The winter dinner forecast calls for a hearty inventory of soups. Spoonfuls of these body-warming recipes will make one easily forget about that next blast of arctic air.
Regular readers of my column know I enjoy making soup and savoring it. Come to think of it, I never met a soup I did not like.
Beethoven said “only the pure of heart can make soup.” The pure heart uses the finest, freshest, in-season ingredients for the pot.
January is National Soup Month. Frigid snowy weather calls for rich, hearty soups brimming with vegetables, fish, fowl or meat.
For years, I made my own chicken and beef stock. After the stocks cooled, I would pour them into ice cube trays and freeze them for future use. Beef stock takes time. I would roast marrow bones along with onions, celery and carrots until the ingredients turned a deep brown. Cleaning the pan was a mess.
One day I forgot to set a bowl under my colander and poured the chicken stock down the drain. I now use canned or packaged varieties.
I have tried many brands and have found Trader Joe’s organic stocks are the richest in flavor. I always store a dozen 32-ounce packages in my pantry. I also like vegetable stock for soups and sauces.
A perfect lunch for me is a big bowl of steaming hot pho in a Vietnamese restaurant. If I am shopping at the Reading Terminal Market, I stop at the Sang Kee counter and tuck into wonton soup with bok choy and a choice of either rice or egg noodles.
The French gave us onion soup made with rich stock and topped with a toasted crouton smothered in Gruyère. I’ve lost count how many versions there are of minestrone in Italy as each region boasts an original recipe. Some of the finest Lentil Soup I’ve ever savored was in Italian restaurants.
Jewish cuisine is famous for chicken soup, Cabbage Soup, mushroom barley, split pea and a host of others.
If I hanker for New England clam chowder, I mosey on over to the Oyster House on Sansom Street. The richness is heavenly and the flavor unique.
“It’s because we start the soup with bacon,” owner Sam Mink told me.
I asked my sister Sandy which recipe she would want to appear in this column.
“Lentil Soup,” she said.
Ingredients:
Olive oil to coat the bottom of a 4-quart pot
1 large onion, diced
3 large stalks of celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 fat cloves of garlic, sliced
2 cups of lentils, picked over for pebbles, rinsed and drained
1 32-ounce package chicken or vegetable stock
1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
2 fresh bay leaves
Sprinkling of dry oregano
Directions:
Heat the oil over medium-high. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for about eight minutes. Add the lentils and sauté for about 5 minutes.
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1. joe bulge said... on Jan 12, 2012 at 03:16PM
“Hey bur Thanks for the dinner invitation but I think I'll pass.”
2. nan said... on Jan 12, 2012 at 05:53PM
“Leave Sandy the #$%^ alone”