Corn Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream
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
DIRECTIONS
  1. 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.
  2. Working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth. Whisk in lime juice and ¼ cup sour cream.
  3. 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
DIRECTIONS
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
DIRECTIONS
  1. 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. 

  2. 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. 

  3. 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. 

  4. 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. 

  5. 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
DIRECTIONS
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
 
  1. Rinse and cook the lentils in the two cups boiling water. Boil for 30 minutes.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 

  4. Add the lentils to the vegetables. Add more hot water as they cook, if they start to look dry.
  5. Add the marjoram and vinegar and stir well, continuing to cook. 

  6. Add the reserved sausages, and the salt and pepper to taste, and stir well.
  7. Cook for at least another ten minutes, adding more water if necessary and stirring occasionally, to prevent the lentils from sticking. 

  8. Add the ketchup and stir well. 

  9. Test and correct the seasonings. Add the spinach if using and the parsley.