The soup song from “Alice in Wonderland” has been running through my head for several days now, which is nothing unusual. “Soup, beautiful soup, soup of the evening, beautiful soup.”
When the days are short, the nights are long and the January slump has set in, a file in my brain labeled “Winter Food” starts sending me messages. “Hey, Margaret: it’s time for soup, beautiful soup. Get out the soup pot and get busy, lady.”
It’s not that I don’t make soup during the warm months, because I do, but those are lighter and often cold soups. Winter soup has to be thick, rich, hot and hearty, chock full of root
vegetables, beans and pasta, all bathed in broth made from robust beef shanks, or a fine chicken carcass, or mouth-watering lamb shanks, but if you’re vegetarian, it’s fine without those last three items.
Soup is easy, soup is healthy and soup is convenient. What more could you ask for in a one-dish meal?
Remember, when you make soup, you control what goes into it. You can guarantee the freshness and quality of the ingredients, the amount and type of fat used (usually just to sauté onion/leek/garlic, etc.), and the amount of salt and seasonings.
There are many excellent types and brands of stock or broth on the market now, and they make it possible for you to toss together a fresh, homemade pot of soup (with only the little cheating of purchased broth) in less than an hour. Add a tossed green or a fruit salad, and dinner is on.
Even though I am most often cooking for only two these days, I still make a big pot whenever I make soup.
First because it’s always nice to have homemade soup handy in the freezer on those nights when there’s a real time crunch about dinner, or I just don’t feel like doing much else about cooking. But, I’ve also found that offering to share my pot of soup with a neighbor brings not only many thanks but reciprocal sharing and, because we have a couple of neighbors who are outstanding cooks, we reap tasty benefits from our big pot of soup.
I did some online investigating and, as far as
I could ascertain, there is no culture or tribe of people on this planet who do not include soup in their diet, whether it’s a simple broth made from a fish head in sea water or a thick, rich mulligatawny. Many countries have what could be called a “national soup,” such as Spanish Gazpacho, Italian Minestrone, Scottish Cock-a-Leekie, Japanese Miso, Chinese Shark’s Fin Soup and Bird’s Nest Soup.
I found myself wondering if we, in this country, have one soup that might be considered “our” best known concoction. Clam chowder, maybe? But then, would it be Manhattan style or white, Boston style?
Soup, beautiful soup…
RECIPES
I have so many excellent soup recipes, as you may well have also, but on cold, dark winter nights, whatever soup we’re having must be thick, rich, body-and-soul pleasing, whether it be silky or chunky. It’s difficult to choose, but right now both sweet potatoes and acorn squash are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, and this soup fits all the required elements.
ROASTED SQUASH SWEET POTATO SOUP
1 large sweet potato
1 acorn squash
4 shallots
2 T. olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves (don’t bother to peel, yet)
3½ – 4 cups chicken broth
½ cup light cream (or half and half)
½ t. turmeric
Salt and pepper, to taste
Snipped chives, for garnish
Cut the sweet potato, squash and shallots in half lengthwise. Scoop the seeds from the squash and brush the cut sides with the oil. Put the vegetables, cut side down, in a shallow roasting pan. Add the garlic cloves. Roast in a preheated 375-degree oven for about 40 min., or until tender and light brown.
When cool, scoop the flesh from the potato and squash and put in a saucepan with the shallots. Remove the peel from the garlic and add the soft insides to the other vegetables in the saucepan. Add the broth and a pinch of salt. Bring just to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 min., stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very tender.
Allow the soup to cool slightly, then transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth, working in batches if necessary. If you’re using a food processor, strain off the cooking liquid and reserve, then process the solids with just enough cooking liquid to moisten them, then combine with the remaining liquid. Return the soup to the pan and stir in the cream or half and half, the turmeric and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for 10 min., until completely heated through. Ladle into warmed bowls, garnish with snipped chives and serve. (You could consider putting a small dollop of sour cream or, my personal favorite, Greek yogurt, in the soup as you serve it.) Serves 6-8.
How to get all the vegetables you’re told you should be eating every day? This soup can do it for you.
Even though it has a list of ingredients as long as your arm, it comes together in less than an hour. It will take you much longer to buy all the veggies in this soup. This is a vegetarian dream, and even if you’re not one of those, this is just plain a good pot of soup on a cold night.
VEGETABLE SOUP WITH PESTO GARNISH
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large leek, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 carrot, quartered, thinly sliced
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 1/2 cups water
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, finely diced
1 small kohlrabi, diced
1 turnip, diced
1/3 lb. green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 lb. peas, fresh or frozen
2 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and slices
1 can (14 oz.) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3-4 oz. spinach leaves, cut into thin ribbons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
FOR THE PESTO:
1-2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 T. extra virgin olive oil
In a large saucepan, heat the oil over med. low heat. Add the onions and leek and cook for 5 min., stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened. Add the celery, carrot and garlic; cook, covered, for 5 min., stirring frequently. Add the water, potato, parsnip, kohlrabi, and green beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 5 min.
Add the peas, zucchini and cannelini beans; season generously with salt and pepper. Cover again; simmer for about 25 min., until all the vegetables are tender.
Make the pesto: Put the garlic, basil and Parmesan into a food processor with the oil and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.
Add the spinach to the soup; simmer 5 more min. Taste and adjust seasonings and stir about a tablespoon of the pesto into the soup. Ladle into warmed bowls and serve with the remaining pesto. Serves 6.
It’s a dark and stormy night and you’re feeling a bit “peckish,” as my grandmother used to say. This unusual but quick and easy soup just might help a bit, as long as you have only one bowl and perhaps a nice chunk of crusty bread along with it, and a healthy spinach salad, perhaps.
BLOODY MARY SOUP
1 can (14 oz.) chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
Small handful of fresh basil leaves
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Tabasco sauce, to taste
4 T. vodka, or to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Sprigs of cilantro or flat leaf parsley, for garnish
Put tomatoes and broth into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the garlic and basil and cook for 3-4 min. Transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Return to saucepan. Season to taste with salt and pepper, Worcestershire and Tabasco; heat but don’t boil. Stir in the vodka and serve in small warmed bowls garnished with parsley. Serves 4.
