Written by Crystal Ward Kent

January 02, 2008

Warming Trends: A sampling of seasonal soups, chowders, and stews

Lobster and Clam Chowder at the Harbor's Edge When soup simmers on the stove, tantalizing aromas fill the house and the rich fragrance alone almost banishes the winter chill. Nothing warms like savoring a big bowl of soup, chowder, or stew.

Several area restaurants have raised soup and chowder making to an art form. Their offerings range from complex creations layered with flavor to chowders rich in their simplicity.

As the days grow chillier, the chefs at Stonewall Kitchen in York, Maine, are hard at work creating tempting soups and chowders. Stonewall Kitchen's recipes-used both in the company's product line and café-are created by a team of four chefs from the company's research and development kitchens. With the change in season, making an appearance are new products and a new fall/winter menu at the café, which includes French Onion Soup.

"The French Onion Soup is made with our own Garlic Onion Jam," explains Chef Sidnei Degois. "This is the first time we've used it in a soup. We follow the traditional steps in making the French Onion Soup, but this adds great flavor. The jam makes the soup thicker, and the sugar in it adds texture. It has a wonderful aroma, too. We serve it with the classic melted cheese and croutons."

Three versions of corn chowder also are available in the café, to eat in or to take home. According to Degois, the key is fresh ingredients, starting with fresh corn from a local farm. "We roast the corn with different spices and herbs, then add cream, fresh celery, celery salt, and a bit of basil oil," he says. "During preparation, we actually sauté the corn and celery to bring in the hint of a smoked flavor; we also add a bit of apple wood smoked bacon."

One variation on the classic corn chowder incorporates chicken. Degois marinates the chicken with herbs, then sautés it with more herbs and spices before adding it to the chowder base. He finishes the soup with a splash of chive oil. The Mexican version kicks it up a bit, using roasted jalapeño peppers to lay in a touch of heat. Purple, yellow, and green peppers are roasted with garlic, sautéed in cilantro oil, then added to the chowder for both flavor and color. The creamy dish is then garnished with crisp tortilla chips.

"It helps to show people how one basic soup can give you three different choices," says Degois. "Creating great soups like this is easy. You can taste all of the soups here at the cafe, find the recipes here, and the key ingredients."

Returning to the menu is a classic New England Clam Chowder, rich with potatoes and lots of clams. "Yes, you can actually see the clams!" smiles Degois. "This is a thick, creamy chowder, which holds well in the spoon and is full of flavor. We add a bit of bacon while making it. We cook the bacon with the potatoes to get the bacon flavor, then remove the bacon and add the cream. This gives the chowder another dimension and incredible taste."

Pumpkin Soup from Stonewall Kitchen at Taste Magazine Stonewall Kitchen produces a marvelous pumpkin butter that Degois will use in a warm pumpkin soup for later in the season.

All the great soups are available at the café, which is just off Route 1 in York on Stonewall Lane. The café is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (207) 351-2719 to reach the café or visit www.stonewallkitchen.com.

In Portland, Maine, diners have been flocking to Gilbert's Chowder House since 1993. The big draw is the Clam Chowder, winner of the Maine Sunday Telegram's readers' choice for Maine's best chowder. Eddie Gilbert, co-owner of the restaurant with his brother, Jim, doesn't want to reveal too much about what is in the chowder. "It's a top-secret recipe," he smiles. "It's thick and creamy, and the flavor is extraordinary. We go through fifty to sixty gallons a day, even in the summer. Tourists love it. They come to Maine for seafood and lobster, and chowder ties in with that."

Eddie created the Clam Chowder recipe, along with his popular Fish Chowder, Bacon Chicken Corn Chowder, Seafood Chowder, and even Seafood Chili. All of these are offered year-round; are available in eight-, twelve-, or sixteen-ounce cups; and are served with traditional oyster crackers.

So can he describe any of the ingredients that make these dishes special? "Nope," he says. "That would be saying too much. It's just good flavor that keeps folks coming back."

Gilberts is located at 92 Commercial Street in Portland's historic Old Port. It's a paper-plate kind of place, welcoming and casual. Gilberts is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call (207) 871-5636 (no website).

New Hampshire can compete when it comes to chowder, as evidenced at the Harbor's Edge restaurant at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth. Harbor's Edge won the "People's Choice" in 2006 at the Portsmouth Chowderfest and the "Judge's Choice" at the 2007 Chowderfest. The winning entry is a Lobster and Roasted Corn Chowder that tasters claim is a spoonful of heaven.

Garth Lyndes, executive chef at Harbor's Edge, is also secretive about his chowder's special qualities. "I'm very careful about revealing too much," he smiles. "Some things are just meant to remain mysteries. But, I will say that we use fresh lobster meat, fresh corn, and fresh herbs. We sauté the lobster meat, then we add heavy cream, so the chowder is super rich and thick. Lobster stock adds even more flavoring. These elements form the foundation of the chowder, but as for everything else, mum's the word."

Sales have risen since the public discovered the chowder at the Chowderfest, and as the temperature drops, requests increase. (The chowder is available for catered events.)

Harbor's Edge also offers a creamy butternut soup, slightly sweetened with brown sugar, as well as a curried butternut bisque. Other seasonal favorites include a pumpkin and smoked mussel bisque, and a curried pumpkin soup. One of the biggest sellers is the classic French Onion Soup, and Lyndes is a stickler for preparing this soup according to tradition.

French Onion Soup at the Sheraton Portsmouth in Taste Magazine "The secret of a true French onion soup is to use both chicken and beef stock," he explains. "Then, you caramelize the onions until they achieve that golden brown color-this gives the dish its sweetness. We finish the soup with sherry-not red wine, which is often substituted; the wine does not provide the same flavor-and fresh thyme. Of course, on top you must have a toasted baguette and melted gruyere cheese."

Harbor's Edge is located at 250 Market Street in Portsmouth. For a complete list of hours and offerings, call (603) 559-2626 or visit www.sheratonportsmouth.com.

Kathy Gallant of Blue Moon Market in Exeter, New Hampshire, lives and breathes soup. She has been crafting soups for twelve years at the café (thirty years, altogether) and still loves creating these nurturing blends. All of her soups celebrate the bounty of the land and seasons.

"For fall, we offer fresh Corn Chowder, taking advantage of the native corn," she says. "I gain my inspiration at farmers' markets, choosing what's abundant. We make soup in five-gallon batches, so I need lots of food!"

Around Thanksgiving, Gallant shifts to soups such as carrot, apple and ginger. For this, she uses local carrots and apples, and sweetens the soup with maple syrup. A French lentil soup-flavored with a bit of Dijon mustard-may appear on the menu, or a French Root soup-which is loaded with potatoes, parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips, and onions, and accented with garlic and Dijon. Then there's the potato, parsnip, and pear concoction.

"Pears are plentiful at that time, so I love to use them," she says. "I form the body of the soup with onions and potatoes, then add the pears, finishing the soup with thyme and sherry to complement all the flavors. This is a creamy soup, rich with butter. Very hearty for colder days."

Gallant speaks of "building the soup," always with an eye to taste, texture, color, and flavor. She starts by visiting her walk-in pantry and picks her color palette by vegetable. She likes to have variety-some red, orange, and green, as opposed to just one or two colors. "I might add currants or Kalamata olives for depth of color. It's important to me, from a creative standpoint, to have a range of colors in a complex soup. The more complex the flavor, the more colorful the soup. A simple soup might have just one or two colors, but a stew, for example, should have the full spectrum. With a chili, I'll use red, yellow, and green peppers, and choose red over white beans. It should look as good as it tastes."

When Gallant starts the soup, she already has the end in mind. She considers what flavors will form the base, which flavors will accent the middle, and which flavors will finish the soup.

"For my curried chickpea soup, the beginning flavor is salty, and the Kalamata olives are the salt," she explains. "I love combining the flavors of sweet, salty, and spicy all at the same time. The body of the flavor is the curry and the cumin. The sweet is the currant. Or, I might substitute limes, or apples, or even apple juice. The heat isn't always the curry; it can come from whatever ethnic theme I decide to incorporate. With an Indian soup, it's Indian spices, but if I make this a Mexican version, the heat might come from chipotle, or with Italian, from black pepper. I stay true to the ethnic origins of the soup when building the foundation."

Gallant also decides early on the "size of her chop," or how the vegetables will be prepared. For a stew, she goes chunky; stews and chilis are main courses and need texture. For a gazpacho, she minces the vegetables; for other soups, she opts for a purée. The size of the chop determines the blend of flavors and the look.

Once she's chosen the ingredients for the curried chickpea soup, Gallant sautés the onions in oil; adding, in this case, curry, cumin, ginger, and garlic. The aroma is incredible, fragrant and spicy. She then "sweats" the vegetables in the onion and spice base, frequently stirring and tasting to make sure they are cooking evenly. Next, house-made stock is added, and the veggies are simmered until tender.

"The secret is tasting and adjusting over and over again," she says. "This is where the craft comes in. This is how our grandmothers cooked. It's where you use the art of tasting, of taking time to prepare something. I add a little bit of seasoning at a time, let the soup simmer, then taste again. I'll repeat this process at least three times. I tell my staff, ‘Don't be afraid to let things take the time they need.' Tasting is key, as you don't want any one ingredient to overpower the soup or stew. It takes a couple of hours to create soups like these from start to finish."

As Gallant stirs and tastes, she philosophizes on the nature of soup. "Creating a soup is very nurturing; it makes your house smell good and feels homey. The essence of soup is warm and welcoming. It's about feeding the people you care about with something that you've tended, that will nourish them. Soup is also about celebrating the harvest, about being thankful for the bounty of our land. There are a lot of profound connections in one pot of soup."

Blue Moon Market is located at 8 Clifford Street in Exeter. For hours and offerings, call (603) 778-6850 or visit www.bluemoonmarket.net.

Down in Brookline, Massachusetts, Gallant has a kindred spirit in Marjorie Druker. Druker sees soup as a lifestyle, and what goes in the pot echoes not only the changing calendar but also passages in life. Druker and her husband, Paul Brophy, met at age nineteen and became independent partners from the start. They created the New England Soup Factory in 1995, with Druker dreaming up the food, and Brophy running the operations end of the business. Druker is a nationally recognized chef, and thanks to her creativity, the New England Soup Factory is a four-time "Best of Boston" award winner.

New England Soup Factory offers more than one hundred soups to "warm the heart in winter, and cool the palate in summer." The soups are all made from scratch, and frequently combine the flavors and ingredients of different cultures.

New England Soup Factory's Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup with Dill "The soup business is like a wardrobe, it changes with the season," Druker says. "I plan my soups by the calendar. For Halloween, I'll offer pumpkin and ginger, or maybe a spicy black bean with sausage. Right around Thanksgiving, I'll bring out a pumpkin and cranberry or a wild mushroom and barley. As we get closer to December, I'll plan my Hanukkah soups. We have a large Jewish clientele, and they love our Eastern European versions. I may create a sweet and sour cabbage, made with fresh dill, caraway, yellow raisins, tomatoes, brown sugar, and lemon juice. The soup is tasty, but the ingredients also tell a story. The recipes for these soups are based on cooking done by people who had very little and often were in hiding. A soup like this symbolizes their life-the sweet and the sour, but blended well."

For Christmas, Druker pulls out all the stops with soups perfect for a delectable first course or a special lunch. "I like to make a porcini mushroom soup, which is elegant with a rich, woodsy, exotic flavor," she says. "It's like a good strong chianti-not for the faint of heart. Then there's our Hungarian Cherry soup, which we serve cold in the summer but warm in December. It goes beautifully with a roasted duck or goose, and makes a lovely presentation. Bring this out and it's like Miss America coming out before the goose."

The Hungarian Cherry is made with sour cream, as many Hungarian soups are. Druker poaches the cherries in a broth of fruit juice, sugar, wine, and cinnamon sticks, then purées with the sour cream. The result is hot and fruity, like a liquid cobbler.

New England Soup Factory kicks off the new year with a celebration soup of roasted yellow peppers and lobster. This creamy concoction is simmered in lobster stock and aromatic vegetables and, according to Druker, brings with it hopes for prosperity and longevity.

Throughout the winter, Druker keeps certain classics on the menu, such as Triple Strength Chicken Vegetable, Chili Con Carne, Clam and Corn Chowder, Lobster Newburg, and Italian Beef Stew. The Italian Beef Stew is so hearty, you can smell it cooking from outside.

"We make it with red wine, garlic, and meat that has been braised in tons of burgundy wine," Druker says. "Then we add button mushrooms and Belgian carrots, and the result is a stew that stays with you all day."

New England Soup Factory is located near numerous Boston campuses, and there is a big demand for vegetarian choices. Druker whips up lentil and mushroom soup with fresh spinach, lentils, mushrooms and red wine, or hominy and white bean vegetable chili. "Hominy* is a Mexican white corn with an intense taste," she explains. "This chili is rich with tomatoes, peppers, carrots, creamy white beans, rice, and that flavorful white corn."

Gifted with an endless culinary creativity, Druker says she's "always dreaming something up." "I get an idea and next day, it's in the pot," she laughs. "Each soup we serve is special. I tell folks I'm inviting them to enjoy a world-class bowl of soup, a soup like no other, with depth, taste, and color. It will linger on your palate and in your mind."

New England Soup Factory is located at 24 Brookline Place in Brookline, Massachusetts, and at 244 Needham Street in Newton, Massachusetts. For hours and more information, call (617) 739-1695 or visit www.newenglandsoupfactory.com. (Menus are posted daily online.)

Recipes

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup with Dill

Serves 10-12

"As old-fashioned as it sounds, this soup is one of my favorites," writes New England Soup Factory's Marjorie Druker. "I think of it as Jewish soul food. Brown sugar, raisins, and maple syrup help mellow the sharpness of the cabbage. The flavor seems to carry with it the grandmotherly wisdom that life is sometimes sweet and sometimes sour, but the combination balances out. This soup is especially popular among our senior customers who remember their mothers making it for them back in the Old Country."

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups diced onions
2 cups sliced carrots
1⁄2 cup diced celery
1 head cabbage, diced or sliced
3⁄4 cup golden raisins
31⁄2 quarts chicken or beef stock
2 cups (16 ounces) stewed tomatoes
2 cups V8® juice
2 cups packed brown sugar
1⁄2 cup maple syrup
1⁄2-3⁄4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh dill
Kosher salt, to taste

1. Heat a stockpot for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the canola oil, onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and sauté an additional 5 minutes.

2. Add the raisins, stock, tomatoes, V8 juice, brown sugar, maple syrup, lemon juice, and caraway seeds. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 11⁄2 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove soup from heat. Add the dill and salt. Adjust the seasonings, adding more lemon juice or brown sugar, if necessary.

4. Place pot in an oven and braise for about 5 hours.

Roasted Yellow Pepper, Lobster, and Corn Soup

Serves 8-10

"We put this soup on the menu every New Year's because it is loaded with symbols of everything I want in the coming year," writes New England Soup Factory's Marjorie Druker. "Its yellow color represents sunshine and brightness. The lobster represents prosperity. The two together are magical. Roasting the peppers brings out their deep, astringent flavor to balance the rich lobster meat. The spices might seem like a surprise, but I think fennel and lobster naturally complement each other, as do ground coriander and bell peppers. The result-a fragrant soup with a luscious texture-always makes me feel like celebrating."

6-8 yellow bell peppers
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
4 whole cloves garlic, peeled
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs celery, diced
6 cups lobster stock
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 cups light cream
1⁄4 cup dry vermouth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups cooked lobster meat, cut into bite-size pieces
Freshly snipped chives, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place the whole peppers on top. Bake, turning the peppers once or twice, until the skins are black and charred, about 30-35 minutes.

2. Remove the peppers from the oven. Immediately place them in a paper bag and close the top. (Use tongs or a fork when removing the peppers to avoid burning yourself.)

3. Let the peppers sit for 15 minutes. Unwrap the bag and remove the peppers. Peel away and discard the skins (they should slip right off at this point).

4. Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds. Set aside.

5. Heat a stockpot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery, and sauté for 10 minutes.

6. Add the roasted peppers, lobster stock, fennel seeds, and coriander. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes.

7. Purée the soup in the pot using a hand blender or working in batches with a regular blender until smooth.

8. Add the cream, vermouth, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the lobster meat and stir to combine. Garnish with freshly snipped chives.

Recipes reprinted from New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Nation's Best Purveyor of Fine Soup, with permission from Thomas Nelson, Inc., Copyright 2007 by Marjorie Druker.

Stonewall Kitchen's Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

2 tablespoons Stonewall Kitchen Extra Virgin Olive Oil or unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into 1⁄4-inch dice
2 cups chicken broth
1 jar Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pumpkin Butter
11⁄2 cups half-and-half or light cream
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
Dollop of sour cream, for garnish
Toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish

1. Heat olive oil or butter in a saucepan. Add onion and cook until translucent.

2. Add potatoes and chicken broth to saucepan; cover and bring to a boil.

3. When potatoes are fork tender, purée potato-onion mixture with cooking liquid in a food processor.

4. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir in Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pumpkin Butter and half-and-half. Reheat gently. Add salt and pepper to taste, then garnish.