Missed Tuesday’s delicious serving of The Frugal Foodie? Find it here. Soundtrack:
Earlier this week, one of my readers commented, “Jumping the gun with soup season?”. As I write this, I just closed my office window and put on a toasty warm sweater straight from the dryer. It only seems appropriate to dedicate this to all things autumn with two of my favorite seasonalsongs.
Is it Stock or is it Broth?
The Frugal Foodie finds the esoteric details of cooking amusing, especially when fanatical food snobs debate fine points. Technically, stock is made with bones, and anything without bones is called broth. The Frugal Foodie doesn’t care if you use the terms interchangeably nor does she care if you call it “that liquid you add to the pot to make soup”. She just asks that you make a really good pot of soup and enjoy it.
The Recipe
Soup making is not terribly complicated and it’s my favorite recipe item to make. While I usually use homemade stock or broth, I’m not averse to reaching for a commercial product. Do read the label and select a lower sodium product, though. Some commercial products just taste of nothing but salt and if you are used to homemade, the taste impact is actually startling.
1 large onion, chopped
½ pound carrots, chopped
7-9 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
3 quarts chicken stock
Kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste
2 pounds raw boneless chicken breast, diced small
1 lb. egg noodles or pasta of your choice, uncooked (see Frugal Note 1)
1. In heavy stock pot, heat butter/margarine on medium. When melted, add onion, carrots, celery and fresh thyme. Stir and cook about 10 minutes.
2. Add chicken stock, turn up heat to high and let come to a boil. Taste and correct seasoning, if needed.
3. Turn heat down to medium-low and add chicken. Chicken will cook through in about five minutes.
4. Add egg noodles and cook another 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Ginger Pumpkin-Pear “Bisque”
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup shallots, sliced
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
4 cups fresh pear, chopped
8 cups vegetable broth
15 ounces pumpkin puree (See Frugal Note 2)
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
1. In heavy stock pot, melt butter/margarine on medium heat. When melted, add shallots and ginger. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add pears. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add vegetable broth, pumpkin puree and nutmeg. Stir, taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Turn up heat to high and bring to a boil.
4. Turn heat down to medium-low. Using an immersion blender, puree soup. Alternatively, you can puree in a blender; however, the soup needs to cool before you do this. Please do not put hot soup in a blender!
5. Let soup cook for another 20 minutes. Serve a bit on the cool side. Serve straight up or perhaps garnish with a dollop of crème fraiche, some cumin-toasted pumpkin seeds, a drizzle of real maple syrup and some freshly-grated nutmeg to finish.
Frugal Note 1: Best to add warm cooked noodle or pasta to each serving if you aren’t going to use the entire recipe for that meal. Noodles absorb all that delicious broth and on Day 2 become mush.
Frugal Note 2: You can substitute fresh chopped pumpkin or any winter squash for the canned puree. Add the fresh pumpkin with the fresh pears and cook another five minutes before adding the broth. You can also roast the pear and pumpkin for another flavor dimension.