Raid the pantry, fridge to turn basic soup recipe into homemade comfort food - NOLA.com

Raid the pantry, fridge to turn basic soup recipe into homemade comfort food - NOLA.com

That fat little butternut squash at Trader Joe's winked at me. Then it said, clearly, "SOUP."

Only I heard it. With a chilly mist and the raw north wind outside, the day was almost as raw as south Louisiana gets.

Then, two days later, it got really cold.

When temperatures are low, the body needs soup (along with gumbo and chili, but this is about soup). When I started writing this story I was wearing two pairs of pants and wool socks. As warm clothes are for the exterior of the body, soup is for the interior. Like hot tea and bourbon, soup makes us a feel warmed and comforted.

Vegetables of all kind are great to roast at high temperatures in the oven this time of year. This does double duty: Warming the house and filling the belly. Then, turn those vegetables into more soup.

I took that cute squash home, diced it into a saucepan and covered that with chicken broth and a little salt. When the chunks were tender, I added seasonings and half a can of evaporated milk. After roasting a link of small-diced andouille to use as croutons, it was dinner.

Dice butternut squash, cover with chicken broth and simmer until tender. Season and add evaporated milk. Heat through and then finish with small-diced andouille croutons. (Photo by Judy Walker)

Soup is simple to improvise for your taste and the contents of your refrigerator and pantry. Like everything else in cooking, the trick is in the seasoning.

Here are basic tips or strategies to get soup on the table any day of the week:

* Broth is key. Because my chief retirement hobby is squeezing dimes until Roosevelt squeaks, every meat or poultry bone in my kitchen goes into the pot with onion peels and a carrot and peppercorns to simmer. I freeze the broth for future use. When the frozen broth stash is gone, I make soup from refrigerated broth base, which I like better than shelf-stable cubes and granules. (See below a basic soup base formula recipe, from Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift's "Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper" 2008, $35)

Broths from warm-blooded animals need long simmering to extract proteins, but shrimp and crab shells can be turned into seafood broth (fancy French: fumet) by boiling in water for only 20 minutes. 

* Other flavor boosters recommended in "How to Eat Supper": Asian fish sauce; use half a teaspoon in a soup that serves four or six. Save and freeze pan juices from roasts, sautes and stews. (Free!) Whenever you brown something and there is a glaze or browned bits on the bottom of the pan, add a little water and scrape up the bits over heat with a flat-bottomed wooden spatula. Save in ice cube trays; freeze; put in labeled bags. Add to pan sauces, soups or stews to improve the character.

* Pressure cookers (including your new Instapot) make the best broths.

* Salt is essential, but never add to broths, only to soups, so you can adjust seasoning to suit other ingredients.

* Milk, cream or most any dairy product can be added for smoothness and/or richness. (That 8-ounce shelf-stable cream I discovered at Trader Joe's sure came in handy.) Add at the end of cooking time and don't boil, lest it curdle.

* Want a healthier soup? Thicken with vegetables instead of fat and flour. Puree a few vegetables and stir back into the soup; skip the cream in soups and thicken instead with a good potato, cooked and mashed.

* Seasoning is the challenge. Think about what seasoning works in your favorite recipes: Nutmeg with spinach; thyme with tomatoes. My butternut squash bisque could go savory or sweet. I tried for a balance with thyme, a bay leaf, a pinch of cinnamon and several dashes of Crystal Hot Sauce, a great flavor brightener because of the vinegar in it.

Taste the soup and add seasonings in small amounts. Does the flavor need deepening? Reach for the Worcestershire or soy, perhaps. Or brighten with an acid splash of citrus, vinegar or wine.

* Any vegetable can be turned into soup. Roasted vegetables add an extra layer of caramelized flavor. If you have extra cooked, riced cauliflower, it makes excellent soup.

Roasting vegetables enriches their flavor. (istock)

* Combine any cooked bean with short pasta, cooked separately and added at the last minute, to create Italy's famous Pasta e Fagioli. There are a zillion recipes, but most rely on onions, carrots and celery cooked with dry beans. Save the bean cooking liquid. Add tomatoes when you get ready to make the liquid as soup, and maybe puree some of the beans. If the soup gets too thick, add water or flavorful liquids by half-cupfuls. Garnish bowls with extra virgin olive oil and chopped green onions or freshly ground black pepper.  

* When making soup, a stick blender is indispensable. It won't puree as finely as a blender or food processor, but it's satisfactory and lets one skip the total pain of blending in batches, with its attendant splashing of hot soup onto oneself and/or the entire kitchen.

* Egg can be added to any clear soup for extra protein and flavor. For Chinese-style egg drop soup, heat 2 cups chicken or beef stock to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer. Beat a room-temperature egg with a fork until it runs off the tines in a watery stream. Hold the egg-filled cup 5 inches above the saucepan and slowly add about a third of the egg in a fine stream of egg into the soup, stirring with the other hand. Catch the egg as it strikes the surface and draw it into long filmy threads, disturbing the simmering broth as little as possible. Then, repeat the process three more times before letting the soup simmer about 1 minute. Add salt to taste and serve at once.

For Mediterranean-style soups, heat 3 cups chicken broth with 3/4 cup cooked rice or fine noodles to boiling. Beat 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons wine or lemon juice in a large bowl, just long enough to combine and get an even color. Gradually pour the hot soup into the bowl over the eggs, stirring constantly. Serve immediately in hot cups.

* Most tomato sauces make good soup. Dilute with broth and enrich with cream. Puree for a smooth soup, or leave them chunky to serve with croutons and fresh herbs.

* Never throw away the Parmigiano-Regianno rind, one of our oldest flavor-boosters, is another tip from "How to Eat Supper." Italians simmer the rind into stews, braises and every soup; frugal cooks even dry it afterward to use again and again. Tightly wrap rinds and refrigerate or freeze. Add a grated spoonful to save the blandest recipe. It amplifies and melds the flavor of other ingredients in a unique way, loaded with umami, a catalyst to amplify other flavors.

*

This Basic Soup Improvisation tutorial is edited for brevity, from "Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper." (If I made this again, I would not use brussels sprouts.) How you start cooking soup dictates its character.

Bold and sturdy flavors: Fast-browning onions and some vegetables in oil or butter over medium-high heat.

Mellow flavors: Slow-stew onions and key ingredients, like herbs, in a little fat in a covered pot over low heat. Clear, true flavors come from simmering everything in liquid with no pre-sautes.

Basic Formula:

2 parts onion

1/2 part garlic

2 parts brassica family (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts)

1/2 part carrot

1/4 part celery with leaves

1/2 part root vegetables (turnips, rutabaga, celery root, etc.)

1 part leafy vegetables

1 part dry white or red wine (white in pale soups, red in dark), anticipate 1/2 cup for every 8 cups liquid; be generous

Water as needed

Combine ingredients in a pot and then add proteins, additional vegetables and seasonings to suit your taste. (I added leftover rotisserie chicken to mine.)

FINISHING TIPS

* Finish soups with lemon or vinegar to brighten.

* To add richness, drop a spoonful of plain whole-milk yogurt or sour cream to bowls.

* Tear fresh herbs and scatter over soups to brighten and refresh.

* Bean and lentil soups, especially, are enhanced with a combination of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.

* Use gremolata on Mediterranean-style soups. Process the zest of a lemon, 1/2 tight-packed cup of flat-leaf parsley, and 3 or 4 large garlic cloves. Moisten with a bit of olive oil and spoon a little into each serving.

* And remember, garnishes are not limited to croutons. A few suggestions from "Joy of Cooking": For clear soups, thin slices of lemon or orange; minced fresh herbs, English peas, cucumber balls, finely diced vegetables, won ton, thin slices of lemon-drenched avocado.

For cream soups: Salted whipped cream or sour cream (or yogurt) and a dusting of mixed, finely chopped herbs; toasted cubed stuffing; thinly sliced greens; blanched, shredded, toasted almonds or cashews; flavored popcorn or puffed cereals.

For thick soups: Thin slices of orange, lemon or lime; sliced small sausages or thin slices of hard sausage; diced hard-cooked eggs; croutons; sour cream; julienne strips of ham, tongue, chicken or bits of seafood; grated cheeses or pesto.

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For information about columnist Judy Walker's E-cookbook of favorite Louisiana recipes from her "In Judy's Kitchen" features and videos, send an email to her: JudyWalkerCooks@gmail.com.