a poem about Soup

I've been thinking about a return to this soupy blog for quite some time ... and feel it rather apt to begin where we did months ago ... with a lovely poem by Carl Sandburg entitled "Soup":

I saw a famous man eating soup.
I say he was lifting a fat broth
Into his mouth with a spoon.
His name was in the newspapers that day
Spelled out in tall black headlines
And thousands of people were talking about him.

When I saw him,
He sat bending his head over a plate
Putting soup in his mouth with a spoon.

Roast Chicken

words are hardly necessary ... a picture can be worth a thousand words ... roasted chicken waiting to be shredded for African Peanut Soup ...

 

Photo courtesy of Ms. Tureen

Bun Bun's Seafood Chowder

for those of you not in the know, "Bun Bun" is a term of endearment, for my Mum, from my beloved Dad ... both of my parents grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada ... fun fact:  Nova Scotia is a peninsula, almost completely surrounded by the sea where no community in the province is more than sixty kilometres from saltwater ...

as you can imagine, the seafood is outstanding ... and great cooks abide in Nova Scotia ... my mother one of them ...

so, all that aside, here's her recipe for Seafood Chowder ... the magic is in the can of evaporated milk so don't skimp ...

Bun Bun's Seafood Chowder

 

1/2 cup of butter (yes a 1/2 cup ... it's a big pot so don't fret about the fat)

2 medium onions, diced

2 or 3 stalks of celery, diced (including the leafy bits up top)

2 potatoes

3 cups chicken broth or fish stock

1 Tbsp. basil*

1 Tbsp. oregano

1 Tbsp. paprika

8 cups of milk (I used 1% and it was just fine)

1 can evaporated milk

1 lb or more of white fish (haddock, cod, sole), cut into chunks

1 lb or more of shellfish (canned crab, shrimp, scallops, lobster, clams)

salt and pepper to taste

 

Melt butter and sauté onions and celery over medium heat until softened.  Add potatoes and cover with chicken broth or fish stock.  Heat until potatoes are just tender. 

 

Add remaining ingredients and simmer until seafood is flaky. Do not boil.  You want the seafood to remain in chunks.

 

And, of course, chowder is truly best the second day ... so warm on low heat.  Chowder is also best served with homemade biscuits.  Just sayin' ...

*With experience, cooking and flavors becomes intuitive so play with the spices a bit.  If you love thyme, add thyme.  I love basil so I will often double the basil.  At the table, put out some Tabasco sauce if you like a bit of heat.  Play!

 

 

Photo courtesy of Ms. Tureen

 

 

 



thanks George

Happy and successful cooking doesn't rely only on know-how; it comes from the heart, makes great demands on the palate, and needs enthusiasm and a deep love of food to bring it to life.

~ George Blanc

Ginger Orange Roasted Carrot Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
1 large onion, quartered
1 pound peeled (or scrubbed) carrots, halved if they are large
1 inch fresh ginger, sliced
1 tsp curry (leave out curry if you don't want the added spice)
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup fresh orange juice (save the remnants)*
1 - 2 Tbsp grated orange peel
1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream
2 Tbsp fresh chives

Combine onion and carrots and toss with olive oil.  Roast in oven at 425 degrees until browned ... carrots and onions will carmelize.  Yummy! 

Meanwhile, back at the tureen, melt butter (or olive oil if you would prefer) and sauté curry and ginger.  Once the onion and carrots are roasted, add to pot.  Cover with vegetable stock, orange juice and orange peel.  Simmer for approximately 30 minutes with cover on.

*I actually simmered the soup with the orange remnants.  You don't have to do this but I thought it couldn't possibly hurt.  Obviously make sure your orange has been cleaned.  :)

Remove soup from heat and blend with immersion blender (or whatever it is you normally would blend with).  Add water to thin, if necessary.  

Serve garnished with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and sprinkle with chives and more grated peel, if desired.

Best served with a good friend.

Photo courtesy of Ms. Tureen

soup idioms

as I was sliding my double batch of orange ginger carrot soup (recipe to follow) onto the back burner, I thought about how often I have used that idiom and yet never really thought about it ... 

food for thought ... so to speak ...

on the back burner:  Alludes to putting a pot that needs less active attention on a back burner of a stove, leaving space for pots that need to be stirred.

which then made me think of the idiom "stir the pot" ... growing up, my Mom would often say to us kids "don't stir the pot" ... or she'd say about someone "oh they are just stirring the pot" ...

stir the pot: To stir the pot is to agitate a situation to cause a reaction or trouble.

with 4 of us kids in the nest, it's not hard to imagine that the "pot was getting stirred" on a daily basis ...

thanks for your patience, Mom ... and for sharing your love of soup ...



 

Country Captain Soup (thanks Nancy Carney)

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 c. red bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. grated, peeled fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
4 c. chicken broth
2 c. canned, diced tomatoes
1 large Granny Smith, peeled, chopped
1/4 c. orzo
2 tbsp. dried currents
chopped fresh cilantro
 plain yogurt

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; saute until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add chicken, curry, ginger and crushed red pepper, stir 2 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, tomatoes and apple and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. (can be made 1 day ahead. cover and refrigerate. bring to simmer before continuing)
Stir orzo and currents into soup and simmer until orzo is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with cilantro and a dollop of yogurt.