Butternut Squash and Red Bell Pepper Soup

So, this recipe has a bit of a backstory and since you all apparently love reading my writing ramble, I shall share...

About a month ago I was at a pot luck and someone brought a curried butternut squash soup.  It was pretty spectacular and it got me thinking about a butternut squash soup I had made several years ago.  All I could remember was that it also contained bell peppers.  I was positive I had saved the recipe so I went diving into the pit that is the box containing all of my loose recipe sheets.  I came up empty handed.  Not an overly devastating turn of events, but not what I had been hoping for. 

Since my recipe pit proved unhelpful, I turned to internet world.  Apparently, in the world of butternut squash soup, most people are rocking the same playbook.  The crazier varieties may contain an apple, but at the core we have butternut squash, roasted red peppers, an onion, and some savory spices.

All of these items could easily be procured with a quick trip to the grocery.  I however, had a bit of a leg up.  There was still some stock in the freezer and it had turned out extremely well, full of flavor and would certainly save me from having to use extra spices as well as the onion. Sold!

Butternut Squash and Red Bell Pepper Soup

 

Ingredients:

 

6 lbs. Butternut squash - peeled and cubed

3 red bell peppers

3 qts chicken stock

Cinnamon, nutmeg, olive oil, salt, pepper - all to taste

 

Directions:

Okay, I'll be honest, this is a bit of an involved and at times messy recipe.  Therefore, step one, take a deep, calming, centering breath.  Now get cooking.

Set your oven to broil.  Cut the tops off of the peppers, remove the seeds, cut into quarters, and season with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Place onto a baking sheet and broil for 10 minutes.

 

Next comes the funky bit, using that tin foil you lined your baking sheet with, wrap the peppers into a pouch and let them steam themselves for another ten minutes.  This will loosen the skin and make peeling easier.  Peel the peppers and set aside.

Notice the increase in wrinkles? Steaming helps to separate the skin from the meat, allowing you to peel it off a bit easier.

 

Reduce the oven heat to 375F.

 

Using a very sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off of your squash then cut in half.  Scoop out the seeds.  Now, using a VERY sturdy vegetable peeler, peel the squash and then cut into cubes.  Place onto a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg, roast for 30 minutes.

 

 

Put your stock in a pot and add the squash as soon as it's finished in the oven.  Add the peppers and then bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the squash is tender.  It should fall apart as soon as you stick a fork in it.

 

As if things hadn't been messy enough, now it's time to bust out the blender.  If you have an emersion blender this will not be messy, you'll just stick the thing in the pot and blend until smooth.  I, however, am a lazy and stingy individual who see no need to purchase something I will only use once every couple of months.  I already have cabinets full of equipment like that.  So, standard blender it is.

 

If you are going the same route as me, you will want to let it cool a bit.  Then, in small batches, blend soup until smooth.  When it has magically become the desired consistency, give it a taste test.  Add any additional spices you deem necessary.  If you are serving immediately, put back in the pot and bring to a boil, otherwise transfer the soup to an air tight container and chill until ready for its squashy goodness.

 

I garnished with a bit of light cream.

Six pounds of squash will make this soup taste strongly of butternut squash.  If you like the squash, I feel confident stating you will this soup.  The key with how I made it though, is the strong stock. 

If you are not completely confident that your stock is robust, you'll want to add an onion and some additional spices. The onion should be roasted along with the squash and once you've simmered everything together, before you blend, I would give it a taste to see if some additional salt, pepper, nutmeg, and maybe even some thyme should find its way into your soup.

Regardless of how you season, this is a great soup on a cold day.



Potato Soup

I almost did not end up doing this recipe, the directions had me so baffled.  First, I need to boil diced potatoes...okay, got that part.  Then, next sentence, I am told to put them through a sieve.  Okay, so what you want me to do is drain the potatoes...got it.  Next sentence - add back to water the potatoes were cooked in.  What?!  In my head I had the image of me straining my potatoes in a colander.  This is by no means odd, we strain things all the time.  We do not, however, immediately re-add back to the cooking water.  What's the point of straining it in the first place?  I feel like there are a set of instructions that never quite made it to the page.

After I stared at the recipe long enough to make my brain hurt I flipped past it in disgust.  But then the desire to make a potato soup kept nagging at me.  I kept rereading that recipe over and over, stymied at those instructions.  Then I went searching around for other potato soup recipes on the great interweb and I found the word that made it all make sense - mashed.  Maria Luisa, you do not want me to sieve, you want me to rice!  I, however, did none of it.  Maria Luisa has not been privy to our conversations regarding my preference for chunky soup.  On this, and only this, will she be forgiven.  Therefore, I skipped the sieving.  However, if you would like something creamier, then by all means mash, sieve, or rice away.

I would also like to note that Maria Luisa does not add any suggestion regarding the fat content of the milk to be used.  Of course she also makes the usage of milk optional so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  For this recipe you boil the potatoes, bacon, and onions in just a bit of water. Once the core of your soup is cooked you then increase the liquid content with either more water, milk, or broth.  She also tells you to add the liquid preheated.  Maria Maria Maria, Mamma Mia Maria...you are killing me.  How am I supposed to hold my head high and declare Italians to be the best cooks when you have somehow managed to publish your nonsense with a major publishing house?  My head hangs in shame as I type up my version of your wackiness.

Oh wait....I should actually get back to my commentary on the milk before moving on.  The milk selection really depends on what consistency you wish the "broth" to be.  Milk with a lower fat content (skim, 1%, or 2%) will be more watery.  If you want something a bit thicker choose whole milk.  Or, the other option is to split between whole milk and cream.  You need 2 1/2 cups of milk, so if you want something creamy but not heavy, I suggest 3/4 cup cream and the rest whole milk.

Now for the recipe...

Potato Soup

Zuppa di Patate

Ingredients:

3 slices of bacon - finely chopped

2 lbs. potatoes - peeled and diced

1 lg onion - finely sliced

2 c. water

2 1/2 c. broth or milk - warmed [I went with 1% milk]

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large sauce pot, place bacon, onion, potatoes, and water.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  

Add in the hot milk and salt and pepper to taste.  Over a low heat, bring back up to a boil.  This will likely take at least 30 minutes.

This soup is about as basic as it gets, but it is great on a cold day when all you want is something simple and hot.  Cooking time could take over an hour, depending on how long it takes for the soup to get back up to its second boil.  Honestly though, if you are hungry and you just want this soup to be done, turn the heat up on the stovetop and it will cook faster.  Every bit of the recipe, at that point, is already cooked.  The only reason you do a slow boil is to increase the flavor meld.  Just turn the heat to high and be done with it.

Mushroom Soup

Yea, there is just not much to say on this one - it's mushroom soup.  It looks like mushrooms.  It tastes like mushrooms.  I like mushrooms, so for me, this was a good choice.  But that's all I've really got...no I'm lying, I always have something else to add.

I was a bit disappointed that Maria Luisa didn't give me a suggestion on the type of mushroom I should use.  Under ingredients she simply says "1 pound mushrooms, sliced thin."  Even in the most basic of grocery stores there is still, usually, a set of options for mushrooms in the produce section.  You have the basic white mushroom, the baby bella mushrooms, and portabellas.  I thought portabellas would be a bit much for a soup, so that left me with white v. bella.  They have a similar taste, but bellas have a better look.  When cooked, the white mushrooms get a bit grey.  For the bellas, their brownish, rustic hue holds well even throughout the cooking process.  Baby bellas for the win!

Mushroom Soup

Zuppa di Funghi

Ingredients:

1 lb. baby bella mushrooms - sliced thin

2 slices bacon - finely chopped

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp parsley - chopped

1 egg - beaten

1/4 c. Parmesan cheese - grated

6 c. chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large saute pan, melt butter then saute bacon and parsley until bacon is slightly crisp.  

If you can't tell from this picture, I went the semi-healthy route and used turkey bacon.  With turkey bacon, in this particular situation, you face the issue of not really being able to see it become crisp.  It is a much more pronounced change with regular bacon. So, here, what you need to watch for is the foaming that occurs as the fat in the bacon cooks out and heats along with the butter in the pan.  When you have a full froth you have cooked the bacon enough to move on.

Add mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes.

Place  broth in a large sauce pot and bring to a boil.  Add the mushrooms, season to taste, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Okay, so at this point your next step in Maria Luisa's world is to mix together the beaten egg and Parmesan cheese in a soup tureen then pour in the soup and serve.  In Brianne's world you mix the beaten egg and Parmesan cheese together and pour that into the pot of soup.  In whichever direction you choose to pour your ingredients, the same thing happens - scrambled eggs.

I honestly do not know if Maria Luisa meant for this to happen or if I did something wrong but it totally looks like I attempted some weird egg drop/mushroom soup mash-up.

On the upside, I kind of love how this soup tastes.  The baby bellas held up well and just give the broth a more robust look.  Because they held onto their texture you feel like you are having an actual meal.  Soups that do not have much in them always make me nervous because I think "will I be starving in an hour?" But, this soup tides me over.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Cauliflower Soup

It's been a weird fall, almost seems like we missed it somehow.  The weather has been warm except for a few cold days here and there.  However, it is currently mid-November and we are finally looking down the barrel of what should prove to be the longest cold stretch we've had since the season officially started.  What does this all really mean you ask?  It means that I am currently heating my apartment with an oven producing delicious food.  Now, I'm not advocating for using your stove as a primary heating device, that would be dangerous, but Sunday saw the production of 3 quarts of cauliflower soup, 8 baked and Cajun seasoned pork chops, 1 lb of boiled potatoes, and a serving of steamed carrots.  Not a bad day!  And made even better when you realize that most of those items (including the meat) were farm fresh.

The carrots and potatoes were picked up at my local farmer's market.  The pork chops and the bacon that was in the soup, however, now those were from Cugno's Farm in Colchester, Connecticut.  This farm raises a small number of pigs each year that people can buy into.  If you've never done this before you are missing out.  Buy into half a pig and you will end up with a freezer packed with delicious meat you know was raised humanely.  I will recommend against naming your pig though.  Many people seem to have an issue with eating things with names.  I do not suffer from this particular affliction...Loralai Pigginstein made quite the delectable pork chop.  Too far?  Do you want me to go back to the soup?

Cauliflower Soup

Minestra di  Cavolfiore

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower

1/4 c. bacon

1/4 c. olive oil

2 shallots

3 qts. chicken broth

1 Tbsp tomato paste - dissolved in a 1/3 c. of the broth

1 c. ditalini 

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Remove leaves of cauliflower and cut off any bruised spots.  Place it upside down in a large bowl of cold salted water for half an hour.  I am completely baffled as to why Maria Luisa wants me to do this, but I did it anyway.  Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, it did  nothing for the process except waste 30 minutes of my time.

Drain and break cauliflower into flowerets.  I left mine fairly large because I knew that in the end I would be taking a potato masher to it.  Set aside for the time being.

Pour oil into a large sauce pot and over medium heat, saute shallots and bacon.  

FARM FRESH BACON!

Add the tomato paste mixture and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the cauliflower and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add broth, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.  Using a potato masher, crush the cauliflower into tiny bits. Season to taste.  Add the ditalini and cook until tender, approximately 10 more minutes.

Now, if you are not a cauliflower fan you will not be a fan of this soup.  Once again, this is not an affliction which I suffer from.  I think this soup is great.  It has a savory flavor and hits the spot at lunchtime. 

Minestrone Milanese

Soup, soup, soup, soup.  I really cannot find the right words to describe why soup makes me so happy, but it does.  It's comfort food at its finest, only made better when using fresh produce from the farmer's market.  Today's offering is Minestrone Milanese and this recipe will have you swimming in soup for the rest of the week.  Now that's an image!

The only hiccup in this, in all other ways wonderful, recipe was the need for salt pork.  What in the h-e-double hockey sticks is salt pork?!  Well, the what is not quite as difficult as the where.  Salt pork is salt-cured pork belly, basically.  The where is the difficult piece to answer since I do not believe it's been in a grocery store since Maria Luisa was compiling these recipes.  I hit up the World Wide Web to see if salt pork is something that can be made at home and, SURPRISE, you can.  Of course, my decision to make salt pork could not possibly go without its own hiccup.  I didn't really have the necessary ingredients for proper salt pork....seriously who sells juniper berries! And, what the hell is quatre épices?

My head was already beginning to explode so I just decided I was going to fake it.  My local grocer sells pork trimmings, which I decided was good enough.  I also decided that I could get away with a salt-ish pork concoction that involved sea salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, and a bay leaf.  I let that sit in the fridge overnight and decided that since I only need 1/3 of a cup for the soup that whatever I pulled out of the zip lock in the morning would suffice.  I have no idea what my "salt pork" did or didn't add to my minestrone, but since I decided my minestrone tastes pretty darn amazing I am a happy woman.

Once I got the whole salt pork situation sorted, I was able to get down to business...

Minestrone Milanese

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter

1/3 c. salt pork - diced

1 medium onion - chopped

2 medium potatoes - diced

1 lg carrot - diced

1 medium stalk celery - chopped

2 small zucchinis - chopped

1/2 head small cabbage - shredded (I used red, but that was because that was all the vendor at the farmer's market had.)

1 15 oz can red kidney beans - rinsed and drained

3 qts. beef broth

1 c. uncooked rice

1 Tbsp parsley - chopped

1 clove garlic - minced

1/8 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. thyme

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese - grated

Directions:

Melt butter in a large sauce pot.  Saute the onions in the butter, along with the salt pork, making sure not to brown the onion.  Add the carrots, celery, zucchini, cabbage, and beans.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stir occasionally.  

Add broth and potatoes.  Bring up to a boil then simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Increase heat to high, add the rice, and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the parsley, garlic, basil, and thyme, cook an additional 8 minutes.  Remove from stove and stir in Parmesan cheese and serve.

Just thinking about this soup makes me hungry.  I love chunky soups and this dish just hits the spot.  I do want to note that Maria Luisa actually took this recipe from a restaurant in Milan, Caffe Ristorante Savini.  Apparently it is still there.  Guess I'm adding Milan and Caffe Savini to my ever growing list of places to go.

Broccoli Soup

I am writing these posts at the height of an awful New England winter so of course all I can really think about is warm comfort food.  So soup it is!  For me, soup is this amazing substance where everything you need for a meal comes together in a single pot.  On a cold Sunday, you just heat up a bowl and then sit back on the couch with that warm substance with amazing scents resting in your hand, slowly eating while you binge watch your favorite show. 

I also like taking soup to work because it is one of the few things that forces me to take my mind off whatever it is that I am doing.  It's not a sandwich that can be held in one hand while I peck away at an email or read a paper.  If I don't want a mess on my desk I have to concentrate on my food.  My job is not a stressful thing that requires my full attention 24/7, but I am just a natural workaholic.  Lunch is a completely underappreciated meal, so I am grateful for foods that take my mind elsewhere.

Broccoli Soup

1 qt stock (1 quart = 4 cups)

6 c. broccoli (approximately 2 medium sized heads) - chopped

2 potatoes - peeled and diced

6 cipollini onions (pick the 6 largest from the bag)

2 Tbsp butter

First, let's talk cipollini onions.  They come in a bag similar to pearl onions.  My preference for these onions is due to their sweetness and fragrant nature once cooked.  Their higher sugar content may change the overall flavor of your soup so bare that in mind.  If you want a taste that is more traditional, use 1 large yellow onion - chopped.

Now, on to the steps...

In a large saucepan melt butter and saute onion until tender.  Add stock and broccoli.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is tender.  I simmered it for about 20 minutes.

Using a blender or hand mixer, puree until smooth.  Put soup back on the stove and bring up to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook until tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup meets my own personal preference.  I like to be able to sink my teeth into something, which is why I do not cook the potatoes with the broccoli and puree the whole thing.  I even prefer my tomato soup chunky!  Therefore, if you are looking for a soup on the creamier end, add the potatoes sooner and go to town with a blender.

Enjoy!

Chicken soup with homemade stock

So, you've made a wonderful Greek Turkey Chicken and now you have a beautiful carcass leftover.  What do you do with it?  You make stock of course!  Stock is one of those kitchen adventures that is really simple to make but requires you have the time to make it.  But if you do, then you have quarts of broth ready for soup and pot pie or additional flavoring for stuffing and gravy.  In my humble opinion, it's worth the effort.

For stock:

1 chicken carcass
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. peppercorns
20 springs of parsley
5 springs of thyme
3 garlic cloves
Enough water to cover the carcass

Put everything into a stock pot large enough that the water will not boil over.  Bring it to a rapid boil then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for at least 4 hours, occasionally skimming off fat.  After 4 hours begin to test the broth, it's finished when you decide it tastes they way you like it.  Strain stock.  Use immediately or freeze for later.

I set aside some of my stock for use in a pot pie I made later that day.  Some went into my freezer.  The rest I used for chicken soup.  I am not much for wasting food and the vegetables still had enough of their flavor and consistency so I chopped up the carrots, celery, and onion and put it all back in the stock.  I then added about 1 pound of shredded chicken and 1 cup of orzo.  I brought the soup to a boil and cooked the soup just long enough to cook the Orzo - 10 minutes.  I'm a little in love with orzo, but be careful.  When it is left in liquid it will continue to expand.  If you use too much you'll end up with a weird pasta concoction versus soup for several days.  Not that the weird pasta concoction isn't tasty, it's just not soup, and we want soup.