Carrot soup with cream and roasted pistachios or Karroten creme mit gerösteten Pistazienkernen

Carrots. Rabbits.  That`s what I think of when I see carrots.  I`m not a huge fan.  My mom used to have a bag of carrots for us to snack on after school.  For some reason, they always made me hungrier.  I don`t mind them, really, but I do not like cooked carrots at all.  Anytime they are mixed in with a meal, I will pick them out.  I don`t know what it is about them....

Maybe I am getting older (well, I know I am), or being in a different country is encouraging more of a `just try it`attitude, but when I tried the carrot soup for the first time a few weeks ago*, I did not think I would like it at all.  Boy was I wrong.

What you need:

1 kg of carrots, peeled, ends chopped off and cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 liter of vegetable bouillon
enough sugar to glaze the carrot and onion tops
vollrahm to whip or Schlagrahm
50-75g butter
pistachio kernels
salt and pepper to taste.



In a pan, melt about 25g of the butter. Chop the carrots and onions, but don`t worry about making them small as you will blend them at the end.  Briefly saute, then glaze with sugar and mix.

Put the bouillon in a large pot and add the carrots and onions.  Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and another 25g of butter.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and allow a fork to easily pass through them.

If you are using vollrahm, use a whisk to beat it up until thickened.  About 2 minutes (with an electric one).

Briefly saute the pistachios in some more butter. Set aside.

Remove the pan from the heat and using an immersion blender, blend up the chunks until everything is smooth.

Pour into a bowl and top with the cream and pistachios.  Serve immediately as the cream will start melting quickly.

I think it tastes best when the cream is then mixed into the soup.

Enjoy!

*Also a cooking class find, though as we are not given measurements most of the time, I may have been a little off.

Bread soup - Brotsuppe

It's funny how something can sound one way in one language and another in a different one.  Bread soup.  Sounds very unexciting.  However, when you look at it in German, Brotsuppe, it looks much more appealing (although this is changing as my German is improving), but I think it's much more exciting to try something that has a 'foreign' name than trying that exact same recipe in your native language.

In any case - it's Winter so I have now moved on to the winter section of my Migros cookbook.  I did make a few changes in this recipe (and it still didn't end up looking quite like the picture but it still turned out to be a good side).

What you need:

180-200g Ruchbrot, day old (which means if you have a bread box, don't leave it in there as it will not get dry)
2 small or 1 medium sized onion (I did end up using a 2nd onion)
Peanut oil for frying the onions/bread
6 cups vegetable bouillon
nutmeg and pepper to taste
1 tsp of Anis (recipe called for 1 Tbls of caraway but I didn't have any).  Feel free to add more.  I thought it was enough to add to the flavor but I don't like licorice so didn't want to add any more.
a pinch of salt.

Cut the bread into cubes and slice the onions.  Put the oil in the pan and give it a minute to heat up.  Add the bread and onion and cook until the bread starts to turn a golden brown.  About 5/6 minutes.  Make sure your pan is big enough to hold all the bread.

Add the broth, anis and a bit of nutmeg and pepper.  Add only a very little salt.   Simmer for 20 minutes.  If you need more liquid, either add very hot water or more broth.  If you cook on too high of a temperature you will need to add a bit more.

This makes a great side dish.  And, since my soup was made out of bread, I couldn't use my bread bowls this time but I found some really cute little bowls in France yesterday (more about Mullhouse vs. Konstanz later).

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

So I've gotten into homemade soups lately.  Could be the 10 degree weather, but it could also be the fact that I think they taste so much better than the kind you can get in a can (and I can't easily buy Campbell's here).  One of my friend's husbands made Cream of Mushroom soup from scratch and I will have to tackle that next.  It was fantastic.  Of course I found out later he put a ton of butter and cream in there, but that was about 2 years ago so those calories have long since been burned off.

After the success of my potato soup, I thought I'd try this broccoli one (and an excuse to go to the Coop in Dietikon - I discovered they sell A&W Root beer over by the magazines for only 1.50. Fantastic!)

The only thing I would change is to use fresh broccoli and chop it up just a little bit smaller.  You can also puree it if you prefer, but I like the chunks.  (Oh - and yes that is another 4 pack of flour in the background.  It was on sale again and there's lots of cooking and baking to do in the coming weeks even if it does have to live on my counter for a while)

What you need:

2 cups chicken broth
1 small/medium onion - diced
1/3 cup flour
50g butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups milk (no you don't have to use the skim milk and I'm considering using vollrahm to take place of some of the milk to make it a bit thicker - or maybe add a bit more flour)
2 cups shredded cheddar (I bought 300g and used the majority of it)
1 bag of frozen broccoli or 2 heads of fresh

Measure out your milk and let it sit while you prepare everything so it gets to room temperature

Chop your broccoli finely (depending if you want chunks or a puree). If frozen, put it in the microwave for about 3 minutes, stir and cook another couple.

Put the chicken broth and chopped onions in a small pot and simmer about 20 minutes so that the onions are tender.

About 15 minutes into the onions cooking, put the butter in another dish deep enough for all the liquids and let it melt over medium. Add the flour in and whisk constantly for a minute.  If your heat is too high you will get a dark brown mess on the bottom of your pan and have to start again.

Add in the milk and cook until it begins to thicken stirring occasionally (about 5-10 minutes)

Add the chicken broth/onions and mix well.  Add your cheese and mix for a minute or two.  Add in the broccoli.  If you want it chunky, you are done, otherwise, using an immersion blender, carefully blend (off the heat) and then put it back on.  After everything was put together, I put the lid on, turned it down to low and let it simmer for another 30 min. (was waiting for hubby).  Got tired of waiting so ate mine, and when he had his an hour later it was still perfectly hot and blended. So this is a great dish if everyone can't eat at the same time.

For the bread bowls:

Buy a bread roll in whichever size you would like (large for main course, small for a side).

Cut the top off the bread and carefully scoop out the bread inside, making sure to leave the bread at least 1/4 inch thick so your soup doesn't run out the side.

Rub a little olive oil inside the bread and on the bottom outside and place on a baking sheet in the oven at about 100 C.  Put it in when you start and take it out when you are ready to eat.  (If other people are eating later, make sure to turn the oven down lower so your bread doesn't turn into a rock)


When ready to eat, put the soup in the bowl and grate a little more cheese on top.  Enjoy!

This is my slightly adapted version.  The original can be found here

Bring on the soups

Now that its been getting colder, I am trying to make some soups for dinner. I like them occasionally, but when I mention making one, hubby tells me it's too hot! (usually in the summer when I want soup, so I guess he's right, but shhhh :)  )

This soup was really good.  You can make it healthier if you want but since it's all we were eating, I didn't mind as much.

What you need (I also used 2 dl of Halbrahm, but forgot to include it in the photo)

2 dl Halbrahm
1 container sauer halbrahm
Cheddar cheese
50-75g butter
2.5 cups milk
green onions
8 pieces of bacon
6 medium potatoes
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper as desired

Bake your potatoes and then peel and cut them into the size chunk you want in your soup. (You could always puree them as well if you just want a thick soup, but I like the chunks)

Cook the bacon and pat it with a paper towel.  Crumble and set aside

Shred the cheese - about 1/2 a cup to mix in and another 1/4 cup for the topping

Slice the green onions as well. Mine are in a bag since I had already sliced some for another dish.

In a large saucepan/pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour slowly with a whisk.  If your heat is too high, you'll burn the flour and have to start again.  When creamy, add the halbrahm and milk slowly, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil.

Lower the temperature to medium, add the bacon, 1/2 of the sour cream, onions, bacon, cheese and salt/pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring every other minute.  It will thicken.

Put in a bowl and then top with some sour cream, cheese, bacon and onions if you have any remaining. Enjoy.

  

Hearty Onion Soup

This is a wonderful, easy to make onion soup.  After the first time I made it, I bought large rolls to use as soup bowls. It's great for a chilly day!

What you need for 4 medium bread bowls or 3 large ones.
50 g flour
4 onions, sliced thinly for the soup
2 onions to saute and put on top
bratbutter (I use regular butter when I don't have any)
2 large rolls/small round loaves of bread
1 liter vegetable bouillon (2 cubes)
shredded Gruyere cheese (slicing some works fine as well)

1. Heat the flour in a pan (I've found a wok works great when making this. If you half it, a saucepan should be fine.

2. Take flour off stove and coat the sliced onions (use more or less onions depending on how well you like onions).
3. Put the about 25g of bratbutter in the pan and then toss the floured onions to coat.
4. Add the vegetable bouillon (Since I use the cubes with water I put it in a pot to boil and can then add the boiling water to the onions). If bouillon is cold, bring mixture to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

5. While the broth is simmering, if using the bread bowls, slice the tops off.  Pull the bread out, leaving at least 1/2 an inch of bread on the inside (1/4 of an inch for smaller rolls). Using a brush (or your fingers if you don't have one) spread some olive oil on the inside bottom and outside bottom of the bread. Put on a baking sheet and cook at 180 for 10-15 minutes.  I put it in the oven cold when I get the broth boiling and take it out when it is done and it is always perfect.

 6. Slice the other 2 onions finely. Put a small frying pan on the stove with some butter. When hot and butter is melted, saute the onions until they are crisp. This does not take long, so only do it a few minutes before the soup is ready.

Tonight I made a salad to go along with the soup, so I also cut up some of the bread tops to put on top of the salad.  For the salad, I used mixed greens, some roast onion (from the spice section) and shredded Gruyere.

After placing the soup in the (bread) bowl, add the sauteed onions and some sliced (or shredded) Gruyere. Add a grilled sliced piece of the bread bowl as well for some added interest. En guete!