Aroma Cucina

Celery Soup

Celery Soup also known as the Empty Fridge Soup

You know the drill. No time to shop, you are hungry, you don’t want to spend time in the kitchen, you don’t want to order up nasty, fatty food, and all you’ve got is some celery, a bit of onion, and a piece of left over blue cheese in the back of the fridge.  This soup solves the problem, it’s tasty, filling, quick and delicious.  Besides, I think celery is under-rated.

Celery Soup

5-6 celery stalks, roughly chopped
½ onion roughly chopped
½ good quality bullion cube, chicken or vegetable, or maybe you have some home made stock on hand, if not a bit of salt in the water will do just fine
4 cups water
2T olive oil
1 T heavy cream, optional

Blue Cheese Crouton
4T crumbled blue cheese
1 small clove of garlic
1t olive oil
4 slices of baguette

Sauté the celery and onions for a few minutes, add the water, simmer for 20 minutes. Puree the bejeezus out of the soup until it is nice and smooth. God bless my Vita Mix. Return to low heat while you make the crouton.

Preheat oven to 375F
Mash the garlic clove with the olive oil in a small bowl. Add the blue cheese and mash everything together, then divide and spread equally on the baguette slices. If someone gets more blue cheese than the other person, there will be problems. Lay the baguette slices on a baking sheet and bake until the bread is firm and the cheese is bubbly.

Pour soup into bowl, add the crouton, and now eat the soup.

Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup
1?4 lb. chopped pancetta or bacon
3?4 cup each of chopped onions, carrots, celery, zucchini
1 cup fresh chopped tomatoes
1 knob of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 whole chili pepper (more if you want some extra heat)
1 lb of black beans
Wedge of fresh lime

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in an earthenware pot (if you have one, otherwise use your favorite soup pot).  Add the chopped pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, ginger, garlic and chili pepper. Treat the vegetables to a little sprinkle of salt. Saute until the whole mess starts to relax and soften up, if you have some open white wine around, give the veggies a little drink and a mix. Helps get the party started.  Now add the tomatoes and 2 quarts of water. Pick through your black beans to make sure there are no foreign bodies hanging around and then add to the soup.  Either turn to a very low heat on the stovetop, or put into the oven at a low heat. You just want an occasional bubble slowing making its way to the top. Now, go clean the house or ride your bike or do something for at least 4-5 hours. When you come home, serve the soup with a wedge of fresh lime.

Tomato Ginger Soup

Tomato-Ginger soup

1 lb tomatoes, any kind, this recipe is for the time of year when tomatoes are everywhere!
1 knob of fresh ginger
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
1 chili pepper, not killer hot, you want gentle heat, not a hellish blast
3/4 liter of water
salt and pepper to taste

This is a simple, versatile base recipe.  It can be a soup, a sauce, it can be dabbed on a plate for a dramatic presentation.  I served it with oxtail tortellini and a scoop of very fresh pepperoncino ricotta.

You have a few choices here:
A)    If you want a very, very smooth consistency and have either a tammi (a sort of mesh strainer) or cheesecloth, then don't bother peeling the tomatoes, just give them a coarse chop
B)    If you don't want to mess with straining, then you must peel the tomatoes first. Plunge into boiling water for a few seconds and then slip off the skins.  If you have kids around, they can have lots of fun peeling the cherry tomatoes.

Coarsely chop all the ingredients.  In a small quantity of olive oil, add the onion, carrot and celery and cook gently until they soften. Add the garlic and chilie, wait a minute, add the ginger. Wait another minute and add the tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let everybody settle down in the pot and come to a nice simmer before adding the water.  Let the soup cook for 1?2 hour to 45 minutes.

Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the bejeezus out of the mixture. Give it a very thorough blending.  It should be a thick consistency, like a rich, creamy soup.  It's an excellent base for all sorts of variations and the little bit of ginger gives it some exoticism, you can even add a dash of good quality cinnamon.  It looks sinful, but don't tell anyone it could be on a spa menu!