I
like my carrot soup THICK!
- To make meat or some vegetable stocks, roast the vegetables and or bones in some olive oil in an open pan in the oven, then add all of them and the roasting pan bits to the broth along with some fresh herbs and spices. Simmer, then stain out the chunks before using the broth to make the rest of the soup.
- Thicken soup quickly by stirring or whisking in leftover mashed potatoes, they absolutely disappear and create a thick soup. You can even cook potatoes and mash them just to use as a thickening agent.
- Half your soup can be whirled in the blender or with a hand blender, or you can add canned beans that have been blended to use as a thickener.
- Make a roux of butter and flour to thicken your soup, cook it in a frying pan, then thin with some of the soup liquid and whisk into the pot ot soup.
- Add shredded cabbage to a soup during the last 15 min. this will also thicken a soup, you can even use a bag of coleslaw cabbage.
- Is your soup still too watery? Stir in some instant rice, or some frozen veggies.
- Bread crumbs, whole grain bread or white bread, the crusts dried and ground up in a food processor, can be used for thickening soup too, the crumbs just disappear into the soup. This is an excellent way to use left over bread. I like the whole grain breads best.
- Fresh chopped parsley added in the last few minutes of cooking adds a wonderful fresh flavor to soups and stews.
- Precook your pasta before adding it to the soup. It doesn't bring all the starch with it and can be added last so it doesn't get overcooked. You can even use leftover pasta that you have stored in the fridge.
- Add the vegetables to your soup in the order of the time it takes to cook them. Carrots, onions and potatoes first, zucchini, fresh corn frozen peas, etc. during the last 10 minutes.
- Fresh herbs have more flavor, try fresh dill, basil, parsley etc. in your soups added during the last 10 min. of cooking. You'll have 'gourmet soups'!
- Try making soups with 'everything' in them, potatoes, barley, beans, lentils, rice, pasta, and lots of veggies too. (barley needs about 1 1/2 hr. to cook)
- To make a cream soup without all the cream, for each qt. of cold water add 1/2 can of evaporated milk and approx. 2 c. of powdered milk. Do not boil, cook this type of soup in a double boiler.
- Don't forget a dash or garlic, this is the 'vanilla' of soup making.
- A pinch of red pepper flakes makes a a wonderful addition to most soups.
- Freeze your soups in serving size jars, pails etc. to be ready as needed.
- To make a good base for your soup, you can use any of the following:
- canned soups, such as tomato or mushroom or crm. of chicken
- canned tomatoes or tomato juice
- pot or pearl barley, makes a wonderfully flavored soup
- canned chicken broth
- homemade stocks
- commercial soup bases
- oxo type cubes or powders
- the addition of some bacon
- clam or seafood broth
- Do use your leftovers in soups. Have zip bags in your freezer and just keep adding scraps of veggies, meats etc., keep a different bag for each type of meat.
- Add salt to your soup at the start and taste and adjust seasoning thought the cooking time. Canned soups are highly salted.
- For extra quick soups, used canned soups as a base, mushroom, tomato, chicken broth etc. which come in really large sizes, then create from there.
- Restaurant Supply Places also have a huge variety of 'add water and stir' types of soups and also many frozen soups available. So if you are short on time or talent and have the money, that can be a really easy answer to a 'soup problem' for a large gathering.
- Check your cupboards for 'secret ingredients' you just never know if a dash of this or that (bbq sauce, Worcestershire, soya sauce, vinegar, salsa etc. will be just the missing ingredient you've been looking for.) Try adding it to a small tasters bowl first to 'get the taste' and see if it works.
~ Growlies Index ~ Soups ~ Serves 50 ~ Serves 100 ~