The world of soup…….no recipe
Source of Recipe
recipecircus/linda tennessee
Recipe Introduction
WITH THE COLD weather and your broke?...
It costs pennies a bowl. Overweight? It has almost zero fat.
Stressed? It has the comfort-power of macaroni and cheese. Rushed? Can't cook? No presentation skills? It is as fast as a smoothie, as easy as toast and as pretty as pie.
we could all use a quick, healthful and hearty meal. Soup is the answer. And it is easier to make than
you think.
List of Ingredients
Recipe
It took me a long time, however, to realize that thickening vegetable soups with roux and weighing them down with cream just masked the taste of the vegetables. I was making sturdy soups, well suited for keeping hot all night, but they often looked and tasted dull. Like that anemic cream of
broccoli I still so often see in restaurants.
I've since mastered all manner of soups, including duck consommé and refined seafood bisques. But when time is an issue, I turn to a simple puree of cooked vegetables. I whirl bright green, red or orange vegetables with just
enough stock to make a naturally rich and silky broth. Forget the flour and heavy cream. By using a high ratio of vegetables to stock I don't need them.
The veggies provide all the body and the blender does all the work. It's an elegant essence worthy of a dinner party, yet simple enough to make for one.
If I have chicken or vegetable stock on hand -- and canned broth really does work fine in a pinch -- I can have homemade soup in minutes. I'll use any vegetable that I have on hand, but in winter, root vegetables are worth
seeking out. Whatever I use, I always consider three components: flavor,color and body. Even the most versatile veggie can usually fulfill only two out of three.
Carrots, for instance, have great color and texture, but the flavor is a little flat -- so I might boost it with fresh ginger or curry paste. Spinach has strong color and flavor, but almost zero body -- so I'll puree it with
asparagus or something neutral, like potato. Fennel has some body and good flavor, but a neutral color -- so I might blend it with tomato or roasted red pepper. Wherever the vegetable falls short, I punch it up with something
else. And if I want a richer mouth feel for any soup, I just add a little milk -- but not so much as to cover up the bright, natural flavor of the vegetables. Usually it requires very little enrichment.
Recipe
Garnishes are a good way to add flavor, color and textural interest. A dollop of yogurt or sour cream on a brightly-colored puree lends a creamy, tart edge. Toasted almonds or pine nuts add crunch and richness. Fresh herbs, such as tarragon, chervil or dill, add a spot of color and a
flavorful tease.
Those fierce-looking root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes or celery root, are easy to tame. I usually just peel them, cut them into chunks and boil in
heavily salted water until soft. It's easy and is the best way to preserve their color. Winter squash, such as butternut or acorn, do best when cut in half, and roasted in their shell, flat side down. I can then just scoop out
the soft flesh. Onions are best sautéed, eggplant grilled and peppers roasted. All of these add creamy sweetness to any soup, or can stand on their own.
When cooking broccoli or asparagus, I use the colorful tips or florets for the puree, and use the stems just to flavor the stock. It's important to puree any green veggie the moment it's done; otherwise the color will fade.
To cut down on time and increase nutrition, I'll boil the veggies in the stock that I'm going to puree them with.
No matter how I treat my vegetables, once they're cooked, I transfer them to the blender, filling it only about two-thirds full, and add just enough stock so the blender is able to process. I let the blender run until the
mixture is super creamy. Then I transfer the puree to a pot and add stock until I have the right consistency. It should be a smooth, not-too-thick puree. Then I taste and season.
Once you've made a couple of good vegetable purees, and vanquished your soup phobias, you can move on to other ingredients. Making purees from legumes, such as black beans or lentils is as straightforward as using vegetables;
they just require long soaking and cooking times. Beans do tend to be bland on their own, so try pureeing them with some aromatic vegetables or with sautéed garlic, onions and herbs. Then finish with a touch of sherry or by lacing each bowl with some fruity olive oil.
Bean soups, of course, are also wonderful with the beans left whole, or pureed only in part. I've included a recipe for minestrone that I tracked down from a restaurant in New York, after an editor from our newspaper came back raving about it. The recipe requires a lot of chopping, but it's simple to do and makes a big enough batch to get you through winter.
One nice thing about soup is that you can make it ahead. And in the unlikely event it doesn't meet your expectations, you probably haven't wasted much time or money.
But you can go crazy. And you just might after you discover the magic of soups. For Christmas, I made a killer crab bisque. I used homemade fish stock to make my crab stock, and I added cream, saffron, cognac and the meat from
three Dungeness crabs to the soup. It was fattening, time-consuming and expensive. But that was Christmas.
So, on New Year's Day I made chicken stock and produced 2 quarts of delicious carrot-ginger puree, a big batch of celery root soup and a giant chicken salad made from the thighs that I had used for my stock. It only cost me a few bucks and less than two hours' labor. And on Monday, I made a spinach-potato soup in about 20 minutes, using up the rest of that chicken stock.
It's not so hard to be good when soup is on your side.
So, no excuses. It doesn't matter if it's raining outside; if you've had a hard day, or if you barely know how to make pancakes from a mix. You can do this. Canned broth works fine. If you've got a blender, whip that weather --and yourself -- into shape. Make vegetable soup.
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