This is not any particular kind of soup. This is just Soup- basically, a meat and vegetable dish in a tasty broth, with things like noodles, rice, dumplings, etc. optional. Change it out, use what you have and/or what you like.

Start with a rich broth. This can be the broth from a pot roast or corned beef boiled dinner (but with the corned beef, dilute well if it’s too salty!), or a purpose-made stock from poultry bones and carcasses, or one made from a nice ham bone.

Stock- make the day before
If you’re making the stock, take the bones from a poultry roast- after stripping the meat from it and reserving it for the soup- and break them up. Roast them at 400F for an hour or so, along with coarsely cut celery, onions, and carrots, and a couple of cloves of garlic. Stir every 20 min or so. Go longer if you have to- you want a deep brown caramelization.

Put bones and roasted veg into a large pot. Add seasonings if you like- a bay leaf or 2 and some peppercorns are good. Deglaze roasting pan with a half cup-1 cup of wine- white usually- until you have dissolved all the fond and boiled off the alcohol. Add to pot with veg and bones. Add water to cover, and simmer for hours- at least 2-4, and more is not a problem. Strain stock and discard bones and played-out veg.

Ham is different. Take a meaty ham bone and simmer, with bay leaf and peppercorns, until the connective tissues have melted. Remove, cool, and pull meat off bones. Discard bones and chop up meat.

If your stock has a LOT of fat, refrigerate it overnight, or put it on the porch in the winter, then pull off most of the hardened fat. You really do want to leave some fat- it helps both the flavor and the “fillingness” a LOT.

Soup

Now it’s time to craft the soup. I always include onions, carrots, and potatoes (usually gold or red). More celery is possible. Sweet potatoes break down and thicken and enrich the broth- I especially like them in our annual goose soup. Turnips and/or parsnips are great in most soups. Ham-based ones, to my mind, require legumes- split peas are easy, and beans are good. The trick here is sequencing. If you are adding dried beans, add them first and let them get mostly cooked before adding anything else. If you are adding brown rice, add it with the tougher veg- carrots and celery. Basically, move from the stuff that takes more cooking to the stuff that requires less. Potatoes are in the middle, and turnips and parsnips toward the end. The chopped meat is added right before serving the first day.

(Ham soup, for us, usually has beans or split peas, carrots, celery if we have it, onions, and potatoes; corned beef has carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips; goose has sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips, maybe parsnips; etc.)

If you are wanting noodles, I strongly suggest cooking them separately and adding them to the bowls right before serving. If dumplings, cook in the pot but remove and reheat them separately- else the whole thing becomes a porridge. Tasty, but not great-looking.

You can always add more water to soup, for texture or quantity.

If you are not happy with your soup, think about what’s missing. For several years I was not pleased with mine because I thoroughly de-fatted it, which is a Bad Idea; even if you forswear fat, leave a tablespoon or 2 for a batch of soup. It may also need salt. I often add a pinch of salt to the veg before roasting them, and that suffices- but we tend to eat pretty low-salt, and you might want more, especially with poultry soup rather than ham or corned beef.

This generally makes at least 6-8 servings. Lots of good veg, “bone broth”, and very frugal. And delicious!

Green Turkey Enchilada Casserole, based on a Cook’s Country recipe
6-8 servings

Notes:
This is not spicy-hot at all, although I am sure one could make it so!

The original recipe calls for 16 oz of green enchilada sauce; we’ve made it with as much as 28. It all depends on the size cans or jars you have åavailable. Better to err on the side of more rather than less, so 16 oz is a minimum.

It’d probably be fine with red enchilada sauce, too.

We think this is best with dark meat turkey.

It would probably be ideal to spray-oil both sides of the tortillas and brown them…but it works fine without doing that and is so much easier! That would add some nice toasty flavors, though.

1 T oil or fat
1-2 onions, thinly sliced or chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 T taco seasoning (we use bold Penzey’s, but whatever)
2 cups leftover cooked turkey, pref dark, cut into bite-sized pieces, or a bit smaller.
0.5-1 cup frozen corn, thawed (Trader Joe’s Roasted is excellent!)

20-28 oz bought green enchilada sauce
12 corn tortillas

2 cups/ 8 oz pepperjack cheese, -or mix of jack and hot cheddar, shredded

0.5 cup sour cream

0.33 cups chopped cilantro, optional

Heat fat in a large skillet. start onions cooking- they need to be soft, and only slightly browned (if that). A small pinch of salt helps them break down. Cook until tender and maybe golden brown, at least 8 min. Meanwhile:

Mix sour cream with 0.5 cups enchilada sauce.

Heat oven to 325F. Spray-oil a 9x13-inch pan. Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce over the bottom of the pan (around 0.5-0.75 cups). Layer in 6 tortillas, in a 2x3 matrix, overlapping OK. Spray lightly with spray oil.

Add garlic and taco seasoning to onion skillet when the onions are ready, and cook until fragrant, about 30 sec. Remove from heat. Stir in chopped turkey, thawed corn, and remaining enchilada sauce, however much it is.

Layer half of the turkey mixture on the tortillas. Sprinkle with around half the cheese. Layer on 6 more tortillas, lightly spray them, and add remaining turkey mixture and most of the rest of the cheese.

Bake until starting to brown around the edges- at least 10 min, and maybe 20. Spread sour cream/sauce mixture over the top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and/or mixture is bubbling, at least 10 min.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10-15 min before cutting.

Reheats very well, esp in microwave!

This is from Cook's Illustrated old "poultry" cookbook. It makes an excellent gravy base.

Brown Goose Stock

3 tablespoons goose fat, removed from cavity and chopped
Goose neck and wing tips, and arguably flats, cut into 1-2 inch pieces (this is hard), patted dry
Goose gizzards and heart (reserve liver), patted dry

1 med or 2 sm onions, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 med carrot, washed and chopped coarsely
1 celery rib, chopped coarsely

2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups full-bodied red wine, not tannin-y

0.5 cup chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium commercial
6 large fresh parsley stems
1 large bay leaf
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
0.5 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat the goose fat in large saucepan over med heat until it renders leaving small browned bits.

Heat fat until it starts to smoke (turn on exhaust fan), then add the goose pieces as above. Saute, stirring often, until the goose is a deep mahogany color. recipe says 10 min; more like 20-30.

Add onions, carrots, celery. Add pinch of salt. cook, stirring often, till veg browns around the edges, 10-20+ min.

Add sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until it caramelizes and begins to smoke. IMMEDIATELY pour in wine and stir to deglaze.

Add stock, parsley, bay, peppercorns, and thyme.

Bring to a bare simmer and turn down heat. Simmer partially covered at least 2 hours, adding water if solids are exposed.

Strain and discard solids, except for giblets. Chill and remove fat cap, saving fat for cooking potatoes.

In the Twin Cities, MN, julekaga was to be had EVERYWHERE. Here in MA- never see it...so I had to make my own. After 35 years or so, this is what we do. (I still miss poppyseed kolaches; maybe this year...)


Julekaga

Makes 3 loaves

6.25 cups flour + 2 tablespoons flour
0.25 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar
1.5 tsp salt
0.75-1.5 tsp cardamon
3 Tablespoons shortening, oil, or butter

3 pkg OR 3 scant tablespoons instant yeast

1 cup warm water
1 cup milk

3 eggs: 1 yolk reserved for glaze, the rest beaten

0.5 cup currants
0.75 cup raisins
0.75 cup fruitcake mix

1 Tablespoon cold water (glaze)

3 candied cherries

Mix flour, sugar, salt, cardamon, yeast, and shortening/oil/butter.

Mix milk, eggs (except for reserved yolk), and water. Add to flour mix and knead 3-5 min.

Toss fruits with flour. Knead into dough until dispersed.

Put in greased bowl, Turn over to grease the top. Let rise until doubled.

When doubled, deflate. Divide into thirds. Form 3 loaves. put on parchment or silpat to rise, covered.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix reserved yolk with 1 Tablespoon water. Paint loaves with this glaze. Indent the center top slightly; add cherry, glaze top.

Bake for 20min. remove, re-glaze, return to oven rotated 180 degrees. Cook 10+ more minutes, until golden.

Once out of oven, paint again with glaze if there’s any left.

Cool, slice and enjoy!

Notes: In the Twin Cities julekaga is generally glazed with a powdered sugar/water icing, but that makes it harder to toast. It’s great toasted with butter and cinnamon sugar! so I do not do the sugar glaze. If stale, it makes great French toast and/or bread pudding!

The main difference with this compared to other Northern European fruited sweet breads is the use of cardamon.

Even someone notorious for loathing vegetables gobbled this down!

Green Bean Succotash
(from Cook's Country)

Serves 4

Green beans replace traditional lima beans in this easy succotash. If you don't have fresh thyme, finish with 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley or basil.
Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped off, beans cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (10-ounce) package frozen corn
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Instructions

1. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and cook until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; bring to boil.

2. Add beans, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add corn, cover, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is heated through and beans are very tender, 3 to 7 minutes. Remove lid; simmer briskly to further reduce cream if necessary.

3. Stir in thyme and lemon juice and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Notes: we used basil. We made it a couple of days ahead and nuked it before serving, and it was gobbled up by even someone who hates vegetables on principle. :) Easy and good!

This is our current moussaka recipe. It's based on the recipe in the Victory Garden cookbook, but cut in half and with some additional embellishments. I have not yet tried subbing chicken broth for the milk in the white sauce layer, but have read that that makes it very excellent indeed.

Also, we tend to have a mix of parm, romano, and maybe asiago cheeses in our ground hard cheese, and we use what we have.

Moussaka- makes 6-8 servings (definitely 8 if you add the potato layer; reheats wonderfully, esp in the microwave)

2.5-3 pounds eggplant*
Salt and pepper
Spray oil

0.5 tablespoon Olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1-2 onions, chopped
1.5-2 pounds ground lamb**
1 tsp chopped or minced garlic (garlic press fine)
3 cups tomato sauce or crushed- 28 oz can fine
0.5 cups red wine
0.5 teaspoons rosemary***
1 teaspoon dill***
2 eggs
6 tablespoons grated romano cheese
0.25 cups bread crumbs

3 tbsp butter
0.25 cups flour
1.5 cups milk****
0.25 cups romano cheese
2 egg yolks OR 1 egg

Set oven to 350F

Wash the eggplant, slice it, and salt it on both sides. Allow to drain for 30 min to 1 hour.

Wipe off moisture and salt, spray with spray oil if you like, and broil until browned on both sides.

Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large sauce pan. Saute chopped onions until soft. Add ground meat and garlic and cook until browned. Drain fat if necessary.

Add tomatoes, wine, and herbs/spices. Simmer until reduced. Let cool some.

Beat 2 eggs. Add them and 6 tbsp romano cheese to the meat mixture.

Spray 9x13 pan with spray oil. Scatter bread crumbs on bottom.

Put 1/3 to 1/2 eggplant in pan. Cover with half the meat sauce. Put another 1/3 eggplant (or potatoes) in pan; cover with remaining meat mix. Add final layer of eggplant.

Make béchamel sauce: melt 3 tbsp butter and mix in flour. when cooked, add milk or stock; cook till thickened. whisk in remaining cheese and egg. Pour over casserole.

Bake at 350F for 45-60 min. Allow to sit for 15 min before slicing.


*More is OK. If less, add 1.5 pounds or so of boiled potatoes to the layering, cut similarly.

** We usually use 1 pound ground lamb and 1 pound ground beef; you can use all ground beef especially if you have lamb fat to saute it in.

*** and/or 0.5 teaspoon cinnamon, and add parsley and basil at the end

**** Or chicken stock

I lost the recipe for this, and so have done my best to re-create it. I think it turned out well.

Excellent with ham. it is more assertive if cool, and more succulent when warm. Both are good, as it is with or without the butter.

Apricot Scallion Sauce

4-6 scallions
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tsp finely minced ginger
4-6 oz dried apricots, sliced into ribbons
0.5 cup water or more for simmering
white pepper to taste

1 tsp+ sugar IF using sour apricots
1 tsp+ white wine vinegar IF using sweet apricots

2-4 Tbsp butter, cold (optional)

Slice white- lt green parts of scallions. add to small saucepan. Slice tops of scallions and reserve.

Add garlic (garlic press is fine) and 2 tsp ginger to pan. Add apricots. Add water.

Simmer until the apricots can be mushed up with a fork, covered. Keep an eye on the water level; we want a texture that’s a bit loose but not wet.

If the apricots are sweet (Turkish), add vinegar to make it sweet/sour; if the apricots are sour, add sugar to make it sweet/sour. Simmer briefly to blend flavors.

Add scallion greens and remaining ginger.

Remove from heat. Add cold butter, a tablespoon at a time, whisking all the while to thicken and enrich sauce. Do not allow the butter to separate!

Serve with ham.

Note: it is also good without the butter.

Fruit-Nut Poultry Stuffing

This is another Traditional Family Recipe I got out of the newspaper. It was originally a stuffing for turkey for Rosh Hashanah, but it works wonderfully in fatty birds like goose and duck, since it has nothing really absorbent to soak up the fat.

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped

0.5 cup orange juice
0.5 cup sugar
1.5 cup cranberries

12 prunes, chopped
6-8 dried apricots, chopped
1 cup raisins or currants
3 med or 2 large apples, diced (I use Granny Smiths, and do not peel)
1.5 cups slivered or sliced almonds, or other nuts
2 lg eggs, beaten

0.5 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon cinnamon
0.25 teaspoon ground cloves
0,125 teaspoon ground ginger (more is OK)
salt, pepper to taste

Melt butter (or goose fat). salute the onions and celery until tender. Set aside in large bowl.

In same pan, mix juice and sugar. Bring to boil. Add cranberries and boil. Lower heat and cook until the skins pop, usually 10 min or so. Add dried fruit, mix, remove from heat, and add to veg. Cool to room temp.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Stuff bird and bake.

Here's a great, delicious, and dead easy mint sauce for lamb, adapted from Cook's Illustrated. It's so much better than mint jelly!:

Sweet and Sour Mint Sauce

0.5 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
0.25 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar (or honey)
Salt to taste

Mix together mint, vinegar, and sugar, till sugar is dissolved.

Let sit for 20 min, minimum, stirring occasionally.

When ready to serve, add salt if you think it needs it, and/or maybe pepper.

Serve with lamb.

This is based on a kale pie i found online. I think the chard works better. I added the mushrooms and the cheese, and will probably continue to experiment. Most veg would work well in this, as long as they are pre-cooked.

I tried it mostly because the idea of a batter crust appealed to me. It's rather like yorkshire pudding in texture and flavor.

Chard and Onion Pie
Ingredients
serves Serves 6-12

• 2 tablespoons butter, plus more as needed (unless bacon)
• A bunch of swiss chard, leaves removed from stems and sliced, and stems chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 8-10 oz mushrooms, sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped mixed herbs, such as parsley, thyme, chervil and chives
• 4-8 oz cheese- cheddar, colby-jack, pepperjack, etc., shredded or cubed (optional)
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped
• 0.25-0.5 lb bacon, chopped and browned before the onions etc.- optional
•
• 3 uncooked eggs, whisked
• 1 cup whole-milk yogurt or sour cream
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 cups flour

Procedures
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large (12-inch) skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until the foam subsides, or cook the bacon so the fat renders. Add the chard stems, mushrooms, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10-12 minutes. Add leaves and stir till wilted. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
2. Add the chopped herbs, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs to the kale mixture, stir gently to combine, and remove from the heat.
3. In the meantime, combine the yogurt or sour cream, mayonnaise, and whisked eggs. Add in the flour, baking powder, and a good pinch of salt and whisk until just smooth.
4. Pour half the batter in the bottom of a greased 12-inch pie dish or a 9 x 13" dish. Layer in the veg mixture, then cover with the remaining batter. Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is shiny and golden. Cool for 15 minutes and serve warm.