Soup – Simple Comfort Food – Recipes that are simple and delicious.

Laotian Khao Poon

March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 Dax Phillips 1 Comment

Hands down one of my favorite soups is probably Khao Poon. It is a Norther Thai or Lao soup that is not only super easy to make, but it makes a bunch and screams comfort. It is not a spicy soup, however you can make this as spicy as you want, not only with the broth, but accompanying it with Thai chili peppers. I wanted to make this one for my wife this past weekend because it reminded me when I was laid up with cancer over the summer and my friend Matt stopped by with a batch of Khao Poon that his wife had made. Not only talk about a great friend, but a really comforting bowl of soup during a not so comforting time.

Now my wife is hooked on this awesome soup as well. It’s an easy sell, trust me.

The cool thing about making this batch is when I was shopping for some ingredients at a local grocery store, is the owner had asked me what I was cooking. I said ‘Khao Poon’, and he was a bit startled and said ‘You know how to make that?’. He asked me about what ingredients I was using and suggested a couple of different things, one being banana blossom. I was intrigued to say the least as it is something I have never used before. So while walking out of the Asian grocery store, I was on my way to making a great batch of Khao Poon.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

3 whole chicken breasts, skin on, bone in
water to cover
2 stalks lemongrass, slightly smashed, optional
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup of shallots, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp fresh galangal, skin removed, thinly sliced
4 oz can red curry paste
4 oz can sweet Thai Noodle paste
14 oz can of coconut milk
1 cup of banana blossom, very thinly sliced, optional
4 tbsp fish sauce
3 cups bamboo shoots, roughly chopped
1 whole lime
Thai chilies, optional
Shredded green cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts, per serving
1 bunch fresh cilantro
Khao Poon rice noodles, cooked al dente

Start by adding your chicken to a stock pot and cover entirely with cold water. Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Skim off any scum that floats to the top and discard. Continue cooking for about 45 minutes. This will not only be the chicken that we let cool, shred, and pound a bit, but what is left will be the stock that we use for our soup. Win, win.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the stock, and let it completely cool. Once cooled, remove and discard the skin, and then start shredding the chicken. Once the chicken is shredded, take about half of it and add it to your mortar. Take your pestle and begin pounding the chicken. A few good moments of pounding is all you should need.

Ok, now onto the next step.

Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add in the oil and let it come to temperature. Next toss in the shallots, garlic, and thinly sliced galangal. Let this cook for a minute or so, then add in both of the curry pastes. Give this a good stir, and don’t be alarmed if this stuff starts popping at you.

Cook the paste, stirring along the way, for about 2-3 minutes, then add in all of the chicken. Give this another good stir, incorporating all of the paste into the chicken. Next add in the coconut milk. Give another good stir, and then pour all of this into the chicken stock. Stir well, bring the stock back onto medium heat, and let it come to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat by half, and then add in the banana blossom, bamboo shoots, and fish sauce. Give another good stir and cook for about 45 minutes.

During this time, make your noodles. Cook them for about 8 minutes, then strain them and rinse them in cold water. Once the water is strained, and the noodles are cooled, take a handful and wind them up into bundles. Repeat until all noodles are in nice bundles.

Have your cabbage, limes, chilies, and herbs ready. Raise the heat on the soup and bring back to a boil. Take a couple of bundles of noodles, or just one, and place in the bottom of a large soup bowl.

Add some bean sprouts, and cabbage, and give a good squeeze of lime. Ladle in a generous amount of khao poon, and top with come bird eye chili. Get your spoon and chop sticks ready! Face down, grab some noodles, slurp, and repeat. It’s all about texture (and flavor) in this bite. You get the crunch of the cabbage and sprouts, the tenderness of the chicken, and my gosh that coconut curry flavor! If you are looking for a flavor bomb, and a comforting soup year round, then this is the one. Hope you enjoy!

Mexican Shrimp and Fish Soup

February 20, 2018February 20, 2018 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I frequent a local Mexican Taqueria probably twice a week. Please don’t judge me. There is something about the vibe, the people, and the food that completes my day. I often kick myself when I leave from these lunch spots because I typically default to tacos. I love tacos, and again, please don’t judge me. But while I wait for my tacos, which doesn’t take long at all, I gaze at what others are ordering, and then I question my order. One particular week I was just stunned by this bowl of soup that a couple of locals ordered and I had to question my waitress as to what they ordered. As I always do, I make every attempt to use the Mexican language that I took for about 10 years of my life, and found out that it was a Mexican shrimp and fish soup.

Heck, I did not even pay attention to my tacos during my lunch. I was paying attention to the soup that these locals were slurping, and eating. They were pulling out whole, cooked, shrimp while at the same time slurping on this delicious broth and taking down tender vegetables. I was all over that stuff and decided to make this Mexican shrimp and fish soup for my weekly soup.

This soup reminds me of comfort and simplicity, and it is loaded with this awesome seafood flavor. It’s a true delight.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp canola oil
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 whole onion, diced
6 Mexican pulla peppers, seeds and stems removed
14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes, diced
6 cups of vegetable stock
3 whole carrots, cleaned and cut into bite-sized chunks
3 yukon gold potatoes, cleaned, and cut into bite-sized chunks
3 tilapia fillets
15 whole shrimp, deveined
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
Mexican rice, cooked (optional)
corn tortillas, warmed (optional)

The soup itself is really simple, but pretty complex in flavors. It actually reminds me of a mix between an Italian cioppino and a Mexican chicken tortilla soup and I love everything about those two!

Start by heating the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Add in the onions and sweat those down for about 7 minutes, stirring along the way. Toss in the garlic and whole chilies. Give that another good stir, and cook for a few more minutes. Add in the fire roasted tomatoes, and about a cup of stock. Stir, then add this mixture to a blender.

Blend until smooth, and strain the mixture back into the soup pot. This will remove any of the chilies that did not blend.

Mexican Fish and Shrimp Soup Ingredients

Add in the carrots, potatoes, and fish fillets. Stir, and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and let this cook until the potatoes are slightly tender.

During this time, make the rice if you are going that route. I always see the locals at the Taqueria eating their soup with some rice, and warm tortillas. They know what’s up so that is the route that I take.

Once the potatoes are tender, add in the whole shrimp, shells and head. Yep, the whole thing. If you are not into that then by all means just use cleaned shrimp. I like the experience and flavor so I keep them whole, but clean them of their dirty vein before throwing them in.

Let those shrimp poach for a few minutes. They don’t take long. Then get your ladle out and get that soup into a bowl. Make sure you get everything. The fish will fall apart so don’t worry. Shower some fresh cilantro and lime juice on top, and serve alongside some hot Mexican rice, and get a few tortillas ready as well. The result is a soup so comforting on a cool day. It’s really a perfect seafood soup and one that I was glad to gaze at during my lunch last week. I hope you enjoy!

Posole Verde or is it Pozole Verde

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

My wife and I (and my family for that matter) have been on a soup kick since late fall. Soup is so comforting. We have so many favorites. My wife’s go to soup is probably Chicken Tortilla Soup whereas mine is probably Vietnamese pho, or this (or any type) Mexican Posole Verde. The thing I love about posole is that you can go the red (rojo) route, or go green (verde) and that it is loaded with hominy. I love hominy. This soup is super easy to make, makes a bunch, and is packed full of comfort.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

8 large green tomatillos, husked
2 whole onions, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
2 whole jalapeno chilies, seeds removed is optional
1 serrano chili, seeds removed is optional
25 oz can of hominy, drained
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 cups chicken stock
1 green cabbage, shredded
6 whole radishes, thinly sliced
salt to taste
cracked black pepper to taste
lime, quarted, optional
corn tortillas, warmed

Start by adding the chicken to a soup pot. Add the chicken stock, and 1 chopped onion. Next, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. To a baking sheet, add the remaining onion, tomatillos, garlic, jalapeno, and serrano chilies.

Bake for about 30 minutes until everything is well roasted. Add these ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken from the stock. Let it cool until you can shred or chop. Your call on this one.

Pour the chili blend into the soup pot, along with the drained hominy. Return the chicken back to the pot, give a good stir, and cook for about 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt if you desire.

To serve, ladle a nice amount into a bowl and serve alongside warm tortillas, shredded cabbage, radish, and lime. Spoon in some of the sides, taking bites of warm tortillas. Repeat. Now I need to make another batch! I hope you enjoy.

Loaded Steakhouse Potato Soup

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 Dax Phillips Leave a comment

There is something about this time of year I love, and no it is not all the hustle and bustle at work or trying to get everything completed before the holidays. It’s actually a bowl of soup. Yep, pretty dang simple over here. I will have to admit however that my appetite or at least the ‘crave’ component is not what it was in the past. I blame cancer for that, but it is what it is. When I do get that urge though, I could not be more happy than with a bowl of soup. This is one of those recipes, the loaded steakhouse potato soup. Why steakhouse? When I think steak house, or supper club for those of us in Wisconsin, I think of not only a great steak, but that baked potato, those mushrooms, bacon wrapped whatever, and so I decided to make this style of soup for my daughter, only because she loves mushrooms and I wanted to bring that meatiness to the soup without the meat. Well, there’s bacon, but c’mon….

This has everything I love about a visit to a supper club, plus a great use of kale from my last harvest.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

6 russet potatoes, cleaned
16 oz fresh cremini mushrooms, cleaned, and quartered
1 clove garlic, minced
12 slices of your favorite bacon, cooked and chopped
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of kale, thinly sliced
1/2 cup all purpose flour
7 cups of milk
salt, to taste
cracked black pepper to taste
water
1 cup stock, optional

Now the only two choices you have at this time is do I leave the skin on, or remove the skin from the potatoes or do I boil or roast them? I’ll leave that to you. Me, I’m skin on and boil. The rest of the family is skin off. I’m out numbered so I leave one with the skin on.

Start by adding the potatoes to large pot filled with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook just until slightly tender, about 12-18 minutes. Once cooked, strain, cool, then cut into bite sized pieces. The potato will break down a bit to thicken the soup when you are ready to rock and roll.

During this time, cook the bacon. If you know me, I’m a fan of Nueske’s. Best stuff out there in my opinion. Once cooked, reserve the bacon fat, but remove the bacon and coarsely chop it.

Loaded Steakhouse Potato Soup Recipe Ingredients

If that was not enough for you, get another pan on the stove on medium heat, add a bit of that bacon fat, then toss in the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and get them nice and caramelized. There’s something about caramelized mushrooms if you know what I’m saying. Once those begin to caramelize, toss in the garlic, and kale. Give that a good toss, and remove from the heat.

SOUP ON!

Get your stock or soup pot on the stove on medium heat. Add all that bacon fat, then stir in the flour. Cook the flour and continue to stir for about 3-5 minutes, if that. You just want to cook the rawness from that flour.

Pour in the milk, continue to stir so that you break up the clumps of flour. This is your base for the soup. This will take about 10-12 minutes or so. You will see it get to a thickening state. If you want it thinner, add a bit of stock (optional).

Now add in your potatoes, and stir. Next add in the mushroom and kale mixture and give another good stir. Reduce to a simmer.

Now you are ready to serve. Ladle the soup into your bowls. garnish with cheese and bacon and dig in! This soup screams everything. Actually everyone who ate it was quiet (which is always a good thing)! You get everything comforting from the creaminess and the potato, then the crisp bacon pieces and awesome cheese note. Then what? KALE? Heck yeah, kale brings this over the top, and makes your feel good about yourself after that bowl (or two) of soup.

It’s a winning soup. It is the Loaded Steakhouse Potato Soup. Stay warm my friends.