Paul’s Vietnamese Satay Soup

Peel 3 or 4 medium size potatoes and cut into bite size pieces and microwave until mostly done. Set aside.

Heat 2T vegetable oil and fry about 1T Penang curry paste (I used Mae Ploy brand) for a couple of minutes.

Add:
1 onion (cut in small chunks) and fry for a few minutes til soft.

Then add:
2 scallions thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 inch of ginger finely sliced
1 red or yellow pepper cut into bite size
2 carrots thinly sliced
2 chicken breasts, skinless boneless and cut into bite size
Fry until chicken has changed color

Then add:
4 C chicken stock
4 C water
2T lemon juice
2T fish sauce
2T chunky peanut butter
2 kaffir lime leaves
the potatoes
2 tomatoes cut into bite size chunks

Bring to a boil and then add 1 can of coconut milk.

Simmer for about one hour and serve with cilantro on top.

Note: this was partly created to match a soup served in a local restaurant and also to remove the noodles from the arrangement.

Sweet Corn Bisque

Heat 1T oil in large pan.

Add:
1 chopped yellow onion
3 diced celery stalks
Cook for 2 minutes.

Add:
2 cloves minced garlic
Cook for 1 minute.

Add:
3 roasted then seeded, cored and chopped Anaheim (or New Mexico) peppers
4 C thawed corn kernels
2 peeled and diced potatoes
5 C of chicken or vegetable stock
1 C cream
1.5 tsp salt
plenty of ground pepper
Cook for around 45 minutes on simmer.

Puree and serve.

Adapted from Southwest Flavours put out by the Santa Fe School of Cooking.. (note: if you go to the book they serve this together with the Black Bean Soup and call it Sunset. You pour the soups into the bowl at the same time so you have a two tone soup. Then you add a drizzle made of red pepper, hot sauce and oil. DO NOT MAKE THE DRIZZLE! It was an oily mess…looked nice but had little real taste. If I was going to do it again, I would still use roasted red peppers but would keep the oil down to a coupld or tablespoons at the very most instead of the full cup. The only other drawback of this generally not bad cookbook is the use of some proprietary mixtures which they sell…sin number one for any cookbook I would say.) Great soup though!!!

Black Bean Soup

In a large pan, heat 2T oil.

Add:
1 chopped red onion
2 peeled and diced carrots
3 diced celery stalks
And cook for around 5 minutes.

Add:
4 slices bacon chopped up
4 cloves garlic minced
And cook for another 5 minutes.

Add:
1T roasted and ground coriander seeds
1T roasted and ground cumin seed
2 Cans of black beans, drained
8C of chicken and/or vegetable stock (I did 4 each)
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper flakes

Simmer for about an hour. Add some salt and plenty of ground pepper.
Puree and serve.

Adapted from Southwest Flavours. (Note: they added 1T of dried epazote (I didn’t have any on hand), used something called chipotle seasoning (which I’ve never heard of), and soaked their beans overnight (I do have a life). Also, pet peeve of mine, they turn carrots and celery into cup measurements which is just plain insane when vegetables come with their own units of measurement).

Doug’s Killer Swiss Potato Soup

This soup is great for a cold winter’s day and is rich enough to be a meal.
Cooking time – 30 minutes
Serves 8

For the vegetables
3 T butter
1 onion, diced
4 large potatoes, cubed
3 T parsley, chopped
3 stalks and leaves of celery, diced
2 large carrots, chopped or grated
2 tsp salt (3 if using kosher)
¼ tsp paprika
1.5 C boiling water
In a stock or large soup pot, sauté onions in butter until soft (not brown). Add remaining ingredients and heat through; add boiling water and, over a low heat, simmer vegetables until they are al dente (not mushy). Remove from heat.

For the white sauce
4 T butter
2 T flour
1 T hot mustard powder
1 tsp salt (a little more is using Kosher)
¼ tsp fresh pepper
4 C whole milk
In a saucepan, melt butter and add flour and mustard powder. Stir constantly until paste, do not overcook. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly over medium to low heat until the sauce begins to boil and thicken. DO NOT SCALD THE MILK!
Add salt and pepper.

Gently stir white sauce into vegetable mixtures being careful not to break-up the vegetables and – Voila!

Paula Deen’s Heartless Cooking and Vietnamese Soup

1. Paula Deen: Cook as Suicide Bomber

Over at SeriousEats they have an interesting little series of Paula Deen recipes under the header of Paula Deen is trying to kill us, now up to part 4. The latest horror is a hamburger patty, butter drenched fried egg and bacon sandwiched into a glazed donut. Previous entries include:Lady’s Fried Mac (for those so inclined here is the recipe); you make macaroni and cheese, then take squares of the mac and cheese, wrap with bacon, dredge in flour and egg, and then deep fry.

And then there are Paula’s Fried Butter Balls (recipe right here): take frozen balls of butter mixed with cream cheese, bread and then deep fry. The other recipe is a layered cake assembled out of deep fried layers.

2. Vietnamese Soup

I have a friend who now lives too far away. Though she is still my official beer buddy, she recently moved about a thousand miles away so the beer nights have become rare. We worked together for years, and many years ago started a tradition of going for soup at a little Vietnamese restaurant across the street called the Bach Dang. We had soup there about once a month for about five years. For a few of those years it was more like once every four months when she temporarily moved a couple of hundred miles south. Every time she was back in town, we went for soup.

It was, and still is, a humble establishment. We always had the same waiter, and we always got the same Chicken Satay Soup (which originally you had to know about to get ) and sometimes added a few spring rolls. The soup was a typical pho except that though it was always good, it was never the same twice, and sometimes it was great. And it was so hot you would have a chili endorphin rush for hours after.

No matter what was going on in the rest of our lives we had this little island, this assured good soup, this tradition. And then one day, the waiter was not there. It was odd but we had always thought it odd that he was always there. The soup came and it was not quite right. It was not only different, after all it had always varied, but it was not that good and it seemed to be an entirely different sort of soup even though it looked the same. We asked if it was the same soup and he told us it was.

We went back another few times, and each time our old waiter was still not there, and the soup was never that good, and the strangest thing of all since it was so obvious that either the cooks or the menu had changed, no one would own up to anything changing. And we had to look for another soup place. We found another that was okay but it was never the same again.

Doug’s Awesome Gaspacho

Makes 8 servings

For the soup
1 egg
2 C chopped fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded
½ C chopped yellow peppers
1 C chopped peeled cucumber, seeds removed
½ C finely chopped red onion
2/3 C olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
2 C vegetable broth (you can use beef broth)
¼ C red wine vinegar
¼ C finely chopped parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
2 T Worcestershire sauce
Pepper, coarsely ground
3 or 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
3 or 4 finely chopped serrano chilis
Salt
12 oz tomato juice
12 oz spicy V8 juice
½ C plain, fine, breadcrumbs
Hot sauce of choice
Croutons

1. Hard boil the egg and put aside.
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, red onion and parsley into a large mixing bowl.
3. In another bowl, hold back 1 cup of onion, cucumber, yellow pepper and serranos and chop these up finely.
4. Hold back another cup of diced tomatoes. Put this aside. (You are going to add the cup of diced tomato and the cup of finely chopped cucumbers, onion, yellow peppers and serranos at the end to add texture.)
5. In the larger bowl of roughly chopped ingredients, mix in the olive oil, lemon juice, broth, red wine vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire and black pepper.
6. Put the garlic in a small bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Add the peeled, hard boiled egg to the salt and garlic and mash together with a fork.
7. Add the egggarlic mixture to the large bowl of roughly chopped ingredients. Add the tomato and V8 juice to the same bowl. Add the bread crumbs and stir until the breadcrumbs “dissolve”.
8. Taste and add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
9. Using a blender or food processor, in batches, puree the ingredients of the large bowl and put into jars or some other containers.
10. Chill the whole mess for no less than 4 hours

For the Avocado – Wasabi – Yogurt Finishing Sauce

2 ripe avocados
½ T fresh lime juice
1 tsp Wasabi paste or more to taste
2 T finely chopped fresh chives
8 oz plain yogurt
Salt and pepper

1. Mash together the avocado, lime juice, 1 teaspoon of salt until smooth.
2. Whisk in the yogurt, wasabi paste, chives and pepper to taste.
3. Refrigerate.

To serve, ladle the pureed soup into bowls. Add a sprinkle of the finely chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, serranos and onion for texture. Add a dollop of the avocado, wasabi yogurt finishing sauce and a few croutons.

Bon appétit!

Paul’s Roasted Squash Soup with Chocolate Cream

Heat oven to 450

Peel, core and then cut into chunks, 2 butternut squash.
Peel and cut into chunks 1 large onion.
Core 2 yellow peppers.

Place all on roasting sheets, drizzle with olive oil and roast.
Should take about 25 minutes, turning once, and removing the peppers and onions earlier.
Test squash for softness.
Nothing should be burnt but should be browning here and there.

Food process all with about 1 litre of vegetable stock.
Mix in 1 can of coconut milk.

Simmer for a while.

For the cream,
Grate about 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate.
Melt and stir in half and half to form a thick cream.
I used a small hand blender to whip this into almost a foam.

To plate; on each surface place a dollop of foam and pull knife slowly in three directions,
which will vary the image on each, but can resemble bird like islands.

The cream on its own is rather bitter but it meets with the sweet soup. I did not leave out
the spices, there are none. If you wish you could add some heat or sage but it was a bit of an experiment ot make a soup without spices. It is quite flavorful without.

Polish Dill Pickle Soup

4 C vegetable broth
2 C chicken broth
2 T flour
1 C milk (I only had soy milk and it was fine)
1 egg yolk
2 T butter
4 large dill pickles, shredded
1 C brine, from the pickle jar
3 boiled sliced potatoes
some white pepper, and salt.

1. Heat broth in a large pot.
2. Combine flour and milk, add to broth, bring to a boil and remove from heat.
(Found I had to use a handblender for this and step 3 to make the ingredients mix properly).
3. Combine egg yolk and butter and stir into broth.
4. Add pickles, pickle liquid and potatoes.
5. Return pot to the stove and heat through without boiling.
6. Garnish with dill, if desired.

This recipe is derived from one from Recipezaar.

Elora Road Butternut Squash Soup

2 T canola oil
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 T ginger, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp black mustard seeds
1 T garam masala
4 C diced butternut squash
4 C chicken stock
1 red pepper, minced
1 C half and half cream

Add onion, garlic and ginger to oil and cook over medium heat until golden.
Add the seeds and garam masala and cook another 30 seconds.
Add squash to coat then the stock, reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender.
Season with salt and pepper, cool slightly and then whiz in the blender until smooth.
Reheat with red pepper 3 to 4 minutes and then stir in cream until hot (do not boil).

(from the Flavors of Canada by Anita Stewart)

Paul’s Revised Carrot Onion and Celery Soup (no celery etc.)

Ingredients

2 large onions, finely chopped
4 T butter

3 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
3 parsnips, peeled and sliced thin
1 yam, peeled and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
3 beets, peeled and diced
2-3 potatos, peeled and diced
1 tsp. dried tarragon

900 ml vegetable broth
900 ml chicken broth

1 tsp. seasoning salt
1/2 tsp. dried cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
3 T kecap manis
1 tsp. Sambal Oelek

Assembly

Prepare all vegetables except onion and mix with the tarragon. Set aside.
Cut onions then saute in butter in soup pot til soft.

Stir in vegetables.
Add vegetable and chicken broth..
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add seasoning salt, dried cumin, chili powder, kecap manis and sambal oelek.
Continue to cook, covered for another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Serve soup hot.