Cooking with Asia

For my homelab in the soup section I made Creamed Broccoli soup. I really enjoyed it at school so decided to go with this soup. When I made this at school I showed my mom that i was making that for my homelab and she didn't like the way that it looked but she was willing to try it. When she tried it she really liked it, she even wanted me to make the same recipe except double the size so she could have more. The thing that went well when I was making the recipe was that I was working quick and I was able to make it before anyone came home so they could try it out. But I had a complication while making the soup and it was that when I was gathering all the ingredients I didnt have the right soy sauce. I thought we had regular soy sauce but we only had the substitution for it which had been really different from the real soy sauce. Other than that the soup turned out fine, I was nervous that it would have a different taste because the substitute soy sauce didn't taste like the real thing but it ended up being fine. Something that I learned in class and used when I was cooking at home was how to chop and slice everything properly. Before commercial cooking I didn't know that much cooking terminolgy and I probably would have looked up online how to do things properly. I really liked this soup and it's texture and I'm glad that my mom enjoyed it too.

Usually eaten hot, it’s also surprisingly delicious eaten fridge-cold on a summer’s day with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Ingredients

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 sticks celery, sliced

2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped

400 g leeks

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

400 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice.

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. Chicken base

7 c. boiling water

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Cut the ends off the leeks, quarter them lengthways. Wash them under running water and cut them into 1 cm slices.

2. Place a large pan on high heat and add 2 tbsp. of olive oil.

3. Add all your chopped and sliced ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon.

4. Cook for around 10 minutes with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened, but are still holding their shape, and the onion and leeks are lightly golden.

5. Put the chicken base into a pan and pour in 7 c. boiling water from the kettle. Stir until the base is dissolved, then add to the vegetables.

6. Add your potatoes. Give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil.

7. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minute with the lid on.

8. Remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt and pepper.

9. Serve like this or pulse until smooth using a hand blender.

Source: jamieoliver.com

 Before I've never made soup from scratch, so when we started making soup for our first cooking lab I was very excited. During our cooking I was nervous that something was going to go wrong. The only thing that went wrong was that we didn't let the vegetables brown as much as we should have but it wasn't too bad. Our soup turned out a couple of shades lighter then the others but in the end it still tasted good even though it was not like the others. In the cooking lab I had lots of fun and as a team in the kitchen I would say we worked together well and we communicated remarkably well. We didn't end up making the soup brown enough so I think that's what I would've done differently if I was able to make this soup again and I would make sure I worked quickly and use it wisely. What I learned that helped me in this cooking lab was knowing the terms of how to slice and chop properly. Without the terms I don't think that before I would have known the difference between the two. Overall I really liked this soup even though I was skeptical in the start about how it would taste.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground beef

1 tbsp. oil

3/4 c. chopped onion

3/4 c. shredded carrots

3/4 c. diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

3 c. chicken broth

4 c. peeled and diced potatoes

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. all purpose flour

2 cups grated cheese

1 1/2 c. milk

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 c. sour cream

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a 3 quart saucepan. Drain and set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, add 1 T. oil and add onion, shredded carrots, parsley flakes, basil and celery. Saute until tender.

3. Add the broth, potatoes and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 - 12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

4. In small skillet melt butter and add the flour. Cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to the soup and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

5. Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

Yield: 8 servings

Source: Kim's Krazyness

1/4 c. butter

4 c. thinly sliced onion

1 lt beef broth

1/4 tsp. salt

6 slices French bread, 1 inch thick

2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

2 pkgs. (1 oz. size) process Gruyere cheese, grated

1. In hot butter in large kettle, saute onion until golden, about 8 minutes.

2. Add beef broth and salt; bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, toast bread on both sides in broiler. Sprinkle one side with Parmesan and Gruyere cheese; broil just until cheese is bubbly, about 1 minute.

4. To serve: Pour soup into individual soup bowls. Float toast, cheese side up, on soup.

Makes 6 servings.

Source: Miller Cafeteria

 This being our first cooking lab I was very excited to make this soup. On the television I've always seen french onion soup being made and it always looked so good. So I was pretty excited to learn how to make such a delicious soup. In the kitchen it was the first time my kitchen ever worked together and I have to say we did very well. The thing that we did best was being able to cut the onions consistently and I think we really made the carmelized onions perfectly. For our first time working together I'm glad that we were able to communicate and make the soup so good. The downfall of our first time in the kitchen was that we weren't able to finish our soup in time and we had to stay longer to clean our kitchen and finish up. We worked and at the end we ran out of time but since it was our first cooking lab we knew for the next time that we would have to work more efficiently. If I were to make this again I'd want to make the complete recipe and be able to add the cheese toast on top but the soup still taste and smelt really good. Something in class that really helped me to be successful in the first cooking lab was that you should know how to hold a knife properly. Before I've never really cut onions before and I'm glad that my prior knowledge helped to make the soup a success.  

Prep Time: 20 Min Cook Time: 45 Min Ready In: 1 Hr 5 Min

Ingredients

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons butter

1/2 onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

1/2 clove garlic, chopped

2 cups water

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder

1/2 pound (3 c.) fresh broccoli florets

1 cup half-and-half cream

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ice water

1-1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions

• Melt butter in a fryingpan over medium heat; add chopped onions, carrots, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened.

•In a medium-sized cooking pot, add 2 cups water and chicken bouillon granules and bring to boil.

•Add precooked onion mixture to soup pot.

•Add broccoli florets, reserving a few pieces to be added near the end of cooking time.

•Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until broccoli is just tender.

•In a blender or food processor, puree soup in batches and return to pot.

•Reheat soup.

•Stir in half and half cream and remaining broccoli florets.

•In a cup, mix flour with cold water to form a thin liquid.

•Bring soup to boil; add flour mixture slowly, stirring constantly to thicken soup as desired.

•Add soy sauce, black pepper, and stir well.

•Garnish with chopped parsley (or carrot curls) when serving. Serve soup hot or cold. NutritionalInformation Amount Per Serving Calories: 247 | Total Fat: 16.3g | Cholesterol: 48mg

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

3-4 cups chopped vegetables

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

8 cups water

1 Tbsp. bouillon

1 c. diced tomatoes

1 c. red beans

1 c. pasta

Directions

•To begin, heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat.

•Add the onion, and saute it for a few minutes until it begins to get soft

•Add the rest of the vegetables and saute those for three or four more minutes.

•Add the salt and the spices now, and stir them in so that they coat the vegetables.

•Add the water and turn the heat up to high until it starts to boil.

•Reduce heat to medium.

•Add the bouillon cubes, and stir these in until they dissolve.

•Add the tomatoes and the beans, and return the soup to a boil.

•When the soup is boiling, add the pasta and let it cook until it is done.

•You can serve it as is, or sprinkle a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese on top and add some croutons.

Source: About.com: Vegetarian Food