POTS AND PANS CITY BLOG

Hearty soups like this one can be used as a total meal.  Thick and chunky with lots of meat and vegetables, you only need to serve this soup with a crusty loaf of bread to receive rave reviews. 

• 3-4 beefy soup bones
• 1 small steak or ¼ lb. stewing beef, cut into cubes
• 2-3 onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups water
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3 beef bouillon packets
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 TSBP. Cooking oil
• ½ cup frozen corn
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup medium flat egg noodles

In a large stock pot, heat oil and brown meat cubes.  Add water. Bring to a boil and skim liquid of fat.

Reduce heat and add all remaining ingredients, except corn, peas, spinach and noodles.  Simmer, covered for approximately 2-3 hours. 

Add egg noodles, corn and peas, and cook for another 15 minutes.  Stir in spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.

Serve hot.

Turkey seems to be part of every Christmas and Thanksgiving holiday meal. This recipe makes turkey the start of the meal—and the star. This is a hearty, tasty Italian take on turkey soup. The soup can be made ahead of time and frozen, but just be sure you don’t add the pasta until you reheat it. You can buy turkey drumsticks or turkey breast separately to add the meat to this dish, or you can use leftover turkey from the main meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP. vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP. garlic powder
• ¾ cup cooked ham
• 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 4 cups chicken or turkey stock
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (including juice)
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 14 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup chopped green beans
• 1/3 cup macaroni or other small pasts
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large saucepot. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add ham, carrots, celery and zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 more minutes. Add stock and tomatoes (plus juice). Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook covered for 30 minutes. Add the cabbage, turkey, and both beans. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 30 minutes more or until vegetables are almost tender. Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Spoon the hot soup into bowls and sprinkle each serving with a little Parmesan cheese.

No-one ever knows what to do with the left-over turkey carcass from that great Thanksgiving turkey.  Here is a recipe for a very flavourful soup that you can serve after the holiday is over.  You can add any left-over meat into the soup as well, or you can buy extra turkey legs from your supermarket to add to the taste of the broth.

Ingredients:

• Turkey giblets and bones (carcass from roasted turkey)
• Or 2 Turkey legs (Hint: you can purchase these separately at your grocery store)
• 1 TSBP. Cooking oil
• 2-3 onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups waters
• 3 chicken bouillon packets
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. sage
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup frozen corn
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup medium flat egg noodles

In a large stock pot, heat oil and sauté onions and turkey giblets (if using).  Add water. Bring to a boil and skim liquid of fat.

Reduce heat and add all remaining ingredients, except corn, peas, spinach and noodles.  Simmer, covered for approximately 2-3 hours. 

Add egg noodles, corn and peas, and cook for another 15 minutes.  Stir in spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.

Serve hot.

Served at the start, soup gives a satisfying feeling to any meal. A rich, creamy soup like the Cream of Squash soup below is a great way to begin a fall meal, add to a Thanksgiving dinner or you can even serve it on its own, with a loaf of crusty bread to sop up the delicious flavours.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP. butter
• 1 onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 6 cups water
• 2 cups steamed squash (like Butternut or Acorn Squash)
• 3 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt & pepper 1 cup half & half cream

Melt butter in large stockpot. Chop onions and sauté in butter until onions are transparent. Cut celery into chunks and add to pot. Add water, crumbled bouillon, squash and spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes. In 3 batches, purée soup in blender. Pour soup purée back into stockpot and return to stove. Over medium heat bring soup back to a simmer. Turn heat to low and add cream. Stir until all the cream is blended. (Do not boil.) Serve immediately. Top each bowl of soup with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Note: You can use an infusion blender to puree the soup in the pot.

Very easy and inexpensive to make, this Easy-Cheesy Soup is ideal for kids who love the taste of Kraft Dinner.  Serve with toast points for soup dipping.  This is a great lunch soup for the whole family. 

College kids on a Kraft Dinner budget and who are new to cooking love this soup too.  It offers a new twist on the typical College student’s mac ‘n cheese fare and expands their food menus. 

        1 pkg. macaroni & cheese dinner (like Kraft Dinner)

        ½ cup frozen vegetables

        ½ cup milk

        salt & pepper, to taste

        1 tsp. basil (optional)

        1 can chicken broth

        1 cup water

Cook macaroni in water and chicken broth mixed together until tender.  Add frozen vegetables.  Stir in seasonings. Mix milk with cheese pkg. from box.  Add to macaroni mixture.  Heat through.  Serve.

Hearty soups are great warmer-uppers for those crisp fall and winter days.  A soup like the one below with meatballs and vegetables makes a total hot and satisfying meal.  It has everything in it needed to make it healthy and great tasting. Even kids love it with the meatballs and the macaroni submerged in its tasty broth.

Ingredients:

• ½ pkg. frozen beef meatballs
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. garlic, minced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 TBSP. cooking oil
• 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
• 1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
• 1 cup spiral macaroni
• 2 pkg. dry beef bouillon
• 3 cups water

In a large stock pot, sauté onions and minced garlic in hot oil for approximately 3 minutes (until onions are translucent).   Add frozen meatballs and let brown on all sides (approx. 3 more minutes).  Add canned tomatoes, spices and all other ingredients, except macaroni. Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and let simmer for 45 minutes.  Add macaroni.  Simmer 15 minutes longer or until macaroni is tender when cut with a fork.

Spoon into bowls and serve with fresh Italian bread.

This terrific tasting spicy soup recipe gets its roots from Jamaican cooking. It has a slight curry taste, which comes from the Grace’s packaged soup mix (which you can find in the international aisle at your local grocery store or at your local Caribbean food store). It also has a bit of spicy heat from the country pepper. You can omit the country pepper if you don’t like it really spicy, but adding it will definitely increase the flavour value. The chicken in the soup makes this a whole meal deal, great for those cozy winter days when you want nothing more that to eat a satisfying meal and curl up by the fire afterward.

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs. Grace’s Pumpkin/Chicken soup mix
• 4-5 medium new potatoes
• 2 small onions
• 3-4 medium carrots cut in chunks
• 5-6 chicken pieces (thighs)
• 1 large can pureed pumpkin, or 1 ½ cups steamed pureed fresh pumpkin
• 6 cups water
• 1 pkg. chicken bouillon powder
• 2 TBSP. cooking oil
• Pinch each of Salt and Pepper
• ¼ of a country pepper, chopped very finely

In large stockpot, brown chicken pieces in cooking oil.

Wash and cut up potatoes into large chunks. Cut onions into chunks. Peel and cut carrots into 1” pieces. Add to stockpot.

Add all remaining ingredients to pot and simmer together for 1-½ hours. Serve.

Roasting the vegetables before adding to the soup pot really adds to the flavor of this wonderfully tasty soup. The mild roasted garlic taste adds a new dimension of flavor as well. This soup is great for vegetarians as well, as it is made with vegetable broth instead of meat based broth.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium red potatoes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 head garlic
• 1 TBSP. olive oil
• 1 can (14 ½ oz.) vegetable broth
• 1 TBSP. flour
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 cup half & half cream
• Croutons

Preheat oven to 375° F. Peel and cube the potatoes. Place potatoes on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick vegetable oil. Sprinkle the onion and rosemary over the potatoes. Peel away the outer skin of the head of garlic leaving the skin on the cloves intact. Snip off the pointed top with sharp kitchen scissors, leaving the bulb intact but exposing the garlic cloves. Place the garlic, cut side up, on top of the potatoes. Drizzle the olive oil over everything. Cover with tin foil. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake, covered, for about 50 minutes or until the garlic cloves feel soft and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and cool slightly.

In the bowl of your food processor, squeeze the garlic bulb to remove the soft insides. Add the potatoes, onions and half of the vegetable broth, all of the flour and the pepper. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour this into a medium stockpot. Stir in the remaining broth and the ½ & ½ cream. Cook and stir over medium heat until the soup thickens and is bubbly. You can add in a little more half & half cream to get the consistency of the soup you like. Serve hot in bowls with crunchy croutons on top.

Here is a great recipe for the famous Italian Wedding Soup. The term “wedding soup” is actually a mistranslation of minestra maritata (‘married soup’) which is a reference to the fact that the green vegetables (the spinach) and the meat (the meatballs) go well together. It has a light soup broth, but is still satisfying with the addition of the meatballs.

Meatballs:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 lb. ground beef
• 1/4 lb. ground turkey

Combine all above ingredients and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.

Soup:

• 10 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb. fresh spinach, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 TBSP. grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

In a large pot over med-high heat, bring broth to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to medium. Add meatballs and spinach. Simmer approximately 8-10 minutes. In a small bowl beat eggs and Parmesan cheese together. While stirring soup gently, slowly drizzle egg mixture into soup. Stir gently with a fork. Thin strands of egg will form in soup after about a minute. Spoon soup into bowls and garnish with extra Parmesan cheese.

There is nothing more warm or comforting than a wonderful bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day. Remember that steaming bowl of chicken soup with tasty noodles your mom used to make? After a long day battling the cold winter elements, that soup just seemed to warm you up from the inside out. Nothing speaks more of homey comforts than a bowl of hot soup.

But when you talk about soups today, they have come a long way from the old traditional chicken soup standby. Not only are there light chicken noodle soups, but there are hearty beefy soups, vegetable soups, creamed soups, heart-healthy soups, seafood soups, luxurious soups with exotic ingredients, cold soups—you name it. And each one seems to be better tasting than the next.

Soups can come under various categories as well. There are bisques, potage, broths, stocks, bouillon, consommés, fumet, Scotch broth, chowders, Vichyssoise, borsht, gazpacho, and even dessert soups. Let’s just define what a few of these soups really are.

A bisque soup is a rich, thick creamy soup that has been pureed to an even texture. In the traditional bisque recipe, bisque typically includes seafood, wine or cognac and cream, along with spices. The seafood is pureed to make the soup smoother. In recent times, the seafood is often replaced with poultry or vegetables. Potage is also a pureed soup often thickened with cream or egg yolks. As the names suggest, both bisque and potage soups have their origins in France.

Broth, bouillon and stocks are relatively the same thing with different names. They are made from meat, vegetables or fish and spices combined with water. The ingredients are strained out and only the clear liquid remains. These are often used as a base for other soups or can be eaten on their own. Consommé, which is related to this group of soups, is really clarified meat broth. Fumet, also related to this group, is a concentrated stock, typically made from fish or mushrooms, used to add flavor to less intensely flavored stocks or sauces. Scotch broth is a Scottish soup made with lamb or mutton, barley and various vegetables.

A chowder is a thick soup made with milk, bacon, onions and potatoes. There are various types of chowders, the most famous being clam chowder. There are also seafood chowders or corn chowders. Chowders are really a chunky soup almost like a stew in a rich creamy broth thickened with potatoes.

Vichyssoise is a cold soup traditionally containing potato and leek and garnished with chives. It has a rich, creamy texture. Borscht is also a soup that is served cold (but it is also sometimes served hot). It is a Russian or Polish soup made from fresh beets and assorted vegetables, made with meat or meat stock and generally garnished with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Another soup in the cold soup category is gazpacho (sometimes spelled ‘gaspacho’). This is an uncooked soup made of a pureed mixture of vegetables. The vegetables typically include fresh tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, onions, celery, cucumber, breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and sometimes lemon juice. The soup is typically served smooth, but can be served in a chunky style as well.

Dessert soups are generally made with pureed fruit and served cold. Any fruit in season can be made into a dessert soup. The fruit is pureed and fruit juice or lemon juice is added for smoothness.

It seems that each country in the world is famous for its own soup type. As mentioned before, the French are known for a couple of different soups, as are the Russians and Polish with their Borscht and the Scottish people for their Scotch broth. The Chinese are known for their Bird’s Nest Soup which is actually made from the white or black nests of a small Asian bird. The Chinese are also famous for their wonton soup. Mexico has its menudo soup, which is a hearty, spicy soup made with tripe, calf’s feet, chili peppers, hominy and seasonings (and reputed to be great as a hangover cure). The Italians have their famous Italian Wedding Soup and the well-known Minestrone.

Soups are typically eaten at the beginning of a meal, or as a main course. The first course soups are generally of the clear soup varieties or the creamed versions. Main course soups are usually the heartier soups containing chunky ingredients of meat, fish, potatoes, thick noodles and vegetables in a thicker broth. And of course the dessert soups are served after the main meal as a light palate cleanser and as a sweet touch for dessert.