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Sweet Potato Bisque with Pan-Seared Scallops and Bacon

Posted on November 7, 2010 by amydeline

Confession: I’m a digger. Give me a pint of cookie dough ice cream and I will inadvertently eat the entire container as I dig and search for those luscious little bits of cookie dough. Just one more bite always uncovers the hint of another piece. So, I dig and eat and work with the patience of an archeologist at an excavation site, gently removing each glorious piece of cookie dough. I get lost in my work, until suddenly I’m holding an empty container. I feel both ashamed and proud simultaneously. I’m a digger.

So, you may imagine the little problem I had with those brownies I recently shared with you; the ones I so cleverly filled with bits of halloween candy; those bits of halloween candy which taunted me into consuming bite after bite after bite of chewy, fudgey brownies. I would have stopped. Really, I would have. But then I’d catch a glimpse of something; a piece of Twix, perhaps. One more bite. But wait…what’s that? Gooey, melted Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, behind which hid a few caramel-coated peanuts; remnants of a chunk of Snickers. And that’s how the brownies disappeared, one focused bite at a time.The baby in my belly is most thankful for the sweet treat.

But this post isn’t about my small digging problem. Though it is about sweets; sweet, sweet, sweet potatoes. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I’ve got sweet potatoes on the brain. And my brain was convinced that it was the perfect time for a spicy sweet potato bisque. I know. You’re probably thinking that this girl sure makes a lot of soups for someone who claims to be largely indifferent to soups. Perhaps I enjoy soup even more than I realize.

When it comes to creamy, bisque-style soups, I’ve got a little weakness for serving them with a bit of fresh seafood showcased in the center. (See my recipe for Chilled Avocado Soup and Crab Cake with Chipotle Remoulade.) A bit of crunch in the form of crispy bacon, croutons, seeds or nuts never hurts too. These little touches of flavor and texture turn a simple bisque into a simply elegant meal. I’m pairing my sweet potato bisque with a few seared sea scallops and some crispy applewood-smoked bacon for a fantastic autumn meal.

Spiced Sweet Potato Bisque

Ingredients

  • 4 large Sweet Potatoes
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic, minced
  • 5-6 slices Bacon*
  • 3 cups Chicken Broth
  • 1 cup Half and Half
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon Ginger
  • Dash of Nutmeg
  • Dash (or two) of Cayenne

*If available, I recommend using applewood smoked bacon. It’s nitrate free and the flavor is fantastic.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes and pierce the skin several times with a fork. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for about 90 minutes until fork-tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large wide-bottomed saucepan or stockpot, cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside for garnishing the soup. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add the onion and garlic to the bacon grease and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are tender and slightly translucent. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the sweet potato and add it to the pan. Discard the skins. Add the chicken broth. Simmer the sweet potatoes in the broth for a few minutes. Then, allow the mixture to cool slightly. Blend the mixture until completely smooth. (An immersion blender is the most convenient tool for the job, but a regular blender or food processor will work fine. Just be careful when transferring the warm mixture to a blender or food processor.) Return the blended mixture to the saucepan. Add the half and half and stir until well blended. Add the salt and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve warm.

Note: Depending on the size of the sweet potatoes and your desired soup consistency, you may need to add more or less chicken broth and half and half.

For the Pan-Seared Scallops: To cook the scallops, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over medium to medium-high heat. Pat the scallops dry and season with a little salt. (About a pound of scallops will serve four people.) Place the scallops in the pan. Let them cook for about 2-3 minutes, without disturbing. Once they’ve formed a golden-brown crust, turn the scallops over. Cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side, or until fully cooked through. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the scallops.

To Serve: Pour some of the warm soup into a wide bowl. It shouldn’t be too deep. Place several seared scallops in the center of the soup. Top with the crispy bacon reserved from the soup.

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Posted in Appetizers, Food, Main Course, Recipes, Seafood, Side Dishes, Vegetable and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Sausage, Bean, and Rapini Soup

Posted on October 26, 2010 by amydeline

I’d be lying if I claimed to love soups. It’s not that I don’t like soup. There are several soups that I enjoy quite a bit, most notably French onion soup (smothered with cheese, of course) and New England Clam Chowder. Homemade chicken soup with orzo or any type of seafood bisque are high on my soup list too. I guess I just don’t really think too much about soup. I never crave it. I rarely get the itch to make it. This is my own loss.

But, on a rare and sudden impulse, I got it in my head that yesterday was a perfect day for soup. I went back to a recipe which I shared with you a few months ago; a Ragout of Sausage, Beans and Rapini. With a few simple adjustments, I turned that ragout into a simple and insanely flavorful soup. I’m pretty sure they should put a picture of this soup next to the definition of comfort food.

This quick and easy soup is bursting with flavor and oozing in nutritional value. You can really feel good about eating this soup. Rapini, also known as Rappi or Broccoli Raab, is one of those bitter greens which is dripping in vitamins and minerals. Combined with savory, spicy sausage and creamy cannellini beans, this simple soup will have you singing.

Sausage, Bean, and Rapini Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
  • 1.5 pound Spicy Italian Sausage, removed from casings
  • 1 1-pound bunch Rapini/Rappi
  • 2 15-ounce cans Cannellini Beans
  • 1 quart Chicken Broth
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • Crushed Red Pepper
  • Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add the sausage meat. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until the sausage is fully cooked, using a spoon to break up the pieces as it cooks. Pour in the liquid from the cans of beans. Cut off the tough ends of the rapini, then chop the stalks and leaves into small chunks. Add the chopped rapini and chicken broth to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, until the rapini leaves are wilted and the stalks are slightly tender. Add the beans to the soup and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and crushed red pepper, as desired.

Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a hunk of doughy French bread.

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Posted in Appetizers, Food, Main Course, Pork, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetable and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

How to Make a Basic Chicken Soup

Posted on October 14, 2010 by amydeline

So, you’ve roasted a chicken for dinner. You’ve carved the breasts and removed the drumsticks and now you’re left with a mound of bones, skin, and some other inedible remnants. But there’s also a lot of good, tasty chicken hanging around too. Well, I’m almost positive that best part of cooking a roasted chicken, is using the leftovers for chicken soup! Doesn’t a big, hot bowl of fresh chicken soup sound great right about now??

Here’s a little guide on how to turn that leftover roasted chicken carcass into a pot of flavorful chicken soup. It’s not a specified recipe, but rather a basic process, which you can customize to your tastes. By the way, you can use this same process with your turkey carcass after Thanksgiving!

Here’s what you do:

Step 1: Take the whole carcass mess, throw it in a big pot, and fill the pot with enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the water to a gentle boil. Cover and let it simmer for a few hours. You can get it started right after you carve the pieces you’ll be serving for dinner that night!

Step 2: Give the chicken about 3 hours to simmer. Then, set a colander over a large container. Pour the chicken and broth through the colander. Save everything. Allow the chicken parts and broth to cool. Then, cover the container of broth and refrigerate. Place the chicken parts in a ziploc bag and refrigerate to cool. *If you haven’t prepared to make the soup, you can complete this step right away, then refrigerate overnight and pick up the remaining ingredients the next day!

Step 3: When the soup has thoroughly cooled (the next day), use a spoon to remove the excess fat, which will have risen to the top. Reheat the remaining broth, which will probably have thickened into a gelatin-like consistency.

Step 4: Add a bunch of rough chopped vegetables to the broth; celery, carrots, and onions. Don’t worry about cutting them nicely. They will be discarded after we’ve used them to add another delicious layer of flavor to the broth. These are your aromatics or mirepoix (pronounced meera-pwa). Simmer the broth with the vegetables for about an hour in a covered saucepan.

Step 5: While the broth is simmering with the vegetables, pick through that mess of chicken, which you strained the night before. Find and save any good bits of chicken. Discard the remaining bones, skin, and inedible parts. Also, cut up any leftover chicken breast or drumstick meat.

Step 6: Nicely chop the vegetables you’d like in your soup. I’m not a big fan of tons of mushy veggies in my soup, so I only added a handful of sliced carrots. But, celery, leeks, onions, or tomatoes would all be good additions. Cut these veggies small and even, since they will be remaining in your soup.

Step 7: After the rough-chopped veggies have simmered for about an hour, strain and discard the vegetables. Return the hot broth to the saucepan. If too much water has reduced during the simmering, add a little more. Taste your broth. It should have a rich, delicious flavor, but will be in need of salt and pepper. So, season with salt and pepper, as desired. I also like to add a dash or two of hot sauce. *If your soup tastes too watery, try simmering it without a lid for a little while to reduce the liquid and concentrate the flavors.

Step 8: Add the chopped chicken and your nicely chopped veggies. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes, until your veggies are tender, but not mushy.

Step 9: Prepare some rice or pasta to serve with your soup. I prefer Orzo pasta.

Step 10: Serve a big ladle of hot, yummy soup over your rice, noodles, or pasta. Enjoy!

*Store the soup separately from the rice or pasta. If you mix them together, the rice or pasta will drink up the broth. Chicken soup freezes great!

**If you want to make chicken soup from an uncooked chicken, there’s no need to roast it first. Just remove the giblets, rinse the chicken, and throw it in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for a three to four hours in a covered saucepan. Then, proceed from Step 3.

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Posted in Culinary Techniques, Food, Main Course, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetable and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Baked Potato Soup

Posted on September 1, 2010 by amydeline

I have a confession to make. This post isn’t really about potato soup. It’s about bacon. I just wanted bacon, anything with bacon. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided upon baked potato soup with bacon flavor cooked into the soup and crispy bits of bacon sprinkled on top. Served with a side of leftover pepperoni pizza salad, my bacon-topped baked potato soup was pure comfort in a bowl.

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients

  • 4 large Russet Potatoes
  • Olive Oil and Salt, for rubbing potatoes
  • 1/2 pound Bacon, chopped
  • 1 small Onion, chopped
  • 1 cup Sour Cream
  • 3 cups Milk (skim milk would be fine)
  • 1 tsp Salt (plus more, if desired)
  • 1/2 tsp Black Pepper (plus more, if desired)
  • 2-3 Scallions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly clean potatoes. Use the tip of a knife to puncture the potatoes a few times on each side. Rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for about an hour, until the potatoes are tender, as tested by inserting a knife into the potato. Cut in half and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook the chopped bacon until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon, leaving the rendered bacon grease in the pan. Set the cooked bacon aside for topping the soup. Add the chopped onion to the bacon grease in the pan and cook, over medium-low for about 5-7 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Turn off the heat.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the tender potato and discard (or eat) the potato skins. Gently smash the potatoes. Add the sour cream. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture or transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender to combine. Add the milk and blend. Add more milk, if desired, until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Season with the salt and pepper, to taste.

Over medium/medium-low heat, warm the soup for a few minutes, until it begins to gently bubble. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, and chopped scallions.

Serves 4


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