Soups & stews recipes

Oxtail is one of the most economical and most flavorful cuts of meat, and one that takes well to marinating for days in a hearty mixture of red wine, herbs, and vegetables. The longer you marinate the mixture, the more flavorful it will be, but be sure it marinates at least 3 days. Oxtail is also a fatty cut -- give yourself plenty of time to allow the stew to cook and then cool, so all the fat can be skimmed off. Serve this with thick noodles in warmed soup bowls, accompanied by a tossed salad, and of course, a robust red wine.

I cooked this soup 3 times lately, and the best base is turkey- chicken stock in my opinion. Just a summer soup made of many stems.

An authentic Chinese Shrimp Wonton soup. Prepared wonton wrappers make preparation easy.

A soup which is a combination of Mediterranean garlic soups with a 17th century East European fava beans soup. Quite good.

Velvety broccoli soup made from scratch with fresh broccoli florets and stems, potatoes for body, and evaporated milk for richness without heavy cream.

This soup is great, hot or even cold. Creamy and delicious, even better topped with some cheddar cheese! A great way to use up broccoli stems and save the florets for another use.

Easy baked chicken and rice. With just minutes of prep and a few simple ingredients, this family-friendly chicken and rice bake is in the oven.

A light yet delicious Chinese dumpling soup. The dumpings are made with several kinds of veggies, smoked tofu, shiitake mushrooms, water chest nuts, and black fungus, tossed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil. Simply wrap it up with store-bought wonton or dumpling wraps.

There are hundreds versions of this very Polish soup. Here you have an original proposition of mine. I used to cook it on the base of my favorite duck and chicken stock. The cream is a must to create wonderful pink color. Optionally you may add a quarter or a half of hard boiled egg to your bowl. By the way, I change my recipe sometimes, for instance by adding dried California prunes instead of sugar, or by adding some white vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Chilled cantaloupe soup with orange juice concentrate, honey, Calvados apple brandy, and cream. A stunning cold summer starter served in stemmed glasses with fresh mint.

From-scratch asparagus soup built on a stock made from the tough ends. Blended asparagus stems and leeks, optional cream, finished with whole tender tips and lemon zest.

Vegetarian kale and potato soup builds a rich stock from kale stems and potato peels, then layers in olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and torn kale leaves. Rustic, zero-waste cooking.

Chicken base is basically dehydrated, powdered chicken stock. If you can't find it in the supermarket, grind chicken bouillon cubes. For the asparagus, cut about two inches off the stem end. You don't need to peel it. To blanch spinach, simply drop it in boiling salted water for one minute and then immediately submerge it in ice water to stop the cooking and retain the color. The spinach will provide the soup with a vibrant green hue.