Jan Bilton: The many faces of winter soups (+recipes)

Thai Chicken Soup

Nothing's more comforting on a cold winter's day than a bowl of hot soup. There are thin and thick soups - thin to whet the appetite before a main course and thick ones that can be meals in themselves.

The most famous thin soup in the world must be chicken soup, made by cooking chicken in stock or water. Once the chicken is cooked, it may be deboned and the meat returned to the soup or eaten separately. Vegetables, rice or noodles can be added to provide more body.

In the modern kitchen there are two types of thick soup: pureed and cream soups. Both get their thickness from starch.

The difference is that pureed soups are thickened with starch that comes from the main ingredient, such as potatoes, pumpkin or legumes. Cream soups are made with vegetables without a lot of natural starch, like broccoli, mushrooms or asparagus. For these, you have to add starch, usually flour. Cream soups don't have to contain cream. They just need to be the consistency of cream.

Bisques are a type of well-flavoured creamed soup, typically made with crustaceans such as crayfish or prawns, but also with vegetables, as in tomato bisque. The ingredients are cooked in a broth, then pureed, strained and "creamed". Traditional recipes use bread or rice to thicken bisques.

Chowders and gumbos are thick, distinctly American, soups made with milk or cream and usually a starchy vegetable such as corn or potato.

Gumbos are regional American soups from Louisiana, thickened either with a very dark roux - a mixture of flour and fat that is cooked to a deep brown colour -- okra or file powder made from dried sassafras leaves.

RECIPES

THAI CHICKEN SOUP

A spicy chicken palate tingler.

2 tbsp rice bran oil
1 onion, diced
3 each: large garlic cloves, spring onions
500g skinned and boned chicken, thinly sliced
3-4 tbsp Thai green curry paste (or to taste)
400ml can light coconut milk
4 cups chicken stock
2 kaffir lime leaves
2 tbsp fish sauce
250g thinly sliced green beans

TOPPING:

1/2 cup each, basil leaves, coriander leaves
4 tbsp lime juice

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Saute the onion until softened. Meanwhile, crush garlic. Thinly slice the white ends of the spring onions. Finely chop the green ends.
Add garlic and chicken to the saucepan and stir-fry, until coloured. Stir in the curry paste. Add the coconut milk, stock, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce and white spring onion ends. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add beans and green spring onion ends and simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop the basil and coriander and combine with the lime juice. Ladle the soup into bowls and add the topping just before serving. Serves 4.

CREAMY PARSNIP SOUP

1 onion, chopped
3 tbsp canola oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
600g parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 & 1/2 cups chicken stock
4 rashers bacon
300ml cream
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp each: lemon juice, chopped parsley

Saute onion in the oil, until softened. Add garlic and parsnips. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Add chicken stock. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the parsnips are cooked.

Microwave the bacon until crisp, about 3 minutes. Chop.

Puree the soup until smooth. Stir in the cream, seasonings and lemon juice. Blend again until fluffy. Reheat gently.

Serve topped with the bacon and parsley. Serves 4.

SALMON TORTILLA SOUP

Use canned salmon for this 10-minute soup.

1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp plain flour
3 cups chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes in juice
2 tbsp coarsely chopped jalapeno chillies (from a jar)
2 x 210g cans pink salmon
1 cup each: coarsely grated tasty cheese, coarsely crushed tortilla chips

Saute the onion in oil in a large saucepan, until softened. Add garlic and flour. Stir 1 minute. Add stock, tomatoes and jalapenos. Simmer 5 minutes.

Drain salmon, discard bones and large pieces of skin. Flake remainder and add to the soup. Heat through gently.

Place cheese on the base of 4 soup bowls. Top with the soup and garnish with the tortilla chips. Serves 4.

CELERY BISQUE

6 cups diced celery and leaves
2 cups each: chicken stock, boiling water
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 cup light sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine celery, chicken stock and boiling water in a saucepan; simmer until celery is tender.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in the butter, until softened. Stir in the flour. Slowly stir in the milk, cooking and stirring, until thick. Stir in the celery mixture and sour cream, then season.

Process in an electric blender or with a handheld blender, until smooth.

Reheat to serve.

Great served topped with crumbled blue cheese. Serves 6.