French Onion Soup

Melissa d/Arabian's Soup recipe

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
4 yellow onions (about 1 3/4 pounds), thinly sliced with the grain to hold their shape
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups beef stock
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup grated Swiss
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
4 (1-inch thick) baguette slices, cut on the bias
Directions
In a heavy bottomed Dutch oven or large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, cover, and cook until deeply caramelized, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Turn the heat up to medium and sprinkle the onions with the flour. Stir and allow to cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the thyme, bay leaf, lemon juice, and stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed. Ladle the soup into 4 ovenproof crocks.


Heat the broiler to high. Mix the cheeses together in a small bowl. Top each crock with a baguette slice and evenly distribute the cheese on top of each. Place the crocks under the broiler just until the cheese is bubbly and browning, about 1 minute. Serve hot.

Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup

This is a fantastic soup. It's creamy and delicious. I can easily see it on the menu at a place like Zupa's

3 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 T olive oil
3 large or 6 small shallots thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
2 lbs (about 2-3) sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 stems fresh rosemary
5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3 T maple syrup

Melt the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, rosemary, and chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, about 20-25 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the rosemary stems. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. You can also puree in batches in a blender or food processor. Whisk in mascarpone cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Note: If you don't have mascarpone cheese or can't find it, substitute 4 oz cream cheese blended with 2 T heavy whipping cream and 1 1/4 T sour cream. This is what I did, and it was wonderful.

Butternut Squash Soup

***Can you tell that fall is here and I'm on a soup kick???***

Ingredients:

1/2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP butter
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups butternut squash, peeled, cubed
2 cups potatoes, chopped
32 oz chicken broth
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sage
1 pinch cayenne pepper or dash of hot sauce

In stockpot, melt butter and olive oil together. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and celery. Saute a few minutes until onion is tender, add pinch salt to soften onion as you saute.

Add in butternut squash. Stir, cook a couple minutes. Add potatoe, salt, sage, cayenne pepper or hot sauce. Stir to combine. Pour in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let cook 30-40 minutes until squash and potatoes are tender.

Transfer to a blender or use immersion blender to puree. Stir in brown sugar. Serve with chopped fresh parsley and a drizzle of cream.

Creamy Fresh Tomato and Basil Bisque

***This is a recipe I came up with after reading through several recipes for making soup with fresh tomatoes.***

Ingredients:

1 1/2 TBSP butter
1 small onion, chopped
pinch of salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP flour
1 cup water
2 lbs peeled, seeded, fresh tomatoes
5 basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/8 tsp cloves
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

In heavy stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and pinch of salt. Saute until onion is tender. Add flour, stir well, cooking off raw taste of flour. Add in water. Let come to a boil.

Reserve 3/4 cup of tomato pieces. Add other tomatoes to pot along with basil, brown sugar, and cloves. Simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes.

Transfer to blender and blend until smooth. Return mixture to pot. Add salt, pepper, and cream. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Black Bean Soup

***Cook's note: Cut back on the carrot just a bit so you can achieve that really pretty black color for the soup.***

Ingredients:

1 TBSP olive oil
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3/4 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (3.5oz) can green chilies
3 1/2 cups beef broth
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
juice of 1 lime


Optional toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, and chopped cilantro

Directions:

Place a large stock pot on the stovetop and set to medium-high heat. When pan is warm, add olive oil. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Saute 4-5 minutes.

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the juice of one lime.

Place soup in blender or use an immersion blender. Puree soup until completely smooth.

Makes about 8 cups of soup. 1 cup of soup without toppings is 125 calories, 2 grams fat, and 8 grams of fiber.

Creamy White Chili

Saute the following ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast cut in cubes
1 med onion chopped
1 1/2 tsp garlic pwd.
1 Tbl oil
1 can diced green chiles
1 14 oz can chicken broth
1 15 oz cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained

Add following ingredients to sauted mixture and simmer for 30 min.
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

The first time I tried this recipe I left out the cumin and didn't like chili. It needs the cumin!!