It's Soup Week!

If you're like me these days, you're not going to the store all that often, which means that you are buying a whole lot of whatever is actually available that day. And, possibly, not being able to use it up before it starts to smell a bit funky. The last thing you need right now is for your precious food stash to go bad. I'm here today with a way to solve some of that. 

Make soup. 

I know it's getting warmer out, but there is never a bad time for soup. Especially today. I'm looking out at the wind and the rain, and even though it's not cold, I want to make and eat soup. 

In these uncertain times, soup can be a comfort. So here's my plan. I'm going to start with some basics; recipes for stocks, and a simple soup. Then, every day for the rest of the week, I will post another soup recipe. All of them can be made with what you probably have on hand, or you may have to get one or two ingredients. 

Let's get started, shall we?

Chicken Stock

Yes, I know you can buy it in a box, a can, a concentrate, or whatever, but homemade chicken stock when done correctly, is a wonderful thing. And it makes your house smell fantastic. It's great to have some bones from the grocery store (backs or necks) because they have more collagen, which gives you that nice body. But, if you just get a whole chicken from the store (or have parts) when you are finished, you can pull the chicken meat off the bone and use for soup, salad, or your give to your fur baby who will then love you forever. 

2 pounds of chicken bones, or 1 frying chicken

2 onions, peeled and quartered

2 carrots, washed and cut into chunks

2 celery stalks, washed and cut into chunks (leaves and all)

1 bay leaf

a couple of whole black peppercorns

a splash of lemon juice or white wine or vinegar (this helps the collagen in the bones break down)

COLD water to cover by 4 inches or so

Put all of the ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil This is where you have to keep an eye (or nose) out. When you see or smell the stock come to a boil, reduce the heat immediately to a simmer, and skim the brown funky stuff that forms on the top. (The technical name for this is scum. Seriously. The French even have an actual verb for this action: Ecumer-to skim the scum)

Let the pot simmer for about an hour or so. The reason you don't want it to boil too long is that if it does, the fat will distribute into the water, rather than rising to the top, and you will have cloudy, fatty stock. Blech. 

Strain the stock, and allow to cool. Remove any fat that rises and hardens. 

Vegetable Stock

There really is no recipe for vegetable stock. It depends on what you have on hand, which flavor you would like to be predominant, whether you roast the veggies before you simmer them...it all tastes great. I always start with the basics: onion, carrot and celery, then add whatever else I have around- zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus stems, etc. If I happen to have been doing a good bit of cooking, I save the ends of things in a bucket in the fridge to use for stock. 

There is only one rule. Don't use peelings from carrots or potatoes. They tend to make stock bitter. The French have a saying which basically translates into: "Garbage in your stock makes your stock taste like garbage."

Vegetable stock is a great, cheap and vegetarian way to make just about anything requiring cooking liquid. It has no fat, no added salt and is so good, you can even drink a mug of it like tea!

Now, as promised, a nice easy soup recipe. This particular gem is called "Cream of Green"

Why, you may ask, do I call this soup Cream of Green? Well, it saves time and space. Rather than trying to give you a recipe for broccoli soup, spinach soup, zucchini soup etc. I give you the basic formula and let you pick the green. And it doesn't always have to be green. You can use cauliflower or carrots, or squash.

You just have to adjust the cooking time to how fibrous the vegetable is. For example, broccoli stems will take a lot longer to soften than spinach, which will just wilt in. You'll understand in a minute. The other nice thing about this soup is that if you don't want to add the cream or milk, you can use nut milk, or just leave it out altogether. You can also adjust the amount of flour. Broccoli, cauliflower or carrot soup doesn't really need flour, but spinach soup does, or it will be too watery. If you are gluten intolerant, you can use a corn starch slurry at the end.

Cream of Green

1 large onion, peeled and diced

4 oz. butter

4 oz. flour (or gluten free flour)

1 gallon vegetable stock, or chicken stock, or even tap stock (that's water, lol) COLD

2 heads of broccoli

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of nutmeg

cream, or unsweetened, unflavored nut milk

Separate broccoli florets from stems and set aside. Lightly peel stems with a paring knife or veg peeler, and cut into 1 inch chunks.

In a heavy bottom pot, melt the butter and add onion. Cook over low/medium heat until the onion is soft, then add flour and stir until well combined. Slowly add the COLD liquid, stirring to keep chunks from forming. Add broccoli stems and bring to a boil. Keep at a low boil, stirring often, until the stems begin to soften. Add florets and cook until they are just getting soft. 

Remove from the heat, and process in a blender or use an immersion blender, until smooth. If you are using the blender, don't overfill it, or hot liquid will fly out and burn you. Trust me on this.

Place all the blended soup in a container, then season. Add desired creamy product here. 

OH, THIS IS ALSO THE POINT WHERE YOU CAN ADD A BIG OL' HANDFUL OF CHEDDAR CHEESE, FOR BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP. Just sayin.

Note:

Why did we cook the stems and florets separately? Well, the stems take longer to cook, give the soup most of the body and flavor, but will turn a little grey. By adding the quicker cooking florets at the end, you guarantee you will have a nice, bright green soup. 

So ends today's lesson. I'm going to go see what's lurking in the crisper drawer now and make some soup. Hope you make some, too. 

Let's make every day Stop Food Waste Day. Especially now. 

See you tomorrow.