SOUP!

September 2, 2005 5:15 PM

Soupfilter: I just made the most fan-F***ing-tabulous soup in the history of mankind. Of course, no one else was around to taste it.

The soup was not some wacky creation. I started by simmering onions and then bell-peppers and then tossed in some garlic. Then tomatoes and water and some wine (I live in Argentina and good wine is cheap) and a bit of oregano. Then salt. then spinach. Good hell, it was delicious soup. But I fear that never again will I make as good a soup. My plea is for excellent soup recipes. Anybody, anybody. . .Bueller, Bueller. . .?

posted by punkbitch to food & drink (15 comments total)

holymotherfuckingshitthatssomegoodsoup - we have a winner for this week's Best Tag contest!
posted by ericb at 5:19 PM on September 2, 2005

I'd like to thank the acadamy, my agent. . .
posted by punkbitch at 5:28 PM on September 2, 2005

Ah, then you must visit The Joy of Soup
posted by tomble at 5:41 PM on September 2, 2005

You live in Argentina? You have no right to ask for anything else, dammit.

*misses Buenos Aires*
posted by languagehat at 5:53 PM on September 2, 2005

This recipe from the Moosewoods Cookbook is my favorite soup. It's a bit more wintery ("Winter Vegetable Stew") then maybe you'd want now, but it is amazing. Beer, marjoram, mustard, and molasses sounds disgusting, but it is truly really good.
posted by jdl at 6:03 PM on September 2, 2005

Soup Suppers is a great soup cookbook, by the inimitable Arthur Schwartz. Every single time I make a soup from this book, I taste the first spoonful and say "Oh my God that's good!"
posted by Miko at 8:10 PM on September 2, 2005

GREEN SOUP

1. Start with simmering onions, olive oil or butter, garlic, celery, $suitableveggies, oregano, $italianspices and $yourfavoritespices. Diced bacon might be good too.


2. Add a bunch of stock, chicken or vegetable.


3. Add cut-up peeled potatoes (Yukon Golds are my fave), cut-up Yellow Squash, and $similarvegetables. Turnips, carrots, that kind of stuff.

Steps two and three can be switched depending on how much you like things that are fried. I like it fried, my mom likes it stewed.


4. After all the potatoes are tender, toss in a shit-ton of spinach. It is crucial that the spinach is washed very well. I like the stems picked off myself. Other savory leafy greens might be good here too.
   
   The spinach will wilt really fast. This is good.


5. Get that stick blender you got as a wedding present and never used. Now is it's time to shine. Focus your blending on the big hunks of potatoes and such. Try not to completely puree it, `cause you want lots of little rice-krispie sized chunks of spinach and potato.
   
   
6. Enjoy topped with parmesan cheese.

I guess I'll have to go to the grocery store tomorrow.
posted by blasdelf at 8:28 PM on September 2, 2005

My standard template for soup recipes is here at The! Science! Of! Vegetable! Soup! it starts out really good and gives you good ideas of how to improve on it using ratios, not specified ingredients.
posted by jessamyn at 9:05 PM on September 2, 2005

You need to try a Laksa some time in your life.
posted by madman at 12:32 AM on September 3, 2005

My favorite soup (simplified from a recipe in this excellent cookbook):

Take 4 good-sized leeks and separate the white from the green. Chop up the green parts and put them to boil 20 minutes with water and salt.

Meanwhile, chop the white part of the leeks, 2 medium onions, and 3 cloves of garlic. Fry the onions, leeks, and garlic on low heat in a small amount of olive oil until they become transparent and melt. Add salt early on so that they give up a bit of their liquid, and black pepper.

Turn up the heat and douse with a small amount of white wine, wait until the alcohol evaporates (your nose will tell you). Then add 2 chopped potatoes and the broth you made from the green part of the leeks. Bring to a boil and add a handful of branches of fresh tarragon. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. Throw away the tarragon and mix the rest in a food processor until smooth.

The tarragon infuses into the soup, giving it an amazing taste, and the leeks and potatoes give it a creamy texture and white color even though there's no cream. Easy, no calories, and delicious.
posted by fuzz at 2:10 AM on September 3, 2005

I have so many favorite soup recipes but this may be the simplest as well as one of the best.

4 to 6 yellow bell peppers
water or broth
1/4 C lightly roasted pine nuts

Stem, seed,, and cut the peppers up into eighths. Simmer in enough broth to cover until soft, about 15 minutes. Run through blender with pine nuts. Salt and pepper to taste.

So rich, so buttery and beautiful to serve.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:45 AM on September 3, 2005

Fry a little garlic in olive oil. Add 2 tins of chick peas, 2 tins of tomatoes, three large hot red chillis and as much decent bacon as you can be bothered with. Boil. Blend. Taste.

Optional final step: Realise the peppers were hotter than you thought, and go out and buy some more chick peas to bulk it out a bit.

This is great soup. Hearty, filling, freezes perfectly. With a microwave at work, I can lunch on this for weeks at a time during winter.
posted by handee at 2:55 AM on September 3, 2005

My favorite soup is my grandmother's/mom's/aunt's tomato soup.

Take a whole chicken, boil it for a bit, along with some carrots, celery, whole pepper, etc. After boiling it for a while, you'll have a nice chicken broth. Cool it down and skim the fat that will solidify up top - unlike most dishes, I like as little fat in my soup as possible - it does nothing for the taste.

Strip a bit of the meat off your chicken and throw it back in the soup. Add tomato concentrate/paste. The best for this is home made tomato concentrate that my aunt makes at the height of every tomato season. Boil some more.

Serve with rice or noodles, but for me it's all about the rice. Add a bunch of freshly ground pepper, maybe a little cream. Enoy.

Mmm... souptastic.
posted by jedrek at 12:15 PM on September 3, 2005

thank you souppeople of the world!
posted by punkbitch at 12:43 PM on September 3, 2005

Knefla soup

A potato or two
A couple of large red carrots
Bell pepper (choose your colour, or mix a few small ones)
A couple of sticks of celery
A tbsp or two of butter

Dice, simmer until soft in ~ 2 cups of water + equivalent amount of concentrated chicken stock/boulion+water. Add 1 to 2 cups of light cream (or 0.5 to 1 cup milk, 0.5 to 1 cup cream). You might want the celery, carrot, and potato to go in first, and add the peppers later. You can add some leek (just a little) or onion if you want a little more zip.

1 cup flour
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
white pepper to taste

Add milk to mixture until you get a decent dough. Roll between your hands to get a long strip. When the soup is boiling, use scissors to cut littlle pieces into the soup. When the pieces float, it's done.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 3:28 PM on September 3, 2005