Fall & Winter Soup Contest Entrant #6: Veganized Corn & Potato Chowder

All chowders are soups, but not all soups are chowders.

Before we discuss this particular soup-- and address the rumblings of an unnamed judge-- I'll direct you to the all things soup page where you can find links to discussion of and recipes for all six entrants in this years PLUS the bonus soup that didn't make it to the soup contest because we did not have a quorum of judges. 

This was a very good fall and winter soup. Smooth yet chunky. Seasoned very well although I noted some folks opted for a bit more salt. Miss M put it in 1st place, but bear in mind this is only the second she's voted on. 

Here are the standings so far:

• Entrant #4, Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup, has three 1st place votes. 
• Entrant #6, Veganized Corn & Potato Chowder, has one 1st place, one 2nd, two 3rd, and one 4th place votes.
• Entrant #1, Hot Potato Soup, has one 1st place and one 2nd place votes.
• Entrant #5, California Minestrone, has one 2nd and two 3rd place votes.
• Entrant #3, Cream of Bean, has one 2nd place vote. 
• Entrant #2 fell out of the running after Beer Cheese Broccoli.

 And now to the controversy regarding chowders and stews... .

Recipe: California Minestrone Soup

This was entrant #5 in our 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest. Full discussion of this soup here. All about the soup contest + links to all soup contest soup recipes here.
 
From Valentino’s, an old school Italian restaurant in Santa Monica, CA  

CALIFORNIA MINESTRONE SOUP  
Serves 6-8 

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 C celery, chopped
1 C onions, chopped 
1 C carrots, peeled and diced 
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (not olive oil) 
½ tsp dried thyme, crumbled 
½ tsp dried oregano, crumbled 
2-3 bay leaves 
16 oz tomato puree 
10 C water 
2 bunches fresh spinach, chopped, OR 1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach 
16 oz can green beans, drained 
16 oz can green peas, drained, OR 10 oz package, frozen 
16 oz can red kidney beans, drained 
8 oz shell macaroni 
Salt, pepper, to taste 

Heat oil in large kettle or Dutch oven, and sauté garlic, celery, onions, and carrots until vegetables are fresh-tender. Add thyme, oregano, bay leaves, tomato puree, and water, bring to a boil, add spinach, green beans, peas, and kidney beans, bring again to a boil, and add macaroni. Reduce heat and simmer until macaroni is cooked al dente. (Don’t overcook.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fall & Winter Soup Contest Entrant #5

California Minestrone Soup

Discussions of, and recipes for, previous entrants in our 2013/14 Fall and Winter Soup Contest-- as well as same for our 2012 contest-- are here. Lots of good soup recipes at the link!

But I see I've made a mistake. I included the recipes for Homemade Chicken Soup with Fluffy Dumplings-- which we had on December 16th-- in the list of entrants. I shouldn't have. Neither Daughter C nor Miss M were able to partake of that delicious soup-- which I would have ranked #1, by the way. But it doesn't seem right to include it as all but one of the others had at least one of the girls judging. And I had not included it in my written 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest "Log & Scorecard" that I used to refresh our memories this evening.

This is how I will fix the problem. Homemade Chicken Soup with Fluffy Dumplings is really, really good. You should try it. 

The Minestrone was very good. It's vegan. Mr. Big Food served it with some jazzed up French bread. (Take a loaf of French bread, slice it in half lengthwise. Slather it with melted butter/vegan butter. Sprinkle liberal amounts of garlic powder and dried homegrown oregano over. Top non-vegan version with provolone slices. Wrap in foil. Heat in a 350° oven about 20 minutes.) But no one ranked it as best. 

Here's where things stand in the rankings:

Entrant #4 Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup has 3 votes for 1st place, and 1 vote for 3rd place.

Entrant #1 Hot Potato Soup has 1 vote for 1st, 1 for 2nd, and 1 for 3rd.

Entrant #5 California Minestrone Soup has 2 votes for 2nd place, and 2 for 3rd.

Entrant #3 Cream of Bean has 1 vote for 2nd.

Entrant #2 French Meatless Vegetable Soup has 0 votes for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. 

As I said, the Minestrone is good. As with any soup that's chock full of veggies, quality is paramount. Mr. Big Food used a lot of fresh frozen veggies from last year's garden, and homegrown dried herbs. With the exception of the kidney beans and tiny peas, all the other veggies were frozen, not canned. (I can't imagine this soup would be any good at all if made with only canned veggies BUT it would surely be better than canned minestrone.)

Recipe: Homemade Chicken Soup

Topped with Fluffy Dumplings

Well, this is embarrassing. This soup was of course a contestant in our 2013/14 Fall and Winter Soup Contest. (More soup recipes at the link.) We enjoyed it back on December 30th. Mr. Big Food assures me we discussed its ranking at the time but I see no mention of it in my contest notes. I will have to poll the other judges.

For my money-- this is the clear winner so far. How can you possibly beat Homemade Chicken Soup with Fluffy Dumplings? (Dumplings substitute for noodles in this version.)

HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP  
Serves 8 

5-6 lb stewing chicken, cut up 
6 C water 
1/3 C onion, chopped 
2 tsp salt 
¼ tsp pepper 
1 bay leaf 
6 medium ears corn, kernels cut from cobs, cobs scraped (about 2 C) OR 1 lb can cream-style corn 
1 ½ C uncooked Homemade Noodles (see recipes in Casseroles … and Tex-Czech sections) 
1 C celery, chopped 
2 Tbsp snipped parsley 

In a large kettle, combine chicken, water, onion, salt, pepper, and bay leaf, bring to boiling, and simmer covered for about 2 hours or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth and, when cool enough to handle, remove meat from skin and bones, cut meat into bite-sized pieces, and set aside. Skim excess fat from broth, discard bay leaf, and bring broth to boiling. Add corn kernels and scrapings or cream-style corn, Homemade Noodles, celery, and parsley, and simmer covered for about 8 minutes or until corn and noodles are barely done. Add chicken meat and heat through for about 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings if necessary.

Recipe: Fluffy Dumplings

Dumplings atop Homemade Chicken Soup

--> FLUFFY DUMPLINGS  
Makes about 10 

1 C sifted flour 
2 tsp baking powder 
½ tsp salt 
½ C milk 
2 Tbsp oil 

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and oil, add all at once to dry ingredients, and stir just until moistened. Drop from tablespoons atop bubbling stew. Cover tightly, let mixture return to boiling, reduce heat, and simmer 12-15 minutes (don’t lift lid).

Recipe: Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup

With Bran Yeast Bread

This was the 4th entrant in our 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest. You can read all about it and see the current scorecard here. Background to the contest and links to recipes for this year's and previous years' contest entrants here. 

BEER CHEESE BROCCOLI SOUP 
Serves 6  

1 ¼ C thick cheese sauce (see recipes in Basics section) 
Large can evaporated milk 
3 oz cream cheese, cut into small chunks 
10 oz box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed 
¼ tsp black pepper 
¼ tsp ground cayenne 
¼ tsp dried oregano, crumbled 
¼ tsp horseradish powder 
¼ - ½ tsp garlic powder, to taste 
½ tsp salt 
½ C (4 oz) beer, at room temperature 
2 strips bacon, fried crisp, half of rendered fat reserved 
1 Tbsp mayonnaise (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section) 
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce 

Combine cheese sauce, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and milk in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook until smooth, stirring constantly. Add thawed broccoli and cook until tender, still stirring constantly. Add all spices, the rendered bacon fat, and beer, and stir to mix thoroughly. Just before serving, sprinkle bacon bits over top of soup. Store any remainder in refrigerator (don’t freeze), and reheat with a little milk to thin leftover soup.

Fall & Winter Soup Contest Entrant #4: Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup

This is a sorry photograph. I apologize for the glare.

Entrant #4 in our 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest is Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup. I'm not entirely sure that's its official name, you can transpose Beer Cheese & Broccoli any way you choose.

This soup presented something of a little dilemma. It was, in fact, the first entrant in the original Fall & Winter Soup Contest. We have rules about such things. And I was over-ruled. So it stands. This Soup gets a 2nd chance.

It's a good little soup. The homemade bran bread augmented it. 

In my humble opinion, it is not a contest winner. We did this once already. It didn't win last time, either. 

But it's a good soup.

SCOREBOARD:

Daughter C: 1st place #4 (this soup); 2nd place #1
A. Leland:  1st place #4 (this soup); 2nd place #1
Mr. Big Food: 1st place #4 (this soup); 2nd place #3
Me: 1st place #1; 2nd place #4

The bread was good.

Recipe: Cream of Lima Bean Soup and Kidney Bean Variation (veganizable)

This was entrant #3 in our fall & Winter Soup Contest. Thoughts on the soup-- which we called 'Creamy Bean' for short-- here. More on the Soup Contest here.

CREAM OF LIMA BEAN SOUP AND KIDNEY BEAN VARIATION
Serves 4 to 6

2 ½ C canned or cooked lima beans, cooked covered in water just to cover plus 1 quart additional cold water, rubbed through a sieve with cooking water  
2 Tbsp fat 
1 small onion, diced 
¼ C carrot, peeled, diced 
2 Tbsp flour 
1 tsp salt 
½ tsp pepper 
½ tsp paprika 
Dash Tabasco 
2 C milk, scalded 
Chopped watercress 

Melt fat in saucepan, add onion and carrot, and cook for 5 minutes. Blend in flour, salt, pepper, paprika, and Tabasco to make a smooth roux, and add to bean mixture. Add milk and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Serve hot garnished with watercress.

KIDNEY BEAN SOUP VARIATION 
Substitute canned or cooked kidney beans for lima beans.

Fall & Winter Soup #3: Creamy Bean

#3: A nice enough soup, but not up to Fall & Winter standards

 Served with a lovely winter salad and vegan cornbread.

Daughter C is learning how to take photos. She took this one-- which is nicely staged or whatever the photographers' word for that is-- and the one above. Somewhere between the soup pic & this, she changed camera settings.

This is a gimp-ed (photo-shop-for-free, see HOW TO GIMP link in the sidebar) version. In COLOR BALANCE, I toned down green to -45 in mid-tones only. And in AUTO I let gimp correct the white balance. I'm certainly no artist, but I like the L-R contrast of green salad vs. blue pot holders.

As I type, the temperature is hovering around 40°F, likely to drop to around freezing in just a few hours, and it's precipitating. It's nasty out there. A perfect night for soup.

The flavor of this soup is wonderful.

Briefly-- I'll post the recipe as Mr. Big Food's time allows-- it's three cans of beans. We used light red kidneys, baby and speckled butters. Drain them. The recipe calls for 1 qt. of water so we used 1 qt. of bean broth saved from last evening's green bean dish. (Sneak those vitamins and mineral in there any way you can!) Heat the beans and broth. Separately, saute some diced onions and carrots in 2T vegan butter (Earth Balance®). Add 2T flour, S&P, paprikka, and a dash of tobacco. Stir that into the simmering beans.

Mr. Big Food and A. Leland didn't arrive home until 7pm this evening. I let the soup simmer at this stage until the dogs announced their arrival. I then heated 2C almond milk and stirred that into the soup. The recipe calls for the soup to then boil, stirring constantly. I didn't let it come back to a boil. Nearly. But not quite.

Here's my analysis. We veganized the heck out of it so I can't comment on what it might have been like had we used milk. The flavor was surprisingly good. (Almond milk is a much better substitute for milk than soy milk, by the way.) But it was thin. And here I mean that, yes, it was a thin broth, and maybe some processing of the beans & roux before the milk addition would have creamed it up, but I don't think so.

For me, it's more of an early spring soup. Hearty enough for March,-- portending of lighter fare-- but not Fall & Winter. But it was delicious!

Here's the score so far, keeping in mind that Daughter C did not partake of #2 and Miss M did not vote this evening.

Hot Potato Soup is the winner and Mr. Big Food suffers from 'recency bias.'

Be sure to check out the Tab (look up) for the 2013/14 Fall & Winter Soup Contest for recipes from this and previous contests.

Recipe: French Meatless Vegetable Soup

Entrant #2 in our 2nd Annual Fall & Winter Soup Contest

For more about the Fall & Winter Soup contest, see here.

“This makes a delicious soup and quite as nourishing as if made with soup meat.” 

FRENCH MEATLESS VEGETABLE SOUP  

5-6 quarts water 
1 bunch fresh carrots (about 6), washed well but not peeled, chopped 
3 turnips, washed well but not peeled, chopped 
4 celery stalks, chopped 
Small cabbage leaf, chopped 
4-5 young onions, chopped 
2 white potatoes, washed well but not peeled, chopped 
1 heaping Tbsp flour 
1 rounded Tbsp lard 
3 sprigs parsley (and other fresh herbs, if you choose)
Spaghetti or rice, uncooked (optional)

Place all chopped vegetables except onions in a big pot with cold water, and bring to boiling over medium heat. Brown flour in lard in an iron skillet, add onions, and fry until onion edges begin to brown, Add 1 C soup broth to onion mixture, stir well until all lumps are gone, and pour back into soup pot. Add salt to taste and cook slowly for 2 ½ hours. If desired, add spaghetti or rice during the last hour of cooking time.

Fall and Winter Soup Recipes: Let The Games Begin!

This evening we enjoyed the second entrant in our 2nd Fall & Winter Soup Contest,

French Meatless Vegetable Soup.

Before I launch into a description of this soup-- necessary observations as it is a contest and all, and after two or three excellent soups, the particular excellencies of each fade-- I thought we might take a short stroll down soup lane. The first Fall& Winter Soup Contest began 11/8/2011 with Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup. Not every soup we had that Fall & Winter was a contestant. Soups we have every year were-- and are again-- disqualified (why can't I find the recipe for Across the Garden Soup?) as are favorite gumbos. (We make the rules up as we go along.)

Blogger's search function is being uncooperative, but based on keyword "soup," I've cobbled together this list of the nine soups that vied for winner, each with at least one link. (I've included dates because sometimes the recipes and the descriptions were in different posts. If you're interested in either, you should be able to find it if my links are messed up.)

In chronological order... [entrant #, date, name]

2011
1. 11/3: Beer Cheese Broccoli Soup (Includes recipe)
2. 11/18-19: Slow Cooker Potato Cheese Soup with Wieners (Winner for me until #7); Recipe
3. 12/7-8: Corn and Sausage Chowder; Recipe
4. 12/31: Chili Soup (includes recipe)

2012

5. 1/9: Tomato Rice Soup with Pesto (includes recipe; also has good links if I've messed them up above))
6. 1/23: Split Pea and Smoked Turkey Soup (includes recipe; second place for me until #2 was bumped by #7)
7. 1/30-31: Sausage Sauerkraut Soup in Slow Cooker (displaces #2 as winner); Recipe
8. 2/7: Sportsman's Lodge Lentil Soup (CONTEST WINNER); Recipe
9. 3/2: Rutabaga Soup Ha. Looks like I never posted the recipe for this one. I mention it, but cannot find it.

Thanks for bearing with me while I sorted that all out. 

And now to French Meatless Vegetable Soup.

Recipe: Hot Potato Soup

Welcome to the 2013 Fall & Winter Soup Contest!

The soup can easily be veganized-- which is what Mr. Big Food did. He also sauteed up some red hot sausages to add-in, and served the soup with your choice of sour cream, vegan sour cream, milk, or almond milk. 

HOT POTATO SOUP  
Serves 8 

2 C onion, chopped 
1 C celery, chopped 
1 quart red potatoes, peeled and sliced 
1 clove garlic, minced 
½ stick butter 
2 C chicken stock, plus more, or use veggie stock for a vegetarian/vegan soup (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section) 
Milk, soy milk, almond milk 
Sour cream 

Sauté onions, celery, and garlic in butter until limp, add 2 C chicken stock, then add potatoes and enough additional stock to barely cover potatoes. Cook covered until potatoes are tender. “This can be pureed in a blender if you want it smooth or mashed with a potato masher. Add half milk and half sour cream, or all milk, until the right consistency for soup.”