This past week, we’ve seen some ridiculously cold temperatures, into the negative teens after factoring in wind chill. Brr… But, hey, it is January, after all.
One of my favorite things to make is soup. It’s always a great way to use up vegetables that I have leftover and expedite the dinner-making process. The past couple of weekends, I have made soup on Sunday in our Crock-Pot for Dave and I to have as lunch and dinner during the week.
Here is a quick round-up of seven great recipes to try if you need inspiration for what to make this week. I’ve included a few of my own and a few that just sounded delicious from others. Let me know in a comment what you think and if you have tried any of them!
Homestyle Chicken Soup – A classic for a reason. I love serving mine with egg noodles but ditalini pasta, bowties, and other shapes are fun, too, to use up whatever you have in the pantry.
Mushroom Barley – Made with ingredients you probably have in your pantry. If you have dried mushrooms, they are excellent to add in along with fresh, button or baby bella mushrooms. I love keeping them on hand in my pantry, and I think a little go a long way for adding a little extra something to soups. I heat up water either using whatever water is left over in the kettle if I just made some tea, or otherwise in a microwave-safe measuring cup, then add the dried mushrooms like shiitake, oyster, or morel. The mushrooms rehydrate in the water, going from a brittle and leather-like state to softened and spongy. Drain, chop, and stir them into whatever you’re cooking from there.
Hungarian Mushroom Soup – from The Modern Proper – Another mushroom one (can you tell I’m a fan?) I like the addition of soy sauce for a deep, umami flavor. It’s a great addition to mushrooms and also caramelized onions, which I do when I make French onion soup or caramelized onion dip. It makes a difference – try it!
Miso Fish Chowder – from NYT Cooking – a new take on a classic New England chowder. The author suggests adding a little smoked paprika in place of the bacon, to make it a vegetarian (pescatarian) soup. Great idea! (also one of my favorite spices… ;))
Catalan Stew With Lobster and Clams – from NYT Cooking – My mouth is watering at the sound of this, which has the flavors of romesco sauce. Romesco reminds me a lot of pesto and is made my blending roasted nuts, day-old bread, plenty of olive oil and garlic, and red peppers. I didn’t know that it was also added to a fish stew, so this will be a must-try for Dave and me leading up to our honeymoon vacation this May: a Meditteranean cruise, with some stops in Barcelona and Madrid.
Cioppino with Mussels – from Food & Wine / Chef Andrew Zimmern – For my birthday, Dave took me to a local restaurant, REDD, that had a wonderful cioppino as a special. I’ve wanted to recreate it since we went, and this recipe is giving me some inspiration for a near-future cooking project.
Chickpea Stew – Rachel Ray coined a term, “stoop”, on her cooking show that described brothy, meaty, vegetable concoctions that were not quite a stew and not quite a soup. Makes sense, right? I’ll borrow that expression from Ms. Ray here and say that this stew it’s definitely more of a stoop. This was an “OG” recipe from my blog that I reconsidered recently, a vegetarian favorite of mine to make.
