.

2 t olive oil
1 t minced garlic
1/2 lb. raw shrimp, thawed, peeled, and chopped
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1/3 c. skim milk
1/3 c. fat free sour cream

Heat olive oil in a pot on medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp, and cook for 3-4 minutes, just until shrimp turns pink. Turn heat to medium-low, and add tomatoes, milk, and sour cream. Cook until heated through, but be careful not to let it boil.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Broccoli Soup

I went to the supermarket on Saturday with a list of things I needed for the week, and was very disappointed with the produce selection. Yes, it’s that time of year where it seems like nothing is in season, and there are signs up indicating that the bad weather has impacted growers nationally. I hear there are farmer’s markets in the Boston area that run through the winter, but I was short on time, so I hit the freezer aisle this week instead.

I don’t know what this recipe is like with fresh vegetables, but it was incredibly good with frozen substitutes! I used a 20 oz. package of butternut squash and an 8 oz. package of broccoli, and they went straight from the freezer to the oven for roasting. I mashed the squash by hand which was smooth enough for me, and the rest of the recipe was easy. The soup is just a little bit sweet from the orange juice, and a little bit spicy from the curry and cayenne.

(Really Homemade) Chicken Soup

I have never attempted to make homemade chicken stock; real chicken parts scare me a little, and bouillon cubes are just too easy. But since I was already baking bread from scratch with real yeast, I figured I would tackle this fear too. Split chicken breasts (the kind with the skin! and bone!) were even on sale this week. I know that you should really use a whole chicken, or even just the less fancy parts, but let’s take this one step at a time.

This was another 2 day project, but it was well worth it in the end. The soup needed a lot more salt and pepper than I expected to taste right, but when it was finally ready, it was a great meal. It is fairly thick with chicken and vegetables, but that is just the way I like it. Chicken soup doesn’t photograph well, but you’ll have to imagine just how good it was.

2 – 2.5 lbs. split chicken breasts
8 c. water
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/2 c. frozen corn

Place water and chicken in a large pot. Simmer for 2-3 hours, until chicken is almost falling off the bone. Remove large chicken pieces, and then strain broth into a large bowl, reserving the remainder of the chicken. Allow the broth to cool, then cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Allow chicken to cool, and then remove meat and shred, discarding the skin and bone. Store chicken meat separately from the broth.

When broth is cool, remove layer of white fat which has risen to the top of the bowl and discard. Add 1/4 c. of broth to a large pot, and cook onions, carrots, and celery for 10 minutes on medium heat. Add remainder of broth, chicken, peas, and corn, and simmer for 4-45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.