Tag: soup

As a novice home cook, the thing that really makes it fun for me is see what I can do with random ingredients in my fridge (especially vegetables that are crying out to be used before they go bad).

This week my culinary adventure began with a nearly-full can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I had recently opened the tin to make a fabulous cilantro-lime salad dressing (which is a post for another day). I felt a bit stumped as to what I was going to do with the rest of the peppers, until I had a vision of adding them to a soup base with beef broth, coconut milk, and lime juice.

The chipotle peppers have a wonderful smoky quality and I was excited to see what direction the soup might take once I got going and made use of a fun lineup of leftover items. I was hoping this would be like a scene from Like Water for Chocolate where I let my intuition be my guide to some culinary magic.

I started by cutting up a couple of carrots, half a purple onion, two cloves of garlic, a shallot, and two stalks of celery. I sautéed these in my soup pot in a generous glug of olive oil until they were softened with a bit of color.

Next, I added 3/4 of a carton of beef broth, a tin of coconut milk, and the adobo peppers. As the broth was bubbling away, I chopped my vegetables and added them to the mix: mushrooms, red pepper, green onions, jalapeños, potatoes, and purple cabbage.

The best part was exploring all of the little storage containers and bottles in my fridge. I had half a bottle of capers, black pitted olives, green olives, three sardines, and some caramelized white onions that I’d cooked up a few days earlier. Oh, and a can of white beans from the pantry.

Needless to say, all of the bits and bobs were pointing toward a wonderful Spanish style of soup. Not exactly a bouillabaisse, but very much in that neighborhood. After adding the capers and the olives, I tasted the broth and I knew instantly that I was on the right track. The broth was rich and smoky, with lovely salty/briny notes from the sardines and the capers. I debated whether or not I wanted to add a can or two of diced tomatoes, but I didn’t want to mess up the flavor profile that I had accidentally achieved. I decided that tomatoes might make the broth too bright and citrusy, and I liked how savory it tasted.

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are quite spicy. The broth still had a high level of heat, so I added a small can of coconut cream to bring down the fire just a touch. Another taste of the broth and I felt it was very nearly perfect. Two tablespoons of lime juice, three cross-sections of lemon, and salt and pepper to taste were my final additions. The citrus added a perfect touch of brightness, but not overly as I had feared the diced tomatoes might. I put the lid on the pot and let it simmer for a few hours.

Flash forward to today when I enjoyed a big bowl of my soup garnished with fresh cilantro. I was so happy that I’d added the lemons. The fleshy fruit had cooked off of the rind and become integrated in the broth. The rinds remained and were surprisingly delicious! The only thing missing was a crusty baguette. Happily, I made a big pot, so there will be plenty of opportunities to dip my bread into my bowl. One thing I am considering is whether I should run to the market for a small amount of white fish. This soup cries out for fish. But sometimes, it’s best not to tempt the fates. Especially not when they’ve given you a taste of magic.

Ingredients:

• Two carrots
• Two stalks of celery
• 1/2 purple onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 scallion
• 3/4 box of beef broth
• Small tin of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• Small tin of coconut cream
• 8 small yellow potatoes
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 3 green onions (the white parts, diced)
• 1/2 large red pepper diced
• 1/2 cup caramelized white onions
• 1/4 medium purple cabbage finely diced
• 1 jalapeño finely diced
• 1/4 C green olives, pitted and diced
• 1/4 C black olives, pitted and diced
• 1/4 C capers
• Tin of white beans
• 3 lemon rounds
• Cilantro
• Salt
• Pepper