Squash Soup Forever

Cold weather does really mean soup, and i haven't really been making too much of it as i have been eating pho, ramen and udon soups a lot lately. And yes these are the student kind - the kind your boil... so much sodium. So i thought it was time i actually made my own. (again)

So much chopping - i swear my arm was tired.

(squash, sweet onion, potato)

And voila

(don't know where the other pics went)

Tomatillo Soup

Apparently October is tomatillo season, i have made so many dishes with canned tomatillos, and suddenly there are everywhere. On the long weekend i was enjoying the sunshine walking through Kensington Market and thought i would pic up a few things - and right there were all these tomatillos (the green ones this time). I had to get some more since i didn't know the next time i would see them!

I wasn't going to make enchiladas again, and although that salsa is really good i wanted to find out what else was possible with them. I poked around on the internet and didn't find anything that i was especially impressed with. I had them a couple of days looking for some inspiration, when i thought about seeing tomatillo soup on a menu somewhere in the States, but it had chicken on it so i hadn't tried it. Tomatillo soup it would be.

I cut up some potatoes, jalapenos and these spicier dark green peppers. First i sauteed the garlic and onion, then added the other ingredients. Once they were cooking, i added some veggie stock and brought it to a boil until everything was tender. I used my emersion blender to break it up, but i did leave quite a bit of texture.

Soup wasn't enough, and i still had some of the left over tortillas so i made some simple quesadillas with cheese, red onions, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro.

I also cut up some the extra tortillas into strips and baked them, using them as a crunchy topping.

Soup!

Pho Dinner

I used to live in a Vietnamese area of Toronto, but luckily for me there is one Vietnamese restaurant in my neighbourhood - Pho Hung.

Spicy Leek Soup - Farm fresh

See those adorable carrots -my parents grew those in their garden. I was so proud of them. They also grew those little peppers, which were super spicy. I had to encorporate them into a soup. I also stopped by the Farmer's market in Orangeville in order to get a few more ingredients. This i guess was a leek soup, but i also threw in all the veggies in my fridge.

Lots of chopping

The peppers were so hot i had to pick up some cream to add to the soup. At the same time i also picked up some smoked cheddar and some really nice bread from The Fromagarie in my neighbourhood.

Cheese and bread - my favorite!

Soup with cheddar and bread

Leek Soup

I know its not really soup season yet, but i was looking for something easy to make that would feed me for a few days - so i went with soup. The bonus of this was that i decided to use some of the excellent blue cheese left over from dinner earlier that week to make it special.

Chopped up veggies

Blending the soup

(i used medium tofu instead of cream)

soup

Blender Gazpacho

Cold soups can be a little strange - my mother makes a good cucumber one and i've also had melon soup before, personally though i like to make gazpacho. Its really easy - especially the way i make it and it gets better over a couple of days. I don't really know where i got this recipe, i probably had it written down at some point or might have seen it on tv - its probably no where near the original or traditional, but i like it, and that's what counts!

Ingredients

A couple tomatoes
Two cucumbers
Quarter of red onion
Jalapeno
Three slices of bread
Can of tomatoes (whole)
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper and Chili Flakes

I peeled and seeded the cucumbers and cut them into smaller pieces. I also chopped up the tomato, red onions and jalapenos. The bread i had was pretty moist so i toasted it for better texture.


In the blender i put in the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and jalapeno, then added the can of tomatoes with the sauce, and simply blended it.


Once i had that blended i added the bread, olive oil, seasoning and most importantly the balsamic. The vinegar really adds to this dish so don't skip it.

Multi-Mushroom Soup

As you may have guessed, i'm pretty into mushrooms. Basically being a vegetarian most of my life, they became something of a staple and they have a wonderful density and flavour that really appeals to me. I also enjoy how they can hold up to a fair amount of cooking. I had actually never made mushroom soup and had spotted a recipe that appealed to me. Mushroom soup isn't in many ways the most appealing looking soup, but this one was a very delicate and elegant soup - i think it was sort of wasted eating solo, but i would consider making it for a dinner party or guests.

Mushroom Soup


2 cups coarsely chopped portabello
2 cups coarsely chopped shitake
1 cup coarsely chopped crimini
1 medium onion diced
1 large shallot, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chopped leeks (white and light green)
3 cups of veggie broth (low sodium)
1 cup half and half (it says heavy cream but....)
1/2 cup white wine (i used vermouth)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp red chili flakes
olive oil
salt & pepper


In a large pot saute the garlic with olive oil over low heat for 3 minutes. Add the onions and shallots, turning up the heat to medium and saute until wilted. Add chili flakes and thyme. Saute for two minutes and add leeks. Saute for another 5 minutes.

Next, add the mushrooms to the pot. (i need to add more olive oil at this point). Season with salt and pepper. Once the mushrooms are tender, add the stock, white wine and cream. Mix thoroughly. When the mixture comes to a boil and turn down the heat to a simmer.

When the pot is simmering, use a hand blender to puree the mixture.

And there you have it.

Postscript - This was even better the second and third day. I actually didn't mind eating this one for a few days!

Soup
All the onion types
Mushrooms
Chopped ingredients

Butternut Squash Soup

As its gotten pretty cold again, i felt like something hearty and warm - and what better thing to make but soup. I had bought a butternut squash a few weeks ago, and those things never go bad so i knew i would eventually get to use it. This soup was a bit of a mish-mash as i just used some of the ingredients i had left over in the fridge; half a sweet potato, some shredded carrots and roasted a head of garlic. I thought i would make it a thai curry soup with some coconut milk and then part way through making it i realized that i wanted to add some peanut butter to it too. I generally don't use a recipe while making most soups unless its one i've never made before and is really specific.

Normally i would have roasted the vegetables, but after my oven-fire alarm incident yesterday i thought i would give my neighbours a break. I stared with sauteing the onions and carrots to soften them, adding the red thai curry paste cooking it till fragrant. I then added the squash and sweet potato, sauteing them a little while longer. I added the veggie stock (low sodium and organic of course) bringing it to a boil.

Once the veggies were soft i added the coconut milk. I actually use powdered coconut milk - i often find that the cans are not only high in fat its often too much and i end up wasting the rest of the can. I also added the roasted garlic and peanut butter a this point. When you're using peanut butter in a soup i have two hints - first use natural peanut butter, a lot of brands have icing sugar in them. Second mix the peanut butter with some of the coconut milk to make it easier to blend into the soup.

Then i used my immersion blender and blended the soup until smooth. You could also use a blender and do it in batches. I then heated it through again thoroughly.

Above:

Soup
Roasted garlic (yum)
Ingredients
Ingredients chopped
Cooking the veggies