Yummm! Satisfying Soups: Low-Fat Seafood Gumbo

Happy Tuesday, all!! It's the last week in October, so I thought I would end my feature on satisfying soup recipes with a bang!!!

This delicious (albeit complicated-sounding) recipe has all the ingredients to make me go "Oooh!": Seafood, Spice and it's low-fat on top of it all!!! Score!!

Low-Fat Seafood Gumbo

Recipe Courtesy of Emeril Legasse, Food Network

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups clam juice
8 ounces fresh okra, tops trimmed and halved lengthwise
3 bay leaves
1/2 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3 blue crabs, quartered, optional
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 dozen shucked oysters, liquid reserved
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 pound lump crabmeat
Serving suggestion: cooked white rice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put the flour on a baking sheet and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the flour is a dark nut brown.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat the oil with the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, pepper, celery, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, crushing them through your fingers into the pot with their juices and cook for another 5 minutes. Gradually sift the browned flour in the pot until the vegetables are coated, cook for 2 minutes more. Slowly pour in the stock and clam juice, stirring constantly. Add the okra, bay leaves, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, thyme, and crabs. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the shrimp, oysters with their liquid, green onions and parsley; cook until the shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. Add the lump crabmeat and season the gumbo, to taste. Serve with rice.

Yummm! Satisfying Soups: Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipe

I'm back with another satisfying soup recipe that is sure to stick to your ribs and warm your spirits. If you have a soup recipe you'd like to contribute, be sure to drop me a line!

Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup

Recipe Courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com

Ingredients

3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered lenthwise
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges or 4 or 5 slices
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick wedges
6 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 cups or more of vegetable broth*
4 cups of finely chopped kale
3 large fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of Great Northern white beans, drained
* If cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free broth.


Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400°F (reduce heat by 25°F if using convection oven). Brush rimmed baking sheet with a thin coat of olive oil. Arrange carrots, squash, tomatoes, onion, and garlic on sheet. Drizzle with more olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast vegetables until they are brown and tender, stirring occasionally  about 45 minutes.

2 Cut squash and carrots into 1/2 inch pieces; set aside. Peel garlic cloves; place in food processor. Add tomatoes and onion; puree until almost smooth. Pour 1/2 cup broth onto the baking sheet; scrape up any browned bits. Transfer broth and vegetable puree to large pot. Add 5 1/2 cups broth, kale, thyme and bay leaf to pot. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer uncovered until kale is tender, about 30 minutes.

3 Add carrots, beans, and squash to soup. Simmer 8 minutes to blend flavors, adding more broth to thin soup if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
Can be made a day ahead.

Yummm!! Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato

I cannot believe it's gotten so bloody COLD here in New York City already. I feel like just yesterday I was sweating up a storm! LOL

But I have to face the harsh truth that summer is over, and Autumn is passive-aggressively letting Winter taunt us New Yorkers with it's early presence. And it's with this brisk weather in mind I've been looking into some soup recipes. For the next few weeks, I will be sharing some of my Satisfying Soup finds for us all to create and enjoy!

Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Chicken and Sweet Potato 

Recipe Courtesy of Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons chopped shallots
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons minced lemongrass* (from bottom 4 inches of about 3 stalks, tough outer leaves discarded)
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons Thai yellow curry paste*
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)*
2 13.5- to 14-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk,* divided
5 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)*
2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups snow peas, trimmed
2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled red-skinned sweet potato (yam; from about 1 large)
1 pound dried rice vermicelli noodles or rice stick noodles*
3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 red Thai bird chiles or 2 red jalapeño chiles, thinly sliced with seeds
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges


Preparation:

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add next 4 ingredients; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in curry paste, curry powder, and chili paste. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk (scooped from thick liquid at top of can). Stir until thick and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add remaining coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, and sugar; bring broth to boil. Keep warm. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate until cold, then cover and keep chilled.

Cook snow peas in large pot of boiling salted water until bright green, about 20 seconds. Using strainer, remove peas from pot; rinse under cold water to cool. Place peas in medium bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil. Add sweet potato and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Using strainer, remove sweet potato from pot and rinse under cold water to cool. Place in small bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil and cook noodles until just tender but still firm to bite, about 6 minutes. Drain; rinse under cold water to cool. Transfer to microwave-safe bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 hour ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Bring broth to simmer. Add chicken; simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add sweet potato; stir to heat through, about 1 minute. Heat noodles in microwave in 30-second intervals to rewarm. Cut noodles with scissors if too long. Divide noodles among bowls. Divide snow peas and hot soup among bowls. Scatter red onion, green onions, cilantro, and chiles over soup. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

*Available at some supermarkets, at specialty foods stores and Asian markets, and online from adrianascaravan.com.