Among the soups I’ve enjoyed in restaurants that I haven’t made yet, or made as well as the restaurant, is chicken tortilla soup. Red Sage in DC, gone now, had a chicken tortilla soup worth traveling into the city for. The Sedona White Corn Soup at California Pizza Kitchen lacks only chicken to be a contender. Do you actually need chicken to be a contender? Continue reading →

I was out photographing the Nebula Awards all weekend, which meant that I was short on sleep and long on things to get done. I’d been hoping to make the Chicken Tortilla soup this weekend, but the fact is that I’m nervous about it. I’m sure I can make a nice enough soup, but I’ve had it in a few restaurants that totally rocked, and that’s what I want to make it like.

So, being short on time, I decided to make something simple that I knew would come out well, a Cajun Chicken and Sausage soup of some sort. Since I’ve done a gumbo recently, I didn’t want to do that, and besides, it takes quite a while to get the roux the right color/flavor.

But who says you can’t just brown some andouille sausage and chicken, saute some onions garlic and green peppers and toss in some collard greens with chicken stock and a cup of rice and call it a soup? Probably nobody, though if you do find someone, feel free to tell them I said they’re wrong.

In fact, this turned out to be a terrific soup, and it took a minimum of work.

• 1 lb boned chicken thighs
• 1 lb andouille sausage (I use Smithfield’s)
• 4 Large Green Peppers
• 1 large onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons Better than Bullion Chicken Stock (reduced sodium)
• 2 tablespoons Zatarain’s
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 oz Frozen Collard Greens

Last week’s soup, which hasn’t actually been written up yet on account of my being very, very busy, was a variant on Hungarian Goulash, made with cabbage and ground beef. Comments ranged from “fabulous” to “edible,” depending on where a spicy goulash fell in my test crew’s comfort zones. I liked it pretty well, but ground beef will never replace chuck for goulash.

To follow up I promised a soup that should fall in the center of everyone’s comfort zone; Chicken and Rice, made from one of those roasted chickens you find by the checkout at the supermarket.

Since I’ve been traveling during the week and spending all weekend in class for the last two weeks, that fit my schedule perfectly. Sunday night I could have a low stress dinner with my gal, and leftover bones  and bits could go into making stock, while the extra meat got split up between lunches and soup. Continue reading →

I’d been thinking about lower carb content soups recently, and itnoccurednto me that ground beef, chopped tomatoes, and an onion were a good basenfornsomething. I’m always happy to make chili, and some oregano and basil would give me an Italian soup, but there was something else n e back of my mind quietlybasking fornattention.

Hugarian paprika. Let go goulash!

Sure, goulash oftwn means potatoes, that’s carb death, but even without you could do a pretty good job. Oh,mandit had to be quick, because I’ve been in classnall weekend.

Let’s go!

2 onions, cut half both ways, then in thick slivers
2 tsp. finely minced garlic
1 T olive oil
2 T sweet Hungarian Paprika (I recommend Penzeys)
1 T hot Hungarian Paprika (I recommend Penzeys)
1/2 tsp. crushed caraway seed (optional)
4 cups homemade beef stock (or 3 cans)
3 cups roasted tomatoes (or 2 cans diced tomatoes – I recommend Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes if using canned tomatoes)
2 cups finely diced cabbage
1 lb. lean ground beef (ground chuck is best)
1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers, diced into 1 inch pieces
sour cream for serving (I use light, do not use fat free sour cream with added sugar)

Links / Sources

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2006/02/goulash-soup-with-red-peppers-and.html

You might think that I’d do something springlike for an Easter Soup. Or at least something with Earth Day in mind. Much as I like my food holidays, I went with what I really wanted to make: Red Beans and Rice.

Last week I fell off my soup blog because my gal and I went to NYC (New York City!) to visit with friends and see a Broadway show. By the time we got back Sunday there was no way soup was happening. Then the week got really hectic and my good intentions of catching up midweek went out the window. The play, a revival of Anything Goes, was terrific by the way, and since we bought our tickets before it opened it wasn’t all that expensive. Well, everything’s relative. Continue reading →