Category: Soup of the Week (Page 18 of 25)

Southeast Asian food holds a special place our hearts (especially the soups). We are lucky enough this week to have discovered a Chef who enjoys SE Asian food even more than we do, Robert Danhi.  Robert is an expert SE Asian cuisine  having written an award winning cookbook and leading culinary tours to the region. Try his Thai Hot & Sour Soup (Tom Yum Goong) and learn more about his adventures on his website.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. medium shrimp – head on
• 1 T. Vegetable oil
• 2 t. Thai Chili Jam (nahm prik pow)
• 1 t. minced cilantro roots
• 4-6 thai bird chilies, stems removed, split in half lengthwise
• 8 cups water or broth (seafood or chicken)
• 6 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, slice on diagonal into 3 inch lengths and lightly bruised with a blunt object
• 3 slices galangal, sliced 1/8 in. thick
• 10 Kaffir lime leaves, bruised
• 2 plum or roma tomatoes, cut into 1 in. chunks
• ½ can straw mushrooms, drained, halved
• ¼ c. fish sauce
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves 

Click here to download Robert’s guide on cutting lemongrass

Peel shrimp, reserving and quickly rinsing the heads and shells, leaving tail attached; de-vein the shrimp and refrigerate. Heat oil in 4 qt. saucepan or wok over high heat; add shrimp heads and shells. Cook, stirring constantly, cook for 1 minute.  Add chili paste, chilies, cilantro stems and water; bring to a boil, and then lower to simmer for 10 minutes.  Stain into a new pot. Add lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves; simmer 5 minutes. Add shrimp, tomatoes, mushrooms, and fish sauce.  Bring back to a simmer; cook 30 seconds, until shrimp are just ocoked.  Remove from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning with fish sauce and lime juice.  Place cilantro leeves into bowls, and then ladle soup over them; serve immediately.

For more fanstastic Soup of the Week recipes, click here.

About Chef Robert Danhi

Robert Danhi’s culinary career ignited when he met his wife while taking cooking classes at El Camino Community College. After taking a trip to her homeland in Malaysia, Robert’s passion for all things Southeast Asian exploded. Inspired to expand his gastronomic foundation, Robert entered the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in New York. By 1995, Robert was the manager of the Bristol Farms Cooking School and then  moved into the position as Executive Chef Instructor and Director of Education at the Southern California School of Culinary Arts. In 1999, Robert returned as a faculty member at the CIA. Robert founded Chef Danhi & Co in 2005, a consulting firm that works with food manufacturers, restaurants, educational organizations, and professional associations. Three years later, he founded Mortar & Press, a multimedia group that produces culinary infused content including Robert’s James Beard Nominated cookbook, Southeast Asian Flavors—Adventures in Cooking the Foods of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, & Singapore. When Robert is not busy in the kitchen, he enjoys traveling Southeast Asia, riding his bike along the Pacific Coast, surfing, listening to music, and spending time with his wife, Esther. Check out Robert’s website here.

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Peter is a culinary student at the International Culinary Institute Schools at the Art Institute of Phoenix.  When our topic on the radio show was beer, we needed a soup to complement it. Where else do you go but to a college man (with a culinary background).

Ingredients

• 1/2 pounds chopped bacon
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped leeks
• 12 oz chicken stock
• 1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 pound shredded American cheese
• 1/4 cups milk
• 1 bottle of your favorite craft/micro beer

Directions
1. In a large sauce pan sauté bacon over med high heat. Take bacon out and strain excess grease.(if you want to add more bacon the better it gets)
2. Using the bacon grease sauté the onions, leeks, and celery till translucent.
3. Add chicken stock and potatoes to pan. Bring to boil for 5 – 10 min and simmer for 30 min or till potatoes are tender.
4. Add bacon and cheese a little at a time till fully melted. (if you would like to add more cheese go right ahead)
5. Add milk and beer till smooth. Simmer for 10 minutes stir occasionally.
6. Garnish with potato strings and bacon pieces

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About Peter

Peter Cromey is originally from Forest Park, IL which is a small suburb of Chicago. While he has been in Phoenix, AZ for 3.5 years and attending the Art Institute for three quarters, his heart is in Chicago. He says that he enjoys everything about cooking.

Ok, we know what you may be thinking. Another tomato soup. But this is not just any tomato soup. It is a really tasty, go with your grilled cheese sandwich tomato soup, and it is from one of the brightest young Chefs in the Arizona, Justin Beckett who is known for doing lots of great things but, especially, for his tomato soup with grilled cheese. Try this soup and you will be five years old again in your mom’s kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 can (approx 16 oz) whole peeled pear tomatoes
• 1 cup oven dried tomatoes (can be substituted with sun-dried tomatoes but make sure that they are soaked in warm water and very soft)
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 lrg leaves basil chopped
• 3 sprigs thyme cleaned and chopped
• 2 sprigs oregano cleaned and chopped
• salt and ground black pepper to desired seasoning

A Remembrance from Doc Lawrence: I was given this recipe by one of my heroes (some of my other heroes are Joan of Arc, Mark Twain, Johnny Cash and Julia Child), Jim Sanders. Sanders, wounded five times as a foot soldier in World War II, went to France in 1948, bought a bicycle and toured the countryside, learning the language, the food and all about wines. When he returned to his Atlanta home, he was a French trained chef and had his own wines from France headed to Atlanta where he opened up the first fine wine retail shops in the Deep South and became a remarkable restaurateur and graduate school level wine educator with his classes in the back of his store.

I was lucky enough to be one of his students and all I love beyond my family is owed to him. Jim served food in the same room in his store daily, calling it “Poor Jim’s soup kitchen.” Customers would stop in and eat a full course meal, drink his wines and share stories. Everything, of course, was at no charge.

Jim died in 1999 and ironically is buried close to my mother and brother. I stop by on special occasions to lay flowers and walk over to Jim’s grave, noticing that others had visited, perhaps bring along a chair and opened up a bottle or two, sharing some stories. (Jim’s trademark JSANDERS was on every cork of the 180 different French wines he imported.) This is one of my favorite recipes and Sanders served it once each week:

Ingredients

• 1 lb. raw beef pieces
• ½ cup chopped onions
• ½ cup chopped carrots
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 24 oz. tomato juice
• 1 pt. beef stock
• 2 oz. butter
• 2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 oz. medium Sherry
• 1 tsp. Allspice
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• Salt to taste.

In a soup pot, melt the butter. Add the beef pieces and vegetables and braise until the beef is browned. Add the tomato juice, beef stock and spices and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in the cheese and Sherry, but do not boil.

Jim Sanders’ young manager was Stephen Thomason who was 21 at the time Sanders died. I asked Stephen which wines were served with this soup. “Our Coates-du-Rhone,” he recalled, “was nearly perfect, loaded with pepper and spices and the customers loved it. Other choices were Beaujolais-Villages, and even a Gervey-Chambertin.” White wines? “Not really,” says Thomason. “This is a hearty soup that will overpower even many heavier white wines.”

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Soraya contacted us through intotheSoup.com with this soup submission. One of the best parts of our jobs is meeting people who share our interest. Soraya has a hobby site called New Recipes for Life. We think it is pretty cool. In the meantime, enjoy her curry seafood soup. A deliciously different soup with an Indian flair, this makes a delicious entrée to a beautiful holiday dinner. You could serve it as a main course also.

Ingredients

• 4 cups Savory Choice chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 red delicious apples, diced
• 2 ripe pears, diced
• 1/2 fresh pineapple, cored, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cardamom pods
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed without chopping
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 8 mussles
• 1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 large sea scallops
• 1/4 pound lump crab meat
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• salt and white pepper
• Parsley for garnish

In a large pot, combine broth with fruit, curry powder, sugar, cinnamon, garlic, nutmeg, cardamom, and coconut. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 2 hours.

Strain, and discard fruit and other solids. Add 2 tablespoons butter, all but 4 tablespoons sherry. Add mussels to the soup pot, and allow to reach steaming temperature. When mussels open, reduce heat to simmer and add cream.

Meanwhile, saute remaining seafood in 1 tablespoon butter for about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and dredge pieces in flour seasoned with salt and white pepper. Return to pan and saute 2 more minutes. Combine with soup base and allow to simmer for 2 more minutes.

Meanwhile, warm the remaining sherry to simmer temperature.

Add a little more salt and pepper to the soup, if necessary.

Divide seafood evenly among serving bowls. Ladle the soup liquid over top. Garnish each bowl with one leaf of the parsley species of your choice. Drizzle one tablespoon of warm sherry around the edge of each soup bowl.

Serve. I prefer to serve this soup in wide, shallow bowls rather than deep, cup-style bowls.

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About Soraya

Born in London, England Soraya Grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She wanted to be a writer since age 4. She has B.Sc. Chemistry, McMaster University. While in university, her mother joked that someday she would have a starving husband. Now, my friends ask her to conduct cooking classes! President of Octagon Marketing Group and Salon-Resources.com, the latter of which is the largest online directory for spa and salon products, equipment, supplies, and business resources.Thanks to blogging, I have married my passions for writing and cooking. NewRecipesForLife.com is my hobby site.