I love soup so I am looking for some interesting cold soups that I can serve on these hot summer days that are both filling and refreshing. I found a great recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, Williams-Sonoma’s New Orleans.

What I like about this cookbook besides the wonderful collection of recipes is the photographs and the descriptions of Old New Orleans. It is a mini history book as well as an inspiration for cooking. And a portion of the profits go to help the victims of hurricane.

I wanted to adapt the recipe to make it vegetarian but I didn’t have any Veggie Stock Gold on hand and didn’t have the time or the inclination to make a vegetarian stock on short notice. Veggie Stock Gold is a 20 to 1 classic vegetarian stock made by the same folks who make some of my other favorite stock reductions and demi-glace for sauces. You can learn more about these products and how to use them at www.gatewaygourmet.com.

The recipe calls for using chicken stock but I had some duck stock reduction from these same guys called Glace de Canard Gold also a 20 to 1 reduction but of classic duck stock. It is very similar to chicken stock but has a bit more flavor to it so why not give it a try. I also increased the ingredient amounts to make a little more but I have to warn you, I did not increase the cayenne pepper and everyone thought it was a little too spicy. I liked the extra kick but be careful. I would opt to use less and add more after tasting.

Classic vichyssoise is not made with sweet potatoes (sometimes called yams) but with regular potatoes. I like what they did with this recipe by adding extra color and flavor from the sweet potatoes and ginger. It can be served as a starter but I like it on a hot night with a side of salad for a light refreshing meal. I even had it for breakfast one morning and it was great.

Sweet Potato Vichyssoise
Adapted from William Sonoma’s New Orleans

Ingredients

• 6 cups stock (chicken, vegetarian, duck)
• 3 good sized sweet potatoes
• 3 leeks (they usually come in bunches of three)
• Freshly ground pepper if you have it but black pepper will work
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper – Warning, read above
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Sea salt
• Chopped basil for garnish (the original called for chives but I had fresh basil on hand so I went with it)

Prep Time

• Have the stock ready to go whether you make it yourself, buy it canned or reconstitute the stuff I like. Peel and quarter the sweet potatoes.

• Leeks - You are only going to use the white and tender green parts of the leeks so cut the hairy tip off the root as well as the dark green leafy top which by the way would be a great ingredient for your own veggie stock. Leeks can be full of sand so you want to cut them up into ¼ inch slices, separate the rings and give them a good washing in a colander under cold running water.

• Ginger – Peel and grate the ginger. I use a spoon for peeling and my Microplane grater/zester. Works great for these types of jobs.

How to Make Sweet Potato Vichyssoise at Home

1) In a pot big enough to hold all these ingredients (I used a 4 ½ quart sauce pot that worked fine), add the stock, sweet potatoes and leeks and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once at a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. When done, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool some before attempting the pureeing.

2) Here you can use a blender or food processor and work in batches to puree the potatoes, stock and leeks. I prefer to use my hand blender to minimize the cleanup and avoid the mess from spilling during transfer. Whatever method you use, you want the ingredients to become a smooth puree.

3) Before you finish, add the pepper, cayenne and ginger and puree some more. If you used a blender or food processor, pour the soup into a large bowl and let cool. Since I used a hand blender, I just left everything in the pot.

4) Once the soup becomes lukewarm, add the heavy cream and stir to mix well. Here’s a good time to taste and adjust the seasoning with a little salt and I can almost guarantee it will need salt to boost the flavor.

5) Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until the soup is well chilled. This soup will last in the refrigerator for a couple of days and get better each day. When ready to serve, taste again to adjust seasonings and garnish with a little chopped basil on top.

Related Topics:

More Soup Recipes

How to Make Chinese Dumplings at Home

I recently wrote about a couple of cookbooks I borrowed from our local library. One of them was Susanna Foo’s Chinese Cuisine and last night we thought it would be a fun family project to try her Pork Dumplings with Soy-Ginger Sauce. And it turned out to be great fun.

One of the reasons we chose this recipe is because it looked easy enough for all of us to get involved in preparing and my youngest daughter loves dumplings. She lives on those Pot Stickers you can find in the frozen section at Costco. We thought this might be a nice change of pace and if she helped make them, she might even try eating some. We were right again.

This recipe should be listed under “Shortcut Meals” because we didn’t make the dumpling wrappers from scratch.  Instead we purchased square wontons that my oldest daughter transformed into round wontons with a cookie cutter.

After transformation, the wrapper went to my youngest daughter in charge of filling the dumplings with the pork mixture. She stood there with her spoon and proudly added a dollop of ingredients to each one asking, “Daddy, is this the right amount?”

I then sealed them up and did my best to add a little pleat to the sides and turned them over to my wife who was in charge of boiling some and frying the rest. When done, I thought there would be no way we were going to eat all these dumplings. We went through two packages of wonton wrappers, but in the end there were only a few left for someone’s lunch the next day.

There was a ton of pork mixture left so we plan to buy more wrappers, set up the assembly line again and prepare a bunch more for freezing. It is a great family cooking experience and the dumplings are the best I’ve ever eaten…as good as Susanna Foo’s.

Pork Dumplings adapted from Susanna Foo’s Chinese Cuisine

Ingredients

• 1 pound pork, coarsely ground (Suzanna says to use pork butt, but we couldn’t find this while shopping so we substituted some boneless pork loin chops that were on sale.)
• 1 cup scallions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon ginger root, peeled and grated
• ½ pound Chinese Napa cabbage, finely chopped (we substituted regular green cabbage that we had in the refrigerator)
• 1 one-pound package round dumpling wrappers (we substituted squares and converted them into round measuring 3 inches across)

Prep the Ingredients

You want the pork to be coarsely ground. You can buy ground pork at most supermarkets these days just like you can buy ground beef, but I suggest using a food processor and grinding it yourself.

Why? – You can pick what cut of meat you want to use and the size of the grind. The store bought prepackaged ground pork is ground too finely and will dry out.

Finely chop the scallions, peel and grate the ginger root and finely chop the cabbage.

Have the other ingredients ready including your dumpling wrappers and you are ready to go.

How to Make Pork Dumplings at Home

1) Combine the ground pork, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger root in a large bowl and mix together well so all the ingredients will blend.

2) Add the cabbage and mix again. Susanna Foo says don’t try mixing all the ingredients together at one time or the filling will “not taste right”.

3) Now lay a bunch of the wrappers on a clean dry surface, plate, or cutting board with room to work. The cookbook says to add a “scant tablespoon” of pork mixture to the center of each wonton but depending on the size of the wrappers, that might be too much or too little. We used 3-inch diameter wrappers and a little less than a tablespoon worked just fine.

4) Have a glass of water handy to dip your finger in so you can moisten the edges of the wrapper. This will help the wrapper stay closed. Also, have a baking sheet lined with wax paper standing by to store the dumplings.

5) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half-moon shape and then pinch the center together. “Stand the dumpling up on its base and pleat one of the sides of the half-moon twice, halfway between the other edge and the center.”

6) Repeat the pleats on the other side and leave the dumpling standing up. Place it on the baking sheet standing up being careful not to let the dumplings touch or they will stick together.

Repeat with the rest of the wrappers and pork filling.

These dumplings can be cooked right away or frozen for up to 3 months. You can boil or pan-fry them.  We cooked them both ways but the pan-fried ones definitely had more flavor.

We served these dumplings with Susanna Foo’s recipe for Soy-Ginger Sauce and so will you.

How to Cook Dumplings Like Suzanna Foo

I have posted how to boil fresh dumplings, frozen ones and how to pan-fry them on my web site. Click here to learn how to cook dumplings.

We had a great weekend in State College celebrating a bunch of family birthdays. As usual, we stayed at my wife’s sister’s home, who takes on organizing meals for every family gathering. She is a wonderful home cook who puts on these incredible feasts that are unique, entertaining and delicious.

One of the simpler dishes she threw together was this delicious Mango Salsa that was served as an appetizer with chips but could be used just as nicely as a topping for chicken or pork. In fact, I think I threw some on my grilled salmon.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup cooked black beans – you can cook them yourself but canned beans will work quite nicely.
• 1 ripe medium sized mango
• 1 red bell pepper
• ½ red onion
• Juice from 3 limes
• 8 tablespoons pineapple juice
• 1/3 cup of fresh cilantro
• 1-tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 jalapeno chili pepper
• Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Prep the ingredients:

• Peel & pit the mango and then dice it into ¼ inch pieces.
• Core and seed the bell pepper and dice into small pieces.
• Peel and dice the onion into equal sized pieces.
• Squeeze the juice from the limes and have it ready.
• Chop the cilantro finely.
• Stem, seed and mince the jalapeno pepper. Be careful not to touch your hands to your eyes after working with this chile pepper.

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