Chef's Corner: Soup's on in Chef's Corner
With the cold weather, cloudy skies and mid-term stress, I'm sure we could all use some warm and worry-free and meals.
Luckily, the fall bounty is plentiful and perfectly suited for the ultimate in comfort foods: soup.
Stock, cream or chowder, soup is well suited to the busy student lifestyle as it can be quite simple to make and lasts indefinitely in the freezer if stored properly** for a fast, re-heated meal. With little more than a large pot and a blender the world of soup will open up to you and share its endless possibilities. Keep the can opener in the drawer and try one of these great recipes for simple, seasonal soups.
Clockwork Carrot Soup
Packed with vitamin C, this recipe is sure to cure a cold faster than chicken-noodle ever could. Get twice the “orange” with this surprisingly scrumptious soup that combines the old standby, carrots, with the bright, citrus flavour of oranges. Trust me!
- 6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/2 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp butter
- Juice of 2 large oranges or small
- 5 cups vegetable stock
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp orange zest (make sure to wash the orange before zesting)
- Salt
- Pepper
In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat, add carrots and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Next, add stock, onion and orange juice, bring to a boil then add zest, thyme and seasoning to taste. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook for 20 minutes or until the carrots are very soft. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes then process in batches in blender or food processor (if using blender, do not use lid but rather a clean kitchen towel to allow heat to escape) add water or stock to ease blending if needed. Return processed mixture to pot and allow to reheat then serve warm.
Harvest Soup
As far as I am concerned the only way in which squash becomes edible is to make it into soup. For this particular recipe, you could use any kind of squash, even pumpkin, or combine varieties and still make a damn a good squash soup.
- 4 pounds of unprocessed squash (use the grocery scale to determine weight), peeled, seeded and chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 2 small zucchini, chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 4 ribs of celery with leaves, chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 3 tbsp butter
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- Salt
- Pepper
In large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat and add squash, zucchini and celery, cover and cook for five minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Next, blend vegetables in blender (kitchen towel lid!) or food processor with _ cup of stock, or more as needed, until completely smooth. Return blended vegetables to pot, add remaining stock, ginger and seasoning to taste then allow to come to boil over medium heat, serve warm.
** Soup is best stored in small serving sizes as it is unsafe to re-freeze any soup that has already been reheated once.
Luckily, the fall bounty is plentiful and perfectly suited for the ultimate in comfort foods: soup.
Stock, cream or chowder, soup is well suited to the busy student lifestyle as it can be quite simple to make and lasts indefinitely in the freezer if stored properly** for a fast, re-heated meal. With little more than a large pot and a blender the world of soup will open up to you and share its endless possibilities. Keep the can opener in the drawer and try one of these great recipes for simple, seasonal soups.
Clockwork Carrot Soup
Packed with vitamin C, this recipe is sure to cure a cold faster than chicken-noodle ever could. Get twice the “orange” with this surprisingly scrumptious soup that combines the old standby, carrots, with the bright, citrus flavour of oranges. Trust me!
- 6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/2 cm pieces
- 2 tbsp butter
- Juice of 2 large oranges or small
- 5 cups vegetable stock
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp orange zest (make sure to wash the orange before zesting)
- Salt
- Pepper
In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat, add carrots and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Next, add stock, onion and orange juice, bring to a boil then add zest, thyme and seasoning to taste. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook for 20 minutes or until the carrots are very soft. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes then process in batches in blender or food processor (if using blender, do not use lid but rather a clean kitchen towel to allow heat to escape) add water or stock to ease blending if needed. Return processed mixture to pot and allow to reheat then serve warm.
Harvest Soup
As far as I am concerned the only way in which squash becomes edible is to make it into soup. For this particular recipe, you could use any kind of squash, even pumpkin, or combine varieties and still make a damn a good squash soup.
- 4 pounds of unprocessed squash (use the grocery scale to determine weight), peeled, seeded and chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 2 small zucchini, chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 4 ribs of celery with leaves, chopped into 2.5 cm pieces
- 3 tbsp butter
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- Salt
- Pepper
In large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat and add squash, zucchini and celery, cover and cook for five minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Next, blend vegetables in blender (kitchen towel lid!) or food processor with _ cup of stock, or more as needed, until completely smooth. Return blended vegetables to pot, add remaining stock, ginger and seasoning to taste then allow to come to boil over medium heat, serve warm.
** Soup is best stored in small serving sizes as it is unsafe to re-freeze any soup that has already been reheated once.
