Sausage Pasta Soup with Chiptole and Herbs

Again, you don't need to start with bacon, but I did.

1. Start a pot of salted water on a path to boil.
2. Mince up a few slices of bacon and put in thick heavy pot like a Crueset.
3. While bacon cooks, thinly slice up an onion, chop up some carrots in desired shape and chop up some celery in desired shape.
4. When bacon has rendered its fat, add sausage to pan. Tonight we used Mild Italian Turkey Sausage from Rainbow.
5. When Sausage is done, remove and add more fat if necessary to pan. We used olive oil tonight.
6. Add onions, carrots and celery. Stir and allow to cook to your liking. I like them browned.
7. Add stalks of thyme, a bay leaf, some chopped rosemary and what ever else you want. I also added a lot of ground black pepper. Stir and allow herbs to get in there.
8. Add 1/2 cup of Muir Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes and stir.
9. Add two canned chiptoles in adobo sauce and some of the adobo sauce.
10. By this time water should be boiling. Add your pasta. We used Strangled Priest Noodles. They take 8 minutes.
11. Add the broth to your soup pot and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer a bit. Add the sausage back in and salt to taste. Add chopped parsley if you like.
12. Drain pasta when done.
13. To serve, put some pasta in a bowl, and pour soup over it. Sprinkle bacon on if you made it.
    

Flu Season Chicken Soup

When Eric and I start to feel like we are getting sick, we make a pot of Chicken Ginger Soup. The heat of the onions, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes help to burn out the germ. We vary it depending on what we have in the house, but the basic recipe is something like this:

olive oil
1 Medium yellow or white onion halved and thinly sliced
1 Big Carrot Peeled and Sliced
3 cloves garlic smashed
1.5 inch piece ginger peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 carton of organic, free range chicken broth (we like Pacific brand the best)
(Optional: 1 organic free range boneless skinless chicken breast cut into even size pieces)
1 bunch black kale or chard or other bitter green washed and sliced into thin strips
Lemon
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

1. In a heavy pot, saute the onions and carrot. About a minute before desired softness achieved, add the whole smashed garlic cloves, ginger and red pepper flakes.

2. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer for at least 10 minutes. (Sometimes I will add cup soy sauce and rice wine to create a tastier broth, but if we are already sick, too much salt can cause mischief. Also, if we want a heartier soup, I will sometimes make some brown rice or noodles or orzo to add to the soup. But again, if we are already sick, I try to reduce the amount of grains in our diet).

3. If you are going to add the chicken, bring stock back to a boil and add chicken. Pay attention to not overcook. Usually takes less than 5 minutes.

4. Just before you are ready to eat, stir in the greens and allow to wilt. Squeeze in lemon juice and lots of freshly ground pepper.

Lime Chicken Soup

Yesterday we had a ton of beautiful small tomatoes from Steve;s farm, a big white onion, lots of limes and poblanos and so the inspiration was born for a chicken lime soup.

1 White Onion
1 or 2 Carrots
3 Cloves Garlic
Mexican Oregano, Thyme and Cumin Sees
Chicken Broth
2 or 3 poblanos
2 Chicken Breasts
Lots of Fresh Tomatoes
8 Limes
2 ears corn (optional)
1 bunch cilantro
1 or 2 Avocado
1 or 2 jalepenos


1. Heat Olive oil in Big heavy Soup Pot.
2. Slice up white onion and throw in oil, stir and lower heat to slowly soften and brown.
3. Slice up a carrot or two, peal and smash a few cloves of garlic and add them to the pot.
4. Meanwhile, Roast, Peel and Thinly slice Poblanos
5. When onions and carrots are to your desired "cookedness", stir in desired amount of Mexican Oregano, Thyme and cumin seed. Stir and cook just a bit longer and then add chicken broth. (One tetrapak container for 2 peeps.)
6. Meanwhile, cube 2 chicken breasts.
7. When Broth is boiling, turn down heat and allow to simmer for a little bit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
8. If you are lucky enough to have Steve's amazing small tomatoes on hand, cut them into half moon wedges. If not, the cut sweet cherry tomatoes in half or thinly slice Big tomatoes into half moon shapes.
9. Prep the Avocados by cutting in half, removing pit and slicing inside the peel.
10. Finely chop cilantro, thinly slice the jalapenos and juice the limes into a small bowl.
11. 10 minutes before you want to eat, bring broth back to boil and add chicken. Stir occasionally as it cooks. It cooks AMAZINGLY fast. Like 8 minutes or less. When chicken is cooked though (CHECK), add poblanos. Stir and add tomatoes. Add the Corn if using. Stir and remove from heat.
12. Stir in lime juice and salt to taste.
13. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Spoon out half of a half of the avocado slices on top of soup and sprinkle with cilantro and jalepenos if desired.


Note: I made some white rice so Eric's would be a heartier, but I felt it was better without it.