leek and mushroom soup

2 leeks left from the market , What to do with them. I had eaten some in a salad recently but I figured I could make a soup before the leeks dried out.

Sliced the leaks in the food processor, with 1/2 a white onion. In the soup pot sweated with a combination of butter, olive oil and seeds, fennel, caraway, celery and a touch of saffron. Course salt and quad mix pepper to taste, gifts of Hawaiian sea salt and  Himalayan pink salt were used.

Sweat the leeks covered at the simmer while dried mushrooms soaked, simply place the mushrooms in a glass container and use heated water from a single serving coffee machine (Keurig) however may cups it take to fully soak the mushrooms. Let steep while the leeks simmer for about 20 minutes.

Drain the mushrooms, chop if needed. Add flour by eye to the leak mixture and cook a bit more to provide the consistency of the soup.

Add stock (or water) to leek mixture and simmer till it thickens, add the drained mushrooms. Adjust viscosity if needed. I poured about 1/2 the volume of the soup to a food processor, processed till creamy by adding a bit of heavy cream and  milk and returned it to the pan with the unprocessed remainder so some leeks are present in the soup.

Excellent soup the only downside is that I didn’t have any toast to accompany the soup as dough was rising at the time.

Quick meal

Having ingredients on hand makes it easy to prepare a quick meal, a bowl of soup is nourishing in the fact that it  provides you with some liquid supplement instead of drinking just plain water along with the ingredients.

broth

shredded carrot

diced precooked duck meat

chopped spinach

ginger garlic paste

rice, (cooked previously)

chopped onion

smoked dried jalapeño peppers (Optional per bowl)

 

 

 

 

Shrimp and squid soup

A scaled down inspiration recipe from  http://goanwiki.com/2016/06/10/sopa-de-camarao-recieta-shrimp-soup-recipe/    With a bit of a changeup.

You figure that being a New Englander born and raised that clam chowder would be a staple on the  table. Quahogs are the large clams farmed from certain areas close to the beach or from the water with a bull rake. Shucking quahogs and preparing chowder and clam cakes were a part  of my childhood, enough to where it has satisfied me to taste both only about once or twice a year. Those in the area will reminisce about Rocky Point , so I won’t carry on. Not too fussy about the clam cakes, but a good bowl of watery chowder swimming with quahogs and potatoes is a good tasting.

This recipe seems to get away from the clams and focus on my favorite sea foods (or as the joke goes “I eat all the food I see” (see food)).

What I had on hand was some shrimp and calamari, grape tomatoes and bacon with rendered fat. The Mrs. had made a salad and made bacon for garnish leaving me rendered fat and  a piece for reserve.

Scaled down and with a couple of substitutions , it was done.

Chicken broth was substituted for the water from chicken that the wife cooks. Also the water that the shrimp and calamari defrosted in was utilized. Butter was augmented with the rendered bacon fat. The milk was replaced with a slight amount of heavy cream. I hesitated on adding hot pepper flakes but the cracked black pepper we use is spicy in itself. Some scallions were added for color. Bacon was crumbled for garnish.

The recipe process was largely unchanged so the photos tell the story.

 

MMMMMMMM…. Delicious, I skipped the bread , with an effort on weight maintenance, but your right , it would go good with oyster crackers. Another good meal to get fish in the diet.

 

 

A bowl of soup

A rainy, cool day, with veggies available, soup eneviatable .

  

 Carrots, leeks, turnip, cauliflower.

Mushrooms, tat soi, kale

Veggie broth, chicken, soy sauce, salt and pepper , bells seasonings.

Rice noodles

Carrots, leeks, turnips,  cauliflower , chicken, sautéed . Added to simmering stock.

Rice noodles soaked in cold water, drained, added to soup, grated Parmesan garnish. 

Chicken n’ rice soup

Prepare rice, as much as needed for your amount of soup and reserve.

Utilizing veggies, dice small , in this soup , onion, peppers; green, orange and red. Carrot,  celery and small amount of garlic. In a small amount of olive oil , better yet chicken fat or a combination of both sauté the diced veggies.  Add chicken stock, another household members poaches chicken breasts and reserves the stock for me. Also the trimmed chicken tenders from the breast are reserved for the soup. 

Add water or additional stock to bring the soup up to quantity desired figuring the additional rice to be added.

To round out soup I added about 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill  soup mix. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper and other spices to your palate. (A dash of curry, cumin, hot pepper, etc.)

Add the chicken meat diced, and greens, I was fortunate to have kale, Tat soi, and brocolli leafs.  

 Simmer slowly, I prefer to have the rice added to the bowl when served rather than mix into the soup. 

Garnish with grated Romano. 

  
Accompanies a cold damp night. A side of toast or croutons perhaps?

chicken vegetable noodle soup

Even though it’s late July doesn’t mean soup is off the table. Cooler nights, vegetable stock in the fridge and pieces and gizzards from a chicken in the freezer…. soup.
a basic recipe, for all those who make their own soup, just peruse the pictures.

It seems like a lot of work but make a small portion of noodle dough *. Set aside covered for an hour.

To two mason jars of vegetable stock, previously made, add the back and gizzards from a chicken and simmer in a stock pot with some star anise.  Season slightly.

Dice baby carrots, sweet red onion, lettuce, greens, sliced thin broccoli what ever else you desire.

(Warning ! This recipe has several pans) In a fry pan saute each of the soup additions in oil,butter,bacon fat etc.
I saute and season each separately. Set aside.

After the simmering broth has loosened the meat from the chicken pieces,

strain broth into a smaller container and pour back into the stockpot. Set the chicken pieces to cool.

Set up the stock to simmer and add the sauteed adjuncts.

De-bone and dice the meat from the chicken pieces, dice the gizzards. Add to the soup.

Proceed to roll out noodle dough and cut into desired shape, here wide short noodles. Boil in a pot of water,

with a strainer spoon, add to the broth.

Simmer and serve with shaved Parmesan.

 

*noodle dough

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oil

mix, knead, set aside, covered.

noodles, again

again, making noodles, this recipe came out close to perfect, smooth and shiny noodles cut wide, for turkey soup.
I kneaded this recipe and let the dough sit an hour, fantastic.
2/3 cup flour,
drop into it 1 egg
barely combined with 1 tablespoon water,
1/2 teaspoon of salt
and a teaspoon of oil.
mix with hands till it comes together and knead for about 10 minutes, yes a lot of work for tired hands but worth it.

cover and let it stand for about an hour.

Roll with pasta machine.
hang and let dry out 30 minutes.
dust the lengths of dough and fold loosely on the lengths, cut into desired widths.
cook and serve or add to soup.

time for a break….

rolled out and drying…..

pictures of the soup are missing. but it was damn good !

OH here is a picture of the soup, less the noodles….