Making Soup

[irisblue]

I love a bowl filled with steaming soup for lunch or dinner.
My mother taught me how to make the worlds best chicken soup (ahem😜 . I taught her how to make beef & chicken bone broths (a shot of cider vinegar), my sister & I make a tomato juice based veggie/maybe meat soup to use up leftovers & get my nephews & nieces to eat more veggies. This soup is basically a 'dump' soup....saute onions, when caramelized, add garlic, slow saute, if using meat, add & brown if needed. Pour the tomato juice in, add the veggies you like, fresh frozen or canned, bay leaf, S&P, simmer. Taste& adjust seasonings.
I will add skinny noodles, orzo or ditalini or rice if I have some. ***added thought, if I don't add meat, I will add beans of some type***

I would like to learn how to make cream soups this winter. Anyone got a good recipe to try? Thanks in advance.

[Rollo]

1. I've been making chicken and turkey bone broths for decades...

They are so rich they jell in the fridge. However I use white distilled vinegar instead of cider vinegar. Same effect, but perhaps a more neutral taste.

Ever had avocado soup?

[sweetroxie]

2. Cream of Cauliflower soup

1 liter chicken broth. (or a chicken carcass broth)
1 head cauliflower chopped
1 large onion- diced
4 cloves garlic- crushed
1 bulb fresh fennel- chopped
4-5 small potatoes- chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 heavy cream
butter or olive oil or a combo
salt & pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in butter/oil until softened
Add fennel seeds and sauce
Combine all ingredients in pot with broth

Simmer until potatoes are tender. Add cream. Puree everything, (I use a hand stick blender) and season to taste.

Enjoy!

[irisblue]

9. Thanks, I will try this.

[Siwsan]

3. The only cream soups I've ever made were cream of potato, and potato/corn chowder

I always slow cook my roasted chicken carcass into soup. To roast it, I stuff it with fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, lots of garlic, onion and carrots and season with fresh ground pepper and herb infused salt. The herb flavor permeates through the meat - it's amazing. I strip any remaining white meat, for later, then break up the carcass and remaining meat into water, add lots more garlic, onion and carrots, peppercorns and salt, and slow cook it for about 14 to 18 hours. I like to use Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain and Beans in my soup. That, or Spaetzle noodles. The whole grain/bean soup is dinner worthy. The noodle is more for lunch.

The cream soups I make aren't very exciting. And, for the most part, I make them up as I go. Unless I am baking, for me a recipe is a list of suggestions.

[irisblue]

10. I cook by 'suggestion' too.

When you slow cook the carcass, do you use some stock/broth or just water to cook down the carcass?

[Siwsan]

12. Usually just water but supplement, if need be, towards the end of the cooking time

If it is a really small bird, I will add some stock or a quality powdered bouillon so that I can get enough soup to last for a couple of meals. Sometimes I add tomatoes, maybe a few other veg, and then toss in some pasta. My soup is never boring, that's for sure

By cooking for such a length of time, most of the meat cooks down to almost nothing, so that does help with the flavor.

[Frustratedlady]

4. Barley gives a great taste to veggie soup.

I usually add it when the soup is about done simmering, as it will stick to the bottom of the pan if you don't stir it from time to time. If the pot is big enough, I pour the barley in and turn off the heat source. It swells from the heat of the veggies.

Wild rice is also a good addition to soups.

I have a cheesy broccoli recipe that is a comfort soup my grandkids always ordered if they had a cold. If you'd like it, I'll try to find it. I just downsized, so things aren't always where they should be.

[irisblue]

5. Winter is long.

When you find it, please do share.

[Frustratedlady]

8. Found it!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 Tbsp. oleo or butter
3/4 c. chopped onion
6 c. water
8 chicken bouillon cubes or equivalent in broth (6 cups)
8 oz. very thin egg noodles
2-10 oz. pkg. chopped broccoli (or chop up a nice head of broccoli)
6 c. milk (2% or whole works best)
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 1/4# Velveeta, cubed

Saute onion in shortening, add water and bouillon cubes or broth. Bring to a boil and add noodles. Stir in frozen broccoli and garlic powder. Cook to desired doneness of noodles. Add milk and cheese. Stir until melted and thickening. This makes a large batch, but can be frozen.

NOTE: I sometimes add green-top carrots, if I have them on hand, celery and a bit of cauliflower. It's an easy soup to make and kids seem to like it if they like broccoli. I find that the frozen broccoli works fine, but some pkgs. are mostly stem chopped up. I prefer more florets. I have added sharp cheddar in the past, but the Velveeta melts more smoothly. If it isn't as thick as you like, you can always adjust it with a flower/water mixture, but only a little at a time until thickness is achieved. This is a good soup to modify. Each time I make it, it tastes different due to the modifications.

[irisblue]

11. Thank you for this.👍

[Freddie]

6. Stuffed Pepper Soup

Just tried this, so yummy and healthy too.
1 bag Birds Eye Pepper Stir Fry, or coarsely chop 2 green or red bell peppers and one onion
2 cans petite diced tomatoes with juice (I use the kind with peppers, onions and celery)
1 can plain tomato sauce
4 cups water
2 beef bullion cubes or packets (optional)
1 pound or less ground beef or turkey, browned on stovetop
2 cups hot cooked rice

Mix everything except rice in crock pot, cook on low 8 hrs (more or less). Just before serving add hot cooked rice or leftover rice.
Picky spouse who’s somewhat adverse to “spicy” food loved this.

[irisblue]

7. If you use shredded cabbage ....stuffed cabbage soup as well.👍

[Freddie]

13. Sounds great!

And I have half a head of cabbage in the fridge. Would you cook it all day in the crock pot?

[irisblue]

15. I add shredded cabbage near the end of cooking time

This batch of soup, I cut the cabbage very thinly, almost to cole slaw thickness, so a very short time to al dente cabbage.

[Staph]

14. Greenbrier Five Onion Soup

The Greenbrier is a resort in West Virginia that dates back to the 1770s, when the first white folks traveled across the mountains to a spring in what is now White Sulphur Springs. This soup recipe is one of the house specialties. It is served from a silver pitcher into your soup bowl (that contains crispy fried onions and chopped chives).

I found this recipe online, and added my own comments at the end after making it a couple of times. It is yummy!



Greenbrier Five Onion Soup

Ingredients

2 T unsalted butter
4 medium shallots (4 oz) roughly chopped
1 medium leek, roughly chopped
1 med red onion, roughly chopped
2 med yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 bunch green onion (white part only)
2 quarts of chicken stock
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
Deep fry-shallots cut in 1/2 lengthwise
1 tsp all purpose flour
oil (canola)
Minced fresh chives

Directions

1 In large heavy bottom sauce pan, melt butter and add shallots, leek, and all onions. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning (be patient) until onions are soft and deep golden brown. 20-30 minutes.

2 Add chicken stock and simmer uncovered until onions are very soft-about 20 minutes.

3 Transfer soup to blender and blend until smooth (do in batches if necessary). Return to clean pan, add cream and bring to boil. Simmer if you need to thicken slightly. Season with salt and pepper.

4 Garnish: Sprinkle the shallots with the flour. Then toss in a fine strainer to coat and shake off excess flour. Fill saucepan, no more than 1/3 full with oil. Heat oil to 375. Carefully drop shallots in the oil and fry. Stir to prevent sticking. Cook slowly, getting brown in 45 seconds. Remove from oil with slotted spoon and strain on paper towels.

5 To serve: ladle soup into warm bowls and top with spoonful of crispy shallots and a pinch of the fresh chives.

6 In a pinch, you can use french fried onion rings (in a can) for garnish.

(Notes from cooking the first time around:

1 Cook uncovered, otherwise the onions/shallots/leeks boil in their own juices and never brown. I cooked them for nearly 90 minutes before they began to brown. But they did reduce nicely!

3 It took four rounds to get everything through the blender. Next time I only used half of the stock to simmer and soften the onions, and used my immersion blender. Then I added the rest of the stock.

4-5 Forget frying your own shallots. Use the canned fried onions, along with chives (fresh if you have them but dried works fine, too), and a dollop of sour cream. The silver pitcher is optional!)

[irisblue]

16. This reads as a very elegant starter.

I do love onions. Thanks!

[NJCher]

17. soups are good for getting your vegetables

I find it difficult to work in the daily requirement without soup!

The RG is an expert at making cream soups--that have no cream in them! I believe he does this by taking some of the ingredients and using the emulsion blender with them, then blending them back in.

Anyway, here's a healthy cream of broccoli soup that's made creamy by using cauliflower.

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/cream-broccoli-soup/

[irisblue]

18. Huh...I got everything but the broccoli.

I do have a fair bit of chinese greens & spinach. I'll let you know.Thanks Cher.

[dem in texas]

19. I make a lot of soup

I love soup and could eat it every day, but that wouldn't go over with the "old Boy" so much. When I make soup, I generally make a big batch because it freezes so well. I am not crazy about creamy soups, I guess because I have eaten so many bad creamy soups in restaurants. Here in Texas, many restaurants think a creamy soup should be like gravy, that's not for me, I like my soups fairly thin.. I will say that one of the best creamy soups I ever tasted was a roasted poblano and corn soup at a restaurant down in San Antonio. I have tried to make it, but mine was never as good..

The two soups that I make that everyone seems to like are split pea soup and baked potato and corn chowder. Both soups have milk in them, and sometimes I finish the potato chowder with a little cream or Mexican crema.