Sauerkraut Soup (Capusta)

This is my husband, Tom's family recipe. His uncle Steve got the recipe originally from "Mama" Novotny (his mother) and perfected it.

32 oz beef broth
1 quart good quality sauerkraut,
5 polish sausages
5 cloves garlic chopped
1 1/2 t of caraway
1/2 lb bacon fried and chopped (reserve 2T bacon grease)
1 1/2 cups dried mushrooms
pepper to taste
1 1/2 T flour (for the roux)

In a medium pot, add the sauerkraut, beef broth, caraway, garlic, pepper  and water if needed to fill 1/2 of the pot. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add the mushrooms, polish sausage (cut into 1/2 pieces, cut diagonally for looks) and cook for another 45 minutes.

Fry the bacon and break into pieces. Add to the soup.

With 2T of the bacon grease that you saved add to a skillet along with the flour

Gumbo ZEB base

11/12/22 Doubled this used large Le Cruset pot. 2# bag of mustard greens , 2# bag Turnip greens, 2# bag Collard Greens, 1 bunch of Swiss chard,, 1 bunch Parsley, bought spinach it’s a lot of greens.The pot was full to 1/2” from  the top. Came out great but a little gritty, should wash greens. Used Hillshire Andouille.

We have been making this for years - its very time consuming to prepare the base but in the end
you will have base that you can make several different meals from. This leaves plenty to freeze and
whats really great about it is that its pretty simple to judge how much to freeze based on your family size. 50% base to 50% stock and you're done.

There are 4 parts to this:

Roux
1 cup vegetable oil, you can also use peanut, corn or soy
1 cup all purpose flour

Vegetable saute
8 T or 1 stick butter
2 large onions chopped
2 green peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 bunch of celery with the leaves chopped
1 large bunch 8-10 large scallions chopped

Seasoning puree
8 cloves of garlic peeled
1/4 cup pickapeppa or worcestershire
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 T tabasco sauce
2 t dried basil
2 t dried oregano
2 t dried thyme
1 t paprika
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground alspice
1/2 t ground cloves
6-8 good grinds of fresh peppercorns
1 can (16 oz) whole tomatoes drained, coarsely chopped. The juice and tomatoes reserved separately.The juice will ultimately mix with the roux.
1 bunch of fresh Italian flat leave parsley- leaves and stems, rinsed and coarsely chopped

Stock and greens
Pam cooking spray
6 C any well flavored chicken, vegetable stock or bottled clam juice
2 C tomato juice or V8 vegetable juice
1 t salt
4 bay leaves
6 bunches greens ideally 1 bunch each of: mustard greens, spinach, turnip greens, beet tops, collard greens, arugula and watercress, very well washed and finely ribboned. Omit any thick stems

1. Roux:  Start with a well seasoned pot or skillet. Into the skilled pour 1 part oil (not olive oil) turn the heat to medium and using a wire whisk, immediately beat in the 1 cup of flour. Keep stirring, this can take up to an hour to achieve the desired color  which ultimately will begin to color and scent the room. As it colors keep whisking. It will become a light brown and then gradually come to the brown of a caramel and then to a dark caramel color. This process cannot be hurried. When the roux begins to become fairly brown, the oil will partially separate from the flour. Do not take the roux off the flame before this point. After this point it is a matter of taste, the darker the roux, the stronger the nutty rich flavor. Keep stirring, if you go off to check your facebook and return and there are little black specks in it, its ruined. Period. Start over.  This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. When the roux is ready take it off the stove and let it cool. The oil will separate the the flour (roux) will harden on the bottom. Tilt the pan and drain off the excess oil. Be sure to leave every bit of the brown flour.

Vegetables and the start of the roux

2. Vegetable saute: In a heave cast iron skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes. Add the bell pepper and celery; lower the heat slightly and continue to saute another 10 minutes. Add the scallions and saute until limp, about 5 more minutes. When this is done remove and set aside.

3. Seasoning puree: Place all the ingredients for the puree (except the tomatoes and parsley) in a food processor. Buzz the ingredients until the garlic is chopped fine. Then add the tomatoes and parsley and chop coarsely.

Stock and greens

4. Stock and Greens: Use a large soup pot large enough to hold all the mixtures. Spray the pot with Pam. In it, bring to a boil the stock and tomato or V8 juice. Add the salt and bay leaves. Drop in the fresh greens, bring back to a boil, turn down to medium low and simmer covered for 30 minutes.

Roux with tomato juice

At this point you have 4 mixtures: The roux should be cooled,  the excess oil drained and and the reserved tomato juice whisked in. When the greens have finished their 30 minute simmer, remover from the heat. Add to the stock pot, the roux mixture, the vegetable saute and the seasoning puree.
Give a taste and adjust the seasons. Set the pot back on the stove and let simmer over the lowest possible heat, covered another 15 minutes and stir often.

Remove  from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Thats all there is to it, you have concentrated gumbo base. We like it spicy so we freeze it in quart containers and then add 3 cans of stock. So you just have to see how you like it. Below is our favorite gumbo made from this base.

Our favorite is Andouille Gumbo

Catalan Fish Stew

The title is translated. In Catalonian is reads Zarzuela de Mariscos a la Catalana.

This is a Spanish recipe from the Catalonians, the area surrounding Barcelona. We love Barcelona. Its a city that comes to life at 10:00 pm. Took a few days to get used to the knew hours but we caught on quickly.
While we were there, we were shopping for tile for the kitchen. The plan was to get different tiles from each country and incorporate them into our kitchen. This is my favorite saying  in Catalonian, in translation it means wine makes warm the heart of a man! It took 4 people to get the translation since its not the spoken language anymore.


I'm not a fish person, but my husband lives for any dish that combines anything from a body of water. So here we go, I hope you enjoy this. Tom swear's its

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups chopped onions
salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb fresh squid, cleaned and cut into 1/4" pieces.
Spanish brandy
1 T tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups clam juice or seafood stock
1/2 lb medium shrimp peeled and deveined
1/2 lb small (dime size) scallops
2 dozen muscles scrubbed and debearded
1 T fresh chopped parsley
loaf of crusty bread
Serves 4-6

In a large dutch oven, over medium heat add the oil. When the oil hot add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until wilted about 10 minutes. Season the squid with salt and pepper. Add to the onions and saute for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the brandy and carefully flame. Shake the pan back and forth several times until the flame dies out. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and clam juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, cook for 20 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add the muscles, shrimp and scallops to the pot. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the shells have opened and the shrimp is fully cooked.
Remove from the heat and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

You can really add any of your favorite fish to this dish. This is just what had - without making a formal to make this. It was very spur of the moment!

Chicken Stock

Having a frozen supply of homemade chicken stock is the only way to roll over the winter. It adds flavor to just about everything and enhances every soup or dish that requires a chicken "broth". Chicken broth  is made from chicken meat - no extras. Chicken stock is made from bones that have simmered for hours along with some veggies and various herbs - to taste! If you simmered stock long enough it will become gelatinous.

On some of our other posts when chicken is involved (or turkey) we always say keep the bones and the skin.  This is why. You can't buy a better stock than what you can make in your kitchen for a fraction of the cost. Plus you know exactly what you're eating!


We had quite a bit saved up this time. So this made huge pot, probably more than likely you'll never have to do this. We had 1 turkey and 3 chickens worth of bones/skin. So based on what you have, you can adjust this as needed. But you really can't go wrong here..more is better! If you put in too much, well then it will just taste too good!

Based on a 44 quart pot - remember we had a ton of bones!
Chicken/turkey bones
14 huge carrots cut into 1/4's
1 1/2 heads of celery cut into 1/4's
2 large onions cut into 1/4's.
2 head of garlic peeled and lightly chopped
3 bay leaves
20 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 stems of fresh parsley
1/4 cup salt



Break all the bones in 1/2 because you want the marrow in your broth. Put everything in a large
stock pot, cover and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil remove the lid and let is simmer for about 5 hours. We do this a few times a year but never this huge amount but you still want to cook it for a long time.

When its done, everything will be floating on the top and it will smell wonderful. Just remove everything and put through a find strainer. Put it back in the pot and let sit outside if its cold (covered) or in the refrigerator overnight. The next day  skim all the fat off the top and put it back on the stove and heat slightly just to be able to adjust your flavors if you need to.

We usually don't need to, but you can adjust to your liking. You could put in more herbs, salt etc and let it simmer even longer. Once you happy with the flavor, let it cool. We fill ice cube trays and when they are frozen just put them all in a big zip lock bags and back in the freezer. Then you can just use a cube or 2 as needed in sauces/soups etc.  Take the rest and just fill quart zip lock bags and freeze them.

We are forever making soup and we just take 2 bags and that is about 8 cups and make soup from that. Excellent for any soup that calls for chicken stock. You'll never go back to store bought after you try this!

We ended up with 11 1/2 quarts of stock.

Baked French Onion Soup

1 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 large onions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves
1 t sugar
1/2 t dried thyme
2 T all purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 1/4 quarts beef stock
2 T brandy (optional)
6-8 thick slices french bread toasted
3 cups grated gruyere or Swiss cheese


In a large heavy bottom saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil. Add the onions and cook 10-12 minutes until they are soft and beginning to brown.

Finely chop 4 of the garlic cloves and add to the onions. Add the sugar and thyme and continue cooking over medium heat for 30-35 minutes until the onions are brown, stirring frequently.

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir until well blended. Stir in the wine and stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in the brandy, if using.

Heat the broiler. Rub each slice of toasted french bread with the remaining garlic clove. Place 6-8 flameproof soup bowls on a cookie sheet and fill them about three-quarters full with the onion soup.

Float a piece of toast in each bowl. Top with grated cheese, dividing it evenly. Broil about 6 inches from the heat for 3-4 minutes until the cheese begins to melt and bubble.

Serve piping hot!

Soup Croutons

6 slices of your leftover dried and cubed homemade crusty Italian bread. See our recipe!
4T olive oil
5 cloves of garlic sliced
Fresh Parmesan cheese grated

Add your garlic to the olive oil and let it sit for about 2 hours. Remove the garlic. Cut the crust off the bread and paint the olive oil on both sides of the bread. Cut into cubes and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes turning every 5 minutes until golden brown.
You can also use fresh bread just cut the crust off and put on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree oven for about
15 minutes..turning often until its dry.

Split pea soup

We save all our bones. Ham, chicken, turkey you name it. So if you don't save them , you might start now. Just keep the chicken and turkey together and the ham separate. We just put them in freezer bags and add to it when we can. After all the holidays we wind up with a couple bags and we'll make our own chicken broth and various soups with what we have.

So this is a recipe that you'll need 2 ham bones. Of course you realize that we make huge pots of soup
and freeze the leftovers. You can surely adjust this recipe if you want to make less soup.  This is a huge amount of soup, but we had the 2 ham bones. Pea soup is always better the 2nd day!

2 ham bones
12 cups water
8 cups chicken broth
7 cups split peas
4 cups peeled and sliced carrots
4 cups sliced celery
2 cups diced onion
2 bay leaves
8 cloves minced garlic
2 T thyme
salt to taste





Add all the ingredients to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil cover and simmer about 3 hours until all the peas are dissolved. Remove the lid for the last hour of cooking. You want to stir often to keep from burning. Taste as you go along and add salt as needed.
When the peas are dissolved remove the ham bones and cut off the remaining meat and add it to the pot.

Ladle into warm soup bowls and serve. Garnish with homemade croutons!

See our recipe for croutons under Bread!

Potato Soup

8 cups Potato's peeled and cubed

6 cans chicken broth
2 carrots peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery sliced
1 onion diced
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 1/2 cups ham cooked and cubed
3 T salt pork, minced
4 T butter
6 T flour
1 cup cream
salt to taste
Hot chili powder to taste - we have this hot stuff
from the spice house in Geneva and its great.
Depending how you like it maybe 4-6T! you won't regret it!!
fresh chives for garnish
white pepper


In a large soup pot, cook the potato's, carrots and celery in the chicken broth until soft. About 20-25 minutes. Add about 1 t of salt.

In a small sauce pan add the salt pork and render it down until you have 2 T liquid and the salt pork is slightly crispy. Remove the salt pork and add to the soup pot. With the remaining liquid add the butter and cook until bubbly. Add the onions and garlic and cook about 5 minutes until the onion is slightly clear. Add the flour and cook until all mixed. This will make a roux that will help create a nice consistency in your soup. If you don't have salt pork, you can just use 6 T butter instead of 4T.

With your soup boiling add the roux and whisk until all combined.  Next you need to break down some of the vegetables, so with a potato masher or  an immersion blender, slightly mash or blend the soup, leaving some vegetables whole, to give a nice texture. You can add your chili powder now or add it to your bowl.

Add the ham and the cream and simmer another 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Dish it up and garnish with chopped fresh chives and white pepper. Add your chile powder  now if you didn't already and enjoy!

Barley soup with smoked kielbassa

Every Sunday when the  weather starts to change, we make a big pot of soup. Its the perfect comfort food when its cold outside! Add some fresh homemade bread and your house smells like a country cabin! It smells amazing here today. So here you go -  please post your comments if you get a chance to make this. You won't regret it!

16 cups chicken broth
1 1/4 cup pearl barley
4 large smoked kielbasa sausages (6-7 inches long)
2 fresh bay leaves
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large head of cabbage, chopped
2 large onions, finely chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 large celery stalks with leaves finely chopped
3 T fresh parsley, minced
2 - 3 inch sprigs fresh rosemary ( or 2 t dried)
3 T tightly packed fresh marjoram leaves, minced (or 1 T dried)
4 cloves garlic minced
2 large potatoes peeled and diced
2 1/2 t salt
1 t pepper
1-2 T aged cheese - like provolone etc.

In a large stock pot add the chicken broth, barley  and bay leaves and bring to a boil. In a large skillet heat the kielbasas until brown on all sides and heated through. Slice thin and add to the broth. In the same skillet  heat the olive oil and add the cabbage, cook and stir until it starts to change color 10-15 minutes. Then add onions, carrots, celery, parsley, rosemary and garlic and  cook until the onions start to brown about 15 minute, stirring often. Add this to the stock. Again in the same skillet add a little olive oil, potatoes and marjoram. Cook until the potatoes are slightly soft and add this to the stock.
Add a little salt and pepper to each batch that you are adding to the stock.
Grate a little fresh cheese on top and enjoy!
On a side note, I would probably make the barley separately. It soaks up too much of the soup!

I've always made soup for the hunters when they came home from the hunt. About 25 years ago I made a soup that everyone loved.  Everyone went for seconds and even thirds. Needless to say the 2 gallons of soup was gone. I have never been able to find the recipe, I've been through my cookbooks too many times to count and still no recipe. This is very close to that recipe. I think the Kielbasa is a big part of this soup and the flavor is amazing.  This sausage came from Cosco and I posted a picture of the package below.  Its too crazy because Tom and I remember the soup like it was yesterday - and finally I think we might have it here.

Chicken Paprikas with Halushki - Tom's grandma's recipe

10/19/22 try this other way next time: roll the chicken in a flour/paprika mix and then brown. took a pic of the old cookbook in grandmas old recipe google photo album


Tom's grandma was born in Czechoslovakia and this was her recipe. Its probably been modernized by his mom and aunt's but its really good on  cold winter day! Good old comfort food.


1 whole skinless chicken cut up
4 T butter
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
16 oz sour cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
2 t paprika
1 t salt

*Annette said her family recipe was almost the same but her mom sautéed onion in the butter before the chicken. I love this..now I'm thinking maybe garlic too!

Brown the chicken in butter, sprinkle with paprika and salt. Add the broth and water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 1/4 hours. While the chicken cooks, prepare the halushki.  Remove the chicken and and when its cool enough, debone it. You can cube it, shred it or leave it whole - whatever you prefer.  Add the sour cream to a bowl and slowly mix in the flour and 1 cup milk. When its all  mixed together, add it  to the chicken broth, a little at a time.. When it comes to a boil, add the chicken back to the pot.

To the make the Halushki. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil.

4 cups of flour
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup water
salt

Mix the ingredients together - it will be wet and gooey. Pour some or all of the mixture onto a dinner plate. You are going to make little dumplings with this mixture. So, take a knife and slide (about the size of a quarter) a portion of the mixture off the plate and into the boiling water. Once its all in the water, boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.

We like this so much, its doubled from the original recipe. So you can make this and just 1/2 all of the ingredients above.

To serve,  add some halushki to a bowl and ladle the chicken mixture on top.  If you have left overs,  don't save the halushki in the broth. Save them separately.

Gazpacho Blanca (cold soup)

This recipe comes from my mom's bff,  CY, who has moved to Fairhope AL. She  recently visited the Old 27 Grill and came across this soup that she loved. She was able to get the the recipe from the chef, William Stitt and has shared it with all of us. It was his mothers recipe and he's been making it since he was child.  We made this soup and it is fabulous. By the way,  Tom does not care for cold soup but loved this as well.
So give it a try and let us know what you think.

If you are are gardener, then by now you are flooded with cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions and parsley, so here is a great use for all of this!

9 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped.
9 cups of chicken broth
9 cups of sour cream
9 T white vinegar
1 T salt
6 gloves of garlic, crushed

Condiments for topping per serving:
1 t tomatoes diced
1 t scallions, sliced
1 t parsley, fresh, chopped


Whirl the cucumber in a food processor with a little chicken broth for a very short time. Pour into mixing bowl.  Add remaining chicken broth, sour cream, vinegar, salt and garlic.

Stir just enough to mix. Chill thoroughly, at least 2-3 hours.

Before serving, stir again.  Ladle into cups or bowls and sprinkle condiments on top.

This yields 18 small bowls or 12 large bowl. We had 10 people over and served by the cup and had 2 bowls left the next day. Big hit. Probably even better the next day!

Thanks CY we love you!
Tom and Debbie

New England Clam Chowda - from the Union Oyster House in Boston

This is an amazing soup. We got this recipe from the head chef at the Oyster House in Boston which is the oldest  restaurant in the country. Can you say bucket list??? Absolutely amazing, even the non clam lovers loved this!

1/4 cup diced salt pork
2 T butter
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
2 T flour
1/2 t dried thyme
2 cups pealed and diced potatoe's
2 cups canned clam juice
2 cups minced fresh or frozen clams (not canned)
1 cup half and half
salt, pepper, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce to taste

In a large pot over medium low heat, render the salt pork until it is crispy about 5 minutes.

Add the butter and melt. Add onion, celery and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the flour to form a paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes.

Add the thyme, potatoes and the clam juice and bring to a boil.  Stirring almost constantly.
Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

Add the clams and bring quickly to a boil,  stirring almost constantly.

Add the half and half and bring quickly to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, hot sauce and worcestershire sauce to taste.

Serve immediately.
Makes 1 1/2 quarts