October 2009  Bookmark & Share:                    HOME New Tire Special   Automatic Transmission Special   Oil Change Special   4 Wheel Alignment Special   SUBSCRIBE   Fill in the fields below to receive an email each time we post a new issue of our newsletter:   Email Address: First Name: Last Name: Phone Number: Tell A Friend The Three Chefs by Sam Lancaster Soups are great for warming up in the fall and winter months. There are a lot of different kinds of soup. You can be very creative even with basic soups. Soups are a great way to use up your leftovers. When I make soup at home I come up with ideas by looking at the leftovers I have in the fridge. If I have chicken or turkey left over I will make a chicken stock based soup. If I have beef roast, steak or even burgers left over I will make a beef stock based soup.  Most soups require “stock” or the liquid of the soup. They come in a wide variety of flavors! You want to match the stock with your base for the soup. If you don’t have time to make your own stock from scratch, the premium box stocks in the grocery store are pretty decent. There are vegetable stocks also if you want to make a vegetable only soup! If you want to make a cream soup all you have to do is add milk and a thickening agent like roux or corn starch and water or starch base vegetables like potatoes or rice. When you start the soup, like everything else, make sure you have what chef’s call “mise en place” meaning everything in its place. You should have all of your vegetables cut up and everything else going in to the soup should be ready before you start cooking.  You start with the basic soup vegetables; carrots, celery and onions. I always keep these vegetables on hand. Other vegetables work well too but these three are the usual base. You can use olive or canola oil to sauté your vegetables in, heat up the oil before adding the vegetables. If you are cooking meat for the soup like bacon for a cream of potato soup you will not need to add oil. When you are cooking the vegetables always start with the hardest vegetable like carrots first, then add the rest because the harder ones take a little longer to cook all the way through. Here are some examples of soups for 8 servings: 1.         Left over chicken- Creamy Chicken Rice Soup: After cooking 1 cup of each of the chopped basic vegetables add 1lb of the cubed leftover chicken, add 2 cups of uncooked rice, 6 cups of chicken stock. Stir everything up well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add 3 cups of milk and simmer for 1-2 hours stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste.   (You can alter the recipe; add mushrooms and broccoli or make it into a Chicken Fajita Soup by using leftovers from chicken fajita night. Just replace the chicken with your fajita blend of chicken, peppers, onions, tomatoes, corn and Spanish rice) Like I said at the beginning you should have fun with cooking and be creative!  Some of my best soups did not come from a recipe!   2.     Left over roast beef or burgers- Beef Barley Soup: After cooking 1 cup of each of the chopped basic vegetables add 1 cup of the cubed leftover roast beef or burgers add 2 cups of barley, 8 cups of beef stock. Stir everything up well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 2 hours stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste.   (Alterations can be noodles and mushrooms or potatoes and tomatoes. Sound familiar? That’s because all basic soups start off the same way just add a little here and there and it’s a totally different soup.) Soups are also great next day reheated. Some restaurants actually cook their soup a day before serving it to their guests to maximize flavor! Have Fun, Be Creative!!! Recipes by Peter Bothe - Toyota Sales Manager   Autumn Squash Soup Recipe by Nate Sauer - Inventory Manager   Ingredients:   3 - Cups of diced Butternut Squash, (you want about 1/2 inch square pieces ) peeled and seeds removed 1 - Diced White Onion 3 - Fresh Tomatoes, diced 4 - Cups Vegetable broth 1 - Cup Water 1 - Can White Beans, rinsed and drained 1 - 2" piece of Ginger, minced finely 2 - Cloves of Garlic, minced finely 3 - Tblsp Olive Oil 2 - Tblsp Curry Powder ( For the best results, go to an Asian food store, or find a recipe on line, and make your own. The normal spices at the grocery store are usually not that good. ) 1 - Tblsp Ground Cinnamon Salt to taste   Instructions:   Heat the Olive Oil over medium high heat in a large pot.  Add the diced onion and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the Garlic, Ginger, Curry Powder and cinnamon, and saute for 2 minutes.  Next, add the squash, tomatoes, Vegetable broth and water. Bring it all to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the squash is tender.  Add the white beans and simmer for 5 minutes. Salt to taste.  Serve with a nice, crunchy  bread and olive oil seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper to dip it in.  [PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION] Published by Jon Lancaster Toyota Scion Includes copyrighted material of IMakeNews, Inc. and its suppliers. TELL A FRIEND  Bookmark & Share:

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