Potato and Leek Soup

Boyfriend said he wanted something with leeks so I made this! Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP butter
• 2 leeks, washed and chopped
• 2 tsp rosemary
• 3 cups vegetable stock/broth
• 1 pound potatoes
• 3/4 cup milk
• salt and pepper
• 1 bunch of parsley
• olive oil

Directions:

1) Melt the butter in a large pot.

2) Add the leeks and salt and cook until soft, about 8 minutes.

3) Add the rosemary, stock/broth, and potatoes and cook for 20 minutes or until you can stick a fork in the potatoes with ease.

4) Move to a blender and pulse until smooth. Or use an immersion blender.

5) Move back to the pot and add the milk and pepper and mix.

6) Boil water.

7) Add the parsley for 30 seconds.

8) Remove the parsley and pat dry.

9) Chop or puree and mix with olive oil.

10) Top the soup with the parsley oil.

Tofu Cabbage Soup

Recipe taken from here and made smaller.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP sesame oil
• 3 green onion, chopped
• 3 TBSP ginger, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth/stock
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 cups kimchi
• 3 cups of bok choy or similar lettuce, cabbage
• 1/2 cup mushroom
• 1 block of tofu, cubed
• 1/2 jalapeno, chopped
• 6 oz noodles (buckwheat, soba)

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in a large pot

2) Add the green onion, and ginger and heat for 2-3 minutes.

3) Add the broth, soy sauce, kimchi and hard parts of the bok choy/cabbage and cook for 10 minutes.

4) Add the soft part of the bok choy/cabbage, mushroom, tofu and jalapeno and cook for 5 minutes.

5) While the tofu is cooking, cook the noodles in a separate small pot.

6) Add the noodles to the soup and serve.

Cheddar Beer Soup

This is a thin soup with chunks, which you can easily change with a blender if you want.

Decided to stop making soups after I go to India (March 23-April 1).

Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups vegetable stock/broth
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups beer (the foam can go over, I looked for the beer itself to be at 1 1/2)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• Parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions:

1) Heat the oil to medium in a large pot.

2) Add the onion and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

3) Add the carrot and leeks and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft.

4) Add the flour and mix until the flour is no longer white.

5) Add the vegetable stock/broth, milk and beer and cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the beer foam has disappeared.

6) Add the cheese and stir until combined.

7) Cook for 20 minutes more.

8) Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Tomato Parmesan Soup

Broken burner still, so doing something other than soup is difficult (by broken, I mean it only does high). Recipe taken from here with a few changes.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups (28 oz) chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 carrot, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 leeks, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 tsp dried oregano, plus more for garnish
• 1 TBSP dried basil, plus more for garnish
• 4 cups of vegetable broth/stock
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 cups of half and half
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Heat the tomatoes, onion, carrot, leeks, oregano, basil and vegetable broth/stock to a medium-large pot and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.

2) Melt the butter in a large pot (different pot).

3) Add the flour and make a roux. Whisk the flour and butter together until combined.

4) Add 1 cup of the tomato mix and mix until the roux becomes red.

5) Add 3 more cups of the tomato mix and combine until the roux disappears.

6) Add the rest of the tomato mix, Parmesan cheese, half and half, and salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.

7) Serve with oregano and basil.

Tomato Soup

This is in a very simple tomato soup recipe, but it’s fantastic. Recipe comes from here.

\Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp red pepper paste
• 5 cups of chopped tomatoes, it ended up being 5 tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano
• salt
• 2 cups vegetable broth/stock
• Basil, to serve
• Parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a large pot to medium heat.

2) Add the onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

3) Add the garlic and red pepper paste and saute for 1 minute.

4) Add the tomato, oregano and salt and cook for 10 minutes, until the moisture cooks down.

5) Add the broth/stock and cook for 10 minutes.

6) Serve with basil and Parmesan (optional).

Creamy Corn and Vegetable Soup

Taken from here with many changes based on what I had in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 640g of corn (I used canned)
• 500 ml milk
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 onion, slided
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 3 courgette/zucchini, sliced
• 1 sweet potato, cubed
• 4 leeks, sliced
• 5 cups of broth
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Puree the corn and milk together in a blender.

2) Heat the oil in a large pot to medium heat.

3) Add the onion, red pepper, courgette/zucchini, sweet potato and leeks and cook for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.

4) Add the broth and bring to a boil.

5) Add the milk/corn mixture and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.

6) Add the salt and pepper.

7) If you want your vegetables to be smaller, you can put some of the soup back into a blender, I did about half that way.

Sweet Potato, Corn and Cabbage Chowder

Recipe comes from here with a few changes due to being in Korea.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 stalks of leeks, sliced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 3 cups of corn
• 2-4 cups vegetable stock/broth (depends on how big your vegetables are!)
• 2 1/2 cups milk (or there about, whatever it takes to cover the vegetables)
• 2 TBSP butter, melted into 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1 bunch of cabbage
• water or stock, if necessary
• salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in a large pot.

2) Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until tender.

3) Add the celery, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn and vegetable stock and let simmer for 5 minutes.

4) Add enough milk to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil.

5) Reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

6) Remove from the heat and add the butter.

7) Blend some of the soup using a hand held blender, or scoop some out (I scooped out 2 cups) and put it into a blender and puree and return to the pot.

8) Add the cabbage and return to heat, adding water if necessary (I didn’t), and cook until the cabbage is tender.

9) Season with salt and pepper.

10) Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Corn and Potato Soup

Expect to see a ton of soups, they are healthy (usually, except when you add cheese like here). This one comes from here, but leaves out the spices as they are hard to find here, and when you DO find them, they are often mixes of a bunch of different spices. I think it will be like an explosion of non-Asian flavors when I go back to the US or Europe.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP flour
• 4 cups vegetable stock/broth
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 2 cups of corn
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in large pot.

2) Add the green onion and cook until it begins to brown.

3) Add the flour and stir until mixed.

4) Add the stock, mix until dissolved, and bring to a boil.

5) Lower to a simmer, and add the potatoes until soft, 10-20 minutes depending on how big you left the potatoes.

6) Add the corn and milk and cook for 5 minutes.

7) Add the salt and pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

8) Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup vegetable stock/broth
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 TBSP butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• milk
• 3 cups broccoli
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1) Heat the stock and onions in a pot or pan with a lid for about 15 minutes, or until the onions are tender

2) Melt the butter in a pot.

3) Add the flour, salt and pepper and stir constantly to make a roux.

4) Add the milk and broccoli and cook, stirring often for about 10 minutes.

5) Add the cheese and stir until melted.

6) Serve with Parmesan cheese and pepper on top.