A GOOD DAY FOR SOUP

As we watch the trees turning their fall colours and the mercury grazing the freezing mark, it lures cooks like Cinda Chavich into the kitchen to create steamy bowls of soup.
She’s just back from PEI where she was a judge at the annual International Chowder Championships and has a new appreciation for what it takes to create the perfect potage. Here’s her report, from CBC radio:
 
SO TELL US ABOUT YOUR SOUP ADVENTURES IN PEI
Yes, I was invited to Charlottetown for the annual Shellfish Festival and to judge the Milk International Chowder Championship.
That was quite the event, two days of heats and a final, each with nearly a dozen soups to taste, from some of the island’s and the country’s best chefs.
And let me assure you, this wasn’t your basic clam chowder out of a can.
These bowls were loaded with all kinds of incredibly fresh local seafood, from fat clams and mussels, to oysters, haddock, lobster, crab, scallops, and, of course, the famed PEI potato.
And chowders came out to the judging table presented with amazing garnishes – from grilled scallops and crab cakes to big island blue mussels and clams in the shell, whole lobster claws and even wacky things, like a tiny edible seagull perched on a fried potato cliff.
It was no easy feat judging – a lot of cream was consumed.
 
 
BUT YOU DID FIND A WINNER?
Yes, it was quite exciting really because for the first time in the 12-year history of the PEI Shellfish Festival, a chef from PEI actually won the chowder competition.
There were chefs there from across the country – including Chris Stewart who is a chef at the amazing Eden restaurant in the Rimrock Hotel in Banff – and chefs from as far away as California and South Carolina. But in the end, it was Duncan Smith, the young chef at the Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown who took the top $2,000 prize, with his version of the chowder his dad makes at home – a soup he called Just Like Dad’s Seafood Chowder - tweaked with some orange brandy and garnished with a crispy lobster wonton.
 
AND THIS EXPERIENCE MOVED YOU TO COOK SOME SOUP AT HOME?
Well, it was still summer in PEI when I left on Monday, but when I arrived in Calgary, and 10 degrees, it felt like a good day for soup.
So the first thing I did was see what I could find in my fridge that might go into  a big pot of steamy soup.
 
ISN’T IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE SOUP FROM SCRATCH?
Not at all. The soup/saucier is one of the first positions people take on in a professional kitchen – it’s a great place to learn the basics and get creative, too.
Most restaurants recycle leftovers into the soup pot and whenever I want to make soup, I look to see what I have in the fridge that might morph into a soup. Soup needs time to simmer, and it’s often even better on the second day, when the flavours have had time to meld. So you can always make soup on Sunday and enjoy it all week long.
 
WHAT KINDS OF LEFTOVERS CAN YOU USE IN YOUR SOUP?
Almost anything can go into the soup pot. Think about using leftover mashed potatoes to thicken a soup, leftover grilled or roasted chicken or beef (even steak makes a nice addition to soup), mixed vegetables or rice – they can all go into the soup pot. You can build a soup around a little leftover stew or sauce – like spaghetti sauce or curry – just add water or broth and noodles or rice, and some extra vegetables or canned tomatoes, canned white beans or lentils.
If there’s a particular flavour to your leftover – like Mediterranean chicken or Italian sausage– let that drive the direction of your soup.
 
SO WHAT WENT INTO YOUR SOUP POT THIS WEEK?
I had some ham and zucchini so I made a ham and lentil soup, sort of a minestrone, with lots of vegetables – I used the ham for flavour, then added a can of lentils, some sautéed onions and garlic, chopped carrots, chicken broth and some dried tiny orange lentils to thicken it.
I always like to add some kind of pasta or noodle, too, and for this soup, because of the small round lentils, I used Israeli couscous, which is a larger couscous about the size of a small pea.
I think that’s an important consideration when you’re creating a soup – keep everything about the same size so you get a combination of flavours with every spoonful.
 
WHAT ELSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR A GOOD SOUP?
Well, even if the ingredients are leftovers the base or stock that you start with is essential to a good finished product.
And the best stock is the stuff you make yourself.
That may sound daunting, but it’s really easy to do, especially if you think ahead when you’re cooking other things and save your bones and scraps for the stock pot. That’s what our grandmothers did, out of necessity, and if you train yourself to do this one thing regularly, you’ll always have great stock in the freezer, for a soup base or a healthy broth the next time someone in the house has a cold.
 
HOW DO YOU MAKE POULTRY STOCK?
Whenever you roast a chicken or turkey, just save the carcass (you can freeze it) for making broth when you have the time. Just put the bones into a big soup pot, something tall, add a quartered onion, a clove of garlic, a couple of carrots, maybe some celery, and a bay leaf or handful of parsley, cover it all with cold water and simmer for several hours. Then strain and chill or freeze, you’ll always have a good base for soup.
Otherwise, buy your stock from the farmer’s market or the supermarket, just look for the lowest sodium brands.
 
WHAT ABOUT BEEF OR PORK OR FISH STOCK?
You can make stock from any bones (Asian chefs often combine chicken and pork bones in their soup stocks, which gives them added flavour and body).
Beef stock is always best if you use some meaty bones – I like to start with oxtail or beef shin. If you start your stock with uncooked bones you will need to brown them first. I add the onion and carrot and celery and brown everything on top of the stove or in the oven before adding the water for making the stock. This gives the broth a nice brown, caramelized colour and flavor.
You can also make fish stock with the bones and heads of any white fish (salmon isn’t great for stock – too strong). And you don’t need to brown the fish bones first – just add water and fresh herbs, maybe some lemon zest and white wine, and simmer quickly before straining to use as a base for fish soups like boulliabase or chowder.
Fish stock only needs about 20-30 minutes of simmering, while beef or chicken stock will take several hours. When you’re making those long simmering stocks, remember to keep the heat low, just at a bubble, and add some extra cold water from time to time.
Save bones for stock when you’re deboning meat for other dishes. I always have a few bags of poultry, pork or beef bones in the freezer so there’s always something to start a stock.
 
WHAT IS IT ABOUT SOUP THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO LOVE?
I think everyone loves a good pot of soup – it’s a dish that crosses every culture because it’s classic peasant food, something created when there’s nothing much to work with, and something that really exceeds the sum of its parts.
A good homemade soup is really a meal in a bowl, it’s hearty and healthy, makes a fast lunch or supper, and it’s infinitely changeable, whether you like clear broth soups like chicken noodle or onion soup, thick creamy soups like chowder or cauliflower soup, vegetable soups like beet borscht or minestrone, or big bowls of spicy Thai noodle soup or Chinese hot and sour soup, there’s a soup for every taste.
And a bowl of homemade soup really is comfort food on a cold night.
 
IF YOU DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN SOUPS, WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
Of course, I encourage everyone out there to try cooking some homemade soup this week. It’s a great project for a Sunday afternoon, when you can have something simmering on the stove, and you’ll have great lunches all week long.
But if you want home made soup to go, there’s a wonderful service here in Calgary called Spoon Fed Soup – every week they make and deliver three different fresh, homemade soups to your home or office – you just order them through their website, spoonfedsoup.com, on Tuesday, and they arrive the following Monday. Every soup they make has a name and a personality – this week is was Lloyd fire roasted tomato fennel with chorizo and Trixie 5-spice roasted chicken with apples and leeks (named after a horse who loved apples). They even throw in a bag of homemade crackers. They bring the soup to your door, in big two-quart sealer jars, and then pick up the empties when they bring the next batch of soup. It’s really popular – the soups sell out quickly.
There’s also a neat spot at the Calgary Farmer’s Market called the Stock and Sauce Co. where you can buy all kinds of stocks and homemade soups to take home.
And a friend of mine just came up with a neat idea. She suggested we organize a soup exchange party – like a Christmas cookie exchange – but with everyone bringing homemade soup to exchange instead of cookies. I like that idea – it’s a great way to get lots of homemade soup into your freezer for busy fall nights, and to spend an evening with friends, sharing soup recipes.
So open the fridge, see what you have to go into the soup pot, and get creative. It’s a good day for soup!
 
RECIPES
 
This was the winning chowder recipe at the 2007 Milk International Chowder Championship, held last Sunday at the International Shellfish Festival in Charlottetown.
 
"Just Like Dad's Seafood Chowder" ~ by Chef Duncan Smith, Claddagh Oyster House, Charlottetown
 
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, diced
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup diced red peppers
1 pound diced PEI potatoes - preferably russets
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups (1 litre) lobster stock
12 cups (3 litres) cream
½ cup (4 oz.) orange brandy (like Triple Sec)
3 lbs chowder fish (including halibut, haddock, salmon, scallops, lobster, crab, mussels, oysters), cut into ½-inch cubes
¼ cup chopped chives
Salt & pepper to taste
 
In a large pot, melt butter and add the onion, celery, carrot, red peppers. Cover and sweat over medium low heat for 10 minutes, until vegetables are softened. Add the flour and stir to combine, creating a roux to thicken the chowder.
Slowly add the lobster stock and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the potatoes and simmer over medium low heat until the potatoes are cooked, about 5 minutes longer.
In another pot, combine the cream and Triple Sec and bring to a low simmer. Poach the fish in the cream for about 5 minutes over low heat.
Add the cream and fish mixture to the soup, along with salt and pepper. Heat through.
Remove from heat, stir in the chives and adjust seasoning to taste. Serves 8.
 
TOMATO AND LENTIL SOUP
There could be nothing easier than this savoury soup—flavoured with olive oil and dill, it’s like a trip to the Greek islands on a chilly afternoon. Use the food processor to chop the onions and purée the tomatoes and you’ll be eating in 30 minutes flat. A slice of crusty bread, slathered with a piece of creamy, ripe cheese, and a bowl of black olives, will finish your meal. Or sprinkle some crumbled feta over each bowl for an added boost of authentic Greek flavour. From the new book, The Guy Can’t Cook, by Cinda Chavich (Whitecap Books).
 
1/4 cup (50 mL) extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 500-mL (16-oz.) can (about 2 cups) roma tomatoes, with juice (or 1 14-oz. can plain tomato sauce)
2 to 3 cups (500 to 750 mL) chicken broth
1 can brown or green lentils, rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp (15 mL) balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp (25 mL) chopped fresh dill
1 dried hot chili pepper, crumbled (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
crumbled feta cheese (optional)
 
Heat the oil in a soup pot and sauté the onions over medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft and beginning to brown.
While the onions are cooking, put the canned tomatoes, juice and all, into the food processor and purée until smooth. Add the purée to the cooked onions in the pot and stir in the broth.
Add the lentils to the soup. Stir in balsamic vinegar and half the dill (if you’re stuck with dried dill weed, use one-third to half as much). Crumble the dried chili into the soup.
Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, stir in the remaining fresh dill. Ladle into shallow soup bowls and garnish each serving with crumbled feta and more fresh dill, if desired.
Serves 4

©Cinda Chavich 2007

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