Cream of Chicken Soup

I normally make this when I have leftovers from a roast chicken or a store-bought rotisserie chicken. It's one of Lovey's favorite leftover dishes. Especially when it is a cold day; like it is today.



Dice the onion, carrots and celery into 1/4" pieces.  It's a plus to use celery stalks with the leaves; the leaves add an enormous amount of flavor. Mince the clove of garlic and set all this aside.

 

 Cut or tear your left-over chicken into bite-size pieces 

Measure out chicken broth (store bought or homemade)




 and the flour

 

bundle the herbs and tie into a bouquet garni.  I usually wrap these up in a piece of cheese cloth but I just threw it in there bare today.

 

Now you are ready to create your soup.  Melt a stick of butter and sweat the vegetables.

Add the flour, mix well and allow to cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the broth and gently whisk until the broth and roux are combined. Bring to a boil



and throw in the bouquet garni. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the chicken and return to a boil.

 

 

Remove soup from the heat and add the cream and sherry (make sure the Sherry is Dry, not Cream).

NOTE:  Sometimes I like to add rice to my bowl. Steam up a little rice or use left-over rice.


Cream of Chicken Soup
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion
2 stalks celery, with leaves is a bonus
3 medium carrots
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 cups chicken stock, homemade or store-bought
3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3 cups chopped chicken, leftover roast chicken or store-bought rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. dry sherry

Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish
cooked rice (optional)

Mise en Place:

• chop onion, celery and carrot into 1/4" pieces and  set aside
• mince garlic and add to other vegetables
• Measure out flour
• measure out stock
• gather parsley, thyme, and bay leaf into a bundle and tie into a bouquet garni
• chop chicken into bite-size pieces
• if using garnish, roughly chop the 2 Tbsp. parsley
• cook rice if using

Method: 
Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 12 minutes.  Add flour and cook, stirring for 2 more minutes.

Add the stock and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Add the bouquet garni. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and return to a boil.  Remove from heat.

Stir the cream and sherry into the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste

Garnish with chopped parsley if desired. Serves up nice with a side salad or sandwich. We like grilled cheese.

If using rice, place 1/4 cup cooked rice in bottom of bowl and ladel soup over rice.       

Butternut Squash Soup

 

I wanted to try this butternut squash recipe from Ruth Reichl's My Kitchen Year cookbook.  She is my number one favorite food writer and I have every book she has ever written.

I believe this is going to become my "go-to" butternut squash soup recipe.  In the past I have pretty much always made this Cream of Butternut Squash Soup which is really good but this recipe is so light and simple.  Not just in how it's made but because it doesn't have added cream, sherry, etc. the beautiful fresh flavor of the squash is the star of the show. 

Aside from a little olive oil, salt and water these are the only ingredients to create this soup. Since everything is going to be pureéd you don't have to be particular about chopping the vegetables.

Sauté the aromatics in a little olive oil until tender.  Notice my last sentence..very to the point and boring.  Here is how Ruth instructs: "Slick the bottom of a casserole or Dutch oven with olive oil, add the vegetables, and let them tumble into tenderness, ......"  I really do enjoy her writing. (bold emphasis is mine)

 Add the squash and potato to the vegetables and add salt and water.

Cover and simmer until everything is soft.

 

In batches, transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and pureé until smooth.

Return to pot to re-heat. 

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil or balsamic vinegar.  I topped mine off with a little splash of Apple Balsamic that I bought at Vomfass in Scottsdale. Perfect.


Butternut Squash Soup
From My Kitchen Year - 136 Recipes that Saved My Life" by Ruth Reichl
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
1 stalk celery
2 carrots
1 yellow onion
1 pound butternut squash *
1/2 pound potato (preferably waxy like Yukon Gold)
salt
water

Mise en Place:

• roughly chop celery (I like to pull most of the strings off the stalk first)
• peel and roughly chop carrots
• roughly chop onion
• peel and cut the squash into 3/4 " pieces (butternut is easier to cut if you peel it first. Be sure to peel down to the bright orange flesh)
• peel and roughly chop the potato

Method:
Drizzle a little olive oil to cover the bottom of a Dutch oven.  Sauté the celery, carrots, and onion until tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir the squash and potato into the vegetables, add a couple teaspoons of Kosher salt and toss.  Bring 2-1/2 cups of water to boil in the microwave then add to the vegetables.  Cover and allow to simmer until all ingredients are soft.

Transfer the mixture, in batches, to a blender and pureé.  Be sure to cover the lid of the blender with a folded tea-towel in case their are any "explosions" - this is a hot mixture.  Return the pureé to a pot to re-heat.

Serve in bowls and drizzle with a little olive oil or Balsamic vinegar.

* you can use just about any winter squash. 

Ham Hocks and Beans

There's nothing more Southern then a pot of beans that has been simmered until tender and creamy, flavored with smoked ham hocks. There's also nothing more controversial than how to cook your beans.  Soak vs Quick-soak vs Don't Soak.......Change water vs Cook in soaking liquid.......Salt at the beginning vs Salt at the end.........Cook covered vs Cook uncovered; and on and on. It's hard to ruin beans; just don't hard boil them to death.

Do what works best for you. It's important for you to figure out what works best for you with your equipment, altitude, schedule, etc. 




Simple ingredients can produce a tasty, stick-to-your-ribs meal.  There are Great Northern beans, smoked ham shanks (ham hocks are good too), onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. I don't know if my beans are ever exactly the same each time I make them; all depends on what flavoring meat, aromatics, and herbs you have on hand. Sometimes I don't use anything but Bay leaves.

Here's my quick-soak method.  Place 1 pound of rinsed, dried Great Northern beans in a large pot of water; enough to cover the beans.  Bring to a boil then remove from heat, cover and let soak for 1 hour.

 

 While the beans are soaking chop up your onion, dice the garlic and make a bouquet garni of 1 sprig fresh thyme and 2 bay leaves. For this recipe I chose to wrap my bouquet garni in cheese cloth so I don't have bits of thyme floating around in my beans.  I just want the flavor.

After the soaking period add the ham shanks or hocks, onion, garlic, and bouquet garni to the pot .  If necessary, add enough boiling water to cover beans.  Bring to a boil then simmer, uncovered, until beans are tender.  Check after 1 hour.  Add additional boiling water if necessary to keep beans covered.  Beans should be done in an hour to an hour and a half.

I salt at the end of cooking for a couple of reasons:  1) I agree, from experience, that salting at the beginning toughens the skin of the bean and it takes longer to cook; and 2) you never know just how salty your hocks will be.

Serve with cornbread.  It's the law.



Ham Hocks and Beans
Serves

Ingredients:
1 pound dried Great Northern beans
8 cups water
1 large yellow onion
1 large clove garlic
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

1 pound smoked ham hocks or ham shanks
Extra water, if necessary
Kosher salt, to taste

Method:
Rinse beans and place in 5 quart pot.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Remove pot from heat, cover and let soak for one hour.

While the beans are soaking, chop the onion and garlic and set aside.  In a small square of cheese cloth wrap up the thyme and bay leaf and tie with kitchen twine.

Add the onion, garlic, bouquet garni, and ham hocks to pot of beans. If necessary, add enough boiling water to cover beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until tender.  Check at 1 hour and add any additional liquid to keep beans covered (be sure to boil water prior to adding to pot).

Remove hocks or shanks.  When cool, remove meat and return to pot.  Serve with hot cornbread.

OTHER COMBOS THAT I'D MAKE AGAIN:

• Great Northerns and a smoked turkey leg no one ate at Thanksgiving. Who really eats the turkey leg anyway?

Cream of Butternut Squash Soup with Sea Scallops and Shrimp

Come Autumn, butternut squash is used a lot in our house.  Soup is a staple.  I've tasted many delicious butternut squash soups that are more on the sweet side, using apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. This one is a more savory recipe garnished with scallops and shrimp.

It's really easy; the majority of the labor is in chopping all the vegetables.

The squash, onion and garlic are all thrown into a Dutch oven.  I've also added a bouquet garni of thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage, and bay leaf. For this soup I wrapped the herbs in cheese cloth because I didn't want flecks of the herbs in the soup. 

 After the chicken broth and cream are added to the pot it's all brought to a boil. Cover the pot and lit it simmer over reduced heat until the squash is tender.

 Discard the bouquet garni

In batches, puree in a blender or food processor.  With this batch I had to use my immersion blender because my blender broke and I sold my food processor in our estate sale.  It is at this point that you can make this soup as thick or thin as you like.  You can add chicken broth, milk,  or cream.

 

  

You can garnish the soup with anything you want; pepitaps, croutons, grated cheese, and on and on.  I opted for sauteéd scallops and shrimp sauteéd in butter.

Ladle into soup bowl, garnish and enjoy.

Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 10 or more

Ingredients:
3 pounds butternut squash
1 large yellow onion
1 large clove garlic
1-1/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/8 tsp. ground pepper
3 sprigs flat leaf parsley
1 fresh sage leaf
1 large sprig rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
 3-4 bay leaves
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream
10 sea scallops
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
10 large shrimp
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Method:
Peel, seed and cube the squash and toss in a 5 to 6 quart Dutch Oven.  Chop onion and dice garlic and add to pot.  Add 3/4 tsp of the salt and pepper to the pot. 

In the center of a square piece of cheese cloth  bundle the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Roll the cheese cloth around the herbs and tie at each end and the middle with kitchen twine.  Throw into pot.

Pour the chicken broth and whipping cream into the pot. Stir to mix, cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.

Peel and de-vein the shrimp and set aside. Pat scallops dry on both sides and set aside.

In batches, pureé the mixture until smooth and return to pot.  Add additional broth or cream if you wish, depending on your desire of thickness of the soup. Keep soup warm.

For the scallops, preheat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over high heat.  Add 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt.  When oil starts to smoke, add scallops to pan.  When scallops brown, turn over and turn off heat. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from skillet  to avoid overcooking.  Wipe out skillet.

Return skillet to medium heat and melt the unsalted butter until foaming subsides and the butter is golden brown   Add shrimp and sauté for 1-1/2 minutes on each side.

Ladle soup into soup bowls and garnish with the scallops and shrimp.

Cream of Roasted Hatch Chile Soup

Ahhhh, Hatch Chile season.  I love it.

I can buy them in mass quantities, already roasted which is so much easier than  roasting them myself at home.  When you select a package of roasted chiles, make sure they are really roasted.  You want the skins charred black.  They will be much easier to remove the skins.  If they are just partially roasted you'll have to peel off the waxy skin and that's a pain.


Let's talk about heat for a moment.  I definitely remove the seeds because I just don't want the texture.  Even if the Hatch chiles are the "mild" variety, the veins pack some heat.  So, I would suggest if you want your soup really spicy leave all the veins.  If you want a little bit of spice, remove half of the veins.  If you really want the soup milder, remove all the veins.  You will still get that fabulous Hatch Chile flavor.


 

 After rinsing all of the charred skins off, removing seeds and removing veins, coarsely chop and put into a pan with chicken broth.  You are just heating the broth and chiles up since the chiles are already cooked.

 In batches pureé the broth and chiles until very smooth. 

Since you are blending something hot I would suggest placing a tea towel over the top of the blender lid just in case the contents decide to spew everywhere.


 

You should have about 8 cups of pureé

 Pour the pureé back into the saucepan and slowly re-heat.  Add the cream then salt to taste.  The seasoning of the final produce will depend on how seasoned the broth you use is. 

Cream of Roasted Hatch Chile Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth
2 lbs whole roasted hatch chiles
1 cup Heavy cream

Method:
Purchase two pounds of roasted hatch chiles from the local roaster. Rinse/clean the skin off the chiles. Male a slit down the Chile and move the seeds and two of the three veins in the pepper.

Roughly chop the chiles and add to the chicken broth, just long enough to warm and meld flavors with the chicken stock.  

In batches, pureé the vegetables and broth.  Pour back into the saucepan and slowly re-heat.  Stir in the cream then season to taste.  Serve with croutons or crushed tortilla chips.

 

Potage Crécy (Cream of Carrot Soup)

The reference of Crécy in the name of this cream soup (potage) is to Crécy-en-Ponthieu; a region in Northern France that is famous for growing, in their opinion,  the most tasteful carrots. The area is also known for a battle in the fourteenth century in which England kicked some French butt.  Anyhow, the French generally refer to cream of carrot soup as Potage Crécy.   

But that's not why I'm making this today.  I'm making it because my Papa inspired me to make it.

We were visiting one night about the days when Lovey used to gallivant around France on a regular basis searching for antiques.  Papa shared a little story about a time Lovey took him along on one of his buying trips.

At the end of a long day, and fairly late in the evening, they checked in to a small inn in Beaune.  They were tired and hungry.  The woman who ran the inn apologetically let them know that the only thing she had left in the kitchen was cream of carrot soup.

Two men from west Texas weren't overly excited about this but they were hungry.  So they conveyed to her that soup sounded great.  She brought out two bowls of this extremely hot, creamy, orange soup and a loaf of crusty bread.  They ordered two more bowls each and with each order and praise of how wonderful the soup was the lady became more endeared to them.  

So, with that pleasant recollection that Papa shared with me I thought I would place cream of carrot soup on the menu for Christmas dinner.

I didn't have a saved clipping for cream of carrot soup but I did have a clipping for a cream of pea soup that I have posted here in the past.  This is such a basic French technique to make any cream vegetable soup, or potage.  In France a "soup" usually means the dish has chunks of vegetables in it; a potage means it is pureéd.

There's not much to it.  You sauté / simmer what ever vegetable you are going for in a broth.  You can add other vegetables that lend flavor and/or color.  So, this is what I did for the carrot soup.  I don't have any idea how their potage looked or tasted at that little inn; I just made this up.

 

I diced up carrots, yellow onion, a little potato, garlic and added a little dried thyme, ground cardamom (I wanted to use grated nutmeg instead of the cardamom but I was left to use what resources were in Papa's pantry) and lemon juice.  All of these were simmered in chicken broth until the vegetables were tender.

This is a really un-appetizing photo, I know.  I failed to snap a photo once I had pureéd the mixture...you know how hectic it gets at that moment when everything is coming together for Christmas dinner and everything gets crazy (after 4 hours of very calm preparation).  After the vegetables are pureéd the cream is added, mixed well with the pureé and re-heated.

Papa did not have a blender so I used an immersion blender.  If you prefer, as I do, a really smooth potage use a blender.  Using an immersion blender or a food processor will give you a rougher pureé.  But the taste is not compromised.

The soup was a hit but most important to me (even though he didn't say it was just like his bowl of soup in Beaune) was that Papa loved it.   Mission accomplished.

Potage Crécy (Cream of Carrot Soup)
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:
5 to 6 carrots
1 small yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 1-1/4 tsp. fresh)
1/4 ground nutmeg (or cardamom)
1/2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

4 to 6 cups chicken broth *
1 cup cream

Mise en Place:

• dice carrots
• dice onion
• mince garlic
• measure out herbs
• squeeze lemon juice
• measure chicken broth
• measure cream

Method:
 Place carrots, onion, garlic, herbs, lemon juice and chicken broth in a medium stock pot.  Simmer until the vegetables are tender.  Pureé vegetables and broth in a blender, in batches, until smooth.  Return pureé to pot and add cream.  Re-heat and serve hot.

* Use enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables, then use more if you prefer it thinner after pureéing.