potato fauxtato leek soup

It's so cold, and there are rumors of another midweek snowstorm. Last week's midweekstorm totally crushed VA/DC/MD... friends and coworkers were reporting 6, 7, even 8 hour commutes home (if they even made it home at all)! Holy sheesh, right. I am SO glad that I left work before it really started and I got home with no problems. I was all warm, toasty, catching up on DVRs cuz I never lost power... Now I'm just bragging, lol. Anyways, like I said, it's pretty cold, so it's time for  soup.

Unphotogenic soup, but soup nonetheless, lol.

Normally I prefer brothy soups like miso, wonton, or this or this. I had a potato and leek soup at Cafe Du Parc (it was also brothy) the other week and I liked the flavor. When I was looking for similar recipes, nearly all of them were a creamy or thick version, so hey, why not branch out? And by creamy and thick versions, I mean they usually call for heavy cream and a lot of butter. To lighten it up, I used a touch of milk and since I had some cauliflower left in my freezer, and since I know cauliflower make acceptable mashed fauxtatoes, I figured I'd toss them into the mix. Verdict? It makes a hearty and slightly creamy and oh hey it's generally pretty healthy soup. If the snow does come and I'm stuck indoors, at least I know I'll have something nummy to eat!

Potato Fauxtato Leek Soup
adapted from Potato Leek Soup I at allrecipes.com

4 C chicken stock
1.5 lb white potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces
1 lb cauliflower florets
1 leek, (white part and a bit of the green, but not the leaves up top... about 3-4" of it)
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp white wine
1/2 C milk (I used 1%)
salt and pepper to taste
Special equipment: immersion blender or food processor

Put stock, potatoes, and cauliflower florets into a medium pot and bring to a boil.

While the potato and cauliflower is coming to a boil, cut the leek in half lengthwise and soak in water for a few minutes to clean. Take out and slice finely. In a small pan, melt butter with the canola oil over medium. Add the leeks and sautee until translucent. Add the white wine and cook 3 more minutes.

Check that the potatoes and caluflower are fork tender. Turn off heat. Add leeks and milk and mix. Using an immersion blender*, blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I used about 1 tsp salt and just a bit of pepper. If you want it thinner, add more broth and reseason accordingly.

* If you don't have an immersion blender, blend in batches in a food processor.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

It's getting kinda chilly, which means it's a good time for soup! This hearty chicken tortilla soup is very easy to make using a bunch of canned ingredients and a rotisserie chicken, so it makes for a simple, any time meal. Also, this makes a lot - like half a stock potful - so you can freeze it and have some later, or just eat for a week, hehe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 tbsp canola oil

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 jar salsa OR 1 can diced onions with jalapeno

1 box reduced sodium chicken stock

water, if you want it more liquidy (fill half of the stock box, shake, then dump into the pot)

1 rotisserie chicken, without skin, and shredded

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

freshly ground black pepper

shredded mexican cheese

tortilla chips

Heat oil in a stock pot over medium high heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and sautee another minute. Add the black beans, corn, salsa, stock and water and chicken. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Add spices. Drop down to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes.

When serving, sprinkle with some cheese (which I didn't here, but it's much better if you do) and crushed tortilla chips.

let soup season commence

Today was a soup day - tons of rain, looked like it was night time at high noon, cold, and straight up dreary. I had pho for lunch and STILL wanted soup for dinner, lol. All that rain closed the softball fields tonight, giving me my first free night in a week. Don't get me wrong... I like being busy, but a night of down time is way underrated so I was going to take full advantage. Go fig the rain stopped, blue skies came out, and suddenly it was quite lovely. Quite a lovely evening, indeed, to stick to the plan and make some soup :-)

I got the original recipe off the Eating Well website and it had this long name basically telling you what's in it - chicken, spinach, pesto. Yep, it's all that and some carrots, beans, and broth and little pasta to give it extra bite. That's about it. Deceptively simple and even pretty healthy... and totally awesome. Took me all of 15 minutes to put together plus the boiling time. It's like the fresher version of the hearty chicken soups you'd eat on a snowy (ack, too soon for!) winter day. It's a nice transitional soup, comforting and light.

Chicken Soup for Fall
adapted from EatingWell.com

1 tbsp olive oil
1 C chopped carrots
8-12 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 C chicken broth
2-4 C water (depending on how liquidy you like it, I just refilled both broth cans ~ 4c)
6 oz baby spinach, chopped
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 C little pasta (I used stelline, but you can use orzo or something similar)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
5-6 Tbsp store bought pesto (recipe from scratch in the source recipe)

Heat olive oil in a medium pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add carrots and sautee for a couple minutes. Lightly salt the chicken, then add to the pot and allow to brown lightly on all sides. Add garlic and sautee until it's soft. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil.
 
Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta and spinach. Boil according to the pasta directions. Add the beans with 2 minutes to go to heat them through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat when the pasta is cooked al dente. Stir in the pesto.
 
Enjoy!

asparagus soup

Asparagus is one of the foods I didn't like growing up, but totally love now. I remember the first time I tasted it and went, mmmmm. I was in Austria with my mom and her cousin out at some rest stop restaurant (random, right). It was cold and rainy, and my Tito got cream of asparagus soup. He asked if I wanted some, and I peered at that green stuff and wrinkled my nose. He insisted, and I didn't want to be rude(r), so I had a sip. And it was delicious! It was creamy, surprisingly sweet, and very fresh tasting. I wanted to eat the whole thing. And that was it: I was turned on to asparagus.
Joy of joys, it's in season (thus those other posts with asparagus recently.) I couldn't find my old recipe for this, so I Googled and mashed together a bunch of different recipes to come up with this. This is a light soup, reminscent of the one I had way back when. A heavy cream would make it richer and slightly sweeter, but the evap milk has fewer calories. You can also substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth if you want a full out vegetarian soup.

Asparagus Soup

1 lb asparagus
3 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can reduced sodium chicken broth (or 2 cups)
3/4 C evaporated milk (or heavy cream)
salt and pepper to taste
Special equipment: immersion blender or food processor

Snap the tough ends from the asparagus. Cut them into 2" pieces. If you want to decorate with the tips, save 4 tips.

In a medium sized pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Sautee the onions about 3-4 minutes until it's getting soft. Add the asparagus and garlic and sautee another 5 minutes. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer, turn down the heat to med-low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the asparagus is very tender. Take off the heat.

Use the immersion blender to puree the soup, or food process until pureed. Stir in the evaporated milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat back up to temperature you like. Serve with croutons. Or if you want to use the reserved tips, sautee them for a minute until tender and top the soup.