A New England Soup Factory In A Northwest Kitchen

So, we joined a local athletic club last weekend in hopes of having a gym a little closer to home with the added benefit of tennis. On Monday JSM and I met for a lunchtime workout and then.........sickness set in and we haven't been back! He had a cold and I had the flu. Thankfully, on Sunday I had pulled the New England Soup Factory Cookbook from my shelf, planned a week full of meals, gone to the grocery store and I was prepared! Little did I know how much we would need those recipes come Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday....

The New England Soup Factory Cookbook by Marjorie Drucker and Clara Silverstein was a gift from JSM's sister, who claimed that the real New England Soup Factory, located in Brookline, MA, was one of her favorite restaurants. JSM loves soup so I am ashamed to say this was the first time I actually made recipes from this book. I really appreciated the way the book was divided with chapters like "Say Cheese, Please", "A Chicken in Every Pot", "Tomato Teasers", and a section for each season.  That way recipes can be selected based on ingredients. This is great for me as sometimes I just want that certain something. The cookbook's cover claims it offers "more than 100 recipes from the nation's best purveyor of fine soup" including sandwiches and salads. I chose three to try.

It's a good thing I doubled up on Monday night since we could no longer taste by Tuesday afternoon. JSM loves anything with corn so I couldn't resist the Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Chowder and Griddled Black Forest Ham Sandwiches with Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Cranberry Mustard. The chowder was delicious! The corn and red pepper combined with chicken stock, creamed corn, onions, spices, and finished with a generous helping of cream resulted in a rich and slightly sweet chowder with chunks of Yukon gold potatoes, celery, carrots, red peppers, and of course corn. The grilled sandwiches served along side were delightful! I love just about anything with hot cheese, but the addition of salty black forest ham and the tangy-sweet cranberry mustard (made with honey mustard and cranberry sauce) put this over the top! I loved the warm crunchy bread oozing sweet and salty cheese and ham. I would definitely make this again and I would consider making my own honey mustard (a recipe for which is included in the book). The best part was there was enough for leftovers the next day especially since I was too tired to cook.

By Wednesday I was desperate for something to make me feel better and I found just the thing in the Spicy Chicken and Rice Flu Chaser Soup. I must admit that I could barely taste a thing, but this "hot" chicken soup, flavored with 20 cloves of garlic and teaspoon of cayenne pepper cleared my sinuses and made me feel like a new woman.....at least for a little while. JSM who was by this time already on the mend, commented that the cinnamon was a little overpowering, but I think it's this combination of unexpected flavors that makes the soup a great remedy for a cold or the flu.

I thought these recipe samplings were great! Not only did they taste wonderful, but they were made with many items I already had in my pantry and none of the recipes required any exotic ingredients. That counts for a lot when you live in rural Washington so I'm keeping this cookbook. One for one! I only have about 59 more cookbooks  to try and eliminating some might be more difficult than I expected. Good thing we got that membership!