Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup

Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup
From Derek Clayton 

If you've been keeping up with the HMK since the beginning, you may be thinking "geez, they make a LOT of soup!"  Ironically, our pre-blog soup consumption was pretty exclusively Campbell's based.  I've always loved soup and there's been a few ill-fated attempts a making it over the years, but I was never able to produce anything as creamy and comforting as the old Campbell's can (sad, I know).  Usually my attempts involved an immersion blender that I had a brief love affair with.  If you have one, you know that they're super fun to use and hold the promise of being quick, easy, and low mess.  But what they don't offer is creamy.  All my soups were oddly chunky and mealy, and after a particularly off-putting batch of lentil soup, John put a moratorium on the soup making.

Then the KitchenAid 5-Speed KSB560 blender came into our lives. 


That's right, a basic blender that we got as a wedding gift changed everything.  We finally gave into the potential mess and started using our shiny new toy to blend soups.  We hit puree and walk away.  In just 2 minutes, beautiful velvety smooth soup is born.  Now we make every creamy soup that crosses our paths, and we haven't looked back.


Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash (about 3 pounds)
• olive oil
• coarse salt
• 1 tsp butter, melted
• 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 medium celery ribs, chopped
• ½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (we left the seeds in...and it was HOT.  your call)
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 4 cups chicken stock (store bought is totally fine, but if you're feeling overzealous, make your own!)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• cider vinegar, to taste
• salt, to taste
• 1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced into matchsticks, optional
• ½ cup cilantro leaves, chopped, optional

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice the squash in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and fibrous pulp, reserving the seeds.
3. Use a sharp knife to score the neck portion of the squash flesh several times.  Rub the flesh with olive oil and season with coarse salt.
4. Place the squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, cut side down.  Roast for 1 hour.
5. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, and scrape flesh from skin.  Set aside.
6. Rinse the seeds in a colander and dry with paper towels.
7. Place the seeds on a baking sheet and toast at 400 degrees for 7 minutes, or until golden and fragrant.
8. In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and a large pinch of salt.  Toss with seeds and set aside.
9. Heat vegetable oil in a medium stockpot over medium heat.
10. Add the onions, carrots, celery and jalapeno.  Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 10 minutes.
11. Add the maple syrup and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.
12. Add squash, chicken stock, and cream.  Simmer for 10 minutes.
13. Transfer soup to blender and puree until velvety smooth.
14. Return to pot over low heat and season to taste with cider vinegar and salt.
15. Serve hot, garnished with seeds, apple, and cilantro.

Serves 6.

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Homemade Chicken Stock

Homemade Chicken Stock
From Ina Garten 

Making your own chicken stock is clearly not necessary.  According to me, and according to most sane people.  BUT, something strange happens when you watch enough episodes of Martha Stewart and The Barefoot Contessa.  Sure, at first you mock the TV screen and joke about fetching eggs from your chickens out back.  But then one day you wake up and say something absurd to your husband: "honey, I think we should make our own chicken stock today."  And then, because he's been second hand smoking this crazy food babble for the past 3 years, he agrees to the process of sitting around all Saturday afternoon to make this happen (to be fair, college football season makes the sitting around part less objectionable for him).

So what was the result?  Actually, a pretty awesome product for what was really very little work.  Everything goes into the pot whole or nearly whole, so there's not much hands on effort.  And it makes a TON of stock, so thanks to some Gladware and our new freezer in the garage, we'll be enjoying this super rich stock for a while to come.


Ingredients

• 2 (5-pound) roasting chickens
• 2 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
• 4 carrots, unpeeled and halved
• 2 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds
• 3 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half
• 15 sprigs fresh parsley
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 15 sprigs fresh dill
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
• 1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt
• 1 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns

Preparation

1. Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns into a 12-quart stockpot.
2. Add 5 quarts of water and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.
4. Remove the chickens and place in a big bowl.  Pull the breast meat off both chickens. 
5. Return the carcases and all scraps to the pot.  Simmer, uncovered, for an additional 2 hours.
6. Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids.
7. Chill the stock overnight.
8. The next day the fat will have congealed on the top.  Skim it off with a ladle.
9. Use immediately, or pack in containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

Makes about 4 quarts.

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Parsnip, Pear & Pistachio Soup

Parsnip, Pear & Pistachio Soup
From Stephanie Izard 

Just in case I forget to think about food for more than 5 minutes, I've made sure to subscribe to a plethora of eating and cooking email services.  They never fail to tempt me with seasonal and innovative recipes from awesome local chefs and restaurants.  This soup came from a Daily Candy email featuring Chicago restaurant goddess Stephanie Izzard, of Top Chef Season 4 fame.  I'm embarrassed to admit it's actually one of the only seasons we've never seen (and quick to blame Bravo for not releasing it to Netflix), but we did recently have a fantastic dinner at her new(ish) restaurant, Girl and the Goat.

If you've never used a parsnip before, have no fear.  They basically look and act like a stumpy white carrot.  As for the pistachios, word to the wise: buy them pre-shelled if you have the means!  We have an unspoken agreement in the honeymoon kitchen that I do most of the dishes in exchange for John doing the crappiest prep tasks, but I still felt a rare pang of sympathy watching him shell 3/4 cup of pistachios!  I wonder if he feels that way when I clean dishes with caked on cheese....


Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup yellow onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 8 oz parsnips, peeled and sliced
• 2 ripe Anjou pears, peeled and diced
• ¾ cup shelled, roasted, salted pistachios, divided
• ½ cup white wine
• 3½ cup chicken broth
• 1 medium sized dried red chile (she suggests Thai or bird chile, but I could only find Mexican varieties)
• 1 cup coconut milk (recipe calls for regular milk, but I like coconut milk in soups)

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a medium stock pot over medium heat.
2. Cook onion and garlic until translucent, but not browned - about 3-5 minutes.
3. Add parsnips, pears, 1/2 cup pistachios and wine.  Cook until the liquid is almost completely gone.
4. Add broth and chili, and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer until parsnips are soft, about 1 hour.
6. Transfer soup to blender and puree until velvety smooth.
7. Return to pot, stir in milk and heat until warm enough to serve.
8. Garnish with remaining 1/4 cup pistachios.

Serves 4-6.

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Corn Soup

 

 

Corn Soup
From 101 Cookbooks 

 

September might be my favorite cooking month of the year.  The farmers markets are chock full of great produce, and there's a nip in the air that warrants comfort foods I've missed all summer.  This recipe embodies that combo.  It takes fresh corn, which is still in abundance at Midwest farmers markets, and turns it into a thick, hearty, warm soup.

 

I made it on a whim for dinner one night because I had a TON of corn left over from the Labor Day BBQ (I guess everyone filled up on the pork and forgot to eat their veggies!).  It made a fabulous dinner and I went to bed happy.  Then I woke up the next morning hungry and inspired.  I took Heidi over at 101 Cookbooks' advice and served it up over a bed of cooked farro.  And then, since we feel incomplete without eggs in our breakfast, we topped it with a fried egg.  And life was so good.

 

Ingredients

• 6 ears fresh corn, husks removed
• 8 cups water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 lb potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• large pinch of salt
• 4 medium shallots, chopped (I used 1/2 a white onion, cause that's what I had)
• 3 medium garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 2 tsp salt
• pepper, to taste
• plain yogurt, to serve
• cayenne pepper, to serve

Preparation

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot.
2. While water is coming to a boil, cut the kernels off the corn cobs.  Reserve corn kernels.
3. Place the naked cobbs in the boiling water.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-30 minutes, or until you prep the rest of the ingredients.
4. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
5. When fat is hot, add potatoes and a large pinch of salt, stir to coat.  Saute for about 7 minutes, or until potatoes are nearly cooked through.
6. When potatoes are nearly cooked through, add shallots and garlic and saute for another 3-4 minutes.
7. Remove cobs from corn broth; discard cobs.  Add potato mixture, reserved corn kernels, and 2 tsp salt to the corn broth.
8. Simmer for 2 minutes.
9. Allow mixture to cool slightly.
10. Place mixture in blender and puree.  I like my soup pretty silky, so I split my soup into two blending batches, making one a complete velvety puree, and the other mildly chunky.
11. Return soup to pot and heat.  Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
12. Serve with a sprinkle of cayenne and a dollop of plain yogurt.  (Even if you don't think you like yogurt, it really brightens the flavors and doesn't taste like yogurt if you stir it in.  My yogurt hating roommate confirmed this).

Serves 4 heaping bowls as soup.  If you serve it over the farro with a fried egg it is EXTREMELY filling, and would easily make 6 servings.

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Papaya Soup

 

Papaya Soup
From Taveuni Palms Resort

 

Well, the wedding day came and went, the honeymoon, sadly, is over, and it's onto real life.  On the plus side, that means honeymoon kitchen can officially begin!  Our very first recipe is actually cheating, sort of.  Being us, we couldn't stand to let a whole two weeks go by without ANY cooking, so we took a little cooking lesson from the staff at our phenomenal resort in Taveuni, Fiji (Taveuni Palms - seriously, heaven).  We learned to make one of the most amazing soups I've ever had, with a fruit that we don't use very often here in the states.  But since papaya is fairly easy to find if you look around, I decided it was appropriate to feature a recipe we actually made on our honeymoon, as the very first for honeymoon kitchen.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
• 2-3 Thai chilis, or other chilis, to taste, minced
• 1 medium, ripe papaya, scooped out of skin
• 1 tsp chicken boulion
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 13.66 oz can coconut milk
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Saute butter, onion, garlic, and chilis in large sauce pan over medium high until soft.
2. Add papaya, chicken base and water and boil for 2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat until cool.
4. Blend the heck out of it until smooth - seriously people, put the blender on and do some dishes - you want it to be like velvet.
5. Return to pan over medium heat.
6. Add coconut milk, salt and pepper to taste.
7. Heat until warm enough to eat.

Serves 4.

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