Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog

This Mexican meatball soup was a family favorite growing up. Not an appetizer, always a main course, either for lunch or dinner. "Albondigas" means "meatballs" in Spanish, and the trick to perfect albondigas soup is to put chopped mint leaves...

The foggy coastline of Northern California is artichoke country. Like finding small hole-in-the-walls that serve clam chowder in New England, here one can sometimes find local diners that sell delicous artichoke soup. I first developed a taste for artichoke soup...

Many recipes call for beef stock (e.g. French onion soup), but good beef stock is hard to come by, with beef prices these days, expensive to make. Beef oxtails make a wonderful stock and sometimes you can get them (try...

What better on a chilly day than a plate of steaming hot beef stew with light, fluffy dumplings? My super-hero father decided to make goulash for us recently and when the first recipe he tried didn't work out (go figure...

As some of you may be aware, California has been hit with some stormy weather recently. We warm-weather low-landers don't do cold and wet too well and for the last several days of rainy and cold I've been craving some...

My first memorable encounter with borscht was at a pot-luck party I had in San Francisco, in which my friend Elisabeth brought a huge, must have been 12 or 16-quart, pot of drop-dead delicious, deep purply red soup filled with...

According to tradition, there should be at least five different kinds of fish in a proper bouillabaisse. In Marseille, considered the mecca of bouillabaisse, they use at least seven, not counting the shellfish. The fish should be extremely fresh...

Can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. The trick to great butternut squash soup is the simple addition of one tart green apple to balance the sweetness of the squash.

I've been begging my friend Arturo to teach me how to make pozole for months now. The problem is that it is sort of like asking someone to make you "taco night". Pozole is a big production, not in the...

"Stews are your best ally for stress-free dinner parties," says Clotilde Dusoulier, of her Mustard Chicken Stew in her Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook, and I couldn't agree more. They cook happily away while you enjoy the company of your guests...

Chicken and dumplings - the ultimate comfort food. Mom used to make this for us kids by simply adding Bisquick biscuit dough to chicken stew. We would always fight over the dumplings. Making chicken and dumplings so that the dumplings...

It seems as if there as many ways to prepare chili as there are cooks who make chili. Ground beef versus chunks, pork versus beef, pinto versus kidney beans, beans versus no beans, red chili or green chili - the...

"I'll make cioppino," my brother John announced as the family discussed what to make over the holiday weekend. "Great!" said my father and I, relieved that someone else would do the cooking for a night. "Have you ever made cioppino...

My father made this cold tomato and zucchini soup the other day. "Don't call it gazpacho." "Why not? It looks like gazpacho, but with some zucchini." "It's my soup. I made it up. It's not gazpacho. Don't call it gazpacho...

My parents experimented for 40 years before finally settling on this one chicken soup recipe. It is a variation of a Colombian recipe (Ajiaco) and is served with a special salsa, "Aji", that truly defines the dish.

With sweet, fresh corn, still available at the local farmers market, we just couldn't resist trying our hands at some fresh corn chowder. The recipe is adapted from one by Mitchell Davis in Kitchen Sense and is full of flavor...

During the winter months, our local Whole Foods gets one or two shipments in a week of freshly cooked Dungeness crab. Like all seafood, crab tastes best when it is as fresh as possible. When buying crab, ask the guy...

Cream of mushroom soup was the first soup I fell in love with as a child. Of course, back then it was Campbell's. At age 8 I could make it myself, quickly learning that adding milk tasted a whole lot...

This delicious cream of spinach soup is as rich, smooth and creamy as the label "Cream of" would imply. It's basically a vichyssoise, with spinach in addition to the potatoes, and can be served either hot or chilled.

Last spring I discovered with delight wild morel mushrooms popping up in our backyard. After two winters of biking the American River bike trail looking for edible mushrooms, having been bit by the wild porcini bug on forays in Northern...

Spring here means strawberries and rhubarb, sweet peas and asparagus, and dreams of the summer bounty to come. Asparagus are everywhere, big, fat, and fresh. And yes, although we can get them all year round, I'm especially happy to eat...

Looking for a special soup to serve over the Thanksgiving holiday? Consider this creamy sweet potato soup seasoned with nutmeg and maple syrup. We found this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit and made it this weekend. I...

In honor of my friend Barbara and her efforts with the food blogger Taste of Yellow event raising awareness for Lance Armstrong's LiveSTRONG Day, I set out to make a vibrant, yellow soup. This curried potato soup is filled with...

Tis the season for squash and pear. My friend Lorenza gave me this recipe back in the spring, when neither were in season. I finally made it last week, and it was lovely! Similar to the spicy pumpkin soup I...

My father has been making this soup for several years now. It is incredibly easy to make, given how tasty the results. The key ingredient is the clam juice, though I have prepared it for people with shellfish allergies substituting...

One of the most filling, delicious and affordable dishes one can make is turkey stew. You make it with turkey thighs (or legs), which, in addition to being the tastier dark meat, you can usually get for $1.50 per pound...

A few weeks ago I was wondering what to do with the end-of-season eggplants, tomatoes, and chiles from our garden and stumbled across this recipe from Food and Wine, which also calls for pomegranate molasses. The recipe comes from the...

The trick to a great French onion soup is starting with good stock. French onion soup is usually made with beef stock. I've made delicious soup with stock from the leftover rib bones of a rib roast. Another important element...

Gazpacho soup was invented for the summer. Refreshingly cold on hot summer days, this adaptation of the classic Spanish cold tomato soup deliciously combines the best of summer vegetables. Make sure you only use the freshest, highest quality ingredients for...

The weather can't make up its mind here in Northern California. One week we have temps so cold it knocks out the citrus industry. Three weeks later and we have sunny days in the mid 70s. We're now back to...

What is it about September that the minute it's no longer oppressively hot we can't wait to make a slow-cooked, braised stew? Perhaps it was that these lamb shanks had been sitting in our large freezer all summer long, and...

There are two basic ways to make chicken stock. One method uses the leftover bones from a chicken carcass and vegetables, and takes several hours of slow cooking. The second method uses chicken backs and wings, sautéing them first, and...

Years ago, on a little island off the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts, a friend's aunt showed me how to eat a lobster, including the fine art of sucking the tender meat and juice out of the spindly legs. It was...

"Have I got the best recipe for you!" my friend Tomas announced, upon his return from a trip to photograph vineyards in Italy. "It's an Irish beef stew," he added, "and it's the best thing I've ever had." Apparently the...

Around St. Patrick's Day I notice many people coming to this site looking for an Irish lamb stew recipe. After some experimentation and a lot of research into Irish stews, I've settled on a stew that has its roots in...

We first posted this kale soup recipe four years ago and it has since become a regular winter staple in our home. Roasted vegetables, puréed and then cooked with broth, kale, and white beans make up this hearty soup. Of...

According to the Wikipedia, minestrone is an Italian soup made with fresh seasonal vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes. There is no set recipe for minestrone, since...

Mom and dad are both sick this week with a "rotten cold" that is keeping them feeling pretty miserable - coughing, sneezing, grumpy, etc. Mom made a delicious chicken soup today with just chicken broth and vegetables, no chicken meat...

Updated Every Thanksgiving my mother takes what's left of the turkey carcass and makes a delicious turkey soup that we enjoy for days. The first step is to make the stock, which you can get started on right after dinner.

New England boiled dinner is a one pot dish consisting of corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. How this dish came to be from New England I have no idea; it seems to have more Irish-American roots with the corned...

Yes, oxtails really are from the tail of an ox (well, maybe not an ox per se, but a beef steer's tail). They have a deliciously rich and distinctive flavor. Like most stews, oxtail stew is best slow cooked for...

Potato leek soup is so easy to make and delicious too. This recipe can be prepared in 40 minutes or less.

Have you ever tried cooking with smoked paprika? A few months ago I posted a recipe for roasted chicken with smoked paprika in which I told how I first encountered smoked paprika in a kumara soup in New Zealand. Like...

Fall is here and it is soup season once again. This roasted eggplant and tomato soup recipe is a terrific recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. The flavors of the roasted tomatoes, garlic, carrots, chickpeas, and curry combine beautifully...

My mother visited her friend Claire today and returned with this fabulous red bell pepper soup made with fresh peppers from Claire's garden. Claire made it with non-fat milk and it was still wonderful, even though her original recipe called...

In Bahia in Northern Brazil, there is a savory fish stew called "Moqueca" that they make with local fish. Fernanda Guimaraes Rosa, who writes the Brazilian food blog Chucrute com Salsicha, brought a Vancouver friend's salmon version of Moqueca to...

The debate didn't last long. "You could have used boneless beef short-ribs. You're paying for the bones when you buy them bone-in," my mother remarked in while we were all enjoying this wonderful stew. "It's better with the bones," my...

A little trivia here. What makes a bisque a bisque and not a chowder? Both bisques and chowders are made with seafood and vegetables, with a cream base. Chowders tend to be more stew-like or chunky, and bisques puréed. Bisques...

With shorter days and colder nights, this richly flavorful lamb stew with butternut squash is a great way to fill up and stay warm.

I love pumpkin soup, don't you? This recipe is adapted from one featured in Oprah Magazine. The original called for the soup to be served in roasted carved-out sugar pumpkins - a nice touch, but a little overkill for my...

Split pea soup is one of those wonderful hearty soups of winter. Made with dried "split" peas, and cooked up with a flavorful, smokey ham hock, it's warm, filling, and satisfying. This split pea soup recipe is based on one...

Every time I take a cooking class from Sacramento chef Evie Lieb I'm inspired for weeks with new ideas and recipes for bringing out the best from ingredients. This summer pea soup is an Evie inspiration, a re-creation of soup...

Tortilla soup encompasses all the things I love best in Mexican cooking. Do you like salsa? avocado? cilantro? fresh hot tortilla chips? Tortilla soup is like a soup version of my favorite enchilada, with chicken, and tortilla chips. And avocado...

Church book sales are a great way to pick up cookbooks at bargain prices. Ours was last weekend and we found the Food and Wine Magazine's 1999 Annual Cookbook for a dollar. What a deal! Most of the recipes in...

My father found this recipe by Wolfgang Puck, who says that he got this recipe from his mother. It's really an excellent vegetable soup. Surprisingly tasty.

We've had some wonderfully cold, rainy, winter storms here lately in Northern California. This soup is the perfect hardy accompaniment to a cold winter day. Note, this soup is the kind that is much better the next day, as the...

Is it that time of year yet for hearty soups? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, this one is a family favorite, combining a potpourri of colorful vegetables with the creamy texture of white beans.

My friend Steve-Anna, who has been tempting me with tales of her white chili for years, finally sent me the recipe. It originally comes from the Beyond Parsley cookbook, by the Junior League of Kansas City, MO. Both she and...