Soup's on!

It's that time of year again when I can't get enough soup. Nothing is better on a damp wintery (wintry?) night than a steaming bowl of hot homemade soup. I've already blogged about some of my favorite soups: Butternut, Tortellini so this year I am going to expand my horizons a bit. On my list of soups to make this year: cauliflower, potato leek, carrot ginger, tomato...what are your favorite soups?

One that I've always secretly loved is Tortilla Soup, but have never had a vegetarian version so I decided to craft my own. It's sort of a vegetarian blend of my favorite parts of tortilla soup (large chunks of veggies, shredded cheese, crunchy tortilla strips) and posole (hominy, lime), with the addition of chipotle flavors just because. You can make it as spicy as you'd like with the addition of more chipotles or hot sauce and it is vegan without the topping of cheese.

Tortilla Soup with Hominy and Chipotle (vegetarian)

Serves 4-6 as main course

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
6 cups vegetable broth or water
1 can hominy
3 carrots, chopped into ½ inch pieces
¼ of a small green cabbage, chopped into 1-2 inch strips
6 small corn tortillas
1-2 tsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings: shredded cheese, avocado, lime, cilantro, diced tomatoes, sour cream, hot sauce

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, cumin, and chili powder and cook 5-10 minutes, until onions are tender. Add the tomatoes and chipotle peppers and stir to combine. Add broth/water, hominy, carrots and cabbage, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15-20 minutes.

2. While soup is simmering, prepare the tortilla strips. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut tortillas in half and then into ¼ inch thin strips. Toss in bowl with 1-2 tsp. oil, just until coated but not “soaked”. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, stirring at least once so that the strips cook evenly. When strips are golden brown, remove from oven and sprinkle with salt.

3. Serve hot with small bowls of toppings.

Adventures in Leftover Land: Part 2

So I ended up freezing quite a few pounds of mashed potatoes after Thanksgiving (see
Adventures in Leftover Land: Mashed Potatoes). After thawing, mashed potatoes can be kind of runny and/or dry, but they worked perfectly in this soup.

Quick Potato Leek Soup

Serves 4

2 leeks, with green parts cut off, split down the middle

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1 1/2 to 2 cups vegetable stock and/or milk, or a combination
S&P to taste

Soak the leeks in water to wash out any dirt. Remove from water; drain. Slice the leeks into 1/2-inch strips and sautee leeks and garlic in the butter over low-medium heat until soft. Add leftover potatoes then the stock/milk - until you get the consistency you like. Use imersion blender or blend in batches and return to pot to heat thouroughly. Add S&P to taste and serve with assorted toppings including chopped chives, scallions, cheddar cheese, crumbled veggie bacon, hot sauce, etc.

There's nothin' like a bowl of squash soup on a cold night

There are a lot of versions of butternut squash soup - smooth, creamy, thick, spicy, curried. I love all things squash, but when I make it myself, I make this super easy light version. of butternut squash soup. The ingredients and quantities are a little vague, but I promise you - you can't screw this up.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic

1 butternut squash

2 potatoes (any variety)

2 carrots (sometimes I throw in a parsnip too, if I have them)

1 apple

2-4 cups veggie or chicken stock

1 bay leaf

salt & pepper to taste

dash cayenne or red pepper flakes, chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Peel and chop all vegetables. (It doesn't really matter how big or small you chop things because it is all going to be pureed, but it's best to chop all of the harder veggies about the same size). Saute onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables, the apple and bay leaf, and cover with stock. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. When the veggies are soft, let cool a little before blending with a stick blender or in a food processor or blender (be careful blending hot things!). Return to soup pot and season with salt and pepper and other herbs if desired. Garnish with croutons (as in photo), toasted pumpkin seeds, sour cream, or fresh herbs.

Soup #2: Chicken-Free Chicken Noodle

MO kept talking about this wonderful chicken soup with homemade noodles that our friend Suzanne made years ago. I figures we could try a chicken-free chicken noodle soup, so I called Suzanne for the recipe: 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 Tablespoons of water. It sounded easy.

So, I made a basic vegetable soup, using my homemade veggie broth. First I sauteed some finely chopped onions and garlic with thyme and sage (your typical chicken soup herbs), then I added the broth and carrots, celery, cauliflower and peas (any of your favorite soup veggies would do).

Ok, back to the noodles...
We mixed together the ingredients (MO's hands got very sticky) and rolled it out as thin as we could get it. We sliced it into strips about 1/3 inch wide and dropped the noodles into boiling water for about 10 minutes. (You can also boil the noodles directly in the soup, but I was afraid of over cooking my veggies). When the veggies were still a bit firm, we added the hot cooked noodles and let the whole thing simmer for about 5 minutes before serving. It was awesome. Who needs chicken anyway? The best part of this soup was the noodles - just a bit chewy and very slurpy and messy. Yum!

Soup #1: Tortellini

There's nothing better than hot hearty soup on cold winter nights. And, although it doesn't get as cold here in California as it does back East, damp rainy nights are perfect for soup, too. This soup is so yummy and quick (it takes under an hour from start to table) and can use up any veggies you have in your fridge (the recipe below uses my favorite soup veggies, but feel free to be creative). Also, tastes even yummier the next day.

Tortellini Soup
Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as a starter.
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried or fresh oregano
1 tsp. dried or fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp. thyme
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups chopped canned or fresh tomatoes
½ cup cauliflower, broken into small pieces*
½ cup chopped tomatoes*
½ frozen or fresh green peas*
1 cup chopped leafy greens (swiss chard, spinach or kale are good options)
1 cup dried tortellini
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese for topping.
* Other veggies that are yummy in this soup: zucchini, cubed potatoes, canned beans, green beans, etc.

Heat oil in large pot. Stir in onions and celery and cook until tender. Stir in carrots, bay leaf, herbs, and toss to coat. Pour in vegetable stock and tomatoes bring to a simmer. Add chopped vegetables and simmer until veggies start to get tender (5-10 minutes depending on the type of veggies you use). Stir in tortellini and cook until pasta is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread (from Fat Boy Bakery, if possible).