This is the second installment of Winter Soup Club, a weekly, limited-run newsletter that arrives in subscribers’ inboxes on Thursdays. To sign up for the newsletter, visit globe.com/wintersoupclub, or scan the QR code found here.
I make an enormous pot of soup at least twice a week, enough to serve a crowd. It’s the sort of pot you might see in a restaurant kitchen. I catered for many years and stock pots were always simmering on a back burner; I can’t seem to cook in smaller quantity. It means there’s dinner for several nights, there’s enough to fill a container or two for someone who isn’t feeling well, there’s soup if someone drops by, and bowls for lunch when I’ve retired the soup from dinner fare.
When the Globe started the Winter Soup Club last week, I decided to start tasting soups when I was out grocery shopping or doing errands, just to see what various stores are offering to customers. Wouldn’t tasting soup while running errands on a dark winter afternoon turn it all into fun? My colleague Devra First wrote about lentil soup in the first newsletter, and I wanted some right away. I started in a well-known supermarket chain where I had to pick up a few things and bought a cup. One spoonful was enough to ruin my enthusiasm. I’m not sure what went into that pot, but the result was bland, with an unpleasant aftertaste of cheap bouillon, powdered garlic, and stale herbs. I abandoned the tasting idea and rushed home to make my own pot.
Homemade soup always tastes better. You already know this. You decide what goes into the pot, how to season it, whether to omit or substitute an ingredient or two in the recipe, or adapt it in some other way. In your kitchen, you’re the boss of the soup.
Seasoning is a primary consideration and it’s critical. Let’s hope you’re not using powdered garlic and stale herbs, and whether you add cubes or granulated bouillon seems to be a matter of taste. I’m not. Instead, I add a couple of chicken wings or a beef bone to the simmering broth to give it depth. Don’t be reluctant to throw a bone into your soup.
Many European soups begin with aromatics that lend the pot their flavor. This is called mirepoix in French, sofrito in Spanish, soffritto in Italian. They’re all different, but they’re usually a mixture of onion, carrot, and celery cooked in butter or olive oil. The Spanish version typically includes bell peppers.
Even beginning with a mirepoix, you might find that your pot is still lacking in flavor. One remedy is to simmer it 15 minutes longer, which will reduce and intensify the broth. Also, have a few of these useful boosters on hand: Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, a variety of spice mixes (including Middle Eastern baharat or ras el hanout), lemon, a piece of Parmesan rind, fennel pollen, liquid aminos.
Fennel pollen comes from the plant that the fresh vegetable is cut from, and the seeds are taken from. You only need a teaspoon in the pot, and it should go in when you’re sauteing the vegetables initially. Liquid amino is 100 percent soy; it looks like soy sauce but isn’t as salty.
Is the soup still not quite at the finish line? Try adding a cut-up roasted onion (you’ll have to have cooked this in advance, of course), a handful of sauteed mushrooms, a spoon of miso, a splash of rice vinegar.
It’s umami you’re after, the deep, savory taste that gives food both depth and breadth. Sources of umami also include mature cheeses, such as grated Parmesan, fermented foods, mushrooms (both fresh and dried, as in Italian porcini), anchovies, Asian fish sauce, canned tomatoes, soy sauce.
You can certainly make delicious soup with just water. Many traditional soups are water-based, such as North African harira, a spicy pot with legumes, one of my favorites. Split pea soups are made with water, but you usually have a big ham bone to turn it into a nourishing bowl. You can always buy broth ready-made. There’s a variety of vegetable and meat broths on the market. In fact, manufacturers of chicken and beef broth seem to be in a race to sell you the boniest broth (aren’t all broths made from bones?).
For bean soup, I often soak dried beans overnight (more on this in Tips below). But there are nights when there isn’t time for that. That’s when these canned cannellini come in handy.
My Vegetarian Bean Soup starts with a mirepoix, though instead of chopping every ingredient, I keep the carrots in 1-inch lengths. It makes the finished bowls look prettier. I put in fresh cherry tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and fresh thyme. The cherry tomatoes lose their skins in the soup, but it just adds texture to the dish. Garnish servings with crunchy sourdough croutons.
When my soup is getting to the end of the road, I’ll use the remnants to make lunch, first adding a little more stock or water, then whatever is in the fridge that needs a home: I chop a chicken breast or a few slices of deli ham, cooked cauliflower or butternut, spaghetti and its sauce, meatballs.
Then you can tick fridge cleaning off your list.
VEGETARIAN BEAN SOUP WITH SOURDOUGH CROUTONS
Serves 6
Canned cannellini beans star in this quick vegetarian soup simmered with carrots and cherry tomatoes in vegetable stock. Beans absorb liquid as they cook, so watch the pot carefully to make sure it doesn’t get too thick. Cherry tomatoes will lose their skins as they cook and add texture to the pot. The soup is surprisingly creamy, though it contains none. Toast your own sourdough cubes for croutons and little crunch. If you have leftovers, just keep reheating the pot, adding a little more liquid every time.
CROUTONS
1 loaf sourdough bread
Olive oil (for sprinkling)
Salt, to taste
1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Have on hand a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Cut the bread into 1-inch-thick slices. Cut the slices into 1-inch cubes. On the baking sheet, spread the cubes in one layer. Sprinkle with olive oil and toss with your hands to distribute the oil. Sprinkle sparingly with salt.
3. Toast the cubes in the oven for 8 minutes, turning them on the baking sheet, or until they are golden brown and crunchy. Fresh bread will take longer to brown than bread that’s a day or two old.
SOUP
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch lengths
Salt and black pepper, to taste
4 cups (2 pints) cherry tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 cans (15 ounces each) cannellini or Great Northern beans, drained
6 cups vegetable stock, or more if needed
Generous pinch crushed red pepper
5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped
Extra crushed red pepper (for serving)
1. In a soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrots, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes, or until the vegetables start to soften.
2. Add the cherry tomatoes and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes more.
3. Add the beans, stock, red pepper, and all but 2 tablespoons of the thyme leaves. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and set on the cover askew. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the carrots are tender.
4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons thyme. Taste the soup for seasoning and add more salt or red pepper, if you like. Sheryl Julian
SOUP TIPS
Add a handful of baby kale or spinach (remove stems) at the last minute and heat just until they wilt.
If you’ve got leftover spaghetti or any other pasta, chop it coarsely and add it to the soup. You may need to add more liquid.
Even though you’re sprinkling the soup with croutons, nothing wrong with slicing a hearty whole-grain bread to accompany bowls.
If you want to begin with dried cannellini or Great Northern beans, which need to be soaked overnight, use 1½ cups dried. After soaking and draining, cook them in fresh water for 45 to 60 minutes, or until they are tender.
Everyone will tell you that dried beans can sit in your cupboard forever. That’s true, except that old beans take a very long time to cook. If freshly dried cannellini beans are done in 45 minutes (some cook in even less time), old beans may take 2 hours. And they will never give you the creaminess of freshly dried beans.
Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com.