Category: Soups (Page 3 of 5)
Clear Beef Broth with Vegetables
October 8th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
Beef broth with vegetables is easiest liquid food to make, easiest to consume, good for your digestive system. Why not to cook it yourself instead of pouring it out from a can or a box?
All you need is beef with bones (I find shank cut very suitable for soups and broths), roots (carrots, parsley, celery), onion, fresh greens and this recipe.
Clear beef broth is nice to accompany any food prepared from that boiled meat cooked in the broth (since you don’t need it after broth is cooked), such as crepes with boiled meat stuffing, savory pies or fried dumplings.
Sorrel and Pork Soup (Green Borscht)
June 18th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
Sorrel and pork soup, or as it is called also green borscht (obviously because of the color), is one of these dishes you can rarely eat in US, unless you are ukrainian, poland, russian family or visiting one of those :).
I was a bit unlucky in buying sorrel this time. Sorrel is very seasonal (meaning available only on spring), and for some reason WholeFoods (the only place where I was able to find it) carries it in herbs section – read this as 2-3 branches per a pack.
I ended up getting last 3 packs they had in their stock, but even that was less then needed for this soup (I am actually still wondering, who buys sorrel in WholeFoods in such packs and for what?).
Anyway, if you are more lucky than me and either know where to buy enough of sorrel or growing it by yourself, you can safely use more, and by more I mean much more: 3-4 cups is good. If you want to make it’s sour taste a bit less intense – fry it before adding to the cooking pot or/and use more water when cooking broth.
Tomato and Rice Soup
April 16th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
Gentle tomato soup with rice filling garnished with freshly chopped basil is a russian variant of tomato-basil soup.
It is beef broth based and if you want to make it more tomaty and thick, reduce amount of water you use for broth and increase amount of tomatoes.
I’ve garnished soup with basil even though it isn’t very widespread in Russia, but it gives a nice kick to flavor of this soup. After all basil and tomatoes are the combination which can never taste wrong.
Russian Lenten Mushroom Soup
February 19th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
This soup doesn’t include any meat, it is based on mushrooms and have vegetables (carrot, parsley and celery roots, potato) as well as pearl barley.
Such kind of mushroom soup is very popular in Russia. Various kind of mushrooms can be used in this recipe, but I must say fresh or frozen porcini are the best tasting ones, if you can find them, of course.
If you are not trying to follow Great Lent rules – my advise is don’t skip on sour cream, 1 tablespoon of sour cream to the bowl of mushroom soup not only adds nutrients, but also gives the soup its unique rich taste.
Easier Borscht with Precooked Beets and Beans
December 18th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
One of the challenges when cooking classic beet root soup, borscht, is to get all vegetables (and there are quite few) cooked till perfect readiness at the same time.
Considering different vegetables require different cooking time it is sometimes hard to achieve. For borscht you need to make sure beens are soft, while potatoes are not over cooked and beets don’t lose their color.
So, to make this happen: I cook beens in a separate cooking pot (just until they are soft and ready), cook beets skin on (like for salad) in separate pot in advance, and add these two to the main cooking pot at appropriate times.
By the way, using of canned beets and beens instead of cooking them yourself is an option (which I never did, but it may safe you some time).
Buckwheat Soup
October 30th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
This is good soup to cook at winter: time when fresh herbs are not full of flavor and most of vegetables are not as full of nutrients as fresh ones.
Root vegetables used in this recipe (potatoes, carrots, parsley and celery roots) are good on keeping their nutrient through whole winter and buckwheat grains add even more.
As for most of meat broth based soups, you can save some time cooking it by preparing meat broth in advance: night before or so, and then reheat before cooking buckwheat soup itself.
I really encourage you to cook beef broth yourself, whatever they say in those advertisements, but broth from can can’t be the same good as broth prepared by yourself from ingredients you choose, it is not that hard after all.
French Onion Soup
August 14th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
I absolutely love this tender onion and cheese soup with a light hint of spices and dry white wine. It is very good choice for home dinner party or romantic dinner just for you two.
You can prepare most of the steps in advance (from step 1 to step 9), then pour soup to the bowls, add bread and cheese and put them to the oven right before serving. That will save you a bit of time and ensure every meal comes fresh and warm at the right time.
My advice would be to use home prepared broth, cooked with good quality beef, carrots, onions, parsley and celery for this soup. If you need some hints on how to prepare beef broth, follow these instructions.