The cooler weather is here to stay on the East Coast, and today has been particularly chilly and windy. The sky is that gray that only happens in the fall, and the wind is shaking many of those last leaves off of the trees. It’s this time of year that I crave soups. A nice, warm, bowl of soup can comfort you without the bloating and discomfort that your regular “comfort foods” would provide (think macaroni and cheese, casseroles, or whatever your vice is).
Lately I’ve been on a mission to use everything in my pantry and freezer. I’ve gotten so much joy out of doing this, and I’ll write a blog or an article about that at a later point, but an excellent use of these items is in making soup. Every well stocked pantry/fridge/freezer should have the following items: onions, garlic, carrots (baby are fine), celery, tomato paste or sauce, frozen veggies, potatoes, dried grains/legumes like lentils or quinoa, stocks (veggie, chicken, and/or beef), and various meats if you eat them. With these items alone, you can make a wide variety of soups using a basic recipe and experimenting from there.
Two soups I made this week were Curried Butternut Squash Soup and what I’ll call Lentil and Sausage Soup. While sausage isn’t a lowfat meat, I had two links left in the freezer, so it was a way to use them up and when dispersed throughout a huge pot of soup, one bowl contained very little of the meat, so it didn’t end up being so bad, and it was a way to get me to eat more lentils, which admittedly I’m not so great about eating.
I’ll start with the Lentil and Sausage Soup, since it starts like many basic soups do, so it helps to illustrate how you can make a soup using whatever you have on hand. Everything in the recipe was purely things I already had, so feel free to change things around and create your own soup!
Sausage and Lentil Soup
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
6-8 organic baby carrots
2 organic celery stalks
2 large garlic cloves
2 medium sized sausages, removed from casing
1 can tomato sauce
1 box (32 oz) beef stock
1 1/2 cups organic red lentils
1/3 bag fresh organic baby spinach
salt and pepper to taste
Mirepoix: The Starter
An easy way to start soups is with mirepoix, also known as “the Holy trinity” (no sacreligiousness intended; merely reporting what others have called it). This is onion, carrot, and celery. Used often in Cajun/Creole and Italian cooking, it adds a savory and sweet (from the carrots) base. For this soup, I finely diced 1/2 yellow onion, 6-8 organic baby carrots, and 2 organic celery stalks. Throw in a couple finely diced garlic cloves, some salt and pepper, and you’ve got a great start to a tasty soup! Cook until the onion is slightly transparent and the carrots and celery are slightly softened. No need to get too crazy with it since everything will cook another half an hour in the liquid anyway.
If you’re cooking meat into your soup, this is a good time to add it in. This can be sausage as it was in my case (removed from the casing), ground meat, diced chicken breast, meatballs, beef tips, or whatever you have on hand. If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can add TVP or fake meats if you like, or leave them out.
Next you have to decide if you want to add a tomato flavor. This is very common in Italian soups, and it can add depth to many soups. Often a tablespoon or so of tomato paste provides an intense tomato flavor without adding a lot of liquid. I had a can of tomato sauce, so I used that and it worked just fine.
Chop up any other veggies you want to use, like potatoes (they thicken soups due to their starch content), sweet potatoes, peppers, root veggies, or anything else you have. Throw those in and then add liquid. You’ll generally need at least 1 32 oz box of stock. I used potatoes and beef stock. You can always add water instead but unless you have a lot of veggies this can water a soup down and provide little flavor unless it’s cooked a very long time. I’m honestly too lazy to cook soups that take more than 30 mins most of the time…so unless I have a Sunday with nothing to do, I’m not going to mess with the equivalent of making my own stock.
Next you can add any grains, legumes, or pasta (preferably gluten free). If you’re doing a pasta, wait until there are only 8-10 min left of cooking before adding it or else it will be mush and terrible. Check cooking times for legumes and grains and add at the appropriate cooking times.
I cook on a low boil/simmer for 30 min total or until the potatoes are fork tender. I added some fresh spinach at the last minute, letting the leaves wilt.
Ready to take things up a notch and cook a more challenging soup (but still super easy)? I’m including my recipe for Curried Butternut Squash too; it’s warming, sweet, and hearty. The secret ingredient is Granny Smith apples!
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
3 granny smith apples, thinly sliced
2 lbs diced butternut squash
1 tbsp Indian curry
1 tsp cumin
1 box (32 oz) veggie stock
2 cups water
salt to taste, pepper optional
Dice the onion and add to the pot with olive oil and add salt to sweat the onions. Cook until translucent. Add the apples, butternut squash, and spices. Stir and then add stock and water. Cook for 30 min at a low boil or simmer, and then remove from heat. Take a hand blender and then blend until smooth. If you don’t have a hand blender, then you can blend the soup in batches in a regular blender. Don’t add too much if the liquid is still hot or else it will expand and explode…not a good look to have curry all over your kitchen!
Get out there and get experimenting with soups, and let me know what creations you come up with!
Jen
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