Soup Recipes

Accidental Locavore: Tortilla Soup Recipe

by Anne Maxfield on March 21, 2013

Accidental Locavore Tortilla SoupTortilla soup has got to be one of the Accidental Locavore’s favorites – probably because you can add so many goodies to it and take it from good to great in no time. I use this recipe from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday  as a jumping-off point. Serves 6.

For the soup:

  • 1 large dried pasilla chile, stemmed and seeded
  • One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted if you can find them)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion, cut in half and sliced 1/4” thick
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 quarts chicken broth
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 ¼ pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into ½” cubes (I use thighs)
  • 1 teaspoon epazote (optional, use fresh if you have it)
  • 1-2 chipotles in adobo, chopped (optional)

For the garnishes:

  • 1 bag regular tortilla chips
  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted, cut into 1/4” cubes
  • 1 ½ cups shredded/grated Monterey Jack, or cheddar cheese
  • 1 lime cut into quarters for serving
  • ½ cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
  • Mexican crema or sour cream

Toast the chile in a small frying pan on medium heat for a minute on each side. Break it into pieces and put in a blender jar or the work bowl of a food processor along with the tomatoes.

Accidental Locavore Pot of Tortilla SoupHeat the oil in a large 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Scoop out the onions with a slotted spoon, leaving most of the oil behind in the pan. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the onions to the tomatoes and process until smooth.

Return the pan to the heat. Add the mixture from the blender and cook, stirring until thick, like tomato paste, about 6 minutes. Add the broth, epazote, chicken, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and season with the salt, add the chipotles if you want some additional heat.

To serve: In each bowl, crunch up a handful of tortilla chips, add the soup and garnish with anything (or everything) on the garnish list. Serve and enjoy!

Notes: This is a pretty flexible recipe. I used chicken thighs because I think they’re more flavorful. You can use breasts or even a left-over rotisserie chicken. Same for the pasilla chile –substitute any dried chile you have.  I like to add a couple more tortilla chips halfway through my bowl, so there’s a mix of textures. Usually we leave out the crema or sour cream, but for some reason (another recipe I was playing with?) there was crema in the fridge, so this time it was one of the garnishes.

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Accidental Locavore: Recipe for Spilt Pea Soup in a Slow Cooker

by Anne Maxfield on February 9, 2012

Accidental Locavore Split Pea SoupWhen faced recently with the promise of a long day without food, what was the Accidental Locavore to do? Why, cook, of course! Come on, you know it beats staring longingly at the Food Network. Before checking into the hospital (to have work done on my hand) I decided to put a batch of split pea soup in the slow cooker, that way it would be there waiting for me. Added bonus, my apartment would smell wonderful! There were some beautiful smoked ham hocks I had brought back from Maine, so they went in with the usual carrot, celery and split pea suspects. The other benefit of using the slow cooker for this was that you could just dump everything in and leave it to work its magic. This made a lot of soup, and like a lot of things slowly cooked, was better the next day.

  • 1 pound dried split peas
  • 1 good sized carrot, diced (if you’re a carrot & celery fan, feel free to add a couple more)
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • ½ cup onion, chopped
  • 2 smoked ham hocks
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ¼ cup parsley, chopped
  • 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock (you can use any kind of stock, or even just water or a combo)
  • Salt (go easy, the ham may be plenty salty) and pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients in a large slow cooker, in the order listed. Cover and cook on high for 8 hours, until the peas are tender and the ham falls off the bone. When the soup has cooked, remove the ham hocks, shred the meat and add it back to the pot (toss the bones). Stir to mix well, serve and enjoy!

My verdict: What I forgot, was that I wouldn’t have the use of my left hand so when the Locavore got home, although the soup was smelling delicious, there was no way of one-handedly shredding steamy ham hocks! I let the soup cool overnight and very awkwardly worked on it the next morning. The soup was very good. I’m not a big fan of celery and carrots, so I only used one of each (for concept). Although the recipe said you didn’t have to soak the peas the night before, it would probably have been a good idea. What I might do the next time, would be to toss the split peas and the chicken stock in the slow cooker the night before, just to let them soak, then add everything else the next morning and cook. Having really good ham hocks made it taste the way I like split pea soup, smoky and meaty.

 

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Accidental Locavore Recipe for Corn Soup

by Anne Maxfield on February 2, 2012

Accidental Locavore Corn SoupThe Accidental Locavore can’t think of a cozier place to be on a snowy January day, then in the kitchen. Rather than shovel snow, or worse, get stuck watching football, the Locavore thought  it was time for corn soup. This recipe, adapted from Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain cookbook, has intrigued me since this summer, and because of it, there were a dozen corn cobs and a large bag of frozen kernels in my freezer. It would serve about 4 big bowls and took about 1 1/2 hours, mostly unattended.

For the stock:

  • 12 ears of corn, shucked
  • 1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf

For the chowder:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 slices, bacon (optional), sliced into 1/4″ strips
  • 3/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
  • Salt, pepper and sugar, to taste

Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels from the corn. Cut the cobs in half and put in a large stock pot. Put the kernels on a baking sheet. Add to the stockpot: the bay leaf, onion and 2 quarts water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cobs and cook until it’s reduced to about 5 cups of liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the corn kernels, garlic and bacon on the baking sheet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven, stirring once or twice until slightly golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Remove the garlic from the corn and bacon mix. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook while stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the alcohol is evaporated. Add the corn kernels and bacon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 30 minutes.

If you like your soup really smooth, purée it in a blender (and if you like it really smooth, strain it after blending it). If, like the Locavore, you prefer it a little chunky, remove about 1/4 cup of the kernels and some of the bacon and set aside. Purée the remaining soup in a blender, food processor, or use a stick blender until you reach the desired texture.

Stir in the creme fraiche or sour cream, the kernels and bacon you set aside. Taste and add salt, pepper and sugar as needed. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: this was really good, maybe not as good as the corn and potato chowder I usually make, but a good variation. Bobby Flay’s original recipe has you add sugar in before blending and that made it too sweet. The Locavore likes using the cobs to make stock and next summer, will just collect them and toss them in the freezer for future soups. Since I was using frozen cobs and kernels, everything took longer, but the end result was delicious! I also tossed in a little jalapeño Tabasco sauce to give it a little kick.

Frank’s verdict: really good. He would have liked a little more texture, which was easily remedied by adding in some more kernels.

 

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Accidental Locavore Recipe for Turkey Stock

by Anne Maxfield on November 9, 2011

Accidental Locavore Turkey CarcassHate to waste the turkey carcass? Save all the bones and toss in a pot with some veggies. In an hour you’ll have delicious turkey broth. Use it for soups, gravy, etc. One turkey carcass will make about 4 quarts of stock. You can do the same with leftover chicken, just use 2 quarts of water.

  • Turkey carcass and all leftover bones
  • 4 quarts water
  • Salt & pepper
  • 3-4 stalks of celery, cut in ½” pieces
  • 3-4 carrots, cut in ½’ pieces
  • Herbs (fresh thyme, or a little fresh sage, tarragon)

If there’s a lot of meat still on the turkey, remove it and save it. Put the carcass and any bones in a big pot with the water, the celery, carrots, herbs, salt and pepper, over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Pour through a colander or sieve. Once the broth has cooled, you can freeze it, or refrigerate it for up to a week.

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