Soup

Today's post deals with soup, and includes Hearty Ham and White Bean Soup and Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup. Enjoy!

CHEESEBURGER SOUP

This is from Dan Pelosi in The New York Times cooking newsletter. For this recipe, Dan wrote, "This recipe has all of the delicious comfort of a cheeseburger served in a bowl — you won’t even miss the bun. Chunks of ground beef, carrots, celery, onions and potatoes all swim in a seasoned beef broth that is thickened with a roux made with flour and butter. Cheddar is melted straight into the broth, further thickening the soup, and making each bite more delicious. Everyone tops their own burger to their liking and this soup is no different, though extra Cheddar, diced fresh tomatoes, chopped scallions, crumbled bacon and a dollop of sour cream are a great place to start."

Ready In: 35; Yield: 6 to 8 servings

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/762961332-cheeseburger-soup. While you're at it, if you haven't signed up for The New York Times cooking newsletter, I highly recommened doing so. Great recipes, guides, and more.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium white or yellow onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 cups beef broth

2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

2 cups shredded yellow Cheddar, plus more for serving

Chopped scallions (optional), for serving

Diced tomato (optional), for serving

Crumbled cooked bacon (optional), for serving

Sour cream (optional), for serving

Preparation

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up into small pieces, until just barely pink, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate and set aside; pour off any fat.

Heat the olive oil in the same pot over medium. Add the diced onion, celery, carrot, minced garlic, mustard powder, paprika and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until the onion is just softened and everything is fragrant.

Adjust the heat to medium-high, then stir in the broth, potatoes and reserved beef; cover to bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until vegetables are just soft when pierced with a fork, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk until light tan and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add milk and continue to whisk until thickened, making sure no lumps form, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Add the milk mixture to the pot along with the shredded Cheddar. Stir until the cheese is incorporated and the soup is fully warmed through and creamy, about 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Keep warm over medium heat until ready to serve. Serve topped as desired, with shredded Cheddar, chopped tomatoes and scallions, crumbled bacon and sour cream. (Soup can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.)

SMOKY TOMATO SOUP

This yumminess is from Alexa Weibel at The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Alexa wrote, "A grown-up version of grilled cheese’s best friend, this tomato soup is subtly complex thanks to the addition of ancho chile and smoked paprika, but it still has all of the nostalgic qualities of a really good tomato soup: It’s silky, robust and wonderfully tomato-y. Taking a cue from this classic tomato soup, this recipe calls for sweating the onion and garlic with a little flour to thicken the soup, which creates a velvety texture that doesn’t hide the pure tomato flavor. Simmering a whole ancho chile in the soup produces an undercurrent of heat; but if you prefer more spice, pluck off the stem and blend the chile into your finished soup rather than discarding it. Adjust the amount of cream and the level of heat as you like and the soup will taste just right to you."

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Cook Time: 1-1/4 hours; Total Time: 1-1/2 hours; Yield: 4 to 6 servings (about 8-1/2 cups)

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026266-smoky-tomato-soup. While you're at it, if you haven't already subscribed to The New York Times cooking enewsletter, I highly recommend doing so. Great recipes, guides, and more.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 large yellow onion (about 1 pound), minced

Salt and black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

8 fresh thyme sprigs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ancho chile

Crema (or sour cream thinned with water), for serving

Chives (optional), for serving

grilled cheese (optional)

Preparation

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic, crushed red pepper and paprika, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.

Sprinkle the flour on top and cook, stirring constantly, until sizzling and crackling, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juices, squeezing the tomatoes to crush them as you add them to the pot. Stir in the stock, thyme sprigs and sugar. Drop in the ancho chile (plop!) and bring to a simmer over medium-high.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover almost all the way and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors deepen and tomatoes break down, about 45 minutes.

Pluck out the ancho chile and thyme sprigs, then transfer the soup to a blender (in batches, if needed) and blend until creamy. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender to blend it right in the pot.) Give the soup a taste and adjust seasoning if desired. If you’d like to increase the smoky flavor, you can blend in a portion of the stemmed and deseeded chile, if desired.

Transfer to bowls, top with a swirl of crema and a sprinkle of chives. Serve with grilled cheese, if desired.

CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

This yummy soup is from Chungah, on her wonderful site, Damn Delicious. I've mentioned her site once or twice. But if you haven't visited it yet, I highly recommend it. Go ahead, I'll wait. (Tap, tap, tap...)

Okay, hopefully you checked it out. Now, this recipe begins, "So warm, so cozy, so soothing. A must for those busy cold weeknights, using up that leftover rotisserie chicken!"

Yield: 8 servings; Prep Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time: 30 minutes; Total Time: 50 minutes

You can view this online at https://damndelicious.net/2022/04/29/creamy-chicken-noodle-soup/.

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 sweet onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 celery ribs, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

6 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 cups leftover shredded rotisserie chicken

2 cups wide egg noodles

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup frozen green peas

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.

Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in chicken stock and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until flavors have blended, about 10 minutes.

Stir in chicken and pasta and cook until tender, about 10-12 minutes.

Stir in heavy cream, peas and parsley until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve immediately.

HEARTY HAM AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

This is by Pam Anderson and was in the January 2010 issue of Runner's World (page 44; "The Athlete's Palate"). It begins, "The cabbage in this dish is rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as phytonutrients that helpl protect against some cancers. To save time and speed up the cooking process, heat the broth and tomatoes in the microwave while chopping the vegetables."

Pam Anderson has a really great cooking site, called Three Many Cooks. I really recommend it. Go ahead, I'll wait. (Tap, tap, tap

And now, on to the soup.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced into medium pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

2 large carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin

1/2 cabbage, cored, cut into bite-size shreds

12 ounces lean ham steak, diced into small pieces

1 quart chicken broth

1 14.5-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes

2 cans (15 oz each) white beans, undrained

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat the oil over medium-high in a soup kettles. Add the onion, saute until soft and golden, about five minutes. Add the Italian seasoning and saute until fragrant, about one minute. Add the remaining ingredients, then bring to a full simmer, skimming any foam that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to low, simmer gently (partially covered) until the vegetables are just cooked and flavors blended, about 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley; cover and let stand five minutes. Serve's six.

RED LENTIL SOUP

This is from Melissa Clark in The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Melissa wrote, "This is a lentil soup that defies expectations of what lentil soup can be. Based on a Turkish lentil soup, mercimek corbasi, it is light, spicy and a bold red color (no murky brown here): a revelatory dish that takes less than an hour to make. The cooking is painless. Sauté onion and garlic in oil, then stir in tomato paste, cumin and chile powder and cook a few minutes more to intensify flavor. Add broth, water, red lentils (which cook faster than their green or black counterparts) and diced carrot, and simmer for 30 minutes. Purée half the mixture and return it to the pot for a soup that strikes the balance between chunky and pleasingly smooth. A hit of lemon juice adds an up note that offsets the deep cumin and chile flavors."

Total Time: 45 min utes; Yield: 4 servings

This was featured in "A Lentil Soup to Make You Stop, Taste and Savor," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016062-red-lentil-soup.

Check out Melissa Clark's guide, "How to Cook Beans." While you're at it, if you haven't already signed up for The New York Times cooking enewsletter, I highly recommend it.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and black pepper

Pinch of chili powder or ground cayenne, plus more to taste

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup red lentils

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil over high until hot and shimmering. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, cumin, 1/4 teaspoons each salt and black pepper and the chili powder, and sauté for 2 minutes longer.

Add broth, 2 cups water, lentils and carrot. Bring to a simmer, then partly cover pot and turn heat to medium-low. Simmer until lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup, then add it back to pot. The soup should be somewhat chunky.

Reheat soup if necessary, then stir in lemon juice and cilantro. Serve soup drizzled with good olive oil and dusted lightly with chili powder, if desired.

THREE SISTERS SOUP

This is from American Heart Association, and begins, “Simple Cooking with Heart brings you this interesting vegetable and bean soup called Three Sisters Soup.

“This is actually a Native American recipe and the three 'sisters' refer to corn, beans and squash!”

Makes 6 servings

To view this online, go to https://recipes.heart.org/en/recipes/three-sisters-soup

Note: This recipe calls for either chicken or vegetable stock on the American Heart Association web site. However, since this is a vegetarian blog, I'm keeping it at only the veggie broth. Also, if you're looking for quite a few yummy heart-healthy recipes, check out the AHA's site and follow around to their recipes.

Ingredients

6 cups fat-free, low-sodium vegetable stock

16 oz. canned, low-sodium yellow corn or hominy, drained, rinsed

16 oz. canned, low-sodium kidney beans (drained, rinsed)

1 small onion (chopped)

1 rib celery (chopped)

15 oz. canned, cooked pumpkin (Tip: Be careful, don’t get pumpkin pie filling!)

5 fresh sage leaves

OR

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1/2 tsp. curry powder

Directions

Bring veggie stock to a slow boil.

Add corn/hominy, beans, onion and celery.Boil for 10 minutes.

Add sage leaves, curry and pumpkin and simmer on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.