Chupe-my take on it

Freshly back from my trip to Peru and the cold snap here in the Bay Area prompted my making this soup.  It takes great just made, but for optimal flavour, make it one or two days before serving to let the flavours get to know each other and harmonize.

Fish stock:
I keep fish heads and shrimp shells from cooking other dishes in my freezer until it is time to make a stock.  In a large soup pot submerge the fish bones, shells etc with water. Toss in celery, pepeprcorns, onion, bay leaf and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.  Drain and set aside.  Hopefully there are 4-5 cups of stock. If not don;t worry-we will use water to top up the liquid.



3 yellow potatoes diced or cut into rounds if on the smaller side (i.e if using fingerling potatoes)  I leave the skins on but you can peel them.
1 onion diced
1/2 cup rice
3 yellow peppers finely chopped 
3 tblspns of tomato paste or freshly blanched tomatoes, skinned
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon orégano
1 rocoto pepper, seeded and finely chopped or 2-3 red chili peppers
2-3 juiced lemons and a few strips of their zest
2-3 cloves garlic. if you like garlic, pile it on!
Seafood: clams, mussels, bay scallops, jumbo shrimp-any kind and size and combination that floats your boat


In a soup pot slowly sweat the chopped onion and then add the yellow pepper. Cook over a low heat to allow the pepper to soften and almost melt turning the mix yellow. Add the tomato paste and paprika giving it a good stir and a minute or two to blend.  Toss in oregano, chili pepper, lemon zest and garlic, cook until garlic glistens. Add the fish stock and potatoes, let simmer for 30 minutes or longer.  It should be a bright yellow soup base.   If yo are cooking a few days ahead, leave it at this stage and resume the rest on the day.  Resume by adding the lemon juice & shellfish and simmer until cooked.  It;s ready to serve but also note that in Peru they add whole egg yolks and milk at this stage, which yo can too if you want to be more authentic.


Disfrute!

Black Bean Soup

I made this gobsmacking and satisfying meal from left over black beans I had defrosted (nothing like coming home from holidays to an empty fridge and being forced to raid the freezer!) I usually make soups as soups from the get go, but this approach makes the black beans first and then turns it into a soup, so consider this a two-fer recipe! As always, proportions are loosy-goosy and to your taste

Black Beans
2 cups black beans, soaked in salted water at least a few hours or overnight and drained
2 carrots chopped in 1/4" or smaller pieces
1 onion chopped
2 stalks celery (optional)
2 jalapenos or seranos chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
tomato sauce, paste or 5-6 whole roma tomatoes (blanched and peeled)
1 cup water (or stock)
1 tsp paprika, chili powder and turmeric each
bay leaf
optional: corn

Garnish: chopped cilantro, avocado, chipotle pepper, yoghurt (or sour cream or crema mexicana), lime spritz, toasted tortilla strips, grated jack cheese

 In large pot, heat up olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery. Saute until they are translucent and soft (6-8 minutes). Add chilis pepper, let cook through (2-3 minutes). Toss in drained beans, stir. Add the tomato paste or whole tomatoes and crush them gently.  Add the liquid and spices and bay leaf. Make sure the liquid is enough to cover the beans. Over low heat let it simmer until the beans are cooked through (approx 1 hr). You may need to keep adding liquid.  Taste for salt.


If you don't eat it all with rice and tortillas, try to leave the beans to "sit" for a day for the flavors to settle and meld.  To make the soup, just add desired quantity of stock and bring to a boil.

To serve:
Granish with any combination of above or best-all of them. Serve with heated up tortillas (I like the hand made whole wheat ones from Trader Joes).

Farro, leek and kale soup

The kale in my garden has been doing well.  Too well, such that it inspires my throwing it into my cooking. Today I used it in a soup that was light but warming at the same time: perfect for this rotten cold/flu I have.


Home made chicken stock (carcass of a roast chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns and add other veggies in the fridge such as onion, celery, carrots etc in  a pot with water and cooked for an hour. Drain.)


olive oil
1 cup of farro grain
2 organic carrots, cut lengthwise and chopped into small pieces
1-2 leeks cleaned and chopped
1 onion (any kind) chopped finely
2-3 cloves garlic
3-4 strips of smoked bacon (leave out of vegetarian) chopped
6-8 kale leaves, roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and leeks until they sweat. Add bacon. When bacon cooked through, toss in carrots and farro. Stir to coat then add stock to cover. Simmer over medium heat until farro cooks through (approx 20-25 minutes.) Add kale and let wilt (2-3 minutes).

Serve with salad or toasted bread. Best the next day when flavours meld.

Red Bean, Turnip, Rocoto and Swiss chard soup

The cold weather persists in Northern California and one look outside my window at the bursts of green Swiss Chard and rocoto chili plants provided the inspiration for this soup.  Lots of ways to substitute ingredients that I will flag below.  Enjoy.

For veggie broth:
1 onion
6 celery stalks
10-12 pepper corns
2-3 bay leaves
cumin seeds
If not a vegetarian, then throw in any chicken bone scraps or ham hock
4 Roma tomatoes

Put all the above in a large soup pot with plenty of water to cover. Simmer for 1+ hours over medium heat. Take off flame and plop the Roma tomotoes for 5-10 minutes until their skins split. Remove the tomotoes and when cool enough to handle, slide skins off, which should be very easy. Leave aside. Strain the rest of the stock and reserve.

Rest of soup
2 cups red beans (or kidney, pinto or black eyed etc. Anything but chickpea or lentil) Soak the beans in well-salted water until they swell (3-4 hours or overnight)
1 onion chopped (red or yellow)
4-6 garlic cloves
1  turnip cut into 1/4" pieces (or large potato, or 2 carrots)
1 finely chopped rocoto pepper (2-3 red serrano will do, remove the seds carefully and wash hand well after seeding them.)
10-12 Swish Chard leaves chopped into large strips

In new pot, coat bottom with olive oil and heat over medium flame.  Add chopped onions and sweat them.  If not a vegetarian, here is a good time to add some chopped bacon or ham hock pieces to cook through.  Add garlic and Roma tomatoes, gently mashing the tomatoes to 'disolve'.  Add the turnip. Drain beans that were soaking and add in with a stir.  Add the chard and cover for a few minutes to wilt the chard. Add the stock. Stir and cook until beans are cooked through.  Sometimes I add in a small 1/2 tsp of Vegemite if handy or a shake of Worcestershire sauce for added flavor, but not necessary. Because the red beans were soaked in salted water, no need to to add salt until the end and do so to taste.

My usual thing is to make the soup and let it cool to room temperature before heating again to serve, or better still make a day ahead, to let the flavors settle and meld.

Enjoy!