Ecuadorian Cheese and Noodle Soup - More than just food for Newlyweds!

Every country I know has its own version of Noodle Soup.

In Ecuador noodle soup is something you do when you are in a hurry, don’t have anything else at home to cook, you are too poor to buy better ingredients or you just start to learn to cook.

Which is why it’s also jokingly called the Newlywed’s Soup.

And when you tell you have made noodle soup for lunch you get to be the butt of loads of jokes about your cooking skills.

But although an Ecuadorian homemaker might never admit cooking noodle soup to her friends, she definitely does it in the secrecy of her home.

It is the all-time favorite of children (and husbands) and also super easy to do when you are in a pinch and need something fast but tasty.

Eat it with fresh bread or maybe some gluten free yuca (cassava) bread.

Hope you enjoy this Ecuadorian everyday delicacy!

Cheese and Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1 portion of noodles

½ pound potatoes, diced

4 cloves of garlic

1 sprig of chopped white onion

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup heavy cream

½ cup shredded fresh cheese

6 cups water

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Pepper and Salt, to taste

1. Fry the chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, butter until they are golden.

2. Add the water, potatoes and oregano and cook until the potatoes are soft.

3. In boiling water drop the noodles. Cook for ten minutes.

4. Add cream and cheese. Taste and serve.

ENJOY!

Salmon soup - Are you a traditionalist or do you enjoy experimenting?

Salmon soup is a perfect, simple, casual food for weeknight.

But it can also be considered to be a delicacy that you can offer to the guests.

The soup can be served as the first or the main course.

And you can spice it up with some cream or cream cheese into a wonderfully rich soup.

Serve it with a genuine rye bread.

And don’t forget the fresh dill.

It will give the soup its exquisite taste.

For me, growing up, salmon soup was one of the culinary highlights.

The creamy soup and rich taste of salmon, together with dill, were like heaven to me.

When I moved to Ecuador I didn’t want to lose this taste of home and childhood.

Sadly it is very hard, or even impossible, to find fresh dill here.

After some experimenting, I’ve learnt to enjoy the taste of rosemary in the soup.

It is not part of the original recipe, so if you want traditional Finnish salmon soup, you should use dill instead of rosemary.

Or maybe you should try both and decide for yourself which one you like the best.

Salmon soup

(For 2 people)

Ingredients

2 - 3. (250 g) in potatoes

1 medium onion

Butter

6 cups of water

4 whole allspices

500 g of salmon fillet

6 cups of water

2 to 3 dl cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 small branch of rosemary (or ½ cup of fresh dill)

1. Peel the potatoes and dice or block them. Peel and chop the onion.

2. Cook the salmon fillet in hot water until it’s done. Peel of the skin. Save the fish broth.

3. Put the potatoes and onion to the kettle. Sauté them in butter for a few minutes. Pour into a saucepan of hot fish broth with allspice and rosemary, and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked.

4. Add salmon in the soup broth. Add the cream and heat to a boil, but do not boil. Remove the pan from the heat.

5. Remove the rosemary branch or sprinkle the top of the soup plenty of chopped dill.

6. For the weeknight soup replace the cream with some milk.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Vegetable Soup

Everybody loves a good hearty soup.

Especially when it’s cold and you need something to warm up.

This pumpkin vegetable soup is a new favorite of mine.

There are two ways of eating it, at least in Ecuador there are.

You are free to invent other forms also.

My son’s favorite is eating it with popcorn, which is added to many vegetable soups here.

I rather prefer to eat it with grated cheese.

The cheese gives the soup even a better taste, at least in my opinion.

The soup is very simple to do and perfect for those weekdays when you need a quick, but healthy and filling, dinner.

It also keeps its delicious taste after being frozen.

So, if you make a bigger batch, you can freeze some of it, and have it always handy whenever you might need a quick lunch.

Then it depends on you, if you rather eat if with popcorn or cheese.

Or maybe invent another way to enjoy it!

  

Pumpkin Vegetable Soup

(for four)

¼ pumpkin

3 large potatoes

3 large carrots

1 scallion

½ green bell pepper or chili pepper if you want to make it hotter and spicier

2 dl cream

Salt to taste

Ground pepper to taste

1. Peel the potatoes and the carrots, and the pumpkin, cut them into small pieces

2. Cook the vegetables together with small amount of water (just enough to cover them)

3. Mix the cooked vegetables with the scallion and the green bell pepper/chili pepper in a blender

4. Pour the mix into the kettle and add the cream, salt and pepper.

5. Stir gently while the soup comes to boil.

  

To Serve

Grated cheese of your choice

Or

Popcorn

1. Sprinkle grated cheese or popcorn over the soup when served.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!