On Sunday Mum, my two sisters and myself (plus the Minion) went to the annual Collector pumpkin festival! (Collector is the town). Came away with some beautiful fresh pumpkins and organic potatoes (so easy to clean! Shows you how un-fresh the supermarket ones really are o.0), so clearly pumpkin soup was in order. Also, I discovered in the making that Boyo actually likes pumpkin soup (he merely tolerates most other soups), which is exciting to know! Had cream that needed using and celery leaves that were otherwise going into the bin, and here is the result... :)
Ingredients
1 red onion, finely chopped
2t crushed garlic
splash of olive oil
1/2t cumin
1/4t nutmeg
1/4t harissa
1/2t garlic salt
4c stock
1.5c water
1/2 queensland blue pumpkin, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
1 sweet potato, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
2 med-lrg potatoes, cubed about 1/2 - 1 inch
1/2 bunch of celery leaves and trimmings, finely chopped
100mL cream (I used thickened, but any would work)
Recipe
Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add spices and stir over heat for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add stock and water and bring to boil. Add pumpkin, sweet potato and potato. Return to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add celery leaves. Simmer 10 minutes or until vegies are soft. Puree, then stir through cream. Serve optionally with a little fresh black pepper and a dollop of sour cream, with hot buttered sourdough toast on the side.
This is one of the best pumpkin soups I've had (fresh ingredients make a difference, I suspect :D) and I'll definitely be making this one again. The recipe is going into my brown recipe journal that is home to all my standby favourites ;) Yay!
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Curried Pumpkin Soup
Had a craving for soup tonight - freezing cold, blustery day - and had half a butternut pumpkin (squash) in the fridge that needed using up. Also, we'd just gone grocery shopping and came home with a lovely little pumpkin (can't recall the type; marbled green skin, lovely orange flesh) that was on sale very cheap. Sadly, the butternut in the fridge had kicked the bucket - but no matter. The resulting soup was very good anyway!
I tend to prefer butternut to other pumpkins, as it's sweeter, but the slightly earthier taste of the regular pumpkin worked well in this one. The curried part came from a soup I had back in February that our vet, of all people, cooked, and I wanted to attempt some sort of recreation. This worked well enough that I'd probably buy coconut milk again in order to make it :)
Ingredients:
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons crushed garlic
curry powder
5 cups of vegetable stock (chicken would work well, too)
2 large potatoes, skins on
1/2 a med-small pumpkin (about 1.2kg unprepared)
1 can of coconut milk
salt & pepper
Recipe:
Saute the onion, garlic and curry powder (to taste; about 2 teaspoons??). Once sauted, add just a little bit of stock at first to blend in the curry. Add the rest of the stock and bring to the boil. Add potato and pumpkin, cut into small pieces. Simmer until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Puree, stir through coconut milk and season to taste. Enjoy! :)
I tend to prefer butternut to other pumpkins, as it's sweeter, but the slightly earthier taste of the regular pumpkin worked well in this one. The curried part came from a soup I had back in February that our vet, of all people, cooked, and I wanted to attempt some sort of recreation. This worked well enough that I'd probably buy coconut milk again in order to make it :)
Ingredients:
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons crushed garlic
curry powder
5 cups of vegetable stock (chicken would work well, too)
2 large potatoes, skins on
1/2 a med-small pumpkin (about 1.2kg unprepared)
1 can of coconut milk
salt & pepper
Recipe:
Saute the onion, garlic and curry powder (to taste; about 2 teaspoons??). Once sauted, add just a little bit of stock at first to blend in the curry. Add the rest of the stock and bring to the boil. Add potato and pumpkin, cut into small pieces. Simmer until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Puree, stir through coconut milk and season to taste. Enjoy! :)
Friday, June 25, 2010
French-Inspired Mushroom Soup
I invented this recipe a year or so ago after I watched an episode of Masterchef. They mentioned on the show that the classic flavours of French food were butter, cream, thyme and I think lemon - so when I went to make mushroom soup for dinner that night, knowing we had some beautiful lemon thyme growing in the garden, I decided to see if I could make a soup that reflected these flavours.
The Recipe
About 50g butter
1 smallish white or brown onion
1 heaped teaspoon crushed garlic
400-600g mushrooms (I used 400g; the fresher the better)
Salt (¼t?)
3/16 c plain flour (hehe. The original recipe called for ¼ cup, but because I added the soup mix I reduced the flour by ¼)
2/3 packet of mushroom powdered soup mix
4c chicken stock
2 2-inch sprigs of lemon thyme
½ - 2/3c milk
About 100g sour cream
2t chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ - ½ t dried tarragon
Melt butter in saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion until clear, but not caramelised. Add mushrooms, cook stirring until reduced (~7mins?). Add salt to taste. Add flour and soup mix. Cook for 1-2 mins, stirring constantly. Add first 1.5 cups of stock slowly so flour doesn’t clump. Add rest of stock. Throw in thyme sprigs. Bring to boil, then simmer for 10 mins. Optionally, let soup cool and process to desired consistency (I prefer not to process this soup). Add milk and sour cream. Heat until cream is melted. Add herbs. Serve hot with crusty bread.
The Results
Is this soup a successful reflection of the key French flavours? I absolutely think so. It's warm and satisfying due to the cream and butter, but light and delicate at the same time because of the lemon. Because it's quite rich, I wouldn't make it every week, but this is definitely a grand soup for special occasions B-)
The Recipe
About 50g butter
1 smallish white or brown onion
1 heaped teaspoon crushed garlic
400-600g mushrooms (I used 400g; the fresher the better)
Salt (¼t?)
3/16 c plain flour (hehe. The original recipe called for ¼ cup, but because I added the soup mix I reduced the flour by ¼)
2/3 packet of mushroom powdered soup mix
4c chicken stock
2 2-inch sprigs of lemon thyme
½ - 2/3c milk
About 100g sour cream
2t chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ - ½ t dried tarragon
Melt butter in saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion until clear, but not caramelised. Add mushrooms, cook stirring until reduced (~7mins?). Add salt to taste. Add flour and soup mix. Cook for 1-2 mins, stirring constantly. Add first 1.5 cups of stock slowly so flour doesn’t clump. Add rest of stock. Throw in thyme sprigs. Bring to boil, then simmer for 10 mins. Optionally, let soup cool and process to desired consistency (I prefer not to process this soup). Add milk and sour cream. Heat until cream is melted. Add herbs. Serve hot with crusty bread.
The Results
Is this soup a successful reflection of the key French flavours? I absolutely think so. It's warm and satisfying due to the cream and butter, but light and delicate at the same time because of the lemon. Because it's quite rich, I wouldn't make it every week, but this is definitely a grand soup for special occasions B-)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Vegetable Summer Soup
Every now and then, although summer is generally hot, a cooler day will blow in. Unlike the stinkers, it's not a day for salads and light snacks - but it's not a night for heavy carbs either.
Tonight was such a night. Temperatures dropped from the mid to high 30s over the weekend (that's mid 80s to mid 90s for you Imperial folk) down to 20 today (high 60s), and it felt cold. I don't like being cold.
I had a couple of leeks wasting away in the fridge, so soup seemed the perfect thing for tonight. I wanted to create something that was light and summery still, even though it was a soup - nothing too thick or heavy like you'd want for winter.
The Recipe
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 med onion, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
olive oil for frying
1t lemongrass/lime spice mix
2T plain flour
5c vegetable stock
1T lemon juice
1t lime juice
2 med potatoes, in small cubes
2 large carrots, grated
1 quantity* majoram
1 quantity parsley
2 quantities thyme
2t sweet chilli sauce
salt, to taste
Saute the garlic, onion and leek in the oil. Season with the lemongrass/lime spice mix. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 mins. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Add lemon and lime juices, then the potatoes; simmer for 10 mins. Add carrot and herbs; simmer for 10 mins. Stir through sweet chilli. Season to taste. Serve hot with toast :o)
* I'm pretty hopeless at actually measuring how much seasoning I use. All I can say is I used two sprigs each of fresh parsley and marjoram, and about seven 10cm/4inch stalks of thyme.
The Results
Oh yeah. This is a summer soup. The lemon gives it the perfect zesty kick, and really emphasises the leek and onion flavours. That said, it's a nice mild flavour that isn't going to burn your socks off. It has a nice depth of flavour, and it really does taste like summer in a vegetable soup!
Tonight was such a night. Temperatures dropped from the mid to high 30s over the weekend (that's mid 80s to mid 90s for you Imperial folk) down to 20 today (high 60s), and it felt cold. I don't like being cold.
I had a couple of leeks wasting away in the fridge, so soup seemed the perfect thing for tonight. I wanted to create something that was light and summery still, even though it was a soup - nothing too thick or heavy like you'd want for winter.
The Recipe
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 med onion, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
olive oil for frying
1t lemongrass/lime spice mix
2T plain flour
5c vegetable stock
1T lemon juice
1t lime juice
2 med potatoes, in small cubes
2 large carrots, grated
1 quantity* majoram
1 quantity parsley
2 quantities thyme
2t sweet chilli sauce
salt, to taste
Saute the garlic, onion and leek in the oil. Season with the lemongrass/lime spice mix. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 mins. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Add lemon and lime juices, then the potatoes; simmer for 10 mins. Add carrot and herbs; simmer for 10 mins. Stir through sweet chilli. Season to taste. Serve hot with toast :o)
* I'm pretty hopeless at actually measuring how much seasoning I use. All I can say is I used two sprigs each of fresh parsley and marjoram, and about seven 10cm/4inch stalks of thyme.
The Results
Oh yeah. This is a summer soup. The lemon gives it the perfect zesty kick, and really emphasises the leek and onion flavours. That said, it's a nice mild flavour that isn't going to burn your socks off. It has a nice depth of flavour, and it really does taste like summer in a vegetable soup!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Potato & Cheese Soup - ish
So, yesterday on twitter, Sparky mentioned the wonders of Potato and Cheese soup. Being a massive fan of cheese-in-soup (actually, cheese in anything, but for now we'll stick to soup), my ears pricked up.
Lo, I said unto myself. It is unseasonably cold, and therefore miserable. What better way to banish misery and warm one's insides than with a lovely pot of hot, cheesy soup?
Alack, dear Sparky had not a recipe - so I turned to that trusty demon, Google. My favourites were the easy version and the complex version.
However, as you're all aware, I'm also in the middle of moving - and I had some corn that was begging to be used up. And I quite like corn and potato and cheese soup........
And thus it began.
The resulting recipe is some sort of weird cross between the easy version above, and the corn chowder, also linked to above.
The Recipe
2 white or brown onions
1 very heaped teaspoon of crushed garlic
2t cumin
olive oil for frying
3c chicken stock
3 largish potatoes, cubed to about 1cm3
400g can of creamed corn
420g can of corn kernels (which, I was disgusted to discover, is only actually 61% corn)
2c milk
salt (preferably of the sage, lavendar and rosemary variety)
~7 sage leaves
sprinkle of rosemary
2c grated cheese (cheddar or tasty)
sour cream and chives for garnishing
In a large pan over a high heat, saute the onions, garlic and cumin. Don't let the onions brown. Add the stock, and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the corn (both varieties, and I threw in the liquid from the corn kernels too) and simmer again for 10 minutes. Add the milk and seasonings (be generous with the salt, esp if you don't have the delicious sage/lavendar/rosemary variety), allow to simmer. Don't boil the milk too vigorously. Remove from heat, stir through cheese until melted, and serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream and some chives.
Makes 5 generous servings.
The Results
Taaa-sty. Exactly what I felt like, for which I was glad. Those of you that have tried it will recall that the corn chowder soup is somewhat Asian-styled - clear broth, corn, etc. This soup is like the non-Asian version. The milk and different proportions makes it creamier and less broth-like, and (strangely) altogether more like what I would consider a chowder to be... Most odd.
My only complaint was the type of potatoes I used; no idea what they were, but they held their form well throughout cooking, which is excellent for baking, but not so good for a soup where you want them to starchify the soup, making it even thicker, and releasing the potato flavour into the whole soup, rather than greedily confining it to the potato chunks.
Still. Definitely something I'll make again :)
Lo, I said unto myself. It is unseasonably cold, and therefore miserable. What better way to banish misery and warm one's insides than with a lovely pot of hot, cheesy soup?
Alack, dear Sparky had not a recipe - so I turned to that trusty demon, Google. My favourites were the easy version and the complex version.
However, as you're all aware, I'm also in the middle of moving - and I had some corn that was begging to be used up. And I quite like corn and potato and cheese soup........
And thus it began.
The resulting recipe is some sort of weird cross between the easy version above, and the corn chowder, also linked to above.
The Recipe
2 white or brown onions
1 very heaped teaspoon of crushed garlic
2t cumin
olive oil for frying
3c chicken stock
3 largish potatoes, cubed to about 1cm3
400g can of creamed corn
420g can of corn kernels (which, I was disgusted to discover, is only actually 61% corn)
2c milk
salt (preferably of the sage, lavendar and rosemary variety)
~7 sage leaves
sprinkle of rosemary
2c grated cheese (cheddar or tasty)
sour cream and chives for garnishing
In a large pan over a high heat, saute the onions, garlic and cumin. Don't let the onions brown. Add the stock, and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the corn (both varieties, and I threw in the liquid from the corn kernels too) and simmer again for 10 minutes. Add the milk and seasonings (be generous with the salt, esp if you don't have the delicious sage/lavendar/rosemary variety), allow to simmer. Don't boil the milk too vigorously. Remove from heat, stir through cheese until melted, and serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream and some chives.
Makes 5 generous servings.
The Results
Taaa-sty. Exactly what I felt like, for which I was glad. Those of you that have tried it will recall that the corn chowder soup is somewhat Asian-styled - clear broth, corn, etc. This soup is like the non-Asian version. The milk and different proportions makes it creamier and less broth-like, and (strangely) altogether more like what I would consider a chowder to be... Most odd.
My only complaint was the type of potatoes I used; no idea what they were, but they held their form well throughout cooking, which is excellent for baking, but not so good for a soup where you want them to starchify the soup, making it even thicker, and releasing the potato flavour into the whole soup, rather than greedily confining it to the potato chunks.
Still. Definitely something I'll make again :)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Corn Chowder
Yes, I know, another non-cupcake recipe :) Amazing, isn't it?!
Anyway, a friend of mine is particularly in love with this soup, and asked me to post the recipe here so she can access it. Hence, recipe.
The Recipe
Olive oil, for frying
2 large onions, finely chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic, to taste, crushed
2t cumin
4c (1L) stock - I use a mixture of chicken and vegetable, whichever is on hand
2 medium potatoes, cubed (about 1/2-1cm cubes)
1c canned creamed corn
2c corn kernels
1T dried parsley (alternatively, try 3T fresh chopped parsley)
1c grated Cheddar or Tasty cheese
Salt and black pepper to taste
In a large saucepan over a high heat, fry the onions, garlic and cumin until the onion is soft and translucent. Add stock and bring to the boil. Add potatoes and reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the creamed corn, corn kernels, and parsley. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir through the cheese and seasoning until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
Makes 5 decent sized servings.
The Results
Uh, YUM! Seriously though, after making this soup a few times now, I am absolutely in love with it. And my husband even likes it, which is saying something, as he's not a huge soup fan.
I highly recommend using chicken stock over vegetable stock.
Also, I am usually the kind of person who plays around with herbs and spices in all sort of random combinations. With this recipe - don't. I tried. Trust me. The recipe can't be improved upon.
With one exception - the time I made it where it turned out best, I added about 1/4c extra cheese, and a few shakes of my fancy rosemary, sage and lavendar salt. Gave it a bit of an extra kick that lifted it from really good, to the best soup I've ever eaten.
Anyway, a friend of mine is particularly in love with this soup, and asked me to post the recipe here so she can access it. Hence, recipe.
The Recipe
Olive oil, for frying
2 large onions, finely chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic, to taste, crushed
2t cumin
4c (1L) stock - I use a mixture of chicken and vegetable, whichever is on hand
2 medium potatoes, cubed (about 1/2-1cm cubes)
1c canned creamed corn
2c corn kernels
1T dried parsley (alternatively, try 3T fresh chopped parsley)
1c grated Cheddar or Tasty cheese
Salt and black pepper to taste
In a large saucepan over a high heat, fry the onions, garlic and cumin until the onion is soft and translucent. Add stock and bring to the boil. Add potatoes and reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the creamed corn, corn kernels, and parsley. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir through the cheese and seasoning until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
Makes 5 decent sized servings.
The Results
Uh, YUM! Seriously though, after making this soup a few times now, I am absolutely in love with it. And my husband even likes it, which is saying something, as he's not a huge soup fan.
I highly recommend using chicken stock over vegetable stock.
Also, I am usually the kind of person who plays around with herbs and spices in all sort of random combinations. With this recipe - don't. I tried. Trust me. The recipe can't be improved upon.
With one exception - the time I made it where it turned out best, I added about 1/4c extra cheese, and a few shakes of my fancy rosemary, sage and lavendar salt. Gave it a bit of an extra kick that lifted it from really good, to the best soup I've ever eaten.
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