It hit 32 degrees - Soup Time!

[Ritchie200]

My fall habit is when it hits 32, I start cookin' soup.  This is one of my favs, Chicken Noodle.

1.5lbs +/- Chicken breasts sliced thin
Three medium carrots, sliced
Medium onion, diced
Three average celery stalks (not too much - very important) cut along length and slice
One leek cut off root and most of green, cut along length and slice
Three diced garlic cloves
Two Teaspoons Marjoram  
Two boxes chicken broth
Big egg noodles, about 8oz (I use Essenhaus, fantastic homemade available even at Wally Mart)
Fresh parsley

Dump about 3-4 tablespoons of EVOO in soup pot, add garlic, onions, and chicken.  Cook chicken stirring often.  By the time the chicken is done, the garlic and onions are soft and perfect - but not caramelized.  When all chicken chunks are white, dump in carrots, leek, celery, and broth.  Add marjoram, cover and bring to boil.  Stir often, salt and pepper to taste.  When boiling, add noodles, reduce to simmer and cover.  Done in about 15-20 minutes.  Serve and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.

Marjoram gives it a great aroma that works with the chicken.  Most chicken soups have an overpowering celery taste (IMHO).  The leek is the secret as it gives this a great nutty taste that tames the bitterness of the celery.  I use a regular yellow onion as I want the flavor - the sweet onions are too weak.  The parsley gives it a great tang on the finish.

Time to eat!
Jim

[GroundhogKen]

Nice.

[cbass]

Leeks are good.We had potato soup last night mmm. Will have it for lunch again today.Don't have recipe You'd have ask my wife.
I only cook if there is open flames involved.

[EL34]

Mmmm, that looks great

I was just thinking yesterday that it's time for a big batch of soup
I do a great Chicken soup also

I use
Boneless skinless chicken thighs
Rice instead of noodles
Lots more garlic

I don't use chicken broth because the thighs make lots of their own

The other ingredients are about the same as my version except I use green onions

[cbass]

Got our first frost last night

[Jack_Hester]

If you like Brunswick Stew, here's the recipe to the one that we have made, from the time I was a small child. 

Jack

[EL34]

Got our first frost last night

We hit 31 one time this past week and then back up

Was 57 here Monday morning

[tubenit]

Does Texas Chile count as soup?  Had two bowls tonight.  Loved it.

Tubenit

[Willabe]

I bet it does in Texas.    

I made a double batch of 15 bean mix soup a few nights ago. Used smoked ham hocks and a ham bone for the stock. Added black pepper corns and bay leaf with the stock to cook. Striped the meat from the ham hocks after about an hour and chopped it up with the meat from the ham, set aside. Put the bones and skin back in cooked for another 2 hours. When done strain stock and put beans in. Bring to boil turn down and simmer and hour and a half. Then add veggies and seasonings, celery, carrots, onions, flat leaf parsley, crushed garlic, granulated garlic, granulated onion, bay leaf, thyme, pinch of oregano, fresh ground black pepper. Simmer till beans are tender, hour, maybe hour and a half. 15 minutes before beans are done add meat and ham stock packets that come with/in the 15 bean mix bags.  

No salt, ham stock packets along with the ham and smoked hocks have enough by themselves. We often use smoked turkey, wings not legs, but the store was out. All smoked ham hocks are not the same. Not all have much meat on them, you have to look around for the good ones with meat on them and not just bone/skin.

All measurements by eye and taste. Soaked the beans in water over night, drain/rinse. Uncooked chopped veggies are the same amount in the same bowl as the uncooked soaked beans.

Most/all of the smaller beans dissolve and thickin the broth, large beans are tender and creamie when you bite into them.

Baked a batch of corn bread to crumble in the soup at the table when served. Used butter milk instead of milk and added an extra egg in the batter.

Sometimes we use 1 bag of 15 bean mix and 1 bag of navy beans.

We loved it. Some left over to go in the freezer.            
  
                       Brad              

[EL34]

Mmmm, all the above sound good

[Willabe]

Mmmm, all the above sound good

Come on over Doug, we have plenty left over.     Soups allways better the next day or two.   


                  Brad     

[tubenit]

Anybody got a good soup recipe for butternut squash that you've actually made and tasted?

Tubenit

[EL34]

Come on over Doug, we have plenty left over.

If you lived next door I would 

[Willabe]

Anybody got a good soup recipe for butternut squash that you've actually made and tasted?

Yes, but I don't cook by measurements. It's cream of butternut squash soup.

Depending on how much you want to make you get a 2, 3 or 4 butternut squashes and peal and de-seed them. Then cut them into 3" or 4" pieces and put a little salt and fresh ground pepper on them. Put them in a baking dish but leave space around them so their not touching each other. You want to bake them at 350 degrees until they are cooked through and hopefully have turned ~golden brown. Browning them up a little carmalizes the sugar in them. (All meats and veggies have natural sugars in them that you can brown to add flavor/sweetness.) You can turn them over once about half way through if you like. IIRC takes about an 1 or so?

The base for the soup is chicken stock. You can make your own or use canned or boxed stock. When you bring the stock to a boil (then turn down to a simmer) add a couple of stalks of celery cut into ~4" pieces and a couple/3/4 of bay leaves to help flavor it. (You let them cook with the other ingredients but take them out later before you cream the soup.)

Cut up/dice 2 or 3 onions and 2 or 3 carrots, you can go with as much as ~1/2 the amount of squash. They give flavor and add sweetness. Add 2 or 3 crushed garlic cloves. Salt and fresh black ground pepper to taste. (Some use white pepper so you don't see black spots in the soup as is done with any light colored soup stock.) Now you can also add a little nutmeg and/or ground ginger if you like those flavors, we do.

You need just enough stock to cover the veggies including the squash. (You have to leave room for the cream or half& half and butter you add at the end.) But since the squash is already cooked leave it out until the veggies are soft enough to blend/cream in a food processor. They get put in about ~15 minutes before the veggies are done just to warm them up. This is also the time to add the cream or half @ half and butter. I'd say about 50% dairy to broth. Remember cream is heavier than half & half so you won't need as much of it. About 1/2 stick to as much as a whole stick (1/4 pound) butter per squash. If the squash starts to get too brown before it's cooked/roasted through, fork tender, then take them out of the oven and add them earlier to finish cooking them in the soup. stock/broth.

When done pull the celery and bay leaves out. Now cream the whole thing in a blender or food processor until smooth. Be careful because the soup is hot and will expand and blow the lid off as you cream it. Don't blend to much at a time and pulse it at first.

All these things can be adjusted to what you like. Less butter, more cream, or less of both? How creamy do you want it? More ginger? Some like a little sage in it. You have to find the balance of flavors and thickness/creaminess you like.

Hope this will help you tubenit.


               Brad    

      

  

[Willabe]

Here's a few things I forgot that can really put this soup over the top. All of these are a great addition to the soup.

First you can hold back about a ~1/4 of the squash and dice it into ~1/4" pieces to give the soup some added texture.

Add some chopped pecans at the table for a garnish. It reinforces the nutty flavor of the squash, gives another layer of flavor, adds sweetness and texture/crunch. A heaping soup/table spoon or 2 per bowl should be plenty. (If you want to go all the way gently saute them dry over a ~medium low heat in a frying pan, stirring often so they don't burn to bring out the flavors even more.)

Core, peal and dice up some apples, (green or red or both, your choice) saute them up in a frying pan in butter and a little bit of brown sugar till fully cooked. Add at table as garnish, about same as above. You could even try pears.

The pecans and apples together are great in this soup!

You could add a little smoked apple wood bacon, diced up small, fried up crisp and drained on paper towles, add as garnish at the talbe to taste. Adds flovor and texture/crunch.

You could even cook smoked turkey wing or 2 in the stock. Simmer them in the stock for ~1 hour or so then take them out, pull the meat, chop it up, set aside, add (warm up in microwave) at the table for a garnish. It'll flavor the soup stock and add low fat meat to the soup for texture.

To me smoked ham hocks or ham off the bone would be too strong/heavy for this soup.

If you like the powdered ginger you could add a slice or 2 (~1/4") of fresh ginger root to the stock when cooking and pull them at the end. This reinforces the ginger flavor.

Jamaican allspice and pumpkin pie spice (premix blend) are 2 more holiday type spices you could try. I've used them all at one time or another. All these spices are strong so only add a little at a time, you can always add more if you like/need too. Sometimes all you need is just a hint of the spice. What I mean by that is you can't really say "oh I taste ....." but without out it in there it will be lacking something and taste kinda flat. Less depth.

You can leave out all the holiday spices when cooking. Then when it's done take some small bowls/ramekins, put a little soup in them (4 - 5 table spoons) and add a little of each spice in different bowls to taste what they'll do to the flavor. Go from there.

Tubenit I've seen some of the recipes you've posted some years back and your a very good cook IMO. You should be able to put a great version together that you and your wife will enjoy from the notes I've posted.


                    Brad        

  

[thermion]

this recipe comes closest to what I make at home, without having to write it all out:

chicken tortilla soup

•1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
•1 1/2 cups chopped onion
•2 tablespoons garlic
•1 tablespoon ground cumin
•1 teaspoon ground coriander
•1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
•2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
•2 14.5 ounce cans chopped fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
•6 cups chicken stock
•2 cups chopped chicken (1-inch pieces)
•2/3 cup fresh corn
•2/3 cup diced summer squash (1/2-inch dice)
•1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
•4 6-inch corn tortillas, sliced into 1/3 inch wide pieces
•2 tablespoons lime juice
•1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
•1/2 avocado, sliced
Directions:
1.Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Cook the onion for about 5 minutes until it softens and begins to turn brown.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the cumin, coriander and chili powder.  Stir the spices into the vegetables and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
2.Add the tomatoes and chicken broth to the pot.  Bring the soup to a gentle boil, turn the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes.
3.Remove the pot from the heat and allow the soup to cool slightly.
4.Puree the soup using an immersion blender or by transferring batches to a blender.
5.Return the pot of soup to the stove over medium low heat.
6.Season with the salt and pepper.  Add the chicken, corn and squash and simmer for about 5 minutes until the squash is just tender.
7.Heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
8.Add about a third of the tortilla strips to the skillet (do not overcrowd) and fry for about 3-4 minutes until they are golden and crispy. Repeat until all the tortilla strips are fried.
9.Stir the lime juice into the soup, taste and adjust seasonings.
10.Serve the soup topped with the cilantro, tortilla strips and sliced avocado.

Serve up this righteous bowl next to 1-2 pork tacos "al pastor" on corn tortillas with fresh cilantro and pineapple...zang!