deliciousness

tom yam kung - spicy soup with lemongrass

via vatcharin bhumichitr’s gourmet thai in minutes
serves 4

2.5 cups chicken broth
1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and chopped into pieces
4 kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped
2 small fresh red chiles, finely chopped
button mushrooms
shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
cilantro leaves

in a saucepan, heat the broth to boiling. add lemongrass, lime leaves, chiles, and mushrooms, and return to boil. add shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and simmer until shrimp cooked (about a minute).

frank’s clam chowder

adapted from jon shook and vinny dotolo’s two dudes, one pan
serves 8 

4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
8 oz sliced bacon (i used pancetta)
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bottled clam juice (i used 1 cup and still not clammy enough)
1 1/2 tsp chopped thyme
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 6.5 oz can of clams with juices
salt and pepper

Melt butter in dutch oven over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, while stirring, until it bubbles (2 min). Scrape the roux into bowl and set aside. Wipe out pot and turn up heat to medium-high. Add bacon and cook until brown and crisp (8-10 min). Set aside on paper towel-lined plate to drain. 

Add potatoes to bacon fat and cook, stirring often, until they begin to turn translucent around edges (2 min). Stir in carrots, celery, and onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook until potatoes start to brown (4 min). This is where the finely chopped part becomes important - my pieces were not small enough and everything took double the time to cook. Smaller pieces of potatoes ended up turning into much, thickening the chowder too much. Add clam juice and thyme and simmer until broth reduced by half (4-6 min). 

Pour in cream and milk, season, and bring to a boil. Simmer until carrots are tender (10-15 min). I also added uncooked pasta with the cream and milk. Cooks along with the veggies in same amount of time. Stir in roux a little at a time until chowder is thick and hearty. Stir in clams with juices and crumbled bacon. Cook for 1-2 min until heated through, then serve. With all the cream and milk, the original receipe was grossly under-seasoned. Clams and juice were not enough to season. Actually, you need at least double amount of clam meat to keep this from tasting like cream of veggie soup with hint of clam.

麵疙瘩 - homemade noodle soup

serves 3
adapted from chinese rice and noodles by su-huei huang

1 1/2 c flour
1 c water
2 scallions
3 tbsp dried shrimp
handful of dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb. pork or chicken (I used frozen fish balls)
1 tbsp soy sauce
5 c water (I used a can of chicken broth and just filled a medium pot halfway with water)
3 tbsp sesame oil
salt, pepper

Steep dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for at least 15 minutes, then slice. Put mix flour and 1 cup water in a bowl into a (very sticky) dough. (The more you stir, the chewier the noodles become - my grandpa kneads the dough.) Rub oil on surface of the dough (optional). Cover and let sit 20 minutes - longer is fine. 

Heat oil and stir-fry white part of scallions, dried shrimp, meat, and shiitakes, season with salt and pepper, and cook until fragrant and cooked through. Add soy sauce and water (and fish balls and broth) and bring to a boil. Rub oil on hands to keep dough from sticking; tear off small pieces of dough (I used two-thumb sized pieces) and put into boiling water. Cook until dough floats to the surface. Sprinkle green part of scallions on top and serve.

spicy pasta, bean, and sausage soup

adapted from epicurious.com
serves 4-6

2 15- to 16-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound Italian hot sausages, casings removed
4 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
8 ounces (about 2 1/3 cups) orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta) or other small pasta
1 1/2 cups grated Romano cheese

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add sausages, rosemary, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Sauté until sausages are cooked through, breaking up with fork, about 8 minutes. Mix in tomato paste. Add beans, broth, and pasta. Simmer until pasta is tender and mixture is thick, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Mix in 1/4 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing remaining 1 1/4 cups cheese.

“asian” chicken noodle soup

adapted from mango&tomato

chicken, cut into bite-size chunks
oil, salt, pepper
chicken broth or stock + enough water to cover ingredients
1 in. piece of ginger
2 3-in. pieces of lemon grass (hit with back of knife)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tbsp. soy sauce
chili sauce
flat rice noodles
2 carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal
cilantro
scallions

Heat oil, and salt and pepper the chicken. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken. Make sure not to cook it all the way through, since it will continue to cook in the soup. Remove excess oil. Pour in chicken broth or stock, water, lemon grass, ginger, and garlic and bring to a boil. Add soy sauce and noodles, lower the heat, cover, and let cook for 12 minutes. Skim off fat from top. Add carrots and cook for a few more minutes. Put desired amount of chili sauce into service bowl. Serve soup topped with scallions and cilantro.