Baby, It's Cold Outside

And FINALLY, the cold weather greets us. As fleeting as her presence may be, I’m going to greet her in the best culinary way I know --- with soup.

 

For me, there’s nothing like coming home from work having walked in and out of the cold weather all day to cuddle up with a warm blanket, an episode of Glee (or whatever my TiVo has on the queue), and a bowl of a warm soup.

As someone who, more often than not, is only cooking for two, I’ve become a big fan of dishes that freeze well. As we peek into Louisiana’s take on winter, I am jumping at the chance to cook one of my favorite freezeables – soup.

This week I’m enjoying two soups: an Apple Cheddar Squash Soup and a Corn Soup.

Now these two soups fall on opposite ends of the soup spectrum. The first is what is considered a velouté – a thick soup (similar to the viscosity of bisque) without any large morsels. Generally it involves pureeing the soup in batches in a blender, but I’ve found that as a full-time [insert your profession here] who has a short period of time to fix weeknight dinners, veloutés can be more easily made using one of my favorite tools – the immersion blender. As a child, this was my means to a chocolate malt. (Who am I kidding? As an adult, it still is.) But now its uses have broadened with my culinary capabilities.

Apple Cheddar Squash Soup

[From: Food Network Magazine]

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium apples, thinly sliced
• 1 large white potato, diced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped peeled butternut squash, fresh or frozen [As I've mentioned in previous posts, there are many squash that can be substituted for butternut squash, including sweet dumpling squash, which I have successfully used to make this soup.]
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
• Chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
• Crusty bread, for serving (optional)

Directions

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-low heat and add the onion, apples, potato and squash. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in the sage and flour. Add the cider and cook over high heat, stirring, until thickened. Add the broth and milk, cover and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the potato is soft, 8 to 10 minutes.

[Following my no-proscuitto because it's too costly rule, I -- of course -- leave this next part out.] Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the prosciutto and cook until crisp, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Add the cheese to the soup and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Puree in a blender in batches until smooth [Use immersion blender here!]; season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the prosciutto, more cheese and chives, if using. Serve with bread, if desired.

While the Apple-Cheddar-Squash Soup is definitely do-able on a weeknight for a working cook (especially if you stick to the butternut squash version, which doesn’t require any advanced preparation of the squash), the Corn Soup takes a little longer only because it requires “simmering time” of about an hour and a half.

Also, contrasting with the first, this second soup is more like a bisque. Because its base is a roux, you can make it as thick as you like. If you prefer thick soups – like I do – then make more roux and use the same amount of liquid. For a lighter soup, either add more liquid or make less roux. Easy enough, right?

This particular soup recipe comes from a variety of sources. One, found in a local magazine (POV), was submitted by a friend of my parents. I made adjustments based on the preferences of my husband and based on other corn soups I’ve enjoyed.

Corn Soup

[By: David Fakier as submitted to POV Magazine] 

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 piece lean salt pork

3 cooking spoons oil 

3 cooking spoons flour [This is how many a Cajun chef measures the start of his/her roux. In measuring them, I’ve found these "cooking spoons" to be anywhere between 1/8 cup and ¼ cup. Mine is just under ¼ cup. But the most important thing is equal parts of oil and flour. The consistency can be adjusted later when you add the liquid.]

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

1 (14 ½ ounce) can stewed tomatoes

1 pound bag frozen corn

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies

2 cups smoked ham, cubed [I leave this out.]

1 packaged link of smoked sausage [I use the little cocktail wieners.]

3 cans (14-15 ounce) cream-style corn

1 teaspoon basil, dried

¼ cup chopped parsley

[Also, I added cooked pasta at the end. Any kind works, and the amount is up to personal preference as well. Usually around 12 or 16 ounces will suffice.]

Boil salt pork in 2 cups of water. Skim off the foam on top and reserve water for soup. If salt pork is lean, you may wish to include it in the soup. [If it’s not lean, cut the fat off and include it anyway. J] Make a roux by adding flour and oil into a large heavy pot, at least an 8 quart pot. Once the roux is brown, add onions, bell peppers, and celery until soft. Add tomatoes and frozen corn. Next, add ham, sausage, and salt pork. Cook about 30 minutes. Add cream corn. Add water (from salt pork) almost to the top of the pot, to desired consistency. Cook 1 ½ hours. Add parsley and basil last. [And the pasta, if you’re using it.]