The fall season’s best food is often its soups. The warm and luscious taste of warm broth, with flavors colliding each and every way inside the bowl, leads to an amazing food experience. These soups in particular are rewarding to cook and eat for yourself in the autumn season.
Pork Ribs Vegetable Soup (Vietnamese ‘Canh Sup’)
Ingredients:
Minced Garlic
Shallot or Onion
1lb Pork Ribs
1 Carrot
1 Potato
Pepper, sugar, chicken bouillon*, salt. (*Substitute with chicken stock)
Directions:
1. Sauté the garlic and shallot on medium heat until fragrance.
2. Add the pork ribs and braise them until all sides are cooked. Add water and wait for it to boil.
3. While waiting, cut the vegetables into equal-sized pieces. Size to your liking.
4. Add carrots to the boiling pot for 3-4 minutes, then add potatoes. Wait for it to boil again, then lower the heat to medium-low and turn off the heat when vegetables are cooked.
5. Season to taste with the above seasonings.
Chunky Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 garlic clove
600g pumpkin (or butternut squash)
1 potato
1-liter stock (vegetable or chicken)
400g can mixed beans
2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley* (*optional)
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Boil the stock. While waiting, chop the onions and garlic. Peel and dice the potato and pumpkin and drain the beans.
2. Saute the onion and garlic until fragranced and the onion is clear.
3. Add pumpkin and potato. Stir until cooked on the outside.
4. Add stock and seasonings. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the potato is cooked.
5. Stir in the beans and parsley and serve hot.
6. For an optional protein kick, scatter cooked and chopped lean bacon or ham over the finished soup.
Autumn Squash Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, diced (half a cup)
1.5 pounds chopped up butternut squash
1 cup of cut-up carrots
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of apple juice
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1.5 ounces of cream cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
Directions:
1. In a big pot, heat olive oil over medium heat, and then add white onions until they are cooked looking clear.
2. Add the carrots, chicken broth, apple juice, spices and the squash.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 12-13 minutes, or until the squash softens.
4. Remove the pot from heat and add the vegetable oil, cream cheese and brown sugar. Mix together with a whisk.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste and add more broth to make the soup thinner.
6. Return the pot to medium heat to heat the soup back up, then serve.
Wild Rice Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
6 cups of chicken stock
1 cup uncooked wild rice
6 ounces of sliced baby mushrooms
2 cloves of minced garlic
4 small cut-up carrots
3 ounces of diced scallions
Half a pound of peeled and sliced potato
1 tablespoon of basil leaves
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of pepper
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 ½ cups of half and half
A handful of spinach leaves
Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add scallions and heat for around 5 minutes until translucent, then stir in the minced garlic for 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the chicken stock, rice, carrots, mushrooms, seasonings and spices, basil leaves and potato. Stir them all together.
4. Cook the soup until it begins to simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cover it. Stir occasionally and keep it covered for 35 minutes until the rice gets soft.
5. Pour in the half and half, as well as the spinach, until combined. Season with more salt if needed or any of the other seasonings or spices.
6. Serve and enjoy!