Soup, Glorious Soup

So this past week in class was was soups, stocks, and various liquid meals.

Plus (bonus) a couple of amazing salads with the most tender, unbearably subtle tasty shrimp lovingly cradled in butter and parsley. Also, poached chicken! Yum...........

My favorite FAVORITE soup tip: Use a little acid to mellow the flavor, or "brighten". This means vinegar or lemon juice. You won't taste it! Your soup will just taste better.

But first the basics, including Stuff I Guess I Knew But Must Be Taught.

Stock Vs. Broth

Stock is made from bones, has gelatin.
Broth is made from meat and, like the canned food says, meat by product.

So I'll just stop right there and say, what would you rather your liquid meal, or liquid that you basically use anything in cooking, be made with? Me too.


Couple of basic truths a) Chicken stock is the type O blood of cooking -- universal and more flavorful than pretty much anything. Perfect description. Rice with water? Nice. Rice made with chicken stock?  When did you become such a good cook? See?

b) anything with hooves takes a hugely long time to make stock from. But it is so damned delicious.

c) fish stock is intriguing and fast.

d) I just didn't process the value of vegetable broth, but it looks easy and very fast.

Helpful hints from my excellent teacher: always add COLD water to the meat or poultry when making stock.  Water should barely cover the bones. Richer is better.  add veggies and herbs AFTER you skim the stock the first time. SIMMER to keep from getting cloudy (don't boil). DON'T add salt while making the stock because you're gonna add it later in whatever you're making whatever it is you're making with the stock and leaving it out won't pre-determine your destiny.

your bouquet of herbs ( Called bouquet Garni. Okay, as if you needed confirmation that I'm a Francophile) is usually thyme, bay leaves and parsley stems. If you're straining, your, say it with me, bouquet garni doesn't have to be tied together. It can swim freely.

So, shorthand: Buy the stock at Dave's Pasta if you don't have time. Or buy Swansons low sodium at the supermarche but really, get off your ass and make it yourself, okay? Worth it.

Chicken stock:
5lbs chicken carcasses/bones. You can save them from when you make chicken and make stock after you have enough, or you can go to a butcher or supermarket and ask them for it. Inexpensive.

Cold water
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped (yay!)
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced, though I'm not sure peeled is really necessary
2 celery stalks, washed and brusquely chopped
one Bouquet Garni

Rinse the chicken and remove extra fat. Do it now to avoid having lots more fat to remove later.
put in stockpot. shake a bit to settle the bones (Edward Gorey illustration here) Skim the weird stuff off the top occasionally (the recipe calls it scum, but you know, really? should you put the word scum in a recipe?) Add the veggies and Bouquet G. For 3 hours, max. Strain, cool it down in an ice bath (Yes really. Stops the cooking). Save in fridge or freeze.

Now, a few of the actual zuppas.

We made: Southwest Squash Soup with Ancho cream and spicy pumpkin seed garnish, Fennel corn chowder,  Chicken soup with noodles and parmesan croutons (my notes from class say simmer foamy = not good), Pappa Al Pomodoro (tomato soup, and essentially the only thing without a cup of cream or cheese) Cream of Potato soup with Peston, Onion Soup Au Gratin.

And me, without my tupperware.

I volunteered to help with the onions for the onion soup made with -- dear God -- veal stock. The smell won out over my morals and desire to be a good student (I haven't eaten veal since fourth grade when I learned what veal was.) Needed the slicing practice. (See Week one: Knives!!) I was never ever a fan of French Onion Soup. This was unbelievable.

And I also did the tomato soup because it took less time than the others, as I was taking up considerable time with the Free Chopping Therapy. It also involves bread and bread crumb making and adding spices "to taste" Muhahahaha. My favorite.

Papa Al Pomodoro:
1/4 cup olive oil (doesn't have to be xtra virgin)
2 TBS minced garlic (Mincing! Awesome)
1 cup of chopped leeks (the white part plus up to an inch of green)
2 28-oz cans I-talian peeled tomatoes with juice, hache (that means with a basil leaf)
4 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)
1 TBS nicely chopped basil, fresh
2 cups stale tuscan or french bread, grated or satisfyingly pulverized in a food processor
salt, pepper
6-8 large basil leaves, to slice Chiffonade style
Pinch (es) of dried red pepper flakes

xtra virgin olive oil for drizzling and just general joy.

Chop the leeks into tiny bits and then put the whole cup into a big bowl of water. It is the easiest and fastest way to wash leeks, because they are dirty. No wonder I love them.  The dirt will fall to the bottom as they sit there floating on the top. Do this before anything else, including the garlic.

 Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the minced (!) garlic and leeks and saute over low heat until they look tender. Learn from my mistakes: if you stick your finger in a hot oily pan to test the tenderness, you will get burned. Pretty good advice in general, metaphorically speaking. Add the tomatoes, stock, and chopped basil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, season once.

Stir about 1/4 of your grated/or now submissive bread at a time into the soup, whisking vigorously after each addition. The mixture should resemble oatmeal in consistency, but will be a bit lighter texturally speaking. Taste. Add more spices, do not fear the salt or pepper or pepper flakes, especially if you're using Kosher salt. If it tastes like it needs something else but you're not sure about salt, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon (did I mention the instructor is a __genius__?) That will do it.

pull off the fire. Put your Chifonadded basil on top, and leave the bottle of oil out for drizzling. Apologize for eating all the leftover bread!

I will post other soup concoctions if folks like. The corn chowder was to die for.

A kind person in class lent me some tupperware; I had some tonight. Yummy, 

Next week! Braising and meats! Yum.