Smoked Bratwurst Sausage Soup/Stew

On Saturday, I was looking for something to make for lunch, but I didn't have a lot to work with, plus I had a bunch of stuff in my fridge nearing the end of its shelf life. Basically, I wanted to make something delicious out of the dregs of my fridge and cupboard. So I decided on soup or stew - again - because it's very forgiving on what you can put into it. I did an extensive recipe search but nothing I found fit what I had on hand, so I just started from scratch. I had some smoked bratwurst sausages (Johnsonville brand - unbelievably delicious, especially barbecued and eaten on a bun) that needed to be eaten and I thought they could work well in a soup/stew, so here's what I put together:

Ingredients

3 smoked bratwurst sausages, cut into small bite-sized pieces

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

about 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 can whole sweet kernel corn (you could use frozen as well)

several baby potatoes, quartered

1-2 tsp dried thyme (depending on taste)

1 tbsp dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Method

I warmed the olive oil in a medium sized dutch oven (you can use a soup pot or heavy sauce pan instead) over medium high heat, then added the cut up sausage and cooked it for several minutes, until it browned up. Then I added the onion, celery, and red pepper and cooked it for several more minutes, until the vegetables began to soften. (I put the lid on the dutch oven and stirred the mixture several times while it was cooking to ensure everything cooked evenly.)

Once the veggies were soft, I added a couple cups of vegetable stock (I didn't have any chicken stock in my cupboard, otherwise I think I would have used that instead) and the can of corn (liquid included). Then I added the potatoes and spices, mixed it all up, put the lid on and let it simmer for close to an hour, stirring occasionally. If there doesn't seem to be enough liquid, add a bit more stock or water, but be careful not to add too much or you'll have watery soup (which can be remedied later, but will affect the flavour).

Once the potatoes are soft, taste your soup! Chances are you'll have to add more spices, especially salt. After adding any additional seasonings, make sure you stir well and let it simmer for a couple more minutes before tasting again, to ensure the flavours have had a chance to mingle.

If your soup is thin, like mine was, you can add some flour or cornstarch mixed with water to thicken it up. I used flour; I mixed a couple tablespoons of it with cold water in a mug, and then ran it through a strainer into the soup and stirred immediately to prevent lumps. It only took a couple minutes to thicken up. Depending on how thick you like it, you'll end up with a either a soup or stew consistency. (Another trick I learned from a corn chowder recipe is to use creamed corn instead of or in addition to the whole kernel corn to help thicken it up, although I would add it after the potatoes have cooked so they can easily absorb the water they need.)

Upon tasting, I give this simple recipe a thumbs up. The smoky, salty flavour of the bratwurst sausages went very well with the sweetness of the corn and red pepper (for that reason, as my husband said, this would also taste great with bacon. Mmmmm... bacon). The thyme added a nice level of flavour as well. (I am coming to the conclusion that thyme tastes good in just about everything; it's my number one go-to spice.) Overall, I was pleased with how this slap-together soup turned out - lots of flavour and nutrition for minimal work. Now that's some good cookin'.

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Cold Saturday mornings are perfect for making soup. They're relaxed and my husband is home to help me look after our 7 month old daughter, Abigail. There's been a large butternut squash sitting on my counter for over a week and I've been wanting to turn it into a soup since I bought it. I also recently bought red lentils for the first time to make into baby food. Turns out I really like the taste of them - they're kind of nutty and spicy. As soon as I tasted them, I knew they'd be a great addition to a soup. As I thought about making butternut squash soup, I was convinced the lentils would add a nice rich taste. Turns out, I'm not the first one to think of this. Surprise! Ha ha. The web is full of recipes for butternut squash and red lentil soup. I looked at a few of them, but none really appealed to me, so I decided to make my own recipe. Here are the ingredients I used and what I did with them:

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash

1/4 cup butter

1 medium white onion

1 small leek (I would've used 2 if I'd had another)

2 celery stalks

4 large garlic cloves

2 large carrots

1/2 head of cauliflower

6 cups of chicken stock

3/4 cups of dried red lentils

several stalks of fresh thyme (you can use dried)

1/4 cup of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (you can use dried)

1 tsp of dried rosemary (I would have used fresh if I'd had it)

1/2 teaspoon of dried chopped bay leaf (again, I would have used fresh)

sea salt and pepper to taste

paprika, nutmeg, cumin and coriander to taste

Method

I prefer the taste of roasted squash so I started by halving the squash and scooping out the seeds, then laying it cut side down in a baking dish with about an inch of water. I put it in a 400° F oven for about 45 minutes until the squash was soft.

While the squash was baking, I melted the butter in a large stock pot and chopped up the onion, leek, and celery. I didn't worry about chopping anything too small as I planned to puree the whole mix after it was cooked. I also peeled 4 large cloves of garlic and crushed them by pressing them between the flat side of my knife and the cutting board. I added all of this to the butter and sautéed it for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables were soft. While they were sautéing, I chopped up two carrots, two celery stalks, and half a head of cauliflower. I added these to the pot and then added about 6 cups of chicken stock. I just added water to powdered stock mix but you can use boxed or homemade stock as well. And if you want to keep this soup vegetarian, you can use vegetable stock instead. Next I rinsed the lentils and added them to the pot as well. I brought everything up to a boil and then turned down the heat to medium low, added some salt and pepper, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes, with a lid partially on. When the squash was finished, about halfway through the simmering time, I took it out of the oven, peeled it (the skin comes off fairly easily once it's cooked), chopped it up, and added it to the pot for the remainder of the simmering time.

Once everything was soft and the flavours had had a chance to blend together, I turned off the heat and let it cool a bit. I fished out the thyme stalks as they're a bit woody, and then I scooped portions into the blender and pureed it until I had a nice smooth consistency. I had to add a bit of water to each blender-full to help loosen it up and make sure everything pureed evenly. Once it was all pureed, I put it back in the pot and did some tasting and seasoning. I added some more pepper, as well as paprika, nutmeg, cumin, and coriander to taste (I used about 1 tsp of nutmeg and about 1/2 tsp each of paprika, cumin, and coriander).

I served it with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley. Delicious!!