Category Archives: soup

Roasted red soup

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Red pepper red lentil soup

There’s something pleasing about making a soup from similarly-colored ingredients. It frequently seems that foods of the same color taste good together. I’ve made a white soup, and soup meagre, which is a green soup, and now…we have a red soup. It’s comprised of roasted red peppers, red lentils and roasted tomatoes. It actually turned out to be a rusty/rosy color, because as we all know, red lentils are never actually red. They start out sort of salmon-colored, and cook up nearly yellow. Anyway…it’s a tasty soup. Smoky, a little acidic with red wine and balsamic vinegar, and bright with basil and oregano. I added a dollop of pesto as a garnish, for contrasting color, and because the flavor goes so nicely! In the summer this soup would make a wonderful use of tomatoes and peppers from your garden. In the winter, it makes a quick and easy meal with roasted reds in brine, and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. It’s still evocatively summery, though!

Here’s the Decemberist’s lovely Red Right Ankle.
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Herbed semolina dumplings

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Semolina dumplings

It’s quite a dreary day, today, grey and damp-cold, but not raining. You know what’s perfect on a day like this? Soup and dumplings, that’s what! I like to bake dumplings, so they get a little crispy on the outside, before you surrender them to the depths of your soup or stew. I like that contrast in texture, and the sense of immediacy in eating them before they lose their crispness, and in enjoying their transformation. These dumplings, made with semolina flour and eggs, are crispy outside, but they’re dense and soft on the inside. They’re a lot like Roman gnocchi, as it happens, and you could certainly eat them with a sauce of some sort, rather than dunking them in a soup. They’re quick-as-can-be to make, and you can have them hot out of the oven by the time your soup is warmed up.

Bouillabaisse photographed in the company of a semolina dumpling

Here’s Sam Cooke with Sugar Dumpling.
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Jane Austen’s (vegetarian) White Soup

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cauliflower and white bean soup

As everybody knows, Mr. Bingley! (his name has to be followed by an exclamation mark – by law!) couldn’t hold a ball at Netherfield until his cook had made enough white soup. I’ve always been mildly curious about the nature of white soup. After a bit of research, I was excited to discover that this white soup is not dissimilar to a tarator sauce, comprised, as it is, of nuts and bread soaked in water. This one has almonds in it, which help to give it the lovely ivory color. The original version also had capon or gamon or something, but obviously I’m having none of that! I decided to use cauliflower, because it’s white, and it makes such a tasty puree. And I decided to use white beans. Can you guess why? That’s right! They’re white! And delicious.

I had read that white soup was traditionally garnished with pomegranate seeds and pistachio kernals. Red and green! On a beautiful, creamy pale soup! It’s the perfect Christmas dinner starter!

I have to admit that I was mostly playing around with this recipe. But it turned out to be exceptionally good to eat, too! It’s creamy and smooth, but there isn’t a jot of cream in it. In fact, if you omit the dollop of butter it would be vegan. And how did it taste? Mrs Bennet is quoted as saying, “Mr Bingley! This soup is mother-flipping delicious!!”

Here’s Nina Simone’s amazing performance of Little Liza Jane, which takes care of two Bennet sisters in one song title.
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Roasted Root veg and walnut bisque

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roasted root veg soup

I like the idea of walnuts and root vegetables combined in a soup – all this earthy nutty sweetness called to mind a meal you could make after foraging for nuts and roots on an autumn day. I could imagine Peter Rabbit’s mother making this soup, or maybe Mole of Mole end.

This is a smooth, tawny soup. It’s flavored with caraway seeds and thyme, which is a delicious and mysterious combination – they combine to make something quite different from their familiar, individual tastes. I made a rich flavorful broth, with french lentils, mushrooms, tomato paste, tamari and marmite, but you could use any vegetable broth you like. And the same goes for the root vegetables…I used quite a variety – turnips, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots… but you could narrow it down to a few favorites if you like.

Serve with shavings of good sharp cheddar, which goes well with caraway seeds and walnuts, and contrasts nicely with the sweetness of the vegetables.

Here’s Jimmy Smith’s killer Root Down (and get it). Guess who sampled this?
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French Lentil Soup topped with caramelized mushrooms & shallots & sharp cheddar crisps

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French lentil soup

Mushrooms and shallots and crisps, oh my!

Beautiful, tasty french lentils don’t get mushy. If you cook them properly they retain a little crunch, so this isn’t the porridge-y lentil soup that you might expect. The lentils, carrots and potatoes float in a delicious, herb-infused broth. And I love mushrooms, especially in combination with french lentils, but I don’t love the way they get a bit slimy in soup – I like them crispy and flavorful. So I decided to roast them with shallots until they’re very crispy, and use them as a garnish. And to top it all off, I made little lacy crisps of sharp cheddar, which melt into your soup. Eat it with a good loaf of ciabatta and you’re all set!

Here’s the Rudies with Devil’s Lead Soup
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Turnip and arugula soup with gorgonzola toasts

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Turnip & arugula soup

A flavorful soup with a cheese toast floating in it – for me, this is the apex of comforting food on a rainy November day. This is a light, bright soup. The sweet yet slightly edgy taste of turnip goes well with the nutty but slightly edgy taste of arugula. (And the arugula helps to prevent turnip-soup-grey drabness!) And both combine nicely with the distinctive (and slightly edgy) taste of gorgonzola. I used half arugula/half baby spinach, hoping that the spinach would help to mellow its snappier cousin. I used a vegetable broth made with the carrots/potatoes/mushrooms/shallots/garlic & turnip greens. Plus a handful of masoor dal and a variety of herbs. If you’re not a fan of gorgonzola, you can make cheese toasts using a milder cheese, or no cheese at all, or leave them out altogether!!

Danny Polo is a clarinetist from the 30s, and here he is Doing the Gorgonzola.
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Split pea soup with carrots and fines herbes

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Split Pea soup

I have to admit to a fondness for split pea soup out of a can – that log of sludge, which slides out with a squishy sound. It actually makes a smooth and comforting soup. But the thing about split peas is that they don’t need to be thick and stodgy. They can be almost delicate, but still with that reassuring distinctive flavor. This soup combines yellow split peas with carrots (so many from the CSA!!) and a version of fines herbes. These herbs are FINE! Well, not quite. I used scallions instead of chives. And I used dried chervil because I couldn’t find fresh. It’s a light flavorful soup, with a nice amber broth.

And here’s a version of Burning Spear’s Foggy Road, to remind you that this soup is not so thick you’d name a fog after it.
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Chickpea/sweet potato/red wine stew

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chickpea stew with rosemary dumplings

We’re still working our way through the sweet potatoes and carrots from the CSA. And I’m still fascinated by star anise. This is a nice way to incorporate both. The pleasing texture of chickpeas goes well with the sweet potatoes and carrots. The mild sweet flavors blend with the slight dryness of the wine to make a rich, unusual broth. Sage and thyme, star anise and cinnamon – delicious together. I made cornmeal dumplings, but lighter and less stodgy than you would expect.

Did you know that Neil Diamond wrote Red Red Wine? It’s true, he did!
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Simple tomato sauce

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Simple tomato sauce

This recipe is so easy, so tasty, and so versatile, that you will never buy a bottle of pasta sauce again! In the summer I use fresh tomatoes, but the rest of the year I use canned, and, honestly, it’s just as good. I use fire-roasted diced, in a can, for extra smokey flavor.

You can season this any way you like – you can make it spicy with cayenne or red pepper flakes or chipotle puree. You can add oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme or cilantro. You can add olives and capers to make a sort of puttanesca. You can add roasted red peppers and paprika to make it nice and smokey. You can add ground almonds or hazelnuts. You could add curry spices. You could add grated toasted beets. And of course, you could add any vegetable you’re fond of. Anything you like! My youngest son likes to eat it as though it was soup, which it would be, if you thinned it down a bit with water or milk.

Here’s Sly and the Family Stone with Sing a Simple Song, to show you how it’s done.
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Sweet potato/pumpkin ale soup with chermoula spice

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sweet potato pinto bean soup

We got the world’s largest sweet potato this week, from Honey Brook Organic Farm, our local CSA. So I made a soup! The mild sweetness of the sweet potato is offset by sharp, bold flavors modeled on a Moroccan chermoula sauce. I used pumpkin ale, because the slightly sweet/slightly spicy quality went well with everything else. But you could use any type of beer you have on hand. Or a bit of wine. Or even apple cider. And I added pinto beans, which I love because of their wonderful creamy texture when smooshed, and their savory appealing flavor.

As it happens, sweet potatoes have inspired many wonderful songs! Here are a few to listen to while you stir your soup.
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