Soup’s on
A week or so ago I shared some general techniques for making soup and today I’ll get a little more specific. I really do liking making and eating soups and during the winter, this object of my affection often gets thicker and heartier. The temperature today in Philadelphia was about 18°F (-8°C) and windy. The best antidote to that is a heavy sweater and a hot bowl of soup – today’s choice was a winter squash puree from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.
My favorite recent discovery is a peanut soup from James Peterson’s Splendid Soups, a great collection of recipes to provide inspiration. I love Peterson’s books and his Cooking is one of my real go-to sources. This recipe comes from Senegal and is, I surmise, typical of West African cuisine in its reliance on peanuts. You get started in the usual way, by sweating a chopped onion in oil for about 8-10 minutes, then adding garam masala and cayenne. When all that is integrated, add 4 cans of diced tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes or so. Puree what you’ve got (I use a food mill for this) and then whisk in some peanut butter (preferably the fresh kind that is only ground peanuts). Garnish with lime and sour cream and serve.
This soup is amazing. I was not prepared for just how complex it gets, with the acidity of all those tomatoes hitting your palate, followed by the sweetness of the peanut butter, the heat of the cayenne, and finally a warm glow from the garam masala. I’ve made it twice in the last month, upping the cayenne and garam masala a bit the second time to even better results. This is now in regular rotation and if this is any indication of what West African cooking is all about, I’m eager to try something else.
Garten’s squash soup comes from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook, one of the better among a field of thousands of books purporting to show how to make French food simple. Start with your basic sweated onions, then add a chopped up butternut squash, a can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling – you don’t want the sugar or the spices), and chicken broth. Puree, taste for seasoning, and serve with a gruyere cheese garnish. I got carried away a bit during the “taste for seasoning” part. First taste was just fine but I wanted a little more edge. Salt and black pepper moved me in the right direction (as they almost always do) but then I added some mace and some nutmeg. These are similar (from the same tree, as a matter of fact) but mace is, well, friendlier and sweeter, while nutmeg is a little sharper and more complicated. Sounds like a soap opera, no? Anyway, I got nearly exactly what I wanted and the next time, a little less mace and maybe some allspice.
Another recent favorite is a ginger-carrot soup that was more or less improvised. By the way, I understand that I’ve now presented three consecutive soups that have the same texture and are similar in color. I’d apologize for the lack of exciting visual stimulation but there really isn’t much you can do to take a dynamite picture of soup. Tasting soup, though, can be explosive and this is an example of just how much pop can be in one bowl.
Again starting with the same onion/oil base, this time we add what seems at first to be an inordinately large amount of carrots and freshly grated ginger along with some chicken broth. Simmer until the carrots are soft, puree, take the edge off with some cream, garnish with sour cream and serve. If you’ve added enough ginger, this soup pops. I used two tablespoons of tightly packed freshly grated ginger and it was explosive. The cream smoothed out some of the edges but even then, the sharpness of the ginger contrasted wonderfully with the sweetness of the carrots. I’d say that the amount of cream to add should be determined by the adventurousness of the diners.
We’ll close with one of my all-time favorite comfort foods, pea soup with ham. My father used to make pea soup for Sunday supper quite often, but his version was a couple of cans of Progresso split pea soup with some chopped up leftover ham from Sunday dinner. Here, I’ve started with a chopped onion and diced carrot base, added two hefty ham hocks, dried marjoram, split peas, and chicken stock, and simmered for an hour or so. Remove the ham hocks until they’ve cooled enough to handle and puree the rest. When the ham hocks have cooled, cut the meat off in bite size pieces and add back to the pureed soup, season, reheat and serve.
This is the quintessential winter soup. Thick, somewhere between creamy and chunky in texture, smoky, salty, and the culinary equivalent of a thick, wool, sweater. Just absolutely perfect for a cold day in December.
Recipe – Senegalese Peanut Soup
Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
tbl vegetable oil
1 tsp cayenne (or more, depending on your taste)
2 tbl garam masala (or more, if you like)
3 cups chicken broth
4 14oz cans diced tomatoes (or approx. 10 seeded and chopped fresh tomatoes)
2/3 cup fresh peanut butter
salt
pepper
sour cream
lime wedges
Directions
Heat the oil to medium in a stock pot or dutch oven. Add the onions, garlic, and cayenne and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the garam masala and stir for another minute. Add the broth and tomatoes and simmer for 15-20 minutes (don’t over cook). Run the results through the fine or medium disk of a food mill and return to the heat. Whisk in the peanut butter. Season, garnish with sour cream, and serve with lime wedges.
Recipe – Winter squash soup
Ingredients
2 tbl butter
1 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1″ chunks
3 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp mace
1/4 tsp nutmeg
cream or half and half (optional)
Directions
Heat the butter and oil to medium-low and add the onions, cooking for 10 minutes until soft. Add the pumpkin, squash, and broth and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the squash is soft. Run the results through the medium disk of a food mill and return to the heat. Check for seasoning, adding salt, pepper, and spices as desired. Add cream or half-and-half if a creamier, smoother soup is desired. Garnish with grated gruyere cheese or croutons and serve.
Recipe – Carrot-ginger soup
Ingredients
2 tbl butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 lbs carrots, sliced
2 tbl ginger, freshly grated (this takes a lot of work but packs much more flavor than pre-grated or powdered ginger – if you substitute a more convenient option, you’ll probably have to add more to get the same impact)
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper
sour cream for garnish
Directions
Heat the butter to medium-low and add the onions. Stir frequently and cook for 10 minutes until soft. Add carrots, ginger, and broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook until the carrots are soft. Puree in a food mill or blender and return to the heat. If you want a smoother texture and something to take the edge off the ginger, add some cream. Test for salt and pepper. Garnish with sour cream and serve.
Recipe – Split pea soup with ham
Ingredients
2 tbl butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 large smoked pork hocks (ham hocks)
1 1/2 cups dried split peas
2 tsp dried marjoram
8 cups of water
Directions
Heat the butter to medium-low and add the onions, celery, and carrots. Stir frequently and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the ham hocks and marjoram and stir about until the marjoram covers the ham and is distributed through the vegetables. Add the peas and water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until the peas are soft, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove the ham hocks and set aside. Puree the soup with a food mill or blender and return to heat. When the ham hocks have cooled enough to handle, carefully cut off any meat from the bones and fat, chop when necessary, and then return to the pureed soup. Check for seasoning – salt may not be needed because of the ham hocks, but fresh pepper will be welcome. Serve.