A Soup Affair

Thai sweet potato bisque

 On this do-nothing October weekend I have defied the odds and done something: cook! Soup is on the menu and it's going to be a doozy, due to the multitude of soup recipes I've found that I must try. Ruedi is sporting his baking hat and is all over the bread. One cannot experiment with soup without plenty of crusty bread.

First off is a Thai-inspired sweet potato bisque. For those of you who don't do spicy, omit the jalapeño. Heat or no heat, you'll still get a delicious soup. I opted to add sambal oelek in addition to the jalapeño because I'm on a heat kick. After tasting this soup I added minced basil to it. I felt it needed a bit more oomph and basil was the ticket.

Italian parsley soup with ricotta spaetzle

Following this, I experimented with an Italian parsley and ricotta spaetzle soup. Spaetzle is a German pasta or dumpling which is often served as a side dish. This time, it was added to a clean-tasting, but flavourful soup. The recipe calls for watercress leaves, but I had spinach on hand. Just make sure to trim your greens' stems well to avoid the stringy remains in your blended soup.


Thai Sweet Potato Bisque

From: http://jillyinspired.blogspot.ca

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 red pepper, halved and seeded
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, diced
• 1, 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 6 reduced salt bouillon cubes
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top of the soup
• 6 cups of water
• Canola or coconut oil for cooking
• 14 oz can of coconut milk (I chose light)
• Sea salt to taste
• Lime zest from half a lime
• 2 T, minced fresh basil
• To serve, wedges of lime, basil (thai if you have it), ground cinnamon and sea salt

Method

Place the red pepper face down on a foil-covered cookie sheet and broil on high for 10-15 minutes. The skin should be blackened at that point, but if not, keep broiling until blackened. Remove from cookie sheet and place in a bowl, covering to allow to steam for a few minutes longer. Once cooled, remove the skins, chop and set aside.

In a large pot, saute the onion and jalapeño in a little oil until the onion has softened. Add the potatoes, ginger, bouillon cubes and water to the pot. Cover and bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes have softened, about 10 minutes. Add a dash of cinnamon to the pot. Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Add the lime zest, basil and season with salt and pepper.

Serve with lime wedges and any combination of the seasonings mentioned in last bullet of the ingredients section. While this soup can be served immediately, it ages quite well. 

Italian Parsley Soup with Ricotta Spaetzle

From: http://www.playinwithmyfood.com

Serves 4-6

For the Soup

• 3 T olive oil
• 2 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 large red potato, peeled and diced
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 bunch of watercress, washed with stems removed (I used spinach)
• 2 cups fresh italian parsley, washed with stems removed
• 1 t sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

Method

Heat the oil in a sauce pan and add onions, sautéing until softened, but not browned. Add the potato and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. If the mixture starts to stick, add a little stock to loosen the vegetables. Add the spinach, parsley, stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender. Set aside while you make the spaetzle.

For the Spaetzle

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
• 1/4 t ground all spice
• salt & pepper to taste

Method

Sift the flour, salt and pepper in one bowl. In another, whisk in the remaining ingredients until blended. Add the flour in batches until completely combined. 

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil. Spoon some of the batter into a colander placed over the pot (I used a slotted spoon since I didn't have a colander with large enough holes). Push the batter through the colander. The batter will drop into the pot in chunks and once blanched, rise to the top of the pot. With a slotted spoon, scoop the spaetzle out of the pot and into the soup. Continue cooking the batter until all of it has been blanched. 

I ended up with more spaetzle than I knew what to do with, so I set some aside for other, yet to be determined uses. This soup can be eaten immediately. I topped mine with a bit of leftover parsley and served with some crusty parmesan french bread.