Can we talk about SOUP?

[Cehrabehra]

My book club is reading Tale of Despereaux this month as an easy read we can share with our kids and have a mom/kid holiday party - we discuss the book, they've read it already with their moms and are going to watch the movie.

~~~ANYWAY~~~

I'm hosting this and while others are bringing fudge and cookies and breads and salads and sangrias and eggnogs....

I am making soups. Three soups.

I cannot narrow it down...

Wonton, Italian Wedding, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable, Curried Squash, Mexican styles... I mean so many choices!!! I did want one soup to be like in tale of despereaux - chicken, watercress, and garlic - but I don't know that I can find watercress here... There are a couple muslim women in my group so at least one can't have pork... I could do a hearty beef stew... or a creamy garlicy tomato soup (but that's better with cheese bread or grilled cheese...) back in america I always made pozole verde (a green tomatillo/chicken version) but there's no hominy here... that was my GO TO soup, in fact what I usually made for company of any sort as I could do it ahead and it was ready whenever, but I digress...

I'm still open to more ideas, but I need a good balance of things I think, there are no vegetarians so that's not an issue... I need to talk this through lol

 

[Cehrabehra]

oh and I know we just had a soup thread (didn't we?) but I need to discuss narrowing down which 3 should go together... but of course ideas I haven't mentioned are still welcome!

 

[dragonfly411]

Italian Wedding always goes over well, and the curried squash sounds divine. What about something thicker as a third soup like Potato, broccoli and cheddar, or a chowder or bisque?

 

[elrohwen]

I think squash is so appropriate for the winter and adds a nice non-meat option (you can make it with chicken stock, which isn't vegetarian, but at least it's a nice change from the meat based soups).

For your watercress soup, I would sub with spinach if you can't find watercress. Spinach is always yummy!

I think a hearty beef stew would be a great third soup option because then you have a nice balance of a pureed vegetable, brothy chicken, and dense beef soup.

 

[Skippy123]

I love Lentil or a bean soup or sausage and bean soup. mmmm a nice hearty soup is wonderful!!! Your options sound super too; my sister made a pumpkin (garlic onion) soup for Thanksgiving and it was yummy. Sounds like a fun GTG Sara.

 

[rosetta]

Make one purely veggie one and then everyone can eat it!

I vote bean coz it's substantial and filling.


All the others sound yummy too!

 

[April20]

I LOVE soup! I'm eating a chipotle sweet potato soup right now! It's boxed- not one I've made.

I really love a squash soup- especially in the winter. That or pumpkin soup. I've had both recently and they were very comforting. The squash soup also had apple in it, which was a nice balance. The pumpkin soup had cinnamon and cardamon (i think).

I did a garlic carrot soup several years back. I think the recipe might have been in Bon Appetite? You roasted an entire head of garlic in the oven and then added that to softened carrots in broth and then puree they whole thing. It came out tasting buttery. I'm not even a fan of cooked carrots and I really liked it.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I would do a kid favorite like chicken noodle, a squash soup and a beef soup (since the beef soup can be like a full meal - at least to me)

 

[TooPatient]

Do the Muslim women in your group eat meat away from home?

I know that some people (including me & FI) in our community (Jewish) don't eat meat if they aren't at home because of concerns over kashrut. You might check with them before you settle on soups or consider preparing a veggie soup just in case. (besides.... veggie soups can be YUMMY!)

 

[zoebartlett]

I'd go with squash soup (butternut, I'm assuming), beef stew, and Italian wedding soup. Mmmmm... The book club GTGs sound like fun!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Broccoli cheddar and chowder I hadn't thought of!

I only hesitate with squash because more than half eating will be children, it hasn't gone over well with my kids yet

We have a wild mix in the group... Mexican, native American, two African, a sweed, Muslim, Christian, atheist... And all of our kids!!!

My Muslim friend eats meat away from home, she trusts her friends to tell her. She won't be offended if there is pork as long as she knows to avoid it and has an alternative.

I am leaning toward the wedding soup but wonton seems appropriate here too lol. I think I should do wedding OR beef stew. I think a heavy veggie chicken soup with rice or noodles is good for the kids and then something else.....

I love broccoli cheese or cauliflower but I've never made them!

 

[violet3]

Yesterday, we made the best beef stew here at my house!!! I'll get you the recipe -- it was awesome and we made a huge batch to freeze for later. It turned out great, and we've made it twice now.

Here's the recipe - from the food network - loved it! We added parsnips to ours

Ingredients
Vegetable oil for searing
Flour for dredging
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, cut into sixths
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
10 cups cold water, or chicken or beef broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
6 sprigs parsley
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1-1/4 pounds medium red potatoes, quartered
4 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces
7 canned whole, peeled tomatoes, lightly crushed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Directions
Heat a large Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Pour in enough oil to fill the pan about 1/4-inch deep. Spread flour out on a plate or piece of wax paper. Season half the beef generously with salt and pepper, then dredge in the flour. Shake off the excess flour, and add to the pan. Saute the meat, uncovered, stirring only occasionally, until well-browned, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a plate. Repeat with the remaining beef. Discard the oil and wipe out the pan.

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Return the pot to the stove and melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute more. Return the beef to the pot and add the water or broth, and bring to a simmer. Using a piece of kitchen twine, tie together the parsley, thyme, and bay leaves and add the bundle to the pot. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and pepper to taste. Cover and transfer to the oven. Stew the meat until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Skim the fat from the cooking liquid with a ladle. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery, and the tomatoes, and bring to a simmer. Stew, uncovered, on top of the stove, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened and the beef and vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the herb bundle. Stir in the vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide among bowls and serve immediately.

Cook's Note: Beef chuck, because of its marbling of intra-muscular fat, is the choice for any type of stew. If you can't find chuck cubed for stew in your meat department, buy a thick steak and cut it into 2-inch cubes.


Copyright 2001 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

 

[Cehrabehra]

Yummy! I don't put tomatoes in my stew, it never occurred to me. I like chuck too but meat is cut differently here and honestly it makes no sense to me! They don't have "chuck" I am not finding a standing rib for Christmas either... I may have to find a cow, literally lol

Does anyone have any cauliflower soup recipes or broccoli cheese?

 

[merilenda]

Yummy! I don't put tomatoes in my stew, it never occurred to me. I like chuck too but meat is cut differently here and honestly it makes no sense to me! They don't have "chuck" I am not finding a standing rib for Christmas either... I may have to find a cow, literally lol

Does anyone have any cauliflower soup recipes or broccoli cheese?

We've made the Panera Broccoli Cheese soup a couple of times. Actually, FI has made it. I know he made a couple of adjustments after the first time, but I can't remember exactly what they were. It's good though. Not exactly like Panera, but we've liked it. It does have chicken stock though, so it's not vegetarian.

1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar

Saute onion in butter. Set aside. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half. Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper. The soup should be thickened by now. Pour in batches into blender and puree. Return to pot over low heat and add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve.

 

[Cehrabehra]

oh that looks easy enough and sounds awesome! I wonder if I could substitute cauliflower?

My favorite soup memory was eating at the hotel cafe at the hyatt (edit - HILTON, not hyatt lol) in new york city - they had a cheesy cauliflower soup that was SO damn good. so.good. I wish I had that recipe!

 

[Cehrabehra]

As of right now I am leaning toward:

Chicken Vegetable Noodle Soup - carrot, potato, celery, onion, garlic, chicken, noodles OR rice

Cheesy Cream of Cauliflower Soup - pureed cauliflower, onion, potato, carrot, cream, nutmeg, and cheese (cheddar or gouda)

and then one of the following:

Italian Wedding Soup - pork/beef meatballs with italian seasonigns

or

Greek Meatball Soup - lamb/beef meatballs with mint and lemon in the broth

I don't have those recipes decided upon yet... the italian one would fit more people, the children in particular - it's more ordinary, but the greek has lamb so the muslims could eat it and it's a bit more adventurous, especially since I have a really basic chicken noodle.