Tag Archives: soup

Feb13

Lentil soup with sausage

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I have been making Rachael Ray’s Hungarian Hot Sausage and Lentil Soup for years, it completely revolutionized my idea of what lentil soup can be.  I grew up eating relatively plain lentil soup with ham, which I also love, but Rachael Ray’s lentil soup is full of “stuff.”  Not just sausage, but portobello mushrooms and kale.  It is the perfect thing to make early in the week and eat for a few days.

Lentil Soup with Sausage
Adapted from Rachael Ray

olive oil
2/3 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
kosher salt
black pepper
1 portobello mushroom, gills removed and sliced
3 small carrots, sliced
1 c of green lentils
2 small white potatoes, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
2 tsp smoked paprika (if you don’t have this, buy it!)
1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
14 oz can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes
6 c chicken broth
1 bunch of kale, stems removed, roughly chopped

Heat a little bit of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large dutch oven. Brown the sausage in the oil, breaking it up as it cooks. Add the onions and garlic, season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, and cook until they are translucent.

Add the carrots, mushrooms, lentils, potatoes, bay leaf, paprika, and rosemary, and allow to cook for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and chicken broth. (I also added a few fresh cherry tomatoes because I wanted to use them up.) Cover the pot and bring to a boil.

Uncover the pot and allow to boil for 20-30 minutes, until the lentils, potatoes, and carrots are cooked. Add the kale, stirring it in as it wilts. It might look like a ridiculous amount of kale at first, but I promise it will fit once it wilts down. Allow to simmer for a few more minutes.

This soup has enough starch to be eaten on its own, or you can serve it with crusty, toasted, buttered bread.

Jan12

Slow-roasted tomato soup

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I never liked tomato soup until this past year, and it is all thanks to this recipe.  The roasting of the tomatoes makes a huge difference to me!  This soup is light, savory, and perfect for dipping either toasted, buttered slices of baguette, or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Roasted Tomato Soup
Adapted from Melissa D’Arabian

8 roma tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise, or quarters if they are really big
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp. dried herbs de provence
1 T fresh tarragon

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, then drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the foil.
2. Place the tomatoes cut side down on the cookie sheet. Drizzle a little bit more olive oil over them, and toss the tomatoes around in the oil. Add the cloves of garlic to the cookie sheet, and season the entire sheet liberally with salt and pepper.


3. After an hour, take the tomatoes out of the oven and flip them over. The skins should be blistering, so that you can easily peel them. (If not you can peel the skins later.)


4. Put the tomatoes back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
5. While the tomatoes finish roasting, saute the onion in butter over medium low heat. When they are soft, add the herbs de provence and tarragon, and saute for another minute. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Allow both the tomatoes and the stock to cook a little bit before handling. Peel the roasted garlic. Puree the stock, tomatoes, and garlic in a blender. When blending hot liquids, remember to remove the plastic stopper in the middle of the blender top, and cover with a dish towel instead. (If you close the blender normally, the steam will build up in the blender the top will pop off.)
7. Pour the soup back into the pot, and heat over medium low heat.

Serve with buttered bread or toast.

Jan3

Minestra with turkey meatballs

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I do not usually care for leftovers, but soup is something that I can eat for days (chili too).  So for lunch during the week, I made a big pot of Rachael Ray’s mini meatball minestra.

The only modifications that I made to her recipe were:
* I used bacon instead of pancetta
* Only one head of escarole
* Ground turkey instead of meatloaf mix

I usually add sausage or bacon to soups, so the mini meatballs are a nice change.

Maybe the heads of escarole at my market are larger than average, but one head seemed like plenty.

The turkey meat totally did not want to stay in ball form, but don’t worry.

Before you put them into the soup, drizzle a little bit of olive oil on your hands, then roll the balls between your palms. This will help you to roll the balls more easily.  See?  Mine managed to stay in ball form throughout the cooking process.

Definitely serve them with a squeeze of lemon (or if you love lemon as much as I do, half a lemon’s worth of juice per bowl), and buttered bread. Or go all out and serve with grilled cheese, as Rachael suggests.  It’s not very colorful, but it was delicious!

Dec12

Lunch on a rainy day

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Since it’s cold and wet outside, and the doggies won’t leave their blankets, I thought I’d make wonton soup for lunch.  It’s really fast and warming on a cold day.

I had already made pork and crab wontons from the Steamy Kitchen cookbook, so those were ready and waiting in my freezer.  You could also use frozen wontons.

Heat chicken broth with a few dried shitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce, to give the broth an Asian flavor.  Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, so that the flavors infuse into the broth.

Simmer the wontons until the float to the top. Remove them from the broth using a slotted spoon.

Slice up some baby bok choy.

bok_choy

Add it to the broth, along with spinach (because I throw spinach into everything), glass noodles, and a few frozen shrimp.  You could add any other ingredients that you like here–mushrooms, tofu, frozen peas, etc.

Once the noodles are rehydrated and the veggies and shrimp are cooked, ladle the soup over the wontons.

Ta-da!  Perfect for a cold day.