New England Clam Chowder
Garnish with more crumbled bacon. Serve with oyster crackers.
Tag: soup
Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut Squash Soup
Every time I make this soup(which isn’t very often), I ask myself why I’m not making this all the time. Butternut squash soup is one of my favorites and is extremely easy to make. My version uses bacon, homemade croutons, and blue cheese crumbles as a topping. If you want this soup to be vegan, omit the bacon and blue cheese; using olive oil to sauté the vegetables in. If you want this soup to be gluten free, omit the croutons. Ultimately, it’s a win-win with how tasty this soup turns out.
Equipment
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon diced; fat reserved
- 1 large butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 3 medium russet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 3 large carrots sliced
- 3 ribs celery chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 head garlic peeled and minced
- 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp ground white pepper
- 2 tsp thyme
- blue cheese crumbles
Garlic Croutons
- 4 slices white bread cubed
- olive oil
- garlic powder
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, brown the bacon until crispy. Scoop out and set aside. Keep the grease.
- Add in all of the veggies and brown for 10 minutes in the bacon fat.
- Pour in the stock and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes until the veggies are soft.
- Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth.
Garlic Croutons
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet. Drizzle over olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping half way through. Let cool.
Top with bacon, garlic croutons, and blue cheese crumbles.
Mushroom Soup
Mushroom Soup
It was -30 degrees out at the time I made this Hmong mushroom soup. It was definitely soup time and this just hit the spot. This simple soup consists of a variety of mushrooms simmered with lemongrass, chilies, cilantro, and culantro. Once you bring the pot of water to boil, the soup is ready in 10 minutes.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 5 cups water
- 2 lbs mixed mushrooms wood ear, enoki, shiitake, shemiji, seafood
- 2 stalks lemongrass finely chopped
- 3 Thai chilies finely chopped
- 6 springs cilantro chopped
- 6 sprigs culantro chopped
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the mushrooms. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the lemongrass and salt. Continue simmering for 5 minutes.
- Add in the chilies and simmer for a minute.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and culantro.
Cherokee Pepper Pot
Cherokee Pepper Pot
Pepper pot comes in many forms. Originally made by southern Indigenous tribes such as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, etc, dishes like pepper pot became a huge influence on soul food; introducing ingredients like corn, okra, peppers, and tomatoes. The traditional recipe uses beef tripe, which I’m honestly not very fond of. Beef, venison, or bison short ribs are all acceptable meats to use.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef short ribs or venison; bison
- 8 cups water
- 1 large onion
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1 large red bell pepper diced
- 1 cup frozen okra
- 1 medium potato peeled and diced
- 1 medium carrot peeled and diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1/2 cup corn
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut the short ribs between the bones.
- Add the short ribs to a large pot of water with the onions. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 hours.
- Scoop out the beef from the pot.
- Remove the bone from the meat. Dice the short ribs into small pieces.
- Return the beef to the pot along with the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for another 90 minutes.
