I’m on a soup kick this week, and this is another one of my faves.  I grew up in Tampa which has always had a large Cuban population, and I love Cuban food.  This is a classic soup at the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa which has been serving up Cuban fare in the same location since 1905.

1/2 lb. dried garbanzos
1 ham bone
1 beef bone
2 qts. water
1 T salt
1/4 lb. salt pork cut into thin strips
1 onion finely chopped
1 chorizo sliced into thin rounds
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in eighths
pinch of saffron
1/2 t paprika

• Wash garbanzoes.  Soak overnight with 1 T of salt in enough water to cover beans.  Drain the salted water from the beans.  Place the beans in a 4-qt. soup kettle.  Add 2 qts. water and the ham and beef bones.  Cook for 45 minutes over low heat, skimming foam from the top.
• Fry salt pork slowly in a skillet.  Add chopped onion and saute lightly.  Add to beans along with potatoes, paprika, and saffron.  Add salt to taste.  When potatoes are tender, remove from the heat and add chorizo.  Serve hot in deep soup bowls.

At the first sign of cool weather, my meal-planning thoughts turn to warm and hearty soups.  I made this up a couple of years ago when I was craving curry and this hit the spot.  This is comfort food in a hurry, rich and satisfying. 

1 1/2 C chicken broth
1/2 C chopped onions
2 T butter
2 T all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 C cream
2 C cauliflower, chopped (fresh or frozen)
1 t curry powder
hot sauce to taste (a few drops of Tabasco Habanero sauce is wonderful)

• In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth, onion, cauliflower, curry powder, salt and pepper to a boil.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender.  Remove from heat.
• Carefully ladle half of mixture into blender or food processor and puree until smooth, or use blender stick in saucepan (far simpler).  Repeat with remaining soup.  Pour into large bowl.
• Melt the butter in the soup pan.  Whisk in the flour until smooth.  Add the cream all at once.  Cook until smooth and bubbly, whisking continuously.
• Stir in the cauliflower soup mix and cook until heated through.  Adjust seasoning to taste with salt, pepper and hot sauce, if desired.

I took the traditional homemade chili recipe of 1 lb. hamburg, 1 can of kidney beans and 1 can of tomatoes and kicked it up a notch or two, replacing the hamburg and kidneys with sirloin steak and pintos and plain tomatoes with Rotel.  It’s the new default week-night chili.   

1 1/2 lbs. round steak, cut in 1/2″ dice
3 T EVOO
1 28 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained
2 15 oz. cans pinto beans, undrained
1 onion, diced
1 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 C chili powder (I use McCormick’s Ancho Chili Powder)
1 T cumin powder
2 T dry sherry
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro

Garnish:
sour cream
sliced scallions
shredded cheddar cheese

• In large saucepan heat olive oil over medium high heat then add steak, stirring to lightly brown all over.  Add onion and garlic, stirring to prevent garlic from browning.  Heat until onion is translucent.  Stir in chili powder and cumin.
• Add drained tomatoes and pintos, bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until heated through and flavors develop. Sitr in sherry and cliantro. 
• Serve over hot rice, and garnish as desired with sour cream, cheddar cheese and sliced scallions.

This was the soup course Wanda assigned to Rod and I the night she hosted dinner club with a 1905 theme.  Everyone agreed this was the one recipe they would want to make again.

50 large clams (I buy them already shucked from Seafood 2 Go in Apalach)
4 T butter
4 T flour
3 C of milk
2 small slices of onion
Dash of nutmeg (freshly ground if you have it)
Salt and pepper
1 C of cream

• Strain liquor from clams; set aside. Pulse clams in food processor until pureed.
• Put the milk in the top of a double-broiler with the onion slices.
• Put the butter in a frying pan and when it bubbles, stir in the flour and let it cook a few minutes, but not brown; add enough of the milk slowly to make a roux liquid.
• Remove the onion slices from the double broiler. Add the roux to the milk in the double broiler.
• Add a dash each of nutmeg and pepper, then stir in the cream.
• When ready to serve, stir in the clam pulp and one pint of the liquor; taste to see if salt is needed. After the clams are added to the milk, leave it on the heat only long enough to get well heated; if boiled the milk will curdle.

When you live on Cape San Blas you can never have enough great scallop recipes, especially during the summer when scallop season is open and we can pull bucketloads of the fresh and tasty blue-eyed bivalves from St. Joe Bay.

1 lb scallops
1/2 C dry white wine
1 lg onion
1/2 C shredded Swiss Cheese
2 T butter
1 T snipped parsley
1/4 C flour
3 ½ C half & half
4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
1 t salt
dash pepper

1. Cut onion into thin wedges and cook in butter, covered, over low heat 15 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in flour, add half & half and cook and stir over med heat until bubbly. Add mushrooms, scallops, salt & pepper.
3. Cover & simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in wine. Sprinkle cheese and parsley on top.

Serves 6

1/2 C EVOO
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 bunch scallions, white and light green part only
1 large hot red chile, seeded and thinly sliced
2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed
1 1/4 C dry, fruity white wine
1 lb. shelled and deveined medium shrimp
Crusty bread, for serving

1. In a large deep skillet, heat the extra­ virgin olive oil until shimmering. Add the shiitake mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the scallions and chile and cook for 2 minutes, until just softened.
2. Add the clams and wine and cook uncovered, stirring, until half of the clams are opened, about 4 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until all of the clams are open and the shrimp are pink and cooked through, about 4 minutes longer. Serve in deep bowls with crusty bread to sop up the sauce.