Soups and Stew

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Who doesn’t love a warm, comforting bowl of soup when the weather turns cold?  The aroma of soup simmering on the stovetop as I arrived home from school is one of my favourite childhood memories. In my house, Mom made a lot of chicken soup, but borscht was also a frequent fall option. And so, as we start another year of “dark days eating” I will pay hommage to my roots and kick off with soup.

One of the tricks that I learned last year was to spend a couple of hours every second weekend or so making my own chicken broth. The benefits are many in that I know exactly what’s gone into the broth, I know it’s fresh, I can limit the amount of fat and sodium that we consume, I decide how it’s seasoned (or not), I can ensure the broth is from a local, organic, non-medicated chicken AND, we can use the meat from the chicken for another meal. I buy my chicken from Thomas Reid Farms in Langely, British Columbia.

Instructions on how to make your own chicken broth (using a whole, uncooked chicken) can be found here. I made my broth ealier this week and, while you can freeze it for use at a later date, I stored it all in the refrigerator because I knew we’d be using it to make a variety of soups this week.

The same day I made the broth, we had chicken stew for dinner:

 

I used some of the freshly made chicken broth, all of the veggies that had been used to season the broth, part of the meat from the now cooked chicken, and some other root vegetables and squashes that I had on hand, either from my own garden, my mother-in-law’s garden or from our last CSA delivery. I am happy to report that the chicken stew was a 100% local meal! On to the rest of the meals…

Since we had a base for our soup, ready and on hand in the refrigerator, we were able to make quick, easy, wholesome soups any time we needed a little warmth to to help combat winter’s chill.

First up was Ginger Squash Soup. I’d had a large hubbard squash waiting in my “cold storage” since the last CSA delivery and now was the time to use it! They keep quite well,  which makes them a great option for winter eating. A quick note: cold storage need not be fancy - mine is a cooler on my back porch.

 

Ginger Squash Soup:

• approximately 3 lbs of squash (choose your favourite variety)
• 6 – 8 carrots cut into 2 inch pieces
• 4 – 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 -4 tablespoons hazelnut oil (or whatever oil is local produced in your area)
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water

Pre-heat the oven to 375F, cut squash in half and place it in a roasting pan along with the carrots and garlic – drizzle it all with hazelnut oil and roast for approximately 1 hour. (You could also peel and cut the squash into smaller pieces – your choice.) While squash is roasting, sautee the onions in hazelnut oil until they’re translucent – stir in the ginger and nutmeg. Heat the chicken broth and the water in a pot and then add the carrots, squash, garlic and spiced onions. (If you roasted the two halves of the squash, scoop the cooked flesh out and add it to the soup pot.) Stir the mixture until heated through, then puree with a handheld mixer or a good ol’ potato masher.

And, although the ingredients for these items are not local in my area, bread or baking powder biscuits are a great accommpaniment to this hearty soup.

Serve it up and enjoy!

Over the next week or two we’ll be enjoying more soups (borscht and french onion) and some homemade gnocchi! The pasta will be…interesting. Be sure to come back and see how it turns out.