Keeping this FOREVER. All look awesome and all are or can be vegan-ized.
Creamy Spinach Soup
Put 1 chopped onion, 2 peeled garlic cloves, 3 cups water and salt and pepper in a pot over high heat. Boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes. Add 10 ounces chopped spinach and 1/2 cup parsley leaves; cook until the spinach is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cup Greek-style yogurt and purée. Garnish: A spoonful of Greek-style yogurt and chopped parsley.
Squash-and-Ginger Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic and 4 cups chopped butternut squash for the spinach (it will take longer to soften). Skip the parsley and substitute half-and-half or cream for the yogurt. Garnish: A spoonful of cream.
Curried Cauliflower Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic, 2 cups cauliflower florets for the spinach (they will take longer to soften), 1 tablespoon curry powder for the parsley and coconut milk for the yogurt. Garnish: Chopped cilantro.
Vegetable Broth With Toast
Put 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped onions, 1 small chopped potato, 2 chopped celery ribs, 2 garlic cloves, 10 sliced mushrooms, 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine), 10 parsley sprigs, 1/2 ounce dried porcini, 8 cups water and salt and pepper in a pot over high heat. Boil, lower heat and simmer until the vegetables are soft, 30 minutes or longer. Strain and serve over toasted good bread. Garnish: Chopped celery leaves.
Egg Drop Soup
Beat 4 eggs. Boil the strained stock, lower the heat so it simmers and add the eggs in a steady stream, stirring constantly until they’re cooked, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped scallions, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Skip the bread. Garnish: Chopped scallions.
Rice-and-Pea Soup
Boil the strained stock, lower the heat so it simmers and add 3/4 cup white rice. Cook until tender, then add 2 cups fresh or frozen peas; cook for a minute or two. Skip the bread. Garnish: Grated Parmesan
Bean Soup
Put 1 1/2 cup dried beans, 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery ribs, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves and 6 cups water in a pot over high heat. Boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the beans are soft, at least 1 hour, adding more water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish: A drizzle of olive oil.
Chickpea-and-Pasta Soup
Substitute chickpeas for the beans and rosemary for the thyme and add 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine). When the chickpeas are almost tender, add 1/2 cup small pasta. Cook until the pasta and chickpeas are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish: A few chopped rosemary leaves.
Spicy Black-Bean Soup
Use black beans and substitute fresh oregano for the thyme. When the beans are done, add 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 dried or canned chipotle and the juice of a lime. Garnish: Cilantro and sour cream.
Minestrone
Sauté 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery rib and 1 teaspoon minced garlic in 3 tablespoons olive oil for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups cubed potatoes and salt and pepper; cook for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine) and 5 cups water. Boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add 1 cup chopped green beans; simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish: Chopped parsley and grated Parmesan.
Mushroom Soup
Substitute 1 1/2 pounds sliced mushrooms (preferably an assortment) for the potatoes; sauté until they brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Substitute ½ cup white wine for the tomatoes, skip the green beans and add a fresh thyme sprig with the water. Garnish: A few thyme leaves.
Tomato-and-Garlic Soup
Use 2 tablespoons minced garlic and substitute 2 tablespoons tomato paste for the celery. Skip the potatoes and green beans; use 3 cups tomatoes and 3 cups water. Cook the tomatoes for 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish: Lots of chopped or torn basil
All of these recipes serve four, and you’ll want about a 2.5-to-4-quart (medium or large) pot. Most can be cooked for a while — but not so long that the freshness is gone. Most will taste as good or better the next day, so consider making a double batch and refrigerating (or freezing) the leftovers. But never boil a soup after you’ve added dairy to it; instead, reheat gently.
If you want a supersmooth soup (and just about any of these soups can be puréed if you like), use a standing blender — let the soup cool a bit first — which creates a finer purée than an immersion blender does; you might even strain the soup after puréeing it.
Garnishes are all optional, though herbs add a dimension that will be lacking otherwise. If you taste as you’re cooking, you’ll be fine, because there is really nothing to go wrong here.
Knowing how to make a soup, stew, or chowder is one of the most versatile things you can learn. IT’S REALLY EASY I SWEAR. There is a basic framework from which you can make practically all soups with just a little tinkering:
1. SOFTEN AROMATICS
2. BROWN MEAT
3. REDUCE ALCOHOL
4. ADD TASTY LIQUID AND HARD VEGGIES
5. BOIL TIL SOFT
5b. (THICKEN NOW IF MAKING STEW. OR POT PIE FILLING)
6. ADD SOFT VEGGIES
7. ADD SEAFOOD
8. TURN OFF HEAT
9. FINISHING TOUCHES
1. SOFTEN THE AROMATICS: In some kind of fat (olive oil, butter, sesame oil, bacon grease…) + a pinch of salt, you want to cook your “aromatics” for about ten minutes or until they are soft and the kitchen smells AWESOME.
What are aromatics? It’s pretty much What It Says on the Tin: veggies that make a tasty aroma. There are a couple of classic “trios” of aromatics in different cultures. They’re a good starting place before you get comfy enough to start swapping the around:
Cajun/Creole: onions/celery/bell peppers (This is the base for gumbo)
French: celery/onions/carrots (The carrot is cheating, though— it’s not technically an aromatic but shhhhh).
Iberian: onion/garlic/tomato/peppers
Italian: onions/garlic/celery
Chinese: ginger/garlic/green onions
Thai: basil/ginger/lemongrass
You can add spices now, too. Pepper, garlic, cayenne, dried mustard for a bit of a kick, dill for fishy things, allspice for a bit of a more Mediterranean beef stew… experiment!
If you’re using seafood (fish, crab, lobster, shrimp), wait til later— you don’t want to overcook that. But if you’re using beef, pork, chicken, sausage, toss it in now and brown it for tasty reasons.
3. ADD ALCOHOL. SIMMER UNTIL THICK.
If you’re doing a clear soup, a seafood dish, or a chicken dish, white wine is awesome.
If you’re doing a heavy stew, Guinness work especially well with beef; I like red wine with my pork.
You can tell it’s thick when you scrape your spoon across the bottom of the pan and the liquid flows slowly, rather than rushing, to fill the scraped-clean space.
4. ADD TASTY LIQUID AND HARD VEGETABLES.
Your “tasty liquid” will provide the broth base—so use beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, or veggie broth. Apple juice can spike the flavor a little too, sometimes. It’s okay but less spectacular to just use hot water.
Hard vegetables are added: potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, noodles… The veggies that you need to soften before you want to put them in your mouth. (OK noodles aren’t a vegetable but STILL).
5. BOIL TIL VEGGIES ARE EASY TO PRICK WITH FORK/YOU EAT ONE AND IT DOESN’T TASTE NASTY.
No, seriously, taste one. Taste EVERYTHING. (Except raw meat). Trust your instincts. Add more spices if things aren’t working for you. Drop in some apple juice if you need a note of sweetness. Salt and pepper.
5b. IF YOU’RE DOING A STEW, YOU NEED TO THICKEN IT NOW.
How do you thicken things? You’re going to add some sort of flour (wheat flour, arrowhead flour, tapioca…) and it’s going to basically, on a very small level, EXPLODE in the heat, sending out tangling protein strands which will capture liquid and make a nice thick matrix of tasty.
More practically: If you’re doing soup for about 4+ folks (a medium size pot), mix 1/4 C flour and a cup cold liquid (broth, milk, water, wine, apple juice…) in a glass until it’s smooth. Then pour it into your hot stew, mixing until it boils for about a minute.
(The pre-mixing with the cold liquid helps it from EXPLODING early and clumping. Ew clumps. If it DOES clump (oops), one option is to drain the broth into a different bowl and then blend or puree that, then add it back to the main dish).
6. NOW THE SOFTER VEGETABLES.
Ex. Spinach, corn, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, basil leaves, cooked beans (if you’re making a chili, say), asparagus, mushrooms (mushrooms also work well in the AROMATICS stage, if you just want their flavor, not their form)…
These are the ones you don’t want to overcook (overcookedness, I swear, is the reason most people hate veggies so much). So this means you’re almost done! Isn’t it EXCITING?
Seafood also hates being overcooked. Just put your cubes of fish, handful of crab, or dozen shrimp on top of the surface. Put a lid on and just WALK AWAY for about five minutes. When you come back, they ought to be fairly cooked though. If they’re not perfect, the heat of the dish will finish them off as we work on the final touches.
This is the main place CLEAR SOUPS, PUREED SOUPS, CHOWDERS, and STEWS deviate from each other, other than just in ingredients.
SOUP: You’re pretty much done! Good job.
You could mix in a couple eggs to make egg drop soup.
You could toss some chopped fresh herbs in at the last minute.
PUREED SOUPS: Puree it. Quite intuitive, really. Maybe add a dash of cream.
CHOWDERS: Pour in ~1/4 C cream. Stir in. Taste. Add more cream/salt/pepper as needed.
STEW: You already thickened it (yay you! See step 5b). It should be smelling fairly tasty.
With this you can make ANYTHING. Well, if anything is a soup, chowder, stew, pot pie…
Basic Seafood Chowder:
sautee onions/garlic/leeks
brown spicy sausage
add white wine, add chicken broth
boil potatoes
add corn/spinach, crab, cream, salt/pepper/cayenne
Basic Stew:
sautee onions/garlic/carrots/tomatoes
brown stew beef
add Guinness, beef broth/apple juice, potatoes/carrots/sweet potatoes/turnip
THICKEN
Basic Chicken Noodle Soup:
sautee onions, celery, carrots
brown chicken
add chicken broth, boil noodles
add some shredded basil/thyme/rosemary
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