Colin's Sunday Night Special: She-Crab Soup

Colin has started a habit of cooking on Sunday nights. Sticking with the soup theme, a few weeks ago he picked a She-Crab Soup recipe out of JoC. She-Crab Soup always makes us think of our second-favorite restaurant in Columbia: the Blue Marlin. After eating this soup, we decided to plan a day trip over Christmas just to go there for lunch (and also to see our friend Jackie of course!).

She-Crab Soup based on the recipe from Joy of Cooking

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter *see notes
2 tbsp flour
3 cups whole milk
1 lb lump crabmeat (picked over for shells)
1 tbsp dry sherry
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce (to taste)
1/8 tsp ground mace *see notes

Yields
Not enough! This version made about three small bowls; maybe about 3 cups worth.

Directions
1. Start with a white roux: Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Slowly mix in the flour, whisking constantly. Whisk and cook until the roux smells toasted but is not yet brown. You really can tell by smell when it's ready. You have to watch it and whisk all the time! As Paula Deen says, if the Publishers Clearinghouse knocks on your door, you holler at them to hold on a minute because you're in the middle of making a roux!
2. Remove the pan from heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Return to heat, bring to a simmer, and cook and whisk until thickened and smooth,.
3. Reduce heat to low and stir in the remaining ingredients. Heat gently and season to taste.
4. Garnish with chopped scallions if you're feeling fancy.

 

Colin's notes:

• Make sure to use high quality butter. We have a favorite Irish butter that we use on special occasions, and she-crab soup qualifies as special.
• You can also use a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg if you don't have mace (which is what we did).
• Be careful with your non-white ingredients. Don't go overboard on the Worcestershire sauce or you'll discolor the soup.
• Stick with lump crabmeat.
• Next time, we're going to triple the amount of milk and also add an additional 6 oz. can of crabmeat, in order to increase the yield.

Soup Season

It's cold. And we're the kind of people the hold out as long as possible to turn the heat on; not because we're of sturdy Norse stock or because of some perverse pride, but for the oh-so-humble reason of: we're cheap.

So what does one do when sticking to a budget but trying to stay warm? Soup! We've been on a soup kick for about a month now. It started on our vacation to Cape Cod back in October. We love the Cape in the fall. The scenery is beautiful, and there's hardly anybody around to spoil it. Even though we were on a vacation, we were still watching our wallets and trying to balance going out to eat with cooking at home. Enter this Garlic Soup recipe from Tasty Kitchen.

In the end, it tasted more like a slightly-garlicky, blended version of French Onion soup. It was tasty, but next time we'll be doubling the garlic. Colin and I are lucky to have each other, because it's important in a relationship to have equal levels of garlic tolerance. And ours are high :).

Garlic Soup

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup Onions, Thinly Sliced
12 cloves Peeled Garlic, Smashed
1 cup Dry White Wine
1 quart Chicken Stock
1 leaf Bay
2 cups French Bread, Torn Into Pieces*
¾ cups Heavy Cream
½ cups Shredded Gruyere (or sharp white cheddar, if you're on a budget like us)
    *note - the color of your bread will determine the color of your soup. French bread is not required. I used some homemade Sally Lunn bread so my soup came out medium brown rather than a lighter tan.
 
Yields
4 servings

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 10 -12 minutes; the onion and garlic will begin to caramelize. 
2. Add the wine, cover, reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and bay leaf.
3. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the bread and allow the soup to sit without heat for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
4. In batches, pour the soup into the blender and puree until smooth. Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste. As each batch is pureed, pour into another pot. (Or, if you're lucky, use your immersion blender). Keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the cheese (if desired).

Serving alternative: Colin Version
Colin like chunky soups. So, I didn't blend the entire batch. He go half blended, half un-blended, topped with extra bread.

Culinary Aspirations

I subscribe to many, many food blogs. Twenty-three, to be exact. This leads to a LOT of bookmarked recipes, all of which I swear I'll make one day. Here's a round-up of some of my recent favorites (that I've still yet to try):

Easy Sausage and Peppers from The Kitchn

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry from Serious Eats

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon from Migs, via It's All About the Bacon 

Hot Caramelized Onion Dip from Closet Cooking

 

White Chicken Chili from Closet Cooking

 

Pear and Gorgonazola Omelette from Closet Cooking

Beer-Braised Beef and Onions from Gourmet Magazine, via Epicurious

 

Pretty much Marlboro Man's entire Birthday Dinner from Pioneer Woman