The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping, the sky is getting grayer, and the bright colors are getting rarer on the market shelves while you eat only the fruits and vegetables that are in season. But rest assured, fall and winter are not necessarily synonymous with spleen, especially for “comfort food” lovers. I it is not necessarily about raclette, fondue, or other dishes that are certainly tasty, but which should not be abused. These will be soups.
Far from fresh images, artificial industrial “flavors”, you can easily make soup quickly, from almost all seasonal vegetables, especially since they make for very comforting and very tasty soups. Also, you can easily make a big pot to paint in for a week (while keeping it cool).
Butternut, pumpkin, chestnuts, potatoes, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, mushrooms… There are many combinations, and it was even touching to choose 5. Note that frozen vegetables, raw or cooked, are a healthy alternative.
1 — “Winter vegetable” according to Kirill Linyak
The chef, never one to skimp on tips, especially on RTL, recommends first sauteing the onion and garlic in a little salted butter in the bottom of a pan. For a meaty taste, you can add a few pieces of bacon. Then add the diced vegetables: half a leek, a piece of celery, 5 Jerusalem artichokes, 3 sweet potatoes and two carrots. Mix everything well so that the juice flavors the mixture, then pour water. Bring to a simmer, and when the vegetables are cooked, stir, season with salt and pepper, and you’re done. Cyril Lignac adds a bit of cream for a velvety effect. Add cumin, 5-spice mix to taste and top with croutons (treat yourself).
2 – CusineAZ mushroom soup
Now is the season of mushrooms, and they are eaten not only fried in a pan with duck breast and sarladadez potatoes (even if they are very tasty). So let’s stay on the topic of soup with a recipe from CuisineAZ. For 4 people, plan 600 g of Paris mushrooms, 100 g of onion, white leek, 60 ml of water, chicken stock, salt and pepper.
Start by peeling, cutting the stems and wash the mushrooms in plenty of water with vinegar. Then cut them into pieces. Then cut the onion and leek into pieces. Place the three ingredients in a saucepan and cover with water before pouring in the chicken stock. Simmer and mix. If you have a heated blender (or “soup pot”), cooking the mix will take place in the selected mode. Salt and pepper, you can add chopped parsley (or basil), and, of course, festive croutons.
3 – French onion soup
Everything is said or implied in the name of the dish. It’s a classic that’s much appreciated by those coming back from a lively night out, but can be used as you please. In its “rich” version, take onions (about 1 per person), unsalted butter, flour, water, chicken stock or diced vegetables.
We start with Chop the onion very finely with a mandoline or a knife and sauté over low heat in semi-salted oil.. Cyril Lignac clarifies that you should go slowly to cook the onions well without necessarily coloring them too much. The chef notes that in his native Aveyron, duck fat is added (which is rarely a bad idea). Once the onions are cooked, add the flour and leave to cook again before soaking with water. It is at this stage that the bouillon cube is added, which is optional. Note that CuisineAZ offers a lighter version with olive oil instead of butter.
As a result, the soup changes from “light” to more “heavy”. This is how Cyril Lignac toasts garlic-rubbed bread, and you can also brown the bits of bacon you’ve just added to your soup. Then the bread is put in the soup, before the grated cheese covers your billet (cheese of your choice, the most delicious). Then place under the oven grill before serving. In the lighter version, we stop before putting the toaster on the bread and flavor it with thyme. But a piece of garlic-rubbed toast will not be a crime.
4 – Harira for the North African note
First of all let’s avoid useless debates: North African means Moroccan, Algerian or Tunisian, no need to (re)start the rivalry. Here will be a recipe from CuisineAZ called “Algerian Harira”. But the cultural boundaries between each other’s border regions are tight.
After this pitfall is eliminated, take 300 grams of meat (lamb shoulder), but you can try the vegetarian version. Give 2 carrots squashes or pumpkins to avoid out-of-season zucchini, 2 cloves of garlic, 50 grams of green lentils, parsley, 1 tbsp. c. ras-el-khanuta, pepper, 100 g of flour, 250 g of canned peeled tomatoes (not fresh in winter), 4 stalks of celery, 2 tbsp. c. turmeric, fresh coriander, 100 grams of chickpeas, 2 large onions, yeast and salt. The list of ingredients is long, but the preparation is simple.
Mix the flour, yeast with a little warm water and set aside, covered with a rochon. Chop the onion and saute in olive oil. Add meat, garlic, spices and fresh herbs, fry for 5 minutes on medium heat without sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the peeled and cut into small pieces vegetables, as well as the tomatoes. Boil for ten minutes. If your chickpeas are canned and therefore cooked, they will be added at the end. If they are dry, they are soaked in water the day before before being rinsed and placed for this stage of cooking. Then pour boiling water over everything. Salt, pepper. Bring to the boil before reducing the heat and simmering for an hour.
Then it’s time to take out the meat and mix. Then we take some of the broth we added to the starter from the beginning of the recipe and add it to the pot, stirring. Return the meat and bring to a boil again. You can cook the chickpeas separately so that they are whole in the hariri. We will turn them on at the end, cook for a few minutes on low heat..
Note that cilantro can also be omitted if you don’t like it. You can also add a small piece of sugar to offset the acidity of the tomato. For a “more full-bodied” recipe, angel hair pasta or “bird’s tongue” can be added after boiling. Otherwise, we accompany it with homemade or store-bought semolina galette. “Bsakhtkum”.
5 – Personal recipe
Here it is personal preference, simple, fast, but with a tasty result. Give 3 carrots, a small whole pumpkin, a nice sweet potato, two onions, 4 tablespoons of green lentils, salt, pepper and… chestnuts. For the latter, prefer boiled and vacuum packed. The amount is up to your taste, but expect about 200 grams.
Peel, cut into pieces, put everything in a pot with two broths of chicken, beef or vegetable cubes. Salt, pepper, lovers add fresh coriander before pouring water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 45 minutes. All you have to do is mix and enjoy. You can add a little cream or a lighter option, Skyr (a very thick, protein-rich Icelandic yogurt).
A little extra tip: put it at the beginning of cooking two chicken thighs to be stewed with vegetables and whose fat will soak up the soup. Remove them before mixing. You can grill them afterwards to sear the skin. This is only an option.