Thanksgiving Soup -- Parsnips, walnuts and pears

It's been a while.  I've missed soup and blogging, and soup!  I actually had no intention of making a soup with everything else that I had signed up to bring for Thanksgiving dinner, but at 2 pm the day before Thanksgiving while I was still at the office, I started googling soup recipes.  My search for "Thanksgiving soup recipes" turned up mostly the usual variations of squash soups.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good squash soup, but I was feeling a little experimental.  I came across this recipe from Food & Wine and immediately spotted a winner.  I was intrigued by this recipe and the few but new ingredients.  Hopefully my not-so-experimental family would feel the same way.

The next step was to find the ingredients at 5 pm the day before Thanksgiving.  I had already strategically purchased my other Thanksgiving groceries the night before to avoid the markets Thanksgiving eve, but I just couldn't stop myself.  By this time I was fully committed to tracking down ingredients I'd never seen before.  The recipe called for sunchokes and an Indian spice called garam masala.  I wasn't sure how common of a spice that is, so my first stop was the Indian market near my house.  I found that and tumeric easily and both cost only $3.  I was worried about finding the sunchokes, but that was actually quite easy.  Sprouts had them right by the ginger!  And with that, I was on my home to whip this (and 5 other Thanksgiving side dishes) up!

The prep was pretty easy.  I was worried the sunchokes would be hard to peel, but they were much easier than ginger (much thinner skin).  And since this soup is pureed, I threw everything in the food processor and later used my hand mixer to puree (Thank you Cuisinart. LOVE my kitchen power tools).  To start the soup, I sauteed the parsnips, sunchokes and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes and then added the spices.  I added the water, chicken stock and cream and let simmer for 25 minutes.  If I make this again, I will use a little less liquid to make the soup slightly thicker. Once the soup simmered, I pureed it with my hand mixer and stirred in the lemon juice.  I let it cool and refrigerated it overnight.  The topping was also quite easy.  I sauteed the walnuts in olive oil for a minute or so.  I then added the garlic, lemon juice and walnut oil.  I let it cool a bit and then added the pear and parsley.  I gave a little extra lemon juice so that the pears would not brown overnight.

Parsnips, sunchokes and pears

Spices from the Indian market

Thanksgiving day I took the topping out of the fridge early so that it would come up to room temperature.  I heated the soup up slowly right before dinner was served.  I served the topping on the side and let guests add their own to their liking.  The guests were quite impressed that we had a Thanksgiving starter, but they didn't seem too excited about the choice of recipes.  To be honest, this isn't the prettiest soup to serve.  Mine definitely did not look as nice as the picture on the online recipe.  The braver guests tried it and like it, while a few chose to go straight to the turkey and traditional sides.  But overall, the family enjoyed it.  They said "different, but good."  I really enjoyed it as a new, surprising addition to a predictable Thanksgiving menu.  The pears and walnuts really made the soup.  So much so that I would double the batch of the topping next time.  The spices in the soup were new but interesting.  I was a little bummed that I couldn't locate the taste of the sunchokes over the spices.  I am still not sure what a sunchoke tastes like.  Overall, I think this was a fun experiment and a new flavor to add to Thanksgiving dinner.  It was worth the extra trips to the market, and next year I will just plan ahead to make my Thanksgiving soup.

Happy Holidays!

Soup with pear & walnut garnish

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil / From home

1 3/4 pounds parsnips, peeled and chopped / Sprouts Market / $1.49/lb = $2.65

3/4 pound sunchokes, peeled and chopped / Sprouts Market / $3.99/lb = $2.51

4 garlic cloves, chopped / from home

4 teaspoons garam masala / Indian market / $1.50

2 teaspoons ground cumin / from home

1 teaspoon ground turmeric / Indian market / $1.50

1 teaspoon kosher salt / from home

4 cups water

3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth / from home

1 1/2 cups heavy cream / Sprout market / $1.69

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice / Sprouts market / $0.99

Pepper / from home

Topping

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil / from home

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped / Sprouts market / $9.99/lb = $3.80

1 garlic clove, minced / from home

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon walnut oil / Sprouts market / $6.99

1 small Bosc pear / Sprouts market / $1.49/lb = $1.31

1 tablespoon chopped parsley / from home

1 tablespoon chopped tarragon / from home

Kosher salt / from home

Pepper /from home

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Servings: 10
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $22.84 (soup), = $2.28 per serving

Mushroom Bok Choy Soup

I recently signed up for a CSA delivery and have since been re-energized back into soup blogging.  I receive monthly shipments of a surprise box of fruits and veggies.  This month's delivery included strawberries, oranges, potatoes, shallots, carrots, lettuce, and BOK CHOY.  I immediately went searching for bok choy recipes once I saw the 4 beautiful bunches.

I came across this recipe from Epicurious that just had to be delicious.  It also seemed fairly easy to make, as my Asian cooking skills are still developing.  The title of the recipe implies there is chicken in the soup, but actually only calls for chicken stock.  Adding chicken didn't seem exciting enough to stand with the other ingredients, so I decided to pair this soup with an entree of miso glazed salmon and additional side of bok choy based on a William Sonoma recipe.  Not to mention I could already picture the horror explaining to my boyfriend that the only protein in his dinner is in the stock! LOL!

The best part about making this meal was my trip to the Asian market, where I had to rely on social media to choose from the abundance of unfamiliar options.  After a Facebook conversation, I located a proper fish sauce.  It took a couple text messages to find the miso for the salmon marinade. (Thank you, Catherine Tran.  I dedicate this blog post to you!).  I was pleasantly surprised how affordable the various sauces and oils were. And I'm excited to keep using them up.

So many options for fish sauce!

My ingredients

I decided to deviate a bit from the recipe when I remembered I had a package of dried mushrooms I had been saving for a special occasion.  I figured why buy more of an expensive ingredient when I can use what I have AND use the delicious liquid to add flavor to my broth.  My first step was to reconstitute the mushrooms.  I used the directions on the package and rinsed them well in warm water and then let them sit in hot water for 15 minutes.  While the mushrooms were coming back to life, I made the marinade for the salmon. Once the mushrooms were ready, I drained them but saved the cooking liquid.

Porcini, shitake, black & oyster mushrooms

I didn't want to make the full batch since only 2 of us were there to enjoy so I used only 4 cups of chicken stock (recipe called for 8 cups) and then added about one cup of the mushroom liquid.  I brought the broth, ginger and mushrooms to a boil.  By this time, the salmon had marinated and I put it in the broiler along with more bok choy.

Miso salmon and bok choy 

To the broth, I then added fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and chili oil and let simmer for a few more minutes while the salmon cooked.  I roughly used half of the measurements the original recipe called for, but I may have added a few extra splashes here and there to taste.  I then added the bok choy and let that simmer for a few more minutes and lastly added the rice vinegar.  I covered the soup and turned off the stove until the salmon finished cooking.

Soup's on!

This dinner was so easy to make, and my kitchen smelled amazing.  I was a little nervous at this attempt given my lack of familiarity with the ingredients (miso is in the refrigerator section, huh?), but it ended up being a delicious meal.  The boyfriend even went back for seconds of soup and salmon.

Full dinner

Soup Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups bok choy / from home
4 cups chicken broth / from home
1 Tbsp ginger, peeled and minced / Asian market/ $2.29/lb / $0.41
1/2 cup mushrooms / from home
2 Tbsp fish sauce / Asian market / $3.99
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce / from home
1 Tbsp chili oil / Asian market / $1.99
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil / Asian market / $2.29
2 Tsp rice vinegar / Asian market / $1.89

Salmon ingredients:
4 salmon fillets / Asian market / $12.27
1/2 cup yellow Miso paste / Asian market / $4.95
1/4 cup sake / Asian market / $3.49
3 Tbsp soy sauce / from home
2 heads bok choy / from home

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: super duper easy
Cost: $10.57 (soup), $20.71 (salmon) = $7.82 per serving

Beef, Cabbage & Beet Borscht

Now I know.  There are 2 types of people in this world:  Those who love beets and those who are absolutely repulsed by them.  I had no idea this little root would get such a reaction.  I happen to love beets. So when I found a hearty beet soup recipe in my William Sonoma cookbook, I thought it sounded heavenly. Little did I know, I would offended some of my family and friends by trying to serve them beets.  But it turned out they were split about 50/50 on their love and hate for beets, so my hard work was somewhat appreciated.

I also had no idea that this meal was such a cultural staple.  I had never heard of this soup as my knowledge of Eastern European cuisine is lacking at best.  I usually try to stay away from recipes with a strong cultural tradition behind them, since a recipe in a book can never be as good as someone's grandma's recipe.  But my curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to try this out, hoping it does justice to a traditional Borscht, but having nothing to compare it to in order to fully judge.  Bottom line, if you like beets, you will like this soup.

I also did not read the directions ahead of time to realize the time commitment involved in making this soup. It literally took me 3 days.

Evening 1: I cooked the beets by simmering for about 45 minutes.  After simmering, I saved 2 cups of the bright red cooking liquid and refrigerated overnight.  I stored the beets in the refrigerator separately.  Tip: use gloves while scrubbing and handling the beets.  You will thank me later if you don't know why now.

Evening 2: I cooked the beef.  I sauteed the cubed beef in oil for about 5 minutes.  I then added the leeks and carrots and sauteed in the same pan for another 5 minutes.  Once the veggies were soft, I added the beet liquid, beef, tomatoes, cabbage, water, tomato paste and dill.  This simmered for about 1 1/2 hours until the beef was deliciously tender.  I then added the beets, vinegar, brown sugar and salt and pepper.  By this time, it was way passed dinner time so I let cool and stored the soup in the refrigerator. The recipe actually indicated the soup tastes better the second day, so I didn't feel too bad about waiting one more night.

As you can see below, Nugget did not like the fact that I was in the kitchen so long.  But she did like eating up any veggies that may have fallen on the floor!

Evening 3:  By this time, I was determined to finally complete and sample my soup.  I reheated it over medium heat and added more seasoning to taste.  I removed the dill sprigs and was finally able to sample the Borscht.  I garnished with sour cream and chopped dill and served it to my family.  Unfortunately, it turns out they don't like beets.  Luckily my foodie girlfriends volunteered to be my taste-testers and they helped me eat the Borscht and didn't let any go to waste.

I did like the soup, but once I realized how many family Borscht recipes there are out there, I started to think I could have made improvements here and there.  Next time I will use a beef broth base rather that just the cooking liquid from the beets.  I think this will give it a more savory flavor.  And I may add more tomatoes as their flavor was covered up by the beets.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts on a Borscht recipe????  Any suggestions?

Oh, and one more tip:  Before you make this soup, be sure to ask you family if they eat beets!

Ingredients:
6 beets / $2.49 per bunch / $4.98
3 Tablespoons olive oil / from home
3 pounds stewing beef / $3.99 per pound / $9.22
2 leeks / $2.99
2 carrots / from home
1 can diced tomatoes (14.4 ounces) / $0.79
1 head green cabbage / $0.99 pr pound / $1.46
2 tablespoons tomato paste / $0.99
6 dill sprigs / $1.99
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar / from home
1/2 cup brown sugar / $0.89
1/2 cup sour cream / $0.99

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Servings: 8-10
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: easy but time consuming
Cost: $24.30 ($4.05 per serving)

Carrot soup with Tahini and Roasted Chickpeas

I'm always on the lookout for interesting new soup recipes using flavors new to me combined with ingredients I know (and Love) very well.  So when I stumbled upon a recipe for this carrot soup by Smitten Kitchen, I pinned it for a rainy day.  It's still 70 degrees out side (at the time I made this soup) in November, but I felt like it was time to test this recipe anyway.  I was intrigued by this recipe since it has some of my favorite ingredients in it and when the original recipe described it as "deconstructed carrots dipped in hummus" I knew I had to try this.

The ingredients seemed as they would be easy to find, but I still went to Whole Foods since I was in the neighborhood and I wasn't sure if the tahini and pita bread would be available at the regular grocery store.  Since I had many of the ingredients, this Whole Foods visit didn't cost a fortune.  But I lost the receipt, so my cost per serving calculation is approximate in this post. :(

The first step was to sauté carrots, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper flakes in olive oil for about 15 minutes.  While that was going, I toasted the chickpeas and drizzled and sprinkled them with olive oil, salt and cumin in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until brown, tossing occasionally.  After the veggies were brown, I added the broth and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Toasting chickpeas

To make the tahini sauce, I whisked together tahini, lemon juice, salt and water until smooth. Then I toasted the pita bread in the oven with a light brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds and salt.  The last step was to puree the soup with my hand blender and garnish and serve.  

I served my bowl with a spoonful of roasted chickpeas and a dollop of tahini with a side of pita bread.  What a pretty meal!  As for the taste, I am still on the fence.  The coriander, cumin and tahini were flavors I'm not used to and they are very overpowering.  I did enjoy the soup, but with the strong flavors, I think it would serve as an appetizer rather than a meal.  The family wasn't around to sample this, and I didn't have a chance to get a second opinion.  But overall, I'd say it was prettier than it was amazingly delicious.  However for someone used to these flavors, I'm sure it would be a lovely surprise.  In fact, I did a little research and found several similar recipes for carrot-tahini soup, so this must be a winning combo.  What do I know?

New York Times Carrot Tahini Soup Recipe

Eats Well With Others Carrot Tahini Recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil / from home

2 pounds carrots, peeled, diced / Whole Foods / $3.00

1 large onion, finely chopped / from home

6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed / from home

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander / from home

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin / from home

1/2 teaspoon salt / from home

4 cups vegetable broth / Whole Foods / $2.59

15 ounce can cooked chickpeas / from home

3 tablespoons tahini paste /  Whole Foods / $5.99

2 tablespoons lemon juice / Whole Foods / $0.99

Pita bread / Whole Foods / $4.99

Sesame seeds / from home

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 50

Servings: 6

Taste: 3 stars

Prep: easy

Cost:  Approximately $17.56 ($2.92/ serving) (approximate)

Mercury News Article on Portuguese Kale Soup

Well isn't this ironic:  A few days after my blog post, the San Jose Mercury News published a recipe on Portuguese Kale Soup.

This recipe is quite different, most notably calling for chorizo rather than linguisa.  I think people are familiar with the Mexican chorizo we associate with eggs and breakfast burritos, but I think they are referring to the hard-to-find Spanish chorizo that is featured in the White Bean soup and Black Bean soup from past Souper Challenge posts.  I loved the spicy linguisa in my soup, so I wouldn't recommend substituting.  Also, the Merc did not call for tomatoes and I love tomatoes!

Which recipe would you rather try?

Welcome Back Post: Portuguese Kale Soup

Well after a little summer hiatus, I am back to blogging.  Nothing like easing into Fall with some comfort food, even if it is still 80 degrees outside.  So for my first blog of the new season, I have a special treat.  I'm bringing in my second guest souper chef to help me learn more about soup making.

My boyfriend has been talking about his famous Portuguese soup for over a year now.  Finally, I got him to make it for me.  Even though this recipe is a throwback to Old World Portugal, its main ingredient happens to be the trendiest green among the health conscious right now: KALE.  Mmmmmm. People just can't get enough kale right now.  To tell you the truth, I haven't jumped on that bandwagon and this kale-heavy recipe is just a coincidence, but if it helps me get a few extra hits, all the better.

I don't have much of a shopping story this time as the ingredients are fairly easy to find, and many can be found in the canned veggie isle of your market.  But a note about the kale.  I first learned about this soup when my boyfriend showed me this big green plant in his dad's garden.  He said it was Portuguese kale and made for a delicious soup.  After some research I learned that the kale my boyfriend's family grows in their garden is called Tronchuda Beira and is a flatter, sweeter kale that is very heat-tolerant and works very well in soup.  For this recipe, we only had access to the traditional, crinkly kale, but it came pre-cut and washed in a bag, so that made up for any disappointment for not having the traditional ingredient.

Portuguese kale, Photo from www.ReneesGarden.com

No onto the simple directions.  We sauteed chopped onion and potato in a little oil until warm.

Potatoes & onions

Next we added the garlic, bay leaves and kale, seasoned with pepper, covered and let wilt for about 2 minutes.  We added the chicken broth, a few extra cups of water and additional ingredients and brought to a boil.

Kale

As you see, we used the regular, curly kale.  Maybe we got a sweater one, but it was not bitter at all.  Past soups I've made with kale were not very good as leftovers because they got too bitter and overpowering, but somehow we got lucky this time.  Still, I'd love to try this recipe again with the Portuguese kale.

Linguica

My boyfriend did the grocery shopping this time since this was his special recipe.  He chose a spicy linguica since he knows I like the heat.  The flavors from the spicy sausage really added to the broth so that the soup does not need many additional spices.  We don't like to cook with salt, so the sausage also added a salted flavor without adding additional salt.  But, warning, HOT linguisa means HOT linguisa, so if you are sensitive to spicy foods, opt for a milder sausage.  And if you like the heat, you are in for a treat!

All ingredients

Last step, we covered the soup and let cook on medium heat until the potatoes were cooked (about 15 minutes).  We ate the soup with a yummy sourdough baguette.  I usually pass on the butter, but the boyfriend insisted I add butter and dip into the broth.  Yummmmy!!!  The soup was both spicy and earthy, filling but healthy.  Delicious.  We both had 2 bowls and a bowl for lunch the next day.

Portuguese kale soup

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons Olive oil / from home
3 medium potatoes / $2.06 / Lucky's
4 cups chicken broth / $3.99 / Lucky's
2 bay leaves / from home
1 diced medium onion / $1.49 / Lucky's
4 garlic cloves garlic, finely chopped / $2.59 /Lucky's
1 lb kale, chopped, stems removed / $2.99 / Lucky's
1 lb linguisa sausage  / $4.99 / Lucky's
1 can (14 oz) garbanzo beans, drained / $1.49 / Lucky's
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained / $0.98 / Lucky's
2 bay leaves / from home
pepper / from home

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: easy!
Cost:  $20.58 ($2.57/ serving) 

Souper Ramen Challenge

This might be the most exciting soup experience ever!!!  It's a post that has been about a year in the making; all thanks to my good friend, Justin.  I've known Justin for several years but more recently I have known him as owner of Powered by Pork, a popup based in the East Bay that serves a fusion of Mexican and Vietnamese foods.  Justin has been a follower of Souper Challenge for quite sometime and he has challenged me, and himself, to make authentic ramen for all of you!  Challenge accepted!

Only, this was less of a challenge for me, who got to sit back and relax and more of a challenge for Justin, who worked the whole day & night before on the broth and then came to my house to complete the final touches (and feed me).

Embarrassingly, even Justin's guests worked harder than me for this soup!  A big THANK YOU and welcome to my new friends Sandy and Jason, who brought their ramen making and taste-testing expertise to help us keep it authentic.

With that, I will let Justin share his experience, and most importantly, his recipe with you in his own words:
---

Ingredients
10 lbs pork neck bones
2 pork shoulder blades
1 onion
2 shallots
3 scallions
3 carrots
2 inch knob of ginger
~15 cloves of garlic
12 inch piece of konbu
1 package of dried shiitakes (4 ounces bag perhaps?)
drippings from my pork shoulder, consists of pork jus, fish sauce, white soy sauce
*large handful of bonito ~1/2 cup

Flavorings
White soy sauce
sesame oil
fish sauce
white pepper
Toppings
 ramen noodles (not sure where else to put this)
chopped scallions
soft-boiled egg (in theory)
nori

Process
Neck bones were roasted in batches, fist for 300F for an hour and then 400F for another 45 minutes.  My oven is far from calibrated, so it's a bit of a guessing game.  It's also why I turned it up.  The marrow was dissolving, but there wasn't maillard reaction I wanted.
While that was happening, I heated up the stock pot and placed the konbu and a bag of dried shiitakes in to the bowl for about an hour and then removed them.
I deglazed the pans with sake and threw them in to a stock pot with the aromatics over high heat, then lowered the heat when I was about to go to sleep.
Every so often I would check the water level and would refill the stock pot as needed.  Somewhere in the middle of the night I removed all the bones and strained the broth.  I was planning on salvaging whatever meat that could be gleaned from the neck bones, but that was far too tedious of a chore.  The bones would shatter and mix in with the meat. I transferred the bones without the meat into a pasta insert and put that back into the stock pot.
I might have added an onion to the bones.

---

Above was the prep that I didn't see.  Once at my house, Justin was hard at work again preparing all the fixings.  We tried to soft boil some eggs... Maybe next time.  And Jason prepared our noodles in batches.  Justin tricked out the broth with a variety of ingredients.

And then we ate.

And how was it? Delicious! Just ask Ed!

And how did the expert taster rate it:  Pretty good for a first try.  And based on the feed back, Justin has some lessons learned to share.

ALWAYS add bonito/hon dashi to ramen.  Earlier tonight I made some ramen from the leftover broth and added a large handful of bonito.  I felt like it made a huge difference and will always add it to my ramen.
I would have liked to have parboiled the bones before roasting them.  I feel it would have produced a cleaner, clearer broth.
As Mrs. Matsui advises, season in layers.  Adding just a bit of salt to the aromatics and bones would have pulled more flavor out of them.
After I boiled the konbu, I read somewhere that konbu should be cooked from 120 - 150 and not a full boil.  It apparently excretes a slimyness that is unpleasant.  I didn't detect that as I was going, but who knows.  Personally I feel that every time I see a recipe that calls for konbu, it isn't nearly enough time to extract all the flavor out of it.
When using Sun Noodles for ramen, use the Shoyu noodles over the pork ones - they're not nearly as tasty

Thank you all who ate and helped.  A special thank you to my guest chef, Justin Lanska for my first bowl of homemade ramen!!!  What an awesome treat!!!