HALLIE EPHRON: Yesterday morning when I woke up, it was sixty degrees outside and my heat system had kicked on. The trees are turning and the humidity has dropped, and though fall began a week ago, yesterday was the first truly felt fall-ish overnight and morning.
You’ll need:
- 1 large saucepan
- Immersion blender
- Olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 T fresh basil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Sugar
- 4 c chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth if you prefer)
- 28-ounce can of [I prefer San Marzano] tomatoes, crushed or chopped
- Sour cream (or heavy cream)
PREP:
1. Dice 1 medium onion
2. Dice 2 celery stalks
3. Mince 1 T of fresh basil (or use 1 tsp dried)
COOK:
4. In 2T olive oil over medium heat, saute diced onion and celery, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1 T fresh basil (or 1 tsp of dried), and a pinch or two of cayenne for about 6 minutes or until the onions are soft and translucent.
5. Add the can of tomatoes and juices, chicken broth, and sugar.
6. Simmer 40 minutes.
7. Puree with an immersion blender.
When ready to serve, ladle out a portion, swirl in some sour or heavy cream, and garnish with a basil leaf.
Easy peasy. And truly delicious.
Goes perfectly with a grilled cheese sandwich in front of a roaring fire or sitting outside and watching the sun set.
What are your soups for the season--something to take the bite out of the cold? Mushroom soup? Cabbage and beet? Goulash, anyone?
This sounds delicious, Hallie . . . thanks for the recipe. [And the grilled cheese . . . yum . . . that’s a favorite here.]
ReplyDeleteI knew it was going to get cooler, but the temperature really dropped Friday and it was in the chilly forties in the morning . . . a perfect time for all those hearty, delicious meals.
Shepherd’s Pie is a favorite in our family . . . we always make it when we have lamb at Easter, but we’ve made it with prime rib, and that’s quite good, too . . . .
Sounds delicious - here I start thinking about a lobster bisque
DeleteJoan I make shepherds Pie with ground lamb, beef or even my daughters choice of pork and turkey. They are all delicious.
DeleteShepherds pie is also very good made with venison.
DeleteWhatever works so you can have mashed potatoes, right?
Totally agree, venison is hard to come by in
DeleteMaine, unless one hunts.
I will have to try the venison . . . .
DeleteIt was 100 degrees today here in the Bay Area of California. It will be over 100 again tomorrow. We have another month of heat during the day, it does cool off in the evening. Your recipe sounds great! Soup making weather here after Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteCold soup? Gazpacho!! With all those wonderful local tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers and a crisp pinot grigio.
DeleteYummy! And goulash - I haven't made that in ages. Must dust off a recipe. I like to make a hearty fish stew with a tomato base.
ReplyDeleteThe fish stew sounds good - but I do not have a good recipe for goulash. Hint hint...
DeleteI even have some Hungarian paprika my son brought back for me!
DeleteA nice bowl of minestrone soup warms the soul on a cold day.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites... I can eat it for days on end.
DeleteThese all sound good! I made lentil soup this week, we'll have it again tonight. and starting to dream about chicken pot pie...
ReplyDeleteStarting with leftover chicken??
DeleteThis is reminding me of homemade onion soup. Not a walk in the park - in the best tasting version I've made, you roast beef bones as step 1 for making the stock, and then sliced onions (a great mountain of them) cook and cook and cook on top of the stove before you start to combine them with the other ingredients and simmer simmer simmer. The house smells great and it's' SO worth the effort. And with a bread and cheese topping it's a meal all by itself with a side salad.
ReplyDeleteYes, delicious onion soup. I had a recipe many years ago when having made the beef stock by roasting bones etc., the finish was a topping of puff pastry then baked in the bowl in the oven till the pastry was done. A lot of work but it was wonderful.
DeleteCaramelizing the onions is the key, don't you think?
DeleteMy eyes were streaming so bad once when I was making onion soup that I grabbed Steve's swim goggles out of desperation. It worked!
Sounds picture-worthy... Karen wearing swim goggles at the kitchen counter. Eyeglasses only seem to trap the irritant.
DeleteI am grateful there is no photographic evidence, Hallie!
DeleteOh, the Julia Child onion soup is absolutely incredible. But it takes hours, it’s insane. But the final step is putting it into individual oven proof bowls, covering with Parmesan cheese, topping with a baguette slice, and put it under the broiler. And there is nothing better in the world.
DeleteWe always break the fast on Yom Kippur with Moosewood Cookbook's Hungarian Mushroom Soup. Irwin loves it. I just bought the ingredients for their White Bean and Black Olive Soup. After that, I'll make Sweet Potato and Apple Soup, not a Moosewood recipe. The last two soups are vegan, so they're good to serve for most guests.
ReplyDeleteHauling out my Moosewood - I'd gotten out of the habit of looking in actual cookbooks for recipes. Remembering a terrific black bean soup from there that's made with orange juice. Sounds weird but it was delicous. So healthy and ahead of their time.
DeleteHaha, was just about to write that my favorite soup is the potato leek recipe from Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest when I saw the Moosewood reference. Those were the days. Soup looks delicious, Hallie, will try this week. Sending love. xx
DeleteYes, those were such classics!
DeleteHallie, Moosewood's Brazilian Black Bean Soup. Bonus, it has a kick, and most soups did not have that back in 1972 when I bought that cookbook! We love it.
DeleteI'm going to have to dig out my Moosewood!
DeleteMy neighbor brought us chili this week, best I've had in years. Her secret? She used both beef and pork. What a difference it made.
ReplyDeleteI made chicken and dumplings recently, our first cold weather meal. So easy and so good. We practically bathed in it.
My go-to winter soup is beef barley, using every wilted vegetable in the fridge and beef shanks. I also make a killer French lentil using depuy lentils and bacon. And Julie's favorite is Manhattan clam chowder.
For Christmas Eve, maybe even for Christmas dinner, I make cioppino, a la Tim and Victor. It pretty much takes care of those seven fishes: crab, clams, mussels, cod, shrimp, scallops, and anchovies.
Autumn has arrived on the tundra, even have had the furnace on a couple of times. And days are getting shorter. Another trip around the sun I guess.
This all sounds absolutely scrumptious. And I've never made a dumpling... my friend Patty Joe who grew up in Kansas City makes them. I shall consult.
DeleteDumplings are pretty easy. I grew up eating my grandmother's old fashioned egg noodles, but German spaetzles are tons easier and taste just as good.
DeleteAnn, my all time favorite is beef barley soup. I make it so thick that it is like a stew!
DeleteHallie, I think a matzoh ball is a kind of dumpling.
DeleteAHA! Thanks, Judy - If so, then easy peasy, been there done that.
DeleteHallie, I make bisquick dumplings, just like my mother did. Except I toss in some poppy seeds for a tiny crunch
DeleteAnn, I have ground pork and ground beef in the freezer. Going to try that for chili!
DeleteYour tomato soup looks yummy, Hallie.
ReplyDeleteI love all kinds of soups : vegetables soups, puréed or not, vegetables and barley soup, split pea soup, onion soup, chicken and rice soup ( mainly chicken broth because I’m not a big fan of meat in soups ).
And, even though I like fish and seafood, I don’t like soups that contain them.
If I can digress a little. I was only able to read Friday’s post and comments (about English language) in the evening.
DeleteAs you know, English is my second language and I don’t have many occasions to practice it (speaking or writing).
It is here that I write it the most. So, feel free to correct me when necessary.
I think you do very well!
DeleteI would NOT have guesed that English is not your first language from your posts... truly.
DeleteSo agree! I love reading your posts, because the English is perfect, but I can still hear your accent, somehow!
DeleteLooks and sounds, delish, Hallie! Thank you. I am a soup lover, with my favorite being my mother's recipe for corn chowder. No matter what I do, it never tastes as good as hers did. My son makes it and it is as good as hers but I cannot. I think I used to but I must have lost my skillage, which is a word I heard on Poldark and I love.
ReplyDeleteSkillage: noun.
DeleteMy kids claim their versions of what I cook aren't quite as good. Makes me think it was a blessing that my mother largely stayed out of the kitchen and my grandmother, with a few exceptions, was a terrible cook.
My standby remains clean-the-fridge-soup: all the leftover veggies go therein, along with leftover pieces of meat or sausage cut small. It's never the same twice, but usually pretty good-- especially with all those spices one almost never uses otherwise. Leftover rice or pasta? Toss it in. If it seems a bit on the thin side, beat an egg or two and drizzle it into rapidly boiling soup from about a foot above: instant egg drops. Soup doesn't require a recipe-- only, as in the old fairy tale, a stone if that's all you have.
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved that story. Stone Soup. I agree, my standby is the whats-in-the-refrigerator soup. And one can do wonderful things with a pack of Ramen and the remains of the veggie bin.
DeleteWe always called that Gottago Soup. Delish!
DeleteI love clean-out-the-fridge soup. In fact, I need to make a pot.
DeleteThat said, I'm big on root soups: onion, carrot, potato, parsnip, celeriac, all simmered together. Sometimes I leave it in chunks, sometimes I puree it with the immersion blender.
ReplyDeleteMy wife makes several wonderful soups, including a red lentil soup with kale and a creamy butternut squash soup. But my favorite is a carrot and ginger soup that we had for the first time on our thirtieth-anniversary trip, which she figured out how to make. Fall is such a great time for soup!
ReplyDeleteSounds good - do you know if she uses fresh ginger or powdered? Going to look it up...
DeleteBeautiful Soup so rich So green,
ReplyDeleteWaiting in a hot tureen
Who for such dainties would not stop.
Soup of the evening
Beautiful Soup,
Soup of the evening,
Beautiful Soup
Thank you Lewis Carroll
There’s a winters worth of ideas here. I will try your tomato soup Hallie and offer a butternut squash one in return
Microwave the squash, allow to cool, then cut open and remove the seeds, scrape the meat from the skin and chop up. Saute a chopped onion, couple of carrots, celery and potato. Add a quart of stock and the butternut. Cook gently till the veggies are soft then adjust seasoning and blend.
THANK YOU Celia! Looks easy peasy. Seems like all the best recipes begin with chopped onion, couple of carrots, celery, add a quart of stock... add the main ingredient and finish with rice or pasta or potatoes and/or some kind of thickener (egg, flower, corn starch). Like mathematical equations.
DeleteButternut squash soup is my go-to for Thanksgiving. Garnished fancy with a swirl of sour cream, toasted almond slivers, and sliced up scallions.
DeleteStarted out to make Butternut today but found I had mislabeled the Fall sauce. Oh well, it came out fine though more tomatoey than I could have wished so off to buy more butternut.
DeleteSoup is my favorite for fall and winter. Jay Leno once said in a monologue, if someone invites him to dinner, don't serve him soup, and I was outraged. A) he probably thought soup came condensed, in cans, and B) he had no idea how much goes into really good soups. His loss. Also, I'd never want such a churlish dinner guest.
ReplyDeleteI'm visiting my daughter in her new home in northern Michigan, and the restaurant we went to last night had really good chili. So satisfying.
My own soup repertoire includes my mom's chili, a fantastic 10-vegetable soup I've shared here before, chicken/turkey noodle, Senate bean, potato leek, butternut squash, lentil with kale and red lentil with tomatoes and coconut, white chicken chili, and spicy black bean. Served preferably with good homemade bread.
Yum.
Glorious soup, Hallie. My favs for winter vary. Right now, lentil or navy bean. I keep promising I'll find a recipe for Senate Bean Soup, but so far, it's still in the wish list column!
ReplyDeleteKait, the recipe is on the Senate's website!
Deletehttps://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/bean_soup.htm
HALLIE,
ReplyDeleteSoups are wonderful when the weather turns chilly. My favorites include ginger carrot soup, french onion soup and tomato soup. I love the red lentil thai soup that they serve from the soup place in Berkeley. There is also the coconut milk vegetable? soup that I love at Thai restaurants.Dairy free gluten free grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect with tomato soup.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Diana
Coconut milk vegetable soup? My sister has cow milk problems - have you ever found a recipe, Diana?
DeleteIt never occurred to me to use coconut milk instead of dairy ... it can be very sweet, but I think there's unsweetened, too. Lactaid doesn't do it?
DeleteI'm always looking recipes for my sister's family. My niece does the cooking in exchange for rent and my sister is trying to live a more vegetable based diet for her own health and my niece's. I have never asked if she has tried Lactaid, I should check.
DeleteNot sure about Lactaid. If it has cassin in the Lactaid, then I cannot drink Lactaid. Unfortunately I get sinus headaches if I try Lactose Free Milk because it still has the Cassin.
DeleteNo, I have not been able to find a recipe for the Thai Coconut Milk soup. I forgot the name of that soup.
Diana
thanks for the tomato soup recipe! Anyone have a good minestrone recipe? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDeb makes fantastic minestrone. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get leftovers!
DeleteHere's the one I make - from Marcella Hazan - it's sheer perfection. A *lot* of prep but the cooking's a snap.
Deletehttps://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/minestrone-alla-romagnola-52501091
Thanks, Hallie, I'll try this recipe soon.
Deletethank you for the recipe!
DeleteMy one chicken soup secret is to put in the celery as whole stalks, then you can take it out before serving. Because I’m not fond of chopped celery in soup, but I love the taste.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love to make chili! But is chili soup? There is a question for the ages.
Soup or stew??? I say stew.
DeleteBut what do you use to make it CHILI? Got to have chili peppers, right? But... Red? Green? Dried? Canned? Hot-hot? Ancho? Chili powder. Whichever way you go it's a very different dish. (traveling: in a mexican supermarket one entire wall of the produce section was chili peppers. A dear friend used to grow her own and smoke them and freeze them - they made spectacular chili.
DeleteMine is definitely soup.
DeleteI usually use a chili seasoning brand, Wick Fowler's. I buy the Two Alarm with is not so hot. Don't know if you would get that outside of Texas or the South.
DeleteWick Fowler's is available through Amazon like everything else in the world. If you're a chili wimp, like me, you can also get the "No Alarm" variety. I expect it's the cumin that makes it hot, as well as the chili powder.
DeleteI float a whole frozen habanero in my chili. Adds that great flavor and only slight back burner warmth - as long you don't cut it open. I grow one habanero plant every year in a big pot, which reminds me, it's time to bring it inside so the rest can ripen!
DeleteThe joke here in Texas is that, on the first rainy weekend where the temps drop into the 50s, everybody in the state makes chili. Proper chili is actually a sauce, more than a soup, but once you start adding beans it becomes a hearty soup. At least, that's my Missouri Girl compromise with the True Texans within my circle of friends.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made my first chili of the fall yet, but on the weekend of the Autumnal Equinox I did make my first pot of Ham and Bean Soup. I've experimented with all kinds of recipes, but I have finally hit on the perfect seasonings and the right balance of ingredients to make an outstanding pot of ham and beans. I can eat it at least once a day, and somehow, despite my best efforts, I never manage to have leftovers to freeze. I'll have to check out Karen's Senate recipe above, just to see how we compare, but I love my big pot of beans!
My chili is more of a sludge. With beans. ON white rice and UNDER a layer of shredded cheese and chopped fresh cilantro. A complete meal by itself but I wouldn't argue with cornbread on the side .
DeleteThe cheese is a must-have, but you might try rolled tortillas--with butter and a touch of salt--instead of cornbread sometime. I'm a fan of saltines, myself, and like to put far too many of them in my chili. This is why I rarely eat chili in public. I don't want to embarrass myself.
DeleteWe’re huge soup fans here, Hallie. My favorites are curried parsnip and carrot and ginger, but on Friday I made leek and asparagus soup and it was yummy! We also make old fashioned chicken soup sometimes with noodles. Our go to winter lunch
ReplyDeleteThis is reminding me that I have chicken soup frozen from last winter... Should be eaten.
DeleteHere we are talking about go-to winter/weather changing soups and the weather is on the morning news...Low 90s in the Bay Area, that's not exactly soup weather for me. I'm not a great fan of cold soup. I like iced coffee but not cold soup. When I do want soup I prefer creamy style for comfort so my go-to soups would be split pea soup, Potato leek, tomato. I like brothier based items with some heft to it, so they are more stew like than soup like. To be perfectly honest I always have a couple cans of Anderson split pea soup in my pantry. Really easy to heat in the microwave and it's perfect to take the chill off, sprinkled with black pepper an served soda crackers.
ReplyDeleteIn the honest admissions department: I keep a few cans of Campbells mushroom soup on hand at all times because there are a ridiculous number of "dishes" you can make with it and as far as comfort goes, it does get much more comfy than Cambells cream o' mushroom. Just do not add any more salt.
DeleteDeana, the Sweet Potato Apple - Soup that I make is not only vegan, it is also very, very creamy and can be served hot or cold. An immersion blender is a super tool for this, but a regular blender works, too. I have served it at a summer parties and my friends were wowed. You can adjust the seasonings, I have.
DeleteThat sounds delish! Thank you. In AZ, when the temps drop, we look forward to pozole and menudo! A few more weeks I think…sigh.
ReplyDeleteLOVE pozole and menudo! Nothing like it, pretty much, here on the East Coast except in the neighborhood where my daughters live in Brooklyn (Sunset Park).
DeleteAh, pozole. A friend from NM used to make it in grad school. Hallie we can get hominy in cans and make pozole that way!
DeleteMenudo would be a bridge a bit too far for me. Here's from a recipe: "Simmer the cow feet and marrow bones in a large pot with 6 quarts of water, 5 garlic cloves, and onion for about 15 minutes at medium heat without covering. Add the tripe and oregano and cook for about 2 – 2 ½ hours "
DeleteIt's not soup weather here yet but when it comes I'll make chili. No beans though. My mother always put in kidney beans but I think it was to stretch it out for our large family. I have a couple of recipes for tortellini soup, one with spinach added. Both are good. I love Rhys's curried parsnip soup. And I make two different pumpkin soups: one has the pumpkin pie spices and the other has curry powder.
ReplyDeleteMy family loves soup. My personal favorite that I make is Chicken Gnocchi soup. We also keep a bag in the freezer for leftover veggies, when it’s full we make a beef vegetable soup. On the chili debate, my mom makes both chili & chili soup, a recipe from an Amish cookbook.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to have to do a day about gnocchi. Not something I keep on hand but clearly I should.
DeleteWe lean towards the heavier soups here. Chili (which is not technically a soup, but which I choose to include with soups) and potato soup are the favorites. I love my mother's vegetable soup (with a little beef from the short ribs), but my husband isn't as big on it. I have bought a new, huge, beautiful pot to fix my vegetable soup this year, as I usually had to use two pots for the amount I wanted to fix.
ReplyDeleteI fixed bean soup once because my husband loves it (I do note love it or even like it), and I thought I'd surprise him. I served it to him that night, saying I fixed bean soup for you tonight. He started eating it and told me it was really good and that I should open up another can of it the next day. Oh, yes, he did indeed get canned bean soup there ever after. Lucky for him, one of our neighbors manages a restaurant in town that makes delicious (or so husband says) bean soup, and said neighbor brings it to Philip every so often.
Why is this story reminding me of the short story in which a wife bludgeons her husband with a frozen leg of lamb and then eats the evidence. (Please tell me I did not make that up.)
DeleteI believe it's a Peter Wimsey story by DL Sayers
DeleteHallie, that was a Roald Dalhl story "Lambs to the Slaughter" made famous and creepy as a movie done by Hitchcock! I always remember that!
DeleteSorry for typos, have band-aid on finger. I love soups, almost any kind. Fall and winter always means gumbo weather to my Louisiana family, but I don't really consider it "soup", for some reason. Tomato was always a favorite for me, and hubby must have potato soup several times. I love minestrone and Italian wedding soup, but a pain to make the tiny meatballs. When we were caregivers for my parents for over 6 years I made tons of different soups. Dad loved them and always asked (after his 1st big stroke) what kind I made. Once I just did an "everything but the kitchen sink" on a cold day when it was raining, and he ate 2 bowls, asking what kind of delicious soup he was eating, and I just said 'let's call it Rainy Day Soup' and he wanted me to make it again, lol. Have no idea what all dibs and dabs I put in, maybe with a bit of leftover spaghetti sauce! BTW, I love my immersion blender stick to thicken things!
DeleteLynn YES it was Roal Dahl - and Hitchcock made a tv episode out of it that starred the wonderful Broadway actress Barbara Bel Geddes (she was in Dallas, too). The wife in the story didn't EAT the evidence: even better, she fed it to the investigating offices!
DeleteOn Italian wedding soup - Nikki Bonanni hung out with me and Lucy here before a Crime Bake one year and she led us through making her mother's (grandmother's?) Italian wedding soup. It was fantastic. But yes, those tiny little meatballs took forever.
I hurt my jaw eating an apple yesterday, so these soup options look amazing!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What is the sugar quantity for this tomato soup recipe? Thanks!
ReplyDelete