We’re over a week into September, which means autumn is right around the corner. I love fall, it’s my favorite season. I love the crisp in the air, wearing cozy sweaters, and drinking too many pumpkin spice lattes. But this year, I don’t feel ready yet for crunchy leaves and hot apple cider. I want more sun, more time outside, more frolicking on the beach. Time marches on though, the sun is setting earlier, it’s started getting chillier and I’ve been craving warm comforting foods. This is where the carrot and coriander soup comes it. I find it to be a perfect transitional summer-to-autumn meal.

I don’t think “transitional meals” are a thing, but they probably should be. I’m not ready for root vegetables and hearty stews yet – it isn’t truly fall. But it’s getting cold and I want something warm. Also, I’m not ready to give up on the bright fresh flavors of summer. This soup does everything I need it too. It’s warm and a little it thick for fall. But it’s also a a bit sweet from the carrots, bright from the cilantro, and overall not to heavy.

And now that I’ve said cilantro, let’s talk about the difference between cilantro and coriander. Here in the UK coriander is both the plants, its leaves, and the seeds. In the US (and according to Wikipedia most of North America), the plant and leaves are called cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Why the difference? I have no idea. The best I could find was that cilantro is the Spanish word for it and coriander comes from the it’s full Latin name, Coriandrum sativum. 

So I had a real difficulty deciding how to name this post since I used both words and both types of ingredient are in the recipe. Real tough dilemmas right? Anyway I decided on carrot and coriander because both are use and I’ve adapted this from a BBC recipe. Whatever you call it, this is a really nice, fairly light, but cozy soup for this transitional days when it’s not yet fall but not really summer yet.

I think the only drawback is that you start with vibrant orange carrots and end up with a dark soup. This is not your pretty and flashy kind of meal but this is about taste not aesthetics. While I’ve mentioned taste, can I say something sort of ridiculous? This is totally a vegetarian soup, and vegetarian soups have their place – but I think this soup is much tastier with chicken broth. I’ve made it with both vegetable and chicken broth, and I think the chicken broth gives it a more complex and rich flavor. Why have a meat free soup with chicken broth? I don’t really know, except to say that I like the flavor. I say do what you like and whatever you think tastes better.

Adapted from BBC Good Food.

Messy level: This is so much easier if you have an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender decide if your blender of food processor is better and stick with that. I started with my food processor knowing it was junk, and then had to switch to my blender. It made more dishes and a huge mess.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

26 mins

Total time

46 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 potato, chopped
• 450g/ 6 regular full-sized carrots, peeled and chopped
• 6.5 cup/ ~1.5 liters vegetable or chicken stock
• salt and pepper, to taste
• large bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems (about ¾ a supermarket packet)

Instructions

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Once the oil is hot add the onion. Fry the onion for about 5 minutes, or until softened and starting to brown.
3. Add in the ground coriander and potato. Stir and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Add the carrots and the stock. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
5. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.
6. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
7. If you have an immersion blender add in the cilantro then use the immersion blender to blend the soup ingredients until smooth. Otherwise, add the cilantro and then use a regular blender of a food processor and blend the soup until smooth. You might need to do this in batches if your machines don't have enough space.
8. Return the soup to the pot. Taste it and adjust salt if necessary. Reheat if needed and then serve with crusty bread.

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When I made Greek salad, I told you that I’ve finally decided to use Twitter. I’ve been skeptical about using Twitter, but then I saw someone tweeted about starting a Cookbook Club and I thought, “what a good idea, I guess Twitter is useful.”

The method behind a cookbook club is that the group picks a book and throughout the month, or two, or whatever the time period is, the group cooks a few things from the book. Then on the meeting day everyone in the club has a potluck and brings a dish using a recipe from the book. I think this is awesome because it would force me to cook a few things from the book and it would also allow me to try other dishes without having to do the work. Sounds like perfection. Also, when I’ve done normal book clubs, we never talk about the book anyway.

The most recent addition to my cookbook collection, and the one I’m itching to cook through is the Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook. It was given to me as a Christmas present by my wonderful friend Charlotte. She is the kind of amazing and thoughtful friend who sends me flowers on my birthday and also when I’m having nervous breakdowns about being an adult. She sends me care packages with American candies and tiny models of ramen noodles. And I in turn, I send her boxes with no card inside and I buy British sweets and leave them in the bottom of my closet and forget to mail them. Anyway, when I got this book I was so excited and sent Charlotte this crazy picture.

This book is awesome. I’ve literally snuggled up in bed and poured through the book as my bed time reading. The writing is funny and they don’t take themselves too seriously. The recipes tell you when you can make substitutions, when to be precise, and when you can be a little messy. All the recipes are healthy and vegetarian – but they never come off snobby for being healthy or too much like hippies for adding chia seeds or tofu. The authors are really encouraging that anyone can eat healthy, they recognize when they’re asking you to use “scary” ingredients, and the recipes are so full of flavor you won’t miss meat.

Seriously. For example, today’s soup packs a real kick. It has a tomato based and chickpeas to cool it down, but there’s a kick of garlic, chili powder, and jalapenos. It’s a nice soup on to warm you up on a cold winter day. It would be even better for when you’re sick because it would clear your sinuses right out. You can definitely turn down the spice if you prefer, but as written – it’s really spicy. All in all, it’s packed with veggies and you won’t need unusual ingredients. Pair it with a corn tortilla on the side, and you’ve got a meal with some zip.

Messy level: This recipe is a hard one to rate. You’ll need one big soup pot, a knife, and a cutting board. If you have an immersion blender this is a lot easier, and cleaner. If you don’t, you’ll have to use a blender which takes more time and there might be spills.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

 

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Author: Thug Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 bell pepper (I used red), chopped
• 1-2 jalapenos, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 2½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 2½ teaspoons chili powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 14.5 oz (400g) can diced tomatoes
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 4-8 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch squares (the more you use, the thicker the soup)
• 1½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1, 14oz/400g can of chickpeas
• chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, cook the onion in the olive oil. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the onion is a little bit translucent.
2. Add the carrot and bell pepper to the pot. Cook for another 3 minutes, until everything started to get golden.
3. Add the jalapenos, garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and salt to the pot. Stir for about 30 seconds. Everything will get pretty fragrant now!
4. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste to the pot and stir so that everything is well mixed.
5. Pour in the broth and bring everything to a simmer.
6. Once it is simmering, add the lime juice and tortilla squares. Let everything simmer for about 10 minutes to soften the tortillas. Stir occasionally.
7. Remove the soup from the heat. If you have an immersion blender, blend everything until smooth. If you don't, then use a regular blender and blend the soup in batches.
8. Pour some soup in a bowl, spoon some chickpeas in the center of the bowl, and sprinkle cilantro on top if you're using. Serve.

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I bought the corn when I made barley succotash and I’ve had the leftover bag ever since. When I need to add a vegetable for dinner, I often tell myself I’ll just heat up the corn, but I never do. I like corn on the cob, corn bread, and corn in things. But plain corn on the side isn’t very interesting to me and so the bag languished in the freezer. 

Then I saw a fairly recent post from Amateur Gourmet for corn chowder. I thought this would be perfect, but then he said it wasn’t worth doing with frozen corn. Sigh. It’s the end of the summer and corn season is over so I moved on.

Until it was Monday. On Monday nights I like to go to Zumba. I like to eat before Zumba so I don’t feel faint and famished but I can’t eat too much or I’ll feel sick. But, I also need to make something hearty enough so Ryan has a real dinner and not rabbit food. So I thought back to corn chowder, and advice be dammed, I was going to try it with frozen corn!

I’m so glad I did because this soup is freaking delicious! The soup is wonderfully flavorful. This is one of the best soups I have ever had. The corn gives it sweetness and the cayenne pepper (which is my personal addition) gives just the whisper of heat. And the cream makes it feel so rich, but with only one cup in the whole pot you don’t have to feel too guilty. It is hearty but not heavy (seriously, I went to Zumba and felt fine and thought about the soup the whole time). Ryan gave it a 9 out of 10. I kept loudly saying, “this soup is so good!” I was mad when I had to leave for class and couldn’t have a second bowl. Try it, this is a wonderful soup.

Adapted from Amateur Gourmet who adapted it from Jasper White.

Messy level: There is a lot of cutting prep work for this recipe, that’s the only reason I will give it a 2 spoon rating. Otherwise, it’s just dump it all in the pot and wait for it to get delicious.

Amazing Corn Chowder

 

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Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of frozen corn
• 4 oz of slab bacon, cut into ⅓" dice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ⅛ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes peeled, and cut into ½" cubes
• about 5-6 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover everything)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp minced chives

Instructions

1. In a large heavy pot, cook the bacon over medium heat. Cook until the bacon is crisp. Spoon out all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
2. Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, thyme, cumin, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Look at the pretty spices! They will make the soup pretty too. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
3. Add the corn, potatoes, and stock. Turn the heat to high and bring to a vigorous boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Using a wood spoon, smash some of the corn and potatoes against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the chowder. Reduce the heat to medium and taste for salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the corn starch mixture.
6. Bring the soup back to a boil and stir until the chowder has thickened to your liking.
7. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Adjust for salt if you need to.
8. Serve and top with chopped chives.

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The first recipe I watched was for soup au pistou and I knew it was the perfect winter soup. Yes, it calls for green beans and basil so technically it might be more of a spring soup, but it’s everything I want right now. It’s cold, it’s windy, and sometimes dreary and I want soup. This soup is hearty without being heavy, full of vegetables, and the pistou (kind of like a pesto) gives the broth a robust flavor.

Now, this recipe is adapted from Julia Child’s for a few reasons. First, she used just water in her broth. I used a mix of water and chicken broth because I had an open container of broth in the fridge that had to be used. You could definitely use all water, more chicken broth, or even vegetable broth. Second, Julia calls for either leeks or onions and I used a mix of both. The reason being my leeks didn’t go as far as I thought they would.

The third adaptation is that Julia has a beautiful gilded soup tureen and I do not. Does anyone have a soup tureen anymore? Julia makes the pistou, then puts it in the soup tureen, and then slowly mixes in the soup from her pot. It looked beautiful, but… really? Since I don’t have a soup tureen do I really need to use two pots? I don’t think so, and I’ve come up with my own solution for those of us lacking in a soup tureen. If you have a soup tureen, I’d love to know it. Send me a picture or write in the comments below!

Ingredients:

3 quarts liquid (water, chicken broth, or vegetable broth)

2 cups diced waxy potatoes (I used Yukon gold)

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups diced leeks, or onions, or a combination of the two

1 tbsp salt

1 15oz can of white navy beans, drained

1/3 cup broken spaghetti (Julia used orzo, I just smashed up some pasta)

2 cups green beans, cut to 1″ length

ground black pepper

Pistou:

4 cloves crushed garlic (I just minced 4 cloves of garlic then smushed them a bit)

4 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped basil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup olive oil (or a little more or less to your liking. Julia Child said between 1/4-1/2 cup)

Directions:

Prep step: Chop all your vegetables!

1. Bring liquid, potatoes, carrots, leeks/onions, and salt to a boil in a large pot (6 quart pot would be best).

2. Once it’s come to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Add beans and spaghetti. Let them cook for about 10 minutes.

4. Right after you’ve added the beans and spaghetti, make the pistou. Place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon or pestle and mash up the ingredients until you form a lumpy paste. Then, slowly, about a teaspoon at a time, mix in the olive oil. Add olive oil until you have something the consistency of pesto. I used about a 1/3 of a cup in total oil. Set aside until soup is finished.

5.  Add the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes. You want them to be a bit crunchy, but cooked through. Basically, stay away from mushy green beans.

6. When soup is done, add 1-2 cups of soup to your pistou. Whisk the soup and pistou until smooth. Then, gently pour the pistou soup into the rest of the soup post. Mix that together until the broth is a beautiful red-orange color throughout.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Messy level: Honestly, for the number of ingredients, I’m surprised to give this recipe 1 spoon. There is so little mess! All I had to do was chop, heat, and mix. You’ll end up with very few dishes and almost no splatter. This recipe is a winner!

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But this is a great recipe to talk about on a sick day because it’s the ultimate comfort food. Ryan and I first made it during a cooking class at Sur La Table which focused on Jacques Pepin. I had never been to a cooking class before and I thought everything we made would be too complicated and I’d never be able to make it again at home. Not so! This recipe blew us away in class and we made it many times throughout the winter. It’s rich, thick, and delicious which makes it perfect for sick days, freezing winter evenings, and according Jacques Pepin, it’s good after a night of heavy drinking. This recipe comes from “Essential Pepin” by Jacques Pepin. It takes about an hour to finish, but it’s pretty straightforward. It’s not the prettiest recipe because it look rather lumpy. It also comes out thicker than a regular soup, but it’s hearty and amazing.

Another thing that I’d like to pass on is  a way to cut onions. Our instructor taught us this in class and I’ve found it really handy. For this recipe you’ll need long strips on onions. First, cut the onion from end to end, NOT across the equator. Peel off the onion skins. For strips, cut both tips off the ends. Then cut the onion along the lines you see on the onion. This means you are NOT cutting straight up and down, but on a diagonal following the grain of the onion. Hope these pictures help make sense of what I wrote.

If you’re dicing the onion, again cut the onion from end to end. Next cut off the non-hairy end of the onion. Then, like above, cut along the onion along the long lines on the onion. The “hairy end” of the onion will hold the strips all together. Now, cut horizontally up the onion until you get to the “hairy end.” Now you’ll have nice small squares of onion.

On to the recipe.

Ingredients: 

15-20 slices of baguette, cut about 1/4 inch thick

3 tbsp butter

4 cups of onion cut in thin strips (about 4 medium onions)

6-8 cups chicken broth (you can use more or less broth depending on the size of your casserole dish)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

2 cups grated Gruyere cheese (feel free to use more! I love cheese and sometimes use up to 3 cups)

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup of port

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°

2. Arrange the slices of bread on a cookie sheet. Toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown on the edges. Remove from oven and set aside

3. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Cook the onions in the butter for about 20 minutes, or until the onions start to turn a bit brown in places.

4. Add the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil and cook for 20 minutes.

5.  Arrange 1/2 the toast on the bottom of a casserole dish. I use a 2.5 quart dish, but have also used my Dutch Oven with success. The bigger the dish the more stock you can use. Smaller dish means some stock doesn’t make it into the final product.

6. Layer 1/2 onions on top of the toast

7. Layer 1/3 cheese on top of the onions.

8. Repeat the layers so in total you have two layers of bread, onion, and cheese.

9. Pour the stock into the casserole. Leave about an inch on the top because the soup will rise in the oven.

10. Sprinkle the last 1/3 of cheese on top of the soup mixture.

11. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a nice cheesey crust forms on top.

12. While the soup is baking, whisk the egg yolks and port in a bowl.

13. Remove the soup from the oven. Make a hole in the middle of the soup mixture and pour in the egg and port mix. Stir everything so the port mixture is well incorporated. The heat of the soup will cook the egg.

14. Turn off the oven and serve!

Messy Level: High. Prior to documenting this for the blog I would have thought this was a fairly mess-free recipe, and if you’re more meticulous than me you might keep your kitchen clean. But for me, after chopping four onions I had onion skins all over the kitchen. I shredded the cheese in the food processor and some fell out so I had cheese on the floor. But my worst mistake was that in my excitement for this dish, I over filled the casserole. It cooked over a lot which led to burned stock remnants at the bottom of my oven. Needless to say, that’s no fun. So, be more careful than me!

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