Revitalizing Ginger and Chicken Soup

This has been a long and cold winter in Toronto, and a bit of a shock, because for the past few years, winter has been relatively mild.  There also seems to have been more colds and flues than usual this winter and so far, I have avoided them all. I have been relying on variations of this ginger chicken broth as a solution to the winter, adding different ingredients, depending on what is available.  Sometimes just greens, and maybe some chicken or not, other times frozen shrimp, mushrooms and greens. After a bowl of soup with this ginger broth as a base, I feel better almost instantly.

Because the broth takes time to make, and I never know when a I am going to need a pick-me-up, I like to keep single portioned containers of frozen broth in the freezer for emergencies. 

This past weekend I had guests in the country and dressed this basic soup up with chinese greens, poached eggs, and enoki mushrooms.  I served it with some of my red river bread for lunch.  

Revitalizing Ginger Broth with Greens, Chicken and Eggs

Ginger Chicken Broth

1 hand of fresh ginger,
2 sticks of lemon grass
1 large onion
1 head of garlic
1 stalk of celery, cut into a few large pieces
1 tablespoon of pepper corns
4 organic chicken backs, 
salt to taste

Additions to Broth

fresh green chinese vegetables, such as yu choy or bok choy and snow peas
chunks of pre cooked chicken
fresh eggs
fresh cilantro
hot peppers depending on your heat tolerance
cherry tomatoes
enoki mushrooms 
Sobo noodles

Wash the ginger and cut into about 1/8 inch slices.  There should be at least a half cup of ginger slices.  Slice the onion and smash the garlic cloves.  Cut lemon grass sticks lengthwise and smash.  Place all of these aromatics into a large pot, add the pepper corns and the chicken backs.  Cover with at least 4 quarts of water.  Bring to boil and then reduce heat to allow broth to simmer for a half hour.  Remove chicken bones, and take any chicken off of the bones, and set aside. Place bones back in broth and continue simmering for another couple of hours.  The liquid should have reduced by about half. Salt to taste.

Strain broth and discard bones, ginger, etc. 

Prepare sobo noodles. Rinse in cold water. 

Cut chinese greens into bite size pieces. coarsely chop cilantro, and finely chop hot peppers.  

Heat 1 cup of broth per person and poach eggs in the broth.

Place some noodles in the bottom of a large soup bowl.   Arrange some of the chicken pieces, a hand full of chinese greens and the mushrooms on top of the noodles.  Carefully place the poached egg on top.  Ladle the very hot broth used for poaching the eggs over the ingredients in the bowl.  Place cilantro, a few cherry tomatoes and chopped peppers to taste on top.  Let stand for a minute or two until the greens become a vibrant green and serve.  









  

A Variation on Tortilla Soup

I used to travel to Mexico City on business , and whenever possible, stayed at the Camino Real, a fabulous hotel built for the Mexican Olympics that combines Mexican heritage with a modern aesthetic.  My favourite thing to order from room service at the end of a long day was their Tortilla Soup.  This meal in a bowl was smokey and fresh at the same time, with just a touch of heat.  This is inspired by my memories of their Tortilla Soup.   

Tortilla Soup with Chicken

• 1 small dried chipolte pepper
• olive oil
• 2 large chopped  yellow onions
• 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• a handful of fresh oregano leaves
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 dried lime leaf
• 1 28 oz can of whole stewed tomatoes
• salish salt
• freshly ground pepper
• juice from 1 lime
• 6 cups of chicken stock
• 1 roasted chicken
• 1 coarsely chopped avocado
• fresh cilantro, chopped 
• tortilla chips

You may want to wear rubber gloves and be sure to keep your hands away from your face when working with the pepper.  Start by soaking the chipolte pepper in boiling water and leave until soft, maybe 20 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.  Cut  the softened pepper in half and clean out the seeds and discard.  Chop the pepper into smallish bits and set a side.  

Meanwhile, in a large cast iron pot, heat some olive oil.  Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add garlic and cook for another minute or so then add the chopped peppers, and cumin.  Stir, and add the tomatoes and chicken stock.  Add oregano and thyme and dried lime leaf.  Bring mixture to a boil and turn heat down.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove lime leaf, and purée the mixture with an immersion blender or food processor. Add lime juice and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.  

I have served the soup immediately and also left it on a very low heat simmering for up to an hour.  I prefer it left simmering for at least 30 minutes.  It give all of the flavours a chance to meld.  

To serve, I put the soup in the bowl, place a big chunk of warm roasted chicken in the bowl and then add chunks of avocado and coarsely broken tortilla chips and some chopped cilantro.

Traditionally, this is served with smaller pieces of chicken and small chunks of fresh Mexican cheese, avocado and tortilla chips on the side to allow for individual garnishing to individual taste.  

Heritage Green Zebra Tomato and Yellow Tomato Soup

Green Zebra Tomatoes on the Vine

One of my favourite tomatoes is the green zebra tomato.  I love the texture combined with the fabulous colour and sweet flavour, with very little acidity.  Last spring I planted a few more zebra tomato plants than necessary and somehow forgot to plant your basic red tomato.  I did, however, plant heritage pineapple tomatoes which were fabulous, and are now included in my list of favourite tomatoes.  With the risk of frost, I picked the last of my green zebra tomatoes and yellow tomatoes and so made this soup. Next time I think I will not mix the yellow and the green so that the colour is cleaner. this soup tasted good hot, and then even better, cold the next day.  

Zebra Tomato and Yellow Tomato Soup with slice of Pineapple Tomato  

• 4 green zebra tomatoes
• 2 yellow low acid tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• sprig of thyme 
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1/2 cup of broth, chiken or vegetable
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper

Chop onions and and sauté in olive oil until soft in large acid resistant pot.  Add chopped garlic and sauté.  Chop tomatoes and add to onion mixture.  Add broth and wine, and thyme. Add balsamic vinegar, bring to boil, and reduce heat to simmer and cook until tomatoes are soft.  Taste, and add sugar  salt and pepper as required.  Works well as a hot or cold soup.  

Curried Apple and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I planted butternut squash in my garden  for the first time this summer and now have lots of squash to make soup.  Years ago, my sister, MJ introduced me to curried squash soup.  She had dropped in after visiting a friend, and raved about a soup her friend had made.  We experimented and came up with something similar.

I have a number of renegade apple trees in the country, and over the years have added apples to the soup in the fall.  This past weekend I decided to also use some of the last vegetables of the year from my garden - leeks, a hot pepper, shallots I had forgotten about that were hiding under some of the beans,  and of course the butternut squash.

Curried Apple and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 butternut squash
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 2 leeks
• 2 shallots
• 1 chili pepper
• 2 apples
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• cinnamon
• red curry paste
• Salish salt
• pepper
• 1 can of coconut milk
• yogurt for garnish

Cut butternut squash in half and clean out seeds. Sprinkle with cinnamon and paint exposed flesh wiht maple syrup, leaving the remainder in hollow.  Place on baking sheet and bake in oven at 350F  for half an hour or until soft.

While the squash is roasting, cut and clean leeks, and saute in olive oil in heavy pot.  Add cut shallots and chopped chilli pepper with seeds removed.  Set aside.  Peel apples and chop and add to leek mixture.  Add chicken stock, one of the sprigs of thyme, and the bay leaf.

Remove squash from oven and scoop out cooked pulp, adding to onion and stock mixture. Add curry paste and stir.  Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf and and thyme stem.

Blend mixture with immersion blender until smooth.  Stir in coconut milk and taste.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  and stir in leaves  from last sprig of thyme.  

I the mean time, clean the leeks well 

Chilled Summer Pea Soup with Mint

I currently have a bounty of peas.  In addition to the peas from my garden,  there were two bags of fresh peas, one of sugar and the other snap peas in my box of vegetables from the farm.  Fresh peas from the pod are so fabulous and I wanted to capture that essence in a cold soup for dinner on a hot summer day. 


Peas from the pod remain sweet for only a very short time and then start to become starchy, so I needed to use as quickly as possible.  With both fresh mint and shallots from the garden, in combination with the peas, the freshness of this soup was hard to beat.  

2 shallots, finely diced
2 tablespoons of butter ( or olive oil, if vegan)
5 cups of shelled peas
2 cups of vegetable broth
4 or 5 leaves of fresh mint
1 cup of cream (or soy milk, for my vegan daughter)
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste




Sauté shallots in butter, until soft, but not coloured. Add vegetable broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Cool.  Briefly cook peas in boiling water, until softish, retaining some bite.  Rinse in ice bath to stop cooking.  


Combine cold broth, peas and mint in food processor and pulse until a smooth constancy.  Strain, add cream.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve, or store in refrigerator until ready to serve.  


Note, the peas become starchy very quickly, so do not store for too long.