Soup 27: Sweet Potato Soup with Orange Creme Fraiche

After a lot of thought and a family consensus, I finally settled on a recipe of Sweet Potato Soup with Orange Creme Fraiche.  This sounded like a good alternative to the regular sweet potato dish we make on Thanksgiving, so it was an easy choice.

The ingredients were easy to find.  This time, though, I decided to make my own creme fraiche.  Sounds fancy but I used the shortcut recipe from my cookbook.  Other recipes call for buttermilk and require 24-36 hours to set, but this quick recipe can be made in 8 hours and only calls for heavy cream and sour cream.  Maybe one day I'll try the full recipe but I already had the cream and sour cream at home and I liked the idea of the quicker setting time given the rest of the prep I had to do for Thanksgiving dinner, so this worked fine for now.  I think I prefer the store bought to this recipe, but considering the price of store bought creme fraiche, this worked fine for a soup and adding the orange flavor.

To make the creme fraiche, I whisked together 1 cup heavy cream and 2/3 cup sour cream in a nonreactive bowl.  (The recipe actually called for 1/3 cup but I found that it didn't set thick enough so I added a little more sour cream.)  Once whisked together, I let stand at room temperature for 8 hours.  I refrigerated it after set and whisked in 1 teaspoon orange zest and 1 teaspoon ginger.  I refrigerated it overnight and brought to room temperature before serving.

To make the soup, I first peeled and cubed the sweet potatoes and sauteed them in a pan with 2 tablespoons butter and brown sugar till the butter was melted and mixed in with the sweet potatoes.  I transferred to a roasting pan and roasted for 15 minutes.

In a large pot, I melted 2 tablespoons butter and sauteed leeks, celery and ginger for about 4 minutes.  I added the roasted sweet potatoes and sauteed for 2 more minutes.  I added the chicken stock, oj, and salt and pepper and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

I pureed the soup with my handy dandy hand mixer and just seasoned with salt and white pepper.  I went a little light on the salt and pepper.  I made this the night before and reheated it for Thanksgiving dinner the next day.  The flavors definitely developed over night.

I served with a big dollup of orange creme fraiche.  Overall the family liked it and ate it all up.  It was a great festive starter for a yummy Thanksgiving.  I do have to say, however that I missed the regular butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving dinner, but it's always fun to change things up.  The orange in the soup really came through.  It did taste A LOT like sweet potatoes, so next time I might experiment with more spices.  As for my star rating system, as I remember, I originally started out with 4 stars but all the soups were getting 4 stars.  I added an extra star for soups that were phenomenally good.  So I suppose that would make 3 stars average.  Long story short- this soup gets 3.5 stars.  Above average but not very very good and surely not phenomenal.  But still yummy :-)

Ingredients

Creme fraiche
1 cup heavy cream / from home
2/3 cups sour cream / from home
1 teaspoon freshly minced, peeled ginger / $2.99/lb = $0.66/ Safeway
1 teaspoon grated orange zest / From home

Soup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter / $3.79 / Safeway
4 1/2 cups peeled, cubed red-skinned sweet potatoes / $1.49/lb = $3.53 / Safeway
2 teaspoons light brown sugar / From home
2 cups chopped leeks / $2.99/lb = $2.93 / Safeway
2/3 cup finely chopped celery / $1.00 / Safeway
1 teaspoon freshly minces, peeled ginger / Safeway
6 cups chicken stock / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2/3 cups orange juice / From home
salt
ground white pepper / $3.99 / Whole Foods


Prep time: 20 minutes (24 hours if making creme fraiche)
Cook time: 1 hour
Servings: 6
Taste: 3.75 stars
Prep: medium
Cost: $18.39 ($3.07 per serving)

Soup 26: Seafood Corn Bisque

I was soooo excited to make this soup. The original recipe called for crab, although the title gives the final ingredients away. I would have loved to use crab but could not find fresh crab meat anywhere (and I was not about to cook a whole crab and scoop out the meat). Despite the audible, the soup cam out amazing! I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

Most of the ingredients I found at the farmer's market. I did, however, have a hard time finding the crab meat. I was not about to use imitation crab, so when I came up empty at Safeway, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, I decided to use a package I found at Trader Joe's that had shrimp, scallops and calamari. It was perfect, but I would like to try this again with crab.

First, I had to de-kernel the corn. *Note to self - sharpen my knife.* This got a little scary, but I somehow managed to not cut any fingers off. Check out this video for pointers on how to remove fresh corn kernels.



The next step was to sautee the corn and leaks stirring for 6 minutes. I added the garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes and cooked for a minute more. I then added 4 cups of broth and brought to a simmer. I let simmer for 30 minutes.

While the soup simmered, I cooked the seafood in a separate pan, careful not to over cook. Once the soup cooked, I blended with a hand mixer until slightly chunky.

The original recipe called for half and half and sour cream. As much as I love those two ingredients, I wanted to try my best to keep it low cal. I substituted for a fat free half and half from Trader Joe's and a fat free sour cream. I whisked these in and seasoned with salt, to taste. I added a ton of basil, which really, really added to the flavor. Right before serving, I added the seafood. ALL of it!

YUMMY! The soup tasted great. The fam enjoyed it too. The substitutions worked well -the seafood, fat free sour cream and half and half. I do wonder if the soup would have been a little thicker with the full fat ingredients, but since the taste was still good, I don't think I would add the fat and calories next time. I might, however, add some diced potatoes or something else to thicken it up a bit, or simply adding less broth may work too. But overall, the flavors were awesome and this soup gets 5 stars.






Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil / from home
4 cups fresh corn kernels 7 ears of corn /$6.00 / Farmer's Market
2 cups chopped leaks / $2.00 / Farmer's Market
1 tablespoon garlic / from home
kosher salt / from home
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes / from home
4 cups chicken stock / $1.99 / Trader Joe's
1/2 cup fat free creamer/$2.49 / Trader Joe's
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream /$1.29 / Trader Joe's
Seafood mix / $7.99 / Trader Joe's
3 tablespoons julienned fresh basil / $1.00 / Farmer's Market

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Servings: 5
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: medium
Cost: $22.76 ($4.55 per serving)

Week 19: Watercress Soup with Seared Scallops

So I took a little break from blogging for a few weeks, so that meant I felt the pressure to return with an AWESOME soup.
Done and done!

I'll be honest. I saw the recipe, but didn't know for sure it was going to be amazing. I've never tried watercress before, cooked or raw. Wikipedia called it "peppery." I'm not sure that came across in the soup but it was super yummy regardless.

This was a perfect starter for a yummy seafood diner. I was happy to make it for my mom and her friends for a birthday celebration. The guests loved it, and it was fun to cook for a new audience.

I wasn't surprised that this was one of the more pricey soups to make since scallops can add up quickly. However, with a little more time and advanced planning, I could have cut the cost a bit. I ended up purchasing the watercress & scallops at Whole Foods, and buying twice the amount of scallops just because it seemed like it would not be enough. The watercress was not available at my regular Real Produce spot, even though I've seen it there before. Had I known, I could have probably found it at an Asian market much cheaper. Also, I wasn't sure how much it would chop down to, so I ended up buying too much and could have gotten away with only 1 bunch. I also found out after the fact that Trader Joe's sells frozen scallops for $12.99 for about the same amount in cost and bulk that I purchased from Whole Foods at TWICE the price! I was thinking Whole Foods would have some awesome fresh scallops, but it turns out they are previously frozen anyway. They tasted great regardless, which leads me to believe that when I make this again --and I WILL-- that I will cut the cost and buy the bag at Trader Joe's. But still, it's not a full meal, so it's not a good budget course at all.

Another reason to L O V E this soup is that it was so quick and easy to make! I started by sauteing the leaks and potatoes till leeks were tender. I added the broth, brought to a simmer, and let simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. After potatoes were tender, I removed from the heat and added the watercress until it wiled, for about 5 minutes. Once again I got to get out my super cool immersion blender and puree. I whisked in the sour cream and added milk until the desired consistency then seasoned with salt and pepper. Delish!

For the scallops, I melted oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. I cooked about 2 minutes on each side. This was the first time I've cooked scallops too, so it was hard to tell when they were done and I was afraid to overcook. But I guess I had a little streak of beginner's luck because they were perfect.

I took the picture as the recipe calls for with just one scallop, but since I had extra and they were delicious, I added an extra scallop to every one's bowl.



Ingredients

3 1/2 tablespoons butter / from home
3 cups chopped leeks /2 bunches @ $1.79 = $3.58 / Real Produce
2 medium russet potatoes (peeled & chopped into 1" cubes /$0.69/lb = $1.46 / Real Produce
4 1/2 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 1/4 cups trimmed & coarsely chopped watercress / $2.99/bunch / Whole Foods
1/2 cup sour cream /$1.69 / Trader Joe's
3/4 cup whole milk / $1.29 / Trader Joe's
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil / from home
6 jumbo sea scallops, side muscles removed / $22.99/ lb = $21.61 / Whole Foods

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $35.11

Week 15: Parsley Soup

So this is the first soup blog entry while working at my new job. While my last job afforded me tons of time to blog all day and leave early and make soup, part of the reason I left was to have a better job where I would want to concentrate on work. But I miss my soup blog. So now this challenge got a little more challenging, but I'm still making soup. And if ever there is an extra crazy, hectic week, I'll just figure it out as I go along. It is my blog, my rules, after all =)

Anyway, this week I made Parsley soup. Yup, you got that right. Soup with parsley as the main ingredient. I was actually very curious about this soup from the beginning. It just seemed so original. In the end, it was! I'm still trying to figure out the taste. The really exciting part was that the soup was very good cold! I almost felt like I put a tad too much lemon in it when I tasted it hot, but as a cold soup, it was perfect. The parsley was very fresh tasting and the lemon added some much needed acid. I do understand now what they mean in those cooking shows when they speak of a "palatte cleanser." A small serving would be perfect to introduce a new bold flavored course.

So in case you are wondering, here is how you make parsley soup. I first sauteed the leeks til soft and then added the potato, broth and yogurt and let simmer for 20 minutes. While that is simmering, clean the parsely so only leaves and tender stems remain. The actual recipe called for light cream rather than yogurt, but I thought I'd keep this light so I used plain, non-fat yogurt instead. If you like a richer soup, use the cream. Another distinction, the recipe called for flat-leaf, Italian parsley, not the curly-leaf parsley that is more common. I found this easily and cheaply at the farmer's market. Once the soup is cooked, add parsely leaves and cook for 2 minutes more, until leaves are wilted. Puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender and season with salt and pepper. Add lemon juice to taste. I think I ended up adding the juice from half a large lemon. (Remember this might have been too much when eaten hot). The end, another easy to make soup. The color in the picture doesn't actually do it justice, it was a very lovely fresh green color.

Ingredients

3 packed cups Italian parsley, leaves & tender stems /$1.00/bunch = $2.00 /Farmer's Market
Butter / from home
2 cups chopped leaks / $5 / Safeway
3 cups chicken stock / $2.49 / Smart & Final
1 1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt / from home
8 ounces potatoes, peeled & diced / from home
salt / from home
pepper / from home
lemon / from home

Prep time: 25 min (took forever to remove the parsley stems!)
Cook time: 30 min
Servings: 8 (small)
Taste: 4 stars
Prep: moderate (stupid parsley stems!)
Cost: $9.49
Nutritionals: Calories-88, Fat grams-2 (per 8 oz. serving)

(The cost could have been less but I forgot the leeks at the farmer's market and had to pay a fortune (comparitively) for them at my nearby grocery store. Also, although the calorie count is pretty low, I could have easily used less butter to saute the veggies)


Cold soup! What's next?

Week 14: Pea Soup

So this week, Pea soup is on the menu. Last week's asparagus soup was so yummy, I thought I'd stick with the veggies, plus I had some left over creme fraiche that I didn't want to go to waste. This was an easy, economic soup to make and the best part was that there were no onions to burn my eyes. Yay for a tear-free soup week! The leeks are always tricky to clean, but I have a little system now, so it want too bad.


The first step was to saute the leeks until soft and then add the peas, potato, and broth. This was brought to a simmer and left uncovered simmering for about 25 minutes, until all veggies were soft. Next step was to get out my immersion blender and puree the soup. This was a little tricky because the soup appeared to be completely pureed but I found a few little leeks that escaped the first blending, so take your time with the blender. I whisked in the creme fraiche and added the nutmeg and cayenne. The recipe called for either an eighth or a fourth teaspoon depending on how much spice you prefer. I went for the spice! The soup was still a tad bland at this point, so I added more salt and pepper. I let the soup sit over low heat for about 20 minutes to allow the spices to do their thing, but the soup could have also been served and eaten right away. Finally, I served the soup to the fam with chopped chives.

I used frozen peas for ease and cost. But if you are up to the challenge, you can also use fresh peas. Also, the original recipe called for regular sour cream, but since I had the creme fraiche left over I went with that. If you are keeping cost down, sour cream should be fine.

Maybe it's my memory of pea soup on the hot lunch menu once a week in elementary school, but this soup was not one of my favorites. It was very pea tasting, unlike the asparagus soup from last week that had some great flavors to it despite being 95% asparagus. Not sure I would make this again since there have been some much yummier soups over the last 14 weeks, but it was worth trying I'd say.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped leeks (2-3 leeks, white and light green parts) / 2 for $2.49 / Real Produce
5 cups frozen peas, patted dry / $1.79 / some from home, some from Trader Joe's
1 cup peeled chopped potato / $0.99/lb = $0.67
2 tablespoons butter / from home
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg / from home
1/4 teaspoon cayenne / from home
1/2 cup creme fraiche / from home
5 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 tablespoons chives (for garnish) / $1.79 / Trader Joe's

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Servings: 6
Taste: 3 stars
Prep: easy
Cost: $9.23


What should I make next week?????

Week 4: Cauliflower & Parmesan Soup

Mmmmmmmm.... My favorite soup so far.
I think I'm going to have to add a star to the Souper Challenge rating system.

I have to say, I chose this recipe because it seemed really easy to make, and this is a busy week for me. But I do love cauliflower and I'm all about prosciutto & parmesan, so this had to be good. Also, I think the true secret to soup is to make it the night before and reheat, finish & enjoy the next day because the soup transformed over night into pure, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness--- and yes, I'm still talking about cauliflower. I did tweak the recipe a tad, adding extra parmesan and a bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice and glad I did. Can't wait to finish the leftovers.

As for the cost of the soup, everything came out to a little over $20. If you want to cut costs, I'm not sold on the creme fraiche, so that could have been substituted for plain sour cream or a heavy cream, or maybe even cream cheese. Also, I did not get the chance to stop by the farmer's market this week where leaks are $1 a bunch, so instead I purchased them at Safeway where I paid almost $5... Ouch! But with better planning, I could have saved a few bucks and kept the cost down. A cost saving tip: I froze the remainder of the broth I did not use, so I still have 4 cups of broth for next week, so technically, I could cut the cost of the broth in half, and that eases my conscience for over paying for leeks.

To make this soup, saute leeks in a bit of butter til softened. Then add cauliflower florets, chicken stock, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until cauliflower is very soft. Puree soup in batches and return to pot. Whisk in Parmesan cheese to taste, the recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but I'm pretty sure I put in at least twice that amount. Also whisk in the creme fraiche. You can purchase creme fraiche in the cheese section of the grocery store (I found mine at Safeway); or you can make your own using heavy cream & sour cream. I figured that by the time I purchase both ingredients I may as well buy it all ready made and save myself some time. Also, it has a pretty long shelf life, so I will be able to use it again. If you do choose to make this, whisk 1 cup cream with 1/2 cup sour cream and let stand at room temperature for 6 HOURS, then refrigerate it. Still, I'm not sure this really added much in terms of taste, so if you don't have any and don't want to buy any, I'm sure there is a substitute you could use. After the creme, season with salt. Keep in mind the Parmesan and prosciutto add saltiness too, so don't over do it. At this point, the soup was pretty good, but I felt it needed a little something. At first I added a touch more of cayenne, but quickly decided I wasn't feeling a spicy soup this week. Then I remembered about the awesome lemons my aunt brought over from her tree, so I added the juice from half of a really big, juicy lemon. The citrus gave it a little tang without being overpowering. I'll definitely keep the lemon in the recipe.

This was the point I refrigerated the soup overnight. It was pretty good when it went in the refrigerator, but, OMG, soooooo good reheated the next day. Reheat over medium heat. Sautee prosciutto strips until crisp and browned. The prosciutto was totaly completed the soup by adding a more savory taste. Although this soup was amazing, it's definitly more of a starter and not so much a meal. Just like you wouldn't eat a head of cauliflower for dinner, this soup is pretty much pureed cauliflower & cheese but SOOOO yummy! I think Parmesan is one of the least fatty cheeses (though I'm afraid to really check and confirm this), and the amount of creme in the large bowl of soup is minimal, but the flavor is very strong, so a small bowl of soup before our entree was perfect. The girls agreed and even said they would make this on their own. Yay for soup and a great week for the Souper Challenge!

Prep time:
Cook time: 20 min
Servings: 6
Taste: 5 stars!!!!
Prep: super easy
Cost: $20.66
Stores: many, but could have been just 1

Ingredients4 tablespoons butter / from home
3 cups chopped leaks (4 leaks) / $2.99 / lb = $4.81
12 cups cauliflowe florets (2 large heads) / 2 @ $1.79 = $3.58 / Real Produce8 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper / from home
1 cup + Parmesan / from home
1/2 cup creme fraiche / $5.79 / Safeway
juice from 1 lemon / from home
salt / from home
4 ounces sliced prosciutto (more if desired) / $3.99 / Trader Joe's

Week 3: Tomato, Dill & White Cheddar Soup

Yay! Made it to week 3! And another yummy soup. And this time I got to share it with my awesome girlfriends at La Tasa.


So Tasha picked out this soup for Wednesday girls night. It was an easy soup to make in the middle of the week, very little prep and cooked super fast. Also, I'm finally getting the hang of where to get ingredients at the best price. After googling "broth coupons" for what seemed like forever, I finally got the idea to go to a bulk store. Since I don't have a Costco membership I headed over to Smart & Final. Jackpot! Ya, some of the food is a little sketchy, and I'm not sure I would venture passed the canned foods items, but for tomatoes and broth, this is the place to go. But it you aren't convinced, here is a coupon for Swanson broth.

And then I felt the need for fancy ingredients, so I went to Whole Foods to pick out the cheddar. It was sooooo worth it. I picked out a sharp white farmhouse cheddar, and it was amazing. Went great with our red zin too, but I generally believe that everything goes well with a zin.

So, back to the soup. Really easy to make --can't wait to get an immersion blender though. I pretty much LOVE LOVE LOVE tomato soup. This one had a different flavor than what I'm used to with the oniony flavor from the leeks and cool taste of the dill. Oh, and then I dumped a ton of cheddar cheese into it and AWESOME. My girlfriend Cat made us some grilled cheese sandwiches to help us scrape up the soup from the sides of the bowl, and, of course, the wine. Even our friend's kid liked it (soup -not wine).

So I would definitely make it again, especially at the affordable price. Glad to have plenty of leftovers. It was especially yummy the next day too. Oh, and don't forget to comment about which soup I should make next. If your lucky, I might make it for you.

Directions

Saute leeks with olive oil until soft (about 3 minutes). Add in tomatoes, broth, dill, cayenne, and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, until tomatoes are very soft. Puree soup in batches in a food processor. Or if you are lucky, use the immersion blender and avoid the hot soup exploding on you like it did on me. Return the soup to the pot and add sour cream. I dumped a bunch of cheese in the pot and let it melt as well as garnishing with the cheese. But we are cheese lovers so I suggest you add cheese to taste or let your guests add their own. Oh, and my friends suggested I add garlic next time, but I'm thinking it would kill the dill flavor, so I'm fine with no garlic and didn't miss it.







Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
Taste: 4 stars (1 = yuck, 4 = yum)
Prep: super easy
Cost: $16.95
Stores: 4

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil / from home
3 cups chopped leeks (about 4-5 leeks) / 2 @ $1.00 = $2.00 / farmer's market
4- 28oz canned, chopped tomatoes and their juices / $2.49 + $1.59 = $4.08 / Smart & Final
4 1/2 cups chicken broth / $2.79 / Smart & Final
6 tablespoons chopped dill / $1.00 / Farmers Market
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste / from home
1 teaspoon salt / from home
1/2 cup sour cream / $1.79 / Trader Joe's
4 0z white cheddar / $5.29 / Whole Foods