Cool weather begs for hot filling soups. This week our soup pots are filled with Paris Bistro Bean Soup. Paris Bistro Beans are a longtime favorite of Surfas customers  and makes a delicious vegetarian potage.

For meat lovers, add cooked sausage.

Here’s an easy recipe that’s also a Surfas favorite!

Ingredients:
Olive Oil about 4 tablespoons
1/2  medium onion- diced
1 carrot-diced
2 stalks celery- diced (with leaves- chopped)
One 1-lb. bag Surfas Bistro Beans
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 Bay leaf
Sprig Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:

1. Put olive oil in a heavy bottomed 4 quart soup pot. Place on medium heat until oil is hot but not smoking.

2. Add carrots, onion, celery and celery leaves; sauté until onion begins to turn translucent.

3. Add stock and beans. Season water with salt and pepper (to taste). Bring to a simmer and cook until beans are tender, about 60 minutes.

4. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Note: Some of the beans in the Paris Bistro Soup will disintegrate into a creamy texture while other types will retain their shape.  The soup is ready to serve when the firmer beans are tender and the softer beans have disintegrated to a creamy hearty texture.

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Rise guests clamor for this healthy and low-calorie soup. The chipotle paste gives this simple recipe a little heat.

Yields 4-6 servings

1 pound roma tomatoes, quartered and cored
1 pound cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups tomato or vegetable juice
1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1⁄2 teaspoon harissa paste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 bunch chives, chopped (optional)
Cucumbers and tomatoes, diced (optional)

1. Place tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, vegetable juice, onion, vinegar, olive oil, harissa paste, salt, and pepper in a food processor.

2. Blend until smooth.

3. Serve chilled. Garnish with chives, cucumbers, and tomatoes if desired.

Tip: Gazpacho tastes best when made the same day as serving.

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The Flying Culinary Circus is a team of four top chefs from Norway-each with their own unique culinary niche. Tor Jørgen Kramprud Arnesen is the herbs and vegetable expert, Mathias Spieler Bugge is the soup and sauce expert, Trond Svendgård is the fish and shellfish expert, and Hans Kristian Larsen is the meat expert. They are the first and only chef group traveling together around the world to cater events in ways no one has seen before!

Want to dine from 100 feet in the air? These boys have got it covered! Need to feed a room of 5000 hungry celebrities? The Flying Culinary Circus are the perfect team of highly skilled, professional chefs to spice up any and every event around the globe!

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On the menu:

Waffle Factory Show
Salmon Kiss- it gets a kiss of flames
Raw scallops with ponzu sauce
Wasabi sorbet made with liquid nitrogen

This event is FREE and open to the public. Seating is limited so be sure to arrive early to get a great seat!

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.

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District!

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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Serves 6 to 8

3 pounds assorted fish or seafood cut into 2-inch chunks – shrimp, sand dabs, scallops
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 bouquet garni – 2 sprigs fresh thyme, a small bunch of parsley and a bay leaf tied with a string
1-2 inch strip of orange zest
2 medium leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 cups canned plum tomatoes
8 cups fish stock, or water mixed with clam juice or chicken broth
½ teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in 1 tablespoon water
1 cup white wine
1 cup parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
                      �
1. Heat the olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, fennel, leeks, orange zest and bouquet garni. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add the tomatoes, white wine, fish stock and saffron and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes.
4. Add seafood and simmer about 3 minutes.  Remove the orange zest and bouquet garni.  Taste, adjust seasoning, add chopped parsley and serve with a mixed green salad and French baguette.  

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Ingredients:
½ lb green lentils
½ lb garbanzo beans
12 cups of water or chicken stock
1lb marguez sausage
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced onion
1 can diced tomato
½ cup diced preserved lemons peel only
1 bunch chopped cilantro
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch saffron threads
Salt and pepper as needed

Method:

In a 6qt pot pre cook garbanzo beans in salted water or stock until soft, drain and set aside. If using stock reserve for cooking lentils.  Remove sausage from casing and sauté until cooked about 4 minutes.  Drain off any grease and set aside.  In a large soup pot sauté onions, carrots, celery and seasonings until translucent about 4 to 5 minutes. Add lentils, tomatoes, preserved lemon and chicken stock to cover.  Let simmer until lentils are al dente about 20 minutes. Add cooked garbanzo beans and marguez sausage let simmer for 10 more minutes.  Re season if necessary.

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Ingredients:

Olive Oil about 4 tablespoons
1/2  medium onion- diced
1 carrot-diced
2 stalks celery- diced (with leaves- chopped)
One 1-lb. package Bistro sausage cut into 1” pieces
One 1-lb. bag Surfas Bistro Beans 
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
1 Bay leaf
Sprig Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Put olive oil in a heavy bottomed 4 quart soup pot. Place on medium heat until oil is hot but not smoking.
2. Add sausage and sauté until it begins to brown and lose its pink color. Remove from pan and hold aside.
3. Add carrots, onion, celery and celery leaves; sauté until onion begins to turn translucent.
4. Add stock, beans, bay leaf and sprig of thyme. Season water with salt and pepper (to taste). Bring to a simmer and cook until beans are tender, about 60 minutes.
5. Re-season beans with salt and pepper if needed.
6. Serve with a dollop of Pistou on top (see recipe below).

Note: Some of the beans in the Paris Bistro Soup will disintegrate into a creamy texture while other types will retain their shape.  The soup is ready to serve when the firmer beans are tender and the softer beans have disintegrated to a creamy hearty texture.

For a vegetarian version use vegetable broth and omit step 2.

Pistou
Makes approximately ¾ Cup

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves
3 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Finely chop garlic in processor. Add basil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process until basil is finely chopped, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. With machine running, gradually blend in oil. Add cheese; process to blend well. Season with pepper. Transfer to a bowl. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Place plastic wrap directly onto surface of Pistou; refrigerate.)

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Ingredients:

For the stew:
4 lbs pork ribs or shoulder, cut into pieces (you can substitute chicken for pork)
10 cups water
1 head garlic, peeled and divided
1 large white onion, quartered
handful dried oregano
5 whole peppercorns
5 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
5 dried pasilla or guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 – 15 oz cans hominy, rinsed and drained
salt

For the accompaniments:
4 limes, cut into wedges
4 cups thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
15 radishes, thinly sliced
handful dried oregano
24 tostadas

Preparation:

1.  Bring the pork and water to a boil in a large pot, skimming froth, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add 1 tablespoon of salt, quartered onion, garlic, peppercorns and oregano.  Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.  Remove the meat from the broth, let cool and shred.
2.  Strain broth and return to the pot.  Transfer the cooked onion and garlic to a blender with 1 1/2 cups of the brother and puree until smooth.  Add puree to broth.
3.  While the meat is cooking, stem and seed the chiles and re-hydrate them in enough hot water to cover – keeping them submerged – for about 20 minutes.�
4.  Puree the chiles with 1 1/2 cups water in a blender.
5.  Add the pureed chiles, shredded meat and hominy to the broth and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning.
6.  Serve with tostadas, shredded lettuce, radishes, dried oregano and lime wedges.

Purchase items in BOLD in-store at Surfas or online at Culinary District!