Soup in spring/summer time is always a weird territory. I always crave gazpacho on a hot summer night, but there are also the cool days of spring that sometimes call for a hot bowl of soup too. When I found a few recipes for chickpea soup, I knew it would be a perfect spring soup.

But let me be honest here.

This soup totally freaked me out. I wasn’t sure exactly what it would taste like! I was expected it to be a hot bowl of hummus, and seeing as how I love hummus, that wasn’t such a bad thought. But this soup really doesn’t taste like hummus (I know – how devastating!) The chickpea flavor isn’t overpowering since the garlic, leek and carrots do shine through. And of course, there’s a nice kick to the soup with the added cayenne pepper. Really this soup is a wonderful springtime soup that I will definitely make again.

Chickpea Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 leek, chopped
• 3 gloves of garlic, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp mustard powder
• 3 can chickpeas – drained and rinsed
• 6 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• ground cayenne to taste (add as much or as little as you want)

garnish:

• finely chopped tomato, cucumber and mint

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, leek and carrots. Sauté for 8-10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
3. Then add the cumin, garlic, mustard powder, salt and pepper and continue to sauté for another 2 minutes.
4. Stir in chickpeas and broth. Bring to a Boil, and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and using blender or hand immersion blender (my fave), purée to desired consistency.
6. Stir in lemon juice, sesame oil, freshly ground pepper and cayenne pepper.
7. Garnish and serve (and you can add an extra dash of cayenne too before serving on the individual bowls)

Adapted from Canadian Living – The vegetarian Collection

Growing up I never had beef stew. Someone in my family (*cough* my father), used to call it Alpo (aka dog food). Sure, it doesn’t look too appetizing, and it’s not exactly fancy stuff, but let me tell you something – it is heart warmingly delicious. Especially when its -40°C back home.

Cars don’t start, fingers turn pink, and I’m in my snugly slippers eating soup. Shivering of course – but not because of the cold. BECAUSE OF FEAR. Welcome to interview month – the 4 years of medical school culminate into 4 weeks of interviews for a residency position. While nerve-racking, it is also really exciting to see my friends decide on their career paths and travel to parts of Canada we never thought we would (hello Saskatoon!).

What I need today is simply a hearty soup all wrapped up in a one pot meal. A warm belly always leads to an amazing interview process, right?

Braised Beef Stew

Ingredients:

• 1.8kg (4 lbs) stweing beef cubes, cut into 1-2 inches
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 3 cups beef stock
• 1-2 cups water
• 8 red potatoes, sliced in thirds
• 6 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
• 3 parnsips, peeled and thickly sliced
• 2 cups mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch of dried thyme
• kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a bowl and dredge beef cubes through this mixture.
2. Heat oil in a dutch oven (hot, but not smoking) and sear the meat in the pan (in batches to not overcrowd the pan). Brown  meat well on all sides. Repeat with all meat and move to bowl, and set aside.
3. Lower heat to medium low and add the onions and paprika and garlic. Saute until onion are soft, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Return the beef the pot, add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour uncovered.
5. Stir in potatoes, carrots and parsnips, adding water one cup at a time until all contents in the pot are covered.
6. Cover and continue to cook for another hour.
7. Add mushrooms, bay leaf and thyme then cover and cook for an additional hour.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with flat lead parsley.

Source: Cooking with Love

I hope you stay warm in this arctic air!

It’s that time of the year again. I have literally been sick 3 separate time this past month. While it’s no fun to have that painful red throat and fever, I do have an excuse to make lots of soup!

Last fall I was big on the purreed soups like butternut squash and carrot soups. This year I’ve been into the chunkier and more substantial soups like the orzo soup and a beef stew that will be posted shortly.

With all of my asian style cooking, I figured its about time I made a hot and sour soup! Now I can start my asian style dinners with a steaming hot bowl of soup to clear my sinuses (cause I like it spiiiiiiicy!).

Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust for your own level of “spicyness”)
• 4 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 package firm (or soft) tofy, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup bamboo shoots (canned)
• 1/3 cup water chestnuts (canned)
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. In a large pot, combine the broth, soy sauce, red pepper flakes and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar and cornstarch. Add to pot and stir until soup is thickened. (if you want to thicken the soup further,  mix more cornstarch with water and add to soup)
4. Add the egg through a slotted spoon, creating ribbons while stirrring. Stir in the tofu, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots.
5. Taste – can add more soy sauce, rice vinegar or red pepper flakes as needed.
6. Serve – sprinkled with scallions

Slightly adapted from Everyday Food – Great Food Fast

Hope you enjoy the recipe!

I suppose you can say I’m a planner.  I have a cute red moleskin notebook where I write to-do lists, grocery lists, and even recipes I want to make. This orzo soup recipe caught my eye months ago, but I could not find one of the required ingredients anywhere – fire roasted tomatoes. I’m so set on things (some use the word stubborn), that when I found 2 cans of them in toronto six weeks ago, I brought them back to Montreal to use.

So where have I been these past 6 weeks? Planning of course…my future. Residency applications, also known in Canada as CaRMS is a frighteningly stressful application process that will determine where my training for my future career will be. Planning my application was one thing, and to finally be satisfied with it was another. I am, however, happy with how it turned out and I’m enjoying the next few weeks of stress free waiting!

While I wait to see where (not if – positive thinking!) I get interviews, I hope to make lots of comfort food. This soup fits in well since it’s easy to put together, it’s flavorful and soothing (especially if you have a cold!). It calls for few ingredients – veggie broth, orzo, spinach and of course those darned fire roasted tomatoes. Oh, and adobe sauce. If you want to use the can for more than just a teaspoon of sauce I have some awesome recipes – tilapia , lima bean soup  and yummy sweet potato fries. 

 Orzo soup recipe:

Ingredients:

• 7 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups orzo
• 2 cups spinach, chopped
• 1 14-ounce can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, well drained
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp adobe sauce
• good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 3 egg whites
• fine grain sea salt
• fresh cracked pepper
• some grated Parmesan cheese (to finish) – optional

Directions:

1. Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until just tender – about ten minutes. Stir in the chopped spinach.
2. In the meantime, heat the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, adobe sauce, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil in a separate saucepan. Add some salt if needed.
3. Just before serving, Slowly pour the egg whites into the soup, stirring quickly with a whisk. Serve the soup in individual bowls, with each serving topped with a generous spoonful of tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, a dusting of cheese and black pepper.

Source: 101 cookbooks 

I have some other good soup recipes coming your way so stay tuned!

- Jennie

Tom YUM soup. YUUUUUUUUUM.

I impressed myself with this soup…I admit it, it was a surprise.

I love when I can surprise myself, it’s such a treat!

It’s a pretty rare occasion because you obviously can’t hide what you’re thinking from yourself…or can you? Hopefully I’ll find out the ways of the mind in my Psychiatry rotation next month! Woohoo.

Back to how impressive this soup is.

I bought a bunch of ingredients that I thought would go well into a thai-inspired soup. I decided to be adventurous and go sans-recipe into this spicy world, that’s right – This is a Jennie Original.

I figured if it didn’t taste good I could add so much spice that all I’ll taste is the flesh of my tongue. Tasty!

Lucky for me, this soup turned out to be so full of flavor (and heat of course) that I ate the entire pot of soup in less than 24 hours. I admit, I had nothing else in my fridge to eat (student life) but regardless, this soup was one of my favorite things I’ve ever made. It was full of veggies, tofu, rice noodles and the broth was spicy with a touch of sweetness. Amazing.

Taking photos of this soup got a little wacky though. My mint kept posing on my furniture and begged me to snap photos of it. How weird is that? Does your mint do that too?

Thai Tom Yum Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• juice of 2 limes
• 2 pieces of lemongrass
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (can use soy sauce instead)
• 1 1/2 tbsp red curry paste (use 1 tbsp for less spicy)
• 1 tsp garlic-chili sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• Fresh ginger, sliced (about 1 tbsp)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 small onion, sliced
• 3 thai chilis, chopped (2 for less spicy)
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup bamboo shoots
• 1/2 cup mini corn
• 1/3 cup fresh basil
• 1 cup sliced tofu (extra firm)
• Rice noodles – cooked (optional)
• cilantro, green onion, mint and bean sprouts for garnish

Directions:

1. In a large pot, mix together stock, coconut milk, garlic-chili sauce, basil, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, and ginger. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes.
2. Stir in red curry chili paste. Add tofu, mushrooms, corn, onion, bamboo shoots and chiles. Simmer another 15 minutes. Stir in tomato and cooked rice noodles.
3. Before serving, remove lemongrass and ginger or you can eat around it.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a handful of bean sprouts, green onion, mint and cilantro. Serve with a slice of lime.

Thai food is one of my favorite foods to eat (and cook!).

I hope you try out this soup, it really is great! Don’t be scared to substitute or leave out ingredients – use what you have on hand! Whatever ingredients you have left over you can use in this Thai Mango Salad!

Hope you enjoy!

- Jennie