I said that I didn’t have anything prepared, and asked if she had any ideas. She said, “I think you should make Stone Soup.”

“Stone Soup?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of Stone Soup. Can you tell me how to make it?“

“Sure,” Ana said. “All we need is this stone … “

“… and maybe a few other things … just to make it extra special.”

“First, do you have a piece of chuck roast about this big?”

“No,” I told her. “Would a piece of pork loin work instead?“

“Sure.”

She told me to chop it up into bite-sized pieces.

Then she told me to melt some bacon fat in a large pot or Dutch oven, add the pork, and season with salt and pepper.

Then she had me cook it over medium heat, turning a few times, until the pork was browned all over.

While the pork was cooking, Ana asked me what vegetables I had. There was some asparagus, which Ana really liked.

And a zucchini, which I don’t think she had ever seen before.

And some carrots. When Ana saw those, she said they were much bigger and more oddly-shaped than the ones they usually give to little kids.

After seeing the vegetables, I said that this was starting to look a bit like a minstrone, so I asked if Ana liked tomatoes. She does.

So in that went, along with the pork. It loosened up all those tasty bits on the bottom of the Dutch oven, which I scraped up with a wooden spoon.

Finally, Ana asked me what herbs and spices I would normally add to a minestrone soup. I grabbed the parsley, sage, marjoram, cardamom, paprika, and a few cloves of garlic.

Ana said that sounded good, and trusted me to add the right amounts. I started with a tablespoon of parsley and a teaspoon each of sage, marjoram and cardamom.

I gave everything a stir to start getting the herbs re-hydrated.

Then I started to dice the carrots. I wanted to get them into the soup quickly, and the cutting board was covered with asparagus and zucchini. Then I remembered a trick I saw at a campfire once.

I was sure this was a bad idea, but I did it anyway.

Now that the carrots were in, I could see the soup was much too thick, so I added four cups of water.

Then I minced the garlic, stirred it in, and let everything simmer for two hours.

After two hours the carrots were getting soft, and the water had reduced a lot.

I checked the seasoning and added more salt and a couple of teaspoons of paprika.

I asked Ana if she liked pasta or rice in her Stone Soup, and she picked rice. I knew rice would suck up two cups of water for every cup of rice, so I added six cups of water and two cups of rice.

Then I covered the soup and turned the heat down low to cook the rice.

While that was going, I chopped the asparagus and zucchini into bite-sized pieces.

Rice should take about a half-hour to cook. I checked at 20 minutes and everything was going great.

I added the asparagus and zucchini, so it could cook the last 10 minutes along with the rice.

Hmm … the rice seems to have absorbed a bit too much of the water.

Maybe I should go with only one cup next time.

I added more water and cooked another 20 minutes. Now it was almost the consistency of risotto, but flavored like minestrone, with chunks of vegetables and pork.

I topped it with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and served it with fresh-baked rolls.

I asked Ana if my Stone Soup was good.

She liked it.

I think she forgot to add the stone, though.

Want to hear the story? Here it is.

Now that fall is back, it’s time to start doing soup again. This one is thick and creamy, great by itself, or as an ingredient in casseroles — anywhere you’d normally do a can of cream of celery soup. Because canned soup is usually nasty. Oh sure, it tastes good, but have you ever read the ingredients? Ick.

This one only has five ingredients, not counting the salt and pepper. Oh wait, and not counting the butter for sautéing the veggies. Okay, so it’s got eight ingredients, but if you don’t already have butter, salt and pepper in your kitchen, you’re not reading this blog, you’re calling for take-out.

Ingredients

1 pound each asparagus, onion, russet potato
one cup heavy cream
4 cloves garlic (about 1-2 tablespoons minced)
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons butter

Directions

Peel and dice the onion, and mince the garlic.

You might notice in that link that last time I did the garlic I slice lengthwise first. I’ve decided it really doesn’t matter much.

Once the aromatics are prepped, melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven over high heat.

Add the onion, and stir to make sure it’s all coated with butter.

Once the onion starts to look a little clear, add some salt and the garlic and turn the heat down low.

Now for the asparagus. Unless you just harvested it yourself, the cut end will have dried out. Snap one off by hand to see how much has dried, then cut that length off from all of them.

Now cut the rest into pieces an inch long or less. (You don’t need to mince it, but the pieces will need to fit into your immersion blender.) Add the pieces to the pot.

Stir, add some pepper, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the asparagus is tender.

When you test it, don’t worry if it’s still a little stringy. You’ll take care of that with the blender.

While the asparagus is cooking, dice the potatoes. You can peel them first if you want, or just wash them well and leave the skins on.

Add the potatoes, stir to make sure everything is mixed together nicely, and add enough water to just cover everything.

Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are soft. If you did a small dice like I did, this can take as little as 10 minutes.

Now hit it with an immersion or “stick” blender until everything is smooth.

Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. (Don’t be afraid of the salt. Canned soup may have way too much, but you do need some for it to taste good.)

Blend again and simmer a few more minutes to let the flavors blend.

The dark specks you see are the pepper and the potato skins. If you want a “cleaner” look, use white pepper and peel the potatoes.

Remove from heat, and stir in the cup of heavy cream.

Here is where you can get a little bit fancy. Fill a shallow soup bowl, then add a few tablespoons of cream right in the center. Using the tip of a spoon, or a chopstick, trace lines from the center out toward the edge of the bowl. Then trace a circle around the edges.

Serve as is.

Or add fresh baked biscuits.

And that’s it.

I’ve tried French onion soup in a few restaurants but I never liked it. Probably because I tried it at chain places that used frozen or dehydrated. But from what’s in it — beef broth and roasted onions — this is something I should just love.

So I decided to make some for myself and see. And, surprise, when made with real ingredients … this stuff is good.

(But I still need a good copycat recipe for onion soup mix to use in recipes, like dip. Oh, and while you’re here, you might want to check out my Pizza Soup.)

Ingredients

4-5 large onions, about 4 pounds, red and/or sweet
2-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3-5 bay leaves (oops, forgot them in the photo)
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
flour, about 1/4 cup (see note below)
1-2 cups wine
8 ounces beef broth

Directions

I decided to make this because I had a container of beef broth in the freezer. I had kept the drippings from the Christmas rib roast, the pot roast, every time I cooked beef for a month it went into the freezer. You can do it with canned beef broth, but try to find one with as few additives as possible.

Start by prepping the onions. Cut off both ends and cut them in half.

Peel the outer layer, then cut into thin strips.

Melt a few tablespoons of butter or fat (I’m using bacon fat) in a dutch oven over medium heat.

Add the onion, minced garlic, bay leaves and thyme and set heat to medium-low.

Cook until the onions start to turn translucent without mixing them.

Oops, forgot to add salt and pepper.

Turn the onions a few times to make sure everything gets some time on the bottom to caramelize. Don’t worry too much about burning the onions. All that burned on goodness is going to be pure flavor. That’s what the wine is for. Use it to scrape up everything off the bottom, then cook the onions for several minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the wine is cooked off.

Some people insist it has to be white. Some insist it has to be red. Since I’m not a wine drinker, I don’t really have a preference. So I used the bottle that was open.

The thyme and bay leaves should have given up all their flavor by now, so go ahead and fish them out.

Add a little flour to the onions and cook for about 5-10 minutes, until the dry flour taste is cooked out.

Start with just enough flour to just coat the onions lightly, only a couple of tablespoons. Hold the rest in reserve until you add the broth and see if it has thickened enough, or if it needs more.

Now add the beef broth. Since mine was very concentrated, I did four ounces of broth and four ounces of water.

Simmer for another 20 minutes to a half-hour to reduce the liquid and concentrate the flavor. Ladle into oven safe bowls and add croutons to the top.

The croutons are to keep the cheese from sinking. Lots of recipes call for gruyere, which is crazy expensive. I like a slice of swiss and a slice of provolone.

Put the baking sheet with the bowls on it under the broiler for a couple of minutes* until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown on the edges.

* NOTE: When I said “a couple of minutes” I forgot that not everyone has used the broiler before. MissFoxxy left hers in a little too long and discovered you can set cheese on fire. Don’t walk away from it, and check frequently.

Be careful, the cheese will hold the heat in really well, so it’s going to stay hot until you dig in.

Try not to eat all the cheese in the first four bites.

And that’s it.

Like I said up top, I’m still looking for a good copycat recipe for dehydrated onion soup mix. There are a ton of great recipes that call for a packet of it, but have you seen the ingredients on that stuff? [shudder]

If you’ve got a recipe for it that doesn’t include beef bouillon cubes, which are just as bad, please let me know in the comments. Or better yet, post the recipe in the forum.

My junior high school cafeteria was probably no better or worse than the average cafeteria. But there were two things they made that were exceptional: pizza, and pizza soup. The pizza was thick and cheesy, and I never heard anyone say a bad word about it.

The pizza soup, on the other hand, was great mostly for the idea of it. I’ve never seen it on the menu anywhere else, and had to create my own recipe for it. The version below is probably far better than what they served, but I still get nostalgic for times when they served it.

Ingredients

56 ounces (two large cans) crushed tomatoes
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Toppings

home-made croûtons
shredded mozzarella

Directions

Dice the onion very fine and mince the garlic. Sauté them over medium heat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt.

Once the onion is clear and softened, add the tomatoes and oregano.

Add salt and pepper and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and insert an immersion blender. Work in circles until you’ve taken the soup from chunky …

to thick …

to smooth.

Add a cup or two of water, to thin it out from “pizza sauce” thickness to “soup” thickness. Just how thin this should be is a matter of preference. I like thick.

Set up an assembly area with the soup, croûtons and cheese around the bowl.

A cup or two of soup, a handful of croûtons, and a handful of cheese, and you’re ready to serve.

Next time I’m going to put the soup in a nice tureen and bring it to the table so the girls can assemble their own. They love feeling like they helped make their own dinner.

The last time I made turkey soup I totally spoiled my kids for ever giving them canned soup again. This time I think I’ve ruined myself.

I knew I wanted to get some turkey or chicken thighs, since I much prefer dark meat for soup. Actually I prefer it for just about everything. All I could find on short notice was bone-in. I didn’t think that would matter. (Remember this line — it comes back to bite me in the end.)

This would be the first time I did turkey soup that didn’t start from leftover roast turkey, so I decided to try something different. Instead of cooking the turkey, then dicing it up and tossing it in the soup, I butchered the thighs raw (mostly), and cooked it in the pot with the mirepoix. I noticed as soon as I tasted the finished product that the turkey was exceptional.

My wife told me the next day that she usually takes a little of the meat and a lot of the noodles. This time she went back for more of the meat. In most chicken and turkey soups the meat is actually dry, even though it’s literally floating in broth. This was tender and juicy.

I know I’ve seen boneless thighs at the butcher’s before. Next time I want to make soup, I’m going to call ahead and make sure they have some.

Ingredients

1-1/2 lb turkey thighs, bone in
– or –
1 lb boneless turkey thighs
1 cup turkey stock
1 cup carrot, sliced 1/8-inch thick
1/2 medium onion, diced (~1cup)
1 cup celery, chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup white flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp fat (rendered bacon fat or lard)
salt and pepper

Directions

Make mirepoix from the onion, celery and carrot and set aside. All the veggies should be in half-inch or smaller pieces, slightly smaller than dice. (Yes, that’s why it’s called “dicing”.)

In a large pot or small dutch oven, melt a couple of tablespoons of fat over medium heat. Pat the turkey dry with a paper towel, then coat with salt and pepper.

Put the thighs in the pot skin-side down and fry until the skin starts to peel back from the edges. Turn the turkey over and remove the skin using tongs and a sharp knife. Turn over one more time and cook until slightly browned.

Both the front …

… and back …

… should be just a little browned.

There are two goals to this step. First, to fry up the skin so you can have a snack while you’re working on the soup. Second, I find it easier to butcher the meat if it is a little cooked around the edges so I have something to grab it by. Completely raw poultry doesn’t give you anything to hang on to. Remove the meat and turn off the heat.

There is a good chance you’ll have a large amount of turkey fat in the pot at this point. I’ve never heard of a good use for it other than making biodiesel, so pour most of it out and discard it … unless you make biodiesel. (But that’s someone else’s blog.) Leave enough in the pot to keep it well lubed for the mirepoix.

Next you have to remove the bone. This is the most useful way to think about it, and is very different from carving a whole roast turkey. In that case you’re removing meat from the outside of the carcass. In this case you’re removing the bone from inside of the meat.

Rather than do a step-by-step of how to do this butchering, I’m going to recommend you order the thighs already boneless. That’s what I’m going to do in the future.

Once the bone is out, dice up all the meat into large bite-sized pieces.

The second bowl above contains all the scrap that’s left over. Keep this in a zip-top bag in the freezer for the next time you make stock.

Wash your hands, knives and all surfaces the raw turkey has touched, except the inside of the pot. You don’t want to risk cross-contamination.

Now that everything is set, put the pot over medium heat again until the fat starts to bubble. Add the mirepoix and garlic and sauté until the onion is a little past clear and starts to pick up some color. Stir it frequently so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Push the veggies to the edges and put the turkey in the middle. Add plenty of salt and pepper — at least a teaspoon of each.

Turn the heat up and brown the meat, turning everything occasionally so all the meat gets well browned on all sides.

Add enough water to barely cover everything and allow the water to come to a boil.

Add the stock and reduce heat to low. While it simmers for 20 minutes, make a thick pasta with the eggs, flour and salt. Cut into noodles 2 inches long and 1/4-inch wide and add to the soup.

Check the salt and pepper and simmer another 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.

And that’s it.

Two days later I made soup with the turkey that was left, a mirepoix with garlic, some of the stock, and home-made pasta. The girls said it was the best soup they ever had. Cool.

Then today I came home and my wife said, “Thanks a lot, you’ve spoiled the kids.” Ummm … huh?

Apparently she was in a hurry and had offered them canned soup for dinner. They turned it down flat. The four-year-old said, “You can get the machine out and make the noodles.”

Oops. Sorry honey. I’ve taught them to like real food.

Ingredients

4 cups pre-cooked turkey[1]
1 cup turkey stock
2 cups carrot, sliced 1/8-inch thick
1/2 medium onion, diced (~1cup)
1 cup celery, chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup white flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp fat (rendered bacon fat or lard)
salt and pepper

Directions

In a heavy bottomed 4qt (or larger) pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt enough fat to coat the bottom. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is a little past clear and starts to pick up some color. Stir it frequently so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the carrot. Turn everything over so the carrot is mostly on the bottom and the onion/garlic mix is mostly on the top, and add one tsp each salt and pepper. Let the carrots cook for five minutes or so, until the center of the top side just starts to get a little soft.

Add the celery and the turkey, in bite-size chunks, and turn the heat up high. Stir frequently, but gently — you don’t want the turkey to crumble — until the turkey is lightly browned.

Add enough water to barely cover everything, then add the stock. Allow the water to come to a boil and reduce heat to low. While it simmers for 20 minutes, make a thick pasta with the egg, flour and 2 tsp salt. Cut into noodles 2 inches long and 1/4-inch wide. Add the noodles to the soup and simmer another 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Check the salt and pepper.

Serve with fresh-baked crusty bread and home-made butter.