Quick, Simple Soup
I used to be intimidated by soups. You get the impression that they need to bubble away for hours and hours to be good, or that there is some secret voodoo involved that only your white-haired grandmother knows. But once I made a few soups sans recipe I realized they are actually quite simple to invent, as long as you build the flavors as you go (i.e. don’t just heat up some stock and dump a bunch of vegetables in and boil it for 20 minutes).
Yesterday, as I unpacked from my trip to Ireland and got myself organized (sort of), I had the Food Network on in the background. Barefoot Contessa, one of my favorites, featured a bread soup that started with fennel, carrots and onions, and it looked fabulous. I used those vegetables as my inspiration and voila! A soup was born. I wanted a brothy tomato soup, something light for the season, so I omitted the bread that acts as a thickener in Ina Garten’s version. I also left out the red wine and added some potatoes. This is a great rustic soup and requires little fuss and even less cash, especially if you make your own stock and keep it on hand in the freezer. Here is the result.
Ingredients
Serves 4 – 6
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 large fennel bulb, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 oz. can diced or crushed tomatoes
4 c. chicken stock
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. basil, roughly chopped
Parmeggiano cheese and crusty bread as accompaniments
Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium – high heat. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and fennel and saute until the vegetables become soft, about 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper, and the potatoes. Lower the heat and simmer with the lid on for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Just before serving, stir in the basil. Serve with grated parmeggiano cheese and toasted crusty bread.
By Rachel Crawford on May 28, 2009 | 1
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One Response to “Quick, Simple Soup”
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Kim
May 28th, 2009 @ 2:12 PM
Soup is so versatile and such an easy one pot meal. I’m surprised people still haven’t caught on to it! I also like to make a quick version of vegetarian gumbo. All you really need is the three trinity for a flavorful soup. I don’t like restaurants’ soups because I think it’s too high in sodium.