Japanese Soy (Shoyu) Soup Base

2 clove finely chopped garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
4 cup chicken soup stock, shitake stock (see below), or vegetable stock
2 cup kombudashi soup stock (see below)
2 Tbsp sake
2 tsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce
juice of lemon, kumquats, or yuzu juice

Heat sesame oil in a deep pan. Sauté chopped ginger and garlic in the pan. Lower the heat. Add chicken soup stock and kombudashi soup stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Add sugar, salt, sake, and soy sauce in the soup. Run the soup through a strainer. Serve hot soup into individual bowls. In the meantime, boil water in a large pan. Add ramen, soba, or udon noodles in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes. Drain the noodles and serve in the hot soup. Place toppings, such as chicken, beef, scallions, boiled egg, leeks, spinach, carrots, mushroom, nori seaweed.

*Makes 4 servings

KombuDashi Stock

4 cups of water
8 inch by 2 inch kombu (dried kelp)

Wipe the kombu with clean cloth. (*Kombu shouldn’t be washed.) Put water in a deep pot and soak the kombu for about 30 minutes. Put on low heat. Just before the water comes to a boil, remove the kombu. Stop the heat.
*Makes 4 cups

Shitaake Soup Base 

Dried shitaake mushrooms
2 cups of water

Combine dried shitaakes with water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Let it sit for at least 30 minutes. 

Miso Soup Base

When you add noodles to it, it becomes miso ramen/miso soba/miso udon/whichever kind of noodle you’ve added.

1/4 Tbsp dashi granules
1 to 2 Tbsp(s)  white (shiro) miso*
1 1/2 cups water

*The amount of miso will need to be adjusted upwards or downwards depending on the brand of miso you buy and whether it’s aka (red – saltier) or shiro (white – less salty) miso. Start with 1 Tbsp and taste test; then add more if you like.

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Serves 4

Soup Base:
2 whole star anise
2 quarts chicken stock (store bought or homemade)
1 whole roasted chicken (store bought is okay)
1/2 onion
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, smashed and tied into a knot
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1-2 tablespoons fish sauce 

Noodles:
1 lb Pho rice noodles

Accompaniments:
Fresh bean sprouts
Onion, thinly sliced, or thinly sliced scallions
Thai basil or cilantro
Lime wedges
Fresh bird chilies
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha

• Soak noodles in hot water until soft.
• Remove and shred chicken meat from the roasted chicken, reserving the bones.
• In a large pot brown onion, carrots, and celery. Add chicken bones, star anise, chicken stock, lemongrass and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add fish sauce and sugar and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently. Taste broth and add more fish sauce or sugar if necessary. Strain the broth and discard solids.
• Arrange bowls with drained noodles.  Ladle the broth into bowls. Divide the shredded chicken evenly into each bowl. Top with bean sprouts, fresh herbs, onion or scallions, and other accompaniments, OR artfully arrange a table salad with sprouts, fresh herbs, lime wedges, fresh chilies, and small dipping dishes of hoisin and sriracha sauce, for your guests to add to their Pho.  Enjoy!

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Serves 6 – 8 Appetizer Size Portions

1 cup water
3 cups cauliflower pieces
1 potato, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and white pepper, to taste
1/2 cup half and half (you can also use fat free half and half )
½ – ¾ cup White Cheddar Cheese Shredded
Celery Salt
1 cup shredded sharp yellow cheddar cheese

To Make Soup:

1. In a casserole, bring water to a boil.
2. Add ½ the cauliflower and all of the potato pieces.
3. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Set aside, in cooking liquids.
5. Meanwhile roast remaining cauliflower pieces at 425 until lightly browned
6. Melt butter into a clean casserole.
7. Add onion and sauté for 10 minutes until golden and then add garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
8. Add cauliflower and potato pieces, along with cooking liquids.
9. Pour in chicken broth and cook for 5 minutes.
10. 10.  Puree in a blender container in small batches until very smooth.
11. 11.  Return all soup to pot and bring to a boil.12.  Stir in cream or milk.
12. Add shredded white cheddar to taste
13. Season with salt, celery salt and white pepper
14. Pour into bowl and top with cheese tuile.

  To make cheddar cheese tuile:

1. Heat oven to 350˚ Place small thin pile of shredded sharp cheddar cheese on silpat (or parchment) lined sheet pan and place in oven for 8-10 minutes until melted and just slightly turning golden.
2. Remove to cool on rack, they should be very crisp when cooled.  Then store in airtight container for up to 2 days.

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Serves 4

Ingredients:
 4 qt. Water
Salt to taste
2 lb. Fresh Chestnuts
2tbsp Unsalted Butter
5oz Yellow Onion chopped
2oz Celery Stalks chopped
2 Bay Leafs
Black Pepper to taste
2 qt. Chicken Stock
1 cup White Wine
2 cups Whipping Cream
4 oz Smoked Bacon
3 oz Mushroom Cream with Truffle Aroma

Bring the water to a boil with 1 Tbsp of salt, slit the chestnut on the side with a paring knife and boil them for 3-4 min. Remove it with a slotted spoon, once they are cool enough to handle but still warm peel them.

In a large soup pot, melt the butter and sauté onion and celery, add the chestnuts, bay leafs, 1 qt chicken stock and white wine, cover and cook for 45 min to 1 hour, till the chestnuts are soft but intact.

Once done, remove the bay leaf and puree the soup and return it to the stock pot. Add the remaining chicken stock to thin the soup and bring to a simmer. While the soup is cooking crisp the bacon in the oven till extremely crisp!! Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once the bacon is cold and crispy (remove the fat in excess with a kitchen towel if necessary) place it in a blender till is pulverized.

Whip the cream not completely, just half way.

Compose the soup at last minute by adding the mushroom cream with truffle to the chestnut soup and fill till 3/4 full a cappuccino cup, with a spoon place little half whipped cream on top of it and dust with the bacon powder. Can be served hot or lukewarm.

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Ingredients
Soup:

Sugar pumpkin (or butternut squash), peeled, seeds removed (1 pound yield)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
fresh thyme from 3-4 thyme stems
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 1/2 cups (approximately) chicken stock
sachet (black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 3 juniper berries, fresh thyme sprigs)
1/2 cup (approximately) reduced apple juice (if necessary)

Garnish:

4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper*
1/4 teaspoons piment d’espelette*
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds,roasted and salted
crème fraîche (as needed)

* as written, this combination has a kick. My suggestion is to add 1/8 at a time and taste it as you go…you may only want to use the espelette which is milder.

What to Do

• Prepare the Soup Flavor Base. Peel the squash and remove the seeds. Dice evenly. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and thyme. Place in a baking dish or sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Roast squash in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit until tender (or sauté on the stove). Check squash and toss occasionally to prevent the squash from sticking to the bottom of the baking dish. Remove from oven and set aside.

• Sweat Aromatics. In a large sauce pot, melt butter. Add onions and sweat until translucent.

• Add Soup Flavor Base. Add roasted squash to onions.

• Add Stock and Simmer. Ladle in warmed stock. Add sachet. Simmer until tender and flavorful.

• Puree and Strain. Remove sachet. Using an emersion blender (or food processor) purée until smooth. Strain through china cap to remove chunks and thyme stems.

• Simmer again. Return puréed soup to clean pot. Adjust consistency with stock (or water if flavor profile is good). Can add heavy whipping cream if desired.

• Add Seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if necessary.

• Prepare Cream Cheese Garnish. In the oven, or in a small saute pan over the stove, toast pumpkin seeds. Set aside. Mix cayenne and piment d’espelette with cream cheese. Add toasted seeds to cream cheese mixture (do this right before you serve or the seeds will loose their crunch).

• Plate. using a small spoon or ice cream scoop, place a small scoop of cream cheese mixture in individual bowls (or pumpkin shells). Add soup.

• Spiderweb garnish. Fill a pastry bag (or squeeze bottle)with crème fraîche and squirt a small circle in the top middle of soup and 2 circles around center circle. Moving from the center of crème fraîche to the side of the bowl, drag a toothpick across the crème fraîche circles in 4-5 places to create spiderweb.

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