I love the comforting lushness butter adds to ramen. I used to make it according to the picture above with a basic chicken pack, but I have learned I like it more with less garlic powder and a tablespoon of onion powder. I leave the salt out. The seasoning pack is salty enough. The noodles will end up sitting in a yellow broth made from the egg yolk and the butter knob. Can’t be beat when you are only in the mood for comforting noodles.
Hands down, this is the best tomato soup I have ever eaten. I was never a fan of Campbell’s tomato soup, and I can only recall a few times I tried to make my own with mediocre to horrible results. The difference, for me, is the roasting of the vegetables.
In a bowl, I tossed quartered 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, one shallot, a glub of olive oil, S&P, 1 tbsp dry basil (rubbed between my palms), and three baby garlic cloves (the ones that tuck in between the full size cloves in a head of garlic).
I laid a sheet of tin foil in the basket and dumped the mix in to roast on 375*F for 15 mins. Look how gorgeous this turned out! * swooning *
While this cooled off a bit, I set up the cheesy toasts to bake in the air fryer for 8 mins. I had pizza cheese kicking about, so I used that on the top side after I buttered both sides of a sliced up Portuguese bun. All of these decisions were the right decisions. Look at the colour on that cheese when they were finished! Love.
I blitzed the mixture for five seconds alone before adding the chicken stock. I love rustic soups, so I barely ran it longer than 30 seconds, but if I were in the mood for silky smooth, I’d go longer to, say, 90 seconds or more. I would stop when I reached that texture.
And then I put it all together. I had a hard time resisting the urge to scarf it all down before I got the photos I wanted for this post. I was really hard to resist. I can’t stress that enough! 😉
How to build a good tomato soup. It’s amazing that so many don’t know the basics of this iconic soup. I guess it’s because soup out of can is so readily available. But sometimes you have what you need in your fridge and pantry, and you have the time to make your own. In those times, this is your template. Go forth and fortify yourself.
I made a huge batch of Suze Muse’s cabbage rolls the other day. Susan’s recipe yielded so much filling, feel like I could have made five to eight more rolls if I had only bought two, not one, head of cabbage. Oh, well. I stuffed the leftovers in the fridge making a mental note to find something clever to do with them.
The next day I was playing around on my Pinterest cabbage board when I found what I was looking for in the form of soup. I don’t get to make or eat soup at home much anymore since someone doesn’t like hot liquids, and since I do all of the cooking, that means I predominately make stuff we can both enjoy. Not soup. Soup is made, maybe, twice a year around here? It’s tragic. Really, it is. I miss my soups.
Since I had all of the meat mixture and the cut up cabbage on hand, all I needed was a damn good broth. But… I didn’t really like any the broth ideas I found so I realized I’d have to make my own. It’s not hard to make a great soup broth as long as you have an idea of what final taste you’re after. In my case, I was after a somewhat spicy, slightly tomato-y base but without actual tomato chunks, and I wanted it to be clear, not creamy. So this is what I came up with:
3-4 C water (bring to a boil)
1 chicken bouillon cube (add to water from the start)
1 carrot, peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then diced up
1 celery, peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then diced up
1 1/2 C cabbage, chopped into small ribbon chunks
1 1/2 C leftover cabbage roll filling (meat and rice, with their seasonings)
5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tsp dried oregano
S&P, to taste
Bring the water and bouillon cube to a boil, then add your chopped up carrot and celery.
Cook this over medium-high heat for five minutes before adding the leftover cabbage roll filling, chopped cabbage leaves along with the Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste.
Stew all of this in the pot for another ten minutes before adding your seasonings to finish it all off with another three to five minutes of cook time.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream on the side if desired.
Feel free to change this up to your liking as you make this recipe over the years. If I had thought about this properly, I may have added a Bay leaf or two to the pot at the top also.
Yields about 4 servings.
Pho. It’s what was for dinner today.
Red onion, carrot, celery, chicken stock, S&P, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, leftover corned beef, spaghetti noodles and fresh parsley.
Dee-licious!
Kristin, from IowaGirlEats.com, has a lovely recipe up over at her site for a mouthwatering Knock-off Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup recipe. I’m a big fan of pasta e fagioli, as much as I am of minestrone. I love the tomato broths, the small pastas, and of course all of the hearty veggies I can muster up to throw in the pot. To me, that’s the icing on a cake of the soup set. (Bad metaphor, I know.)
I do recommend checking out Kristin’s website in its entirety, even if this soup isn’t your cup of hot broth. (Better? No? I’ll stop now.) You will love her colourful pictures, comfort food recipes and down to Earth approach to food and cooking in general. I really enjoy her posts.
