hot ham water?

March 10, 2009 1:07 AM

I need recipes for tantalizing soups that freeze well. Bonus points for creativity.

I've been invited to one of those nifty Soup Swap parties, and I want to knock everyone's socks off with 6 quarts of really interesting and delicious soup.

Ideally, I'd like to find a recipe that:
1.) doesn't require blending of any kind - I don't have an immersion blender, and I haven't had good luck with pureeing soup in the "normal" blender.
2.) is meatless - not a requirement, but I know there will be lots of vegetarians in attendance.
3.) is still delicious after freezing/thawing - obviously.

Thanks in advance!

posted by arianell to food & drink (10 answers total)

Two soup threads!

Good thing I still have the link to pumpkin and orange soup still on my clipboard.
posted by NekulturnY at 2:11 AM on March 10, 2009

this is the best soup I know how to make, it's amazingly tasty, freezes well, and looks divine:

Bosrcht
1 bunch of beets, with greens (4-5 beets - if you don't have the leaves attached to the beets, you can substitute spinach)
4 potatoes
4 carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg Tofurkey sausage (optional, will please vegetarians)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp smoked paprika (oh so yummy!)
pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage

Grate potatoes, beets and carrots, finely chop garlic and greens, slice sausages, add to big stewpot and fill with water until vegetables are just covered. Add spices, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream (or better than sour cream for vegans)
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:40 AM on March 10, 2009

Any minestrone recipe without sausage and chicken stock will do. Here's one. Just replace chicken stock with vegetable stock. If your guests are vegan, omit the cheese.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:22 AM on March 10, 2009

Soupe au pistou! Easy, inexpensive, makes a damn ton. Basically this is the French version of minestrone, with pesto added at the end for extra flavor.

...The recipe I have calls for salt pork as a flavoring agent for the broth, but you can substitite a single vegetable bouillon cube instead. You really don't need any more than that, because it simmers so long with the other ingredients.

1 pound dried beans -- a mix of pinto and white beans, ideally, or all of one kind or the other (or about 2-3 cans of beans, white and/or pinto)
1/2 pound green beans
6 carrots
2 potatoes
1 onion
1 leek (white part only)
2 zucchini
3 quarts water
1/2 pound salt pork OR 1 vegetable bouillon cube
1/4 pound small pasta
1/2 to 1 cup pesto (fresh, ideally, but jarred works fine too)

If you're using dried beans, soak them first and drain. If you're using canned beans, just open and drain.

Trim the green beans to 1/2-inch lengths. Peel and dice the potatoes, carrots, and onion. Dice the leek and zucchini.

Dump the water into a big soup pot with the salt pork or bouillon cube, and bring to a boil. Dump in the beans, potato, and vegetables, bring back to a boil, and then simmer for 2 hours.

Dump in the pasta and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in the pesto and let sit for another 10 minutes before serving.

This freezes VERY well, makes a bloody ton, is very nutritious and surprisingly cheap. And if you make it with fresh pesto it is DELICIOUS.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:24 AM on March 10, 2009 [2 favorites]

I haven't had good luck with pureeing soup in the "normal" blender.

Hold on -- why not? It should be very doable, and you're unnecessarily ruling out countless soups. Just let the soup cool for at least 5 minutes before blending, use a medium setting, and blend it in batches. When you've blended one batch, set it aside in a bowl. Then pour the soup back into the pot and heat a little bit more, stirring in any last-minute ingredients such as cream or herbs. I do this all the time with a normal blender, and it works.
posted by Jaltcoh at 7:54 AM on March 10, 2009

And if you can get that to work, I recommend this recipe for butternut squash and sweet potato soup. We made it -- it's amazing, and really easy if you can buy the vegetables frozen.
posted by Jaltcoh at 8:33 AM on March 10, 2009

I make this soup at least once a month; it's colorful, surprisingly hearty, and freezes beautifully.

Spinach Tomato Soup

10 oz spinach, baby, washed
2 medium carrot(s), chopped
2 medium stalk celery, chopped
1 large onion(s), chopped
1 clove garlic clove(s), minced
4 cup vegetable broth, low-sodium
28 oz canned diced tomatoes, no-salt added
2 leaf bay leaf
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, crushed

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours. Remove bay leaves, stir, and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.
posted by anderjen at 9:48 AM on March 10, 2009 [2 favorites]

2nd-ing Jaltcoh - a "normal" blender should work just fine for soups. Has for me.

That being said, they're a pain to clean - and all the recipes here look delicious w/o the blending :)
posted by baxter_ilion at 10:57 AM on March 10, 2009

Oh, I thought of a couple more! I got one of these from the Moosewood "Daily Special" cookbook, which is nothing but soups and salads -- and they're vegetarian.

Their Tuscan Bean soup is nothing but: 3 cans of beans, an onion, a carrot, a celery stalk, a clove or two of minced garlic, about 6 cups water or vegetable broth and about 1/4 cup chopped sage. Chop up the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic; saute the onion first, then add the carrot and celery and saute that, then add the garlic and saute that; then add the chopped sage and saute a couple more minutes; then dump in the beans and broth and simmer about a half hour. Puree about half of it and dump it back in. You're done.

They also had a really simple tomato-and-white-bean soup which seems like it'd be a good base for adding your own embellishments:

Saute 3 chopped onions in some olive oil. Stir in a teaspoon each of dried oregano and basil, add a cup of water, cover and simmer about 3 minutes to let that stew a bit. Then dump that onion mixture into a blender with 2 cans of white beans and one 28-oz can of tomatoes, puree that up, dump that back into a pot and add one more can of white beans and a 16-oz can of tomatoes. Cook that on medium for 10 minutes, and you're done.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 AM on March 11, 2009

Oh, and adding one more point: after posting the soupe au pistou recipe yesterday, I decided to make it - I didn't have any zucchini, but I did have some celery and a turnip, so I used that instead. Didn't make a damn bit of difference in the success of the soup. (It tasted marginally different, because -- well, different vegetables, but still was just fine.) So that recipe is open to adaptation.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:27 AM on March 11, 2009