A Tale of Two Soups

The Challenge: Using a basic recipe for Creamy Vegetable Chowder, create a delicious concoction worthy of the winning title.

Challengers:
Brandy: a timid recipe follower with a meat and potatoes background.
Kristine: a vegetarian recently taking new chances in the kitchen.

The Recipe (adapted from fortheloveofcooking.net)

2 tbsp Butter
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp flour, divided
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups potatoes, diced
2/3 cup milk
2 cups broccoli florets
1 - 2 cups sharp Cheddar, shredded
1 sprig thyme
salt and pepper

1. Heat butter in a large pot over med heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and thyme. Saute 3 min.

2. Add garlic, cook 1 min.

3. Add 1 tbsp of flour, stir well.

4. Add stock and potatoes. Cover and let simmer for 20 min.

5. Add broccoli and let simmer 10 min more.

6. Add 1 tbsp of flour to the milk. Whisk well and then add to the soup along with the cheese.

7. Add salt and pepper. Check seasoning.

The Results:

Brandy: This soup was made with vegetable stalk (so our resident vegetarian could sample it...) Nice gesture on Brandy's behalf, but I must say I prefer the chicken stock with this recipe. Brandy cut her vegetables in larger dice, which was great because they held together well through the long cooking time. I was particularily impressed by the broccoli, it still had a "bite" to it, which is difficult to achieve. I must say the most impressive part of this soup was the addition of some hot sauce during cooking. Brandy took initiative here and played around with the recipe. I LOVED it. I will definitely be adding the spicy kick to my next batch.

Kristine: This soup was made with a Vegetarian Chicken flavored bouillon and I thought it worked really well. I loved the texture of this soup as it definitely was very thick and chowder like. I also really liked the size and texture of the potatoes. They were not too gritty and definitly not overcooked. Kirstine's broccoli fell apart quite a bit. That along with the choice of cheese used, lent to a more broccoli/cheese style soup. Good thing broccoli cheese is one of my favorites too!

The VERDICT:

Overall both girls did a very impressive job on their recipes. It's neat to see how one recipe can be adapted so differently. I'm hesitant to declare a winner because as far as I'm concerned (wait for it,...) when you toss out the canned soup and make it from scratch EVERYBODY WINS!. But, alas, in the spirit if the competition I declare the winner to be......





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BRANDY! Who edged out the win with the brilliant addition of the hot sauce!