Receta OCD Recipes Revisited: Country French Soup

by Eliot

OCD Recipes Revisited: Country French Soup

By Eliot, on January 10th, 2013

As I was looking over my list of winning recipes, I was struck by a couple of things.

I used a lot of prepackaged and processed foods for these contests. Basically because these prepackaged and processed food companies were sponsors.

Here’s a list of a few winners that were sponsored by food companies.

Texas Touchdown BBQ Pizza

I won a year’s supply of Boboli pizza crusts for this one.

Early Morning Chai French Toast

I won a boxful of Oregon Chai. I LOVE Chai!

Crunchy Amaretto Peach Cobbler

I won two whole cans of pie filling.

Surprise Morning Muffins

I won a great gift basket (and as I recall, I almost won a trip to NYC. Wasn’t a finalist though. )

Another great moment was winning two (2) Martha Stewart Cooking School Cookbooks in the Hunt’s Best Meals, Best Moments contest in 2009. The website has since expired but I will list one of the winners here today for you. Besides, it is good soup weather.

Country French Soup

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 c. chopped celery
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 c. shredded carrot
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. red wine
• 1 quart home canned tomatoes or 2 (14 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 2 (14 oz.) cans white navy beans
• 1 medium potato, chopped (I used a red potato—skin on.)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 t. ground black pepper
• 1 t. . balsamic vinegar
• 1 lb. lean ground sausage (I actually used some Italian sausage this time—delicious!)
• ½ c. cream
• 1 T. fresh basil, chopped*

In a large stock pot, sauté onion and celery for 5 minutes. Add garlic and carrots and sauté another 2 minutes. Add next nine ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook on low heat for 20 minutes. While soup is simmering, brown sausage. After 20 minutes, add sausage and cream. Stir and bring back to a simmer. Stir in chopped basil right before serving.

*The basil bit the dust in the hoop house with the recent frigid temps, so I threw in a square of frozen pesto instead of the basil.

Aside: I have no idea, other than it sounded frou-fou, why I titled this recipe Country French Soup.