Locro da Papa - Ecuadorian Potato and Cheese Soup

Once you get into a serious cookery habit, you very quickly start to accumulate 'stuff'.  At last count I had 7 varieties of vinegar, 9 types of rice and 5 kinds of lentils. My spice cupboard gets even more full with each passing trip to the shops and every cuisine I dabble in. Some ingredients are pretty easy to get hold of these days - every supermarket has a pretty good selection of herbs and spices these days, and Asian and Chinese supermarkets will furnish the inquisitive cook with pretty much everything else you will need.  Same goes for Eastern European and Caribbean cuisine.

However, some areas of the culinary globe are (in my neck of the woods anyway) a little harder to reach.  And this throws up a dilemma for anyone attempting to make dishes in an authentic a way as possible.

For example, this South American recipe.  Now, unless I'm blind, I haven't seen an Ecuadorian supermarket in my neighbourhood. And this recipe, done authentically, needs some ingredients that it's almost impossible to get without a lot of searching  - achiote powder and queso fresco.  My version, after some research, swaps the achiote for paprika and the queso fresco for ricotta.  Which, after 7 and a half minutes of interweb research appear to be about as good a substitution as I could find.  But it still bugs me that I'm not making a 'proper' version of this soup.

Am I worrying too much? Can anyone recommend a good source of South American ingredients? Does this stuff bother anyone else? Have you found a good supplier for edible Piranhas? Let me know...

Ingredients
600g Potatoes
250g Ricotta Cheese
25g Butter
1 Large Onion
1tbsp Minced Garlic
2tsp Cumin
1tsp Sweet Paprika
900ml Water
150ml Milk
Fresh Coriander

Method
1. In your soup pan, heat the butter. Add the finely chopped onion and cook for a few minutes, until it starts to soften.

2.  Add the minced garlic, cumin and paprika and cook for another 2 minutes.

3.  Add the peeled and cubed potato.  Cook for another 5 minutes, until the potatoes start to soften slightly and everything is covered in the spices

4. Add the water, bring the soup to a simmer and cover. Cook until the potatoes start to break up.  Remove from the heat

5. Once the soup has cooled, either blend the sou until smooth or use a potato masher to break up the potatoes.  Add the milk and crumbled up cheese, adjust seasoning to taste and reheat.

6.  Serve with fresh coriander, grated cheddar cheese and thinly sliced spring onions. Enjoy!

Quibebe - Brazilian Squash Soup

Sometimes when I'm looking for soups to make, the most childish things attract me.  For instance, when I was researching South American soups (you'll remember that I'm a little excited by them right now) I was drawn to this recipe simply by its name Quibebe.  Say it out loud.  It's impossible not to smile at that word.  It's also impossible not to smile when you taste this soup.  Its creamy, a little bit spicy and amazing.  Perfect for a winter's evening when there is snow on the ground and the nights are short.

Snow. It's pretty, isn't it?

In fact, pretty much nothing like what I imagine the weather is like in Brazil, where this recipe comes from.  Although I imagine it gets pretty chilly in the Andes.  (And yes, I did make a reference to the Andes without a) doing a Chilly/Chile pun, b) an Andes/Hands pun or c) referencing the movie Alive. I must be ill)

Other things that attract me to soup recipes are weird and wonderful ingredients, and whilst this soup contains nothing that you wouldn't find in your local corner shop, I did unearth a recipe for Piranha Soup.

Where does one acquire Piranhas from? Allegedly, the soup has aphrodisiac qualities (presumably derived from the fact it's made from Piranha, much the same way as idiots think Tiger Testicles are an aphrodisiac too) so I'm not sure substituting for any other fish would have the same effect.

So if your local Aldi does sell Piranha on their fish counter, do let me know and Ill be all over it

(And whilst we are on the subject of puns, should I do a 'In Brazil the soup eats you' gag here?)



Ingredients
500g Butternut Squash
100g Potatoes
20g Butter
2 Tomatoes
2 Stalks Celery
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Onion
1tsp Dried Chilli Flakes
1/4tsp Light Brown Sugar
1.2l Beef Stock 
Salt and Pepper

 
Method
1. Peel and de-seed the squash and cut into cubes of about 1cm.  Peel the potato and roughly chop that too.  Thinly slice the onion and celery.  Put the tomatoes in boiling water and leave to soak, then remove the skin, seeds and cut into small bits.

2. In your soup pan, heat the butter and then gently cook the onion, celery, garlic and chili flakes until the vegetables are soft but not coloured.  Add the squash and potato, stir everything round and cook for a few more minutes, before adding the stock and sugar.

3.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes, until the squash and potatoes are very soft and starting to break up.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

4.  Blend the soup until smooth, then return to the pan, adjust seasoning to taste and reheat.  Serve and garnish with parmesan and croutons. Enjoy!

Creamy Sweetcorn Soup

There's an age-old debate in soup-making circles - where is the line between Soup and Stew? It is fought over as much as 'What constitutes a proper pie?*' and 'How do you pronounce Scone/Chorizo**'

The debate mostly seems to centre around the ration of solids to liquids in the soup/stew.  As I've been researching South American soups, a lot of them strike me as being much more stew than soup (For instance, check out the Aijaco Soup from Colombia I made a while ago.  There's barely any liquid in there at all, but who am I to argue with Colombia eh? If they say it's a soup then it is most assuredly a soup.  Of course, if you are really worried about where to drag this line, just do what I did with this recipe, which is to blend the heck out of it until it is smooth and silky.

Now I don't recommend doing this with every soup, too often it just reduces the whole thing to a homogeneous mess with less character than when it started (Can you imagine a Minestrone being improved by being blitzed?), but some soups, usually ones with milk/cream/potatoes in often work so much better when they are creamed, and passed through a sieve just to make sure they are smooth.

And that is definitely the case with this soup, which was inspired by my dabbling with South American soup recipes (Indeed, you could just not blend it and it would be pretty similar to many recipes from that continent) but as it is really cold at Soup Labs today I thought it would make the whole thing just that little bit more comforting.  I think I made the right choice, but feel free to leave yours chunky.  I wont judge you. Much

Also, another great thing about this soup is it's another great cupboard soup - I bet you have everything for this soup in your cupboard / freezer right now. Apart from the cream, which you could substitute milk for if you really wanted.

* Anything with something else on top of it can be a pie - Shepard's/Fish/Steak and Kidney included, but a double crust pie is one with something completely encased in pastry.
** S-kone and Cho-rit-zo

Ingredients
400g Frozen Sweetcorn
200g Potatoes
20g Butter
2 Stalks Celery
1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2tsp Red Chilli Flakes
1l Chicken Stock
75ml Double Cream
2 Tomatoes
Spring Onions
Salt and Black Pepper

Method
1. Peel and chop the onion and potato.  Thinly slice the celery stalks.  In your soup pan, gently heat the butter and then cook the vegetables until they start to soften

2. Add the garlic and chilli flakes, then the sweetcorn and stock.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked and soft.  Remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool.

3. Put the tomatoes in boiled water, leave for 10 minutes, then peel and de-seed them, keep for garnishing the soup.

4.  Blend the soup until smooth, pass through a sieve to remove all the bits amd then return to the pan.  Add the double cream and re heat.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.  Garnish with the chopped tomatoes and thinly sliced spring onions.  Enjoy!

Chupe de Maní - Ecuadorian Peanut Soup

 Waaaay back last year, when everyone was talking about ball kicking tournaments, I was part of a small group of dedicated bloggers who took part in the World Cup Food Challenge.  This (I'm sure you remember) was a blog based challenge to cook between us, dishes from every country involved in said real-life-subbuteo competition.

In this challenge, I made a number of dishes (and some soups) from South American countries, and I fell in love with the cuisine of that continent.  Fast forward to Christmas, and as I tore open my presents from under the tree, I found that Santa had brought me not one but two recipe books on South America (along with 5 more on other things.  I'm so easy to buy for at Christmas - either cook books or Star Wars merchandise*) 

So I thought that I would do a few South American soups on the blog.  Starting with this one, from Ecuador.  You could use peanut butter for this recipe instead of grinding up your own peanuts, but I think the flavour is more intense doing it this way.  It's thick and creamy and satisfying and a great start to my South American soup adventure.  Let's see if my prediction made last summer - that South American cuisine would be the next big thing - comes true this year.  It totally should if this soup is anything to go by...

* Incidentally, I will be making at least on Star Wars inspired soup recipe in the run up to The Force Awakens being released, but that's not until December, so I have plenty of time. And yes, I am aware this exists... and I probably won't be making Bloodsoup, as I'm not a Sith Lord.  Until I do get round to making my own Star Wars soup, why not try this recipe for Bantha Steak Soup that I found

Cube 1 thick bantha steak; trim fat, pat dry. Saute meat in bantha butter until brown. Core, seed, and chop 2 large ootoowergs, 3 ripe dropes, 1 small koba if available. Add vegetables to cooked meat, cook til heated through. Put all in pot of boiling water. Cover, simmer at low heat for 3 days. Add roosha to taste. Serve 1-2.

Now, where can I get some ootoowergs from? I'm thinking Lidl? 

And for anyone else wanting to try Star Wars soups, here is a list of some that exist in the Star Wars universe, courtesy of the ever-helpful Wookiepedia. Although sadly Gungan bouillabaisse is made *by* Gungans, not *of* them. Mmmm, Cream of Jar Jar soup...

Ingredients
200g Potatoes
150g Peanuts
2 Large Tomatoes
2 Stalks Celery
1 Onion
1 Red Chilli
Fresh Coriander
1tsp Cumin
1.2l Beef Stock

Method.
1.  Heat to oven to 160ºc.  Spread the peanuts out on a baking tray. Put them in the oven and roast them for 10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  Put them in a food processor and blend into a fine powder

2.  Peel and chop the onion and potato then slice the celery.  Heat some oil in your soup pan and gently cook the vegetables for a few minutes until they start to soften.

3.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan, along with the cumin, chilli and stock.  Then add the peanuts, bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes.  Remove from the head and allow to cool.

4. Blend the soup until smooth, adjust seasoning to taste, reheat and serve. Garnish with more crushed peanuts, fresh coriander and thinly sliced red chillies.  Enjoy!

Green Bean and Almond Soup

The inspiration for this soup came from nothing more than "I have green beans, I don't need them for anything else.  Can I turn them into soup?" From there my mind went to 'green beans and... erm... what goes with green beans?'  Then I remembered green beans with almonds, which in my mind was always a side dish to a Thanksgiving dinner in America, possibly alongside a weird salad that has marshmallows in it.  I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea where this assumption comes from, apart from that I possibly saw it in an episode of Friends (The one where Joey gets the Turkey stuck on his head I assume...)

And then I googled Green Bean and Almond soup, and lo and behold, it is a thing.  When does a soup become 'a thing'? As in an accepted soup variety? Does it ever?  Is that the beauty of soup, that it can have literally any combination of meat, vegetables, herbs and spices and still be an acceptable thing? This is just another reason why I love the stuff...

Anyway, this is a tasty and sweet soup, thickened by the ground almonds, and although you don't have to put the white wine in, it will improve the flavour of the soup by 237% if you do...

Ingredients
400g Green Beans
2 Carrots
1 Onion
75g Ground Almonds
25g Butter
3 Cloves of Garlic
Slivered Almonds
900ml Stock
200ml White Wine
Salt and Pepper

Method.
1. Peel and roughly chop the carrot, garlic and onion.  Heat the butter in your soup pan and then gently fry the vegetables until they start to soften

2. Cut the ends off the green beans and then slice the remaining beans in half.  To the onions and carrot add the beans, stock, wine and ground almonds.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool and then blend until smooth.

3.  Adjust seasoning to taste and then reheat.  Serve and garnish with slivers of almond.  Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper and Carrot Soup

I just realised that all the soups I've blogged so far this year have been vegetarian recipes (assuming you use veggie stock, although I sometimes cheat and use chicken just to give it that extra bit of flavour)  This wasn't an intentional thing, so far this year I've made soups based purely on what is lurking in the vegetable drawer of the fridge.  Although I'm *still* not sure what that green slimy stuff is - possibly lettuce left over from last summer.  Best not dwell on that too much hey?

Today's soup is a variation on one of the ll time classics - carrot and coriander.  Although we are dropping the coriander and adding some red peppers.  When these bits are roasted in a bit of oil, they are transformed from a vaguely uninspiring bunch of brightly coloured veggies into a fragrant, tasty, sweet and delicious sensation.  Yes, the humble carrot, that thing you are bound to have a few of lurking in your kitchen right now, looking forlorn and lonely.  So my advice to you would be to grab a few, get some peppers in and start making this soup right now! You won't regret it...

Ingredients
350g Carrots
3 Red Peppers
2 Onions
1 Chilli Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves
900ml Vegetable Stock
Oil
Salt and Pepper

Method.
1.  Heat the over to 200ºc.  Peel and roughly chop the carrots.  De-seed the peppers and cut into strips then peel and slice the onion.

2.  Place the vegetables in a roasting dish, toss in vegetable oil until they are covered, then place in the oven.  Roast the vegetables for 45 minutes.  They should be starting to go golden and brown on the edges.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool

3.  Put the vegetables in your soup pan, add the garlic and chilli - both finely chopped - and the stock.  Bring the soup to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

4.  Blend the soup until smooth, reheat, adjust seasoning to taste and serve with a swirl of fresh yoghurt.  Enjoy!

Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

Cheese. It's a serious business. And we here at Soup Manors eat more cheese at Christmas than at any other time of the year.  Mainly because we do nothing but sit around watching all 6 Lord of the Rings movies, drinking enormous quantities of red wine and eating biscuits.  And nothing accompanies those things better than a nice bit of cheese (I think any hobbits reading this would agree wholeheartedly)

And this year, much to my surprise, when the hangovers cleared and Frodo had sailed to the Grey Havens, I found that we still had a big hunk of blue cheese left which needed something doing with (as we had decided to get all healthy and didn't really want to be sitting around in our hobbit holes when there was a whole outside world to be getting exercise in) so what better fate for a cheese than to be turned into a soup.  And what better soup to use said cheese in than a Leek, Potato and Cheese soup?

Because I'm being super (soup-er? Geddit?) organised this year I actually got round to making this soup a whole day before I got round to consuming it, so I thought I'd try something that I heard a while ago, which is soup made a day in advance, especially a milky/cheesy soup has its flavour intensified by being kept in the fridge for a day beforehand.  And what do you know, it really works - the soup had a much richer, deeper flavour than other sups of this kind I've made before.  So if you have the time, I highly recommend making your soup in advance.  Its ace...

Ingredients
2 Leeks
300g Potatoes
1 Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
100g Cambazola Cheese
30g Butter
1 Bay Leaf
600ml Vegetable Stock
400ml Milk
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Peel and chop the potato, leek, onion and garlic. Heat the butter in your soup pan.  Add the garlic, onion and leek and cook for a few minutes with the lid on until everything is soft.  Add the potato and cook for a few more minutes.

2.  Add the stock, bay leaf and thyme.  Bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and just starting to break up.

3.  Crumble up the blue cheese and add to the soup, along with the milk.  Cook over a gentle heat until everything has cooked through and the cheese has melted into the soup.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.  Enjoy!