Pozolillo de Garbanzo (Chickpea Pozole)

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper diced
• 1 tsp garlic 
• 4-6 re-hydrated chilies of your choice (California, New Mexico, or Ancho work)
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 1-1.5 lbs pork shoulder cooked or boneless skinless chicken thighs cooked, and cut into pieces
• 1 tsp salt, or as needed
• 2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained, and washed
• 3 tbs oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• 1 tbs coriander seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tsp oregano 

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot. 
2. Saute onions until translucent. Add bell pepper, garlic, cumin seeds and coriander. Cook for another few minutes.
3. Re-hydrate the dried chilies. 
4. Puree the cooked onion mixture with the chilies and enough chicken stock for it to blend.
5. Add the puree to the pot and add the rest of the chicken stock. 
6. Add salt, oregano, and bay leaf. 
7. Add the lime juice. 
8. Add cilantro. 
9. Add the garbanzo beans.
10. Cover and let simmer for 1-4 hours. 
11. Add the cooked meat 30 minutes prior to serving. 
12. Garnish with onion, cilantro, lime juice, radish, or avocado as desired.

Mulligatawny - Indian Spiced Red Lentil & Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon garam masala (curry powder is a fine substitute)
• 3 medium carrots, diced into 1/4-inch chunks
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 tart-yet-sweet apple, such as Honeycrisp or Fuji, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
• 6 cups low sodium chicken broth, best quality such as Swanson
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded, skinless cooked chicken, from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftovers
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus 6 lime wedges, for serving (you'll need 2-3 limes)
• Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

Directions:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the garam masala and cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the chopped carrots, onions, apples, and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 7-8 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, red lentils, ginger and salt to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and starting to break down.
3. Add the cooked chicken and 1 tablespoon lime juice, and heat until warmed through. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, more lime juice and cayenne pepper, if desired. Serve the soup generously sprinkled with fresh chopped cilantro, with lime wedges on the side.

Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups kale or 2 cups swiss chard, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Chop or slice uncooked sausage into small pieces.
2. Brown sausage in your soup pot.
3. Remove sausage and place on plate with paper towels to absorb oil. 
4. Wipe out soup pot with a paper towel to get rid of excess oil. 
5. Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir.
6. Place onions, potatoes, and garlic in the pot.
7. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
10. Turn to low heat.
11. Add kale and cream.
12. Heat through and serve.

Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter (salted is fine) 
• 2 onions, finely chopped 
• 1 teaspoon paprika 
• 1 cup red lentils 
• 1/2 cup fine bulger (can substitute with quinoa)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
•  8 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves 
• 4 slices lemon  
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook the onions in the hot butter until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
2. Stir the paprika, lentils, and bulgur into the onions and coat with the butter.
3. Add the tomato paste, vegetable stock, and cayenne pepper; bring to a boil and cook until soft and creamy, about 1 hour.
4. Crumble the dried mint leaves into the soup; stir the soup and remove from heat.
5. Ladle into bowls and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint to serve.

Smithfield Inn She Crab Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted Butter 
• 4 T. flour 
• 4 cups Half and half 
• 1 cup Milk 
• 1 lb. Lump crab meat (she crab if you can get it) 
• 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire 
• Dash hot pepper sauce 
• 1/4 tsp. mace or nutmeg 
• 1 tsp salt 
• ~2 oz. dry sherry 

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, cook butter and flour over medium heat for about 5 minutes, don't burn it. 
2. Add half and half and milk. Turn heat to low and cook until mixture simmers and thickens. 
3. Add crabmeat, Worcestershire, hot pepper sauce, nutmeg, and salt. 
4. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes more. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  
5. To serve put about 1/4 oz. sherry into each soup bowl. Ladle soup on top and garnish with parsley.
6. Serves 8. You can cut this recipe in half to make less. Do not boil when reheating.

Dumpling Noodles

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup flour, approximate
• 1/2 egg shell of milk

Directions:

1. Beat eggs until very frothy
2. Add salt, milk and work in flour, knead well
3. Roll out thin on lightly floured board. 
4. Dust with flour. 
5. Cut into strips about 1/4 inch wide. 
6. Scatter noodles on board for drying (or skip drying for more dumpling like noodles)
7. Cook in water, broth or soup for about 12 minutes. 

White Chicken Chili

This chili is the best of both words. It's kinda of like a mix between chili and chicken noodle soup (except with no noodles). This is the Mexican flavored comfort food you want to be eating on a cold snowy night.  There are a few basic things that take this simple chili from 'ok' to 'wow!' First, use homemade chicken broth, and second, use dry beans instead of canned beans. Dry beans are cheaper, healthier, and canned beans can’t even begin to compare with the flavor and texture you get from cooking them from scratch.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 dry Great Northern beans (before cooking) or about 4 1/2 cups after cooking (or 3 15.5 oz cans)
• 2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 1/2 cups chopped red, green, or yellow bell better (any combination of colors is fine)
• 2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped (use less or none depending on your desired spice)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 3 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth

Directions:

1. Dump all ingredients in a stockpot or crock-pot*
2. Bring to a low boil
3. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender, about an hour

*You can put this on in the morning and just eat it when you come home.

How to make chicken broth at home

This is about the simplest way you can do this. If you want you can add vegetables or other ingredients like herbs. That's really the only difference between chicken stock and chicken broth. Broth normally has added salt, herbs, and other flavors. Stock is a simple base that you build on in soups in other dishes. I've also heard that stock is made mostly from bones while broth is made mostly from meat.  The advantage of making a stock, which this recipe really is, is that you control the amount of salt and other ingredients. That let's you have a very simple ingredient that you can build on in a lot of different recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 Leftover cooked chicken
• Water
• Salt (optional)
• Carrots and other vegetables (optional)
• Herbs like sage, bay leaf, ect. (optional)

Directions:

1. Put leftover chicken parts in a crock-pot or large pot
2. Fill up with water
3. Bring to a boil
4. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 4 hours
5. Remove large pieces with a slotted spoon
6. Strain stock through a sieve
7. Freeze in ice-cube trays for easy 2 oz portions or even freeze in a large muffin tin for cup size portions, then store in a zip lock bag in the freezer. This will last for several months in the freezer.

Lentil Soup

Yes, it looks like mud but it tastes oh so good.

This lentil soup isn't spicy-hot; I'd categorize it as spicy-flavorful. If you're worried that it will be too hot for you, you can always cut the cayenne in half. But I think you'll miss the flavor. As made, I got eight servings of soup from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces lentils
• 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely diced
• 2 celery stalks, coarsely diced
• 8 cups water or stock or a mixture
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, put through a press or otherwise mashed
• 1 16-ounce can chopped tomatoes
• ½ C minced cilantro leaves
• ½ t cayenne
• 1 t ground cumin

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, combine the lentils, carrots, celery, and water or stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low.
2. Cover and cook until the lentils are done, stirring occasionally. My lentils take about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft.
4. Add the cayenne and cumin and stir well. Cook for about a minute.
5. Add the tomatoes (including the juice) to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes.
6. When the lentils are done, add the mixture from the skillet to the large stock pot and stir well.
7. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. We prefer a fairly smooth texture; if you like your soup chunkier, just blend a little bit.
8. Enjoy!

Cheater Chicken Soup

I almost didn't post this recipe because
the soup is not in a bowl. Silly, huh. 

Sometimes we’ll pick up a grocery store rotisserie chicken for dinner. To alleviate the guilt of not having made dinner from scratch, I stretch that bird to cover a few meals and then use the carcass as the basis for what I call cheater chicken soup. It’s cheating because it’s not entirely made from scratch but boy is it tasty. I prefer pasta in the soup because the pasta ends up behaving like dumplings. Use potatoes if you prefer that instead.

This is not a complicated recipe in terms of hands on time but does take two days just so you can get your broth properly made.

Ingredients: 

• The carcass of one rotisserie chicken OR the remnants of a whole chicken you’ve previously roasted
• Two carrots, peeled and diced
• About half of a medium white onion, coarsely chopped
• One small potato, diced into cubes OR a handful or two of your favorite uncooked pasta
• Two stalks celery, diced
• A liberal sprinkling of Italian seasoning
• One bay leaf
• Lots of water

Directions:

Day 1

1. Simmer the carcass and seasonings in enough water to fill a large stock pot for several hours.
2. Cool overnight.

Day 2

1. Strain and discard the fat from the surface of the broth.
2. Pick off any meat remnants from your carcass and toss into the broth.
3. Add the vegetables.
4. If you are using pasta, add the pasta.
5. Simmer for another couple of hours.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste to your individual bowls.
7. Enjoy!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

If you are counting calories just stop reading right now. But if you want a souper good, satisfying soup that sticks to your ribs, this is the one for you.

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup flour

6 cups milk (whole is better)

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 green onions chopped

1 8oz carton of sour cream

Directions:

1. Cook the potatoes through.
2. Cut cooked potatoes into cubes, discard the skin.
3. In a stockpot melt the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the flour and cook about 2 minutes, stirring constantly (you are making a roux).
5. Gradually add the milk and turn up the heat some.
6. Cook until the mixtures begins to thicken and slightly boil.
7. Don't let it burn!
8. Reduce head and add the potatoes, salt, pepper, 1 cup of cheese, 1 cup of bacon, and the green onions.
9. Heat through.
10. Just before serving add sour cream and combine.
11. Garnish with more cheese and bacon on top.
12. Enjoy!

Spicy Vegetable Soup

You control how spicy this soup is—if you like it hotter, dice the adobo peppers finely and use two or three. If you don’t want it hot, then use one and either don’t dice it at all or cut it into large pieces. The heat comes from the seeds in the pepper and when they get diced, they get hot. The adobo sauce isn’t (or shouldn’t be) hot; it’s just flavorful. I’ve also found that the Lacostena brand is hotter than the Hernandez brand. I prefer Hernandez for the flavor.

As written, this soup makes about eight servings.

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 C frozen corn OR one can corn, drained
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 or 4 celery ribs, diced
1 small or ½ large white onion, diced
2 or 3 small red potatoes, diced
1 to 3 adobo peppers, diced
1 can pinto or black beans, drained
2 C chicken broth plus extra water OR use all water to make this entirely meat-free

Directions:

1. Assemble the diced ingredients in a slow cooker.
2. Add the corn, beans and adobo peppers and stir.
3. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, and the broth. Stir again.
4. Add enough water to almost fill your slow cooker. If you have a huge cooker, you may need to add either more broth (for a brothy soup) or diced tomatoes (for a more stew-like soup).
5. Cook on low for eight hours.
6. Enjoy!

Amazing Tomato Soup

I love soup for lunch when the weather gets cooler, which tends to happen early in Boston. Last week I made tomato soup very loosely based on a recipe from Food & Wine. This is a quick soup and is ready in less than an hour from start to finish. It makes four to five servings as written.

Here’s a tip—you don’t need to peel your garlic cloves before you put them through your press. In fact if you don’t peel them, your press will be a lot easier to clean up.

Finally, I almost never add salt and pepper while cooking something. I prefer to add them at the table.

Ingredients:

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 small or ½ medium white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
2 t smoked paprika (it makes a difference to the taste so get smoked paprika)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted tomatoes)
3 T tomato paste
1 ½ C water
1/3 C light cream
1 sprig of thyme until the thyme plant dies, then use about ½ t dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and oil together in a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients.
2. Add the finely diced onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender and translucent, about five minutes.
3. Add the paprika and stir well.
4. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the tomato paste, the water, the thyme and bay leaf.
5. Stir well and simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the cream.
7. Enjoy!

Cream of Garlic Soup

I was watching the show The Best Thing I Ever Ate and they were talking about the best garlic dishes they have ever had. Someone on there showed this amazing looking garlic soup. I thought to my self, I must try that. So after looking over different garlic soup recipes on the web this is what I came up with.

This soup had the most amazing sweet garlic flavor you can imagine. It's not pungent garlic, but sweet. In other words, you won't sweat garlic for the next year after eating this. But, if you don't like garlic, I mean really like garlic, you may just want to pass on this one.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of garlic cloves
3 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup vermouth (you can substitute any white wine)
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup peeled potatoes (some recipes use bread cubes instead, could be worth a shot)
Croutons

Directions:

1. Mash garlic into a paste. I use my mortar and pestle, but a food processor would work.
2. Add garlic and oil to your pot and cook garlic until it begins to color, stir often. Don't burn it!
3. Add chicken broth and vermouth.
4. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.
5. Add milk, cream, and potatoes and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
6. Enjoy the smell of garlic that has not permeated your home!
7. Puree soup in a blender and then return to your pot to simmer.
8. Simmer for another 30 minutes or longer.
9. Ladle into a bowl and top with croutons.
10. Enjoy!

Fantastic French Onion Soup

French Onion soup is great for two reasons; it is full of flavor and it requires very little ingredients. If you have onions and broth on hand you can have one of the most flavorful soups out there for dinner. This recipe serves two people. Double or triple if you are serving more.

Ingredients:
3 medium sized yellow or white onions (don't use sweet onions)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup Vermouth, Sherry, or dry White Wine
Olive Oil
4 cups beef broth or chicken broth or a mixture of both (I prefer 3 cups beef and 1 cup chicken)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
crusty bread
cheese (mozzarella, swiss or provolone works best)

Directions:

1. Cut onions into thin half rings.
2. In a large pot over medium to medium-high heat caramelize the onions in olive oil.
3. After about 10 minutes add the sugar to enhance the caramelization.
4. Continue cooking the onions for 20 more minutes or until they are carmelized.
   
5. When the onions are carmelized (slightly brown, don't burn them!) add the broth, Vermouth, thyme, bay leaf and partially cover.
6. Let simmer for 30 minutes to an hour so the flavors are well mixed.
7. Ladle the soup into a bowl.
8. Put a piece of crusty bread (it can be stale) on top of the soup, put your cheese on top.
9. Broil in the oven until the cheese is melted.
10. Enjoy!