Coconut Lentil Soup

This soup is fantastically flavorful and something new to add to your soup repertoire.  I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and interchanged a few things. I use onions vs scallions, green split peas vs yellow, and regular white lentils vs red split lentils.  It doesn't take too long to throw together and an easy tasty meal during the week.

 Ingredients:
1 cup  yellow or green split peas
1 cup red split or white lentils (masoor dal)
7 cups  water
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 tablespoons fresh peeled and minced ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced or regular onions
1/3 cup golden or regular raisins
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
one small handful cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Rinse the split peas and lentils until the water is clear. Place into a large pot and cover with water. Once it comes to a boil, add carrots and 1/4 of ginger. Turn down the heat and let simmer for ~30mins or till tender. 

I use a large dutch oven cast iron pot because it does great with sauteing onions and I like to cook the final soup in this pot. Place butter in a pan and saute onions till almost caramelized. Add in the rest of the ginger and onions. Saute for a few minutes and then add in the curry powder. Next add the tomato paste and saute for another 2 minutes.

Combine the lentils and onion mixture together in the same pot and add in the coconut milk and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes or till desired consistency/thickness. 

*** Another addition to the soup that is delicious is a jalapeno sauteed in with the onions.  
Serves 6.

Sweet Potato Sausage Soup

This soup is one of my favorites that is out of the ordinary.  Sweet and white potatoes mixed with Chorizo sausage and spinach. Yum!  Even my 2 year old loves it. Perfect for a rainy chilly day. I've been making this soup from Bon Appetite and you can find the link here

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 10- to 11-ounce fully cooked smoked Portuguese linguiça sausage or chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 2 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 pound white-skinned potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 6 cups low-salt chicken broth/veggie stock/leftover whey
• 1 9-ounce bag fresh spinach

Directions:

Heat up the olive oil in a large pan and cook up the sausage till it is brown. Remove and place in a bowl with a paper towel.
Next saute up your onions and garlic till cooked to your liking (5mins).
Add in the potatoes and cook till softened.
Add in your stock and bring the soup up to a boil.
Cook till potatoes are tender. Mash up about half of the potatoes.
Add in the sausage and spinach.
Cook till spinach is wilted (5mins) and serve with bread.

Heart and Dove Shaped Pasta w/ Chicken Soup

 Heart and Dove Shaped Pasta with Chicken Soup

Christmas and New Years have come and gone.  Every year it sneaks up and is over in a blink of an eye. Chris and I traveled to New York again to spend the holidays with family.  This year was different since we were traveling with Miss Rosalie who is now 8 1/2 months old.  She did fantastic with the car ride and being passed around, it was just the whole sleeping part. I think the excitement of the gifts and family and her 1st cold played a part. Finally at home, she is sleeping much better, although I think I have caught her cold.  Nothing horrible, but just enough to want to curl up on the couch and eat soup.  So I scoped out my freezer and found turkey broth, a whole chicken, and carrots from the garden. Instead of doing noodles that are tough to slurp up, I thought it would be fun to try out new shapes. Grab your favorite cookie cutter and get stampin'!

Pasta Noodles

Ingredients:
2 eggs (local farm)
1/2 salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cups of Organic Bread Flour (Westport, NY)

Directions:
Mix together ingredients in your Kitchen Aid mixer, but don't add in all the flour just yet. I typically start out using the flat beater and once all the dough is incorporated I switch over to the dough hook. Add enough flour for the dough to be soft, but not sticky. Lastly I will finish kneading it by hand to get the best consistency. Make sure not to over knead it, otherwise it will be tough and not int a good way. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and stick it in your fridge for at least 1/2 hr.
Take out your dough and run it through your pasta maker. Once you get it to your desired thinness (~ number 5), select your favorite cookie cutter shape. Cut out the pasta and lay on a cooling rack to dry(~30 minutes). Boil some water with salt (so your water boils faster) and olive oil (so the pasta doesn't stick together) and throw your pasta in. It should only take about 3-5 minutes to cook. You can see the color change from a yellowish to a whiter color. Remove pasta shapes and add to your favorite soup.

 

 Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (Chestnut Farms Hardwick, MA)
3-4 carrots (frozen from our garden)
 4-6 cups of Turkey Stock (from a local turkey Oakham, MA)
Salt to taste
Spices to taste

Directions:
Roast Chicken at 350 F for 40 minutes (depending on size). Cut into pieces and add to turkey stock and carrots. Add salt, spices, and pasta noodles.

Apple Butternut Squash Soup

This is seriously one of my all time favorite soups (next to French Onion). It's a super quick and easy soup that can be done during the week. Throw in some fresh hot bread from the oven and you're all set.

Ingredients:
1 onion chopped or leeks
3 ribs of celery chopped
3 carrots chopped
1 tbsp of butter
1 butternut squash (or whatever kind you have on hand) roasted
1 apple (the tarter the better ... say that three times fast!) peeled, chopped, and cored
***You are looking for about a 3 to 1 ratio of Squash to Apple***
3 cups of chicken or veggie stock or whey (from when you make cheese)
cinnamon, nutmeg, curry powder, and salt

Directions:
Cut up the squash, place face down in a pan with some water and roast in your oven at 350F till tender (about an hour). Scoop out the flesh (once cooled) and place in a separate bowl. 
Saute the onions, celery, and carrots in butter till tender in the pot you're cooking the soup in. Add in the stock, squash, and apple. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend all the ingredients and add the spices to your liking.
Enjoy with some fresh hot bread and good company!

Chicken Corn Chowder

There is something about the cool fall weather that brings on the hot soups and rustic breads. Even though we just finished off our vat of French Onion Soup, Chicken Corn Chowder was calling my name.  At the end of summer I try to get a few dozen ears of corn just to freeze their tasty kernels for Corn Chowder.  It brings back thoughts of summer and adds the warmth to your kitchen. So here we go...

Ingredients:
Chicken (optional, you can make it without, but so much better with)
Bacon (once again optional, but who doesn't love bacon)
2 medium Onions chopped
3 Ribs of Celery chopped
5-6cups combo of milk and stock (whatever you have on hand and your preference)
salt and pepper (to taste)
4 large potatoes chopped
butter (seriously who cooks without it)


Directions:
Roast, grill, or fry your chicken. I had a whole chicken in the freezer so I opted to roast it.
Cook up your bacon and try not eat it all before you finish making your chowder
Reserve a couple tablespoons of bacon grease in your pan and saute your onions and celery. If you didn't have bacon, this is where you use butter instead.
Saute the onions and celery till browned, then add your milk/stock and potatoes. I used about 3 cups of  stock and 2 cups of milk
Bring to a boil and cook till the potatoes are tender
Add in the corn and cook for another 7minutes
Then break out the blender or food processor and blend the soup. I typically blend about 1/2-3/4 of the soup and leave the rest. If you want the soup to be thicker add in 2 tablespoons of flour mixed with cold water. Next add the chicken and bacon (hopefully there is some left) and Serve warm. Even better serve in a bread bowl mmm...

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is one of my all time favorites. It's hard to find a restaurant that can actually make a decent bowl of French Onion Soup.  Who can resist the melted, bubbly cheese over crusty bread.  The real key to French Onion is the broth. Sure you can use Beef Broth from a can, but it will no where be as good as if you make the broth from scratch.  Every year I look forward to our St. Patty's Day celebration not only because of the corned beef that I cure for 8 days, but the broth left over from boiling the corned beef and veggies. It is hands down the best broth I have ever tasted.
So yesterday I pulled out of my freezer a package of marrow bones from the farm (You can buy these at the grocery store too) for two reasons:
1. to make my dogs happy

2. to make soup stock

Soup Stock:
Roast marrow bones, carrots, onions, turnips, rutabaga, and garlic with olive oil in a pan at 350 F for 1-2 hours
Next take out your biggest stock pot and fill it up with all those roasted bones and veggies.
Throw in some celery, head of cabbage chopped up, zucchini, summer squash, 2 bay leaves, etc.
If you have some stew beef or chuck roast throw in too. 
Fill the rest up with water and let boil for 5-6  hours.
The key to a good stock is the huge combo of veggies. You might not like turnips or rutabaga or cabbage, but they really make the soup stock delicious. It might smell funny at first, but as it cooks on the smell will become amazing.
Separate the broth from all the veggies with a colander and let the remaining stock boil down till it reaches your taste. Add as much salt to taste.

Next slice up at least 8 large onions and saute them in a preferably cast iron pot with butter.
Stir them every so often so they don't stick.
Cook until they are almost caramelized.
Add the broth and you can either do 1/2 cup of white wine or 2 tablespoons of Marsala or Sherry wine. This time I had some Marsala and it did the trick.
Next you want to slice up some good crusty bread and place it over your soup an oven proof bowl.
Then you want to layer on some Swiss or Gruyere cheese and place it under the broiler for a few minutes. Stay close you do not want to burn the cheese!