Chickpea and Chorizo Soup

I made this soup last winter, took pictures of it because it was so delicious, then never got around to writing about it before the weather got warm! At that point, a hearty sausage-y soup lost out over more summery grill and salad recipes. But fear not; I made the soup again the other night and remembered how awesome it was, and how easy to throw together with ingredients that you probably already have. I usually keep a variety of meats and sausages in the freezer, and chickpeas always live in my cupboard. Feel free to use turkey sausage if you want to reduce the fat a little, but I'll keep the yummy spicy chorizo thank-you-very-much. The original recipe has you adding extra olive oil but I omitted that and instead used some of the rendered sausage fat to cook the onions. I didn't miss the oil one bit.

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Oma's Gulyasleves (Goulash Soup)

Goulash is a staple in the Hungarian diet, and our family was no exception. Oma (my grandmother) always had a piping hot bowl of goulash ready for us, served with a heap of nokedli (like spaetzle noodles). She always knew to make extra nokedli when I was coming over, since I tended to have a bowl of nokedli with a dash of goulash on top. I've gotten a little better about that now, but still, goulash without nokedli is like summer without sand, or Ben without Jerry.

This soup is easy to make and has few ingredients, but packs a lot of flavor. Note that Hungarians eat their goulash as a soup, while Czech's tend to have it as a stew. We do it the Magyar way. This is the second recipe from Oma that I've posted. They are all near and dear to my heart!

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Korean-Style Short Rib Soup

As one who loves lazy cooking, I'm always on the lookout for new and fun recipes to make in my slow cooker. I've made short ribs in the past and enjoyed them, so I decided to give this Korean-style recipe a go. I love all manner of Asian soups and stews, especially if they are served with fixins (uh, hello, Pho). This soup fit the bill quite well.

The flavors of the soup came out delicious, and the short ribs were perfectly melt-in-your-mouth tender, but I had the same complaint as I did with the Oxtail Ragu post - it was just too greasy! I even separated the broth from everything, refrigerated it for an hour, then scooped off as much fat as possible. I shredded the meat piece by piece, pulling out as much fat as possible. Even still, when it all came together it had an oiliness to it that was off-putting to me. I just don't know what to do!

I'm still posting the recipe because the spices were great and perhaps it's just my taste that's keeping me from totally loving it. I bet it would also be good slow cooked with chicken or another meat that is a bit less fatty than short ribs.

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Ribollita

Ribollita is a Tuscan soup that is loaded with veggies and thickened with bread. There are three different kinds of greens. Three! Not to mention the rest of the vegetables - perfect for a cold wintry night at home.

The soup has to simmer for a few hours to really blend all the flavors, so it's more of a weekend soup than a weeknight one. One recipe makes 8-10 servings, so we froze much of it. I had some of the frozen leftovers for lunch today (2 weeks later) and it was still great!

If you follow the recipe exactly, it calls for dried beans which adds another day to the cooking process; if you want to cheat like me, just use 2 cans of beans instead.

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Udon Noodle Soup with Mushrooms and Kale

I created this soup the other night to use up some shiitake mushrooms in the fridge. I happened to have udon noodles and decided to have a go at some Japanese-style soup. It came out SO GOOD. When I first tasted the broth, I was sure I had recreated Ramen, with which I had an unhealthy obsession during my teenage years. I would make Ramen every single day after school. Seriously. After eating more, I decided it didn't taste as much like Ramen as I thought but it was still amazing. And really easy! And fast!

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Lighter Broccoli Cheese Chowder

As you might be able to tell, I'm a sucker for thick, hearty chowders. Unfortunately, I don't let myself order them very often due to the serious caloric investment. I found a recipe from Eating Well, which is a great website, but be careful because I am pretty doubtful of the healthfulness of some of their recipes.

This recipe for broccoli cheese chowder has NO heavy cream in it and only 1 cup of cheese! The thickness is created instead by potatoes, a bit of flour, and sour cream. The result is a thick, flavorful, veggie-filled, creamy chowder that is not far off from the chowder you get at a restaurant! In fact, I usually let people eat a bit before I tell them that it's healthy and they can't tell (unless they're lying to me)!

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Spiced Chickpea Stew with Feta Toasts

I'm never very happy about the end of summer, but the one thing that makes me feel better about chilly weather is the resurgence of soups in my weekly dinner repertoire. I started the fall soup season out with a delicious middle-eastern spiced chickpea stew served alongside decidedly mediterranean feta bruschetta toasts. While both components of the meal go together quite well, I wouldn't hesitate to make either on its own!

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Chowdaaaaa

While chowder isn't necessarily the most summery dish, when you include seasonal crab and corn in the mix it counts as a hot-weather meal. Also, it's delicious.

I found this recipe for Crabby Corn Chowder from a blog called sticky gooey creamy chewy; I haven't tried any other recipes on the site but the name alone makes me think they'd all be great.

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Cuckoo for Curry Puffs

....And by puffs, I mean Chicken Curry Noodle Soup. The post title "Nectar of the Soup Gods" was unfortunately already taken but trust me this stuff was delicious. I got the recipe from Chez Pim, a great Asian cooking blog. This is the first recipe I've tried from there and I will certainly be trying more! Although I don't really know what I'm talking about since I'm not Asian and have never been to Asia, this recipe looked and tasted really authentic. In fact, I felt like I was eating Nava Thai's red curry! I'm sure you could make red curry with rice from this soup recipe by just reducing the liquid to meat ratio.

Authentic is a great thing, but it does make a somewhat complicated recipe that was a bit daunting for a Monday night. I made several adaptations to simplify it but I don't think I compromised taste at all! I halved the recipe since I was cooking for two. I used boneless meat and chopped it into bite-size pieces. I reduced the amount of coconut milk by 1/4 cup and increased the amount of chicken stock since I was afraid the coconut flavor might be too overpowering. I did away with the fried noodle garnish - I have to be in a bathing suit by the end of this week, people. Instead I just served with rice stick since it was what I had in the cupboard. Instead of using pickled mustard green, I threw in some arugula toward the end; again, it's what I had. Finally, I chopped up cilantro, a couple shallots and a few dried chiles and put them directly in the sauce rather than as a garnish. I love my garnishes and would probably do it up all the way if I made it for a group but it's easier to just throw it in from the get-go when I already know my and Don's tastes.

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Nectar of the Soup Gods

Okay, maybe that's going a little overboard, but this asparagus and rice soup with pancetta was seriously amazing. And with so few ingredients! Comfort food at its best, it takes your average chicken and rice soup and transforms it into a creamy, complex dish perfect for a cold night. Heck, I might even make it in the summer. The asparagus is divided and added to the soup at different times during the cooking process to achieve multiple textures. I can't say I noticed more than a couple different textures but perhaps my palette isn't refined enough. We served it with homemade ciabatta bread, sprinkled with pecorino and toasted.

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A Wintry Mix of Soup

The weathermen in DC couldn't seem to agree on how much snow we'd get yesterday. Last I heard Friday night, we weren't supposed to get more than an inch or so. We were pleasantly surprised to see giant flakes quickly accumulating upon waking up Saturday morning. It was the perfect day to sit back with a hot beverage and watch the beautiful scene outside. The birds were going crazy on our feeder and the boys (Jack and Milo, our cats) couldn't get enough; they were whining at the back door most of the afternoon.

Gorgeous cardinal in our backyard

Mr. Cardinal is nice enough to share the feeder with the masses

Jack and Milo, tuckered out from all that bird-watching

When I see snow falling, the first thing I usually want is a big hearty bowl of soup. What better day to use my homemade chicken stock?? This wasn't so much a recipe as it was a clean-out-the-fridge venture, but I'll try to recreate it best I can below. You can really use whatever veggies you have in the fridge and add as little or as much of each based on your preference.

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