If I asked you what was important to you in a meal that you were making for yourself or your family, you’d say it had to be relatively easy, taste good, please everyone. That’s soup, my friend. It might be the easiest thing you can make on a weeknight, it can blow your mind when it comes to flavour, and it can be a choose-your-own-adventure affair in the please-all department.
Dead-easy soup? Chop and roast basically any hearty vegetable (mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, squash, you get the idea) with olive oil, salt and pepper (or more) on a baking sheet in 400F degree oven until they caramelize (brown) at the edges at least. Transfer to a pot of hot stock or even seasoned water and blend with a stick blender. Taste, season again, serve.
Flavour! Big flavour! If you have a little longer, start your soup on the stove instead and slowly soften any aromatics in some oil with a little salt: onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic or any combination of them. Then add those chopped star ingredients either from the oven or raw and simmer until they’re almost cooked through. Throw in a small-shaped pasta for 7-10 minutes for a complete meal.
Order up your custom parts. Fry strips of tortilla for (how did you guess) tortilla soup. Toasted nuts, a fried egg, anything else you add to salads–these can all be soup toppings too. Grilled cheese is a favourite pairing but there’s no reason you can’t cut that sandwich up into “croutons” and add it right to the top of a cup of cream of tomato. Good times, right? I don’t have kids but if you do, how much more would they love soup if you left any of these things out and let them build their own soup? How much would I love you if you invited me to your house and served me grilled cheese crouton soup? A lot more, but thanks for inviting me over to begin with.
Soup to get started on:
Shrooms: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Mushroom Soup
A twist on a classic: French Onion and Porcini Soup
Creamy, rainy-weather soup: Roasted Onion And Fennel Soup With Pistou
Soup to make your eyes pop out: Steph’s Jamaican Squash Soup
Kid-stuff: First Taste Soup And Rice
And some ideas to top them all off: Soup Accessorized
