Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar

From Smitten Kitchen. If you saw this recipe before now, could there have been any doubt that I'd make it?

Serves 4 (though closer to 6 if served in mugs)

Soup

• 3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried crushed red pepper
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Lid

• 4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
• 1 tablespoon grated raw onion
• 1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste)

Make soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (I used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

Create cheddar lid: Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Stir grated onion into the warm soup. (I love this last-minute suggestion of onion.) Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. If you’d like it even more bronzed on top, preheat your broiler and finish soups for a minute or two under it. Serve immediately.

Do ahead: Soup can be prepared one day ahead, and kept covered in the fridge. Rewarm before serving, or before finishing with cheddar crouton.

RESULTS: Um, amazing. Even Chris, who is not a soup guy, offered his highest praise: "This is pretty good, sweetheart." I left out the grated onions and subbed onion powder. Cheese: sharp cheddar. Bread: Ry sourdough. The toms took a lot longer to roast, possibly because I doubled the recipe so there was more moisture in the oven. Anyway, it might not happen in exactly 1 hour so leave yourself time. Also, don't go overboard with salting the toms before roasting, especially if you're using a full-sodium broth. I think I used too much (although that might be why Chris liked it). Bethie asked if it would be good with meat, and Chris had actually said it would be perfect if there was some bacon in it. So again, adjust salt accordingly (but don't leave it off altogether on the toms pre-roasting, I think you need some to help with the roasting process). Also, ground beef or shredded chicken might work well.

My one complaint, and it's not really a complaint and more of a caution: I doubled the recipe thinking I'd get a lot of leftovers to freeze in our new chest freezer and use when things are more hectic this winter. I did get extras, but I think I only got about 6 servings from doubling the recipe.

Cold Corn Soup

From the Washington Post:

This is a distilled flavor of high summer. The coconut milk accentuates the sweetness of the corn.
Serve with salad and a glass of chardonnay. The soup tastes better with a day's refrigeration.

4 servings
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sweet butter
• 3 or 4 medium shallots, cut into thin slices
• Pinch curry powder
• Kernels from about 8 ears white corn (4 cups)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 whole black peppercorns
• 6 whole coriander seeds
• 3 stems parsley
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, preferably low-fat (may substitute whole milk)
• Salt

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in an uncovered Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are softened but but not browned. Add the curry powder and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat evenly.
2. Add the corn and chicken broth, stirring to combine.
3. Tie the peppercorns, coriander and parsley in a small cheesecloth bundle, then add to the soup. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.
4. Stir in the coconut milk. Cover, and let the soup rest for 20 minutes.
5. Discard the cheesecloth bundle.
6. Reserve 1 cup of the soup. Puree the remaining soup in a blender (working in batches) or with an immersion (stick) blender until smooth.
7. Set a strainer over a bowl; strain the pureed soup, gently pressing on any solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Add the reserved 1 cup of unpureed soup to the bowl (for texture); mix well. Season with salt to taste, keeping in mind the soup will be chilled.
8. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled before serving.

RESULTS:
This wasn't all that much different from the other cold corn soup that I posted up here a while ago and am too lazy to link to now, but I did really like the combination of coconut, coriander, and ground ginger (which I used because I didn't remember that I had curry powder until just typing this sentence now...). I thought the whole cheesecloth thing was unnecessarily fussy, so I just tossed the spices in there and figured, if I get a whole peppercorn, so be it.

Simplest Split Pea Soup

Feeling a cold coming on, so soup seemed the way to go. This is from How to Cook Everything, and it's really simple, er, as the name implies. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but what I love (LOVE) about this book is 1) the index is awesome. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you haven't seen a fantastic index. Those of you who have are thinking, "man, I love me a good index." 2) He'll give you the basic recipe and then tell you how you can change that up. But, it's not just that. He'll give you ways to change up entire families of recipes. So the variations he gives for the pea soup are also variations for any bean soup. It's fantastic.

And the soup turned out fantastically. Bethie got me hooked on a particular dry pea soup mix that we saw in the grocery store. This is not as good as that (or, not yet), but it is cheaper and almost as easy.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups split peas (1 lb), rinsed and picked through (look out for rocks!)
• 6 cups chicken or beef stock or broth, or water
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. put the peas and the liquid in a heavy pot over medium high heat until boiling, reduce heat to low and partially cover. Simmer until peas are very soft, 45-60 minutes.
2. Mash the peas with a potato masher, or run it through a blender/immersion blender for a smoother soup.
3. Adjust liquid (add more if it's too dry, simmer some off if the reverse), and salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
there are too many to list here, but basically towards the end I added some smoked paprika (that was my idea), a carrot chopped up, frozen corn, a Parmesan rind, and a minced garlic clove. When I served it I drizzled a little olive oil on top. My cold is still with me, but at least I'm not hungry anymore.

Kathleen's winter vegetable soup

Kathleen made this for me the last time I visited. K, if you want this to be a secret recipe, I'll take it down. It was just so good! Also, this is one of the few recipes that I actually followed faithfully. :)

1 small festival or acorn squash, skinned, cleaned & diced (this is the hardest part of the soup.. its time consuming to cut a raw squash)
1 large sweet potato skinned & diced
2 parsnips diced
1 large onion diced
(the goal is to have about equal parts of each of the 4 items)

saute the above in a few tablespoons of olive oil

after 8 mins or so of sauteing, add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp thyme, salt and pepper to taste
saute for 2 more minutes
add 4-8 cups of your favorite veggie or chicken broth. Adjust amount so you feel like its just a little less than the right amount of liquid for the amount of veggies you have above. Simmer for 10-20 mins or until all veggies are tender
finally, add about 1/2 to 1 cup of half and half, wisk in to combine.

Creamless Creamy Squash Soup

I made this soup for my mom when she was here this weekend. Soup seemed appropriate since it was frigid and snowing. Sigh. This is from the Gourmet Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fine-quality extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Tuscan) plus additional for drizzling
• 1 lb winter squash such as butternut, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 lb boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 whole fresh peperoncino (small hot Italian green pepper) or 3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups boiling water plus additional for thinning
• 1 crisp amaretto (Italian almond macaroon), finely crushed (2 tablespoons)

Directions

1. Cook celery, carrot, and onion in 2 tablespoons oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add squash, potatoes, peperoncino, and sea salt. Stir in 3 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer, covered, until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Remove and discard peperoncino (if using pepper flakes, leave in soup). Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), adding more water to thin to desired consistency.
3. Serve soup drizzled with additional oil and sprinkled with amaretto crumbs.
   

Results

As usual, I didn't have some of the ingredients, like amaretto crumbs and peperoncino. Luckily, butternut squash soup is pretty hard to mess up, I think. I left the skins on the potatoes since we weren't really going for looks and the skins are healthy. When I ate the leftovers I mixed in a dollop of lowfat plain yogurt to give it a little zing (and because it was REALLY hot), and that worked well.

Italian Wedding Soup

My sister told me about this recipe - she saw it made on a Food Network show and copied from what they did. I made it this week, and it was easy to do and turns out really well. I had some chicken stock on hand, so I added that to the water I boiled the chicken in, because I just boiled one bone-in, skin-on breast, rather than a whole bird, since it's just me and I try not to eat a lot of meat. I also added some fresh tarragon that I had left over from something else, since fresh herbs are expensive and I don't like them to go to waste. It's great soup, and perfect since winter won't seem to move on!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken or game hen

Large head of escarole (or spinach - what I used because I couldn't find escarole)

Two yellow onions

Celery

Carrots

Garlic

Oregano

Bay leaves

Orzo (or very small pasta, like pastina)

Salt

Ground beef or turkey

2 eggs

Bread

Milk

Boil a whole chicken (for one person, I would get either some chicken on the bone or a small game hen or chicken piece(s)). Add to the water chopped carrot, celery and onion and some oregano, a bay leaf and some salt. Let the chicken boil down for about an hour. After an hour, remove the chicken to a plate to cool.

While the chicken is boiling, make your tiny meatballs (you can use ground turkey. I saute some onion, garlic and celery to add to mine along with a piece of bread soaked in milk and one or two eggs, two if you’re using turkey, salt and pepper. You can substitute breadcrumbs for the bread.) The meatballs should be small. Bake them for about ½ an hour to 40 minutes.

Tear the meat off the chicken, shredding it, and add back to the soup base.

Chop the head of escarole and add to soup

Add meatballs

Add orzo

Cook until the orzo is tender and voila! Italian wedding soup.

Tuscan Bread Soup?

I just realized I never posted one of my most favorite soup recipes. I thought it was called Tuscan Bread Soup, but a quick web search has shown me that this is wrong. Unfortunately, I've since thrown away the recipe so I'm not sure what it's called. Betsy, do you know? I'm also not sure that I still make it the way it's supposed to be made. Oh well. It's basically a lot like how I make Arrabiatta sauce, but in soup form.

Warm a little olive oil in a medium saucepan and brown a couple cloves of garlic (or you can chop them if you really like garlic) with a dash or too of red chili flakes. Drain a can of whole tomatoes, saving the juice, and toss the tomatoes in with a pinch of salt. When they start to soften, mash them with a wooden spoon (be careful, the juice spurts!). When they're pretty well mashed into bite-sized pieces, add the juice back in. I like to add some basil at this point and check the seasoning. Yesterday, I added a tad smoked paprika, which made it tres delicious. Let it simmer for a while until you like the consistency. Serve with good-quality day-old bread (seriously, if it's not good store-bought or homemade bread just don't even make this soup). Break the bread into little chunks and let them sit for a while in the soup until they get good and creamy. Mmmmm. It's really good with Italian or French bread. I don't like the idea of cheese with this, but it might work. Even Chris doesn't put cheese on it, though, and he puts extra cheese on everything I make, even macaroni and cheese.

Variations on Greek Lemon Chicken soup

I'm going to add these to the original post as "variations" at the bottom (idea stolen from Alice Waters), but I thought I'd also point one out in a post. I hate when a recipe calls for only the yolks or only the whites, because then I have half an egg, or many eggs, in the fridge. Because these recipes generally demand more work than normal ones, I usually don't feel like cooking anything for a few days, and by then the half eggs would probably be better off not used. Such was the predicatment with the Greek Lemon Chicken Soup. But no longer! I found a really neat way to use the white. So, with the yolk you want to temper it so it mixes into the broth without scrambling. I thought it would be neat to then add the white, but without tempering and actually scrambling it on purpose by stirring, like in egg drop soup. It WAS neat! And, it adds protein. Hurray!

Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew with Garbanzo Beans

I saw this soup in an Epicurious email I got (on the website here), and decided to try it. The recipe is originally from Bon Appetit. I followed some of the comments on the website and also added a pinch of ginger and a bit of cumin. I think I might have used more chard than called for, but that's ok with me. And I also threw in the stems as someone suggested, just did it earlier than the leaves so they had time to soften. I also used half red Swiss chard, and half white, which was fine. Mine turned out very thick, closer to a stew or dal. You could add more broth to make it more soupy. I have had it with brown basmati rice, which is a nice complement. The best part is it's really quick, and it only gets better as it sits in the fridge.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 14-ounce cans vegetable broth
• 1 large bunch or 2 small bunches Swiss chard, tough stalks removed, coarsely chopped (about 12 cups)
• 1 pound red lentils (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• Plain yogurt

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until golden, about 13 minutes. Mix in curry and cayenne. Add broth and chard. Increase heat; bring to boil. Add lentils and garbanzos; reduce heat to medium.

Cover; simmer until lentils are tender, stirring twice, about 10 minutes. Divide stew among bowls. Top with yogurt.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Whenever I'm sick, Bethie tells me to make the Greek Lemony soup that she posted, which I did make once and it was excellent. But it calls for things that I don't normally have on hand, and when I'm sick the last thing I want to do is go hunting for chicken and rice soup in the confusion that is the redesigned Kroger. So I've only made the soup once. But, I'm feeling a little under the weather today, it's cold and there's some sort of crazy winter weather warning, I thought some chicken soup sounded alright. I found a recipe for it from scratch, and because I needed lemon zest (but not the juice) to make the panna cotta, I had all the necessary ingredients.

I got this from Allrecipes.com but whoever wrote that recipe is an idiot. I'm not putting their exact recipe down here, I'll just go ahead and write out what I actually did. If you want to see the original recipe, it's here. These are the directions for 8 people (I wanted leftovers). One of the really nice things about Allrecipes is that you can change the number of servings and it recalculates.

INGREDIENTS
Some chicken, enough to make 1/2 cup cooked and diced
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I dunno, half of a lemon is about right)
1/4 cup chopped or shredded carrots (about 1 carrot)
1/4 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 onion)
1/4 cup chopped celery (about 1 rib)
1 turnip (optional. I love turnips!)
1 tablespoon chicken buillon
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (optional)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
8 slices lemon (optional)
1-4 egg yolks, depending on your preference (I used 1)

In a large pot, cook the chicken in some olive oil or nonstick spray. Set aside to cool before cubing or shredding. In the same pot, add a little olive oil and cook the celery and onions over low until tender. If you like a thick soup, shove the vegetables off to one side of the pot and add two tablespoons each of olive oil and flour to make a rue (or you can do 1 Tbls and 1 Tbls, or whatever, as long as it's a 1-to-1 ratio). Mix oil and flour until it's smooth, then slowly add a little broth at a time, mixing each addition thoroughly with the rue to work out any lumps. Make sure to deglaze and pick up any the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as you go.

Add lemon juice carrots, soup base, and pepper (and the chopped turnip). Bring to a boil on high, then simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks until light in color. Gradually add some of the hot soup to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Return the egg mixture to the soup pot and heat through. Add the rice and chicken. Ladle hot soup into bowls and garnish with lemon slices and/or parsley.

RESULTS: delicious. It tasted an awful lot like how I remembered Bethie's recipe tasting, so I think either is a viable option.

VARIATIONS:

• Turnips (add or don't add)
• Replace the rice with barley (can cook right in the broth with the veggies, takes about 20 minutes)
• Leave out the chicken, it's still good!
• Scramble in the egg white at the end by not tempering the egg and just pouring it right into the hot soup and stirring fairly quickly (don't splosh!)
• At the very end, add some chopped greens like kale or spinach and heat through.

Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan and Fried Sage Leaves

To continue with the soup theme, from Epicurious.com:

Fried sage leaves make a crispy garnish. Try them also crumbled on mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables.

Servings: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 2 3/4-pound butternut squash, halved, peeled, seeded, chopped (about 5 cups)
5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
24 fresh sage leaves

Directions:
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion; cover and cook until soft, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Add chopped sage; stir 1 minute. Add squash and broth. Increase heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly. Puree soup in batches in blender until smooth (or use immersion blender). Return soup to pot. Mix in cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate.)
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and sauté until brown and toasted, about 2 minutes. Bring soup to simmer. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with fried sage leaves.


RESULTS: Very tasty! You may need less than 5 cups of broth, I would start with 4. Or, you can use all five and then boil some off to thicken. I threw in some toasted almonds that I had leftover from the barley soup with the sage in the frying pan, and I used the parmesan more of a garnish than mixed in. Either way, it's a good soup. Can you make a bad soup with butternut squash? I don't know...

Thai Chicken-Coconut Soup

Katie, I see your chicken barley soup, and raise you....Thai Chicken-Coconut Soup!
(from Epicurious.com)

They said it makes 4 servings, but I would estimate 5-6

Rice noodles (the recipe never actually says how much, but eyeball it and you can't go wrong)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1–2 red Thai (or jalapeño) peppers, seeded and finely chopped (plus slices for garnish)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon (or lime) juice
4 tablespoons Thai fish sauce, divided
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced (3 cups)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 ounces each), cut into 2 1/2-inch-long by 1/4-inch-wide strips
1 cup light coconut milk
2 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (plus sprigs for garnish)

Place noodles in a bowl; add enough warm water to cover and let sit until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain. Combine broth, pepper, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, lime zest, lemon juice and 3 tablespoon fish sauce in a large pot. Season with salt. Bring to a simmer, add noodles and cook 3 minutes more. Using tongs, transfer noodles to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add mushrooms to broth; season with salt, if desired; simmer 3 minutes more. Add chicken and coconut milk and simmer, stirring, until chicken is just cooked, about 3 minutes. Stir in spinach until it begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Add chopped cilantro and season with remaining 1 tablespoon fish sauce. Using tongs, divide noodles among 4 bowls. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with sprigs of cilantro and slices of pepper.

Results:

I'm eating the results right now, and it is heavenly. Much like the other soup I did (Lemon Chicken Soup), this combines salty, citrusy, and creamy flavors. This one just has a little bit of a kick behind it with the ginger and hot peppers. This recipe is a little more labor-intensive then the others I usually use, expecially with the hokey-pokey, in-and-out of the pot with the noodles (necessary b/c rice noodles are fragile and will break up in the hot soup if left in for too long), but start-to-finish was still under 1& 1/2 hour. My changes: I ended up not finding anything but canned green chiles, instead of whole peppers, and I used the entire 4 oz can in this soup. Other variations: I used 2 cups of coconut milk (1 can) instead of 1 cup, and decreased the chicken broth by 1 cup. I also used low-sodium chicken broth. Between that and the fish sauce, I did not need to add any additional salt. I did add, however, additional ginger because you can never have enough ginger in my book. Finally, I saved 1 of the 2 cups of coconut milk until the very end because then you have a fresher taste to the milk.

By the by,
For those interesting in pairing this soup with a wine, might I suggest a brighter white wine, such as Yellow Tail's Pinot Grigio. It's strong enough to stand up for itself, but accents the ginger and citrus without overpowering just beautifully.

Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup

From All Recipes

Prep Time: 35 Minutes Cook Time: 35 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes Yields: 12 servings

"Hearty and flavorful, this chicken and barley soup is the perfect comfort food for a cold winter's night."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup slivered almonds 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 cup chopped celery 4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup chopped carrots

5 cups diced red potatoes 3 cups chopped cooked chicken 2 1/2 quarts chicken broth 1 cup quick-cooking barley 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spread slivered almonds evenly over a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven until golden brown and fragrant. (about 5 min)
2.	Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Cook onions, celery, mushrooms, and garlic in oil until onions are tender.
3.	Stir in carrots, potatoes, chicken, and broth. Bring to a boil, then stir in barley. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
4.	Remove from heat, and stir in butter, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

RESULTS: Don't skip the almonds, they're a really nice touch. Just be careful about burning them; I'd set the timer for 5 minutes and then keep checking them. Obviously, I learned this the hard way. All in all, a really comforting soup, and I think you could switch out vegetables, if you have to get rid of some others. Also, if you don't have quick barley, as I didn't, I just simmered the barley in the chicken broth for 45 minutes or so before adding it to the soup. Enjoy!

White Bean and Kale Stew

From Cooking Light:

"Steeping a savory cheese rind in a soup's broth infuses cheesy, salty accents throughout. Cooking your own beans is simple if you've planned ahead, though you can rinse and drain canned ones for a higher-sodium result. Serve with salt-free crackers or toasted baguette slices."

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients
* 1 pound dried Great Northern beans
* 2 applewood-smoked bacon slices
* 2 cups chopped onion (2 medium)
* 6 garlic cloves, minced
* 6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 2 cups water
* 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
* 1 bunch kale, stemmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
* 1 (2-ounce) piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation
1. Sort and wash beans; place in a large bowl. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours. Drain.

2. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan; crumble. Add onion to drippings in pan; cook 6 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds.

3. Add beans, broth, 2 cups water, thyme, rosemary, and kale to pan; bring to a boil. Add rind to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are tender. Remove from heat; discard rind. Stir in juice.Garnish each serving with about 3/4 teaspoon bacon. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 11/2 cups soup).

RESULTS: I would like to know what kind of parmigiano-reggiano cheese these people are buying that they have rinds? Maybe I'm buying the wrong sort of cheese. Anyway, this stew was okay. The lemon juice is a nice touch, I didn't think I'd like it, but it was good. The thing is, I didn't do the bacon thing. I've never really noticed that such a small amount of bacon makes that much of a difference with a dish that makes this much food. Plus, I sort of object to having to buy a whole large package of an ingredient that I would never use otherwise (applewood-smoked bacon? whaa?) just to use as an accent flavor. Otherwise, I think calling this a "stew" might be stretching it, it was a little too thin to be a stew. Much more of a soup.

Lemon Chicken Soup

Hi all! It's true, KV got tired of me emailing her recipes. I also tend to like the quick and easy ones better because most days, I only have less then 1/2 hour. As far as cookbooks go, I love Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade (I have her 20-minute meal book). Although she does like to, um, taste-test the cocktails a little too much on her show, her recipes have been big winners so far. The only problem that I've had is that with some of them, the ingredients are really grocery-store dependent because of the short cuts. For example, for one recipe, I was supposed to get a can of Hunt's diced tomatoes with pepper and onion. But they didn't have that, so I had to get the toms with pepper and garlic. Big deal? The world may never know. For the prepackaged stuff, she also offers the brand name that she uses, which is occasionally helpful.

This is one of my favorites, perfect now that it's starting to get chilly and the flu and cold season is starting soon:

Lemon Chicken Soup (4 servings)

3 cans (10.75 oz each) condensed chicken and rice (or chicken noodle) soup, Campbell's (I used the reduced sodium kind...you really won't miss the extra sodium)
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, Swanson
1/3 cup lemon juice, RealLemon
3 large yolks (This one comes straight from the ol' clucker herself)
1 precooked chicken breast, shredded (see above)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (optional)

1) In large saucepan, combine soup, broth, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to simmer

2) In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot broth mixture into egg yolks to prevent curdling. Slowly pour into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. (Alton Brown cal led this "tempering" I think)

3) Stir in chicken and heat through. Stir in parsely. Serve with pita bread, hummus.

So, like I said this is one of my favorites. Couldn't be easier, and the ingredients are fool-proof. Last time, I used chicken and noodle, then added extra egg noodles in step one to make the soup hardier. When you have a cold, the lemon clears sinuses, and the creamy yolk and salty broth soothe sore throats. Hmm...almost makes me want to get a cold just so I can have some to feel better...

Another variation includes substituting condensed cream of chicken soup for the yolks and the broth with 6 3/4 cups water to make it even creamier.

Cheers!

Sweet Corn and Squash Soup

Got lots of corn and squash? Have I got the soup for you! From Cooking Light:


This delicately flavored dish is a choice opener for a meal featuring seasonal vegetables. Chopped chives are a nice garnish if squash blossoms aren't available. Make this up to one day ahead; cover and refrigerate. Gently reheat before serving.

1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
4 cups fresh corn kernels (about 7 ears)
3 cups water
2 cups chopped yellow squash
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 fresh squash blossoms, thinly sliced (optional)

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cover and cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add corn and next 4 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Place half of corn mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Strain corn mixture through a sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Repeat procedure with remaining corn mixture. Garnish with squash blossom slices, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup soup)

RESULTS: I used my stick blender rather than the blender blender. I had a lot of "solids", but I also didn't feel like straining them all out, I kinda like a chewy soup, so I sort of did half and half. Maybe it's because all those solids were still in there, but it was surprisingly filling. It turned out really nice; delicate is definitely the word to describe the flavor. If you want to try this soup, I would recommend checking out the reviews at My Recipes. They had some good suggestions for rounding out the flavor. I really like the goat cheese idea.

Big Batch Vegetable Soup

From Martha Stewart:

This basic soup can be made with any combination of fresh or frozen vegetables, so it will taste a little different each time. The recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled.

Ingredients

Serves 8.

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cups chopped onions or thinly sliced leeks (whites only)
* 1 cup thinly sliced celery
* 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
* 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, with juice
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 8 cups mixed fresh or frozen vegetables, such as carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans, peas, potatoes, and zucchini (cut larger vegetables into smaller pieces)


Directions

1. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onions or leeks, celery, and Italian seasoning; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add broth, tomatoes and their juice, tomato paste, and 3 cups water to pot; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, 20 minutes.
3. Add vegetables to pot, and return to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Let cool before storing.

RESULTS: I love soup, but Chris hates the idea of a liquid meal, so when I make soup it's pretty much just for me. Since I've recently become more or less completely disgusted with canned soup, I've been making more of it for myself and then freezing it into lunch-sized portions to bring to work with me. It's been working out well. Things I like about this soup: you can use whatever's in season and whatever is plentiful, so it's really flexible. Things I didn't like about this soup: It's just really basic. There's nothing special about it. It's a good basic soup, but it is basic.

Rhubarb-Lentil Soup with Crème Fraîche

From Cooking Light Magazine:

Soaking the lentils in hot water helps them cook a bit more quickly when they're added to the soup. Because of rhubarb's likeness to the tangy herb sorrel, this dish plays off classic lentil-sorrel soup.

1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 cup dried petite green lentils
Cooking spray
2 cups finely chopped carrot
1 3/4 cups finely chopped celery
1 1/2 cups finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 12 ounces)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
6 tablespoons crème fraîche
Dill sprigs (optional)

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over lentils in a small bowl; let stand 10 minutes.

2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add carrot, celery, onion, and parsley to pan; sauté for 4 minutes. Add rhubarb, and sauté for 3 minutes. Drain lentils, and add lentils to pan. Stir in chicken broth and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until lentils are tender.

3. Remove from heat; let cool 5 minutes. Place 3 cups lentil mixture in a blender or food processor. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in pepper.

4. Combine chopped dill and crème fraîche in a small bowl. Serve crème fraîche mixture on top of soup; garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups soup and 1 tablespoon crème fraîche mixture)

RESULTS: I really wanted to like this soup. I love lentil soup, I love rhubarb, I got to use my stick blender. All good things. I didn't love this soup. It wasn't awful. Maybe it's because I replaced the creme fraiche with lowfat yogurt, but the whole thing was too tart to be satisfying like lentil soup should be satisfying. If anyone tries this soup with creme fraiche, let me know.

I really love cooking light magazine for the informative articles and the cooking tips, but I haven't been consistently wowed by their recipes. Some have been truly excellent, like that pear crumble I made for Thanksgiving, but most have left me with that vague, this-dish-doesn't-taste-as-good-as-it-could feeling. I think the most successful dishes from that magazine are the ones that were fairly healthy to begin with, like vegetables, and maybe just needed a tweak at the most. It's sort of like a beacon for me, a way to present the common sense healthy options right there, in front of my nose. The less successful recipes are the ones that are the "healthy version of...", like that disastrous alfredo.

Greeky Lemon Chicken Soup

Get me started on a conversation on the Food Network and you'll soon discover that I can't stand to watch that Semi-homemade woman because every episode I see something that will start a fire, whether it's the can of Pam right next to an open flame or long sleeves dangling frighteningly over the gas burner. However, Beth was kind enough to email me a recipe, so I didn't have to watch it, to help me get over this cold:


Greeky Lemon Chicken Soup
Start to finish: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

3 cans (10.75 ounce each) condensed chicken and rice soup, Cambell's
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, Swanson
1/3 cup lemon juice, ReaLemon
3 large egg yolks
1 precooked chicken breast, shredded (I put in two breasts, and just boiled the suckers before shredding them and plopping them in. It may also taste good it you brown them or something first)
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley (optional) (My philosophy is that you can never have too much parsley, so I put in 2 tablespoons)
I also added ground pepper, but she didn't

1) In large saucepan, combine soup, chicken broth, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to simmer.
2) In a small bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Gradually whisk 1/4 cup of the hot broth mixture into egg yolks to prevent curdling. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into remaining hot broth mixture, stirring constantly
3) Stir in chicken; heat through. Stir in parsley (and pepper).
4) Serve with warmed pita bread with hummus on the side.


RESULTS: It was pretty darn good! I chopped up a couple carrots and put them in at the beginning. I had some green onions to use up, so I put those in with the parsley at the end, and I think the added a lot of flavor and texture. I didn't have the energy for chicken, so I left that out, but it would have been better with the chicken. The texture came out very creamy and tasted almost as if there was a stick of butter in there, although of course there wasn't. I would even say it was almost TOO rich, and I might try it next time with only two egg yolks, or one egg yolk and one whole egg. Beth, what do you think? The lemon zing, though, was a nice counterpoint to the richness.