Big Dude's Eclectic Ramblings: Soup-A-Thon For A Very Cold Week And Snow

I rarely eat soup in warm weather but with highs in the 30’s (cold for here) predicted for 10 days, we decided to have a soup-a-thon beginning with chili on Friday before the predicted winter storm. We used our normal Anson Peckham’s Chili Con Carne recipe and once again we thought it was delicious. This is Bev's topped with cheese and onion.

Tomato Soup

Bev said she would really like to have a meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich so I searched and found a recipethat I liked from Downshiftology with not much chicken broth which I still cut in half and added cream. Since I didn’t need leftovers, I cut the recipe in half to get the one below for four of us.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium yellow onion

½ celery rib, diced

½ medium carrot, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, minced or chopped

¼ tsp dried thyme

¾ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

28-ounce can tomato puree

½ cup chicken broth – see verdict

3 chopped large basil leaves, chopped (added by Larry)

½ cup heavy cream (added by Larry)

Instructions:

Add the onion, celery, and carrot and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until softened.

Add the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper, then stir for another minute.

Add the tomatoes, basil, and broth, then simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Use an immersion blender to blend the soup to a creamy texture. Alternatively, for an ultra-smooth texture, transfer the soup to a blender and blend in batches, then return it to the pot (Larry prefers immersion blender as none of the soup is lost on the sides of a regular blender).

Stir in the heavy cream, warm it and serve.

It made four good servings.

The Verdict:

I made the soup and Bev did the sandwiches and we ate the meal on the day with a high temp of 25F and a predicted low of 9F for the overnight. I ended up using the original one cup of chicken broth amount and Bev suggested more cream. It was very good for a simple homemade tomato soup.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Next up was vegetable soup using our normal recipe and once again I started with a tad over three pounds of meat after trimming and chopping.

Obviously, I like hearty soup and it was delicious as always.

Egg Drop Soup

And last but not least, Bev requested that we have egg drop soup and I used the recipe from Woks Of Life.

Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients:

1 qt. chicken stock – see note

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

3 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 1/3 cup water)

3 eggs (lightly beaten)

1 scallion (chopped)

1/4 teaspoon MSG

Note: All we had in the freezer was rich turkey bone broth and I had to cut it with more water but due to the dark color, no need to add the turmeric.

Instructions:

Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium soup pot.

Stir in the sesame oil, salt, sugar, white pepper, and MSG (if using).

Add in the turmeric or 5 drops of yellow food coloring, if using. This will give the soup that rich restaurant-style yellow color, but it is optional. Taste the soup, and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Next add the cornstarch and water mixture. Make sure the cornstarch and water is mixed well, as the cornstarch settles very quickly. Stir the soup continuously as you drizzle in the slurry, or you'll get clumps of cooked starch in your soup. Use more or less starch if you like a thicker or thinner soup. You can also add the starch in a couple small batches, let the soup simmer for a couple of minutes, then check to see if the consistency is to your liking.

Now we're ready for the most exciting part: the egg. This recipe calls for the egg to be lightly beaten, which results in both white and yellow egg swirls (I wanted all yellow so I beat the eggs well). The speed at which you stir the soup when adding the egg also determines whether you get large “egg flowers” or small egg flowers (i.e. swirly bits of egg). Use a ladle to stir the soup in a circular motion, and slowly drizzle in the egg until you have added it all.

Ladle the soup into bowls, top with scallions, and serve!

The Verdict:

It was delicious but due to the broth I used, I could never replicate it, but I would use this recipe if I made it again. It was about as easy as a soup could be to make and afterward, I wished I had taken the time to fry up some wonton strips and I forgot the green onions.

Snow Report

We ended up with 4½” of snow and the birds were really busy at our feeders plus the male cardinal all puffed up to stay warm as the flakes are falling.