chicken, corn, and black bean chowder.

This is one of those soups that takes time, if you have it or are willing to make it. And there is a short cut version as well. I did the whole thing in my slow cooker.

Day One:

1 whole chicken -- neck and organs removed, washed 

1 onion, chopped2 medium carrots, rough chopped 

1 stalk celery, rough chopped 

5 cloves garlic salt, pepper, paprika (or whatever else you would like to rub on the bird) 

1 cup white wine

Pat the chicken dry and rub with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Put the vegetables and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker and the chicken on top. Add the wine and turn the cooker on low. Let it cook overnight, or for at least six hours. 

Remove the bird and pull the meat off the bones. Discard the skin. (You can save the bones to make more stock later.) Pour the liquid in the slow cooker through a sieve or chinois or some cheesecloth and put it in the refrigerator to cool. (The fat will separate and will be easy to remove.Discard the vegetables.

SHORTCUT VERSION: Buy a roasted chicken and a box of chicken stock. 

Day Two:

4 tablespoons butter or olive oil 

1 or 2 poblano peppers, diced (depending on the heat you want) 

1 onion, diced 

2 cups corn kernels (this time of year, I use frozen ones 

1 tablespoon cumin 

1 tablespoon dark chili powder 

salt and pepper

Melt the butter or heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the peppers and onions, along with the cumin, and cook until tender -- about 5 minutes. Add the corn and chili powder. Stir and cover. Check and stir occasionally. Cook for another seven or eight minutes. Empty pan into slow cooker and add

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced 

1 small can of crushed pineapple 

shredded chicken (from Day One) 

stock (from Day One) and enough water to make four cups

Set slow cooker on low and let it cook overnight once more (or you could do it on high for two to three hours). The next morning, turn the cooker to high and add

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 

1 cup heavy creamsalt and pepper to taste

Turn it to high and let it cook for another hour or so. Another option here is to move everything to a stock pot and add the beans and cream while it is on the stove. For that matter, all of Dayer  Two could be done on the stove. The slow cooker just lets me make a great soup in the background.

Peace
Milton

roasted asparagus and poblano soup

2 bunches asparagus, trimmed
2 sweet white onions
2 leeks (white and light green parts only)
2 poblano peppers
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup Arborio rice
4 cups stock (either chicken or vegetable)
2 limes, juiced
olive oil
salt and pepper 

If you have a gas grill, turn the burner on high and put the poblano peppers directly over the flame until they char. Put them in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them sweat for ten or fifteen minutes. Take them out of the bowl and, using paper towels, wipe the outer skin and char off the peppers. Also clean out the seeds from the inside. If you want more heat in your soup, add more seeds. Try not to wash the peppers clean; this affects the flavor. (If you don’t have a gas burner, put them in the oven for about twenty minutes in a small pan covered with foil and then sweat them.)

Peel the onions and cut them in half. Put the flat side of the onion down and cut across the grain, so you get little half moon slices. Cut the leeks in half and due the same thing. Put about two tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat and add the onions, leeks, and garlic. Cover, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to caramelize – about fifteen minutes. Cut the asparagus into one to two inch segments and toss with olive oil and then spread out on a baking sheet. Cook in a 350 oven for ten to twelve minutes. Take out of the oven and add to the stock pot, along with poblanos, the Arborio rice and the stock. (The rice will make the soup creamy without adding cream.) Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat and let the soup simmer for about a half an hour.

Remove from the heat and add the lime juice. Puree using an immersion blender, or let the soup cool a bit and carefully puree in batches in either a food processor or a blender. When you serve the soup, Drizzle good olive oil over the top.

Peace, Milton

chickpea, garlic, and spinach soup

I started looking for soup recipes with chickpeas (garbanzo beans) because we had some on had at the restaurant. This is an adaptation of the one I liked best. Since I was making about three gallons of soup, these proportions are a bit of a guess, particularly with the spices.

2 tablespoons olive oil
8 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 onion, diced small
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, and stir in garlic and onion. As the onions begin to soften, add the cumin and coriander. Keep cooking until onions are translucent and tender. Add

1 quart vegetable stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and dice small

Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and let it simmer about ten minutes Add

1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

(Here's one of the places where I'm guessing as I scale down the recipe. You want about a 60-40 mix of chickpeas to potatoes.) Keep cooking until potatoes are done. In a separate bowl, whisk together

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
2 tablespoons corn meal

and add to the soup. Finally, stir in

1/2 pound baby spinach leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

Stir the simmering soup until the spinach wilts and is heated through.

This was one of our best selling soups this week.

Peace,
Milton

mushroom and black bean soup

Start with a basic mirepoix:

1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
olive oil

Saute the vegetables in the soup pot until they are tender. I like to cover the pot to keep all the juices inside. Add

1 lb. sliced mushrooms (I like Baby Bellas)
2 dried ancho chiles

Stir well, cover, and let cook until mushrooms are soft. Add

4 cups vegetable stock
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper

Bring everything to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer. I puree the soup using my wand mixer; if you don't have one, do it in batches in your food processor. Once the soup is pureed, adjust the seasonings and serve.

Peace,
Milton

spicy corn and red bean chowder

I made this soup for our Advent Fest at church today, mostly because these were the ingredients I had in my kitchen. I wasn't really measuring things when I made it, but this is a reasonable apporximation.

1 stick butter
1 onion, small dice
1 red pepper, small dice
1 cup celery, small dice
3 cups frozen corn

Melt butter, then add other ingredients and sauté over medium heat. I like to keep the pot covered to keep in all the juices the vegetables create. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until onions are translucent and slowly add

1/2 cup flour

and cook for another three or four minutes, to make a roux. Add

4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons cumin powder
salt and pepper
2 or 3 bay leaves

and cook, stirring occasionally once everything is mixed well, until soup begins to thicken. Add

2 cans red beans
2 cans Ro-tel tomatoes with green chiles, drained

and continue to heat until everything is heated through and soup is thick.

Peace,
Milton

chickpea and vegetable stew

I came across this recipe looking for a soup to make for a friend who leans toward the vegetarian side of things.

olive oil
2 cups zucchini, cubed
1 cup onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced

Heat your soup pot and cook these ingredients, covered, for about five minutes. Stir in

4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground pepper
1 small can diced green chiles
2 cans (15.5 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes, with juice

Bring mixture to a boil , reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the chickpeas are tender, stirring occasionally.

Peace,
Milton

chilled minty carrot and orange soup

I made this soup for one of the people in our church and also made enough for our potluck Wednesday night.

1 sweet onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 red bell peppers
4 cups carrots, sliced 1/8 inch thick
4 cups vegetable stock

In a stockpot, sweat the onions with the oil for six or eight minutes and then add the peppers and cook until they soften. I like to keep the pot covered to keep in the juices created by the vegetables. Add the carrots and let the mixture continue to cook down until the carrots begin to soften. Add the vegetable stock, bring the whole thing to a boil and then lower the heat so that the soup simmers for a good fifteen minutes at least. When the carrots are good and soft, turn off the heat and use a hand mixer to puree the soup. (You can also do it in batches with a food processor.)

1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Add the orange and lemon juices and make sure everything is mixed well. Season to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more orange juice, or – if you think the orange taste is right – a little cold water.

2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

The mint is the final touch. Do a fine chop on the leaves and then stir them into the soup. Cool it down before serving. You want it to taste like it just came out of the refrigerator. The easiest way to cool it is to put the soup in several smaller containers.

Peace,
Milton

sweet potato, apple, and ancho soup

There is a recipe for a similar soup in this month's Food and Wine, which I had planned to make, but I was late getting off work and had to stop at the grocery store without benefit of the recipe. Here's my improvised soup, which turned out to be good enough for me to bring home an empty pot.

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon, diced fresh ginger
1 dried ancho chile, chopped

Heat the oil in the pot and add the onion, garlic, ginger, and chile; heat until onion is translucent and the mixture is aromatic. Add

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large sweet apple (Honeycrisp or Fuji)

and continue to cook until apples soften up a bit. Add

1 large bottle Newcastle Brown Ale

and bring to a boil. After a couple of minutes, add

4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup honey
salt and pepper

Bring mixture to a boil once more, stirring occasionally.Lower heat and let simmer until potatoes are soft. Use a wand blender or a food processor and puree the mixture. If it's not sween enough, add some brown sugar. Once it's pureed, bring back up to bubbling and let reduce for a few minutes.

You can serve this with sour cream to cut the chile-heat, if you like. You can also use less ancho in the mix. If you want a significantly thicker soup, use one more sweet potato and one more apple and the same amount of liquid.

Peace,
Milton

southwestern chowder

I had about an hour to come up with a soup for a meeting at church tonight, so I tried to come up with something that mostly involved opening cans. It turned out great. Go figure.

4 10 oz. cans of Ro-tel Chunky Tomatoes and Green Chilies
3 15 oz. cans black beans (I used Kuner's Southwestern Beans with Cumin and Chili Spices)
2 1 lb. packages of frozen corn kernels
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart light cream

6 tablepoons (1/2 stick) butter
6 tablespoons flour

Open the first five items and put them in a stockpot. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the flour to make a roux. When the flour is absorbed, the mixture should be fairly stiff. Add to the soup and stir well until it's dissolved. Continue to simmer for about ten minutes, until the soup thickens.

Serves 12.

Peace,
Milton

rainbow corn chowder

This recipe is an amalgamation of a couple of other recipes and some imagination trying to use up stuff I had around.

2 T butter
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3 1/2 cups whole kernel corn (frozen works best)
2 cans black beans, drained
2 small cans chopped green chiles
6 oz. kielbasa, cubed
1/2 c milk
1/2 c heavy cream
4 T flour

In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Saute onion, garlic, and bacon in butter until the onion is tender and the bacon is cooked (5-8 minutes). Stir in broth, sweet potatoes, pepper, and cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

Stir corn, black beans, and kielbasa into soup. Pour milk and cream together and whisk in flour. Add to soup and simmer for twenty minutes. The soup will thicken as it cooks.

Serves 6.

Peace,
Milton

hungarian mushroom soup

This is a soup I made for a church dinner and it was a big hit. I got the original recipe from All Recipes.com.

4 T unsalted butter
2 cups diced onions
1 lb fresh Crimini mushrooms, sliced (often named "Baby Bellas" in the store)
2 t dried dill weed
2 T paprika
1 T soy sauce
1 t salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 t lemon juice
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
2 c chicken broth
1 c milk
3 T all-purpose flour
1/2 c sour cream

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 more minutes. Stir in everything but the milk, flour, and sour creamand reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, whisk the milk and flour together. Pour this into the soup and stir well to blend. Cover and simmer for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Finally, stir in the sour cream. Mix together and allow to heat through over low heat, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not boil. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

Peace,
Milton

autumn bisque

This one comes from my afternoon at the restaurant on Wednesday, making the best of what we had around. You can read the post that goes with this recipe here.

1/2 pound of bacon, cut into small pieces
2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 piece chorizo sausage (or the sausage of your choosing)
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups light cream
salt
pepper
cinnamon
cayenne pepper

Cook bacon in the bottom of the stock pot you plan to use. Once it has begun to brown, add the olive oil and the onion. When they begin to become transluscent, add the rest of the vegetables and the chorizo and cook on medium high heat for about five minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Continue cooking untl vegetables are nice and soft. Puree the mixture, and add cream. Add seasonings and let the soup simmer for at least a half an hour.

I served it with juilenned apples on top.

Peace,
Milton

swiss chard bisque

I brought in my first harvest from the garden today: a big bunch of basil, some pineapple sage, one zucchini, one summer squash, and an armload of both red and yellow Swiss chard. After I came in, I started looking for chard recipes and fooled around until I made something I liked.

1 bunch (1 lb) Swiss chard
1/2 c chikcen broth
4 T butter
1 Vidalia onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 c Crimini mushrooms, chopped
3 T flour
1/2 t curry powder
3 c light cream
salt and pepper

Wash and drain the chard. Pull the leaves off the stems and then dice the stems and cut the leaves seperately. Place the leaves in a saute pan, add 2 or 3 T chicken broth, cover, and cook over medium heat for about five minutes (until tender). Add the elaves and a couple more T of broth, cover, and cook for another 3 or 4 mintues (until the leaves wither). Put the chard and the broth in a food processor and puree.

In a stock pot, melt the butter and add the onion and garlic; cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add mushrooms and saute about five minutes. Stir in flour and curry powder and cook until bubbly. Add cream slowly and cook until thickened. Add chard puree and salt and pepper. When the seasoning tastes right to you, ladle the soup in batches into the food processor and puree until smooth.

The soup has a lovely rich green color and a great taste.

Peace,
Milton

parsnip and apple soup

1 T butter
1 lb. parsnips, sliced thin
1 lb. apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
1 med. onion, chopped

Melt the butter; when foaming, add parsnips, apples, and onion. Cook until softened, but not browned. Add

2 t curry powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/2 t cardamon seeds
1 large garlic clove

Cook for about two minutes, stirring consistently. Add

5 c chicken stock

Cover and let simmer for about thirty minutes, or until the parsnips are very soft. Puree the mixture and add more stock or water if it seems to thick. Return to soup pot, add

1 qt. cream

and heat until soup is hot, but not boiling.

Read the tangentially related post that goes with the recipe here.

tequila and lime black bean soup

1/2 lb bacon, cut in one inch pieces
2 large onions, diced
1 bunch celery, diced
1 lime, quartered
1/2 c tequila
chicken broth
2 large cans black beans
1 lb chorizo, diced (kielbasa works as well)
cumin
chili powder
salt
pepper

Cook bacon in bottom of stock pot; add onion, celery, and lime and cook until onion is translucent. Add one can of black beans, tequila, seasonings, and about two cups of chicken broth. Simmer for about thirty minutes. Puree the mixture in a food processor and return to stock pot. Add the other can of beans, the chorizo, and more broth if it feels to thick and simmer again for about twenty to thirty minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and tortilla chips.

Read the post that goes with this recipe here.

uncle milty's guinness and chocolate chili

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 large can (29-30 oz) can red beans
1 can Guinness
1 oz unsweetened chocolate (fair trade)
diced green chiles or jalapenos
cumin
dark chile powder
salt and pepper

In a large pot, saute the beef and the onion until beef is cooked through; drain the fat and leave meat and onion in the pot. Add beans, Guinness, chocolate and heat until simmering. I didn't put amounts on the peppers and spices because you may like it less hot than I. The green chiles are milder than the jalapenos (I use canned in both cases); the cumin won't add heat, but gives it a kind of smoky flavor. I have also ground up dried ancho chiles into a powder and added them instead of the dark chile powder.

The stout and the chocolate give the chili a sweet undertone alongside the savory cumin and the peppers. This is good stuff.

Read the blog entry that goes along with it here.

lentil vegetable soup

1 1/2 cup dried lentils
8 c organic vegetable broth
2 cups roasted tomato sauce (you can use canned tomatoes, but the sauce is worth it.)
1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 bunch celery, diced
1 bunch asparagus, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 bay leaf
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.

curried squash soup

2 pkgs. peeled and cut butternut squash
1/2 t ground cinnamon
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
1/4 ground nutmeg
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, & quartered
salt and pepper
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1/8 c olive oil
2 cans coconut milk
1 t curry powder
2 c chicken broth
1/2 t dried oregano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix squash, onions, apples, and garlic and toss with dry spices. Pour on olive oil and then place on a baking sheet and roast 45-60 minutes, or until squash is tender and browned. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Put mixture in food processor in batches and puree until smooth (add chicken stock if you need to thin it out). Put in large stock pot and add coconut milk and remaining chicken stock; bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

pumpkin apple soup

In a soup pot begin with
1/2 lb bacon, chopped

Cook until browned and then add
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

When onion is transulcent, add
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Cook until apples are soft and add
2 cup water
1 can of pumpkin
2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup brown sugar
salt and pepper
1/3 cup crystallized ginger
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t tumeric
1/2 t cayenne pepper

Simmer for about an hour and then puree.