Divine Carrot, Ginger, Coconut Soup

So, this soup is amazing. I'm not gonna lie. And easy.

Super easy.

If you want a thai flair to your soup, add some fish sauce for a little tang. I think it tastes best that way. If you are watching your sodium, omit it.

1.5 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped the same size.
2 Tbsp fresh ginger root, minced (halve this if you think ginger is spicy)
5 cloves garlic
Enough water to cover the carrots by about an inch.
10 oz. coconut milk
2 tsp rice vinegar

Serves: 8

Boil the carrots until they are easily pierced by a fork (about 40 minutes). Blend until smooth.* Add extra water if you need it to make sure the carrots blend smoothly. I found that a standard drink blender gives you a much smoother product than blending in a food processor does.

Pour the carrot mix back into the pot. Add the coconut milk and vinegar. Bring up to a boil while stirring. And that's it.

*Remember to take special care when belnding hot foods. Always use a lid to cover the blender and hold the lid tightly to the machine with your hand while processing. Thick liquids like this will also save a giant air bubble to burst right as you pull the top off to look in. I can tell you from personal experience that hot soup puree hurts like the dickens.

(Dairy Free) Creamy Potato Corn Chowder

So, I desperately wanted to make a dairy free version of chowder since I am trying not to eat any dairy at all. This particularly tough since the best part of chowder is the thick, rich dairy flavor and the butter drizzled over the top.

To begin with, I wanted to make a veloute sauce which is a standard french sauce made with a roux made of flour and butter/oil/animal fat, cooked, with chicken or beef stock added until the flour cooks out and your are left with a silky vat of soupy deliciousness. Think of a thin thanksgiving style gravy. I know it sounds terrifically unhealthy, but, properly prepared, it is quite healthy, especially when compared to a cream base for soups.

This soup takes about an hour and a half to make, but for 45 minutes of it, you only have to pay attention enough to stir it occasionally. I will tell you what I did, then tell you what I would have done if my pantry had been a little better stocked. As it was, the soup got rave reviews.

SOUP BASE:

1/2 cup olive oil

2/3 cup flour

2 quarts water

3 red potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

2 tsp rosemary and thyme, chopped fine

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add the oil and flour. Cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Using a whisk, add half the cold water while whisking vigorously to break up any lumps that want to form. Add the rest of the water. Turn up the heat and bring the pot to a boil. Once it has boiled add the potatoes and herbs and bring to a boil again. Turn the heat down to low until there are very few bubbles forming. Allow the soup base to simmer for about 45 minutes or until the flour taste disappears an the base no longer tastes starchy. Skim the foam that forms on the top. Adjust the thickness of the soup base by adding more water if it gets too thick.

Most of the potatoes should have broken down by now. If they haven't, cook until they are very soft. Use the whisk to break up the remaining lumps of potatoes. This is your soup base.

GARNISHES:

3 pieces of bacon (optional) cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 red potato, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 can corn (not drained)

1 tsp thyme, rosemary and parsley, mixed and chopped fine

salt

pepper

1/2 tsp red wine vinegar

Saute the bacon pieces until they are brown and crispy (don't drain the fat, this will add flavor to the soup and be a negligible amount of fat when dispersed over all 10 servings). Add the onions and cook until fragrant, add the potato. Cook on med-high heat until the potatoes are evenly browned (approx. 10 minutes). Add the can of corn with the liquid in the can (adds more corn flavor). Add everything in the saute pan to the soup pot and bring up to a boil. Turn off the heat and add salt, pepper and red wine vinegar to taste.

10 servings

If I had my way when I was making the soup base, I would have used vegetable or chicken stock instead of water. I also would have added 2 bay leaves and half an onion. I also really wanted to added smoked salmon to this, but had none. If I had added salmon, I would have used fish stock in the soup base and garnished with chives or green onions.

Drunken Corn and Lentil Soup

At first, I wasn't so excited about this soup. But, like many healthy recipes, each bowlful tastes better and better. Prepare for this phenoma when determining serving size....

Last night I fell asleep thinking about how to make a corn puree soup with the meager ingredients in my kitchen. It turned out pretty well considering what I had stashed in my cupboards and freezer. I wanted to post this so you could see the thought process that goes into making a puree soup with ingredients that don't quite break down when blended.

Both corn and lentils have insoluble fiber that don't break down with cooking or digestion. You can either have a chunky-style puree which you have to chew your way through, or, you can strain the entire thing through a fine sieve which gives you a very thin, broth-like soup. The problem with the broth is you lose all that insoluble fiber that gives bulk to the soup and keeps your digestive track running smoothly. I chose to strain 2/3 of the soup through the sieve and add the rest of the puree without straining. This gave it a nice pureed soup consistency.

I was going to make a strictly vegetable puree soup, but I have been trying to get multiple food groups into my dishes, so I opted for lentils which are a grain. I also used beer for flavor which can be substituted for vegetable stock. The alcohol cooks out of this within the first couple minutes of boiling, so, there is no worry about serving this to minors.

Puree:
1 Tb Olive Oil
1/2 Onion Diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
3 large cloves garlic
1 12oz light-colored beer
1 dried guajillo chile, top cut off and seeds taken out (you can find dried chiles in the mexican section of grocery stores)
2 bay leaves
1/2 32oz bag frozen corn (make sure you have more to add after pureeing)
32oz water
2 cups lentils, mostly cooked

Garnish:
2 cups frozen/fresh corn
1 cup Lentils, mostly cooked
1 fresh serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 Tb curry powder
1/2 tsp hungarian paprika
2 tsp sugar
2tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt

Cook the lentils in a few cups of water until they are almost cooked through. Stain and set aside. You will want 3 cups of lentils cooked. This takes maybe 15-20 minutes.

Heat a stock pot (at least a gallon size). Add the olive oil, onions, carrot and garlic. Sautee until the onions start to get transluscent. Add the beer and boil until you don't smell the alcohol anymore. Add the bay leaves, chile (leave it whole so you can pull it out before pureeing), frozen corn and lentils. Heat until boiling. Add the water. Bring up to a simmer. Let this cook (without a lid, you want some of the water to boil off) until all of the ingredients are tender, bordering on mushy. This takes approx. 45 min to 1 hr.

Remove the chili. If you want to, scrape the inside of the chili and add this back to the soup. In batches, puree the soup with a blender, immersion blender or food processor. This is a good time to send the first half of the soup through the sieve into another container. When the stock pot is empty, rinse it out and put the puree back into the pot. Add the garnish ingredients and bring back up to a simmer and cook the lentils the rest of the way though. The last things you want to add are the sugar, salt and vinegar. Add these things slowly to the soup to make sure you don't add too much.

Servings: 6 - 8oz bowls.

Notes: This soup is not spicy at all. If you want to kick up the spice, add more guajillo chilis or add some of the serrano seeds. Feel free to substitute any grains for the lentils and any fresh/frozen vegetables for the corn. Also, if you have fresh herbs, chop them up and add them to your bowl. I really wanted cilantro and more serranos in my soup.

Acorn Squash Puree Soup with Coconut Milk

Here's an extremely easy way to make a pureed soup that is creamy without having any dairy in it. You can substitute any root vegetable or squash for the butternut squash to make a slightly sweet soup with a bit of asian flair. I am not sure how potatoes would fare, but I am willing to give it a try someday. Try garnishing with fresh green herbs, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and hot pepper sauces for hot/sweet/sour soups that will taste decidedly southeast asian.

1 Whole Acorn Squash split in half and seeded
4 slices ginger, peeled
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 can full fat coconut milk*
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 lemon cut into wedges

Roast the acorn squash, skin side down in a casserole that is just big enough to hold them. Add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the pan. Place 1/2 the ginger and garlic in each of the cavities in the squash. This will infuse the flavor into the squash as it cooks. Set oven temperature at 375 and cook for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours checking to see that all the squash is mushy. If there are parts that aren't all the way cooked through, you will end up with a lumpy soup. Let the squash cool and peel the skin off. Save the ginger and garlic to add to the puree. Cut the squash into pieces.
In batches small enough for your food processor, add portions of squash, coconut milk, ginger and garlic. Puree until smooth and souplike. Add water to adjust consistency.
Don't worry if the coconut milk doesn't seem to incorporate into the squash (i.e. there's chunks of white in the yellow) this will work itself out when you reheat it. Puree all of the soup and heat it back up to boiling. Add more cocunut milk if you like your soup creamier. You can add salt and sugar if necessary. Add lemon juice (squeezed from wedges) until the soup lastes slightly lemony.

My favorite way to eat this soup is with cilantro puree (fresh cilantro leaves blended into olive oil) and a squirt of sriracha.

One variation I have made on this soup was with carrots instead of butternut squash. I boiled the carrots until they were tender and used the boiling water to thin the soup as I pureed it. I added a little sugar to bring out the carrot flavor as mature carrots are more bitter than acorn squash. You'll be surprised how much more "carrot" flavor comes out with a small addition of sugar. It also tasted better without any garnishes.

*Always buy full fat coconut milk. Lowfat coconut milk is thinned with water and stabilizers are added. It is better for your wallet to just use less coconut milk and add your own water when necessary.