This awesome soup comes from The Ultimate Soup Bible: salt cod, spinach, and okra in a tomato-wine broth surround a mountain of mashed yams. Very different, and very delicious!

Lisa says:

This is so good! I like the cod, though it’s not as salty as I’d expected.

Chris says:

Soaking for over a day will do that, I guess.

Lisa says:

Never in a million years would I have thought to put mashed yams in the middle of a soup!

Chris says:

Mashed Yams? More like Mashed YUMS!

Lisa says:

I know! We should make the yams on their own, too — so good.

Abbie says:

I like our mountain of potatoes… I’d live on it if I were this big…

Chris says:

You may not realize that the people out there can’t see you touching your fingers together to indicate that “this big” means “miniscule”.

Abbie says:

Um, it’s kind of implied if I refer to it as a “mountain” of potatoes.

Chris says:

Good point.

Caribbean Salt Cod and Okra Soup
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1/2 lb salt cod, soaked for 24 hours, with several water changes
1 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
6 plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 32-oz can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
3 3/4 cups water
8 oz okra, trimmed and cut into thirds
8 oz spinach
salt and pepper

For the potatoes:
1 1/2 lbs yams
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tbsp chopped chives

Drain and skin the salt cod, then rinse under cold water. Cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan. Add the garlic, onion, and jalapeño and cook for 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat until softened. Add the salt cod and cook for another 4 minutes until it begins to color. Stir in the tomatoes, wine, and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the water, return to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the okra the soup and cook an additional 10 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook for 5 minutes until the okra is tender. While the soup is cooking, prepare the yams. Peel the yams and cut into large dice, then place in a pan with the lemon juice and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender. Drain well, then return to the pan to dry over the heat for a few minutes. Add the butter and cream, and mash the potatoes. Season as desired. Add the chives.
Season the soup with salt and pepper. Spoon portions of the yams into the center of six bowls and ladle the soup around it. Serve and enjoy!

6 Servings

Lisa was at the helm again tonight and chose to make this chowder from The Soup Bible. Pretty self-explanatory, just a nice chunky vegetable soup.

Chris says:

It must still be winter; so many soups!

Lisa says:

They definitely warm you up… I like the creaminess of this one.

Chris says:

Yep, and it was pretty easy to make, right?

Lisa says:

Uh, yeah… you were right here helping.

Chris says:

Yeah well I know that, and you know that, but the people out there reading this sure don’t.

Lisa says:

Riiight… the “people out there”… okay then — “Yes, this was a really easy recipe to make”.

Chris says:

…and it made a bunch — I bet I know what you’re having for lunch tomorrow!

Vegetable and Herb Chowder
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2 TB butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely sliced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 yellow or green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 TB chopped fresh parsley
1 TB all-purpose flour
5 cups vegetable stock
12 ounces potatoes, diced
a few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 tp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup young green beans, diagonally sliced
1/2 cup milk
salt and ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a heavy pan and add the onion, leek, celery, bell pepper and parsley. Cover and cook gently over low heat until the vegetables are soft.
Add the flour and stir until well blended. Gradually stir in the stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
Add the potatoes, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, uncovered, for ten minutes.
Add the beans and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes until all the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the milk. Season with salt and pepper. Heat through. Before serving, discard the thyme stalks and bay leaf.

4 Servings

Tonight I finally got around to making a soup from The Ultimate Soup Bible, a cookbook we got from Lisa’s brother at Christmas. This easy to make tomato soup is made with Israeli couscous (which is much larger and chewier than regular couscous), onions, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and mint; the soup has a great aroma and wonderfully garlicky flavor. It should appear in the rotation pretty regularly. We loved it.

Lisa says:

I love Israeli couscous… and this soup is so colorful.

Chris says:

It’s delicious. I like the cayenne: it’s subtle — just a slight tingle in the back of the throat.

Lisa says:

Oh *that’s* what that is. I was worried I was coming down with something.

Chris says:

Well, you’ll feel the blues if I take your soup away.

Lisa says:

Yeah, I will — I definitely want to have this again…

Chris says:

You’re in luck, then. The recipe makes so much that we’re having leftovers tomorrow night!

Lisa says:

Wahoo!

Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous
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2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
7 garlic cloves, chopped
6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if you’re veg.)
1 1/3 cups Israeli couscous
3 mint sprigs, chopped
5 cilantro sprigs, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and ground pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions and carrots and cook until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 the garlic and the remaining ingredients to the pan. Bring the soup to a boil, add all but 1 tsp of the chopped garlic, then reduce the heat and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the rest of the garlic, and ladle into bowls. Serve with warm sourdough bread.

4-6 Servings