Whats your favorite soup to make?

[Constance]

Potato Soup

I love making soup...all kinds. But the most popular one I fix is my potato soup.


CONNIE'S POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:
6 thick slices of bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 leeks, white part only, sliced thin
6 cloves garlic, minced
approx. 1/4 cup flour
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups skim milk (or whatever kind you have on hand)
2 cups water if needed
6-8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped in bite-size pieces
2 tbl salt
white pepper to taste
2 tbl chopped Italian parsley
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese, cubed

Directions:
Sweat chopped bacon slowly in a soup pot over medium heat. When it's beginning to crisp, add onions and cook a few minutes. Then add leeks and garlic, and continue to cook until vegies are tender. Add flour and turn heat up to med/high. Cook and stir a few minutes , then stir in the chicken broth. Continue stirring until sauce begins to thicken, then add milk, potatoes, Italian parsley, salt and pepper. Add water or more milk, if needed, to cover potatoes. Simmer on med/low heat until potatoes are tender, reseason, then add cream cheese and stir till melted.

*Note* I make clam chowder the same way, using the juice drained from the canned clams for part of the chicken broth. We don't get fresh clams here in the sticks.
*If I don't have leeks, I use onions. Sometimes I sneak a little grated carrot in also.

 

[Alix]

4. In the pot with the sauteed onions/garlic, etc. I follow a procedure I read about in a Paul Prudhomme cookbook (sorry, forgot the name and I gave it to my now ex-wife when she moved out). What he did (and now I do) is... when you peel your potatoes to dice, leave one potato out and shred it (I use the very fine shredding blade on my mandoline).

Then, after the onions and celery have sauteed briefly, toss in the shredded "shoestring" potatoes and cook them down in the fat/butter until they soften and mostly dissolve. This is the "thickening" agent he/I use rather than making a rue (fat/flour) to later thicken it... you have a natural potato thickener. Prudhomme recommended cooking this down until it "sticks" to the bottom of your pot, then scrape it up ... I don't do this but if you can find his recipe, it's interesting and worth a try.

Colour me interested. I am going to try that next time I make clam chowder. How thick does it get? I like mine pretty thick. I also use farm cream in mine which has a tendency to be pretty thick too.

 

[lutzzz]

Colour me interested. I am going to try that next time I make clam chowder. How thick does it get? I like mine pretty thick. I also use farm cream in mine which has a tendency to be pretty thick too.

That's the beauty of it, Alix..you can control how thick you make it by regulating the amount of potato you julienne as your thickener... and of course whether you later add reduced fat milk, whole milk, half & half, or "heavy" cream (we call whipping cream) to your clam broth and now much

If you're using canned clams, you might not have enough broth to cover your diced potatoes.. so best case you can add some clam juice (unGodly expensive IMHO.. not sure why) or a good quality chicken broth (clam chowder purists here would run me out of town for saying that)...

If you goof and it's too thin.. you can always ladle out some potatoes and buzz them with a hand blender or food processor or stand blender...

I should mention to Constance that I've found several supermarkets (QFC.. a Kroeger sp? store and Albertsons for example) here to usually have raw frozen chopped clams (in one pound plastic containers)... in their frozen food section.. or ask the fish/meat people... I was surprised to find that myself 'cause I can't always get the little steamer clams either and was muttering around at the fish lady in the market and she said "why not use frozen?"... of course you have to cook the clams first 'cause they are frozen raw,, not like using canned clams (a mistake I made once *blush* ). Maybe frozen clams is a west or east coast thing though, I don't know.. but if they are frozen, they could and probably are shipped everywhere??? I'd been shopping at that market for about 5 years buying canned clams and hadn't noticed the frozen... I asked the fish lady "how long have you had those?" she said "oh, about 6 years for sure.. that's as long as I've been here." Might check anyway.

And yeah, I much prefer the potato thickener over using a roux... too many restaurants thicken their chowder with a ton of flour and/or cornstarch it seems... always tastes kinda "starchy" to me, even if they cook it a long time... of course potatoes are a starch too I guess, but I don't get the same taste using them...

 

[Spice1133]

My favorite is Clam Chowder. We make it almost like AllenMI except to use salt pork cut up into little squares and sauteed until crisp, and then removed. And never-never-never put tomatoes or cream in it. We call it The Real New England Clam Chowder. We lived in New England for 30 years and no one we knew used cream or tomatoes. Here in Florida we can only get the ones with cream or tomatoes and when I mention how we make it most people think it sounds gross.

 

[SpiceUmUp]

Chourico and Three bean soup​

This is a hearty and moderately spicy soup that is great with crusty bread on a cold and rainy day.
It is a super easy soup to make and I keep it on a simmer all day so I can enjoy it through out the day. It makes a great meal by itself.
Chourico is a Portuguese sausage similar to the Spanish sausage Chorizo. It is pronounced “Chourees”. It is available in some supermarkets and gourmet shops. It is in every market in Rhode Island and the Fall River, Massachusetts area. If you can’t find it, Chorizo is a fine substitute as is andouille sausage. You can reduce the spiciness of the soup by reducing or eliminating the chili powder and using a sausage that is milder than Chourico. A high quality kielbasa from a local pork store would likely work well for a mild soup.
Other than the sausage, the ingredients are pantry staples.

Ingredients:​

1 cup of unsalted butter​

1 cup of all purpose flour
12 cups low fat, low sodium chicken broth
1 Medium yellow onion, cut in half, peeled and sliced thin.
1 16 oz can of red beans, drained and rinsed
1 16 oz can of great northern beans (white), drained and rinsed
1 16 oz can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 28 oz can crushed tomatos
4 bay leaves
2 pounds Chourico, un-sliced
1 tablespoon of mild paprika (use hot if that is the way your tastes run)
1 tablespoon chili powder (more or less to taste)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 pound of Ditalini 40 pasta, cooked.

Making the soup:​

In a 10 quart sauce pan:​

Melt the butter over high heat. Do not let the butter burn! As soon as the butter is melted, add the 1 cup of flour all at once. With a stiff whisk, stir in the flour, incorporate well and toss in the sliced onion. Keep stirring until the roux turns medium amber, about the shade of peanut butter. This should take 15 to 20 minutes. The onions should be well wilted.


Add the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, and all three cans of beans (remember, drained and rinsed). Add the bay leaves and the spices. Remember how many bay leaves you put in so you can fish them out later!


Stir well and bring the soup to a boil and remember to keep stirring so none of the good stuff sticks to the bottom. Reduce to a medium simmer. Add the Chourico whole to the pot and let the sausage cook in the soup for 20 minutes or so. Remove the Chourico from the pot and cut in to ¼ inch thick slices and return to the pot.


Allow to simmer in a covered pot for another hour, stirring frequently. Remove the bay leaves


While the soup is simmering, cook the ditalini.


To serve, place a helping of noodles at the bottom of the bowl and ladle in the soup. Give a stir to incorporate the noodles and serve. I put a bottle of Tabasco Sauce on the table for those guests that like some extra life to their foods (such as me).

 

[htc]

My favorites to make would be wonton noodle soup, lentil, split pea, and my version of a "soupy" chili.

 

[MilaNY]

My favourite soups are:
green-peas soup
vegetable
seafood
fish soup
cream of mushroom
soup made of dried mushrooms
corn chowder
beet soup

and in summer i love sorrel soup

 

[IcyMist]

I typically only eat soup in the cold weather, but this is a summer soup and I use to eat it once in a while when I could have sugar.

Chilled Strawberry Soup
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups strawberries
1 cup orange juice
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
fresh mint sprigs
heavy cream



Instructions:
Place the wine and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir often to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. Meanwhile, puree the strawberries in a blender. Add the strawberries, orange juice and cardomom to the wine mixture.

Place in the refrigerator to chill. Before serving, beat the heavy cream with a mixer until thick and frothy. Add one spoonful of cream to each bowl of soup and swirl. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

[Constance]

I like to make cream of broccoli soup, cream of asparagus soup, and french onion soup. They are my very favorites!

Choclatechef, When I pick asparagus, I just break it off where it snaps easily, then use the top 5 or 6" and save the rest in big bag in the freezer for vegetable stock, but...
I'm thinking I could also maybe use them for a cream of asparagus soup...what do you think?

I also save broccoli stems and leek greens, shrimp shells, turkey carcasses...I hate to waste anything.

 

[IcyMist]

Constance not Choclate, but I know a chef from another site who saves the ends of asparagus and makes a cream of asparagus soup from the tips and he said it is delicious. Could do same thing with broccoli too.

 

[ironchef]

For added flavor and depth, substitute champagne for the white wine.

I typically only eat soup in the cold weather, but this is a summer soup and I use to eat it once in a while when I could have sugar.

Chilled Strawberry Soup
1 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups strawberries
1 cup orange juice
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
fresh mint sprigs
heavy cream



Instructions:
Place the wine and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir often to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. Meanwhile, puree the strawberries in a blender. Add the strawberries, orange juice and cardomom to the wine mixture.

Place in the refrigerator to chill. Before serving, beat the heavy cream with a mixer until thick and frothy. Add one spoonful of cream to each bowl of soup and swirl. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

[Pam Leavy]

Carrot coriander soup is my current favorite.

pam