Soup 
Thai Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Soup
Potato Soup with Carrots and Celery
Beef Stew Recipe
When I was growing up, my father would take me to a noodles shop and have the beef stew with hot rice before dropping me off at school. I love the steamy hot broth with distinct spice flavors. The beef was tender and easy for a kid to eat.
The beef stew is a very simple Thai dish to make. Put all the ingredients in and you only need to check it from time to time. If you have a crockpot, this will be the dish for it. Put the ingredients in the morning. Set you crockpot to do its work. If you have a timer on your rice cooker, time the rice cooker to finish the rice at the same time. When you come home at night, you’ll have a warm meal waiting for you!
I usually make a big pot of the beef stew. The first meal would be with rice and subsequent meals with noodles.
This beef stew is great with noodles or with hot rice. The flavor is enhanced by dipping the beef in vinegar chili sauce.
Beef stew is a great dish to recycle your leftover steak!
2-3 Servings, Prep Time: 15 minutes, Total Time:120 minutes
1 lb beef
2 tablespoons dark sweet soy sauce
1 stalk celery
1 tablespoon ground fresh chili paste
7-10 sprigs cilantro
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1-2 quarts water
1½ cup bean sprouts (Optional)
3 leaves Lettuce (Optional)
1 sliced green onion (Optional)
Cut beef into 1-inch cubes. If you cut the beef smaller, it will require less time to cook. I usually make a big pot with various size of beef cubes for several meals. So some chunks will be ready soon and some later.
Crush garlic. Chop green onions and cilantro. Set them aside for garnish. Put the rest of the ingredients, except for bean sprouts and ground fresh chili paste, in a large pot and cover the beef with water. Boil for at least 2 hours. You may need to add water from time to time. I strongly recommend make this dish in advance. The flavors come together better the next day. You know when it’s ready when the meats break apart easily. The meat and broth has a sheen to it.
Make the sauce by diluting the ground fresh chili paste with a tablespoon of vinegar to make the dipping sauce.
Cut lettuce into big pieces in a bowl. Add bean sprouts. Pour soup over. Garnish with sliced cilantro and green onion. Add a teaspoon of fried garlic. Sprinkle white pepper on top. Serve hot with vinegar chili sauce.
Thai Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Soup
Serves 2 to 4.
3 ½-inch slices galanga
1 stalk lemon grass, sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves
6 shallots, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
4 red chilies
1 whole, skinless boneless chicken breast, sliced
10 mushrooms, thickly sliced
4 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. tamarind water
½ Cup roughly chopped parsley
The unique flavor of this soup, called Tom Klong, comes from the charring of the aromatics, often done over an open fire. The foil method is a lot easier and will result in the same wonderful-tasting soup.
Wrap the galanga, lemon grass, lime leaves, shallots, garlic and chilies loosely in foil. Roast over a barbecue or broil in the oven until lightly charred.
Combine the roasted items and the chicken, mushrooms and stock in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the fish sauce and tamarind water.
Cook for another 5 minutes and add the parsley.
How to Make Tamarind Water Place 3 Tbsp. (45 ml) dried tamarind pulp in a bowl and add ½ cup (120 ml) hot water. Let it soak for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the lumps. When the pulp is soft, strain it through a fine sieve, pressing on the pulp to extract all the liquid. Keep the liquid and discard the pulp.
Makes about ½ cup (120 ml).
Cold Tomato Soup
(1200 calories)
4 lbs peeled tomatoes
3 ½ oz. black olives (or tapenade)
½ loaf of French bread
5 green onions
10 basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
a pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water for a few seconds to make peeling easier.
Cut the tomatoes up into dice sized chunks.
Cook the chunks for 1 minute in two tablespoons of olive oil with the salt, pepper and sugar.
Blend the tomatoes, check the seasoning, put in the refrigerator.
Cut the baguette into thin slices, toast them, rub each slice with garlic.
Pit and chop the olives, spread out on the toasted bread (or you can use tapenade).
Finely chop the green onions and basil; sprinkle onto tomato mixture.
Serve with a bit of good quality olive oil.
Celery and Potato Soup
This light puree is more celery than potato. The potato thickens the soup, a simple potage that is brought to life by the tiny amount of walnut oil that’s drizzled onto each serving.
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Advance preparation: You can make this several hours or even a day ahead. Refrigerate in covered containers. When you reheat, whisk the soup to smooth out the puree (it will separate as it sits).
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large or 2 medium leeks, white and light green part only, cleaned and sliced
6 celery stalks, sliced (about ¾ pound)
Kosher salt
1 medium-size russet potato, about 10 ounces, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved, green shoots removed
A bouquet garni made a bay leaf and a couple of sprigs each parsley and thyme, tied together
7 cups water or chicken stock
Freshly ground pepper
For garnish:
2 teaspoons walnut oil
¼ cup very thinly sliced celery
chopped chives or chervil (optional)
Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat, add the onion, leek, and celery, and cook gently, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt after the first 5 minutes. Make sure that the vegetables do not color.
Add the potatoes, garlic, and bouquet garni. Stir together and add the water or stock. Bring to a simmer, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender and the broth fragrant. Remove from the heat.
Remove the bouquet garni from the soup. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup (or you can put it through the fine blade of a food mill or use a regular blender, working in batches and placing a kitchen towel over the top to avoid splashing). Then strain through a medium strainer (this step is important; otherwise the soup will be stringy), using a pestle or the bottom of a ladle to push the soup through. Make sure to scrape the outside of the strainer so that all of the puree goes back into the soup. Return to the pot, stir with a whisk to even out the texture, heat through and season well with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each bowl with a few thin slices of celery and about ¼ teaspoon walnut oil. Sprinkle with minced chives or chervil if you wish, and serve.
Simple Chicken Soup
1 bunch bok choy
6 cups Rich Chinese Chicken Stock (page 22)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger julienne
1 teaspoon white sugar
400 g (13 oz.) free-range chicken breasts, cut on the diagonal into 2 cm slices
75 g fresh shitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps finely sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
¼ cup coriander (cilantro)
¼ cup mint leaves
Remove cores from bok choy, cut crossways into 4, then wash thoroughly and drain.
Bring stock to the boil in a large heavy-based pot. Add soy sauce, ginger and sugar and stir to combine. Reduce heat, add the chicken and simmer gently for 1 minute. Add mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes. Toss in bok choy and simmer for a further minute or until chicken is just cooked through. Stir in sesame oil and remove pot from stove.
Serve in bowls garnished with sprouts, coriander sprigs and mint.
Leek and Potato Soup
(1100 calories)
3 leeks
2 small potatoes
2 quarts of water
1 Tbs salt
6 ½ Tbs butter
Nutmeg to taste
Rinse and cut the leeks into small pieces.
Sauté the leeks in butter.
Add the water and nutmeg.
Add salt and simmer over low heat. When the vegetables are cooked, crush the potatoes.
Then add a bit of fresh butter.
Polenta
(890 calories)
1 Tbs salt
250 g large grain polenta
In a pan, bring 1½ quarts of water to a boil.
Add salt and turn down to moderate heat.
Add the polenta in a fine stream (take a fistful of polenta and then open your fingers very slightly).
Continue to stir for twenty minutes or until all of the polenta has been worked in.
When the polenta is ready, it will come off the sides of the pan.
Potato Soup with Carrots and Celery
Minestrina Tricolore
When I became a wife and, by necessity, a cook, this was one of the first dishes I learned to make. Decades have gone by in which I have had my hand in uncounted dozens of other soups, but I turn still to this minestrina—little soup—for its charm, its delightful contrast of textures, its artless goodness, its never-failing power to please.
For 4 to 6 servings
1½ pounds potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons onion chopped fine
3 tablespoons carrot chopped fine
3 tablespoons celery chopped fine
5 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
1 cup milk
2 cups Basic Homemade Meat
Broth, prepared as directed on page 15, OR ½ cup canned beef broth diluted with 1½ cups water Salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley Crostini, fried bread squares, made as directed on page 90
Peel the potatoes, rinse them in cold water, and cut them up in small pieces. Put them in a soup pot with just enough cold water to cover, put a lid on the pot, and turn on the heat to medium high. Boil the potatoes until they are tender, then puree them, with their liquid, through the large holes of a food mill back into the pot. Set aside.
Put the butter, oil, and chopped onion in a skillet and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the chopped carrot and celery and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well. Don’t cook them long enough to become soft because you want them noticeably crisp in the soup.
Transfer the entire contents of the skillet to the pot with the potatoes. Turn on the heat to medium, and add the grated Parmesan, the milk, and the broth. Stir and cook at a steady simmer for several minutes until the cooking fat floating on the surface is dispersed throughout the soup. Don’t let the soup become thicker than cream in consistency. If that should happen, dilute it with equal parts of broth and milk. Taste and correct for salt. Off heat, swirl in the chopped parsley, then ladle into individual plates or bowls. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan and crostini on the side.
Simple Chicken Soup
Serves as a meal of 4
This dish is an example of taking very simple ingredients and transforming them into something extraordinary. When you use the best-quality homemade stock, seasoned lightly with ginger and soy, to gently poach some chicken — the result is wonderful. There are no tricks to good cooking to me, it is just about being mindful and caring in all aspects… poaching as opposed to boiling free-range or organic chicken as opposed to hormone- and antibiotic-laden, intensively reared chicken, fresh vegetables as opposed to bruised, old ones.
1 bunch bok choy
6 cups Rich Chinese Chicken Stock (page 22)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger julienne
1 teaspoon white sugar
400 g (13 oz.) free-range chicken breasts, cut on the diagonal into 2 cm (1 in) slices
75 g (2½ oz.) fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps finely sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
¼ cup coriander (cilantro) sprigs
¼ cup mint leaves
Remove cores from bok choy, cut crossways into 4, then wash thoroughly and drain.
Bring stock to the boil in a large heavy-based pot. Add soy sauce, ginger and sugar and stir to combine. Reduce heat, add chicken and simmer gently for 1 minute. Add mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes. Toss in bok choy and simmer for a further minute or until chicken is just cooked through. Stir in sesame oil and remove pot from stove.
Serve soup in bowls, garnished with sprouts, coriander sprigs and mint.
Soupe au pistou
Active: 1 Hr Total: 2 Hrs
Servings: 6 To 8
Make Ahead The soup can be prepared through Step 4 and refrigerated overnight. Reheat gently before proceeding. Notes One Serving 323 Calories, 14 gm Fat, 4.2 gm Saturated Fat, 39 gm Carbohydrates, 12 gm Fiber.
Soupe au pistou is like a Provençal version of minestrone; it’s a hearty vegetable soup made with dried beans, summer vegetables like zucchini and tomatoes, potatoes, herbs and a small shape of pasta. The pistou gets stirred in at the end. Unlike many other soups, this one is delicious served hot or at room temperature.
1 cup dried white beans such as navy or cannellini, soaked in cold water overnight and drained
One 1-ounce slice of pancetta
1 small onion, halved, plus 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, 2 whole and 2 smashed
1 bay leaf
2 quarts plus 3 cups water
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small fennel bulb, cored and coarsely chopped
2 red potatoes (10 ounces), peeled and halved
4 small zucchini (1 pound), cut into ½-inch pieces
¾ pound green beans or Romano beans, cut into ½-inch pieces
3 medium tomatoes—peeled, seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup small shaped pasta, such as elbows or ditalini
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup Classic Pistou
Basil sprigs, for garnish
Put the drained white beans, pancetta, halved onion, whole garlic cloves and bay leaf in a medium saucepan. Add the 3 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan and simmer until the beans are tender, about 1½ hours. Discard the pancetta, onion, garlic and bay leaf.
Meanwhile, in a large, heavy pot, heat the olive oil. Add the fennel, potatoes, chopped onion and smashed garlic. Cover the pot and cook the vegetables over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel and onion are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the 2 quarts of water and gradually bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the zucchini and green beans to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Mash the potatoes against the side of the pot using a large fork; the potatoes will thicken the soup. Add the diced tomatoes and the white beans and their cooking liquid and simmer the soup over moderately low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
In a small skillet, melt the butter. Add the pasta and cook over moderate heat until golden brown and toasty, about 4 minutes. Stir the pasta into the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Cover, remove from the heat and let stand until the pasta is tender, about 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the Classic Pistou in a large soup tureen. Gradually stir in some of the liquid from the soup, then pour in the rest of the soup and stir well. Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with basil sprigs and serve hot or at room temperature.
Soupe au pistou
Early summer is the Mediterranean season for soupe au pistou, when fresh basil, fresh white beans, and broad mange-tout beans are all suddenly available, and the market women shout in the streets, "Mesdames, faites le bon piste, faites le pistou!" The pistou itself, like the Italian pesta, is a sauce made of garlic, basil, tomato and cheese, and is just as. good on spaghetti as it is in this rich vegetable soup. Fortunately, this soup is not confined to summer and fresh vegetables, for you can use canned navy beans or kidney beans, fresh or frozen string beans, and a fragrant dried basil. Other vegetables in season may be added with the green beans as you wish, such as peas, diced zucchini, and green or red bell peppers.
For 6 to 8 servings
3 quarts water
2 cups each: diced carrots, diced boiling potatoes, diced white of leek or onions
1 Tb salt
(If available, 2 cups fresh white beans, and omit the navy beans farther on)
2 cups diced green beans or 1 package frozen "cut" beans
2 cups cooked or canned navy beans or kidney
beans
1/3 cup broken spaghetti or vermicelli
1 slice stale white bread, crumbled
1/8 tsp pepper
Pinch of saffron
4 cloves mashed garlic
6 Tb fresh tomato puree, page 78, or 4 Tb tomato
paste
¼ cup chopped fresh basil or 1½ Tb fragrant dried basil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ to ½ cup fruity olive oil
Either boil the water, vegetables, and salt slowly in a 6-quart kettle for 40 minutes; or pressure-cook for 5 minutes, release pressure, and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes. Correct seasoning.
Twenty minutes before serving, so the green vegetables will retain their freshness, add the beans, spaghetti or vermicelli, bread and seasonings to the boiling soup. Boil slowly for about 15 minutes, or until the green beans are just cooked through. Correct seasoning again.
Prepare the following pistou while the soup is cooking: place the garlic, tomato puree or paste, basil, and cheese in the soup tureen and blend to a paste with a wooden spoon; then, drop by drop, beat in the olive oil. When the soup is ready for serving, beat a cup gradually into the pistou. Pour in the rest of the soup.
Pistou Soup
(3300 calories)
1 lb zucchini
¾ lb potatoes
½ lb Italian beans
¾ lb dry white beans
¾ lb dry red beans
½ lb tomatoes
50 g bacon
½ onion
bone (pork, ham) optional
garlic, basil, rock salt, olive oil.
Sauté the onions and the bacon.
Add the peeled tomatoes and cook until there is no more water.
Add half the zucchini and the diced potatoes into ½ quart of water, cook, blend and then add.
Also add the different beans and the bone.
Cook for 2 hours on low heat.
Add the rest of the zucchini and the potatoes and cook for another 2 hours on low heat.
Mix the garlic, half a bunch of basic, a small pinch of rock salt with the olive oil. Add right before serving.