Soup’s On

It always happens this way. I get fired up for Thanksgiving–my very favorite holiday of the year–and cook a marvelous meal with lots of savory and even a few sweet dishes. All from scratch. We eat it for three or four days and then I never want to see food again.

But we have got to eat. Or lest fade away. (Though a little of that might not be so bad…) To combat the “I don’t want to eat, but need to” conundrum, David and I are on a soup kick this week. He simmered the turkey carcass all day Saturday to make an amazingly flavorful turkey stock. Perfect for turkey soup. Or just a great canvas for any soup, really.

Inspired by Lou Lambert (and his Big Ranch, Big City cookbook) when he visited the farmers market a few weeks ago, I roasted a few butternut squashes, chopped up some ginger and onions and added vegetable stock, water and a 1/3 cup of cream, pureed it and now I have soup.

With the weather turning cooler, the time is ripe for soups. What I love most about soups is that you can use almost anything. You can clean out the veggie drawer and use everything you have. Or choose beef. Chicken. A wide variety of beans. One single vegetable. Lamb. Pasta. Rice. Stock. Water. Cream. Milk. And the list goes on.

The way I look at it, we have one month until this happens all over again and I’d like to thin out a bit. So here’s some soups that I have made over the last few years that I love, love, love. And hope you will, too!

Legumes

Black bean soup
Lentil soup with spicy Italian sausage
Parmesan broth with Swiss chard and cannellini beans
World’s Best Pinto Beans
Split pea soup