Double Celery Soup with crumbled goat cheese and balsamic reduction

3 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 large leeks, chopped (light green and white parts only)

2 yukon gold potatoes, chopped

1 large celery root, chopped

2 sprigs Thyme, fresh or dried

1 bay leaf

8 cups Chicken stock/broth 

5 stalks of celery, chopped
1 cup milk (optional)

Balsamic vinegar

Goat cheese, crumbled

celery leaves

Kind of Xmas-y!

Sautee onion and leeks in butter and olive oil till almost translucent. 

Add potatoes, celery root, herbs and broth. Bring to a boil for a few minutes then let simmer for 40. 

Add celery and cook til soft, about 10 minutes. Puree in pot. Add pepper and salt to taste. You can add the milk here if you want but I find the soup so creamy and great as it is that I mostly skip it.

Reduce a half cup of balsamic vinegar in a saute pan.

Top soup with crumbled goat cheese, balsamic drizzle and celery leaves.

Split Pea Soup

I woke up the other day salivating for my mom's split pea soup of my youth. Split peas fall apart in a soup so there's no need to puree anything and it's just so easy to make and it smells delicious even if you're just learning to use your new dishwasher and accidentally melt a plastic lid and don't notice until you're like, what the hell? It should only smell like soup in here! Oops.

"Quick" Chicken and Rice Soup

Whole Roasted Chicken

2 apples, sliced

Celery stalks and leaves, rough chop

Onion, rough chop

Carrots, rough chop

Parsley, rough chop

Garlic, rough chop

Olive oil

Roasting spices

S+P

Brown Rice, prepared according to directions

Preheat over to 375. Coat whole chicken with oil, S+P, and spices (I used thyme, oregano, paprika, and herbs de provence) and rub in. Place in roasting pan and roast for 25-35 minutes or until temperature of breast is at 180. Allow to cool.

Take off the meat of the chicken and set aside for a few meals (wraps, quiche and this soup). 

Throw bones and rib cage into large stock pot with apples and veggies and a generous portion of S+P. Allow to simmer uncovered for as long as you can (I think I managed a couple of hours last night), skimming fat that rises to the surface. Don't boil. 

Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve.

In large pot and olive oil, sautee onion, garlic, carrots and celery until soft. Add chicken stock and chicken and simmer until chicken is hot.

Lay brown rice into bowls and spoon soup over it. 

This is "quick" because you can roast the chicken and make the stock days in advance. But it's not really quick, I guess. Worth it, though!

Beef Stew

I did this in a slow-cooker overnight but I think 12 hours is too long to cook. Might have to try to make this into a stove-top stew some other time. 

Ingredients:

Beef stew meat, cubed

Celery, chopped

Onion, chopped

Carrots, chopped

Garlic, minced

Large russet pototo, cubed

All-purpose flour

Paprika

Cayenne pepper

Olive oil

1 container Beef broth

1/2 cup Red wine

S+P

3 sprigs Rosemary

2 Bay leaves

Steak sauce or Worcestershire sauce 

Preparation:

Fill crockpot with potato, carrots, celery, bay leaves, some salt and pepper.

Mix flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a freezer bag and shake the beef in it to coat. Pan fry in a olive oil, adding them in batches so your pan doesn't instantly cool down. Remove meat to crock pot, add a little more olive oil to sautee onion and garlic until soft. Deglaze pan with red wine. Add beef broth and sauce and simmer for a few minutes. Add mixture to pot. Top the stew with rosemary sprigs and set to low for 12 hours.

It's good and cheap but I'll add more salt next time with a shorter cooking time. I still cannot seem to make my crockpot to work for me! Maybe when I'm home with the baby and can keep an eye on it, it will work better. ;)

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Ingredients:
(makes 6 servings)
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans chopped clams
2 fillets of white fish (I used tilapia)
one large russet potato,
3 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp corianders seeds
1 tsp whole black pepper
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Toast your seeds and black pepper until fragrant and grind. Sautee bacon and add onion and garlic once fat has rendered. Cook til onions are soft and bacon is browned. Add spices and sautee for a minute more with some salt (you don't need much because the bacon is salty. Add potatoes and cook til soft. Add fish and clams and cook through.

Carrot Ginger Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:
1 Onion, chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Shallot, Chopped
1/4 cup Ginger, peeled and minced
3 Tbs Butter
2 Tbs Oil
Salt and Pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 lb carrots, peeled and sliced
4 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced
8 cups Veg Stock

Preparation:
Saute onion, garlic, shallot and ginger in butter and oil until soft and aromatic. Deglaze with wine and cook for 5 minutes. Add carrots, stock and sweet potato, boil for 45 minutes. Puree. Serve cold or hot iwth a pinch of curry and a squeeze of lemon if you'd like. Yum!

Creamy Lobster Stew

Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 red bliss potatoes, chopped
the meant of 2 lobsters
8 oz Heavy Cream
2 cups vegetable stock
4 cups milk
S+P

Preparation:
Steam lobster in a large pot: fill pot with two inches of water, set in your lobsters and cook until bright red. We cut the tails off at one point and realized the meat was still raw and threw it back in, no harm done. The second time we took it out, some meat was still raw but cooked the rest of the way in the stew. (So, you'll be fine even though lobster is scary and ugly before it's cooked.)

While your lobster steams, saute your veggies in the vegetable stock with a dash of salt and pepper. Add meat of lobster, milk and heavy cream; season to taste with salt and pepper. There you go--nothing to it!

(Leftovers can be served as pie with puff pastry.)

One Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
(Eyeball amounts)
Whole chicken
Leeks, sliced in rounds from stalk to leaf
Zucchini, sliced
Onion, sliced
Apples, sliced
(Carrots and celery can be added, too.)
Olive Oil
Tarragon
Water
Egg Noodles
S+P

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large pot, saute in oil your chicken innards and wings (cut from the whole bird) until golden brown.
Pop the rest of the chicken with some apple slices and drizzled with oil in the oven for an hour to roast (or until inner temperature reads 180).
Add veggies, tarragon, and apples to the large pot and saute with a little more olive oil until veggies are softened.
Add enough water to serve as broth for soup.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Boil the mix for almost an hour as the chicken roasts (you are making chicken stock!).

Once chicken is roasted, you can carve off pieces to add to the soup and boil your noodles. Keep the noodles separate from the soup, preparing enough for as many servings as you need. This way the noodles don't get mushy.

Slow Cook Chili

Ingredients (all measurements to taste):

Cilantro, chopped
Jalapeno, finely chopped
Onion, chopped
Mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves (or more) of garlic, minced
Large can red kidney Beans
small can black beans, drained
small can pinto beans, drained
small can corn, drained
small can stewed diced tomatoes
Veggie stock to cover
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. My slow cooker has 3 settings: warm, low and high. You'll have to know your machine to get it right but mine works great and hot enough on low. High boils everything, dries it all out, and presumably, will set the place on fire someday if I ever grow forgetful. So I set it to low through a 9 hour workday and switched to high when I got home to thicken the broth.

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped fresh or canned plum tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup olive oil (or less, optional)
Juice of 3 lemons
2 cups veggie broth
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely minced parsley
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
Pepper, coarsely ground
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt
1 46-ounce can tomato juice (unless you used canned tomatoes)
some hot sauce, to taste

Preparation:

Chop all in a food processor and combine in a bowl. Chill for at least 4 hours. If you have an emulsion blender, you can juice it in the bowl after it's chilled or leave chunky. Totally up to you.

Morrocan-style Veggie Stew with Yogurt Sauce

From epicurious.com

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 ounces) greek-style yogurt
1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon harissa sauce or red chili paste
1 garlic clove, minced
coarse kosher salt

Coarse kosher salt

1 pound carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-to 3/4-inch pieces

1 3/4-pound turnip, (or parsnips) peeled, cut into 1/2-to 3/4-inch pieces

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 pound spring onions or green onions, coarsely chopped (about 1 3/4 cups)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed

1 5-ounce bag baby spinach

1 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

Make the sauce first by combining the ingredients and chill.

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil with some salt in a large pot and add chopped carrots until tender then treat veg to an ice bath. Do the same with turnips. (This is a quick veggie stock.)

In a large pot, sautee garlic, onions, mint and parsley with the spices until onions are tender in butter. Deglaze with wine and cook til reduced by half, add flour and stir. add to mix the rest of the ingredients plus 4 c. of your stock and cook til desired consistency adding more stock as you go.

Top with yogurt sauce.

Double Celery Soup

From epicurious.com!

Ingredients
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium-size Yukon Gold potatoes (about 12 ounces), peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium celery roots (celeriac; about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
8 cups low-salt chicken broth\
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 celery stalks with leaves, stalks thinly sliced, leaves reserved

Prep:

Melt butter with oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add leeks and onion and sauté until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in potatoes, celery roots, thyme, and bay leaf. Add broth and bring to boil for a few minutes. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes. Add celery stalks and simmer until all vegetables are very tender, about 12 minutes longer.
Puree soup in pot. Stir cream into soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Garnish with reserved celery leaves and serve.

Roasted Tomato-Basil Soup

Soups are too easy: always start with celery, carrots, onion, garlic and olive oil in a pan, add ingredients, plus stock, bring to a rolling boil for a few minutes then simmer for 25. Purree and done.

Ingredients:
Carrots, finely chopped
Onion, finely chopped
Celery, chopped
Garlic, minced
Olive oil
Chicken or veggie stock
1 large can chopped tomatoes
Basil
S+P

Prep:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Spread canned tomatoes on heavy baking sheet, saving the juice for later, drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until tomatoes are caramelized, about 15-20 minutes. In a pot, sautee in oil chopped onion, celery, carrot, minced garlic, salt and pepper and cook on medium-high heat until veggies are fragrant.

Add roasted tomatoes, stock and reserved tomato juices and cook until vegetables are soft. Add basil to taste and puree with immersion blender or  in batches in a food processor.

Chicken Soup with Cornmeal-Sage Dumplings

From foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

2 teaspoons dried thyme

8 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black peppe1 cup frozen peas

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup buttermilk1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

Soup:

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat; add garlic, onion, carrots, and celery and sweat 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until chicken is golden brown on all sides. Add thyme and stir to coat. Add broth, salt and black pepper, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Partially cover and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in the frozen peas and bring heat down to simmer. 

Dumplings:

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sage, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper. Add buttermilk and oil and stir with a fork until mixture comes together. Drop 8 golf ball size dumplings into your simmering soup. cover pan and cook for 5 minutes (don't lift the the lid), until dumplings are puffed up and cooked through.

Balsamic Lentil Soup

From Epicurious.


Ingredients:
makes 6 servings
(As with all savory dishes, you can approximate these measurements, adding more of what you like or less if you're a grump)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onions (i chose 1 cup sweet onion, 1 cup white, yum)
1 cup chopped celery (keep the leaves aside for garnish)
1 cup peeled, chopped carrots
3 chopped garlic cloves
4 cups vegetable (or chicken broth)
1 1/4 cup lentils, rinsed and drained
1 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes in juice
salt
pepper
balsamic vinegar

Preparation:
Heat your oil and vegetables in large saucepan over med-hi heat until they start to brown (about 10-15 minutes). Add the broth, the lentils and diced tomatoes in the juice and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer until lentils are tender (about 35 minutes). Salt and papper to taste.

Puree with immersion blender or in your food processor. Add balsamic vinegar at the end, as much as you'd like (I usually add a half cup or so).

Garnish with celery leaves and a smidgen of extra vinegar for good looks, like so: