Its getting cold here. Like really cold (well, at least for Arizona standards). Friday it rained the whole day and the rain brought with it a cold wave. Temperatures dropped to below zero Celsius (still not used to reading temperature in Farenheit) and its just beginning November.
Cold also means that its time to take the soup bowls out. Besides the heater, blankets, jackets, scarves and boots!
So while deciding on what recipe to make for this month’s SRC from Gay’s blog- A Scientist in the Kitchen– her Filipino Sopas recipe caught my attention.
Sopas traditionally consists of boiling chicken or pork bones with salt and pepper. Once you get good tasting broth flavor, elbow macaroni is added which you cook till al dente. When the pasta is almost done, vegetables are added usually chopped carrots and cabbage. Once done, season with salt and pepper to taste and add a cup of milk to make it really creamy, and it is ready to serve.
I did tweak the recipe to what I had on hand and since it is the Indian festival season and V’s family doesn’t eat meat on certain days during the festival of Diwali, I made it completely vegetarian. I used vegetarian broth instead of chicken broth and since I had some mushrooms that and some frozen mixed vegetables is what I added to the sopas. And since I was out of elbow macroni, I added broken pieces of lasagna sheets (as that was the only pasta I had in my kitchen).
Traditional or not, both V and I really liked the sopas and I loved how easy it was to put together. Do give it a try.
- meat broth-chicken, beef, pork (I used a can of vegetable broth)
- elbow macaroni (I used 4 sheets of lasagna broken into small pieces)
- chopped vegetables- carrots, cabbage, mushroom, asparagus… anything goes ( I used mushrooms and few mixed frozen vegetables)
- salt and pepper to taste
- a cup of milk ( I used ¼ cup of milk)
- Herbs- oregano, basil and celery salt
- In a saucepan, heat a little oil. Add the mushrooms and stir fry on high. When soft, add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the elbow macaroni (other pasta shapes will do like farfalle, rigatoni and penne – but this would not really be a Filipino dish). Add dried herbs such as oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary).
- The elbow macaroni is cooked till al dente. Just taste the macaroni a few minutes after boiling. When macaroni is almost done, added the chopped vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Turn off fire and add the milk.
