Soup | The Humble Onion

Pork Posole

August 29, 2019

We are back in the swing of the school year, and I’ve been scouring my cookbooks and the internet to find new dinner ideas. My criteria has been dishes that are easy, delicious and feed a crowd. And I guess I’ve also been looking for things that are a little different, something we’ve never tasted before.

This Pork Posole checks all the boxes. When you find a dish that has SO much flavor, and is so simple and easy, and is a little bit different than anything you’ve had before, you have to share it. The amazing flavor comes from three things: the salsa verde…

the hominy…it was a little hard to find for me so I bought six cans from Amazon and I am very excited to have the makings for more posole in my pantry. Amazon Prime for lyfe. (Seriously, what did moms of little kids do before it existed?)

…and the addition of 3 cups of tortilla chips at the end. It sounds so weird but then you realize that the corn chips dissolve and when they do, they thicken this dish and add salt and fat that makes you crave more. It’s loaded with veggies that help to balance this decadence though, right?

I was a little worried that the fresh poblano pepper would make it too spicy, but my normally picky nine year old loved this dish along with my big kids.

My six year old did not love it though and ate what we always serve the kids who think something is too spicy: a cheese roll up. This is the name we give a tortilla sprinkled with shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese, rolled up and microwaved for 30 seconds with some avocado. (Just looking out for you mommas out there.)

This dish has got to be one of the best bowls of stew/soup I’ve ever had. I’ve seen a lot of posole recipes around using chicken instead, and you could easily swap the pork for the chicken here. But the pork was so flavorful and satisfying I highly recommend trying it. There are a lot of crock pot versions too, but I think sautéing the veggies adds so much flavor and once you’ve done that you might as well just let it simmer on the stove for 30 minutes.

The salsa verde and the lime make this taste so fresh, but at its heart this is comfort food and perfect for fall. I hope you get to try it and fall in love with it like we did.

Happy Eating,

xoxo Katie

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 1/2 pounds lean, boneless pork loin, 1/2-inch diced

2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)

1/3 cup small-diced poblano pepper

2 Holland yellow or orange bell peppers, seeded and 3/4-inch diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

6 cups good chicken stock, preferably homemade, simmering

1 (12-ounce) jar medium salsa verde

2 (15-ounce) cans white hominy, rinsed and drained

1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups yellow corn tortilla chips, plus extra for serving

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lime wedges, sliced or diced avocado, sliced scallions, sliced radishes, grated Cheddar, and sour cream, for serving

Directions

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a medium (11-inch) pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium-high heat. Add the pork and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer the pork and any liquid to a bowl and set aside. (Don’t worry about crowding the pan here). Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the pot, add the onions, and saute over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the poblano and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, chili powder, and oregano and cook for one minute. Return the pork and its juices to the pot.
Add the chicken stock and salsa verde and bring to a simmer. Stir in the hominy, black beans, corn chips, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock and the chips.
To serve, ladle the posole into large soup bowls. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and top with avocado, scallions, radishes, tortilla chips, Cheddar, and sour cream. Serve hot.

Recipe from Ina Garten can be found here on Foodnetwork.com

Slow Cooker Noodle Bowls

April 5, 2019

You guys…I didn’t know how much I needed noodle bowls in my life until I started skiing at a mountain with a noodle bowl bar. You get to choose the broth: chicken, beef or miso. And the meat: chicken, beef brisket or pork belly. And the noodles: ramen, udon or soba.

The first time I ordered one it was late in the day and they only had Udon noodles left. And basically now I’m hooked on them. They are so chewy and light and velvety. The perfect mix in a bite of meat and broth and crunchy veggies.

When we’re skiing, I dream about the tender meat, and salty broth, and spicy bits of jalapeno and sriracha sauce and those luxurious noodles. And afterwards, this food makes you feel SO good. Super nourished and comforted and charged with good things so you can ski for hours.

I usually have to fend off all of my kids from grabbing all the noodles, so I decided to try to make noodle bowls at home.

What I did not realize was how easy it could be in a crock pot. Or what an awesome family meal this is, since picky eaters usually love the noodles and the egg (why does the egg just make this dish?) and can be coaxed into some grated carrots. It actually would make great party food too – lay out all the toppings and let friends build them selves a customized bowl to their liking.

All you have to do is cook the chicken and broth with some aromatics and mushrooms for a few hours, and then add the noodles five minutes before you want to serve it.

Then you layout all the toppings…

And then you start to assemble…

Oh man. They are just so good. And I know that you could look around for complex broth recipes and boil pork knuckles with cinnamon and star anise like real pho broth. But the thing is I’m probably never going to make those because I don’t have time.

This broth takes 10 minutes has a complex flavor from the garlic and ginger and onions, as well as the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

You could obviously swap beef broth and some cuts like flank steak or brisket to this recipe, and you could also use Ramen or Soba noodles instead. And if you’re looking for any of these ingredients, an Asian section at most grocery stores should have the Udon and Ramen noodles, and I also found some Miso Broth that I can’t wait to try too.

I hope you try these soon, because they are life changing. I don’t say that lightly but THEY’RE THAT GOOD.

Slow Cooker Noodle Bowl (I doubled this to feed 8 and have some leftovers):

Ingredients:

1 diced onion

6 garlic cloves, minced (may only want to do 8 when you double it)

1 T. fresh ginger, minced

4 cups chicken broth (1 32 oz. boxes)

1 lb. chicken breasts

8 oz. sliced shitake mushrooms

¼ soy sauce (more to taste for serving)

¼ rice wine vinegar

½ t. pepper

1 package Udon or Ramen noodles

Toppings:

Shredded Carrots

Bean Sprouts

Cilantro

Sliced Jalapeño

Hard-boiled egg, cut in half lengthwise

Sriracha sauce

Directions:

Add onions, ginger, garlic, chicken breasts, chicken broth, mushrooms, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and pepper to crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

When finished, remove chicken breasts and let rest, and add noodles to crock pot. Let cook for 5 minutes while you prep toppings. Slice chicken breasts then add back into crockpot, stirring to be sure noodles are broken up.

To serve, ladle broth, noodle, chicken and mushrooms into bowl. Add fresh vegetables and herbs, two halves of the hard-boiled egg, and Sriracha and jalapeños for heat.

Cheeseburger Soup

February 7, 2019

What good is having a food blog if you can’t share the strangest – and yummy and easy – dinner your kids started to love?

I mean, the soup itself has been circulating through the interwebs but the toppings are very strange and VERY satisfying.

Chopped pickles? Shredded lettuce? And YELLOW MUSTARD? And yet, it has all the comfort and flavors of a McDonald’s cheeseburger. I have no idea why I decided to use these toppings, since none of the pics of this soup anywhere do, but the textures and the familiar flavors all combine to make something so fun and delicious.

My oldest son and husband are meat lovers, so I used a whole pound of ground beef in this soup (I actually used two since I doubled the recipe – leftovers are always a good idea.) And my 9-year old loves potatoes so she loved it. And everyone loves Velveta – it’s actually why I used this recipe since it was the only one that called for it. It is amazing but if you’re a hater you can swap other kinds of cheese.

So if you feel like fast food one night but you know you need to make a home cooked meal – try this one! And definitely make some leftovers because it gets better the second day.

Happy Eating!

xoxo Katie

Cheeseburger Soup (printer version here):

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1-3/4 pounds (about 4 cups) cubed peeled potatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 to 4 cups shredded Velveeta processed cheese
1-1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
Toppings: shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, or mustard

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook and crumble beef until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In same saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, ground beef and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly, 3-5 minutes. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook until cheese melts. Remove from heat; blend in sour cream.
Serve with desired toppings

Adapted from Taste of Home

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

November 27, 2018

I didn’t intend for this to be a blog post. This dish started as me just using up the turkey carcasses we froze after Thanksgiving.

But then I tasted it.

As usual with home cooking, simple ingredients, slow cooked, with flavor make the best best dishes. And this soup was SO delicious I had to share it. So here we are. If you don’t have a turkey carcass left over, consider just making this with chicken. It is that good you can’t wait until next year.

I made a huge pot of Turkey stock yesterday in our lobster pot and cooked for 3+ hours. If you have never made stock, check out my post here.

While it simmered, I cleaned out the fridge and tackled organizing projects in the kitchen. So basically, a clean fridge plus a delicious soup with crusty bread on a cold rainy day = the perfect evening. Plus making stock is so great for using up all those veggies in the veggie drawer that have seen better days.

Sometimes it can be hard to sell my family on soup for dinner, but everyone took a bite of this and raved. It is totally thanks to the delicious broth that adds so much depth of flavor, plus the comforting, stick to your ribs feeling from the creaminess of the butter and milk and cream.

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

I hope you still have a turkey carcass you can use up! If not, just pull this post up next year. You’ll be so glad you did!

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup (find printer version here):

Ingredients

3/4 cup uncooked wild rice blend*
1 small yellow onion , chopped
2 medium carrots , diced
2 ribs celery , diced
6 Tablespoons butter , divided
1 clove garlic , minced
4 1/2 cups turkey (or chicken) broth
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
1 1/2 pounds turkey meat, diced (can substitute chicken breasts, see step 5)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or half & half)

Instructions

Prepare rice according to package instructions.
Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.
Add onion, carrots and celery and sauté until slightly tender. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
Stir in the broth, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary and season with salt and pepper to taste.
*If using chicken breasts, add and bring mixture to a boil. Cover the pot with a lid and allow mixture to boil for 10-12 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through, then remove chicken to a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes.. If using pre-cooked turkey, skip to next step.
Reduce the heat to low and add turkey meat (or chicken meat) and cooked rice to the soup.
In a separate medium saucepan melt remaining 5 Tbsp butter over medium heat.
Add flour and whisk constantly for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking vigorously, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken.
Add this mixture to the soup pot and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in heavy cream or half & half. Serve warm.

Adapted from Tastes Better From Scratch’s Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup + A Wine Tasting

May 24, 2014

Want to meet my favorite comfort food?

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup has everything regular chicken soup has when you are craving a soul-satisfying bowl of something in your hands. Plus it has the balance of all those Thai flavors – lemongrass, lime, Sriracha sauce, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

This pic doesn’t do the flavors of this soup justice, but even still I had to share it on here because I have been eating it all week and it is just so good.

Remember this book?

If you don’t,that is because it was Billy Joel’s second wife who he was married to for a nano-second. When it came out, I was a newlywed living in Rochester, NY and I think I bought it because I saw her on Oprah. But guess what? There are actually a lot of really delicious and easy recipes in there. That is where I found this recipe for Asian Chicken Noodle Soup. It was the first time I had cooked with Lemongrass:

It made this amazing aromatic broth, and now I love cooking with it. It also calls for a little Srirachi in the broth, but when I eat it, I add a lot more hot sauce and lime. I leave it out if I am making it for the kids. And I have some boys in my house that don’t love soup, and for them, I can just drain out the broth and they eat the veggies, noodles and chicken on their own:

But the more broth, the more of those amazing flavors. I ate a pot of this all week and you know what? I felt totally healthy after every bowl. I love biscuits and gravy and collard greens and fried chicken, but to me the best part of comfort food is when you really feel comfortable and healthy when you are done. And this recipe has a lot of ingredients, but it is actually very easy to pull together.

Speaking of feeling comfortable, what could be better then a Wine Tasting in the comfort of your own home?

The Tasting Room had me at whatever ad they had on Huffington Post that alluded to such comforts for $6.95 shipping costs, and I am happy to report a box with this on the cover came this week:

And inside there were such cute little bottles…

…and I am off to go try them. And if you want a cozy weekend, go try this soup!

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup (printer version here)

Servings:Makes 4 To 6 Servings

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 35 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, minced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 tbsp grated fresh peeled ginger
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 stalks lemongrass, the bottom 3 inches only, each stalk cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp sriracha or chili-garlic chili sauce
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/4-inch thick and thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage (about 1/2 head)
1 cup shredded carrots (about 1 to 2 medium)
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper (1 medium)
One 3 to 4-ounce package rice noodles, prepared to package instructions
Cilantro and mint leaves, sliced scallions, and bean sprouts

DIRECTIONS

1 In a stockpot over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger. Saute until the onions are translucent, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, lemongrass, chili sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to a low boil, add the chicken, and cook about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, carrots and red pepper, and simmer an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
2 Divide the rice noodles among bowls and ladle the soup into each bowl. Garnish with cilantro, mint scallions, and bean sprouts, and serve with additional chili sauce, if desired.

Left Over Ham = Lentil Soup

April 4, 2013

Quick post here for all of you with a leftover ham bone in your fridge. It is a flavor jackpot, so don’t even think about throwing it away! Find some of these:

As the package says, chefs really do love these petite french lentils, they are delicious under filet of Salmon or Swordfish. BUT, for today we are interested in the recipe on the back for Lentil Soup. Really, any lentils will do but not all have a recipe on the back. If you use bigger lentils, you may need more time until they are soft. I left out the tomatoes and zucchini, and where it says ‘add the stock’, also toss in your leftover ham bone. I doubled this recipe as well since I was trying to cover the ham bone.

If you are more visual, this soup is super easy, just sautee your Mire Poix (the French flavor base for soups and stews), which is carrots, onion, celery, plus 2 bay leaves:

Then toss in your lentils, ham bone, and broth. Simmer for 20-25 min. That is it!

When it is done simmering, take out the ham bone and try to cut off any extra meat and toss it in the soup. I was surprised at how much mine had on it:

This soup is so good, so soul satisfying. I adore it and can’t wait to eat some more. And it is one of the healthiest foods you can find, plus you didn’t waste ham leftovers. Feel good all around. My ham was from Trader Joes, and it was SO good. It infused the soup with a smoky, sweet goodness that mixes so well with the petite lentils. I could eat this every day. French rustic home cooking, sigh…..

I would love to hear some of your healthy meals from leftovers!

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