Recipes from Soup Week

As promised here are the requested soup recipes from our soup week. (As a side note, when I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner this week, Sophie said, "Egg Drop Soup," and everyone groaned. I guess we're still recovering.)

This first recipe is for Hilary. I got it off the Martha Stewart website.

Seared Beef and Noodle Soup

1/2 lb rice noodles (You can also substitute angel hair pasta.)

1 1/4 lbs beef sirloin (about 1 inch thick)

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

10 oz white mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 c. beef stock

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp. rice wine vinegar

2 carrots, cut into thin strips

1/2 Napa cabbage, shredded (I used regular cabbage.)

2 scallions, including green parts, thinly sliced

1 c. bean sprouts (I left these out and put in peas instead.)

1. Place rice noodles in a large heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over noodles. Let sit until translucent but still slightly chewy, 5-10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.

2. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Season beef with 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper and rub with 1 Tbsp oil. Sear beef in pan until golden brown, 3-4 minutes. Sear other side, 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove beef.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining Tbsp of oil, mushrooms, and garlic; cook, scraping up any browned bits, until mushrooms are tender, 3-5 minutes.

4. Add stock, soy sauce, vinegar, and 2 c. water to the pan (I thought the water made the soup weak, so used more stock instead.); bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; stir in carrots cabbage, scallions, and bean sprouts. (I like my veggies less crunchy, so I simmered them until I thought they were done.)

5. Cut beef diagonally into very thin slices. Ladle the broth and veggies into serving bowls, and place the noodles and sliced beef on top.

Serves 4-6

This next soup is for Tammy. It's a recipe Aaron got in Germany on his mission.

Allgauer Kase Soupe

2 Tbsp butter

2 pieces of bread, cut into cubes

4 Tbsp butter

4 Tbsp flour

4 c. chicken stock, hot

125 g. (or so) soft, spreadable cheese

(We like Boursin, but Alluette is nice too. It should have garlic and herbs in it. This is the flavoring of this soup, so get something nice. You can find this kind of cheese in the specialty cheese section of most grocery stores.)

salt and pepper to taste

dash or two nutmeg

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1. Make the croutons. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the cubes, toss and saute until golden brown. Set aside. (When I make this, I cut up a piece of bread for each person who will be eating-8 for our family-then I melt the butter (4-6 Tbsp. for my family) in the microwave and toss with the bread. Then I spread the bread on a cookie sheet and broil it in the oven until it is golden brown. Toss the croutons and brown on the other side.)

2. Make the soup. Melt the butter in the soup pot. Add the flour and stir and cook for a little bit. You want to make sure it doesn't taste like flour. Whisk in the hot broth until there are no lumps. Cook at a simmer for 7 minutes.

3. Cut the cheese into chunks. Stir the cheese into the soup until it melts. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and parsley. Bring to a simmer.

4. Serve with the croutons on top. Or if you're a purist, with them on the side, you don't want your food to touch.

Serves 4 (I double this for my family and there's usually just one serving left over, which Aaron and I fight about for lunch the next day.)

Hoisin Beef

This recipe came from the Hilo newspaper and we've had it several times. It's yummy and quick with only a few ingredients that you will probably only have to buy once. I believe you can find everything in the Asian section of your grocery store.

Spicy Hoisin Beef with Ginger-Soy Noodles

For the noodles:

18 ounces fresh egg noodles (you can also use spaghetti but I like the squiggly quality of the fresh noodles better, they should be in the produce section near the tofu)

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp minced ginger

red bell pepper sliced into thin strips

3 scallions thinly sliced diagonally

3 Tbsp soy sauce

For the Beef:

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp five-spice powder

1 pound flank steak (or whatever kind of steak you want) cut into thin strips

1/4 c vegetable oil (I never use this much, I just eyeball what I think will look right for cooking)

1/4 c hoisin sauce

1/2 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce (The recipe calls for 2 Tbsp chili-garlic paste but I'm not totally sure what that is and when I used that much of the sauce it was way too spicy for us. You can always play with the amount to fit your family but there is some spiciness to the five-spice powder so don't overdo it.)

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (I use rice vinegar, I think it's the same thing)

To prepare noodles, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Return the saucepan to the stove. Add the sesame oil and heat over medium high. Add the ginger, bell pepper and scallions. Saute for 1 minute then add the noodles and soy sauce and toss well. Cover and set aside.

For the beef, mix the cornstarch and five-spice powder in a ziploc bag. Add the steak strips and toss to coat (this is my preferred method of coating meat). In a deep skillet over high, heat the oil. Saute the steak strips until crispy, browned and cooked through. Drain off any excess oil. Stir in the hoisin, chili-garlic sauce and rice vinegar.

Serve the beef over the noodles and garnish with sesame seeds if you want.

Pork and chive pot stickers

I got this recipe from my Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine, October 2009. My family absolutely loves these, but I'll admit they're time-consuming - especially for a side dish. I recommend making them ahead of time then frying them right before it's time to eat. Goes great with a stir-fry and egg drop soup for a fabulous Chinese feast. I'll have to post Dave's soup recipe at some point because it is the best. I've already doubled the amounts, because we found that 1 batch wasn't enough. You can freeze raw dumplings on a cookie sheet, then store in bags up to 3 months. Cook them frozen.

.

1/2 pound ground pork (hamburger would be good too)
2 Tbsp minced chives/green onions
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp dry sherry (I just use water)
2 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil (I don't usually have this, so I just use regular oil)
1 tsp cornstarch
36-40 wonton wrappers (usually in the produce department)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
In a bowl combine pork, chives, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, oil, cornstarch and 1 Tbsp water. Place a heaping tsp of pork mixture in center of a wonton wraper.Lightly wet edges of wrapper, fold over and press to seal (I usually press edges with a fork). Repeat to form remaining dumplings.

In two batches, cook dumplings in a large pot of boiling water for 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Make sure they're not touching or else they'll stick together. Some will fall apart in the process, but you won't mind eating the mess-ups.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Gently pat dumplings dry with paper towel, then cook until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve warm with soy-ginger sauce:

Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce
I've never actually made this b/c the pot stickers are yummy on their own and I'm usually running out of time, but it sounds good:

In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger, 2 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp sesame oil.