Simple Soup

I have been meaning to try some version of tortilla soup for awhile now. Eventually I would like to make something good enough that I no longer need Qdoba's "Mexican Gumbo" (I tell them it is not gumbo, they do not listen. Its tortilla soup, or burrito soup).

This, is not a version of tortilla soup. But thinking about it got me here. It is simply a delicious simple vegetarian soup (except I used chicken broth).

I sauteed garlic, crushed pepper, dried rosemary, half a red onion (because it was started), a green bell pepper (because it needed to be used), some celery and carrots until the onion was soft and I felt it was long enough. I then added my serendipity ingredient - two big heaping soup spoons full of Newman's Own Salsa (that was not getting eaten fast enough). You see, salsa adds that slightly tomoatoey, slightly thick, spicey element to the soup. Next came 48ounces broth (I used chicken, veggie works) and some frozen okra (needed to be used!) which I brought to a boil, and let simmer. Finally, for some protein, I added a rinsed off can of garbanzo beans. When the carrots were tender I turned it off and voila!




The verdict? Despite being so utterly simple this soup was delicious. I would not call it hearty, just a simple light soup.

I could have added the potatoes waiting to be used in my fridge. Little pasta or rice or some other grain (bulgar, barley) would probably also work well.

I love this soup because it was one of those random experiments where I toss a bunch of stuff together, and hope it works. And it did! So, I now have a base to build on. I now know salsa works in brothy soups (it was so flavourful I did not have to add any salt!). Perhaps it is too simple for a blog post, but I'm so pleased with it I had to share!

canned soup

I think I have perfected my potato & kale sausage soup. I was aiming for something similar to Olive Garden's "Zuppa Toscanna" and but I'm not sure what I ended up with. I knew I wanted sausage, greens and potatoes in it. I searched around the web for inspiration, bought a few ingredients and went from there.

I sauteed a lot of garlic, and crushed pepper, followed by an onion then some carrots and celery. After they seemed cooked enough I added the sausage and let that brown awhile. I then added a bunch of water (enough so that it would still be soupy after all the ingredients were in) a can of kidney beans and the potatoes. I cut up the sausage and took a shower so all the flavors would meld. When I got out the soup needed a little more flavour (I should have used stock instead of water) so I threw in two or three veggie bullion cubes. I tossed in most of a bag of collard greens (kale would work fine, I use greens interchangeably), let it cook until just soft and voila! Delicousness. I filled three of my Ball freezable canning jars (I love them!) and froze to add to my stockpile of "grab n go" frozen lunches.

Simple, delicous, hearty and adaptable. There is something wonderful about sausage potato and greens soup. Someday I shall have to try it vegetarian. Veggie sausage maybe?

Congee

Yeah! I finally made congee/chao. For those of you who are in the dark, congee is a soupy rice dish served in (probably) every Asian country. Congee is the Chinese word for it. In Vietnamn its chao. My dad's Okinawan wife makes it for him when he's hung over or sick for some reason. My brother had a variant of it in Thailand for breakfast. Its sick food, comfort food, and food thats good for you when your mouth hurts.

One of the nutty Vietnamese guys I work with keeps saying "that's easy, any child can make that". Well, yes, it is easy, but any soVietnamese child was raised on it. Thats one reason its so great - it's so easy it was no problem to cook it up even though I was feeling lazy. I browsed around on the net for some basic ideas, and winged it.

Basically, here's what you do;
I guess I used too much rice - I used 2 cups jasmine rice and 8 cups water (you really want the rice to break down) but I could have used 1 cup rice and 6 cups water (so Hung tells me). I suppose that would have been enough too - I kept having to add more water, so who knows how much I ended up with. And it was still thicker than I've had it elsewhere.


I had about a pound of chicken thigh meat which I cut up (literally! who needs a cutting board?!) which I heated up a few pieces at a time in my beloved cast iron skillet before tossing them in the pot (perhaps this helped? I don't know).
I also cut off and peeled a nub of ginger which I thinly sliced and tossed in. I also threw in three cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. The only other spices/condiments I added were a few good pinches of kosher salt, a dash of soy sauce, some fresh ground pepper, a dash of crushed red pepper flakes and a light drizzle of sesame oil at the end. That sounds like a lot of flavouring, but its really not. Its very subtle. I think what you taste and smell mostly is the ginger and the jasmine rice. It not quite bland (which is good when your stomach is upset) but not spicy either.

Just before dishing it up I chopped up some green onion and tossed it in.

The giver of cast iron skillets has had a terrible sore throat lately and has been feeling very sick, and this is just what was needed.

It was filling, satisfying, mostly healthy (I wonder about that chicken thigh meat) and soothing. Besides all that, it was simple. A few cheap ingredients and very little prep work. Just toss a bunch of stuff and cook some meat on the side if you so desire. For a bit more work I've read that it is often served with a bunch of condiments like chopped cilantro, peanuts, chilies etc.

If you have any other congee suggestions let me know! I think I'll have fun playing around with this.