Category Archives: Soups

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

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After several very full months: school, work, applications, internships, volunteering etc, we got some seriously needed R&R. I grabbed at the opportunity to spend time with family, stay in bed and eat great home cooked food.  We had a very low key New Years, spend up in Sonoma with my sister and her boyfriend J. Bug and I love going to Sonoma. Its beautiful, crisp air, starry sky and AMAZING wine :) is very relaxing. The four of us and three dogs rang in the new years with some great food, a nice walk and clinking of champagne glasses at midnight. I was in bed before 2am happy to be surrounded by family.

The next day we went for a nice hike after which Bug asked for soup, butternut squash soup. It was the perfect food for the cold and sunny day.

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Let me start by warning you that this butternut squash soup is not for the weak of heart. I’m not sure you could make this soup less healthy if you tried, but it was OH so delicious, very manly and definitely Bug and J approved.

This recipe came entirely from my imagination and as I cooked it, I saw a million ways to modify it, make it healthy or vegetarian. And while I had no soup left, I would think it will freeze well. Try it and make sure to let me know what you think!

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Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

The color of the soup is not what one is used to seeing with butternut squash soup. I choose to use beef stock rather than the traditionally used chicken stock to give the soup a more meaty flavor (per Bugs request). Trust me its delicious!

Ingredients

  • 1 large butter nut squash cubed
  • 1/3 cup pancetta or pork joules
  • 5-6 shallots (I had really small ones, you can also use onion)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon curry
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 4 (or more) cups beef stock
  • 1/2-3/4 cups cream (more for serving)
  • two whole heads of garlic roasted
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • Note: I used a 7.5 quart cast iron dutch oven when cooking this soup

Instructions

  1. Start by cutting off the tops of your heads of garlic pouring some olive oil on them and wrapping them in tin foil. Throw them in the oven at 400F to roast.
  2. Peel, core and cube your squash.
  3. Mince the shallots.
  4. My sister didn't have any pancetta and neither did the local store. She did have smoke joule from the local butcher. Delicious and a perfect substitute. Cut up whatever you use into small pieces.
  5. First throw in the joules(pancetta) and let them cook down on medium-low heat and get crispy. Than remove and set aside.
  6. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the curry and cumin. Let them cook for a minute and get pungent.
  7. Add the shallots.Let them cook down for 2-3 minutes.
  8. Add the squash, turn the heat up to medium and cover with a lid. Let the squash cook for about 10 minutes and brown on one side. Than lift the lid,mix squash and let it cook for another ten minutes. My sister's cast iron got very hot, so I had to keep watchful eye on the squash.
  9. Check the roasting garlic and see if its done. It will be soft and caramelized around the edges when its ready. I haven't really been able to nail down a cooking time for the garlic, so I just check on it every so often.
  10. Once the squash is tender add a cup of beef stock. Simmer until most of the stock is absorbed.
  11. Then I added two more cups of stock and pureed the squash. I used an immersion blender, if you don't own one you can use a traditional blender or food processor, with the added step of transferring back and forth.
  12. Add additional stock until the soup is of desired consistency. I added one more cup.
  13. Next add the cream. If you do not care to use cream you can simply add more stock. Definitely would make the soup lighter.
  14. Salt and Pepper to taste.
  15. Finally take a roasted head of garlic, squeeze it out into the soup and puree a bit more to combine. The garlic is very mushy at this point so you can simply stir it in.
  16. Serve soup with cream drizzled on top and small heap of crispy pancetta or joules. Being a garlic lover I squeezed the other head of garlic into a dish and served as a side as well. It was well received.

Notes

You can use vegetable stock instead of beef stock and eliminate the joules/pancetta to make the soup vegetarian.

You can also add more stock or cream to further thin out the soup, depending on your preference.

http://www.logicallycrazy.com/adventures/curried-butternut-squash-soup/

Olive Garden Fagioli, Round Two

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This weekend, I made soup.  Not just any soup, but a very very specific soup.  This was my second, and I feel a much more successful go at making a request from a friend: fagioli.

Except not actually fagioli.  That would be if not exactly easy, then at least general enough to have a big target.  But no: they want Olive Garden’s fagioli.

I know.

When I heard that, my eye literally started twitching, and I couldn’t actually make any noise outside of groans for the first minute after hearing this.  Still, ever game, I looked up the recipe to see what I was working with, and compared it to traditional fagioli, just to see.

It shouldn’t come as much surprise that Olive Garden is not the picture of authenticity.  More like Minestrone ditched the vegetables, beat up Fagioli to rifle through its pockets, then went after hamburger soup.  It’s not a bad soup, but it isn’t even pretending to be Fagioli after switching out chicken broth for beef.

I feel bad telling people I’m making fagioli, but “fagioli, minestrone, hamburger. . . soup. . . thing” is a little long.  I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in my house that actually cares.

First go around, armed with a recipe that calls for roughly two cups of jarred or homemade marinara sauce, I was not exactly betting on success.  I followed the recipe (if by follow you mean add back in bacon and figure zucchini is tasty and add way too many carrots), and I have to admit it was pretty lame.  So I went off book, added a ton more spices, and ended up with minestrone-hamburger soup.  Tasty, but off the mark.

Second round, much more successful. The recipe is definitely more of an “inspired by” at this point though. In my base marinara sauce, this go around I add bay leave and rosemary instead of just thyme, basil, and oregano that serve as my standard spices.  For the broth, I used a blend of chicken and beef instead of just beef.  I restrained myself on carrot usage, grudgingly admitted that adding zucchini meant no one would believe me that it’s not minestrone, and used canned kidney beans because I was too lazy to go for dried this time.

Of course, the canned white kidney beans that I swore existed in my pantry never materialized, so I ended up dealing with dried beans anyway.

I threw everything together and simmered and threw spices in until I thought it tasted right.  I ended up with a tasty end product that I think is close, and I have little idea on the proportions beside “heavy on the oregano”.  I am writing this down so at the very least I can remember what is in it.

The mouth feel is still thin though.  I was all set to try the trick of throwing in a pack of unflavored gelatin to get the “of course I made this broth painstakingly from scratch” constancy, but I apparently hallucinated the gelatin’s existence in my pantry as well.

Still, even without the proper mouth feel, a better (less minestrone) second shot that went over well with the house mates.

As for the opinion of the official critic, I got a “close”.  Not the goal, but way better than “almost edible minestrone”.

-E

 

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Olive Garden Fagioli, Round Two

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 strips Bacon
  • 1.5 Onions, chopped
  • 2 tsp chopped garlic
  • 3 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 3 small carrots, match-sticked
  • 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 16oz can diced tomatoes
  • 2 16oz cans Kidney beans (or equivalent amount cooked up from dry)
  • 2 16oz can White Kidney Beans (or equivalent amount cooked up from dry)
  • 1.5 cup ditalini pasta
  • Roughly 30oz Beef Broth
  • Roughly 10 oz Chicken Broth
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 3-5 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 4 inch spring rosemary, finely chopped
  • 3/4 bunch parsley
  • pepper
  • salt
  • Package of unflavored gelatin (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cut the bacon into small pieces, saute until fat is released. Add onion, saute until translucent. Add garlic, saute briefly. Add celery
  2. Once onion, garlic and celery is done, add the can of crushed tomatoes, can of diced tomatoes, all spices except parsley. Bring to boil, let simmer.
  3. While tomato sauce is simmering, cook and drain the ground meat. Add to tomato sauce.
  4. When the tomato sauce has lost the raw tomato taste, add the broth, carrots, and beans. Bring to a simmer.
  5. Cook the pasta separately, in well salted water.
  6. After the soup has simmered for at least 15 minutes, add parsley. Taste, and adjust.
  7. Throw in cooked pasta, and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 30-40 minutes, keeping an eye on levels of broth and adding more if necessary. Add gelatin if using. Adjust seasoning to taste.
http://www.logicallycrazy.com/adventures/olive-garden-fagioli-round-two/

Note:  I threw in a lot more extra salt than I would have predicted based on the fact that I was using both bullion and canned beans, so pay attention to salt level.

Borcht

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The list of foods, that make me as happy as a bowl of borcht, is short. Let me start by saying, that I love beats, in any form, and like any good Russian, I love borcht, obviously :p. Borcht makes me think of my mom, grandma, home and large family gatherings. I started cooking my mom’s borcht back in college, using her “secret” recipe. I’ve gotten better at it over the years but I still think that her borcht is better.

The thing about this soup, is that there is no one exact way to make it and exact proportions are hard to pin down. It’s definitely one of those, “you know when it tastes right”, recipes. I did my best to put measurements to this recipe, but if it doesn’t seem right add more or less. In the pictures the proportions may seem quite large, that’s because I cook for a small army.  Of one.  His name is Will.

veggies

beets

A few things you should know before you jump in your car and run out for ingredients. This is a lot easier to do if you have a food processor with a grater attachment. Grating carrots and beets by hand, high on the list of things I don’t like doing in the kitchen. It helps to have a really large pot: doing a small pot of borcht is hard. Lastly the soup is great when done using just water (vegetarian), chicken stock or beef stock, but I think its best if you make your own stock using a beef shank or chicken.

Here is what you need to do:

Recipe by my Mom adapted by me. 

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Borcht

1 hour

1 hour

2 hours

Ingredients

  • Ingredients:
  • 2-3 large beets, grated
  • 3-4 large carrots, grated
  • 1 onion
  • 1 small head of cabbage or ½ of a big one
  • 1-2 potatoes (depending on size, I don’t like it when it has a lot of potatoes)
  • 1 lbs Beef shank (this is up to you, traditionally it has meat), usually my mom buys something on the bone so when cooked it falls of in chunks and can be left in the soup, the bone give the broth the best flavor.
  • ketchup
  • sugar

Instructions

  1. Directions:
  2. Place the beef shank, put in a stock pot with water, the amount of water depends on how much soup you want. I usually do about 8 cups. Let that cook until the meat is soft and tender, take it out of the broth together with the bone. Leave the broth simmering
  3. Cube the potato and put it in the simmering broth, let it cook while you do the rest
  4. Grate your beets and carrots
  5. Finely chop your onion
  6. Throw onion into a pan with oil and let cook for 10-20 minutes on medium to low heat, I let them get a little on the crispy side
  7. Add the beets and carrots, sauté the beets, carrots and onions together until soft, add salt pepper and before taking them off the fire, add 1-2 tablespoons of ketchup and mix in.
  8. Finally chop up with cabbage, basically it should be ribbons.
  9. Check the potatoes, they should be almost cooked, add the beets and carrot mixture, your broth should turn magenta.
  10. Then add the cabbage, salt and pepper to taste, let simmer
  11. At this point, my mom and I will both do the following: we take a couple more tablespoons of ketchup with a tablespoon of sugar and heat it up in the pan. Add the bubbly mixture to the soup…magic ingredient, just totally makes the flavor amazing, can’t explain it. Depending on the amount of soup I'm making, I will double or triple this amount.
  12. Lastly take the meat of the bone, chop it up into bite size chunks and into the soup and take the soup of the heat.
  13. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and chopped fresh dill if you are fancy, but you must have the sour cream!
http://www.logicallycrazy.com/adventures/borcht/