Beef Barley Soup

I just made this up as I went along. Obviously you can follow the basics and totally make it your own.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled & chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• olive oil
• flour
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 large red potatoes, skins on, cut into cubes
• some kind of beef, preferrably stew meat, but leftover chunks of chain meat is great too
• dried parsley
• beef stock/beef broth
• 1/2 cup pearl barley

Heat about 2tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat.

Roll onions, carrots & garlic around in some flour, then add to the pot. Stir to coat. Saute about 5 minutes so onions begin to soften.

Add meat. Stir to combine.

Add enough broth so that everything is covered by at least 2 inches of liquid.

Add can of tomatoes (juices and all), and bring to a gentle boil. Add potatoes and barley.

Cover, turn down heat to about medium, maybe medium-low.

Let simmer for about 40 minutes until potatoes and barley are fully cooked.

Salt & pepper to taste.

Other things you could add include:

- 1 tsp worchestershire sauce

- shredded cabbage, mushrooms, celery, etc.

(Hearty soup in the hands of my sick husband...)

Beef Stock

I've never made beef stock before. I had some chain meat left over from one of my butchering odysseys and this being the week of St. Patty's Day, we wanted to make a good ole Irish Beef Stew. So I boiled the meat in water. But wait. Stock comes from bones. Crap. I put the meat water in the fridge for the night. Went to the store today to buy marrow bones. Behold:



Looks like a crime scene photo, no? So before I continue, I want to confess, I'm afraid of marrow. They serve it in fancy restaurants and people pay an arm and a leg for a $1.50 marrow bone just so they can scoop out the gelatinous iron-rich fat from the inside and spread it on crackers. It's literally the junk in the middle of the bone:

Do I have to say it? It does not appeal to me. I've been told it tastes like "beef jelly" and I don't really think that helped matters. But I got my marrow bones. And here we go....

• Beef marrow bones (you can also include knuckles...ewh...and veal bones, oxtail, etc)
• beef chunks or roast (preferably stew meat)
• olive oil
• onions, peeled & quartered
• cut up carrots
• handful of celery tops
• garlic cloves
• parsley
• bay leaves
• peppercorns

The amounts are up to you. There are exact recipes online if you wish, but who wants to paint by number? Add the things you like in the quantities you like.

Preheat oven to 400. Rub a little olive oil over stew meat pieces, carrots & onions. Place stock bones, stew meat or beef scraps, carrots & onions in a shallow roasting pan.

Roast in oven for about 45 minutes, turning the bones and meat once halfway through roasting, until nicely browned. If the bones begin to char, lower the heat. They should brown, not burn.

When the bones & meat are nicely browned, remove them & the veggies & place them in a large stock pot. Place the roasting pan on the stove top on low heat & deglaze with water or wine. Then, pour the water and browned bits into the pot.

Add the celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves & peppercorns. Fill the pot with enough cold water so that it comes 1-2 inches over the top of the bones.

Put the heat on high, bring to a low simmer & then reduce the heat to low. Keep at a bare simmer, just barely bubbling. Cover loosely & let simmer for a minimum of 3 hours. 6-8 is better. The instructions I read said,

"Do not stir while stock is simmering - it will mix the fats with the stock and cloud up your stock."

Um. I'd never even thought to stress about my stock being cloudy. Ok, moving on. As the stock cooks, remove fat from the marrow at the top (now how do you do that without it stirring things up a bit?)

When the stock is ready, use tongs or a slotted spoon to gently remove bones and veggies from the pot. Then, it said,

"If there's any marrow left in the bones or floating on top, taste it - it's delicious!"

Fine. But I'm telling you it looked like booger soup with that marrow in there. Did it anyway. Scooped out just a little bit....and tasted it. Newsflash: it was god awful. Who are you people who like this stuff? I took another glob of the stuff and smeared it on a Triscuit and fed it to my husband saying, "here's something that a lot of people think is delicious". He ate it. Looked at me. No reaction. Apparently his cold has made it so he can't taste anything. Sigh. Oops, where was I?

Strain the broth through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Cool to room temperature. Remove any excess fat from the top.

Now you have your own beef broth to store for all kinds of delicious things. Freeze it if you don't have any use for it immediately.

Oh, and give the bones to your dog. They go nuts for them. Just make sure you clean all the goo out first.

Delicious snack, or overpriced wad of bone fat? Let me know what you think.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup w/ Ginger

How do you "core" this thing???

• 2 leeks, roots trimmed, including 2 inches of green
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 celery rib, with extra leaves, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp finely minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 6 cups chicken broth
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 head cauliflower, cored & broken into florets. Here we go - anyone know how to core a cauliflower? I asked around and the answer was no. So I just cut the bitch.
• 1 cup half & half
• salt & pepper
• crystallized ginger

Cut leeks in half, lengthwise. Wash to remove dirt. Pat dry & thinly slice crosswise.

Heat the oil with the butter in a heavy pot over low heat. Wilt the leeks & celery with leaves until softened, 10 minutes; add garlic during the last 5 minutes.

Stir in the curry powder & ginger and cook over very low heat to permeate the vegetables, 1 minute. Add the broth, lemon juice & cauliflower florets. Raise the heat to high & bring to a boil; reduce the heat & simmer, partially covered, until the cauliflower is very tender, 15 minutes. Cool slightly.

Puree in a food processor until very smooth, adding half & half thru the feed tube. Add extra broth for desired consistency. Salt & pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with crystallized ginger, sliced leeks or florets.

Dumplings (for soup)

I use this for chicken soup but it could go in most anything you want:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/2 cup flour (maybe more)

Mix ingredients together, adding enough flour to make it the consistency of thick ketchup.

Dip a spoon into the soup that is softly boiling, then scoop a small amount of dumpling mix & dunk it in the soup.

The dumpling should immediately fall off the spoon & plump up.

Repeat until mix is gone.

Zucchini Soup w/ Pasta

Guys, I'm serious about soup. This is my 20th soup recipe on this blog. What can I say? I love comfort food. This one came out tasting a little bit like Campbell's, which is weird. But at least you're getting your veggies.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 qt. chicken stock
• 2 large zucchini
• 1/2 cup tiny pasta
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 tbsp dried chervil (parsley will do, too)
• salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions, and saute till translucent. Stir in garlic and saute an additional minute or two.

Add the stock to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil.

Meanwhile, grate the zucchini and stir into the boiling stock with the pasta. Lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 15 minutes until the pasta is tender.

Add chervil, lemon juice and season to taste with salt & pepper.

Variations - I read that you can also use cucumber but I can't really picture it. Also, consider stirring in a little sour cream.

Potato & Fennel Soup w/ Garlic

Made this up today based on what was in the fridge. I'm stoked because it comes out to about $1 a serving and money is tight these days. You could vary it any way you want to incorporate leftover produce (spinach, carrots, etc.). Here's what I did:

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 bulb fennel, chopped
• 1 tbsp marjoram
• 4 cups potatoes, peeled & cubed

Heat oil and 2 tbsp of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until hot.

Add onion and celery and saute until onion is translucent.

Add garlic & saute about 2 minutes longer.

Add fennel & leek and saute for another 4-5 minutes.

Add potatoes along with marjoram and enough water to cover potatoes (about 3 cups). Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until potatoes are fully cooked (took about 20-25 minutes). Stir occasionally.

Once potatoes are cooked, turn heat off, mash potatoes up a bit with a potato masher and stir in milk & remaining butter.

Salt & pepper to taste.

Chinese Egg Drop Soup

This is great for when you're fighing off brochitis like I am. Soup is always great for when you're sick but this also has two extra great things - ginger & garlic. Seriously good medicine.

• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp medium dry sherry
• one 2-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 cup dried fine egg noodles
• 2 large eggs, beaten lightly
• 1-2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1.5 tsp sesame oil

Bring stock, soy sauce, sherry, ginger & garlic to a boil in a 2 quart heavy saucepan.

Remove ginger & garlic with a slotted spoon & discard. Or, finely chop the garlic and leave it in. You could also mince the ginger and leave it in.

Stir in noodles & simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 4 minutes.

Stirring soup in a circular motion, add eggs in a slow, steady stream.

Simmer, undisturbed, until strands of egg are cooked, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat & stir in scallions (to taste) & sesame oil.

Season with salt.

Mom's Ham & Bean Soup

There are few things I love more than being in the kitchen with my mom. I try so hard to absorb as much information as possible so I can have my recipes turn out like hers. They never do. The beauty of this recipe is it's simplicity. She doesn't overwhelm it with all kinds of seasonings and extras (a bad habit of mine). So the lesson is, keep it simple and you'll be able to bring out the best flavors of your main ingredient. Simple. Lovely. Again, there aren't amounts on some of the ingredients because you should add an amount that you like. Make it your own!

• 1 leftover ham bone (ours is from Easter. Apparently ham keeps longer than regular meat because it's been cured. Makes sense but I didn't know that. Did you?)
• one 1lb bag of dried navy beans
• celery, chopped fine
• onion, chopped fine
• carrots, chopped fine
• bay leaves
• cornbread (to go on the side with your cucumber & vinegar salad) - these are my moms direct instructions. If you're making ham & bean soup, you clearly will be making cornbread to go with the cucumber & vinegar salad.

Rinse the beans & cover with water in the pan.

Put them on the stove, bring to a boil and skim off the froth. (or you could soak them overnight).

Reduce heat & add the ham.

Let them cook until the beans get soft (at least an hour).

Add chopped celery, carrots, onion, bay leaves & maybe some celery leaves for added flavor.

Simmer until the beans are completely tender and your family can't stay away from the pot anymore. Also, as my mom suggests, consider serving with cornbread, and a salad of cucumbers and vinegar. I love my mom :-)

Corn Chowder

Perfect for a rainy day:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 large potato, chopped
• 4 cups corn kernels, fresh cooked or frozen
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup cream or half & half
• 6 more tbsp butter (optional)

Saute onions in butter until they are tender & translucent. Add the corn, potato, chicken broth & herbs. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Puree soup in blender, return to pot. To make it a little thicker, puree half or just skip this step entirely.

Before serving add the cream and additional butter.

Salt & pepper to taste.

Beka's Cream of Crab Soup

I made this trying to re-create this amazing crab soup I had at a restaurant that is no longer in business. I did lots of research and here's my version.it's very heavy and very thick so it can be a dip as well. If you want it thinner, just leave out the flour.

• 1/2 lb jumbo lump crabmeat


• 1/2 cup chicken broth


• 1/4 cup minced onion


• 1/4 cup minced celery


• 2 tbsp flour


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/4 tsp celery salt


• couple twists of the pepper mill


• 3 tbsp butter


• 1 pint half & half


• 1/4 cup dry sherry


• fresh grated nutmeg (to taste)


• pinch of ground cloves


• 1 bay leaf

Cook onion & celery in the butter until onion is transparent & tender.

Blend in flour (if using) & seasonings and saute over medium to medium-hi heat.

Add half & half and chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Stir in crabmeat & lower the heat so it stops boiling (low to med-low).

Stir in sherry.

Leave on low heat & taste to make changes till it's a flavor you want. I ended up adding more nutmeg.

Miso Soup

If you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant (sushi, or maybe teppanyaki where they cook the food in front of you) you are almost always given miso soup at the start. It's simple, quick and really good for you. The traditional version contains seaweed. I'm not big on seaweed, so I left that out.

• miso paste (you can get this at any asian grocer, or maybe even the ethnic section of a regular grocery store). Here's what it looks like:
  

• 1/2 block Tofu, cut into 1/2-inch squares. Tofu is often in the refrigerated part of your produce section with the salad dressings. You can get firm or soft or many variations in between usually, though, the soft kind is used for miso soup.
• 2 spring onions cut as thinly as possible.
• water.

Put a pot of water on to boil and add the miso paste first. I didn't put an amount there because it's really up to you. I used about 4 heaping spoonfuls, kind of a lot. I liked it but you may want to start with 2 and taste it before you add more.

Chop up your tofu in small squares (try getting some of the liquid out of it first by rolling it up in paper towels for a bit) and add. Add scallion/green onion before you serve.

19 Bean Soup

Also known as Pasta E Fagioli. Hearty and delicious:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 cups onions, chopped
• 1.5 cups carrots, chopped
• 1/5 cups celery, chopped
• 3 tbsp garlic (minced)
• 3 cups water
• 3 cans beef broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• about 14oz various beans, barley, dried peas, veggies, etc. (I just use the 19-variety bag of dried beans from the grocery store)
• bowtie pasta (your call how much you use)
• grated parmesan cheese

In a large stock pan, heat oil and saute vegetables and garlic.

Add water, broth, beans, tomatoes and spices. Add any herbs now (I think I used parsley, oregano and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil.

Then just reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours or until the beans are tender, stirring frequently.

Add pasta, and simmer covered, until cooked through.

Salt & pepper to taste & top with grated parmesan cheese.

**I also added barley & 5oz of proscuitto**

Vegetarian Minestrone

Made this tonight for family potluck. Healthy, easy and inexpensive. Vegetarian (as long as you use water instead of stock) and actually vegan if you leave out the cheese.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 3 cups water (or chicken broth if you're not trying to keep it veg)
• 2 cups diced zucchini
• 1.5 cups cannellini beans (canned works fine)
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup of the smallest pasta you can find
• 1/2 cup frozen white corn
• 2 bay leaves
• grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add chopped onion & saute for 4 minutes or until just lightly browned.

Add water(or stock), zucchini, carrots, beans, celery, basil, bay leaf, oregano, salt, pepper, tomatoes, garlic & corn.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover & simmer on med-low for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add macaroni, cover & cook 10 more minutes.

Serve hot, topped with grated parmesan. Look how great it turned out!

Chicken Curry Lentil Soup

Ok I made this up on the fly last winter but it turned out great. I didn't put down any of the measurements but you don't need them. I'm serious - you don't! Just add the ingredients in the amounts that look good to you. It's a soup, so all you have to do is add more broth if there's too much seasoning, and boil it down to reduce it if there's not enough to it. Ok? Here we go:

• 1/2 lb chicken breast strips (or any chicken, meat or even tofu would work fine)
• 1-2 cups lentils
• 3-4 cans chicken broth
• minced garlic
• stewed tomatoes
• vegetable flakes (you can get big bags of these at farmer's markets!)
• curry powder
• 1 whole clove
• dried parsley flakes

Bring broth to a boil & add lentils. Then just add everything else and taste as you go (except the raw chicken, don't taste that until it's cooked through!) haha

French Onion Soup

It takes a lot of ingredients, but homemade french onion soup is kinda the bees knees. Don't believe me? Try this and get back to me. Last time I made this I was recovering from shoulder surgery, so you'll have to let me know if it's good or if I was just on painkillers.

• 10 sweet onions (like Vidalias), or a combination of sweet and red onion
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups white wine
• 10oz canned beef consomme
• 10oz canned chicken broth
• 10oz apple cider (unfiltered is the best)
• Bouquet garni: fresh sprigs of thyme, bay leaf & parsley
• 1 loaf country style bread
• kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• splash of cognac
• 1 cup fontina or gruyere cheese, grated

Trim the ends off each onion, then slice from end to end. Remove peel & finely slice into half moon shapes.

Set electric skillet to 300 and add butter. Once the butter has melted add a layer of onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all the onions are in the skillet. Do not try stirring until onions have sweatted (shut up, I know that's not a word) down, for 15-20 minutes.

After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany & reduced to approximately 2 cups. This should take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not worry about burning.

Add enough wine to cover the onions and turn heat to high, reducing the wine to a syrup consistency. Add consomme, cider and herbs. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Place oven rack in top 1/3 of oven and heat broiler. Cut bread into rounds large enough to fit the mouth of oven safe soup crocks. Place the slices on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler for ONE MINUTE.

Season soup with salt & pepper. Splash in the cognac. Ladle soup into crocks, leaving one inch to the lip. Place bread round, toasted side down, on top of soup and top with grated cheese.

Broil until cheese is bubbly and golden (1-2 minutes).

Homemade Chicken Stock

When my kitchen counter looks like this, you know I'm gearing up for something:

I do this so often that I don't even have a recipe for it. I will provide the guidelines given to me by my mother that were given to her by my great-grandmother, but, as in any good recipe, the rest is up to you. Therefore, this has components, rather than real ingredients.

• Chicken meat, pieces, bones, skin: You want pieces with lots of connective tissue, bones (especially roasted bones so a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is great), wings & necks are good as they have lots of skin and such as well. This is going to give you the gelatin that makes for an excellent stock.
  
• Herbs: Entirely up to you, but you want to use what you have, what's easy and what's available. Any time I buy fresh herbs and veggies for a recipe, I add the parts I haven't used to my stock bag - I keep a freezer bag in the icebox full of everything from celery tops to parsnip & carrot pieces and leftover parsley. Then when I want to make stock, I just throw the contents of the bag into the pot with the chicken. It's nice not to waste a thing. Some herbs that are especially friendly to chicken are rosemary, dill, marjoram, parsley, thyme, sage and bay leaf. But just use what you have and what you like.
  
• Veggies: Contents of stock bag as well as other fresh stuff. Again, up to you but some good things to include would of course be the classic mirepoix of carrots, celery & onion. Also can use turnips, parsnips, leeks, garlic, shallots...
  
• Spices: I usually add black peppercorns. You also may want to play with other spices such as allspice and cloves (especially in winter).

Ok. Put whatever chicken you're using into the pot. Today, I'm using a stripped rotisserie chicken from Safeway as well as a big bag of frozen uncooked chicken wings.

Then add enough water to cover the chicken and put it on high heat to bring to a boil. While that's heating up, you want to start adding your veggies. I had a full stock bag in the freezer so I used all kinds of things: celery, carrots, a parsnip, leeks, onions, garlic and a small stalk of lemongrass (what, too much?).

Then add your spices - I put in a pretty generous handful of black peppercorns and called it a day.

Lastly, toss in any dried, fresh or frozen herbs you have on hand. I had leftover fresh parsley that I'd frozen, so I added all of that as well as tons of dried stuff: 3 bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, sage, celery seed & marjoram. In addition, since I'm planning to use my stock for matzoball soup, I added dill seed as well as lots of dill. Good matzoball soup always has tons of dill. But if you were making some other kind of soup, you would include herbs & spices that would work with those flavors. Anyway, when I was done, I had one full pot:

Once you've brought it to a boil, reduce the heat and keep it somewhere between simmer and boiling (depending on how closely you're willing to watch it). It will take at least 2-3 hours to cook, give or take. In the meantime, you'll see all this yellow liquid fat gather at the top:

That, is schmaltz (that's yiddish for "chicken fat"). Rendered chicken fat. Skim that off. You can use it in a lot of different ways. You can fry things in it, saute in it, hell some people even spread it on toast. Mine is going straight into the matzoballs (קניידלעך kneydlach) for my soup. Behold:



Ok, back to the stock. You know it's done when the meat is falling off the bone and everything looks completely pulverized and gross:

Now, just strain it through a very fine sieve, throw out the solids (you may want to resersve some chicken for your soup, or feed the chicken-soaked veggies to the dog) and you should have lovely lovely stock. At this point, you could just use it immediately in a million different recipes (soup, sauces, risotto, etc.) or you could freeze it and hang on to it for when you need it. I'm also not above just drinking it from a mug on a cold night.

Chicken Coconut Soup with Lemongrass

This is sooo good. Also called Tom Kha Gai, this is a Thai soup. It has the typical thai combination of flavors - citrus & spicy chili & coconut. I made a ton of it when my husband had the flu so that I could fight it off. I still felt kinda icky (maybe from being around a sick person?) but I never fully caught it. Ginger & lemongrass are both especially soothing when you're sick. Once you locate the ingredients (I got all of mine from Safeway), it's easy to make. I adapted this recipe from Williams-Sonoma. They know their stuff. I took out a few of their ingredients (mushrooms, fresh chilis & cilantro). Check their website if you want the original recipe.

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 slices peeled fresh ginger
• 1 large lemongrass salk, cut into 2-inch pieces, crushed
• grated zest of 1 lime
• two 14oz cans coconut milk
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp red chili paste (Siracha!)
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

In a large saucepan, combine the broth, ginger, lemongrass & lime zest. Place over medium heat & slowly bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.

Reduce heat to low, add the coconut milk (mmm...coconut milk), stir to combine & bring to a simmer.

Add the lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar & chili paste; mix well & simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces & simmer until tender, 4-5 minutes.

Beef Stew with Guinness Stout

Made this last month. Everyone loved it:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 lbs stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch with some fat left on
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled & quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2-3 tsbsp flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1/2 lb carrots (and/or parsnips)
• 6 small red potatoes, peeled & quartered
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup Guinness stout (um, we used a lot more than that, but just add & taste to make sure you want more before you keep adding like a crazy person)

Heat a 6 quart stove top casserole or oven proof pot & add the oil & the bay leaves.

Cook the bay leaves for a moment & then add the meat. Brown meat on both sides on high heat.

Add the onion & cook for a few minutes until it is clear. Reduce the heat to low & add the garlic, thyme, rosemary & flour. Stir until smooth.

Add the bee stock & stout; simmer, stirring until the stew thickens a bit. Add the remaining ingredients & cover.

Place the pot in the oven at 275 for about 2 hours, stirring a couple of times. maybe turn it up if it's not boiling. I kept mine pretty hot.

Salt & pepper to tastse.

Good by itself or over rice or noodles.

Potato Soup with Turkey Bacon

The original recipe I found for this called for real bacon. But we've tried it both ways, and honestly like it better with the turkey bacon. I don't usually like meat dressed up as other meat, but turkey bacon is total magic.

• 1/2 lb turkey bacon (or more, depending on preference)
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 4 cups chicken broth (you may need more)
• 3 tbsp margarine or butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup heavy cream (milk is fine too)
• pinch of tarragon
• pinch of marjoram
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)
• grated sharp cheddar cheese

Spread bacon out in a pan & bake at 350 until mostly cooked (about 10 minutes). They should be just starting to crisp.

Pour fat into a saucepan (or just use butter), turn up the heat, and saute the celery & onions until onions are translucent.

Add garlic, bay leaf, herbs. Then, add potatoes & toss to coat. Saute for 4-5 minutes.

Add bacon & cover with enough stock to just cover potatoes (turned out to be about 1 quart). Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

In a small separate pan, melt butter & cook with flour for 1-2 minutes. Add to soup with the cream (or milk).

Season with salt & pepper & top with a ton of grated cheese. Chives wouldn't hurt either.

Leftover Turkey Soup

Made this with the leftover turkey corpse (well what do you call it?) from Thanksgiving. You can modify it 100 different ways to include your favorite things. Here are mine. I was told it was a killer hangover cure, too!

• 1 turkey carcass (I don't like that word either), mine was 11 lbs
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onions
• big fistful (that's the technical term) of whole garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 medium parsnip, chopped
• 1 tsp rosemary (I used dried but fresh is always better)
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp lavender
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 cup rice
• fresh ground sea salt & pepper

First make your turkey stock by putting the turkey in a giant stockpot, filling it with water until the carcass is just barely covered, brining it to a boil & simmering for 2 hours or more. Depending on how you like your stock, you could also throw in peppercorns, herbs or other flavors.

Strain liquid and put it back in the pot. Save any meat to add back into the soup as well.

In a separate pot, sweat the aromatics: put carrots, onions, celery & garlic & parsnips on high heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. Once it begins to heat up, add in bay leaves & other herbs & seasonings.

Add strained stock back into the pot, bring to a boil, cover and simmer.

30 minutes later, add rice & simmer until all rice is cooked.

Add cut up turkey pieces to the soup. Salt & pepper to taste.

I'll add a picture next time I make it. What is it with you and pictures, anyway?