Roasted Pumpkin Soup

My family, like many others, spends our holidays with a few other families. We rotate venues and change menus every year, but some things always stay the same. Christmas Eve, for example, is always at my family's house. We always serve seafood bisque, pork pies, and carrot cake. Its just tradition.

A few years ago at Thanksgiving the hostess served a pumpkin sage soup. I'm usually not one for pumpkin, but this soup was out of this world. Since then, regardless of where we are gathered, she has brought soup over as a first course. And since then, regardless of season, I've had dreams about this soup.

It has finally cooled down - and rained! - in Southern California and I've been feeling fall-ish. I want to wear boots and cute coats and eat soup. I attempted, mostly in vain, to recreate the famous soup. I wasn't successful, but this version is quite delicious all on its own.


Apple Pumpkin Soup
Very Loosely adapted from here

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small-to-medium pumpkin
5 medium apples
2 tbps olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 tbps chopped garlic
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
applesauce
sour cream or creme fraiche

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and roughly chop apples and pumpkin. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until soft but not mushy.

Heat 2 tbps olive oil in a dutch oven. Sweat chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Add garlic and saute until all vegetables are soft. Add the stock and the roasted pumpkin and apple. Blend, either with an immersion blender or in batches until the entire soup is smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

Gazpacho

I had gazpacho for the first time almost exactly two years ago. The Mister and I were on vacation at his family's beach house, along with his uncle and girlfriend. They made us dinner one night, and although I don't remember the main course at all, I do remember the meal started with a bowl of gazpacho.

It took me almost a year to move gazpacho out of the "to-make" list. When I did, I used a recipe I swiped from another blog that looked easier than most. It didn't turn out very well. In fact, when The Mister tried it, it didn't stay down very long. If you know what I mean. Another year later, I decided it was time to give gazpacho another shot.

This time I used a recipe from my go-to for the classics: The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook. And although I made some minor changes to fit my tastes, I stuck to the essentials of the recipe. The soup was exactly what I wanted: fresh, simple, and delicious with some home made croutons on top.


Gazpacho

From the Dean and DeLuca Cookbook

1 small can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 tbps olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

A few hours before serving, combine all ingredients. Let sit in a covered container to let the flavors mellow and combine.

Just before serving, blend 1/2 of the soup (or more, depending on your tastes). Serve topped with croutons.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

As the weather has been cooling down here in Southern California... wait... no, that can't be right. It was 70 here today. I love where I live :)

Despite the temperate climate, there's no doubt in my mind that its officially fall. Thanksgiving is coming, then Christmas - I LOVE Christmas - and this really is the most wonderful time of the year. Its also the time of year for soup! Yum.

On one of our Friday night dates, D and I ventured to this little hispanic place. It was an interesting combo of Mexican classics - tacos and such - and El Salvadorian meals. We had an order of arepas, which were quite delicious, and shared a big bowl of chicken tortilla soup. Since that night I'd wanted to recreate the fresh simple flavors of that soup at home, and here it is.

This is, as usual, a mish mash of a few recipies tweaked to suit my tastes. I like soups with a lot of stuff in them - this soup is a meal in and of itself. Each time I make it I play around with the ingredients based on the season and what I have in my crisper - I'll add potatoes in the winter, tomatoes in the summer, etc. Its never quite the same but always delicious.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Olive Oil
1 lb chicken breast
2 onions
Minced garlic
2 peppers of any color
3 carrots
2 zucchini
16 oz chicken stock
16 oz peeled crushed tomatoes
2 limes
1 bunch cilantro
salt and pepper
dash cumin
red pepper, to taste
spicy peppers, to taste (I use a big can of green chiles)
Monterey Jack Cheese
Avocado
Tortilla Chips

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a stockpot. Brown chicken breasts - I usually cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise to ensure nice even cooking. Don't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through, it will simmer later. Remove from pan.

In the same pan, saute chopped onions and minced garlic until onions are soft. Add peppers, carrots and saute until soft. Add chicken stock and crushed tomatoes. Add remaining veggies; season to taste.

Shred chicken into bite sized bits and return to soup. Add juice of 2 lemons and lots of chopped cilantro. Let simmer until flavors blend and chicken is cooked through.

Serve topped with cheese, avocado, and crushed tortilla chips.

Zucchini Basil Soup

The Boyfriend was out of town last week. This means a few things around here: 1) The apartment was a mess. I didn't do dishes or laundry or wipe off the counters. It was pretty gross. 2) I got to eat whatever I wanted. I didn't have to fight for veggies and I didn't have to have meat at every. single. meal. It was glorious.

I went to the farmer's market in Santa Monica on Saturday morning - another novelty - most of the time I can't drag Boyfriend out of the apartment on days that football is on TV. There was so much pretty, fresh produce and I couldn't help but buy close to 3 pounds of zucchini. And a pound of pluots. And the biggest freakin' sweet potato I have EVER seen. And a pomegranate. Mmmmmmmm fresh produce.

When I got home and assesed my spoils there was no way around it - I needed to do something with all the dang zucchini. When this recipe popped up on my google reader I knew it was the one - besides the abundence of summer squash, I also have a basil plant in my little garden that is just overflowing. And so it was

Zucchini Basil Soup

adapted from caviarandcodfish.com

1 lb zucchini, chopped

1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup packed basil leaves
salt to taste

Saute onion and garlic in oil in a large saucepan until the onion is clear and soft. Add zucchini, salt, and chicken stock and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer soup to a blender along with the basil and blend until it reaches the desired consistency.

Yum.

Tom Kha Gai

One of our favorite restaurants in LA is a little hole in the wall Thai place near Hollywood. Its quite a drive from our little beach town so we don't go very often - usually only when we have guests in town - but it is deeeeeeeelicious. Last time we went was with D's parents (in town for the Greatful Dead concert!) and they introduced us to a few new dishes, including this one. Its a coconut and chicken soup flavored with lemongrass and hot peppers - so yummy!


Tom Kha Gai

1 can coconut milk
2 cups water
1 lb chicken breast, cut into thin strips
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
2 stems lemongrass, sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 limes
1 jalepeno (not what you're supposed to use, but its available in LA)
small bunch chopped cilantro


Pour coconut milk, water, lemongrass, ginger, cilantro, and peel of 1/2 lime into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat.

Add fish sauce and juice of 2 limes. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the chicken and cook until chicken is done; about 10 minutes.

Add chile. Serve warm.

Matzoh Ball Soup

I have a love for matzoh that could only exist in someone not born Jewish. When I tried matzoh in the form of soup a few years ago at the first holiday I spent with D's family I was absolutely sold. I've gone to Chompie's in AZ just for a taste of matzoh. I even occasionally buy matzoh to use as crackers. Yes, I'm a little nuts.

Despite this, I'd never made matzoh anything before I made this soup. I'm a little intimidated by matzoh. Its so simple... just flour and water... that its almost a little scary. How in the world does something so plain turn into something so delicious? Besides, you always hear that matzoh balls are a tough thing to get right. They must be not too big but not too small, not too solid but not too fluffy, not too bland but not over seasoned. No pressure. Right?

I found a recipe that looked pretty straightforward and I went for it. And you know what? It didn't turn out half freakin bad. Its not Chompies by any means, but it was more than edible and I went back for seconds. Without further adieu...

Matzoh Ball Soup

4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup Matzoh meal
1/3 cup oil or melted shortening
1 tsp salt
dash pepper

Beat eggs. Add water, melted shortening, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Add matzoh meal and stir thoroughly. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Form into balls and drop into soup or into 1 1/2 quarts of boiling water. Cook 20 minutes.

Tomato Basil Soup

Last week, the boyfriend wasn't feeling so great for a few days. What's better to eat when you are feeling under the weather than soup? Tomatoes were on sale at the grocery store, so tomato soup was born!

This recipe calls for peeled tomatoes, which made me scratch my head. I literally peeled 10 tomatoes with a vegetable peeler - not easy, and not fun. Afterwards I did a little research and found a much easier way to do things.

To peel a tomato, score the underside with a big "x". Plunge the tomato in boiling water for about 10 seconds, remove, and place in an ice bath for 30 seconds. Remove from the water. You should be able to easily remove the skins by pulling upwards from the flaps!







Tomato Basil Soup
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
3 Celery Stalks, chopped
2 large Onions, chopped
10 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1 Can Tomato Paste
1 tbsp dried Basil
Salt and Pepper
Heat olive oil in a saucepan butter over medium heat; add onion, carrots, and celery. Saute until onion becomes translucent, but not brown (5 min).
Add tomatoes and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes start to break down, about 2o minutes.
Season - add salt and pepper, basil, and tomato paste. Mix well.
Depending on how chunky you want your soup, you can now puree all or some of the soup to the desired consistency. Use an immersion blender or just a regular blender. If you use a regular blender like I did, blend the soup in sections (not all at the same time), returning the blended liquid to the pot until you reach the creaminess you want.