Category: soups

Corn Chowder, lactose-free

The sweetness of corn works well here with the salty-smokiness of the prosciutto and smoked paprika.  Roasted garlic comes in handy to perk up soups – sometimes when I’m baking I throw a bulb of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil.  Then I store it in the fridge for future use.

If you don’t need to make this recipe lactose-free, feel free to use milk or half milk, half cream in place of the soy milk.

What you need:

100 grams prosciutto, chopped into medium-sized chunks

1 large onion, diced

1 leek, sliced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 large potato, chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 bulb roasted garlic

4 cups chicken stock

2 cans corn or a few cobs

2 cups soy milk

a few dashes of hot sauce

a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  In a large pot, cook the prosciutto for a few minutes, then add the chopped onions, leeks and celery.  Cook on medium heat until they are soft.

2.  Stir in the paprika and cook for a few more minutes.

3.  Add the chicken stock, potato, parsley and roasted garlic.  Cook for about 30 minutes on medium low heat.

4.  Add the corn and soy milk and let them heat up but not boil.  Add hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Carrot Lentil Soup with a hint of coconut

I started out making a completely different soup, trying out a new recipe, and part way in I thought about that bit of coconut milk I had in the fridge.  So I forgot about the recipe,added the coconut milk, and ended up with this lovely soup.  It’s only a bit of coconut milk, so it’s not the main flavour, but it gives a bit of creaminess.

What you need:

3 rashers bacon

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, sliced

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon garam masala

2 large carrots, grated

3-4 cups chicken stock (or turkey)

3/4 cup lentils

3/4 cup coconut milk

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Fry bacon until crispy; place on paper towels to soak up the excess fat, and chop once it is cool.

2.  Heat the oil in a pot then add the onions, cooking until slightly browned.  Add garlic, carrots, chilli flakes and garam masala.  Cook for a few minutes.

3.  Add bacon and lentils, then pour in the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook until the lentils are cooked, about 40 minutes.

4.  Add coconut milk, and season to taste.  you may not need to add much salt, as the bacon will give it a bit of saltiness.

Options for serving:  top with a bit of yogurt or squeeze a bit of lime on top.

Chicken, Corn and Kale Soup

This cold weather is perfect for soup making.  This one’s quite easy, too, an old standby that I created a long time ago out of foods I had on hand.  Kale is packed with vitamin C – and don’t we all need a bit more of that with all the germs flying around these days?  It also provides a lot of iron and calcium, among other nutritional benefits.

What you need:

3-4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin removed

1-3 whole cloves garlic, skin removed

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

1 bunch kale, chopped roughly

1 can corn

salt and a generous amount of pepper

optional:  1/2 cup orzo

What you do:

1.  Place a large pot on medium heat, then put the chicken thighs in.  Add the garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes on one side.

2.  Add the broth, bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook for 30 minutes.

3.  Add the beans and cook for 20 more minutes, unless you’re in a big hurry, in which case you can move to step 4.

4.  Cook the pasta in a separate pot and have it ready to add at the end.

5.  Remove the chicken and pull it apart with a fork, so it is shredded rather than chopped.

6.  Put the chicken back in the pot, add the kale, corn, pasta, salt and pepper, and cook until just heated.

Done!  And it’s great for left-overs.

Black Bean and Corn Soup

This is my new favourite soup recipe –  hot sauce makes it a little spicy, corn adds a little sweetness, and a there’s a ton of flavour in here.  Some of the soup is pureed, but there’s lots of colour from the remaining vegetables.  Topped off with a little yogurt, it tastes decadent.

What you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 red pepper, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1 – 398 mL can of diced tomatoes

5 cups black beans, cooked (about 1 & 1/2 cups dry)

6 cups vegetable broth

2 – 341 mL cans of corn

salt and pepper

hot sauce

plain yogurt

1 lime

What you do:

1. If you are cooking your own beans, place them in a pot of boiling water, bring back to a boil and cook for a few minutes.  Turn heat off and soak for about two hours.  I like to drain in the middle of the soaking time and bring back to a boil – this helps ward of the gas causing properties beans can have.  The last step is to rinse, then bring the beans back to a boil, then lower the heat and cook until soft.  This shouldn’t take too long.

2.  Heat the olive oil and add the onions, garlic, peppers and carrots.  Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

3.  Add the oregano, cumin, beans, tomatoes and broth.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about half an hour.

4.  Puree about a third of the soup.  I just put my immersion blender in and blended until I thought it looked good.

5.  Add the corn, along with its juice, and cook just long enough to heat through.

6.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Top with a big dollop of yogurt and some hot sauce.  Serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze on top.

Easy Vegetable Stock

Making your own vegetable stock is easy to do, and will give your soups amazing flavour.  I usually make some when I’m making a soup, and try to make extra so I can put it in the freezer for another time.  I don’t salt my soup stock – I wait until I put it into a recipe, and adjust the salt in a way that suits that particular recipe.

What you need:

1 onion

1 celery stalk

1 carrot

a small chunk of ginger

a few garlic cloves

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

pepper corns

What you do:

1.  Put all the ingredients in a large pot, cover with cold water, then bring to a boil.

2.  Lower heat and simmer for 1-2 hours.

3.  Strain and use right away, or freeze for later.

 

 

Oma’s Chicken Soup

There’s a tickle in the back of my throat and I’m doing my best to fight it off, so it’s time to turn to my Oma’s chicken soup for some healing.  At 98 years of age, she’s not making soup anymore, so I’ve gleaned her wisdom, and I’m doing my best to use the basic elements of her recipe.  Oma’s recipes are stored in her memory, not written down, so a recipe from her sounds like “a little of this, a bunch of that.”  Here’s how I make it, based on what my Oma has told me about how she makes her chicken soup:

Put the following into a stock pot:

chicken backs and necks and feet (yes, feet!)

carrot (I used one)

celery (I used one stalk)

onion ( I used one, skin removed)

garlic (I used two cloves, but only because I was running out)

ginger (this is a key ingredient for fighting illness – I used about 1/4 cup or more sliced)

bay leaves (I used two.  I keep them in the freezer because I think they taste better when I  buy them fresh & then freeze them)

star anise (I used two)

peppercorns (I used about 2 teaspoons)

this time I added some parsley stems because I had them on hand, but it’s an experiment

sometimes I add an apple or sun-dried tomatoes, depending on what kind of flavour I want to impart, and what I have on hand

enough water to cover it all up

I never add salt to the broth – I wait until I use it in a soup recipe

When it’s all in the pot:

Now bring to almost a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for hours – 4-5 if you’ve got the time.

To cool it I place the pot in a sink filled with cold water.

When it has cooled a bit I pour the liquid through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, and store the liquid in canning jars.  Refrigerate it until the stock is cold, then skim off the fat.  (My relatives would have saved this to make soap.  I just throw it away.)

I store some of the broth in canning jars in the freezer, making sure to leave some space for it to expand as it freezes – if you don’t do this you end up with broken jars and wasted broth.

When refrigerated, the best chicken soup broth will become gelatinous – all the chicken stock makers in my family, Oma, Tante Katje, and Mom, say that it’s really good for you.  No reasons why, it’s just “good for you.”

Oma served this with her homemade noodles – something I’ll try after the soup has healed me!