Soups and Stews?!
Answers: What is the difference between soups and stews? Do you have any great recipes you've loved that you'd like to share?
Ham and Bean Soup
Prep: 1 3/4 hours
Cook: 1 1/4 hours
Ingredients
1 cup dry navy beans
1 to 1 1/2 pounds meaty smoked pork hocks or one 1- to 1 1/2-pounds meaty ham bone
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1-1/2 cups sliced celery (3 stalks)
1-1/2 cups chopped onion (3 medium)
1-1/2 cups baby carrots
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
Salt and black pepper
Directions
1. Rinse beans. In a 4-quart Dutch oven combine beans and 4 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. (Or, place beans in water in Dutch oven. Cover and let soak in a cool place for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.) Drain and rinse beans; set aside.
2. In the same Dutch oven brown pork hocks on all sides in hot butter over medium heat. Add celery and onion to Dutch oven. Cook and stir until softened. Stir in beans, thyme, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and 4 cups fresh water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove pork hocks. When cool enough to handle, cut meat off bones; coarsely chop meat. Discard bones and bay leaf. Slightly mash beans in saucepan.
3. Stir in chopped meat; heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Makes 5 servings (8 cups)
5. Easy Ham and Bean Soup: Prepare as above, except omit dry navy beans,ham hocks, and water. Cook onion and celery in butter as directed in Step 2. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 1 cup cubed cooked ham (5 ounces), and two 15-ounce cans navy beans, rinsed and drained, along with thyme, black pepper, and bay leaf. Omit salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through. Makes 5 servings (7 cups).
6. Ham and Vegetable Bean Soup: Prepare as above, except after slightly mashing beans, stir in 2 cups sliced carrot and 2 cups sliced parsnip or chopped, peeled rutabaga. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 15 minutes more or until vegetables are tender. Stir
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Old-Fashioned Beef Stew
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 1-1/2 hours
Ingredients
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
12 ounces beef stew meat, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 cups vegetable juice
1 cup water
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1 tablespoon Worcesershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon granules
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 cups cubed potato (about 3 medium)
1-1/2 cups frozen cut green beans
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 cup sliced carrot (2 medium)
Directions
1. Place flour in a plastic bag. Add meat cubes, a few at a time, shaking to coat. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven brown meat in hot oil; drain fat. Stir in vegetable juice, water, onion, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon granules, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 to 1 1?4 hours or until meat is nearly tender.
2. Stir in potato, green beans, corn, and carrot. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes more or until meat and vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf.
3. Makes 5 servings (about 7 cups)
4. Slow-cooker directions: Prepare and brown meat as above. In a 3 1?2- or 4-quart slow cooker layer meat, onion, potatoes, green beans, corn, and carrot. Decrease vegetable juice to 2 cups. Combine vegetable juice, water, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon granules, oregano, marjoram, pepper, and bay leaf. Pour over meat and vegetables in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.
HAM AND PEA SOUP
2 (11 1/4 oz.) cans condensed green pea soup
1 c. chicken broth
2 c. milk
6 3/4 oz. can chunk style ham, drained, diced OR
1 c. diced fully cooked ham
2 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces
1/4 c. dry white wine
In saucepan, combine pea soup and chicken broth; stir in milk. Cook and stir until heated through. Stir in ham, undrained mushrooms, and wine; heat through. Serves 4-6.
OR
BACON AND CHEESE POTATO SOUP
1 lg. onion
1/2 c. chopped red or green pepper
1 jar (2 oz.) Hormel 100% real home-style bacon pieces
2 tbsp. butter
4 med. potatoes, peeled & diced
2 c. chicken broth or bouillon
1 c. milk
1 container (10 1/2 oz.) cheese snack
Black pepper to taste
Parsley
Saute first 3 ingredients in butter in saucepan. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in milk, Cheese Snack and pepper. Cook over low heat until Cheese Snack is melted and soup is hot, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with parsley.
Serves 6.
OR
SPICY MEXICAN SOUP
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. oil
3 med. zucchini, sliced
4 c. chicken broth
1 (16 oz.) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 (15 oz.) can tomato paste
1 (12 oz.) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Tortilla chips
1/2 c. grated cheese, Cheddar or Monterey Jack
Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender in a large pot. Add zucchini, chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, corn, cumin and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Put soup into bowls and top with chips and grated cheese. Serves 6 to 8.
OR
MINESTRONE SOUP
3 quarts beef stock
2 c. soaked Great Northern white beans
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
3 c. meatless spaghetti sauce
2 carrots, finely diced
4 ribs celery, finely diced
1 med. onion, finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
2 c. finely diced lean beef
1 lg. potato, finely diced
1/4 c. pepe pasta (very sm. grains of pasta)
3 fresh Italian plum tomatoes, finely diced
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 bag fresh spinach, washed, blanched & chopped
Bring stock to boil, add soaked beans; simmer until beans are almost tender. Add basil, garlic and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add carrots, celery, onion, zucchini and meat. Simmer until vegetables are almost tender, stirring constantly. Add potato and pasta, stirring until both are cooked. Add tomatoes, simmer until cooked and season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, stir in spinach and cook briefly.
Serves 15.
JM
The difference is that soup has more smaller pieces of meat and vegetables while stew is usually larger pieces. Either can be thickened with flour and milk but stew is usually more like gravy and less the consistency of cream. Every winter we eat lots of soup and stew.
Here is a typical vegetable soup: take 1 large onion chopped, 4 cloves of garlic minced, 1 pkg of small carrots, 3 celery stalks chopped, 1 turnip chopped and brown them in hot oil. Add either water or chicken broth until vegetables are covered, a sprinkle of each parsley, salt and pepper, oregano and basil; add large can of diced tomatoes and simmer at least 3 hours. Get really good bread to eat with.
I came up with this recipe one night when I only had frozen Italian sausage in the freezer and canned products and dry pasta. I later added the cheese tortellini. Everyone asks me for this recipe.
Saute onion and garlic in a large pot.
Pour in 4 cartons of chicken stock.
Add 2 or 3 Italian sausages and remove when fully cooked.
Add 1 can diced tomatoes, chopped kale or spinach, and 1 can northern beans.
Chop cooked sausage into bite size pieces and add to the pot.
Add the cheese tortellini and turn stove off when it finishes cooking.
Stir in a large spoonful of pesto (optional)
from what I understand....stews are cooked using large pieces of meats and veggies.and they retain their shape and individual taste.where as soups are made with the intent of melding the flavors....
My favorite soup
Leek and Potato soup
4 med Potatoes peeled and cubed
4 leeks rinsed and sliced white part only
Water
place potatoes and leek in pan and add enough water to cover.high heat to boil...turn down heat and let simmer 20 mins.
run though ricer or food processor until smooth add 4 T butter and milk to thin,,,,season to taste
Stews are thicker. A good way to do this is to shake the meat in flour, then brown in oil, ( I save bacon grease, it gives the stew a little extra ). Next add your liquid and simmer. The flour blends with the liquid without lumps, and thickens it. Next add your veggies, and tomato sauce. Last add other flavorings you may want, salt, pepper, Bay leaf, thyme, etc.
Campfire Stew
1 tbsp. butter
1 lb. beef stew meat
1 tbsp. flour salt and pepper
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 bag baby carrots
1 container button mushrooms, sliced
1 small can tomato paste
1 gallon water
Heat heavy bottomed pot until very hot. Season flour with salt and pepper, dip stew meat into flour, covering well. Melt butter in pot, add meat and brown well on all sides. Remove meat from pan, add onion and celery. Cover and let sweat 2-3 minutes. Add tomato paste and about a cup of water, scrape brown bits from bottom of pan. Return meat to pan, add potatoes and carrots. Add enough water to cover vegetables plus an inch. Cover and let stew simmer until potatoes are done, adding water as needed to keep from scorching. Ten minutes before serving, add mushrooms and allow stew to come to a boil. Cover and allow mushrooms to cook. Serve.