Both. There are two soups I most often make: Chicken-Corn Chowder, and Beef-Barley-Veg Soup.
The chicken-corn chowder has a combination of chicken and corn stock, but is finished with about 2/3 of a cup of heavy cream to a 6-8 quart stockpot. So minimal cream. The beef-barley-veg soup is stock-based, but gets a bit of thickening from both the pearl barley and the chunks of potatoes.
Another favorite (but I haven’t made in awhile) is a Tuscan Bean Soup - chicken stock with canned diced tomatoes and the juice from the canned tomatoes.
In Southeastern Massachusetts, the curly kale is used in by the Portuguese-American community in Portuguese kale soup with linguica sausage, beef, beans and potatoes. I’m not sure if that is an adaptation or whether it’s also used in the Azores, where most of the Portuguese community in that area has their roots. There is the curly kale and a flat leaf kale quite different from the dinosaur kale and they were the only types of kale sold for most of my life, that is until the kale craze hit.
The dinosaur kale is also known as lacinato kale in these parts as well.
Yes, now that you mention it, if I were setting out to make a caldo verde, I would probably look for curly kale. I have been in Portugal, but somehow managed to not get to eat caldo verde – maybe because it was summer. It’s a wonderful soup. I remember first having it in college days and thinking I would live forever eating it for all the vitamins.
I am also thinking that many of the soup recipes people are describing here – blending veg into a puree and cream-based soups – would probably go under the categories of passato di verdure and vellutata – although I am not sure if a vellutata in Italy always (or ever) has cream (does a French veloute)?
the actual “mother sauce” of veloute does not have cream, but it is often added anyway.
this thread is reminding me to eat more soup. last few winters i was having bone broth, seaweed and eggs (swirled in like for egg drop soup) most days, but fell out of the habit this year. easy, cheap, delicious, healthy.
i pretty much never make cream soups and am very particular about the texture of stuff in my soups, lol.
Thanks. A little googling reveals that when Italians make a dish like vellutata di spinaci, if they opt to add cream, then they add the words too: vellutata di spinaci con panna
I make a soup a lot like this using canned pumpkin, a lot less stock and with andouille sausage bits in it. It has kick, is very thick and satisfying in winter and my pumpkin/squash hating husband loves it. I add cream right before serving, just a bit in the middle.
Full disclosure: I am not a soup person by any means – it’s not something I make or eat on a regular basis. Sure, there are exceptions - Chinese beef noodle soup (perfect for hangovers), ramen, phô, or even the ubiquitous chicken noodle soup (altho I almost exclusively make this when one of us @casa lingua is sickly).
That said, our pescatarian friend made a lovely minestrone for NYD - lots of vegetables like broc, spinach, carrots, kale, a few small potatoes, all cooked in veggie broth till mushy, then pureed. Added some grated parm and pecorino - lovely. I had three helpings
I’ve also had a fab foie gras soup amuse-bouche at a Philly restaurant that I still rave about.
Perhaps for dropping some poundage, I might make more soups in the future, as the weather is certainly cold enough. Made a lovely pea soup recently with mint, crème fraîche and mint.
Next up might be a creamy cauli soup topped with crispy bacon & sautéed mushrooms.
Hey… maybe I am a soup person who hasn’t come out of the pantry yet.
It’s quite close compared to the recipe I use, except I don’t add sugar and fish sauce in the broth. In some recipes, they add cardamom and tangerine peel, but personally I don’t.
This can be the case, did you see how skinny their cows were? I sometimes think the meat are reserved for tourists or for festivals.
Never heard of this before, I googled passatelli, it looks delicious and comfy, it is great that the recipe called for stale bread. Problem is I don’t have a potato press with big holes (mine it’s a wired style). I guess I can use a pastry bag to pipe that, or try to find a sieve with big holes.
There is similar dish in Emilia-Romagna called zuppa imperiale where the pasta is essentialy the same ingredients (cheese, egg, breadcrumbs or semolina) but it is not elongated – shaped more like spatzle. You might be able to make that with ordinary kitchen utensils.
Speaking of soups… Does anybody have a good recipe for Hot & Sour soup? Our local Chinese takeout makes an excellent version but they won’t give up the recipe.
Just got home from a weekend at the beach. Had a big Costco container of brown mushrooms that didn’t get used. Soooo, I made mushroom soup and paired it with a grilled cheese sandwich. Jarlsberg and Gruyere. Really hit the spot as the temps dipped down to the upper 50s today
I make tons of soups all winter long- I probably have soup 5xs a week or so.
I make broth based vegetarian soups without dairy- to make a soup creamy i use pureed white beans, or dehydrated potato flakes, or pureed soaked raw cashews
i often make pureed vegetable soups (tomato, sweet potato-apple) that are closer to cream/bisque, but without dairy. i include cauliflower, and finish with some canned coconut milk.
I’ve been making a lot of “mashed cauliflower” as a potato substitute, sometimes when I over puree the cauliflower it has been a bit soupy.
On a side note and somewhat off topic, how about you tie me up in your lasso of truth and play Pinocchio, see if I can tell a lie . (sorry it’s always been a fantasy of mine)
