Some soups by RL

[Roguish Lawyer]

I have been making a lot of homemade soup lately. The basic approach is to pour a can of chicken broth into a blender, add some vegetables and other stuff (including seasonings) and puree, then heat and add more stuff.

Two pretty good ones I've done lately:

Southern Pea Soup

In blender, combine 1 can chicken broth, a few cups of green peas, a tablespoon or so of bacon bits, onion powder, garlic powder and kosher salt (start with a little -- you can add more later if needed). Puree well.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the puree and stir well. Add 1 can blackeyed peas, about two cups of corn, a cup or two of chardonnay (add it gradually until you like the consistency), a bay leaf and tabasco to taste. Heat through and stir well. Add more kosher salt if needed. Add a splash of heavy cream and heat through.


Lobster and corn soup

Broil one lobster tail. Remove and dice the meat.

Cook two ears of corn, removed from the husks, on the barbecue. You want the corn charred just a little bit. Soak the corn in water before barbecuing.

Cook four strips of bacon (crisp) and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

In blender, combine 1 can chicken broth, a few cups of corn, about half of the lobster meat, onion powder, crushed red pepper, a tablespoon or two of bacon bits, fresh parsley to taste, a cup or so of chardonnay, a pinch of pre-soaked saffron threads and some kosher salt (not too much -- you can add more later if needed). Puree well.

Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a saucepan at medium heat and add the puree. Stir well and heat through. Add more salt and chardonnay if needed. Splash some heavy cream in at the end and heat through before serving.

In each serving vessel, put some lobster meat, a 1/4 cup or so of the roasted corn (cut off the cob) and a piece or two of crispy bacon. Present the vessels to your guests first, then come and pour the soup on top of the stuff. You can garnish with a little parsley if you want.

[The Reaper]

RL:

I prefer to grill my corn in the husk and wet, roasted till the husk is charred. You can actually cook it in the fire like that.

What is the advantage of shucking it first? Do you then wrap it, or cook it exposed?

TR

[Roguish Lawyer]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

RL:

I prefer to grill my corn in the husk and wet, roasted till the husk is charred. You can actually cook it in the fire like that.

What is the advantage of shucking it first? Do you then wrap it, or cook it exposed?

TR

That's how I grill corn too -- if I'm planning to eat it off the cob. Grilling it exposed adds smoky flavor and color to the corn, which is a benefit to this soup.

[Penn]

RL, Here is a recipe for a crème de Hommard or Lobster Soup. It’s cheap, and not to difficult. And it’s World Class!! First get lobster bodies, (they are the heads)not tails. Lobster bodies are $ 1-2 lb#
Remove the outer shell and discard or roast it and use to make a lobster stock. Same principle as the veg stock.

You will need 5 Lobster bodies to make this. Remove the the gray stuff but keep the green eggs sacks. This is the lobster roe. Remove the legs and chop the bodies up.

Mirepoix= Celery,carrot, onion. Small cut. You can cuisinart it. Rough do not pruee it.
2 stalks of celery, 2 med carrots, 1 Large onion
1 Tlbs. Crushed whole black pepper =Whole peppercorns crushed with the bottom of a pan, do not use a pepper milled
2 Schallots minced or you could throw it in with the mirepoix
4 sprigs of fresh tarragon = appox 1Tlbs of dried tarragon
2 sprigs of thyme
1 Bay leaf
4-5 cloves of roasted garlic.
1 Qt. Heavy Cream
8 oz. Milk
½ # of sweet butter
1 oz. congac

To make Roasted Garlic: We make this by the Qt. Buy or peel whole garlic, place in aluminum foil envelope. (18” X 14” piece)Place the garlic in the center, add a (I know you will hate this word, but I can’t resist) Liberal amount of oil and some sugar. Fold the envelope like a pup tent. You want an air pocket for the steam. Think pup tent. Seal tightly, and place on a cookie sheet in a pre heated 350^F oven 25-30 Minutes or until they are tender.

Place the mirepoix in a soup pot with the pepper, tarragon, thyme, Bay leaf, and roasted garlic. Sweat this with the bodies until they turn white. Turn often with a spoon. The perfume or aroma at this point is outstanding. When they turn white and are cooked you can deglaze with congac . If you do, make sure you light the cognac to burn off the alcohol. Add the cream and milk. At this point you switch from spoon to hand whip.

The lobster Roe. This makes the soup. Place the lobster roe in a blender with some water. Puree it. Enough water to cover it and the blades. Pour it off and set aside.

Strain the soup through a fine strainer. Fill the blender to ¾ full. Make sure you secure the top of the blender by rapping a towel around it. Turn on to high speed. Using the whole in the top,
stream in the lobster roe slowly, it should begin turning pink. If it doesn’t that’s ok. Lower the speed and Season with Salt. If it has changed color you’re GTG. If not, recycle to the pot, bring up to temp and using a hand whip stir the soup. If you don’t have the roe the soup will still be wonderful.

Also, This soup can handel up to 2qt. cream

[Roguish Lawyer]

Awesome, Penn, I'll have to try it. If this is the lobster soup I had at Dennis Foy, I know it will be incredible!

[echoes]

Originally Posted by Roguish Lawyer

Southern Pea Soup

In blender, combine 1 can chicken broth, a few cups of green peas, a tablespoon or so of bacon bits, onion powder, garlic powder and kosher salt (start with a little -- you can add more later if needed). Puree well.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the puree and stir well. Add 1 can blackeyed peas, about two cups of corn, a cup or two of chardonnay (add it gradually until you like the consistency), a bay leaf and tabasco to taste. Heat through and stir well. Add more kosher salt if needed. Add a splash of heavy cream and heat through.

RL,

This is a great recipie. Had some frozen peas in the hull, from this past summer, that I shucked. I grilled my corn w/o the husk, and just used one cup of chardonnay (Little Penguin) and it turned out really good. Served it with some toasted pita and garlic. Thank You!

Holly