Saturday, November 5, 2011

Soup season's here!

Hi All!  I apologize for the gap between posts.  I'm a workin' lady again, so haven't been cooking quite as much. I didn't forgot about my blogging duties, though!

I've been working as a substitute teacher for a couple weeks now, so since I'm on-call most days, I like to have things prepared that I can toss into my lunch bag on the way out the door.  Much of what I enjoyed about lunchtime at my previous jobs was what I refer to as "The Great Reveal"- the moment when I unloaded the tasty goodness from my lunch bag, and my friends stopped to check out (maybe even drool over) my chicken, pear, and goat cheese salads with homemade dressing, mushroom risotto, or grilled veggie sandwich.  I'm not one to let go of traditions, so of course settling for PB&J and an apple wouldn't make sense.  Now that it's getting colder and Fall is officially upon us, it's the perfect time for the magical one-pot wonder I like to call (drum roll, please)... soup!  Soup is a wonderful grab-and-go meal because you make a big pot of it on the weekend when you have time, fill containers with single-serving portions, and freeze or refrigerate it until you're ready to eat!  It's also an easy stand-by because you can add, almost literally, anything you have in your fridge!  You can certainly follow recipes if you feel more comfortable, but, again, it's okay to wander down your own path a little.  As long as you have a good stock (choose the one that corresponds with your meat choice), some sort of meat if you're into that kind of thing (I like to use bacon or sausage for many of my soups), and the basic soup vegetables (celery, onions, and carrots), you're good to go! 


For optimal flavor, I follow these steps:
1) Heat the pot in which I plan to cook my soup (I like to use my Le Creuset-look-alike dutch oven from Cost Plus World Market) over medium-high heat.  If I'm using a lean meat, I heat a small amount of olive oil in the pan.

2) Once the pan is hot, I add the meat (again, typically diced bacon or sausage), and cook until the meat is nicely browned on all sided.
KEY #1: Brown is not the same as grey.  You get that grey-ish color when your pan isn't hot enough and you get stir crazy.You want the meat to have that nice, golden crust that is achieved when the fat and juices caramelize.  This can only happen in an appropriately heated pan (it should sizzle when the meat is added), and only if you give it time (meaning, PUT THAT WOODEN SPOON DOWN!).
KEY #2: Your goal here is to get the flavor of the meat, not to cook it all the way through.  It'll finish cooking when you add it back into the soup.


3) I then remove the browned meat from the pan, but leave its juices.

4) Next, I add in my veggies, using the fat left behind by the meat to saute them.  If you use a lean meat that doesn't leave much behind, add a little more olive oil to the pan to saute the veggies.  I know my veggies are good to go when the onions are translucent.

5) I use about a cup of broth to deglaze the pan (loosen up the "brown bits" on the bottom of the pan), scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan, add the meat back in, then add the remaining broth (usually about 2 quarts total).

6) Let it simmer.  Soup is one of those things that gets more flavorful the longer you let it cook.  Give it at least  30 minutes if you're short on time, but 2-3 hours is usually preferred.

Pretty simple, right?  To learn more about how I'm keeping warm this Autumn, stay tuned for my slightly healthier take on Zuppa Toscana, a sausage, kale, and potato soup made famous by Olive Garden.

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