Leek and Potato Soup

It was chilly today, so soup was in order for dinner. I had  leeks and homemade chicken broth, so we were all set. Leek(ajo porro) soup has always been a favorite in our house. We ate up five portions last night and there are two servings in the fridge for today's lunch. To make this comforting brew you will need:

• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 3 large leeks, cleaned and sliced (dark green portions discarded)
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 3 Tbs butter
• salt
• 3 potatoes (I used Yukon Gold), peeled and cubed
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• white pepper

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pot. Add sliced onion and a sprinkle of salt. Cook slowly for 5-6 minutes. Don't brown the onion at all if you want a white soup. Add sliced leeks and peeled, crushed garlic cloves. Stir to coat all with butter. Cover the pot and cook on low for about 20 minutes, until leeks are tender.

Raise the heat and add the wine. Reduce the liquid a bit and then add the potatoes and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover the pot. Cook for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked soft.

I pureed the mixture with my immersion blender. If you are not going to eat the soup right away, stop here. You can let it rest for a while, or refrigerate it at this point if you want to wait for a longer time. 

When you are ready to serve, heat the puree just to a boil, to insure that you will be serving hot soup, Remove from heat and add in the heavy cream. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

You can heat up portions of the puree and add a bit of cream or milk to make individual  portions. Try adding milk instead of cream. A mug of leek soup on a chilly day makes a great starter for lunch or dinner.

On Sundays, in the tropics, I often serve this or other creamy soups in small bowls as part of the tapas bar, or even in tall shot glasses that can be passed around on a tray. Garnish with chives or finely chopped parsley.

Roasted Tomato Soup

...and this week's soup is...roasted tomato. I love tomato soup and have made it in different forms. Some day I will post my gingered tomato soup. But this week the tomatoes are roasted. To make this version of tomato soup you will need:

• 12 large, fleshy roma tomatoes
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 large onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the tomatoes in quarters. Remove the seeds and white centers. Drizzle olive oil in two large pyrex molds. Place the tomatoes in the molds skin side up. Add the 5 cloves of garlic, Drizzle with additional olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

 

Place the molds in the oven for 30 minutes. ->

Turn the tomatoes and roast for and additional 30 minutes. This is hotter and quicker than the roasting we did for the roasted tomato recipe. The tomatoes shrivel and cook, but don't caramelize quite as much as with the longer slower roasting. At the end of the second roasting time, the tomato skins should be easily removable. I took off most of the skins at this point to avoid having to strain the puree later on. The garlic can also be squeezed out of their skins.

While the tomatoes are roasting, dice the onion and cook it slowly in a couple turns of olive oil. Add a bit of salt. Cook until the onion is translucent. 

When the tomatoes and garlic are roasted, add them to the onions and simmer together for a few minutes. Add the chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. 

 

I used an immersion blender to puree the soup. From here you can take this soup in the direction you want...add more broth for a thinner soup...add cream for a creamier version...add some paprika, or crushed pepper flakes, or some Italian seasoning.... I just adjusted the salt and served the soup thick and hot with some of the grated cotija cheese (extra from the corn dip) on top. It was delicious, and even better today for lunch.

Butternut Squash Soup

It was a cool, rainy day. Just the day for soup making.

Ceci has been asking for a chicken broth recipe. I make broth every week. I buy chicken backs and necks, or other chicken parts, or I use a whole stewing chicken, or, as today, I use the left-over carcass from this week's roast chicken.

Chicken broth is not scary. Just put the carcass (or chicken pieces) in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Put it on the stove. When it begins to boil, turn down the heat so that the water is barely simmering, not boiling hard. I almost always add a few bay leaves and a few cloves of garlic to the water...not cooking school procedure, but that's what I do. If I know what I will use the broth for I may add chopped ginger as well. As the pot simmers, skim off any scum and excess fat every so often. If you started out with a whole chicken, or chicken parts with meat, take the meat off the bones when it is cooked and save it for shredding or salad (buffalo chicken dip??). Put the bones back in the pot. Add some salt to the cooking water. Don't over salt. You probably don't know where you will be using all of this broth later. I like to lightly salt each layer of a dish.
When you have skimmed off most of the fat and scum, add your chopped vegetables. The traditional mixture is onion, celery, and carrot, with more onion than the others. But what do you like? If you don't like the sweetness of carrots, use less. I recommend some carrot as a natural flavor enhancer, but it's all up to you. Today, for one good-sized chicken carcass I used a large onion, 3 stalks of celery and  one carrot. Let the pot keep simmering until you have a flavorful broth. Depending on taste, you can add some thyme, other vegetable scraps, mushrooms,.... but the stronger the taste the less universally useful the broth will be. If you know that the final dish will be Italian, or Asian, or Caribbean in flavor you can season accordingly. For an all purpose broth stick to the standard flavorings. When you are satisfied with the flavor and consistency, strain the broth into a clean container or two. I always try to keep some in the refrigerator and freeze some for future use.

For this butternut squash soup you will need

• a butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 Tbs butter
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• poultry seasoning (thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper, nutmeg)
• one small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 small potato, peeled and cubed
• 4-5 cups of chicken broth (as needed)

The hardest part comes first. I hate peeling the squash. It's all downhill from there. I use a good vegetable peeler and take the peel off in strips. You need a good knife to cut the squash in two lengthwise.  Take out the seeds. Peel each half. Cut the flesh in cubes.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While it is heating, and you are fighting with the squash, put an 8 x 11 pyrex in the oven with the 2 Tbs of butter, until the butter melts.

Mix the squash cubes into the butter, then season with kosher salt, black pepper and poultry seasoning. Spread the cubes out into one layer and place the pyrex in the oven. Check on progress and stir after 20 min. You want the squash roasted through with some caramelized bits on the pan. When the squash is done, take it out and set aside. I actually drained off the butter from the squash and used it to cook the onion...

Thant's right, the next step is to cook the onion slowly in a bit of butter in the soup pot. Crush the garlic cloves under a big knife, slip off the skins and add them to the pot. (This is actually a good time to use up all those little cloves that have been left behind. Just use the equivalent of 3 large cloves.)  Add a bit of salt to the onions so that they release their liquid and simmer in it. After a few minutes, when the onions look transparent, add the cubed potato.   Here I add a bit more salt and some more poultry seasoning. You can add more sage if you like. It works well with the butternut squash.  Light seasoning on each layer. Stir to coat the potato with the butter in the pan and simmer for a few minutes. Then add enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables, plus some. When the potato is cooked through, add the cooked squash, scraping in those dark bits from the pyrex. Cover well with more chicken broth as needed. Stir well and simmer for a few more minutes. The squash is cooked, you just want to blend the flavors. Taste...always taste. When you are satisfied, take the pot off the heat.

I use an immersion blender to blend the soup. You can use a standard blender, blending batches of vegetables and liquid and pouring into a clean pot. As you blend add more broth as needed to achieve the texture you want. Taste again. Adjust seasoning. 

This is a delicious, naturally sweet, flavorful soup with a good onion, garlic base. Enjoy with a sprinkling of feta or blue cheese on top., or swirl in some yogurt.. or drink it straight from a mug on a chilly day.