Corn Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream
INGREDIENTS
Easy Vegetable Stock
INGREDIENTS
Fill a large pot with 4 cups of water and add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and herbs. Bring to a low boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and let cook for at least 20 minutes and up to 40. Strain and use as needed.
Potato-Leek Soup
INGREDIENTS
Basic Chicken Stock
This is a white chicken stock, meaning that neither the chicken nor the aromatics are roasted first.
INGREDIENTS
Combine chicken, water, onions, celery, garlic, and parsley in a large stockpot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower heat, maintaining a very gentle simmer, and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Strain stock through a fine-mesh strainer, let cool, then transfer to containers and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 6 hours. Skim off and remove any fat and scum on the surface. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze.
Lentil and Sausage Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz unsalted butter
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. chili powder
- kosher salt
- Black pepper
- corn (2 cups kernels or 12 oz)
- 2 c. vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 1 tbsp. chopped chipotles in adobo
- In a large pot, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin, and chili powder and season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened and golden, stirring, 8 to 10 minutes. Add corn and stock to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until corn is soft, 4 to 6 minutes more.
- Working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth. Whisk in lime juice and ¼ cup sour cream.
- In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and chipotle in adobo, letting some streaks of chipotle remain. Dollop on soup and serve.
Easy Vegetable Stock
INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups water
- 2 medium carrots, washed and roughly diced
- 2 stalks celery, including leaves, roughly diced
- 1 large onions, roughly diced
- 2 medium cloves garlic, smashed
- Sprigs of fresh parsley, thyme, and/or a dried bay leaf
Fill a large pot with 4 cups of water and add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and herbs. Bring to a low boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and let cook for at least 20 minutes and up to 40. Strain and use as needed.
Potato-Leek Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large leeks, white and pale green parts only, rinsed and roughly chopped
- 2 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (about ¾-1 pound)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup buttermilk or sour cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Sliced chives or scallions, for serving
- Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add leeks, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until very soft but not browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add water and stock, potatoes, and bay leaf, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until potatoes are fall-apart tender, about 15 minutes.
- Remove potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Discard bay leaf. Transfer only leeks and broth to a blender. Let cool for at least ten minutes. Blending broth when very hot can expand and blow out of blender. Blend until completely smooth. Return soup to a clean pot.
- Press potatoes through a potato ricer or food mill into the pot with the soup. Whisk in buttermilk or sour cream and heavy cream. Whisking frequently, bring soup to a simmer over medium-high heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with chives or scallions.
- If you don’t have a food mill and need to blend the soup with the potatoes in it, then blend with all the liquid and only briefly. A few chunks is preferable to over-blending which can make the soup “gluey”.
Basic Chicken Stock
This is a white chicken stock, meaning that neither the chicken nor the aromatics are roasted first.
INGREDIENTS
- 4-8 pounds chicken parts, such as wings, bones, breasts, and legs
- 4 quarts water
- 2 large yellow onions, diced
- 4 large carrots, diced
- 4 large celery ribs, diced
- 8 crushed medium cloves garlic
- 2 large sprigs parsley (see note above) and
- 2 large thyme sprigs
- one bay leaf
Combine chicken, water, onions, celery, garlic, and parsley in a large stockpot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower heat, maintaining a very gentle simmer, and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Strain stock through a fine-mesh strainer, let cool, then transfer to containers and refrigerate until completely chilled, about 6 hours. Skim off and remove any fat and scum on the surface. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze.
Lentil and Sausage Soup
- 1/2 cup French green lentils
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons bacon fat or olive oil, divided
- ¼ lb. sausage made with herbs and/or garlic
- 1 medium onion, finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano or an equivalent amount of fresh
- 1 medium carrot, peeled finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 cups chicken or beef stock (preferably homemade)
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- Optional: 1 cup chopped spinach
- 1 Tbl chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar, or to taste
- Rinse and cook the lentils in the two cups boiling water. Boil for 30 minutes.
- Heat 2 T of oil or bacon fat with one bay leaf and gently sauté the sausages. When cooked, take them out of the pan and set them aside. You can pre-peel them or cut them into ½ inch slices.
- Add the onions and garlic, and a little more oil if the pan is dry, to the pan in which the sausages were browned and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Add the lentils to the vegetables. Add more hot water as they cook, if they start to look dry.
- Add the marjoram and vinegar and stir well, continuing to cook.
- Add the reserved sausages, and the salt and pepper to taste, and stir well.
- Cook for at least another ten minutes, adding more water if necessary and stirring occasionally, to prevent the lentils from sticking.
- Add the ketchup and stir well.
- Test and correct the seasonings. Add the spinach if using and the parsley.