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Curried Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

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Curried Pumpkin Soup

This pumpkin soup recipe brings together the homey and familiar taste of pumpkin with the heady flavors of curry powder into an easy-to-make dish that can be easily tweaked to your liking. Don’t be put off by the jalapeno pepper – it provides a very subtle heat but more of a clean taste than anything. The toasted pumpkin seeds add a rich and meaty flavor. Don’t skip this step as these seeds are utterly delicious. Any leftovers will quickly be munched up!

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • One 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup heavy cream
  • ⅛ cup pumpkin seeds, shelled and skillet-toasted
  • Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • Grated nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
  1. Toasting Pumpkin Seeds
  2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the pumpkin seeds
  3. Stir seeds for about 3 minutes, until they give off some aroma and start to glisten. It's OK if some get a bit dark - that's added flavor! Just be sure the seeds don't burn - that's not flavor!
  4. Remove the seeds and set aside to cool
  5. How to Make Curried Pumpkin Soup
  6. Melt the butter over medium heat in a Dutch oven or soup pot
  7. Toss in the onions and curry powder and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until onions start to soften
  8. Stir in the garlic and jalapeno pepper and cook for another 2 minutes
  9. Add a bit of chicken broth if necessary to deglaze the pot
  10. Add the pumpkin and stir to incorporate
  11. Pour in the chicken broth, add salt and bring the soup to a boil
  12. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes
  13. Stir in the cream and get soup bowls ready
  14. Serve topped with pumpkin seeds and freshly grated Parmesan cheese and nutmeg

Add Pumpkin Seeds to Skillet

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Melt Butter

Cook Onion and Curry Powder Together

Stir in Garlic and Jalapeno Pepper

Deglaze Pan with Chicken Broth

Stir in Pumpkin

Top with grated nutmeg

Grated Parmesan Cheese'

Add Pumpkin Seeds

 

Looking for the perfect pot to cook up your next batch of soup? I recommend the Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It comes in 11 different colors and is an excellent value for the price.

Dirty Rice Soup with Chicken Gizzards

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Dirty Rice Soup

This Louisiana-inspired soup brings together the tastes and textures of two classic Cajun dishes – Dirty Rice and Red Beans and Rice – and combines them into a delicious and hearty soup. Using a pre-packaged dirty rice mix makes this a fairly easy dish to prepare, as you can let the rice cook directly in the soup. Most packaged dirty rice mixes call for ground beef, but traditional dirty rice generally involves cooking sausage along with chicken livers or chicken gizzards, which are used here. You could easily substitute a pound of diced boneless chicken breast, chicken thighs or chicken livers for the gizzards or use a Cajun-style link sausage such as Andouille or ground beef in place of the ground sausage. But it won’t be quite as “dirty!”

Dirty Rice Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Cajun
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound chicken gizzards, rinsed and diced fine (I used a food processor to chop them finely)
  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 15-ounce can red beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
  • 8-ounce box dirty rice mix (Zatarain’s, Tony Chachere’s and Luzianne dirty rice mixes can be found at most grocery stores)
  • 2 quarts beef broth
Instructions
  1. Brown the gizzards and sausage in a large skillet over medium heat and drain fat, leaving about 1 teaspoon in the skillet
  2. Remove the meat and place into a Dutch oven or soup pot
  3. Add the onion and celery to the skillet and cook in the reserved grease for 5 to 7 minutes, until they are soft but not brown
  4. Drop the cooked veggies into the soup pot
  5. Dump in the beans and add the dirty rice mix to the soup pot
  6. Stir everything together
  7. Pour in the beef broth and bring the soup to a boil
  8. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and let cook for about 25 minutes – until rice is fluffy
  9. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and freshly cracked black pepper as desired
  10. A good splash of hot sauce is recommended

 

Dirty Rice Soup Ingredients

 

Dice Gizzards

 

Chop gizzards fine

 

Sausage and Gizzards

 

Brown Sausage and Gizzards

 

Cook onions and celery

 

Cooked onions and celery

 

Add veggies to meat

 

Add red beans

 

Add Dirty Rice Mix

 

Stir mixture

 

Pour in Beef Broth

 

Bring to a Boil

 

Cover and simmer

 

Dirty Rice Soup Ready to Serve

 

Dirty Rice Soup Served

 

Looking for the perfect pot to cook up your next batch of soup? I recommend the Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It comes in 11 different colors and is an excellent value for the price.

 

 

 

Avocado Soup Hot

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Hot Avocado Soup

Avocados were on sale at the grocery this week. There were two loaded bins with hundreds of not-quite-ripe avocados marked at 77 cents each, so I grabbed four with plans to use two of them for a Hot Avocado Soup Recipe. The majority of avocado soup recipes suggest serving the dish very cold, and the soup is undeniably delicious and refreshing when served in that manner. But in northern Wisconsin in January, my mind is on hot soups – anything to take the chill off – so I researched dozens of recipes to come up with what I believe is the Best Hot Avocado Soup. It is rich and creamy but also extremely fresh tasting, thanks to the tangy flavors of lime juice and cilantro. Make sure you use perfectly ripe avocados, with bright greenish-yellow flesh and no mushy or dark spots. With a pair of perfect avocados, there’s little more to making this soup than blending some ingredients together and whisking them into hot broth.

Avocado Soup Hot
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 ripe avocados, pitted and diced
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 pickled jalapeno pepper slices
  • 2 small slices white onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, diced
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 dozen cilantro sprigs
  • 2 dashes Mexican-style hot sauce
  • Freshly cracked Black pepper
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients except for chicken broth into a food processor or blender
  2. Season with a couple cracks of ground black pepper
  3. Puree for 30 seconds, until mixture is smooth
  4. Pour the chicken broth into a small Dutch oven or soup pot and bring to a boil
  5. Reduce heat to low and whisk in the avocado mixture until fully incorporated
  6. Let soup warm through for a minute or two
  7. Serve topped with more fresh chopped cilantro and corn chips

 

Hot Avocado Soup Ingredients

 

Ripe Avocados

 

Dice Avocados, Onion Slivers and Garlic

 

Add avocado, onions, garlic and jalapeno peppers to food processor

 

Salt and Chili Powder

 

Add Chili Powder and Salt

 

Pour Cream into Food Processor

 

Add some freshly cracked black pepper

 

Mexican Hot Sauce

 

A couple dashes of hot sauce

 

Add a dozen cilantro sprigs

 

Blend for 30 seconds

 

Avocado mixture

 

Bring Chicken Broth to a Boil

 

Whisk avocado mixture into broth

 

Hot Avocado Soup

 

Easy Turkey Noodle Soup

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Easy Turkey Noodle Soup Ready To Eat

I went to the grocery last weekend and purchased some rotisserie-roasted turkey breast at the deli. The turkey was cut in 1/4-inch-thick slices and looked like the perfect mate for some bread loaded up with my favorite fixings. After bringing it home, I couldn’t wait to make a turkey sandwich. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed everything I needed – loaf of pumpernickel rye bread, a wedge of extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, Dijon mustard, alfalfa sprouts and a jar of pickled jalapeno peppers. Everything went to the counter and I dropped two pieces of bread on a plate, shook the mustard up and gave each piece of pumpernickel a generous squirt. With a butter knife, I spread the Dijon evenly over the bread right to the edge of the crusts. I then shaved off some cheddar and placed the cheese atop the mustard and plopped several chunks of turkey over one half. A liberal blast of ground black pepper went onto the bird and then I placed three large jalapeno slices and a nest of sprouts on top of it all. Lone bread slice brought down to cover it all and dig in. My initial reaction was mixed. The tangy mustard and cheese tangled with the crisp spiciness of the jalapeno and the subtle crunch of the sprouts in perfect harmony, but the turkey was not ringing any bells. In fact, it was dry and not giving up much flavor so I decided to make soup out of the remainders. That was a good call.

Turkey soups are all the rage right after Thanksgiving, when we’re all looking for ways to use up the oftentimes ample leftovers from the roasted bird. But there’s no reason to limit yourself to turkey soup once a year; nor do you have to cook a whole turkey to make this soup. And even though my rotisserie turkey proved to be disappointing on a sandwich, it made for an awesome turkey noodle soup.

This is a very easy turkey noodle soup recipe; however, my secret here is to first saute the veggies in duck fat, which gives this soup a huge boost of poultry flavor. If you don’t have duck fat, you can substitute butter or olive oil. But you really should get a jar of duck fat and give it a try. It makes everything from roasted potatoes to soups like this one even better. I’ve had great success using Rougie Duck Fat, an excellent product from Quebec, Canada. I keep it in the fridge and pull it out whenever I need to take things to the next level. You can buy duck fat online here.

Easy Turkey Noodle Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: American
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 1 cup turkey breast, cut into ½-inch cubes (use whole breast meat, not shaved cold cuts)
  • 1 cup egg noodles
  • 1 tablespoon duck fat (or butter or olive oil)
  • 1 onion (yellow or white), diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced (reserve celery leaves to top soup)
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed fine (I like to grind it using a mortar and pestle - it makes it nicer to eat and helps build the triceps!)
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the duck fat over medium heat
  2. Toss in the carrots, celery and onion and cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are soft
  3. Add the turkey, garlic, thyme, marjoram and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring to get everything nice and coated with the herbs
  4. Pour in the broth, salt and bring it all to a boil
  5. Stir in the egg noodles, reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for 15 minutes
  6. Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste
  7. Top with a few chopped celery leaves and a crack or two of black pepper
Notes
This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to feed 8 to 12 people as needed

 

Easy Turkey Noodle Soup Ingredients

 

Rougie Duck Fat

 

Melt Duck Fat

 

Add carrot, celery and onion

 

Cook vegetables until soft

 

Add turkey

 

Thyme and Marjoram

 

Add herbs and garlic

 

Stir to coat with herbs

 

Pour in chicken broth

 

Stir

 

Bring to a boil and add egg noodles

 

Cook for 15 minutes

 

Easy Turkey Noodle Soup

African Peanut Soup with Beef

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Serve soup topped with cilantro and peanuts

Peanuts are used in the cooking of many countries in West Africa, and African Peanut Soup is one of the region’s tastiest dishes imaginable. There are many different peanut soup recipes, some contain chicken; other recipes, like this one, use beef. And for a bit more flavor punch I added a beef soup bone. Try to find a natural peanut butter that does not contain sugar. You can use creamy or crunchy peanut butter, depending on your preference – or a combination of both! Increase the amount of crushed red pepper if you want a spicier soup. And although it is not traditional in West African cooking, I like to finish this soup with chopped fresh cilantro for a bit of Caribbean-style flair. And to make it extra good, I spoon on some chopped roasted peanuts as well!

African Peanut Soup with Beef
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: African
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound stew beef cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 beef soup bone (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons palm oil (if you don’t have palm oil, you could substitute peanut oil or canola oil)
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 pound tomatoes,diced (I used Roma tomatoes)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced fine
  • 1 quart beef broth
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • ⅔ to ¾ cup natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
  • 1 large sweet potato (approximately 1 pound) cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 6 sprigs of cilantro
Instructions
  1. In a Dutch oven or soup pot, heat 1 tablespoon palm oil over medium heat
  2. Add half the beef and cook until browned
  3. Remove beef and set aside, again add 1 tablespoon palm oil and brown the remaining beef and set aside
  4. Add the final tablespoon palm oil to the pot and heat over medium
  5. Dump in the onions and bell pepper and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, until the vegetables become soft
  6. Add garlic and cook for another minute or two
  7. Put the beef (and soup bone if using) into the pot
  8. Stir in the tomatoes, salt, crushed red pepper, coriander and chili powder
  9. Pour in the beef broth and bring to boil
  10. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until beef is tender
  11. Add the sweet potato
  12. Stir in the peanut butter and bring to a boil once more
  13. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender
  14. Serve topped with some freshly cracked black pepper, chopped cilantro and a spoonful of peanuts

Looking for the perfect pot to cook up your next batch of soup? I recommend the Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It comes in 11 different colors and is an excellent value for the price.

Heat Palm Oil
Cook beef until browned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add onion and red bell pepper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook onions and bell pepper until soft

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stir in garlic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stir in beef and tomatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour in salt, crushed red pepper, coriander and chili powder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add soup bone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour in beef broth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simmer for 1 hour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add sweet potatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add peanut butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let simmer until sweet potatoes are cooked

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peanut soup is ready to serve

 

 

 

 

 

 


Serve soup topped with cilantro and peanuts

Mustard Soup with Crispy Bacon and Pan-Fried Leeks

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Mustard Soup with Bacon and Fried Leeks

I love mustard and have used it for decades as a condiment on sandwiches and subs, slathered over grilled bratwurst and for dunking pretzels. It never occurred to me that mustard could be used in soup, let alone serve as the primary ingredient! Well, I since discovered that mustard has been used in the soup cookery of Poland and the Netherlands for years and years. This is a mustard soup recipe with Dutch origins that highlights the earthy flavors of whole grain mustard, bacon and leeks and made rich and velvety with the addition of cream. I was very pleased with this first-time attempt at mustard soup and recommend it highly. The soup has a nice piquant mustard flavor, but is not overwhelming at all – just very pleasant. Scooping up spoonfuls of soup dotted with the whole grain mustard seeds floating in the mix is really cool and delicious. And the bacon and leeks really bring everything together. This soup would make an elegant first course or a great stand-alone light dinner. I paired the soup with a crunchy baguette, apple slices and havarti cheese studded with caraway. Fantastic!

Mustard Soup with Crispy Bacon and Pan-Fried Leeks
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Dutch
Serves: 6 to 8
Ingredients
  • ¼-pound bacon, diced
  • 1 leek, washed thoroughly and the white part sliced into thin rings
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons whole grain mustard (I used 4 tablespoons Ingelhoffer Original Stone Ground Mustard for my soup, but you might start at 2 tablespoons and go from there)
  • ½ cup cream
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet, fry the bacon over medium-low heat until crisp and remove to drain on paper towels
  2. Fry bacon in skillet until crisp
  3. Remove bacon from skillet and let drain on paper towels
  4. Add leeks to bacon grease, increase heat to medium-high and saute until translucent and showing some crispy brown edges, about 5 minutes
  5. Remove leeks and let drain on paper towels
  6. In a Dutch oven or soup pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat
  7. Add the flour, stirring slowly and continually until the butter and flour form a golden-colored roux
  8. Pour in the chicken broth and stir to fully incorporate the roux into the liquid
  9. Bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes; reduce heat to a simmer
  10. Stir in the mustard and whisk until dissolved and let cook for another minute or two
  11. Pour in the cream and continue whisking, making sure the soup does not boil
  12. Taste for salt, pepper and mustard, adding as desired. You will likely not need any salt.
  13. Serve soup topped with bacon bits and fried leeks

 

Mustard Soup IngredientsFry Bacon in Skillet

Fry Bacon Until CrispLet Bacon Drain on Paper TowelsAdd Leeks to Bacon GreaseCook Leeks for 5 minutes on medium-high heatRemove leeks and let drain on paper towelsAdd butter to Dutch ovenAdd flour to butterMelt butterRoux should be golden colorWhisk in chicken brothPour in Mustard

Whisk mustard until dissolved

Pour in cream

Mustard Soup with Bacon and Fried Leeks

Looking for the perfect pot to cook up your next batch of soup? I recommend the Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven. It comes in 11 different colors and is an excellent value for the price.