Aw-Shucks

It's time for a summer soup. I'm stopping off at Falkowski's Farm Stand in Bridgehampton, NY in the AM to pick up our famous Long Island Yukon Potatoes and candy-like corn on the cob. I'll pick some of my vine ripened Early Girl Tomatoes and basil from my garden. Then simply slice the tomatoes and drizzle olive oil over a crusty ciabatta bread, topped with freshly ground pepper and gently tear a fresh basil leaf for summer fresh flavor. This will make a perfect snack paired with a crisp cool glass of sauviginon blanc while waiting for my corn to grill to perfection. I always buy extra ears, aw-shucks, the leftover corn will make a great soup!

Summer Corn Chowder

Makes four-six servings | recipe by Chef George Hirsch
From George Hirsch Living it UP! TV series 

1 Tablespoon olive oil 
4 Tablespoons pancetta or bacon, chopped
3/4 cup chopped sweet onion, chopped 
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 
1/2 cup chopped carrot, chopped 
1/2 cup chopped celery, chopped 
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour 
4 cups chicken broth 
2 cups corn, (about 4 ears) fresh cut from cob
1 cup Yukon potatoes, well scrubbed skin left on, chopped 1/4 inch pieces
1 bay leaf 
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped 
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce 
pinch of sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup half-half 
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Pre heat a soup pot to medium temperature. Add olive oil and pancetta, cook until light brown. Add onion, garlic and chicken and cook until lightly colored. 

Add carrot, celery and cook three to four minutes. Add flour, cook for two minutes and slowly add chicken broth. Bring soup to a boil, add corn, potatoes, thyme, hot sauce and bay leaf. Simmer soup for 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Pre heat half-half, add sea salt, pepper to soup and top with fresh chopped parsley.

Liquid Salad

A refreshing and one of my favorites, Gazpacho is also known as "liquid salad" — for obvious reasons. Its origin and roots go back to ancient times in Andalusia Spain; with a version of the recipe believed to be concocted as a re-energizing dish for Roman workers building roads in early 2nd century Spain.

Traditionally, gazpacho recipes include stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, olive oil, and a touch of vinegar. This time of year is perfect to think about taking those fresh garden or from-the-market veggies and make this refreshing cold soup. 

My recipe will give your knife skills a work out. Feel free to use a blender. But keep in mind the manual chopping of the vegetables will preserve the flavor. Be aware, using a food processor or blender actually cooks the veggies with the friction, in turn, changing the natural uncooked flavor, which is the true essence of this dish.

There are many versions of gazpacho, but I prefer this one without any meat broth, keeping it true to its veggie roots, and finishing it off with a good balsamic.

Gazpacho  

Makes four servings 

chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle

1/4 cup onion, chopped very fine

4 cups tomato juice

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup sweet red pepper, chopped very fine

1/4 cup sweet green pepper, chopped very fine

1/4 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped fine

4 cloves garlic, fine chop

1/4 cup scallion, fine chop

1/2 cup cucumber; peeled and seeded, chopped very fine

1 Tablespoon cilantro

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

fresh ground black pepper 

1/2 cup stale bread, toasted and chopped fine

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar  

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients and chill for two hours before serving. 

sold out

Add to Cart

Tuber Time

There is an upside to when the temperature dips into to chilly range; cooking up warming dishes with tubers. Prepared an infinite number of ways, tubers such as beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, and potatoes are prime ingredients to add to the soup pot for texture, thickening and flavor. What’s even better is each tuber can stand on it’s own or be combined with others. Considering they have a long shelf life tubers are perfect to keep on hand in your pantry for preparing a last minute dish. 

In this soup recipe I roasted the tuber to caramelize the natural sugars in the potatoes. A mixture of potatoes can be cooked, but I used the Yukon potatoes because of the golden, buttery-tasting waxy flesh that gives an earthy finish to the taste of the soup.  

Roasted Potato Soup
Recipe by George Hirsch | Makes six-eight servings 

3 cups Yukon, red or russet potatoes; scrubbed & chopped into 1/2 inch pieces 
4 Tablespoons pancetta, chopped
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled left whole 
Olive oil 
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups kale washed and chopped
Hot sauce to taste
Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup half and half
* Arugula, spinach, or escarole may be substituted for kale

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. 

In a sheet pan or low-sided roasting pan add chopped potatoes, pancetta, onion, garlic, olive oil, thyme, pepper and salt. Roast for twenty minutes and toss to evenly brown. After twenty additional minutes add kale and cook for ten more minutes. 

Remove roasted potatoes from oven and place in a large soup pot. Add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock to sheet/ roasting pan to deglaze all bits of food from bottom of pan. Scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Pour drippings into soup pot. 

Add remaining chicken broth to soup pot.  Increase temperature, bring soup up to a boil, and then lower to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender with a couple pulses to puree; or use food processor. Bring soup back to a boil, add nutmeg and additional broth if required. Just before serving, gently stir in half and half and hot sauce to taste.

Servings suggestions:

For a more elegant version, top soup with sour cream or creme fraiche; and cooked crab meat, or poached shrimp, or scallops, or oysters.

Soup Scoop

The University of Illinois published a study based on matching personalities with soup preferences a few years back in the Journal of Database Marketing Lifestyle and Personality Clusters. The four most popular soups were chicken noodle, tomato, minestrone and vegetable. These four top soups were cross-tabulated with personality and lifestyle traits. What's your soup say about you?

 

The Findings:

Chicken noodle soup; you score high on the church-going scale, are fond of pets, are more likely to be stubborn and less likely to be outdoorsy.

Minestrone; you were more likely to be physically fit, nutritionally conscious, family spirited, unlikely to own a pet and also on a restricted diet.

Vegetable soup; was a homebody at heart, less likely to be a world traveler, less likely to be spontaneous and more likely to read family and home magazines.  

Tomato soup; by contrast, seeks more adventure, were more likely to be social and also tended to enjoy books and pets.

Soup, especially this chilly time of year, is comforting to the body and soul. I wonder what the personality traits would be paired with my Tuscan Artichoke Soup, or Spicy Corn Chowder? And, I'd surely like to know what the University would say about people who love my Creamy Five Onion Soup. 

reference; Journal of Database Marketing Lifestyle and Personality Clusters.

Pulled Pork Soup

What could be timelier than a comforting bowl of hot soup. In honor of National...FOR COMPLETE GRILLED SOUP RECIPE