Soup can be anything

[RealPlayer]

I decided to make a soup out of veggies that needed to be used (not nearly dead). Onion, celery, potato, tomato, summer squash, crimini mushrooms, baby spinach. With some fresh dill, because they sell dill in these enormous bunches that could feed half of eastern Europe. And a tbsp. or so of Better than Bouillon vegetarian concentrate. Seems to be working.

[Steve Miller]

Sounds great!

The trick is to get all of the components properly cooked at the same time. Julia Child famously accomplished this by cooking everything separately and stirring it together.

Doing it in one pot is significantly more challenging.

[Daniel]

I will try this as soon as I have a kitchen!

[RealPlayer]

@Steve-Miller Yes, I did it in one pot but the ordering of ingredients was crucial. Long-cooking things first, quick ones like spinach at the end.

[Mik]

A couple new favorites of mine

https://www.food.com/recipe/tri-colour-sweet-pepper-soup-412524

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/158518/prime-rib-soup/

[Mik]

Making a batch as we speak. Beautiful.

[AdagioM]

@Mik Prime rib soup, yum! I usually take our prime rib bones and make mushroom barley soup, same idea. But I make the broth in the Instant Pot and go forth from there. The Christmas bones are in the freezer, waiting for their star turn.

[Mik]

It was really good soup.

[Mik]

The sweet pepper soup is even better today. I added a shot of Espelette pepper for a little heat. Yum.

[Steve Miller]

Split pea soup for a cold winter day. Cozy cook recipes never disappoint!

[Steve Miller]

Not exactly soup but we had so many leftovers in the fridge that some of them were going to go sideways if not used up soon.

Leftover fried rice and undercooked broccoli we got at a very bland Chinese restaurant They must have a new chef because their stuff is normally pretty good. Wings leftover from Super Bowl. Whole onion that I used to gauge progress when sharpening my kitchen knives. I already ate the test tomato. A bag of mixed veg of indeterminate age I found in the back of the freezer. Garlic I chopped and froze a while back because it was going sideways as well.

Rice bowl, then. Added fish sauce, soy sauce and MSG. Deglazed pan with chicken stock.

It came out much better than it had any reason to.

Note to self: Work on plating skills.

[Steve Miller]

@Mik

First I’ve heard of espalette pepper. Do you buy them dry or fresh? Where do you get them?

[Mik]

On Amazon. It’s from the Basque region of France. Delicious. Medium heat, great flavor.

[Steve Miller]

Very timely. Pull up a chair, this will be long.

Sharon made this and she got called away before she finished it. She told me to finish it without sending me the recipe. Big chunks of ham, bits of potato (must have taken hours to chop them like that) and the most remarkable broth! Thought it must be a Jacques Pepin recipe, thoroughly enjoyed cutting up the pieces of ham in the bowl. Sprinkled chopped green onions on top. Fantastic!

Then she sent the recipe! It’s a standard midwestern crock pot recipe and I generally despise crock pot recipes. Frozen hash browns? Canned soup? Yikes!

But - wow! Here’s the recipe

A classic midwestern crock pot dump recipe. I would have passed it by but it works! Except…

I didn’t add the cream cheese even though Sharon set aside Boursin cheese for the purpose. Cream cheese is fine but Boursin is next level and Sharon is fancy like that. She got mad when I told her I loved it without the cheese.

So I had a second bowl. Added the Boursin. Yikes! It’s the richest, most decadent cream of potato soup I’ve ever eaten. Indulgent. Possibly sinful. Absolutely delicious!

But for me, it’s better without the cheese. I might tart it up next time with some thyme because I put thyme in everything. But no cheese. Not even Boursin.

It’s not Mediterranean. It’s not even healthy but yikes! It’s fantastic and takes no time (thyme) at all!

[Mik]

Looks great. I generally reject crockpot recipes too, and I also prefer them simpler rather than tricked out with fat.