Our Bella Cucina » Soup

Senegalese Peanut Soup

lorrin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:00:36 +0000

A colleague of mine has a practice of always cooking for her friends a dish from wherever in the world she’s just been. Lucky for us, she recently visited Senegal and this awesome soup is what she had to share!

You will need:

3/4 cup shelled roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 pinch cayenne (more or less to taste)
salt
fresh ground black pepper
6 cups vegetable stock or water
2 (1/2 lb) sweet potato, peeled and cut into thick slices or 2 yams, peeled and cut into thick slices
8-12 plum tomatoes, cored and halved (canned are fine, drain and reserve liquid for another use)
1/2 lb collard greens or kale, washed thoroughly and cut into wide ribbons
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter

Use the flat side of a wide knife or cleaver or a small food processor to break the peanuts into large pieces.

Put the oil in a deep skillet or medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, 3-5 minutes.

Add ½ cup of the peanuts and the cayenne. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir in the stock and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn the heat down to medium-low so that the soup bubbles gently. Partially cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, collards and peanut butter. Cover and cook until the collards are tender, 5 to 8 minutes.

Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve garnished with the remaining peanuts.

Recipe from http://ivu.org/recipes/african/mark.html – This soup is vegan.

Make it as spicy (or not) as you like – enjoy!

~Lorrin

Potage Parmentier

sarah — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:00:42 +0000

I swear, recipe titles always sound more impressive when they’re in French! Translated, “Potage Parmentier” means plain old leek and potato soup, but sometimes it is the simple things in life that are the yummiest. Sometimes a bowl of soup just hits the right spot!

INGREDIENTS
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
1 lb leeks, thinly sliced
1 lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/3 cup cream

DIRECTIONS
Pour the water into a big pot and bring to a boil.

I need to get myself a new stock pot. This one has been around for over 10 years and is quite beaten up!

While the water is heating up, use the time to peel and quarter your potatoes.

As well as to thinly slice your leeks. For those who have never used fresh leeks before, just cut the root tip off and then start slicing all the way up to where the green bits start to branch out.

Add the salt.

The potatoes.

And finally the leeks.

Then put the lid back on the pot with it vented slightly and boil for 45 minutes. You want everything nice and soft!

Once you have finished the boiling process you have two choices. If you like your soup slightly lumpy then go ahead and use a potato masher to smooth it out somewhat. It will still have texture because you won’t get it perfectly smooth with a masher.

If you’re like me and like your soup smooth as a baby’s bottom, then ladle some into a blender. We’re going to blend this in batches, so have a spare saucepan or a big bowl handy to empty the blender into to make space for the next batch. Just don’t get impatient and fill it more than half way or you’re going to have a soup explosion and a big mess to clean up!

Then pulse it a few times until it is as smooth as desired.

Once everything is mashed or blended, return the soup to the saucepan and reheat it. Then turn off the heat, add the cream, and stir till fully combined.

Serve and eat! It goes great with some crusty French bread.

I wish I had remembered to buy crusty French bread!

♥

French Onion Soup

sarah — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:07:14 +0000

My husband loves french onion soup so I decided to make it one cold, snowy afternoon. Most of the recipes I found online were a little bland, so I picked one and made some changes!

Ingredients
2 onions, thinly sliced
1/4 c. butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
32 oz beef broth
1/4 c. white wine
2 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp herbs de province
6 slices French bread, toasted
1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Separate sliced onion into single rings. In a medium sauce pan saute onions in butter until soft, approximately 20 minutes. Stir in flour and gradually add broth, wine, worchestershire sauce, parsley and herbs. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, toast French bread slices. Place toasted bread into soup bowls. Pour soup mixture over bread and sprinkle with Parmesan and Swiss cheese. Bake for 10 minutes.

~ Valerie

Creamy Crab Soup

sarah — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:21:07 +0000

I love a nice bowl of hot soup on those crisp fall days and I found this recipe on my friend Steph’s cooking site. It is so delicious!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups clam juice
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme.
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
2 cups heavy cream
1 pound lump crabmeat, drained

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Saute onion and garlic until onion is tender.
Whisk in flour, and cook 2 minutes.
Stir in clam juice and chicken broth, and bring to a boil.
Season with salt, white pepper, thyme, and Old Bay.
Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Stir in cream and crab meat.
Heat through, but do not boil once the cream has been added.

♥

Stuffed Pepper Soup

sarah — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:58:36 +0000

We love stuffed peppers in the wintertime. I have a great recipe for stuffed peppers in the crockpot that I will have to share one of these days. Anyway, the other day my husband had “Stuffed Pepper Soup” with his meal at a local restaurant. He loved it and said it tasted just like the peppers I make. So I decided to attempt the soup at home. I found a few different recipes online, but nothing that really sounded good. I ended up converting my crockpot recipe into a soup, and it turned out delicious!

First, brown the ground beef. Once that is done, add the onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes.

While the meat is cooking, add the tomato soup, water, stewed tomatoes, chili sauce and sliced green peppers to a large saucepan. Bring just to a boil, and then reduce heat to simmer.

Once soup is simmering, add rice and serve. I should probably add, I read a few recipes that called for uncooked rice and 45 minutes cooking time after adding the rice. I didn’t have that much time, so I opted for Minute Rice. I prepared it according to the box and added it just before serving.

Whoops…how did that sneak in there? Its a picture of the “Spaghetti O’s” I made for my daughter! I try my best to feed her well, and to avoid the processed foods. However, I also know that she probably won’t enjoy meals like this one. Lets face it, two year olds don’t exactly have a gourmet appetite! Oh well, at least this isn’t her meal every night!

My husband loved this dish! I guess that means it got the thumbs up husband approval!

Here is the recipe…

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 c. chili sauce
1 c. water
1 green pepper, sliced
1/2-3/4 c. prepared white rice

Brown the ground beef. Add onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes. In large saucepan add soup, tomatoes, chili sauce, water and green pepper. Cook until boiling. Add rice and serve.

~ Valerie