Spring Saffron Vegetable Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic until tender. Mix in potato, broccoli, corn, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and cabbage. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes, until potato is tender.
• Stir egg noodles and white beans into the pot, and continue cooking 7 minutes, or until noodles are tender and beans are heated through.

Steps:

• Place chicken, leek, celery, carrot thirds (not sliced carrots), parsley sprigs, bay leaf, saffron, peppercorns, and 1 tablespoon salt in a large pot. Add enough water to cover completely (about 14 cups). Bring to a boil, then skim foam from surface; reduce heat to low and gently simmer until chicken is cooked through, 25 minutes.
• Remove chicken; continue simmering broth while you discard skin and remove meat from bones. Cover meat and refrigerate; return bones to pot and simmer 2 1/2 to 3 hours more.
• Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot; discard solids, including bones. (You should have about 7 cups broth.) Skim fat. Add sliced carrots and celery to pot and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook egg noodles in a pot of salted boiling water according to package directions; drain. Shred or cut some of reserved chicken to yield 3 cups of bite-size pieces (save extra for salads or sandwiches) and add to broth with noodles; season to taste. Simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes; serve with parsley leaves.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot, add the onions, and saute over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the leeks, potatoes, carrots, salt, and pepper and saute over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and saffron, bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Add the haricots verts and spaghetti, bring to a simmer, and cook for 15 more minutes.
• To serve, whisk 1/4 cup of the pistou into the hot soup, then season to taste. Depending on the saltiness of your chicken stock, you may need to add up to another tablespoon of salt. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and more pistou.
• Pistou:
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 24 large basil leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• Place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor and puree. With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil down the feed tube to make a paste. Pack into a container, pour a film of olive oil on top, and close the lid.
• Yield: 1 cup

Steps:

• Put the stock or broth into a saucepan, and bring it to a simmer over low heat with a ladle nearby. Make sure that the broth is well seasoned.
• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a wide, heavy nonstick skillet or saucepan. Add the spring onion, green garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook gently until it is just tender, about three minutes. Do not brown.
• Add the rice, and stir just until the grains separate and begin to crackle. Rub the saffron between your thumb and fingers, and stir into the rice. Add the wine, stirring until it has been absorbed. Begin adding the simmering stock, a couple of ladlefuls (about 1/2 cup) at a time. The stock should just cover the rice and should be bubbling, not too slowly nor too quickly. Cook, stirring often, until the stock is just about absorbed. Add another ladleful or two of the stock. Continue to cook in this fashion, adding more stock when the rice is almost dry and stirring. When the rice is just tender all the way through but still chewy, in 20 to 25 minutes, it is done. Taste, and adjust seasoning.
• Add another ladleful of stock to the rice. Stir in the Parmesan, and remove from the heat. The mixture should be creamy. Serve right away in wide soup bowls or on plates, spreading the risotto in a thin layer rather than lumping into a mound.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a heavy-bottom soup kettle. Add onions, garlic and saffron and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until onions are softened. Do not let onions brown.
• Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add bread crumbs to onions and stir to mix thoroughly. Add chicken stock and stir again. Bring soup to a boil and immediately lower heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
• Puree soup in a blender, food processor or fine-mesh food mill. Strain soup, discarding solids. Return to rinsed-out soup kettle. Add cream and lemon juice. Mix well and taste, adding salt and pepper if desired. May be served immediately, or chilled and served as a summer soup.

Steps:

• In a pot, melt butter. Add leeks, carrot, celery and onion and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 8 minutes.
• Add potato, garlic, vegetable stock, saffron, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potato is almost tender, 15 minutes.
• Stir in beans and peas. Simmer until potato is tender and beans and peas are tender-crisp.
• Stir in cream and adjust seasoning. Simmer, stirring, until steaming, about 1 minute.

Steps:

• In a pot, melt butter. Add leeks, carrot, celery and onion and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 8 minutes.
• Add potato, garlic, vegetable stock, saffron, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potato is almost tender, 15 minutes.
• Stir in beans and peas. Simmer until potato is tender and beans and peas are tender-crisp.
• Stir in cream and adjust seasoning. Simmer, stirring, until steaming, about 1 minute.