Calling all soup makers......

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
LDM, if you have a pressure cooker, put the beef in with some broth for 2 minutes once it starts to boil. Presto - super tough meat now super tender.

If not, crock pot on low, overnight with 1 tsp meat tenderizer (unseasoned) per lb of meat...
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Hey, everybody! I'm appalled. You're all )or most of you) are using pre-cooked or pre-packed ingredients. And as for "I can't have that any more because it's not milk-free or gluten-free" - the best tasting soup, and it really is no more trouble, is the one you make yourself ENTIRELY FROM SCRATCH.

Sharon, I know you've made up your mind, but add this to the file for next time.

For basic chicken stock - I save the chicken carcasses from a roast, put them in the freezer and to make stock, I put the carcass in a pot, add a bit of sale, cover it with water. Then toss in (if you have it) a carrot (don't bother peeling it), some onion (whatever heel of onion you have dying in the fridge), some parsley and/or celery (use the tops or the tough outer stems, this is literally a rubbish recipe).

To make it an Asian stock - leave out the other ingredients. Just use chicken and water, and a bit of salt. Then throw in a couple of star anise (whole) or five spice powder if you haven't got star anise. Three or four slices of ginger root.

With both - allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes. Taste to make sure you are happy with the flavour. Remove the carcass and other bits to a plate. I will even recycle the star anise - let it dry and it can be used a second time. I store the pre-loved star anise loose on top of the spice rack. Chuck out the bones, the ginger, the other herbs/vegetables. They are safe to eat, just have had the flavour cooked out of them. Pick any meat off the chicken bones if you have the patience - you get a surprising amount. At this point the stock (and meat) can be frozen for later use.

Soup recipes - also consider chicken risotto, it is a wonderful way to fill tummies in winter with a nourishing and tasty brew.

First - pumpkin soup. Simmer chunks of pumpkin in chicken stock until tender. Puree. I add a small amount of nutmeg to taste, sometimes a tiny bit of sugar, to give it a slightly sweeter taste (depends on the type of pumpkin you used). I sometimes add a swirl of sour cream to the soup. It can be eaten as is, or you can ladle it into a bowl, top it with a sliced baguette topped with grated cheese and toasted under the grill. Or you can use coconut cream (should be dairy free, and I admit I do use pre-made for this) and some fresh coriander leaf (aka cilantro).

Second - wonton soup. Also called (here) combination long and short soup. This is a good recipe for cleaning out the fridge and freezer. It sounds complicated but it's just a matter of gathering ingredients, and adapting to what you have.
The base is chicken stock. Have ready to throw in, in order of how long they will take to cook - ready-made wontons (I buy them from Chinatown). These are often pork but can be other meats. A handful of frozen prawns. Get a steak out of the freezer and slice it thinly while it is still fairly frozen. Do the same with some frozen pork if you have it. If you don't have either, it's okay. Peel a carrot and roll-cut it, or chunk-cut it. Other vegetables you can use - broccoli and cauliflower, cut into small florets. Lap cheong sausage, cut into thin slices, pan fried then thrown into the pot. You can use chorizo instead if you need to. I also put in some slices of Chinese barbecued pork. It's already cooked but it flavours the soup beautifully. Toss in (if you want to) a block of Chinese noodles - you can use anything, egg noodle or rice vermicelli. Last of all, a minute before serving, I throw in some or all of the following - sliced snow peas; sliced leek or spring onion; shredded leafy vegetables such as silverbeet, beetroot greens, bok choi or similar. There needs to still be a bit of crunch to the onion and snow peas.

If I'm feeling rushed or busy, I will use mixed frozen vegetables instead of a lot of this stuff. The thing is, depending on what you have available, the soup can be very different. But it always tastes marvellous and fills you up. it is a thin soup, with a lot of bits in it. Big bits.

And finally - a lesson for the next generation. Did you ever see Jim Henson's Storyteller series? It starred John Hurt as the storyteller. My kids loved it. He told the story of stone soup. One day while we were on holidays (and eating up our leftovers ready to head home a day or two later) I made stone soup in the apartment kitchen. I sent easy child 2/difficult child 2 out to the garden to find a smooth river rock. We washed the rock clean (it was the size of her fist, had a marble band in it) then put it in the pot and covered it with water. We then acted out the story. I asked for some salt - we had a salt shaker from the picnic set. If you're near the beach you can add a splash of sea water. We needed a bit more to it, nothing that could be considered as food, of course. We had the leftover bits of a barbecued chicken the kids had eaten the day before. That went into the pot. Some carrot peel. The fleshy but rubbery part of onion peel. The leafy bit at the top of some celery. Each bit, we added as we tasted and said, "Hmm, it needs just a little bit of something..." but of course, there was no real food in it. Just rubbish. That's the beauty of this recipe and this story, you can make a delicious soup out of virtually nothing. If you have old meat bones of any kind, the fatty bits or the gristle from some meat dish, maybe some leftover potato or pumpkin, or a spoonful of greens from dinner the night before - chuck it in.

Of course you don't eat the bones, or the carrot peel or the onion skin. You don't eat the stone, either. You fish all of that out. But you can eat the rest. I remember when I made this on holiday, the kids each had a small cupful of soup (which normally they wouldn't touch but the magic of the story hooked them in) and I used the rest to make a risotto for dinner that night. So we got two meals out of rubbish.

easy child 2/difficult child 2 carefully washed the rock and dried it. She brought it home and taught herself to make many different kinds of soup, all of them with the stone as the start. When she married and left home, she took her magic stone with her.

Marg
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Marg, thanks for the recipes - I'm a reformed "whole foods" cook now. I began cutting out the refined and processed stuff back in May and life just gets better!

I do make a pumpkin curry soup in my vitamix that is pretty jamming! Love your "rubbish" story. My brother is a meat eater and the weather is supposed to take a really cold turn here on Saturday so I was looking for something really hearty that he would enjoy. The beef stew recipe I have is an old french version with fresh herbs, vegatables and red wine -- can't go wrong with that combo!

Thanks everyone!! I love soup and make vegetable soup usually every three weeks and freeze in single servings to take to work for lunch. I never use the same combo, just whatever hits me that week! Sometimes its white beans, chopped spinach, butternut squash and edamame and the next time it's fire roasted corn, fire roasted tomatoes, green beans and carrots......I enjoy spicy full-flavored soups so I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to spices and herbs.

Enjoy your holidays and thanks for all the delish ideas!

Sharon
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
I think that's the first recipe for pumpkin soup I've seen that doesn't use onion. I hate onion, what's with using it in every soup?!
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I use onion because I like it. However, I also use a tiny bit of garlic in brownies and chocolate chip cookies to enhance the chocolate flavor. This is why onion...
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Sharon, if you put that stew in the oven in a dutch oven on low heat, the meat will be so tender it will melt in her mouth. The deer meat we use most often is from fairly young deer so its not very tough at all and as you know, Tony and I have had teeth issues for several years so we have needed to have easy to chew foods. My stews melt in your mouth. I have a dutch oven made by Lodge which is just a step down from that very expensive French brand...lol. I could never afford one of those! But I love my Lodge. I got it for myself for a mother's day gift off onesaleaday.com. Its huge and heavy but we use it almost weekly. No matter what I cook in it comes out perfect. With the tenderloin, I would cook it for about 3 hours in the oven on about 275 if you have it cubed up.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Marg, thanks for the tips on making Asian soup stock. I usually do a basic chicken stock, but had never figured out a good way to adapt it.

I am grateful that Christmas dinners #1 and #2 are both at my house this year, because I will have all the turkey carcasses to make stock once the meals are done. When they were at MILs house, others would always divide the leftovers and dispose of all the bones before I could get to them.
 

Marg's Man

Member
Ain't I lucky that get to EAT Marg's soups.

I remember that holiday, it was about ten years ago.

easy child 2/difficult child 2 is a married woman now and her husband loves his "stone soup".
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Janet, I love my Lodge also!!!!! I was looking for one and just refused to pay the price for the fancy french one, even at outlet prices! I found Lodge at a kitchen store about 5 years in an outlet by my sister's house and snatched it up! Since, I ordered the smaller version from Walmart online! I was planning on using my big one for the soup but never thought about the oven, I was going to use the stove top.

Sharon
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Ladies, I am in the process of defrosting some haddock...about 1.5 pounds. I love soup and want to make this into some type of potato and onion type of chowder with a very thin broth...not very, but just not really thick. I know you ladies may have good ideas. I'm not the best at guessing how much of which ingredient so any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

After looking at all your wonderful ideas, I just want to make some soup!
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Oh forget it, I found a good one. It's very simple using chicken stock, just adding potato's, onions, celery and haddock.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Soup Success! Not only did the Redskins win, but the soup was delish!

I did the "french style" beef stew and it was soooo good. I actually made it a day early so the flavors would meld (always good with beef). It was a little longer process than the typical one pot soup, but you just layered the flavors -- the most wonderful smell was, after browning and removing the beef, I cooked the onions, added some flour, and then added red wine - the aroma was wonderful!

Thanks for all your ideas ladies and happy merry!

Sharon
 
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