Super Simple Soup

It’s “put all ingredients at once, done in 10 minutes” suggestion. It is healthy, very satisfying and chip!

The ingredients can differ, you need:

Some basic roots and vegetables, fresh or frozen – carrots, parsnips, celery, sweet pepper. Cauliflower, broccoli, frozen peas and/or corn to add later as garnish, they need very little time to cook.
Grain: rice, barley, orso, cuscus to thicken your soup. You can always use potatoes or lentil for the same purpose.
It can be pure vegetarian, chop and fry a sausage and add it to your soup to make it more substantial. Use canned salmon, clams or several shrimps with “old bay” spice to be on a seafood side.

That’s it! Just bring water to a boil, salt it, add all ingredients at once! In 10 minutes you have home made bowl of hot soup!

Ingredients (sample):

Can of clams
Carrots
Celery stick
Parsnip
Sweet pepper
Corn
Frozen peas

Directions:

Chop all vegetables to quoter inch size
Pour about a liter of water into the pot, add some salt
Bring to a boil
Add all the ingredients into the pot
Cook for about 7-10 minutes

Green Borsch

It’s more unique than regular “red” borsch, or at least less known. Back in Russia it was cooked with sorrel, which is not easy to find. But spinach works and for a little extra acidity I squeeze some lemon juice on top of spinach mixture.

Let me introduce this delicious, healthy and super easy to make soup with total cooking time under 30 minutes. And very versatile – from pure vegetarian to beef of chicken broth based. Can be served hot, but the best way to eat it during summer – cold with lots of herbs on top.

Ingredients: (the amounts of every ingredient may vary)

Spinach (2-3 cups)
Green onions (only green part of one bunch)
Potato (red or Yukon gold) 2-3
Carrot – 1 medium
Celery – 1 stick
Parsnip – 1 small or half of medium size root
Dill
Parsley
Yolk of one egg
Yogurt (kefir or buttermilk) ~1/2 cup – cup
Hard boiled egg and/or radish, cucumber, parsley, sour cream for garnish

Directions:

Put pot with water on medium high heat, add half tsp of salt. Allow enough room in the pot for all the ingredients.
Chop the spinach, put into a bowl, add half tsp of salt, squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top (about tbsp) and mix well.
Finely chop all other greens – tails of onions, dill and parsley (it’s ok if you have only dill or parsley, can be cilantro too)
Prepare vegetables: chop carrot, parsnip, celery into very small pieces, cut potatoes into half inch cubes
When water came to a boil – add all vegetables except for greens
Let it cook for 7-10 minutes
Add your greens to the pot, bring to a boil
Separate egg yolk, put into a bowl, break with a spoon.
Temper the yolk, by adding one spoon of liquid from the pot into the bowl at a time, mixing well after each spoon until liquid in the bowl is hot (otherwise you will have lonely hard boiled yolk swimming in the pot)
Slowly add tempered yolk into the pot. The soup in the pot will change the color to white
Pour yogurt or kefir into a bowl
Temper it the same manner – gradually add liquid from the soup, spoon by spoon into yogurt, mixing after each spoon till yogurt in the bowl is hot.
Slowly pour yogurt back into the pot
Let the soup come into a boil again and turn off the heat
Check for salt, add as needed, add 1/2 tsp of pepper

Solyanka – Russian Minestrone

The commonality with minestrone is sausages and pickles, and sort of utilize of the leftovers type of soup. But solyanka is more about meats. It’s like adding a minestrone on top of a very intense beef broth. All meats should be cut into bite size pieces and put back into the soup. Back in Russia chicken gizzards were added too, but it’s very optional. Though it does add some extra richness and along with sausages different texture of the “meat” bites.

Ingredients:

Beef/veal bone for the broth
Chicken gizzards (optional)
Carrots
Parsnip
Sausages
Smoked sausage
Small or medium onion
Sweet pepper
Chili pepper
Tomato sauce/paste
Pickled cucumbers, olives, capers
Salt, pepper, parsley

Directions:

Cook the broth: place your meats into a pot, pour cold water, bring to a boil.
Scoop the foam
Season with salt and continue cooking the broth on a low heat till meats are fully cooked.
Add you flavorings – chopped carrots and parsnips.
When meat is cooked through fish it out of the pot, let it cool down, cut into about half an inch (bite size) cubes and put back into the pot.
Season with salt and pepper, keep it a little undersalted, because pickles are coming
In a separate pan start frying thinly diced onion, then add diced sausages.
Fry sausages till golden brown stirring occasionally
Add chopped sweet peppers, chili peppers
Add tomato sauce and/or tomato paste
Mix to combine, bring the mixture to a boil and take off the heat and add it to the pan with your broth
Slice thinly pickled cucumbers, olives, capers – add them to the pot.
Wait till your soup comes to a boil (still on low heat) and taste for seasoning
Serve very hot, garnish with parsley, fresh tomato slices and enjoy!

Simple Satisfying Soup

It’s a meatball soup, but meat can be replaced with ground chicken or turkey or veal, based on what you like or what you happen to have in your fridge. Dumplings will work too. Adding some vegetables will make it very flavorful, colorful and fragrant. You can make it heartier by rolling more meatballs or spicier with several drops of sriracha directly into the pan.

The ingredients and their amounts are so flexible, you can even change them as you go – if it seems a little watery – add some rice or orzo. Or just pour more water if it starts to remind you of a stew.

Ingredients:

Ground meat (turkey) – about a cup for 5-6 cups pan.
Carrots – 2 medium
Parsnip – half of a root
Celery – 1 stick
Sweet pepper – 2 small
Lentil – 2 tbsp
Rice – 1 tbsp
Tomato sauce or paste – 1 tbsp
Frozen peas – 2 tbsp

Directions:

Pour ~5 cups of water into a pan, bring to a boil
Add 1 tsp of salt
Make small balls from the ground meat (about half inch in diameter) and put them into a boiling water.
If you use lentils – add them at the same time with the meatballs, they cook a little longer than vegetables.
When meatballs come to the surface of the pan reduce the heat to medium/low
Add finely chopped vegetables, let them boil for about 5 min
Add rice or orzo (all optional)
Check for salt, adjust as needed, add freshly ground black pepper.
Optional – add some tomato sauce or paste (even in the form of ketchup), about a tbsp, or even sriracha sauce if you want to add some heat
When vegetables and everything else is cooked – add some frozen peas for a nice crunch
That’s it – the soup is ready in 15-20 minutes!

Zucchini soup

Looks fancy, tastes delicious, cooks fast!

Ingredients (2 servings):

Small onion or shallot
Zucchini 2 medium
Sour cream – 1 tbsp
Chicken/vegetable broth – 1-2 cups
Light olive oil – 1-2 tbsp

Directions:

Chop onion/shallot
Chop zucchini to half inch cubes
Put your pan on a medium high heat, add olive oil
Start frying onion
When onion is translucent add chopped zucchini to the pan, mix with onions
Saute zucchinies with onion for about 10 minutes, till golden color, stirring occasionally
Add sour cream, mix in with the vegetables
Keep sauteing for a couple more minutes
Pour stock, bring to a boil
Add salt and pepper and turn the heat off.
Puree with emerging blender or pour the soup into a regular blender and puree.

Serve hot, garnish with roasted pancetta, prosciutto or feta cheese

My version of Borsch

I never really knew how my mom cooked borsch. I remember it was a very long process, she boiled whole beet roots with the broth, then shredded cooked beets for which they had to be cooled and then she put them back to the pot. By the time I needed to cook borsch my mother was sick in a hospital, so I asked neighbors and my mom’s friends. I collected and compiled all the advices they gave me, and after several trials developed the recipe of my own. What makes it different – I split the cooking process into two parts: broth (chicken, turkey, beef bone or just vegetable) to which cabbage and potatoes are added and beets/herbs/tomatoes mixture – the essence of borsch flavor, which joins the broth pot in the end. For this mixture I shred raw beets, put it into a separate pan, add a little amount of water, sprinkle it with lemon juice to preserve the color, and cook it with the lid on on medium high heat, so it takes no more than 10 minutes for the beets to be fully cooked. It simplifies the cooking process by a lot, and can be done ahead of time or in parallel and is very fast. There is a minus though – an extra pot to wash.

For 3.5 liters pot (8 servings)

Ingredients:

Medium size beet root, if stems and leaves look good – use them too. In that case the root can be smaller
Onion (for the broth)
Parsnip
Celery
carrots 2 medium size (for the broth)
Sweet pepper
Potatoes – 2 medium
Chili pepper – 1 small (optional)
Big ripe tomato, or a cup of diced tomatoes
Tomato paste – 1tbsp
Cabbage – it should be about a cup when shredded
Garlic – 3-4 cloves
Bay leaf
Parsley

Directions:

Start cooking you broth with usual aromatics (onion carrots, celery), season with salt, pepper, add bay leaf. Cook on medium heat. Make sure you have enough room in the pot for the vegetables.
When broth is ready and meat is cooked add shredded cabbage and diced potatoes. It will take about 10 minutes for the vegetables to cook.
Season with salt, pepper, add bay leaf.
In a separate pan place shredded beat with chopped stems and leaves, add 1/2 cup of water, sprinkle some lemon juice (about 2 tbsp) to preserve the color, cover with the lid and put on medium heat.
It should take about 7-10 minutes for the shredded beets to cook through, but check in 5 minutes and add some water if needed.
Add your other chopped aromatics: sweet pepper, chopped parsnip, chili pepper, parsley.
Cook everything together for 2-3 minutes
Add fresh and/or diced tomatoes, tomato paste or maybe even ketchup, bring the mixture to a boil and take off the heat.
Add the mixture to the pot with broth when potato and cabbage are almost cooked, bring everything to a boil. Check that potatoes are cooked, check for seasoning, add salt/pepper if needed. It should be very fragrant, rich and slightly sour from tomatoes and cabbage.
Turn off the heat, add pureed or smashed garlic, cover the lid, let your borsch rest and the all flavors mix.

Diced potatoes and shredded white and red cabbage

Soup in Roasting Pan – Butternut Squash

Roasted vegetables have more pronounced and concentrated flavor when caramelized in oven. Not only butternut squash, but any vegetable soup that’s intended to be pureed. The ingredients and their proportions depend on what you have in your fridge, some can be added (carrots, hot pepper), some omitted (fennel, sweet pepper). The combination in the list of the ingredients makes for very delicious, comforting, satisfying soup and it’s made with the minimal effort.

Ingredients:

Butternut squash
Fennel
Onion
Sweet pepper
Tomatoes
Chicken stock (vegetable stock or water)
Hot sauce (sriracha)
Roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Directions:

Cut butternut squash into ~ inch size pieces
Slice onion, fennel, sweet peppers, tomatoes
Place on a big roasting pan in 1 layer
Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper
Roast in the preheated to 375 °F oven for about 45 min till all vegetables are cooked and slightly brown
Put all vegetables in a blender, add some water or chicken stock and puree or use emerging blender in a pot
Move into a pan, add some hot sauce and bring the soup to a boil, check for seasoning and adjust if needed.
Serve hot with roasted pumpkin seeds and/or feta cheese crumbles

Directions: