Sopa de Mariscos (seafood soup)

Growing up I was always comfortable baking cookies from scratch but I relied on some supermarket helpers for most other things: cake and brownies from box mix, hamburger helper, Kraft Mac n Cheese.  I guess you could call it the Sandra Lee semi-homemade approach (though I should go on the record to say that woman terrifies me).  I wasn't comfortable branching out and making things from scratch until probably late in my undergrad years and then in grad school.  And then I had a lot of missteps along the way.  My early philosophy was that if I didn't have an ingredient, I'd be "creative" in substituting another ingredient in.  I found out the hard way that you should never, ever do this unless you really know what you are doing.  (I still remember the roast pork I made where I subbed white sugar for brown.  Man was that gross.)  Joe was always highly suspicious when I tried something from scratch, because I was notorious for my bad subs.

We went to Cancun in 2002 and while there I had the most amazing seafood soup, or sopa de mariscos.  Spicy, flavorful, and so delicious.  And it had baby octopus in it that I actually liked.  So a few years later, I stumbled upon this recipe on the Food Network.  It turned out amazing, and was the first thing I made from scratch that Joe said was actually wonderful.  Ironically, when I made the soup a second time I realized that I had actually messed up one of the steps - adding all of the sofrito to the soup when it says to add 1 cup.  But I really like the thickness it has by adding the whole thing so I make it this way on purpose now!   I find this recipe (making the sofrito, and then the soup) to be time consuming, so be prepared if you make it all in one night.  You can save some time by making the sofrito in advance.

So, first, the sofrito. A sofrito is a base for many dishes, including soup.

Ingredients:

1 ounce bacon (about 1 strip), torn into pieces (or you can leave this out to make the dish pescatarian)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 cup chopped red onion
4 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon minced habanero or Scotch bonnet (or other hot pepper)
1/4 teaspoon minced jalapeno
Pinch saffron (saffron can be really expensive so if you aren't willing to spring for it, leave it out or put in paprika for similar color - but not flavor)
6 to 8 ounces dry white wine
1/2 cup cream, if desired (or fat free half and half)

In a sauce pot set on medium, cook the bacon in the olive oil for 30 seconds. Add red and yellow peppers, onions, and garlic, and saute until soft. Add the habanero, jalapeno, and saffron, cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and cream if desired. Reduce by 1/4 and cool a bit.  If you have an immersion blender, it really comes in handy here.  I like to blend it so that there are still some veggie chunks in there.  If you don't have an immersion blender, feel free to use a food processor or blender but please be careful if the liquid is still really hot.  Don't need any sofrito explosions.

Then, you'll want to start making the soup itself.

Ingredients

all of the sofrito, recipe above
2-4 cups fish stock or clam juice (I really like the seafood bullion cubes for this but they are hard to find. Otherwise I just use some seafood stock and clam juice)  I say 2-4 cups because this will vary depending on how thick you want the soup, how much seafood you add, etc.
Seafood of your choice - sometimes you can find a frozen mix of seafood at the grocery - if so, great, use that. If your dining partners aren't as adventurous and don't like octopus and calamari, then you can just use all shrimp, or a white fish like cod.  Or you can be fancy and use mussels and clams.  It's really up to you.  One time I added lobster!
1 tomato, small diced
1/2 cup yellow pepper, small diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

In a deep saute pan or fry skillet combine sofrito with fish stock or clam juice on medium low heat whisking frequently until heated through. Add the tomatoes and yellow pepper. At this point I usually let it simmer around 30 minutes.

Then, add your seafood of choice (fish and seafood never take long to cook - only a few minutes.  If you are using shellfish, cook until they open  - and if any don't open, toss them). Just before serving, stir in lime juice, cilantro, and salt and pepper, to taste.

This soup is great with some crusty bread.  I do have a photo of the finished soup but the picture really doesn't do it justice.

Hot and Sour Soup

So the soup theme continues...

My successful hot and sour soup!

When Joe gets a hankering for Chinese food, there's usually just about 3 things I like on the menu: crab rangoon, Singapore noodles, and hot and sour soup.  Lately, while he gets a big entree of lo mein noodles and General's chicken, I'll just order a large hot and sour soup and make that my dinner (usually saving leftovers for lunch the next day!).  A few years ago, I decided to make the soup at home and so went onto my friend Google to see how it's done.  I quickly ran into a huge problem: every single recipe claimed to be the real deal and every single one had drastically different ingredients.  I went through pages and pages of results. Frustrated, I finally picked a recipe that seemed to have the largest number of ingredients mentioned in other recipes.  I made the soup.  And it tasted (and looked) nothing like hot and sour soup. Damnit.  Frustrated, I gave up.

That is, until I saw this recipe in our local Indy week newspaper.  The recipe came straight from a local restaurant, Super Wok, so it had to be better, right?  So after tracking down the ingredients, I made it. And damn if it didn't taste like the real deal!  So triumphantly, I present to you that recipe but with my modifications.

Super Wok's hot and sour soup recipe

200 grams (about a half block) soft tofu (got it at the Asian mart, but available in just about every supermarket)

100 grams (about 1 cup) canned bamboo shoots, precut into matchsticks, drained (again, most supermarkets carry this)

20 dried wood ears (i.e., ear-shaped fungi) (supermarkets often have these in little plastic containers hanging above the fresh mushrooms in the produce section)

15 dried arbol chilies (already had these from making chili powder. You can find them in the Hispanic section of your supermarket)

3 tbs. canola or vegetable oil

7 cups unsalted chicken stock, preferably homemade (I didn't want to use up all my homemade broth on one recipe, so I used one carton of store bought chicken stock and one carton of chicken broth)

1/2 cup white rice vinegar (again, Asian section of grocery store)

1/3 cup soy sauce, preferably Kikkoman brand

1 tbs. dark soy sauce (I had to go to the Asian mart for this)

2 tbs. Shaoxing cooking wine (I had to go to the Asian mart for this)

1 tbs. sesame oil (supermarkets have this)

2 tsp. MSG, preferably a quality Japanese brand like Ajinomoto (I actually picked up a small bottle of this at the Mexican mart El Superior)

2 tsp. chicken bouillon powder (I had cubed chicken bouillon so I just used this)

1 tsp. Chinese white pepper powder (I used regular black pepper)

5 tbs. tapioca starch (found at the Asian mart, but Joe claims you can get this at the regular grocery)

5 tbs. room-temperature water

2 large eggs, well beaten

Kosher salt (to taste)  (my soup really did not need any extra salt at all so don't even think of adding this until the soup is completely done and you taste test)

Place the chilies in a bowl of boiling water. Soak for three hours, letting the water gradually cool. Drain and finely chop. Heat a pot of oil to 350 degrees and add 3 tablespoons to the chopped chilies. Set aside.

Hydrate the wood ears in a bowl of water for one hour, drain and roughly chop. Cut the tofu into inch-long rectangular blocks.

Bring the stock to a boil. Add the vinegar, soy sauces, wine, sesame oil, MSG, chicken bouillon powder, white pepper powder, wood ears, tofu and bamboo shoots. Add 1–2 tbs. of the chili and oil mixture (1 tablespoon gives a kick, 2 is super spicy). Return to a boil.

Fully dissolve the tapioca starch in the water and stir into the soup. The soup will quickly thicken and assume an attractive sheen.

Drizzle the egg into the soup in a thin, steady streamlet, forming concentric circles. Allow the egg to set for about 15 seconds and give a gentle clockwise swirl with a spoon or spatula to produce attractive ribbons. I thought that 2 eggs was a good amount for the soup but Joe thought it was too much.

Taste and add salt as necessary (in all likelihood, no salt will be necessary). 

As I said, it turned out great.  It tastes just like the real deal you get at restaurants. 

I'm wondering if the method for the chiles is really necessary.  There's plenty of other ways to add the spiciness to the soup.  Also, one local restaurant I frequent doesn't even use wood ear mushrooms - they use regular button mushrooms!  And the soup doesn't seem worse for wear because of it.  I make this point only because if you eliminate those soaking steps for the chiles and wood ear mushrooms, the soup could come together in 20 minutes... of course, I can't say at this point if it will really still taste the same.

Minestrone soup

Let me start this post by saying that I love soup.  Absolutely love it. I could eat soup each and every day of the year.  The only thing that weirds me out is a cold soup. Gazpacho. Vichyssoise.  Ugh.  Now don't get me wrong - if you took those same soups and served them to me hot I'd have no complaints.  But I guess I'm a bit unusual in that even when it's 100 degrees outside I still love a good hot bowl of soup.

So that brings me to this recipe.  It's July and it's in the 90s but to me hot soup is heaven.  With my surplus of squash I decided that minestrone would make it into the rotation.  I've made minestrone many times and what I like is that like some other dishes - chili, lasagna, etc. - it's more of a method than a recipe.  You throw in what you like and what you have until it's delicious.  So my recipe below should be seen as more of a suggestion than anything.  I tend to err on the side of plentiful veggies and go light on the pasta and beans but if you love the pasta and beans, by all means, change up the proportions.

Ingredients

2-3 pieces center cut bacon (I use center cut because it's real bacon but has 40% less fat than regular bacon)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, small diced (I used a small package of baby carrots)

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 of a large zucchini (or all of a small one), diced

1/2 of a large yellow squash (or all of a small one), diced

1 cup chopped cabbage (I was lazy and bought pre-chopped cabbage this time - see pic below)

3-4 tomatoes, chopped (or you can use a can of diced tomatoes)
Parmesan cheese rind (optional)

1/4 cup dry pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat elbow macaroni)

1/2 to 3/4 cup cooked chickpeas (or the bean of your choice)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Around 1 cup of chopped fresh spinach leaves

2-3 sprigs thyme

2 bay leaves

1 sprig of oregano (if you only have dried, use around 1/2 teaspoon and add more to taste)

1/2 cup chopped basil leaves (if you only have dried, use around a teaspoon and add more to taste)

1 cup vegetable broth

2 cups chicken broth (keep more around in case you need to add more as the soup thickens)

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 small can tomato paste (I used 2 tablespoons of the double thick kind in the tube)

Salt and pepper

Red pepper flakes (optional)
Parmesan cheese

Cook the bacon pieces in a dutch oven or stock pot.  Once they are nice and crunchy, remove them and keep them on a paper towel lined plate.  Throw the onion, celery, squash, zucchini, cabbage, and carrots into the pan and cook them.

Yay for veggies!

Normally I buy a whole cabbage for recipes but this time I decided to be lazy and instead opted to buy the pre-shredded kind.  I figure I'll use it for other recipes too.

Does anyone have ideas for other recipes where I can use this up?  Besides coleslaw, obviously.

Saute the veggies on medium heat until they begin to soften, 5-6 minutes.  Add the garlic. Break up the bacon into little pieces and sprinkle it back in to the pot.

At this point, go ahead and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, vegetable and chicken broth, bay leaves, thyme, and oregano.  If you happen to have the rind from a hunk of Parmesan cheese, add it now.  I didn't have one at home and couldn't find one at the store but I've heard it adds amazing depth of flavor.


Let the pot come to a simmer and turn it down to medium/low.  Let it continue to simmer on low, stirring occasionally.  Basically let it cook until the veggies have tenderized to your liking. This could take 30-60 minutes.  Continue to add chicken broth if the soup thickens too much.  Close to the end of cooking, add in your pasta and chick peas (or whatever beans you are using).  Cook until the pasta is softened.  At this point, add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.  Remove the bay leaves, oregano, and thyme (if you used whole sprigs of oregano and thyme like I did).  Stir in your chopped basil and chopped spinach.  Cook about 1 minute, or until spinach wilts.  Serve immediately.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the soup and serve with warm bread.

I should note that you can also make this soup completely vegetarian by omitting the bacon and chicken broth.  You can also amp up the meat aspect by adding sausage, but I think that really puts meat too much in the forefront.  In my eyes, this is more of a veggie forward soup.

I also should mention that I happened to have fresh oregano and basil in my garden, and fresh bay leaves and thyme sprigs in my fridge. If you don't have a garden, or are making this in the dead of winter and don't feel like buying a bunch of the little fresh herb containers, by all means, use dried herbs in this recipe. But I will say to make sure your herb jars aren't more than a year old.  Italian herbs like these can really start to smell and taste like nothing at all once they get too old.