What's YOUR favorite soup recipe? - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by American_Suisse 

Growing up, one of my favorite soups was the Halloween Witches' Brew my mother would make. No matter how much we would beg her, it would appear once a year on our dinner table. Yep, you guessed it. On Halloween. No...my mother was not a witch. :smiles: She wouldn't even let us watch the t.v. show Bewitched because it was about a witch. Go figure.
Anyway, this will serve between 10 to 12 people. Hope you like it!

Halloween Witches' Brew
(Using lean meats is a new addition. Have to watch fats now!)

1/2 lb lean bacon
3 lbs lean ground beef
1 1/2 c chopped onions
2 cans (26 1/4 oz each) spaghetti in tomato sauce with cheese (Before you could buy it in cans my mother used whatever spaghetti was left over)
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes
2 cans (16 oz each) kidney beans
2 cans (4 oz each) mushrooms with liquid
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp celery salt
1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
2 to 3 tblsp catsup (more if desired)
2 cans (10 1/2 oz each) beef broth
4 cups water (more if needed)
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the bacon in a large stockpot.
Drain off most of the fat.
Add beef and onions, cooking until the onions are limp.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the flavors blend.
Taste to correct seasoning.

This sounds really good!!  I have to try it, mind you I will pass on the canned spaghetti and just use my own sauce with spaghetti noodles...

My mother in law's soup... I have no idea of the name of the recipe in English so we call it Mom/Oma's soup... when I make it at work (and it always sells out) I call it Dutch Meatball Soup

I have changed it a little to suit my taste (and to avoid using powdered onion soup mix in the meatballs LOL)  but the one thing that has to remain the same is the Maggi Seasoning that is served at the table.  The Maggi definitely "makes" the soup. 

My Mother In Law's Dutch Soup

For the meatballs:

1 pound good quality lean ground beef (I stress good quality here as an inferior quality will result in a greasy soup)

1 tablespoon Mrs Dash (or other salt -free seasoning... I use the Kirkland Organic No-Salt stuff from Costco and it is just as good)

For the soup

2 carrots, washed, peeled and grated

1 cup celery leaves and tops of celery stalks (I use the top parts of the celery stocks as well as the tender leaves and hearts inside) finely sliced

1 bunch green onions/scallions, finely sliced

16 cups chicken broth (if you are not going to use homemade broth use bullion cubes and follow the directions on the pack to make 16 cups.. Knorr is the best brand when it comes to cubes)

fine egg noodles

Maggi to serve

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in a Dutch Oven over medium high heat.  Add carrots, scallion/green onion, and celery.  Reduce heat to low and let vegetables sweat for about 10 minutes, making sure they do not brown.

Add broth and bring to a boil.

Make the meatballs by combining the ground beef and Mrs Dash.  Using your hands make very small (half inch maximum size) meatballs and drop them into the broth.  They will sink at first and then rise as they cook.  I know this is a pain but the end result is much worth the trouble at the beginning.

Once all of the meatballs have been added, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 1.5 hours.  The soup should have reduced some in this time.  Taste and adjust seasoning if neccesary.

Add the noodles and cook on medium heat for another half an hour.  Check noodles for doneness and serve.

Pass the maggi at at the table... be very careful with it though as only two or three drops are needed to round out the soup.

When I make this at work I add the maggi in the kitchen and I add it according to my own taste.  I like to be able to taste a hint of it and not let it be overpowering so that is how I judge.

Enjoy!

O

Leeniek,

Sounds like a comfort soup !

I have alot of soups I enjoy. The one I am known for is Borscht and Vichychoisse, clam chowder and Bisques de legumes. But there are others I enjoy:

PHO - My fav !

Tom kha Gai

Assam Laksa

Saam gye taang

Melon soup

Carrot & Coriander

Jellied Madrielene

Italien wedding (oh just to dip my bread)

and of course Avgolemeno &  not to forget Mulligatawny....it could be a long list.

Good old chicken soup.

Hey Leeniek, do you have a mother in law from Holland? Then your soup could call "soep met balletjes"?

In Holland's neighbouring country where I live, that's the name of a collection of soups in which we put tiny meatballs.

Mostly we make a fresh tomatosoup or even pumpkinsoup to plunge these balls in, but any soup will do nicely.

And as usual there are millions of variations on making soups with balls (sorry, but that's the translation from dutch).

I make them with veal/pork meat, a handful of breadcrumbs, some beaten egg and that's the base to which you can add all kinds of flavors such as spices etc. I always boil them seperately in water just for the time they need to come to the surface, mostly less than a minute or so. I add them to the soup at the very last moment. Kids totally love these, and so am I..

I posted pics of a "pompoensoep met balletjes"; http://cdn.cheftalk.com/8/8f/8fcd5c52_pompoensoep1A.jpg

Made with these already boiled balls to which I added a little chiliflakes; http://cdn.cheftalk.com/9/97/97ff72f6_soepballetjes1B.jpg 

Cream of wild mushroom soup with crispy bacon

-Crisp up very finely chopped bacon, remove from pan and keep warm.

-Sweat brunoised shallots and thyme in the bacon fat.

-Add wild mushrooms (whatever's available that looks good) and continue to sweat for a while.

-Crank the heat up and add a good slug of red wine, plus a dash of balsamic or Worcestershire sauce. Allow to reduce down.

-Add veal stock (can also use mushroom stock if you happen to have made it) and a little white pepper.

-Allow to reduce slowly to near desired consistency.

-Blitz in blender briefly.

-Add double cream and reduce a little further. Adjust seasoning and acidity if required.

-Serve garnished with the crispy bacon bits, a sprig of thyme and a little olive oil or even truffle oil if you're in the mood

I'm not a fan of soups that can be described as starchy chicken or beef broth with vegetables, beans, and/or meat floating in them.  IMO the most treasured soup recipes are those for salty translucent broths with all the hoopla strained out.  I'm a bit of a noodle junkie and I'm always working on broths to accompany my chewy hand-pulled noodles.  Broths like this are a real challenge and generally start for me with juice and spices and end with gelatin and/or straining via cheesecloth.

Some other favorites of mine include:

Wisconsin beer and cheese soup

Chili, especially with pork

Anything that is pureed and/or contains cream is at least OK in my book.

Tuscan Sausage Soup

Chef Bob

Step one: take one pound bacon and place on wire tacks over a cookie sheet and bake in a 300 degree oven until done, turning it over half way through. A convection oven is best. As the bacon cooks, dab with paper towels to keep dry and free of grease. The fat will render out on the sheet below (keep that for many uses). Keep cooking and dabbing until the bacon is dry and crisp. It may take 30 min. to an hour depending on your oven. Take out of oven and raise the temperature to 400 degrees.

Step Two: Get one pound of bulk Italian sausage (mild or hot depending on your taste).  If you can only find link sausage, remove skin. Flatten the sausage to 1/4^th inch on a cookie sheet and cook in oven five minutes and turn over and keep cooking until it has only a little pink in the center left. You want to UNDERCOOK the sausage so it finishes cooking in the soup. So, do not overcook it or brown it or make it crisp. Do not dry it out! Remove the sausage to a cool plate so it does not continue to cook on the cookie sheet.

Step Three: Finely mince one large sweet onion and place into heavy soup pot. Sauté the onion in some of the bacon grease until translucent, not brown or crisp. Add three finely minced garlic cloves to the onion and continue to sauté for a minute or two. Watch that the garlic does not burn.

Step Four: Add to pot 1½ quarts of chicken stock (home-made best or low sodium from store). Place in pot 4-5 cups of diced red skin potatoes. You can leave the skin or remove it. Bring soup to boil and then simmer the potatoes until they are barely done, about 15 minutes,

Step Five: Crumble sausage into the size of small marbles. Put into pot. Add 8 oz. chopped kale or spinach leaves (fresh is best but if you have to use frozen, make sure you squeeze out all the water before you put into pot).

Step Six: Add 1 cup heavy cream and 2 cups ½ & ½.  You can use milk instead but the flavor will not be the same.

Step Seven: Crumble the bacon and put into pot and simmer everything together for 5 minutes.

Taste the soup and add salt and pepper to your taste. The bacon has a lot of salt in it and you must take that into consideration. If you want to zest it up, add some cayenne pepper. 

Serve and enjoy. It is a meal all by itself and you may not want to eat anything else that night. Eat within the next few days. With potatoes, it will not freeze well. You can refresh it after three days by returning to boil and simmering for 5 minutes.

I’m from Hawaii and a favorite there is their version of Portuguese Bean Soup, which is served just about everywhere, with Diamond Bakery Soda Crackers. 

Since having moved away, I have had to learn how to make all of these ONO-LICIOUS dishes.   

My sister lives in Los Angeles and requested this dish when every her and her husband come our way. 

It took me awhile just to find the brand of Portuguese sausage from Hawaii (really good just fried up with eggs and steamed rice),

but perseverance has prevailed!! 

It took me maybe 4 or 5 tries to get it just so, put now that I have it down pat, I make HUGE pots and freeze it.

My neighbor's Russian borscht is my all-time favorite soup.  It is beautiful, colorful, and loaded with flavor. 

My potato bacon soup is high on the list, add cheddar to turn it into a potato cheese soup. Homemade chicken or beef soup is always good, add whatever you want in the veg department (or clean out the fridge!).

We have an annual "Soup Off" here and I am thinking of entering this year. 

I have so many recipes that I like and am proud to make for others,

but the dilemma is should I enter more than one or stick with my all time best soup? 

In Hawaii the best, and my fav is Portuguese Bean Soup, português sopa de feijão.  Maybe with some real Portuguese bread...

any opinions?