Nutritious home soups -hmmmm!

[OakLeaf]

Haven't made potato soup yet this year, but Deborah Madison's caramelized version is my favorite. You slice onions and potatoes very thin and sauté them in olive oil until there's a nice thick brown crust on the bottom of the pot, then deglaze it with stock and simmer until everything's tender. I like to purée it with a stick blender (pulse so the potatoes don't get gummy) before adding chopped greens, but you can leave the potatoes chunky.


ETA: Speaking of curry, I haven't tried this yet: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.c...ery-root-soup/ but if I find any celery root at the farmers' market, this is on my list! I try to minimize dairy and I'd expect this soup would be fine without any, but if you wanted the added fat, coconut milk would probably work well with the flavors, or maybe the earthiness of unsweetened hemp milk.

[Becky]

For those of you who own immersion blenders for soup-making: what model/features do you recommend?

[Dannielle]

http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-...8259105&sr=8-5
I have this cheapie immersion blender and it's served me well for years. I almost exclusively use it for soups. I don't love a totally smooth soup and this suits my tastes perfectly as it's not so powerful that I'm left with baby-food soup lol. I like a "thicker than broth" base with some chunkiness.

For the soup I make with cauliflower/curry I usually add Greek yogurt to my bowl before serving to creamy it up and serve as my serving of protein. It's so good!

[OakLeaf]

Well, my old one just died and I went through all that decisionmaking. The one I wound up with is the Kitchen Aid KHB2351. I'm not 100% thrilled with it (mostly because the blender blade isn't super sharp), but it's okay. FWIW my criteria:

(1) Absolutely necessary -
* Removable blender arm. Trying to clean a cheap immersion blender while keeping the motor part out of the water is just not worth the money it saves IMO.
* Chopper attachment. I use that as much or more than the stick part, for emulsifying salad dressings, making tahini, and grinding certain spices.
* Dishwasher safe attachments. What can I say, I'm lazy.

(2) Highly desirable but I was willing to compromise -
* Higher wattage motor. (The one I wound up with is only 200W, which I had to call Kitchen Aid to find out since it isn't anywhere in the product literature. I would have preferred at least 300W and blenders are available up to 500W.)
* Non-polycarbonate chopper bowl (and shake container if supplied). I wasn't too worried about that from a personal safety standpoint since I don't generally let foods sit in the containers for any period of time, but from the standpoint of reforming the industry, it was on my list.
* Sealed bearings/bushings on the attachments, and two sets of bearings/bushings on the blender arm to minimize wobbling and wear.
* A brand name I trust.

(3) Nice, but not necessary:
* Not made in China. (I gave up on that one. I couldn't find a single hand blender at any price point that wasn't. But if you find one post it here!)
* Whisk attachment. The holidays are coming up, and whipping cream or egg whites by hand is a chore and a half ... still, it's probably better not to have the temptation to burn coal to do those tasks.
* Available from a local merchant.


There wasn't a single blender I found that met all of my points. There were others I strongly considered. Now that I have the KA, I like that it's very quiet and easy to clean, I dislike the dull blade and bulky handle. The mid-range price point I thought was a reasonable compromise.

HTH...

[Dannielle]

yeah it definitely depends on the other gadgets you already have in your kitchen. I have a Ninja blender/chopper (love it!!) and a Cuisenart food processor so my immersion blender needs are minor.

[Becky]

Oak- Thanks for the very thorough list of considerations. It gives me a great place to start my search.

[spokewench]

This is one of my favorites. chop 1/2 large onion, 2 stalks celery, 3 carrots, 2 garlic cloves, saute in canola oil, add whole chicken thighs, chicken broth, to cover, plus a little bit, pepper, bay leaf, 1 can of tomatoes or two-three medium chopped fresh tomatoes. cook till chicken is tender; take the chicken out; shred it and return it to the soup pan. add some chopped potatoes, cabbage (chopped in strips); chard (chopped in strips). When the cabbage and potatoes are tender, let the soup cool just a bit, and add 1/4 cup of sour cream (don't want it to curdle when you add it). If you like a russian flavor, add a little bit of caraway seed when cooking. This is almost a russian borscht recipe. I have been known to add roasted golden beets since they don't turn the soup pink. I've tried red beets, but the pink colored soup kind of turns me off but it really does not ruin the taste. Still tastes good!

Yummy!