Chilean Vegetable Soup

[iolaire]

When we visited Chile in January we enjoyed the soup, many were consume based with large pieces of corn and calabasa in them, but others were smoother, like a pumpkin soup here at home, but not sweet at all.   So once we were back home I googled around a bit to find recipes like http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Porotos_Granados and have now made my version of the Chilean soup four times.  The first three times I used chicken broth, but today since we are making the soup for a potluck I used vegetable broth.  The vegetable broth has less flavor but the end product tastes like its starting to settle into a good flavor.

Here is the recipe for my Chilean Soup, its relatively quick to make time wise, with all the time due to the need to chop a lot of vegetables, plus a long amount of unattended simmering.

Chilean Soup - All measurements are approximates, I eyeball everything
Mild Italian pork sausage - crumbled - one pound (skip for vegetarian soup)
Fresh Basil - chopped fine - three tablespoons  (ether american and thai basil)
Garlic - chopped fine - four cloves
Onion - chopped rough - one
Celery - chopped rough - four stalks
Paprika - ground - four tablespoons  (adds flavor not hotness, use more and additional other spices for vegetarian soup)
Carrot - chopped dice size - two large (these will soften in soup but remain shape)
Chili pepper - ground - half teaspoon (whatever type of peper that you like, for flavor, we don't want soup spicy)
Green pepper - chopped rough - one (other colors fine)
Fresh Corn - one - strip kernels
Calabasa - chopped dice size - approximately the same amount uncut to equal the size of two green peppers (this will cook down become the soup)
Great Northern or Navy Beans - rinse - one can (higher phosphorus but critical to soup)
Cannellini beans - rinse - one can (higher phosphorus but critical to soup)
Potato - chop 1/2 dice size - two medium (precook - boil or microwave beforehand) remove for lower phosphorus
Chicken stock - one 32 oz box plus one can (use vegetable for vegetarian soup)


Chop everything in advance. Crumble sausage into hot soup pot, brown well, remove and save until after soup is blended.  Brown onion, celery, garlic and basil in sausage fat, as it becomes soft and translucent add paprika and brown a bit more.  Then start adding in the rest of the vegetables slowly allowing pot to stay hot.  Add chili pepper and if you like other Italian like seasonings, also could add a bit of black pepper.  Add in beans and potato, then add in stock.  Brink soup to a boil and allow to simmer, not boil but hot enough to steam, for a few hours.  Once vegetables are starting to get soft enough to eat remove one blender full of soup and blend well, then add back to the soup.  That blended soup will form a thick base to the soup.  At that time add back in the sausage you saved.  Allow to simmer for a few more hours.  Everything in the soup will become very soft, the calabasa will cook down and become part of the soup base, once its done only the carrot, corn, beans and potato will be identifiable.  Enjoy.

[Charlie B53]

 Once vegetables are starting to get soft enough to eat remove one blender full of soup and blend well, then add back to the soup.



THAT's the trick I've been looking for!  It's been a puzzle for years just how to get the stock a bit 'thickened' without using a starch, etc., and end up with a gravy instead of a hearty soup.

You can bet I will NOT forget this step.

Thanks!

Charlie B

[iolaire]

Also in this one the calabaza cooks onto the sauce, but yet the blending changes the soup from a broth to a thick soup.

[PrimeTimer]

When we visited Chile in January we enjoyed the soup, many were consume based with large pieces of corn and calabasa in them, but others were smoother, like a pumpkin soup here at home, but not sweet at all.   So once we were back home I googled around a bit to find recipes like http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Porotos_Granados and have now made my version of the Chilean soup four times.  The first three times I used chicken broth, but today since we are making the soup for a potluck I used vegetable broth.  The vegetable broth has less flavor but the end product tastes like its starting to settle into a good flavor.

Here is the recipe for my Chilean Soup, its relatively quick to make time wise, with all the time due to the need to chop a lot of vegetables, plus a long amount of unattended simmering.

Chilean Soup - All measurements are approximates, I eyeball everything
Mild Italian pork sausage - crumbled - one pound (skip for vegetarian soup)
Fresh Basil - chopped fine - three tablespoons  (ether american and thai basil)
Garlic - chopped fine - four cloves
Onion - chopped rough - one
Celery - chopped rough - four stalks
Paprika - ground - four tablespoons  (adds flavor not hotness, use more and additional other spices for vegetarian soup)
Carrot - chopped dice size - two large (these will soften in soup but remain shape)
Chili pepper - ground - half teaspoon (whatever type of peper that you like, for flavor, we don't want soup spicy)
Green pepper - chopped rough - one (other colors fine)
Fresh Corn - one - strip kernels
Calabasa - chopped dice size - approximately the same amount uncut to equal the size of two green peppers (this will cook down become the soup)
Great Northern or Navy Beans - rinse - one can (higher phosphorus but critical to soup)
Cannellini beans - rinse - one can (higher phosphorus but critical to soup)
Potato - chop 1/2 dice size - two medium (precook - boil or microwave beforehand) remove for lower phosphorus
Chicken stock - one 32 oz box plus one can (use vegetable for vegetarian soup)


Chop everything in advance. Crumble sausage into hot soup pot, brown well, remove and save until after soup is blended.  Brown onion, celery, garlic and basil in sausage fat, as it becomes soft and translucent add paprika and brown a bit more.  Then start adding in the rest of the vegetables slowly allowing pot to stay hot.  Add chili pepper and if you like other Italian like seasonings, also could add a bit of black pepper.  Add in beans and potato, then add in stock.  Brink soup to a boil and allow to simmer, not boil but hot enough to steam, for a few hours.  Once vegetables are starting to get soft enough to eat remove one blender full of soup and blend well, then add back to the soup.  That blended soup will form a thick base to the soup.  At that time add back in the sausage you saved.  Allow to simmer for a few more hours.  Everything in the soup will become very soft, the calabasa will cook down and become part of the soup base, once its done only the carrot, corn, beans and potato will be identifiable.  Enjoy.

This sounds D-Lish! Wonder if after some browning if it can all be blended and simmer in a crock pot together. My husband has been buying cans of mixed veggies and eating them like he does soup, mixing them with a little water and adding seasoning for flavor, only without all the sodium that normally comes from a can of soup. Anyway, it was the calabasa you mention that got my attention. I'll have to give this a try.  And thanks for including the pics! Visuals are always helpful! And they make me hungry....