Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Turkey and Fingerling Potatoes

This is perhaps the best soup I have ever made.  My only regret was skipping the fresh basil.  It has a minestrone flavor, yet the feel of a chicken soup.  The organic fingerling potatoes really added pizazz.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs onions
• 1 lb shallots
• 3 lb red peppers
• 6 plum tomatoes
• 1 container of grape tomatoes
• 1 lb mixed fingerling potatoes
• 1 celery heart
• 1 large turnip
• 3 parsnips
• 1 bunch curly parsley
• 2/3 box of fresh oregano
• 5 -6 large basil leaves or 1 tbsp dried
• 3 Bay leaves
• 1 turkey breast, grilled or smoked (~ 3lbs) and chopped into soup-size chunks
• 2 lbs carrots
• 1 clove garlic, plus a few extra petals
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• 2 tbsp Fresh ground pepper
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 1 Sprig Rosemary

DIRECTIONS

1. Make vegetable purees (this can be done several days ahead of time)
   1. Onion
      1. Cut all but ½ pound into eigths, removing the skin
      2. Place on foil, and drizzle with olive oil
      3. Roast for 60-90 minutes on 350, or until dark brown and caramelized
   2. Shallots
      1. Quarter each shallot, removing the skin
      2. Place on foil and drizzle with olive oil
      3. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes on 350, or until dark brown and caramelized
   3. Red peppers
      1. Remove the seeds and top, and cut each pepper in half
      2. Place on foil and drizzle with olive oil
      3. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes on 350, or until the skin starts to blacken in some places
      4. After the peppers have cooled, remove the skin
   4. Tomatoes
      1. Quarter the plum tomatoes and remove the rough end
      2. Place on foil and drizzle with olive oil
      3. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes on 350, or until the tomatoes start to brown on the outside
   5. Garlic
      1. Remove garlic petals from the clove
      2. Place on foil and drizzle with olive oil
      3. Roast for 10 -20  on 350, or until the petals are squishy when lightly squeezed
      4. Remove the shell when the garlic has cooled
   6. Make purees
      1. Put Onions, garlic and shallots into the blender and puree
      2. Repeat with the tomatoes and peppers
      3. Add all olive oil from roasting, and a few drops of water if the blender has trouble pureeing
2. Make the stock
   1. Heat a 10 quart stock pot on high heat, ⅔ filled with water and a tsp of salt
   2. Process vegetables
      1. Peel 4 carrots and the parsnips.
      2. Chop turnip into chunks
      3. Remove onion peel from remaining onion and 3 petals of garlic
      4. Chop the top from the celery
   3. Add the vegetables from the prior step, along with the bay leaves, 2 tbsp olive oil, and bone from the turkey breast (if available) to the water
   4. Cook for about 30 minutes
      1. Remove the turnips first, when squishy
      2. Remove other vegetables as they become squishy
      3. Leave only the bay leaves
3. Process remaining vegetables
   1. Carrots: Peel and chop into coins
   2. Celery, Potatoes: Chop into soup-sized chunks
   3. Grape Tomatoes: Wash (wash everything else too!)
   4. Oregano: Remove leaves from the stem
   5. Parsley, Basil: Dice
   6. Rosemary: Remove from the stem
4. Cook soup on medium-high heat 
   1. Add all processed vegetables from step 3, except for ⅓ of the oregano and parsley
   2. Add Thyme
   3. As the soup reaches a boil, slowly add the purees and cook for about 5 minutes
   4. Reduce the heat to medium low, add the turkey, and allow soup to simmer for 20 - 30 minutes
   5. Add remaining herbs, and allow soup to cool slightly
   6. Add salt and pepper to taste, making sure to stir the soup well while tasting

Butternut Squash Soup

Wow.

Mid-October already. Too many hobbies, I suppose. But, fall is here and it was time for some soup. Last weekend I roasted an Acorn Squash on the weber with a bit of maple and nutmeg and it put me in the mood for this soup. 

Three Mushroom Soup

 

Years ago, when I lived in a small studio apartment on East 61st Street in Manhattan, I grew fond of the Hungarian Mushroom Soup recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook. When the weather would turn, I'd make myself a batch - freezing some and keeping some handy for the week ahead. The recipe followed me to Brooklyn and the soup would fortify me before heading over to Tom's place for our weekly chess game. 

I haven't made that soup in a long time, and I haven't played chess with Tom in even longer. I got to thinking about those days and figured it was time to make some Mushroom Soup again. This one is different from the Moosewood version, but it serves all the same purposes. 

Maybe I should give Tom a call, too.

White Bean Soup with Sausage and Rosemary

I'm going to do it.

Eventually, I'll get one of my kids to eat soup. I mean, other than the tomato "soup" they get a school. So I figure I'll just keep making it until one day they give in. Of course, I enjoy it so it's really no trouble.

Here's my latest effort.

Chicken Soup with Dumplings

My mom used to make this soup - it is very easy, and delicious...my kids even love it.    I usually start by making a roasted chicken dinner one night for dinner (I am sure Tin Pig has a roasted chicken recipe here somewhere), and then making a stock with the leftover carcass.   Just put the leftover chicken carcass in a large stock pot, cover with water, and boil, slightly covered, for approx 2 hours. I then let it cool, and refrigerate.   The next day, you can skim off any fat solids, remove the chicken bones, and leave any of the meat in the stock.    This is the base for the soup.  It makes approx 3 quarts.

Soup:

3 quarts (give or take) Chicken Stock with chicken pieces (see above for recipe)

1 cup Chopped carrots

1+1/2 tsp salt

Fresh Parsley

Dumplings:

1 cup unbleached flour

1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

Mix Soup ingredients above, and bring to medium-low boil.    In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt together.   Add butter, and mix it in with a fork.   Add milk all at once, and stir quickly, and as little as possible, until everything is moistened.   Drop rounded spoonfuls of dumpling dough onto the boiling soup.   Let simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover, and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Chicken Soup Recipe

Many people have a story of their grandmother's chicken soup that would simmer for 12 days before it could be served. While I hold true to certain cooking traditions, sometimes I want a soup that can be eaten the same day I begin preparing it.

Nothing against your grandmother, but this is a full-flavored chicken soup that comes together fairly quickly and is hearty enough to be a full meal. I find that if you start with a good stock, the soup nearly makes itself. As with most things, I've used my homemade vegetable stock in this recipe, but feel free to substitute with your favorite chicken / veggie stock.

Vegetable Stock Recipe

Once the cold weather starts to set in here in the northeast, my cooking habit turns toward soups and stews. As much as I enjoy doing as much from scratch as possible, I rarely have the leftover animal bones required to make beef or chicken stock.

A much easier way to prepare homemade stock is to go the veggie route. I find that it's much easier to collect save the stems, peels, tops and bottoms of various vegetables than it is to keep some chicken bones laying around. Every time I chop or peel a vegetable, the bit I'd usually toss in the trash (or compost heap, if I had one), I simply add to a ziploc bag in the fridge. After about a week or two, I have enough to make a richly flavored stock.

Pasta Fagioli (with escarole)

This is a very quick, VERY easy, and delicious soup to make.   It is hearty and great for cooler weather.  I recommend a crusty bread for dipping.   There are 3 variations that you can make from this recipe: (1) You can make this without the escarole for regular Pasta Fagioli. (2) There is traditional "Escarole and Bean" - which is similar....just leave out the pasta.    And (3), is a traditional Portuguese Kale Soup, by leaving out pasta, using Kale instead of escarole, and adding cooked chirizo and potatoes.

Serves 4

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 lb of small pasta (such as ditalini)

3 garlic cloves

1/4 head of escarole, rinsed and chopped coarsely

1 tbsp fresh parsley

1 can small white beans, drained (navy beans or other)

1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese

1/4 homemade vegetarian tomato sauce

salt + black pepper to taste

Cook pasta, drain and set aside.  In saute pan, crush the garlic cloves, and cook in olive oil approx 2 minutes.   Add escarole, cover and let cook for 5 minutes.   Remove from heat.   In large pan, bring stock to a simmer.   Add the beans.   Now, remove half the beans to a blender, and blend with small amount of stock, and then return to soup.   An alternative is to add half the beans, and then use an immersion blender (these are great gadgets - go to Amazon from this site).  Add all remaining ingredients, except cooked pasta.   When ready to serve, then laddle soup into bowl, and add pasta separately.   This prevents the pasta from absorbing all the stock.  Top with more grated cheese, and drizzle with olive oil (optional).

Enjoy!