I had a request for Lobster Bisque. I decided to use a recipe that I had for Shrimp Bisque from the Better Homes and Gardens Soups and Stews Cook Book and substitute lobster for the shrimp. I wasn’t able to get lobster meat, so I used a lump crab meat instead.
Shrimp (Crab) Bisque
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced potato
½ cup chopped onion
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 8 oz package frozen thawed precooked shrimp, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
In saucepan combine celery, potato, onion, 1 cup water, ½ teaspoon salt, and a dash of pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes or till potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Blend milk and flour; stir into potato mixture. Add shrimp and butter. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Garnish with snipped parsley, if desired. Makes 4 servings.
Changes and Shortcuts: The only change I made was substituting an 8 oz container of lump crab meat for the shrimp. As I usually do, to save time I chopped the celery and onions in the morning before work. Since there was only one potato to be dealt with, I left that until I was ready to cook.
Results: For some reason, I never have much luck when the recipe says “cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.” That never happened with this soup. Instead of just mixing the flour and milk and adding the butter at the end, I think it might work better to make a roux, add the milk, then add that to the soup. Although it wasn’t as thick and bubbly as I had imagined, it was a good soup, quick to make, and I think I like this better with crab than I would with shrimp.
Keeper? YES!
Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
42. Irish Potato Soup
I received a free copy of Sandra Lee’s new Semi-Homemade Magazine. Sandra Lee believes in taking short cuts by using prepared foods, adding your own touches, and presenting wonderful meals. This recipe was in the magazine. I guess the shortcut in this recipe is the prepared chicken broth…but haven’t I been using that all along? Who has time to make their own chicken broth??
Irish Potato Soup
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 ½ pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and chopped
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, Sargento
1 cup chopped green onion
11/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Garnish: shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, sliced green onion
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic; cook for 4 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until soup is thick and only small chunks of potato remain. Add cheese, green onion, salt, and pepper stirring until cheese is melted. Garnish with cheese and green onion, if desired.
Changes and Shortcuts: I peeled and cut up the potatoes the night before. This time I covered them with water before storing them in the refrigerator. When it was time to cook them, all I had to do was poor off the water and they were good to go! I also cut up the onion, celery, and garlic and stored them in a separate bowl. Believe it or not, the store I went to didn’t seem to have green onions, so I left them out.
Results: This soup took a little longer than I wanted to spend after getting home late from work. After cooking the soup for 45 minutes the potatoes were soft and cooked through, but the soup wasn’t thick like the one in the picture. I took a potato masher and mashed some of the potatoes in the soup. (It could be that since I soaked the potatoes over night some of the starch soaked out and I poured it down the drain.) Once I added the cheese it really took on the form that I was looking for. I probably added more cheese than the recipe called for because I couldn’t find the bag of cheese I thought I bought so I put in whatever I had in the refrigerator. The green onions would have added a little extra texture, but the soup was good without it.
Keeper? YES!
Irish Potato Soup
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 ½ pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and chopped
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, Sargento
1 cup chopped green onion
11/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Garnish: shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, sliced green onion
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic; cook for 4 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until soup is thick and only small chunks of potato remain. Add cheese, green onion, salt, and pepper stirring until cheese is melted. Garnish with cheese and green onion, if desired.
Changes and Shortcuts: I peeled and cut up the potatoes the night before. This time I covered them with water before storing them in the refrigerator. When it was time to cook them, all I had to do was poor off the water and they were good to go! I also cut up the onion, celery, and garlic and stored them in a separate bowl. Believe it or not, the store I went to didn’t seem to have green onions, so I left them out.
Results: This soup took a little longer than I wanted to spend after getting home late from work. After cooking the soup for 45 minutes the potatoes were soft and cooked through, but the soup wasn’t thick like the one in the picture. I took a potato masher and mashed some of the potatoes in the soup. (It could be that since I soaked the potatoes over night some of the starch soaked out and I poured it down the drain.) Once I added the cheese it really took on the form that I was looking for. I probably added more cheese than the recipe called for because I couldn’t find the bag of cheese I thought I bought so I put in whatever I had in the refrigerator. The green onions would have added a little extra texture, but the soup was good without it.
Keeper? YES!
Friday, February 20, 2009
47. New England Clam Chowder
I had a request to make clam chowder. I had just bought the Cooking Light Soup book and found a recipe that looked easy and quick. There are just a few ingredients and it looked like it would only take about a half hour to make. I was looking for something different to serve with the soup and found a recipe for Broccoli-Cheese Corn Bread. The recipe follows the soup recipe.
New England Clam Chowder
2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams, un-drained
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
2 turkey-bacon slices, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chopped peeled red potatoes
(about 11/4 pounds)
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 (8 oz) bottles clam juice
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 ½ cups 2% low fat milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh thyme sprigs for garnish (optional)
1. Drain clams, reserving liquid, set aside. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, bacon slices, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add reserved claim liquid, potato, thyme, and clam juice; bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender.
2. Place 2 cups potato mixture, including bacon, in a blender and process until smooth. Add potato puree to potato mixture in Dutch oven, stir well. Combine flour and milk, stirring with a wire whisk until blended, add to chowder. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly 10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in clams. Ladle soup into individual bowls, and sprinkle with pepper and thyme. Yield: 6 ½ cups (serving size 1 cup)
Changes and shortcuts:
I chopped the onion, garlic and bacon the night before. The recipe calls for turkey bacon, but I just recently saw something on TV about regular bacon actually being healthier for you so I figured why not go whole hog and I used the real thing.
Results:
Although the recipe says to cook the bacon, onion and garlic together I would suggest starting the bacon and adding the onion and garlic after the bacon has cooked for a little while. It took a long time for the bacon to get done and the onion became browned. My soup never did get thick and it came out more of a brown color rather than the thick, creamy white soup associated with New England Clam Chowder. Since this was a recipe from Cooking Light I’m sure it’s healthier than the traditional chowder. None of us was thrilled with this soup and I will be trying another recipe in the next few weeks.
Keeper? No
New England Clam Chowder
2 (6.5 oz) cans minced clams, un-drained
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
2 turkey-bacon slices, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chopped peeled red potatoes
(about 11/4 pounds)
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 (8 oz) bottles clam juice
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 ½ cups 2% low fat milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh thyme sprigs for garnish (optional)
1. Drain clams, reserving liquid, set aside. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, bacon slices, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add reserved claim liquid, potato, thyme, and clam juice; bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender.
2. Place 2 cups potato mixture, including bacon, in a blender and process until smooth. Add potato puree to potato mixture in Dutch oven, stir well. Combine flour and milk, stirring with a wire whisk until blended, add to chowder. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly 10 minutes or until thickened. Stir in clams. Ladle soup into individual bowls, and sprinkle with pepper and thyme. Yield: 6 ½ cups (serving size 1 cup)
Changes and shortcuts:
I chopped the onion, garlic and bacon the night before. The recipe calls for turkey bacon, but I just recently saw something on TV about regular bacon actually being healthier for you so I figured why not go whole hog and I used the real thing.
Results:
Although the recipe says to cook the bacon, onion and garlic together I would suggest starting the bacon and adding the onion and garlic after the bacon has cooked for a little while. It took a long time for the bacon to get done and the onion became browned. My soup never did get thick and it came out more of a brown color rather than the thick, creamy white soup associated with New England Clam Chowder. Since this was a recipe from Cooking Light I’m sure it’s healthier than the traditional chowder. None of us was thrilled with this soup and I will be trying another recipe in the next few weeks.
Keeper? No
Thursday, February 12, 2009
48. Chili-Beef-Potato Soup
I’ve had the Better Homes and Gardens Good Food on a Budget book for years. I have some favorite recipes in this book but have never made this soup. I think the book is out of print, but there seems to be some used copies available through Amazon.
Chili-Beef-Potato Soup
½ pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
1 16 ounce can tomatoes, cup up
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 10 ½ ounce can condensed beef broth
1 soup can water (1 1/3 cups)
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup cooked or leftover peas or green beans
Brown meat in large saucepan. Drain off fat. Add onion and celery; cook till vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in tomatoes, potatoes, beef broth, water, chili powder, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook till potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in peas or beans; heat through. Makes 6 servings.
Changes and shortcuts:
I used some cooked ground beef that I had in the freezer and I used a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with garlic and onion instead of the can of whole tomatoes. (I don’t think they were available when the book was written.) We don’t like peas in our house and I didn’t have any green beans on hand so I used a drained can of corn.
Results:
Using pre-cooked beef saved time. The tomatoes with garlic and onion gave a little extra flavor. I’m glad I used the corn—it seemed to go perfectly although the green beans or peas would be healthier. After the flop of the corn chowder this was a tasty, simple soup. The winds are raging outside tonight, but the soup was nice and warm. I served it with oven toasted cheddar and whole wheat sandwiches.
Keeper? Yes
Chili-Beef-Potato Soup
½ pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
1 16 ounce can tomatoes, cup up
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 10 ½ ounce can condensed beef broth
1 soup can water (1 1/3 cups)
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup cooked or leftover peas or green beans
Brown meat in large saucepan. Drain off fat. Add onion and celery; cook till vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in tomatoes, potatoes, beef broth, water, chili powder, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook till potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in peas or beans; heat through. Makes 6 servings.
Changes and shortcuts:
I used some cooked ground beef that I had in the freezer and I used a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with garlic and onion instead of the can of whole tomatoes. (I don’t think they were available when the book was written.) We don’t like peas in our house and I didn’t have any green beans on hand so I used a drained can of corn.
Results:
Using pre-cooked beef saved time. The tomatoes with garlic and onion gave a little extra flavor. I’m glad I used the corn—it seemed to go perfectly although the green beans or peas would be healthier. After the flop of the corn chowder this was a tasty, simple soup. The winds are raging outside tonight, but the soup was nice and warm. I served it with oven toasted cheddar and whole wheat sandwiches.
Keeper? Yes
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