Vegetable Soup Beats Back the Cold

Fall's brilliantly colored leaves are nature's consolation prize. Summer's warmth becomes a fond memory as the air cools and days grow shorter. Then when we "fall back," gaining an hour--another consolation prize--we're faced with ever increasing darkness.

Fall is accompanied by a sense of loss and regret as we move inexorably towards winter. For cooks, however, this moment of sad transition is a happy time because we open our cookbooks and pull out recipes for roasts, braised meats, baked squash, and, of course, soups.

During summer's heat, we avoid the kitchen, preferring the outdoor grill, salads, sandwiches, and finger food. With the weather cooling, we happily reenter the kitchen, igniting all the burners, cranking the oven up to 350 F degrees with abandon.

On dark, cold nights, nothing is more comforting than a warm kitchen filled with the wonderful aromas of food being prepared. Garlic and mushrooms sauteing in olive oil. Pear tarts coming out of the oven, their sweetness bubbling and reaching out to us to have a slice after dinner. And there are the soups.

As the temperature drops outdoors, we hunger to raise our internal temperature.

Staring out the window at blustery, darkening skies and steady downpours, we feel we are well protected with a hot bowl of soup in hand. Matzo ball soup, split pea with ham, French onion soup with a fat topping of toasted bread and melted cheese, mushroom-barley soup, lentil soup with browned disks of Italian sausage, oxtail soup with crispy croutons--everyone has a favorite soup they long for when they feel tired, cold, and moody.

Most carnivores enjoy their soups prepared with chicken or meat stock. But non-meat eaters learned long ago, a satisfying soup can be made entirely of vegetables.  The clean flavors of freshly braised vegetables in hot broth are perfect to fight off winter's cold embrace.

In the fall, nature's bounty stands at the crossroads. A few summer vegetables like tomatoes and corn are still available, even as cold winds blow across the fields and the sun descends mere hours after lunch.  Those soups have a lightness, reminding us of the season just ending.  But as winter forces cooks to scratch in the earth for root vegetables, soups become more serious, offering up more deeply layered textures.

To prepare an easy-to-make vegetarian soup just saute carrots, onions, garlic, and parsley in olive oil and then simmer them in a vegetable stock. Add whatever favorites are seasonally available--corn, potatoes, broccoli, beans, zucchini, kale, turnips, mushrooms--and the result is a soup that is warm, comforting, and deeply satisfying.

A cook's tip: the soup freezes well for up to a month. That way if you come home tired and hungry, you are only a microwave moment away from a nutritious bowl of soup.

Easy-to-Make Vegetarian Soup

Yield 4 servings

Time 60 minutes

Ingredients

2 large carrots, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, peels reserved

1 medium onion, ends and outer skin removed, roughly chopped

2 large garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped

2 cups Italian parsley, washed, leaves only, finely chopped, stems reserved

2 ears corn, husks and silks discarded, washed, kernels removed

6 cups spinach or 1 bunch, root ends discarded, thoroughly washed, stems removed and reserved, leaves roughly chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sweet butter

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Method

Roughly chop the reserved carrot peels and parsley and spinach stems.  Add to a large pot with 8 cups water.  Boil on a high flame 30 minutes. Pass the liquid and vegetables through a food mill.  Extract as much pulp as possible and add to the broth. Discard the pulp in the food mill. Should make 5-6 cups. Set aside.

While the vegetable stock is simmering, saute the chopped carrots, onion, garlic, parsley, and corn kernels in the olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and pepper until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable stock and simmer on a medium-high flame for 20-25 minutes.  Stir in the chopped spinach and simmer another 5 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasoning with sea salt and pepper. Serve hot. Can be topped with croutons.

Variations

Add 1 medium sized Yukon gold potato, washed, peeled, peels reserved, roughly chopped. Add the peels to the vegetable stockpot. Saute the potatoes with the other vegetables.

Add 2 cups broccoli crowns, washed, cut into bite sized pieces to the saute.  Roughly chop the stems, add to the vegetable stockpot.

Add 1 medium tomato, washed, stem removed, roughly chopped to the soup along with the spinach.

Instead of spinach, add 4 cups kale leaves, washed, center stem removed, roughly chopped to the saute. Roughly chop the stems, add to the vegetable stockpot.

Add 1 medium sized zucchini, washed, ends removed and added to the vegetable stock pot, roughly chopped to the saute.

Add 2 cups brown or shiitake mushrooms, washed, stems trimmed, thin sliced to the saute.

Instead of carrots, add 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, finely chopped to the saute. Add the peels to the vegetable stockpot.