New England Clam Chowder

New England clam chowder ranks in my Top 10 list of comfort foods, and it’s one of my favorite things to order in seafood restaurants. Recipes for clam chowder are hotly contested, and if you get into a discussion about chowder with New Englanders you are likely to get a wide variety of opinions on what is the best clam chowder. When I fix this soup I feel like I’m back in Maine, and that’s good enough for me; serve it en boule and I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.

This recipe starts with cooking some bacon, then sautéing onions in the bacon drippings, cooking it all with clams, clam juice or stock, potatoes, thyme, and bay leaf, and then adding the clams and corn and thickening it all up with some heavy cream. This chowder doesn’t require loads of salt because of the bacon, plus canned clams are kept in brine, and the stock will be salted as well, so I use a light hand with the salt. I almost always use more than the amount of bacon specified in a recipe because I love my bacon. I confess I had a 12-ounce package and it all went into the pot for this chowder. All that flavor gets into the onions and then the flour soaks up some of it and it infuses the potatoes and mixes with the clams and creates a thing of beauty. We only have bacon a few times a year, so by golly I’m going to enjoy it! Read more

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup with Five Peppers and Ham

It’s May and I want to dream about picnics and cooking outdoors. We thought summer was well on it’s way when temperatures climbed into the 80s a couple weeks ago, then we were startled with the cold front that came through yesterday bringing lots of rain and dropping temperatures back into the 40s. Everything is damp and the chill in the air makes for perfect soup weather, especially if it’s a little spicy like this one I warmed up for lunch. It tastes great with a slice of cornbread on the side or crumbled in the bowl, and makes me feel all warm inside. I needed that pick-me-up as I watched a river run through our backyard, cutting a swath in the garden. At least it wasn’t in the house! Maybe the mud pit will dry out enough that we can finish planting this weekend.

I like to make this soup in the slow cooker because it is so easy for a busy day, or even for overnight. The ham bone goes in for lots of flavor, but if you want a vegan option then skip the bone and use a rich homemade vegetable stock instead of water. Also, if you add the salt late rather than the beginning of the cooking process, the beans will be more tender, so hold that salt!

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The Way to Cook…Vegetarian French Onion Soup

This post marks a couple of firsts for me. This is the first time I have made French onion soup in two years, but not because I don’t like it. I love it and I have missed it! No, I had to give this up along with many other foods while I was pregnant with our third son because I was so sick, and then after he was born I was still eating a very restricted diet because he had reflux and couldn’t tolerate many foods I like to eat. So this year I am thrilled to be able to enjoy all of my favorite foods again.

And the other big, BIG first for me is the cookbook I adapted this recipe from. Until recently I have never owned a Julia Child cookbook, and I never watched her shows. For some reason I had the impression that her recipes were too complex, but early on in my cooking journey I could have really used her help because some of my creations were utterly horrifying fiascoes. A couple months ago my attitude changed when I was challenged to try a Julia Child recipe by one of my neighbors. Rose and her family moved into their house across the street last spring, and she was expecting her third child in October. I welcomed them to the neighborhood with a gift of homemade chewy oatmeal raisin cookies and we struck up a friendship. After we got to know each other a little better and she had a chance to be a taste tester for the Daring Baker challenges, she asked me if I would make a chocolate mousse for her sometime using a Julia Child recipe that another friend of hers had made for special occasions. She had the cookbook with the recipe and loaned it to me. I was slightly intimidated based on my prior thoughts about Julia Child’s cooking, but in the spirit of friendship I said I would try it sometime. I made it for a girls’ night out and realized what I had been missing all these years. I should have bought this cookbook a long time ago! Read more

Roasted Winter Squash Soup with Croutons

What can be more comforting than a bowl of creamy soup on a cold day? When the weather starts to turn a little chilly, I start making soups and this was my first one this month. Roasting the acorn and butternut squash brings out a wonderful sweetness that is tempered by the leeks, herbs, and garlic. After roasting the squash, saute the leeks and garlic, then add the stock, the mashed squash, and the herbs. Let that cook for a while, then puree it in a blender to get that smooth texture. This can easily be a vegan soup just by using vegetable stock and soy milk, and you can use gluten-free bread if you want to.

The croutons, which mirror the herbal flavors in the soup, are great for dipping in the soup or floating on top. The Gruyère can be a bit pricey, but you can substitute with Swiss. If you are making this for a quick weeknight meal, you could skip the croutons and enjoy the soup with a plain crusty baguette, but if you are serving this as a soup course for Thanksgiving or another special occasion, by all means make the croutons because they complement the soup very well. You can also make this one day ahead and then just gently warm on the stove while making the croutons. Read more

Vegetable Stock

Vegetable stock is a staple around our house because it forms the basis for many of the soups we make, and I swap vegetable stock for chicken stock in almost anything. Most of the time I can make vegetable stock from ingredients that I have on hand, though occasionally I’ll have to buy some leeks to go into it since I tend to use those up rather quickly.

Because I stick with whatever is in the vegetable bin, the flavor of my stock changes a little each time, but I have a list of basic ingredients that almost always go in the pot. I happened to be out of parsley when I made this batch and my kitchen garden stash of parsley recently bit the dust, so none went into the pot this time, but parsley is definitely one of the regular herbs in my stock. Read more

Curried Lentil and Potato Stew

I’m not a summer soup person, and you generally won’t find soup on the menu around our house until the first frost. The weather isn’t even remotely cold here yet and I’m still wearing shorts, but for some reason I had a craving for this stew.

I love stews with lots of flavor, and this is definitely in that category. Lentils are a great way to get protein since they have the second highest protein content of any legume, and they are also rich in iron, fiber, and other important nutrients. Always rinse your lentils and pick out any stones or bad pieces before cooking them. I pour the dry lentils into a bowl and cover with water, allowing it to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes, then drain and rinse again.

You can make the spicy oil, or you can skip that step and add curry paste to the soup while cooking. Either way, you end up with a delicious, healthy, hearty meal. I serve this with dollops of plain yogurt on top. There’s something about having a lentil stew with curry flavors … it just begs for some yogurt. Read more

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