Awesome soup day #5 Vegetable and Herb chowder.

So Mike found a chowder in the Soup Bible after some discussion on what a chowder really is.Mike associated chowder with the creamy bowls of clam found on Cape Cod . I associated it with a creamy version of lumpy potato soup. So I looked it up and it is a generic term meaning any soup thickened with milk or cream containing vegetables or fish so we were both right.

Well the photo in the book didn't look very creamy but it cooked up with lots of great veggies into a very nice thick soup and yes, some milk was added right at the end of cooking. Most of the cooking time went into preparing the veggies and I am sure with this kind of soup probably any veggies could be used. The various herbs added to the taste and probably could also be adjusted accordingly.. We both pronounced this a definite 9 for overall satisfaction and texture Realizing the veggies could have been given a little more time to cook ,gave it an 8 for taste. This is one recipe we probably will use again.

I decided to make wheat dinner rolls instead of a loaf of bread this time. These came out much better than I expected giving a warm yeasty smell to the kitchen on a cold winter day. The only problem was that I should have divided the dough into 12 or 16 rolls rather than 8 as they came out as rolls fit for a giant to eat but really tasty and just delicious with butter.

To compliment our lunch we opened a bottle of Ruidoso Red , a wine made by Willmon Vineyards in New Mexico given to us at Christmas by our friends Cheryl and Lou. This is a lovely smooth red wine and was just perfect to compliment the meal.

Another friend Tamsin, did ask what we would do when we ran out of new soup recipes. Looking at all the cook books we have ,I don't think that will be a possibility.

PS. If any of our local friends would like to join us to partake of the soup of the week just let us know a couple of days ahead of cooking time and you will be most welcome.