M. Suzanne Terry

Yesterday, I talked a little about making sauces, but what I didn’t tell you is that the way I discovered how easy it was to make your own sauce was by pouring my favorite roasted tomato soup over some pasta because I didn’t want to go to the store to get spaghetti sauce. What I expected to be an it’ll-do-in-a-pinch experience turned out to be one of my favorite a-ha moments to date.

Soup season is a bit of a misnomer with me. All seasons can be soup seasons if you try hard enough. When the weather turns even the slightest hint of chilly (I’ll even take a pleasant, less-hot breeze in July), I make soup. It is easily one of my top five favorite foods. I eat it all year long. I’ve even been known to turn the fan higher or the a/c down so that I can eat it comfortably. Even if it’s not soup weather outside, I can make it soup weather in my apartment.

I often eat it as a side, pairing it with a sandwich or a hearty salad. But the best way to eat soup is by sipping it straight from a cup, only veering from this method to dip a piece of crusty bread into it. No utensils required.

Of course, this only works if the soup is mostly broth or pureed. If you leave big chunks like you see pictured above in it, trying to drink it from a cup is sure to be messy. However, take your trusty immersion blender to that concoction, and soon you have a perfectly sippable and dippable soup.

What I love most about making soup is that it’s difficult to mess it up. I mean, you can – I certainly have – but you really have to try hard to produce a soup that’s just inedible. But most of the time, I can create a warm, wonderful bowl of happiness from whatever I have in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Since I don’t always have the same ingredients on hand, it is possible I will make the same soup several different ways. For example, one of my favorites is split pea soup, but I don’t have a set list of ingredients I need (other than split peas, of course) to make it happen. Other than the peas themselves, my last few versions had little in common. But they were all good.

Today, instead of a recipe that tells you one way to do it, I’m going to give you a roadmap for making your own unique soup. Play around with it, and see what you come up with!

Basic steps:

1. Read through these steps and take inventory of what you have. Once you have decided what you want to put in your soup, chop/dice/mince everything so that it’s ready to be added when its turn comes.
2. Saute your aromatics – onions, garlic, fennel, celery, bell peppers (or any type of peppers, for that matter). I usually use onions, garlic, and one additional aromatic.
3. Add your vegetables – carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, any sort of squash, etc. What you add in this step mostly depends on the type of soup you have in mind, but sometimes it’s fun to just throw in whatever is taking up space in your crisper and let whatever happens happen. Let them soften a little before you move on.
4. Pour in your soup base – some type of stock (veggie, mushroom, beef, chicken, etc.), tomato sauce, or just water. I often dissolve an onion soup packet in water and use that. You need enough to fully cover everything else. Add water if it looks too thick at any point.
5. Add seasonings – literally anything you want. Oregano, basil, parsley, bay leaves (remove it before eating) – all of these are standard soup herbs. You are certainly not limited to them, though. I have been on a garam masala kick lately. Highly recommend. This is also the time to add salt (to taste).
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until you just can’t take it anymore and have to have a bowl.

Optional steps:

• Add beans – during step 4. If canned, rinse before adding; don’t just dump in from the can. If dry, you’re going to need to add more liquid and keep an eye on it while they cook (for a few hours) so you can add more water as needed. Ditto for split peas and lentils, although they won’t take as long to cook.
• Add carbs – during step 6. After you have a good boil going, slip in some pasta or rice for a heartier soup (you’ll need more liquid if you’re planning on doing this). Follow package directions and cook until done.
• Add meat – after step 2 (if raw – cook fully before going forward) or after step 3 (if already cooked – great way to use leftover roast, btw).
• Add dairy – during step 6 after you reduce heat and reach a simmer point – really, about 5-10 minutes before serving, just enough to warm and incorporate it. Cream is the traditional favorite, but I’ve used milk, evaporated milk, plain Greek yogurt, and sour cream. My favorite thing to add at this stage is not dairy at all – coconut milk, which is especially good with warm spice blends, such as curry.

I hope you have fun experimenting. I’d love to hear about what you come up with.

I’m writing about food that makes me feel at home this month.