Asparagus and Potato Soup

Our family loves soup. I make soup more often than any other category of food, particularly in the winter months, but I'm a fan of soup year-round. It's asparagus season now, making this the perfect time for some creamy Asparagus and Potato Soup. This recipe, like all soup recipes, is not fussy. I used sour cream in my soup, but otherwise it is vegan. Feel free to leave it out if you want a vegan dish, or add meat (ham would be delicious) to please the carnivores in your family. Basically, you can add or subtract what you want, change the amounts of the ingredients, make your soup thicker or thinner - anything goes. I used the microwave this time to pre-cook the potatoes before putting them into the soup pot in order to have dinner on the table sooner. You can cook your soup entirely on the stovetop if you prefer. Affiliate links below. 

Asparagus and Potato Soup

2 lbs. potatoes

4 cloves garlic
2 T. oil

3 T. Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base

2 lbs. asparagus

dollop of sour cream

Wash the potatoes, then cut them into thin slices. (There's no need to peel them unless you want to.) Put the potato slices into a large microwave-safe bowl with 4 cups of water. Microwave them for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a large pot and saute the garlic over medium heat until golden. Pour the water and the potatoes into the pot.

Add 4 more cups of water to the microwave-safe bowl, then heat until boiling. Stir in the vegetable base. When it is completely mixed, pour the broth into the pot. Cover the pot. 

Cut the tops off the asparagus and put them into the bowl with 1 cup of water. Set them aside for now. Cut the asparagus stems into 1" pieces, discarding or peeling any woody ends. Add the asparagus stems to the pot. Simmer, covered for 20 minutes, or until the asparagus stems and potatoes are tender. 

Microwave the asparagus tops for 2 minutes or until just tender. Set them aside again. 

Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Adjust the seasoning as needed and/or thin with the asparagus water as needed. Pour off any extra water from the asparagus tops. 

To serve, ladle the pureed soup into bowls. Add a dollop of sour cream to each bowl, stir gently two or three times, then garnish with a generous amount of asparagus tops. 

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Nothing goes better with soup than homemade bread, fresh from the oven. Tomorrow I'll share the bread I served along with the Asparagus and Potato Soup. 

Homemade Wonton Soup

Our family loves wonton soup. By doing some of the prep ahead of time, the soup can be on the table in under 15 minutes, making it perfect for a weeknight meal. 

Steve got me this set of melamine take-out boxes for my birthday and I'm in love. They're so cute and the perfect size for a serving of soup. I already had the spoons (affiliate link). 

So what's the secret to homemade wonton soup on the dinner table in minutes? Making a huge batch of wontons ahead of time and freezing them. 

Then all I have to do is heat up some broth, add plenty of ginger and whatever veggies I have on hand, and then drop the frozen wontons into the boiling broth. In minutes, dinner is on the table.   

You can put pretty much anything you want into your wontons. Start with a ground meat, then add shredded veggies, some aromatics, and a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. I usually wing it, but for posterity's sake I actually measured this time so I could record what I used. 

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Beef Wontons

                                       8 oz. ground beef                                             1 T. ginger, minced
                                       1/2 c. shredded carrots                                   1 T. soy sauce
                                       1/4 c. shredded cauliflower                           1 tsp. sesame oil
                                       2 cloves garlic, minced                                    square wonton wrappers
 

Brown ground beef in a large frying pan. Transfer the cooked beef to a bowl, leaving the rendered fat behind. Saute the carrots and cauliflower in the pan until just tender. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for 2 more minutes. Return the beef to the pan, then stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil. Remove from heat. 

Create a comfortable station for filling the wontons (it will take awhile!). You'll need a small dish with water and a cookie sheet to put the filled wontons. 

Put a wonton wrapper into one hand and use the other hand to spoon approximately 1 tablespoon of filling into the center. Do not overfill!

Dip a finger into the bowl of water and use it to moisten along two of the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold the wrapper diagonally so that the moistened sides line up with the dry sides. Press the air out around the filling as you fold, then pinch all along the edges to seal. 

Set the filled wonton on the cookie sheet. Continue, placing each wonton onto the cookie sheet, making sure they don't touch. When the tray is full, cover the wontons with plastic wrap and put it into the freezer. When the wontons are completely frozen, after approximately one hour, transfer them to a ziplock bag and return them to the freezer. 

Beef Barley Soup

Years ago, I used to enter cooking contests that required participants to use their own original recipes. These contests were usually sponsored by a specific manufacturer and the recipe had to use a certain  minimum amount of their product. In this case, it was a beef bouillon brand. The contest was held during the summer, so I took advantage of the season and developed a beef barley soup with zucchini and fresh tomatoes as well as the more traditional root vegetables that usually appear in a beef soup. It's funny how effectively those two simple vegetables can turn a winter classic into a summer soup. 

This recipe is extremely flexible, so when it's wintertime and there are no tomatoes or zucchini in the garden, I leave them out. Either way, it's delicious. 

Beef Barley Soup

                      6 cups beef broth                                                        3 large carrots, cut in 1/2" slices
                      1.5 lbs beef chuck, cut in 3/4" cubes                       2 large potatoes, cut in 3/4" chunks

                      1 tsp. oil                                                                        5 celery stalks, cut in 1/2" slices

                      1/2 c. pearl barley                                                       2 medium zucchini, cut in 1/2" slices

                      1/4 c. tomato paste                                                    2 large tomatoes, cut into 3/4" chunks

                      1 onion, chopped                                                        salt and pepper to taste

Bring the beef broth to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. In a medium pan, heat the oil, then add the beef cubes and brown on all sides. Pour the contents of the pan into the beef broth. Add the barley, tomato paste, and onion. Cook, covered, over low heat for 45 minutes. 

Add the celery, potatoes, and carrots to the pot. Cook, covered for 60 minutes.

Add the zucchini and tomatoes to the pot and cook for an additional 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  

Cream of Zucchini Soup

We've had a bumper crop of zucchini this year, with no signs of it slowing down. I've made all of my favorite zucchini recipes multiple times and we still have plenty. It's the best kind of problem to have! This soup uses a decent amount of zucchini and it's creamy and comforting without being too heavy for September. 

Cream of Zucchini Soup

                                                        1 T. olive oil                                           1 tsp. seasoned salt

                                                        1/2 white onion, chopped                  2 T. butter

                                                        2 cloves garlic, minced                        2 T. flour

                                                        3 large zucchini, chopped                   1 1/2 c. milk

                                                        1 can veggie broth                               Parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the onions for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another three minutes. Add the zucchini, broth, and seasoning salt and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. Remove from the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup. 

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook until golden, whisking constantly. Whisk in the milk until it is smooth. Add the roux to the pureed zucchini mixture and combine thoroughly. 

Serve with a garnish of Parmesan cheese. 

Slow Cooker Minestrone

Back in January, my friend Izzy posted a recipe for crockpot minestrone soup that sounded both delicious and easy - definitely a winning combination! You can see her picture and get her recipe here. Yum!

While my intent was to actually follow her recipe, I made quite a few changes (due to a combination of Steve's food sensitivities, my personal preference and in an effort to use what we had on hand). Fortunately, soups are very flexible and forgiving! Here's how mine looked.  

  And how did it taste? Delicious! All three deRosiers gave it two thumbs up.

Slow Cooker Minestrone

                            1/2 onion, chopped                                                2 16-oz cans vegetable broth
                            1 clove garlic, minced                                            1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
                            3 carrots, chopped                                                 1 tsp. dried basil
                            2 zucchinis, sliced                                                   1/2 tsp. celery salt
                            1 15-oz. can kidney beans, drained                      1/4 tsp. pepper
                            1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained                 2 c. cooked macaroni

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker except the two types of beans and the macaroni. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Twenty minutes before you want to eat, add the beans. Ten minutes later, add the cooked macaroni. Ladle into bowls and garnish liberally with parmesan cheese.

Tomorrow I'll share the biscuits that I served alongside the minestrone.

Mashed Potato Soup

The last time we had relatives over for dinner, I grossly overestimated the amount of mashed potatoes we'd need. It's always better to have too many than not enough, but after a week of eating leftover mashed potatoes with every meal, the three of us were more than ready for the container to be empty. I turned to Google to see what to do with leftover mashed potatoes. I was intrigued to see recipes for mashed potato soup.

I read through the various recipes, rejected each for various reasons, and decided to make up my own. I'm happy to report that it was fantastic! And I used up every last bit of the mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potato Soup

                                 4 slices bacon                                                      2 c. leftover mashed potatoes

                                 1/4 c. finely chopped onion                              1/2 c. shredded cheese

                                 1 can (14.5 oz) vegetable broth                       chives

Slice bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook in a large pan over low heat to render fat. Remove bacon, leaving approximately 1 T of bacon grease in the pan.  

 

Add onions to hot grease. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently until onions are soft and golden brown. Pour in broth. Add mashed potatoes. It will look like this:  

 

After about 2 minutes of stirring, it will look like this:

 

Turn heat to high. Stir constantly until the soup reaches a boil, then remove from heat. The soup should be creamy and smooth, without any lumps.

 

Ladle into bowls, then garnish with cheese, bacon and chives.

I should mention that I made my mashed potatoes with butter, sour cream, and a little bit of cream. Obviously, these all helped make my soup so good. If you start with plain mashed potatoes, you'll want to stir in a little bit of one (or more) of these to the soup right after you take it off the heat.

Bon appetit!

Corn Chowder II

Nothing better than soup on a cold winter's day, right? I've shared a corn chowder recipe before - one that started with boiling corn cobs. (You can find it here.) That soup was delicious. Here's a different corn chowder for those times you don't have fresh corn on the cob. This thick, rich, satisfying soup uses canned corn. It was inspired by a recipe by Leann Mendez that was printed in the Sacramento Bee a decade or so ago, but (as usual) my version bears little resemblance to the original.

 

Corn Chowder

                                       7 T. butter, divided                                          1 15-oz can of corn

                                       2 carrots, chopped                                          6 T. flour

                                       3 celery stalks, chopped                                1 tsp. pepper

                                       1 small onion, chopped                                 1 tsp. salt

                                       2 cups water                                                    2.5 c. milk

                                       2 lbs. potatoes, diced  

In a large pot, melt 1 T. butter over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion, stirring until slightly softened. Add water and bring to a boil. Stir in potatoes. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  

While the potatoes are cooking, make a white sauce by melting remaining 6 T. butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix in flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add pepper and salt. Whisk in milk. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

 

When potatoes are soft, add canned corn (including any liquid) to the vegetables.   

 

Add white sauce to vegetables and heat through. The soup is delicious as is, or you can garnish it with grated cheese, bacon, or both.  

Yum!

Potato Leek Soup

There's nothing I love more on a cool fall evening than homemade soup and fresh-from-the-oven bread. Potato Leek Soup is one of my favorite soup recipes. I always prepared it with my 5th graders back in my teaching days. I don't think I EVER had a kid who didn't like it.

As is the case with most of the foods I made with my class, the recipe I developed makes a huge amount of servings (22). For a class of 32 kids, this was just the right amount for each student to have a small serving that didn't ruin their appetite for lunch. Here's my family-sized version that makes about 5 servings:

Start with 2 lbs. of potatoes and 3 leeks.

 

Peel the potatoes and chop then into small, even-sized pieces (the smaller they are, the faster they'll cook). Wash the leeks, remove the dark green portion, and slice the white and pale green part into rings.  

 

Heat one can (14.5 oz) of veggie broth in a saucepan. Add potatoes and leeks and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Turn off heat. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender - and I think everyone should- then you can use a food processor or blender, but you'll have to let the soup cool a bit first so you don't damage the appliance.) Stir in 1 cup half-and-half, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Spoon into bowls and eat as is, or top with crumbled bacon, grated cheese or both.

 

Here are some other soups you might enjoy!

Cheesy Beer Potato Soup

Corn Chowder

Tomato Soup

Rice Chowder

Cheesy Potato Beer Soup

I make a lot of soup during the winter. Here is one of my favorites. Like many of my other recipes, it was originally torn from a magazine but I've adapted it in so many ways that it bears no resemblance to the original.

Cheesy Potato Beer Soup

                                    2 T butter                                                              2 large potatoes, chopped
                                   1/4 c. ham, diced                                                  2 c. broth
                                    1/2 c. onion, chopped                                        12 oz. beer
                                    1 c. carrots, chopped                                          1 c. grated cheese
                                    2 celery ribs, chopped


Start by chopping ham, onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes.

Heat some butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, ham and carrots. I let these cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the celery and cook for another 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently. The onion should be translucent and the ham and vegetables should have some browning. Then add the broth and the potatoes, cover, and let cook for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes test done.

Add beer.  I've learned an important lesson- only use beer you like. Someone brought us some beer that Steve didn't like, so I figured I'd use it up in this soup. Well, it turns out that if you add beer you don't like, you'll end up with soup you don't like. I'm not a beer drinker, but I do like Steve's favorite- Shiner Bock. It's very tasty in this soup.

Remove the soup from the heat and stir in all but a few tablespoons of the cheese. I used a 4 cheese blend, but anything will work. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the reserved cheese.

Rice Chowder

As I've mentioned before, I'm cooking my way through several decades' worth of recipes I've torn out of magazines. I decided to try a recipe called "Wild Rice Chowder." Well.... I started out with the good intentions of actually following the recipe, but that was immediately foiled when the grocery store didn't have wild rice. They had rice blends that included wild rice, but no stand-alone wild rice.  At that point, all hopes of following the recipe were over. You can't make something called "Wild Rice Chowder" with no wild rice. 

So I made up my own recipe that was loosely inspired by the original. VERY loosely. Here's what I made. It was SO good. Definitely a new family favorite.

Rice Chowder

                                       1 T. oil                                                         1 c. water

                                       3 oz. ham, chopped                                 4 c. vegetable broth

                                       1 stalk celery, chopped                            2 T. flour

                                       3 carrots, chopped                                   2 c. milk

                                       1 garlic clove, minced                              1 c. swiss chard, chopped

                                       1/2 c. uncooked rice                                1 oz. Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large pot. Add ham, celery, and carrots. Saute over medium high heat about 8 minutes.  Add garlic and rice; saute 2 minutes. Pour in water, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Combine flour and milk, whisking thoroughly.  Add to soup.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes.  Add swiss chard and cook for 5 more minutes.  Ladle into bowls; top with grated Parmesan cheese.