Soup ideas?

So I don't spend a whole lot of time round here much though I do lurk a bit without posting. The main reason for this is that I am no longer a Chef and after doing it for 11 years, I now work in an office, which is awesome. However the canteen in my office is absolutely awful and I've been bringing sandwiches with me every day for lunch. I'm getting a little sick of them though so I was thinking of making soup every day and bringing it with me

So the point of this thread. Can anyone give me ideas of soups to make? I'm not talking anything super fancy, just something nice that doesn't have a massive ingredient list

For fast not fancy, greens , beans, sausage, mirepoix , little garlic and cracked red pepper, broth. Sometimes ditalini , maybe a little grated cheese. Brown any sausage in a little olive, add mirepoix for a couple minutes, add garlic, stir. Add stock and beans, greens and pepper and pasta if using . Simmer and adjust. I make a little variation every few weeks and freeze.

If you want to make in bulk (for time and economy sake) you can't go wrong with something that has a homemade bone broth. Good for nutritional value in addition to taste.

It takes time but a lot of it is waiting (I often let the broth/stock simmer overnight prior to straining and adding the soup veggies and deboned meat back in). Not sure if it's something I'd want to keep doing now that it's getting warmer out though. Make in a large stock pot and you can have lunch for a week +.

I'll look for the recipe, but I recently made a carrot and coconut soup with Asian chile paste. Not many ingredients, easy, flavorful and cheap.

k.

I recently made tom kah gai and it was amazing. Toss down a basic chicken stock. Add kefir lime salt pepper galanga( hard to find) some chiles and lemon grass. Cook it and than add rice and chicKen. Its amazingly flavourful and something american pallettes arent used to. Plus its honestly 0 work just takes a few hours

Godslayer said:

I recently made tom kah gai and it was amazing. Toss down a basic chicken stock. Add kefir lime salt pepper galanga( hard to find) some chiles and lemon grass. Cook it and than add rice and chicKen. Its amazingly flavourful and something american pallettes arent used to. Plus its honestly 0 work just takes a few hours

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+1

But leave the rice out.

Love Tom Ka Gai. Gotta add some fish sauce and coconut milk for mine.

11 years a Chef and you don't have any ideas!? :spankarse:

I surely hope you're just kidding.

Always good to get new ideas and refreshed

Mrmnms said:

Love Tom Ka Gai. Gotta add some fish sauce and coconut milk for mine.

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I love tom kha gai, too. (Lived in Thailand for a year, and it was/is one of my favorite Thai dishes). Agree that it needs fish sauce and most definitely coconut milk, an essential ingredient. Some fresh lime juice at the end is good, too. And hot chile flakes, to taste. If you really want the rice, I'd make it as a side, and add/mix as you like. Some restaurants serve it with a bowl of rice to make it more of an entree.

ecchef said:

11 years a Chef and you don't have any ideas!? :spankarse:

I surely hope you're just kidding.

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In my old job I was always the one that made soup but it was generally stuff I wouldn't make at home, always vegetarian and not exactly exciting. Just looking for some new ideas that's all. Made chorizo lentil and kale soup earlier as a sort of trial run and it was pretty nice

I made good old fashioned chicken and wild rice soup this week. I bought a whole chicken or two for meat and carcass for stock. Saute mire poix or whatever veggies and add to finished stock and let cook down for a bit, threw rice in and cooked till it was done. Wild rice seems to works well because it doesnt seem to break down like regular white rice and can stand up to longer cooking. I just baked the chicken breast and deboned thighs with some Creole seasoning, diced and added at the end. Added some blonde roux for body. Most expensive ingredient was the rice hehe. Chicken and andouille/smoked sausage Gumbo is another easy one with just a few changes, starting with a roasted stock, dark dark roux and smoked sausage. Of course meats can be changed out for anything on hand. And a lot more roux is needed as its a major flavoring aspect and does less thickening than its blonde counterpart. Oh and add white rice after its plated.

loaded potato

sausage stuffed bell peppers

turkey chili

shrimp bisque

short rib stew

avocado cucumber gazpacho

watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, jalapeno, gazpacho since its getting hot

or Kale and Navy Bean soup with chorizo (or if a vegetarian is present no chorizo) but I LOVE Chorizo (the good stuff)