Something Soup

The past few days I've been battling a bad head and chest cold, with little motivation for anything but watching endless episodes of Top Chef and cooking with garlic. The latter may be caused by the former, or it may be a need for aromatics to penetrate the brick that has become my head.

In between cooking shows today I decided to make soup with what was left in the cupboards (we desperately need to get to the grocery store for a full restocking). What I came up with is worth noting... it was, well, good. I could taste it throught the cold, which is saying something. I want to remember what I did so can make it again.

For lack of imagination, I call it "Something Soup." Measurements listed below are totally arbitrary.

1. Thinly slice about 4 pounds of red potatoes, and put them in a large stock pot, covered with chicken stock.
2. Boil until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Add 2-3 chopped jalapeno peppers, 4 cloves of garlic, and a 16-oz can of crushed tomatoes.
4. Add cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes to taste.
5. Let simmer about 5-10 minutes.
6. Take off heat, and blend with hand-held blender (or with a potato masher).
7. Stir in about a cup of shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack, but cheddar would be good, too).
8. Put soup back on low heat, add a cup of frozen corn.
9. Heat until corn is cooked.


If I were to make this again, I'd add onion with the potato, and if I had any fresh herbs around, I'd throw them in, too. Otherwise, it was very satisfying. Would have been good with tortilla chips on the side (alas, we do not have chips in the house today, either!).

Chicken soup for my stomach...

A rainy Saturday requires chicken soup, so it's a good thing I had made up a batch of broth the other day. Today I threw in a few extra unusual (for me) ingredients into my soup, added depth and punch to the flavor: tobasco sauce (a few shakes), handful of sundried tomato, sea salt (2 pinches), and brown rice. That was on top of the usual empty-out-the-veggie bin staples (potatoes, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, etc.). Oh, and yeah, some chicken. Soooo good.

I likely will add a few more bits and bobs before the day is over.

Hungry yet?