Maui Onion and Ginger Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I have had this simple Maui Onion and Ginger Soup tagged to make for a little while now. This recipe is from a local cookbook I was given, "Hawaiian Country Tables: Vintage Recipes for Today's Cooks" by Kaui Philpotts. It's a fun book with recipes adapted from community cookbooks and local restaurants and chefs. Maui onions, if you are not familiar, are a smaller, juicy and very sweet onion. If you can't find them, any small, sweet onion will work.

Philpotts says, "Shep Gordon is a Hollywood-producer-turned-avid-gourmet. He now makes Hawai'i his home. His friends and houseguests love this soup. You will too."

Maui Onion and Ginger Soup

Adapted from Shep Gordon, "Hawaiian Country Tables" by Kaui Philpotts

(Serves 4)

4 large Maui onions, sliced

2 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried

1 cup dry white wine

1 quart chicken broth

1/2 pint half and half (I used lite coconut milk)

In a saucepan, saute the onions in the butter over medium heat. Add the ginger and continue to cook until the onions are clear, but not browned. Add the thyme, wine, and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Continue to cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Add the half and half and return to the heat. This soup can be served hot or cold with a dollop of sour cream.

Notes/Results: Very good--sweet, creamy with a nice kick of ginger. The only change I made was to replace the half and half with coconut milk to keep it non-dairy. The coconut milk added some extra flavor and I think it kept it just as creamy as the half and half would have. I topped the soup with some crispy onions for a bit of texture and served it with some savory biscuit bites from a cookbook I am testing. Although the recipe says it can be enjoyed both hot or cold, I preferred it hot. This is a simple to make, rich and flavorful soup that I would make again.

Now let's see who is in the Souper Sunday kitchen this week.

First let's welcome a new face to Souper Sundays, Janet from The Taste Space, coming to us from Toronto with this Roasted Red Pepper and Squash Soup. Janet says, "This is a very simple soup, with only 4 ingredients, but the results are beyond simple. Freshly roasted peppers are combines with sweet squash (butternut, buttercup, etc) with a flavourful stock and an onion, and you have a powerful soup. Season well with salt and pepper. The hardest part is roasting the red peppers, which I recommend over the jarred variety as they taste a lot better and it isn’t that difficult. You can roast more peppers to save for other dishes, as I do as well." Welcome Janet!

The talented Graziana from Erbe in Cucina is back this week with a hearty Thai Green Curry with Potatoes served with jasmine rice, and made with the always fresh and wonderful herbs from her incredible garden. Graziana says, "I prepared again the Thai Chicken Soup before it was too hot to enjoy it. With the fresh harvested lemon grass I also cooked this Thai-inspired green curry."

Here with two entries, a soup and some burgers (more about the burgers below) is my friend Foodycat. Her soup is a Minestra di Verdura or Green Minestrone. Foodycat says, "This is a lighter, quicker, green-er version of a classic minestrone. I topped it with crisp prosciutto because Paul was a bit unimpressed at being given a vegetarian meal when it wasn't even Monday. Still - it was delicious and healthy!"

Lori from Fake Food Free is here with a beautiful and exotic Black Trumpet Mushrooms Over Ho Fan. Lori says, "What resulted were thin, delicate ribbons of mushroom and a dark, rich broth some of which I used in this recipe and the rest I froze to add to soups later. I combined the mushrooms, broth and homemade chicken stock and served it over Ho Fan, a flat Asian noodle. The Ho Fan was a nice match for the rich mushroom broth. This ended up being a very easy, simple meal, and with the Black Trumpets, the flavor is outstanding!"

Another new face to welcome this week is Michelle from Ms. EnPlace from Lousiana, who found us through Kim at Stirring the Pot, and brings a hearty Meatball Stew. The desire for meatball stew was triggered by the special sign in front of a local cafe. Michelle says, "I have wanted different lately. I’ve been uninspired/in a rut as far as meal planning goes. And The Boy does love his meatballs—almost as much as bread (which is a lot, btw). So when I saw Ronnie’s Meatball Stew sign, I knew that’s what I had to make!" Happy to have you join us Michelle!

Joanne from Eats Well With Others "advises" to protect yourself and identify potential vampires by making a lot of Mark Bittman's Roasted Garlic Soup. She says, "The FDA and NIH have worked together to come up with a set of guidelines and protocols. That enumerates the ways in which you can protect yourself from the potentially imminent vampire invasion.
The first of which is to make this roasted garlic soup. And serve it to just about anyone who enters your home. Your husband. Your children. Your best friend. Definitely your hermit of a next door neighbor who lives alone with her ten cats. And who you're pretty sure you've never seen in broad daylight. No one is above suspicion."

I am happy to have my friend Christine from Fresh Local and Best making her first (but hopefully not last!) appearance at Souper Sundays with a Zested Lime Cilantro Quinoa Salad. Christine says, "I was hesitant about this recipe, concerned that the lime zest would be bitter. I'm pleased to report that I was wrong. The dressing in this recipe is bright but tame, I'm sure that the two tablespoons of butter didn't hurt. When combined with a variety of herbs and a vegetables, the salad strikes a well-rounded balance that celebrates the flavors of summer." Welcome Christine!

Yenta Mary from Food Floozie is here with a Ham 'n' Cheese Pasta Salad to share. She says, "But oh, man, was it good! Whole wheat pasta shells, chopped ham, shredded Parmesan, some peas and carrots and a little salt and pepper. For myself, rather than for Jeremy, I also added grape tomatoes and shredded spinach and red onion, finishing it off with a Dijon-Balsamic vinaigrette. And I made enough that there will be leftovers for tomorrow ... to paraphrase Bob Vila, "Cook Once, Eat Twice."

Natashya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies also got her garlic on this week with Mark Bittman's Garlic Mushroom Flans with Caesar Salad topped with Garlic Shrimp. She says, "In honour of the stinking rose, I have made a garlicky dinner which, when eaten on the deck in this beautiful summer weather, also seems to act as a natural bug repellent. See, good all around. For your garlicky pleasure I have Garlic-Mushroom Flans, delicate and quivering in their deliciousness, Caesar Salad, with extra garlic of course, topped with Garlic Shrimp - because one can never have too much of a good thing."

Kim from Stirring the Pot has been cooking from Emeril's new cookbook and made both a salad and a sandwich this week. She says, "Emeril's Cucumber Ribbon Salad looked so beautifully presented in the book that I had to give it a try. I was a little intimidated to try my hand at cucumber ribbons, but it was actually very easy with a vegetable peeler. The cucumber ribbons were mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, mint, and dill. Twirling the cucumber ribbon around on a fork like spaghetti was really fun and the salad was a total hit."

For her sandwich, Kim says, "I had also been craving a delicious and wonderfully messy steak and cheese sandwich. Emeril's Steak and Cheese Sandwich fit the bill very nicely. This was a delightfully messy sandwich with tons of flavor from both the blue cheese and the Worcestershire sauce. The steak was especially tender and cooked to perfection. A definite repeat for any future steak and cheese cravings."

For her sandwich entry, Foodycat is starting a quest this summer to make the perfect burger She says, "I read, I researched, and I came to the conclusion that the best burgers are nothing but seasoned beef - no fillers, no binders. For a first attempt, I was very happy with them! The 10% fat was about right, the burgers were moist but not fatty, and the seasoning was good."

Lots of wonderful dishes, plus both old friends and new at Souper Sundays this week. Mahalo to everyone who joined in. If you have a soup, salad, or sandwich that you would like to share, click on the Souper Sundays logo on the side bar for all of the details.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.