Category: Soups & Stews

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 40 min
Source: Gourmet 1/2002 pg 54

Ingredients
1/3 cup quick-cooking barley
7 cups water
1/4 oz dried porcini (1/4 cup)
1 large leek (white and pale green parts only), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, cut into 1/3-inch dice
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 lb fresh shiitakes, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons medium-dry Sherry
1 3/4 cups low-sodium fat-free beef broth
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Garnish: chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions
Simmer barley in 3 1/2 cups water in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot, uncovered, until almost tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain in a colander.
While barley is cooking, soak porcini in 1/2 cup water in a small bowl until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain in a sieve lined with a dampened paper towel set over a bowl, reserving liquid. Rinse porcini to remove any grit, then coarsely chop. Wash sliced leek in a bowl of water, then lift from water and drain in sieve.
Heat oil in cleaned pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté onion and celery, stirring occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Add carrots, shiitakes, leek, and porcini and sauté, stirring frequently, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms are golden, 4 to 6 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste, Sherry, beef broth, mushroom soaking liquid, barley, salt, pepper, and remaining 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables and barley are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Servings: 6-8
Source: from the Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan)
VEGETABLE SOUP
A vegetable soup will tell you where you are in Italy almost as precisely as a map. There are the soups of the south, leaning heavily on tomato, garlic, and oil, sometimes containing pasta; there are those of the center, heavily fortified with beans; the soups of the north, with rice; those of the Riviera, with fresh herbs; and there are nearly as many variations in between as there are local cooks. In Romagna, very little is put into Minestrone beyond a variety of seasonal vegetables, whose separate characteristics give way and intermingle through very slow cooking in broth. The result is a soup of mellow, dense flavor that recalls no vegetable in particular but all of them at once.

It is not necessary to prepare all the vegetables ahead of time although you may do so if it suits you. The vegetables don’t go into the pot all at once, but in the sequence indicated, and while one vegetable is slowly cooking in oil and butter you can peel and cut another. I find this method more efficient and less tedious than preparing all the vegetables at one’time, and somehow it produces a better-tasting soup. In any event, cook each vegetable 2 or 3 minutes, at least, before adding the next.

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
I cup thinly sliced yellow onion
I cup diced carrots
I cup diced celery
2 cups peeled, diced potatoes
2 cups diced zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini) (see note below)
1 1/2 cups fresh white beans, if available, OR 1 1/2 CUPS canned cannellini beans or Great Northern beans OR 3/4 cup dried white beans, cooked as directed on page 78
1 cup diced green beans
3 cups shredded cabbage, preferably Savoy cabbage
6 cups Homemade Meat Broth (page 10) or 2 cups canned beef broth mixed with 4 cups water
The crust from a 1- or 2-pound piece of Parmesan cheese, carefully scraped clean (optional)
2/3 cup canned Italian tomatoes, with their juice
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Choose a stockpot large enough for all the ingredients. Put in the oil, butter, and sliced onion and cook over medium-low heat until the onion wilts and is pale gold in color but not browned. Add the diced carrots and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once or twice. Repeat this procedure with the celery, potatoes, white beans (if you are using the fresh beans), zucchini, and green beans, cooking each one a few minutes and stirring. Then add the shredded cabbage and cook for about 6 minutes, giving the pot an occasional stir.

Add the broth, the cheese crust, the tomatoes and their juice, and a little bit of salt. (Go easy on the salt, especially if you are using canned broth. You can correct the seasoning later.) Cover and cook at a very slow boil for at least 3 hours. If necessary, you can stop the cooking at any time and resume it later on. (Minestrone must never be thin and watery, so cook until it is soupy thick. If you should find that the soup is becoming too thick, you can add another cup of homemade broth or water. Do not add more canned broth.)

Fifteen minutes before the soup is done, add the canned or cooked dry beans (if you are not using fresh ones). just before turning off the beat, remove the cheese crust, swirl in the grated cheese, then taste and correct for salt.

Note:

Before dicing the zucchini, scrub it thoroughly in cold water to remove all soil-and if still in doubt, peel it.
Minestrone, unlike most cooked vegetable dishes, is even better when warmed up the next day. It keeps up to a week in the refrigerator.

Servings: 4-6
Source: Elsie Sulzberger

Ingredients
2 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup butter, margarine, or chicken fat, melted
3/4 cup matzo meal
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

Directions
1. In a small bowl, with rotary beater, beat eggs with salt, pepper, butter, parsley, and 1/4 cup water

2. Stir in matzo meal to blend well (batter will be quite stiff). Refrigerate 1 hour before shaping

3. To form balls, lightly roll 1 level Tbsp mixture between palms of hands (Matzo balls may be refrigerated, covered, 30 minutes to an hour before they are cooked).

4. In 4-quart saucepan, bring 2 1/2 quarts water to rapid boil; add 1 tsp salt, Gently drop matzo balls into rapidly boiling liquid.

5. Reduce heat; simmer, covered for 25 minutes. Lift out balls with a slotted spoon. Keep warm

6. In 3-quart saucepan, heat chicken broth. To serve, place drained matzo balls in hot chicken broth.

Makes 21 balls, 4 to 6 generous servings

Servings: 4
Source: From Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Ingredients
2 Tbsp finely chopped yellow onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped carrot
1/3 cup shredded pancetta, prosciutto, or unsmoked ham
1 cup canned Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
1/2 one lb pkg of dried lentils, washed and drained
4 cup Homemade Meat Broth (page 10) or I cup canned beef broth mixed with 3 cup water
Salt, if necessary
Freshly ground pepper, 4 to 6 twists of the mill
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Put the onion in a stockpot with the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter and saute’ over medium-high heat until a light golden brown.

2. Add the celery and carrot and continue saute’ing for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring from time to time.

3. Add the shredded pancetta, and saut6 for I more minute.

4. Add the cut-up tomatoes and their juice, and adjust the heat so that they cook at a gentle simmer for 25 minutes, uncovered. Stir from time to time with a wooden spoon.

5. Add the lentils, stirring and turning them two or three times, then add the broth,- salt (easy on the salt if you are using canned broth), and pepper. Cover and cook, at a steady simmer, until the lentils are tender. (Cooking time is about 45 minutes, but it varies greatly from lentils to lentils, so that the only reliable method is to taste them. Note, too, that some lentils absorb a surprising amount of liquid. If this happens add more homemade broth or water to keep the soup from getting too thick.)

6. When the lentils are cooked, correct for salt; then, off the heat, swirl in the remaining tablespoon of butter and the grated cheese. Serve with additional freshly grated cheese on the side.

Servings: 6-8
Source: “”Julia Child’s Kitchen””, Julia Child

Ingredients
3 Tb butter in a 3- to 4-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan
3 cups sliced or minced leeks (white part only) or onions, or a combination of both
3 Tb flour
2 quarts hot water (or 4 to 6 cups water plus milk added at end of cooking)
1 Tb salt; pepper to taste
Optional: A cup or so of tender green part of the leeks, sliced or minced
4 cups (about 1½ pounds) potatoes, peeled, and roughly chopped or neatly diced – in this latter case use “boiling”” potatoes that keep their shape
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream, and/or 2 to 3 Tb butter
2 to 3 Tb minced fresh parsley and/or chives

Directions
The soup base.
Melt butter over moderate heat, stir in the leeks and/or onions, cover pan, and cook slowly for 5 minutes without browning. Then blend in the flour, and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour without browning it either. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, and gradually beat in a cup or so of hot water. Blend thoroughly with the flour and vegetables, then stir in the rest of the water. (If you want to use milk, add it at the end of the cooking-it will curdle if you add it now.) Stir in the salt and pepper, optional green of leek, and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, and simmer partially covered for about 40 minutes, until vegetables are thoroughly tender.

For a peasant-type soup, mash the vegetables in the pan with a mixing fork or potato masher. For a smoother texture, put through medium blade of a food mill.

Final enrichments.
To serve the soup as is, stir in milk if you are using it, bring to the simmer, and blend in as much of the cream as you wish. Taste carefully, adding more salt and pepper, as needed. Off heat, and by tablespoons if you wish, stir in the butter. Decorate each serving with a spoonful more cream, again if you wish to, and a sprinkling of herbs.

Servings: 4
Every region of Italy with a coastline has a characteristic fish soup. This Roman version is spicy with garlic and hot chile. It contains a minimum of liquid, so it is more like a stew than a soup. Use whatever fish varieties are available with the exception of strong-flavored oily fish, which would overwhelm the delicate shellfish.

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup olive oil
2 lb squid, cleaned and cut into 1/2-inch rings (about 1 lb when cleaned)
1 cup dry white wine
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
pinch of salt
2 cups water
1 lb small hard-shell clams or cockles, soaked in cool water for 30 minutes and well scrubbed
1 1/2 lb assorted firm-fleshed fish filets such as whiting, monkfish, turbot, porgy bream, red snapper, and sea bass, cut into chunks
4 slices coarse country bread, toasted and rubbed on one side with a garlic clove

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté the garlic and pepper flakes in the olive oil until the garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and discard. Add the squid and cook and stir until opaque, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes, parsley, and salt and cook until the juices evaporate, about 10 minutes longer.
Add the water and bring to a simmer. Add the clams (discard any that do not close to the touch) and fish, cover, and cook until all the clams open and the fish is opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. Discard any clams that failed to open. Adjust the seasonings.
Place a bread slice in each warmed soup plate. Ladle the soup over the bread and serve.

Servings: 4
Source: Fine Cooking 12/2000 1/2001 pg
by Susie Middleton This is my variation on a classic Italian soup that traditionally has more escarole and beans than broth. Escarole is one of the easiest greens to prepare since you don’t need to stem it; just slice the whole head across into ribbons before washing.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion (6 oz.), diced/4
2 oz. very thinly sliced pancetta, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 medium to large head escarole or romaine (about 14 oz.), trimmed of outer leaves, 2 inches of root end cut off, leaves sliced across into 3/4-inch wide strips (to yield about 9 to 10 cups), thoroughly washed
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups low-salt chicken stock (canned is fine, but don’t use low-fat varieties, which I find have an off flavor)
1 cup cooked small white beans (I use canned — Goya brand — drained)
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
2 cups Rustic Croutons (see below)

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a 4-qt. low-sided soup pot or Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onion and pancetta and sauté until the onion is softened and BOTH are BROWNED, about 20 min. Add the garlic, stir, and sauté until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 min. Add the escarole or romaine and stir thoroughly to coat the leaves (and to deglaze the pan slightly with their moisture). Season with 1/2 tsp of the salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Add the stock, stir well, and bring to a boil; cover the pot, lower to a simmer, and cook 8 to 10 min. Uncover the pot, add the beans, and simmer another 2 to 3 min. Add the lemon juice and turn off the heat. Ladle the soup into four shallow soup bowls and top each with 1 Tbsp of the cheese and a quarter of the croutons.

Rustic croutons

Heat 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cups (lightly packed) 3/4-inch cubes of bread, cut from a good, airy, crusty loaf like ciabatta. Stir to coat the cubes with the oil, season with salt, and sauté, stirring constantly, until crisp and browned on most sides, 2 to 4 min.

Servings: 4
Most supermarkets carry Madras-style curry powder, which is the type I recommend. I suggest buying a new can at least every six months-curry powder loses much of its punch over time. The 3/4 teaspoon curry powder here will give you a fragrant soup with mild warmth. If you like things spicier, just add a bit more. Pepitas are olive-green hulled pumpkin seeds which have a delicate, sweet flavor that comes alive when lightly toasted.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1 lb carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 med onion, chopped
1 lg shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 heaping Tbsp minced fresh ginger
I tsp seeded and minced fresh serrano or jalapeño (ab 1/2 a medium-size chile)
1 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp Madras-style hot curry powder
Kosher salt
3 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken broth or water
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice; more to taste
Freshly ground black or white
pepper
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
Toasted pepitas or pine nuts for garnish

Directions
Heat the butter or oil in a wide soup pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion, and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, chile, coriander, curry powder, and a generous pinch of salt. Cook until fragrant, another minute. Pour in the chicken broth, cover partially, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently until the vegetables offer no resistance when mashed against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon, 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Ladle some solids and broth into a blender, taking care to fill the jar no more than two-thirds full. Before turning on the blender vent the lid by removing the pop-out center if there is one, or just open the lid a bit. (Venting prevents the heat from building up inside the blender, which could cause hot soup to spew out all over the kitchen.) For extra precaution, drape a clean dishtowel over the vented lid as well. Purée the soup in batches if needed and then strain through a medium sieve.

Stir in the coconut milk and lime juice; season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill thoroughly. Before serving, thin the soup gradually as needed with up to 1 cup of water and adjust the seasonings. Ladle the soup into bowls or cups.

Garnish with a few cilantro leaves and the pepitas or pine nuts.

Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 35 min
How can a dish be dark, mysterious, and filling, but spirited, uplifting, and light at the same time? I don’t know, but while you’re pondering, try this great soup.

Fresh Asian egg noodles (particularly the thick Shanghai variety or Japanese udon) are ideal here, but go ahead and use any kind of long pasta-fresh or dried-and your soup will be wonderful. Keep the cooked noodles separate and add them to each bowl just before ladling in the liquid. Explanation: The noodles tend to expand greatly if left in the soup, leaving you to wonder who drank all the broth.)

Ingredients
6 or 7 dried shiitake mushrooms
1½ cup boiling water
8 cup strong vegetable bouillon.
2 Tbsp miso
Tofu
6 star anise
4 or 5 lg slices ginger
4 cup (packed) stemmed, chopped mustard greens
(about half a lg bunch)
4 cup chopped bok choy, stems included (2 or 3 sm heads)
10 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 lb fresh egg noodles – or ½ lb dired (ab 3 or 4 cup cooked)
Options for the top
Soy sauce
Chile garlic paste, chile oil, or red pepper flakes
Chinese sesame oil
Torn cilantro leaves

Directions
Preliminary:Rinse the mushrooms and place them in a small bowl. Pour in 1 ½ cups boiling water and cover with a plate. Let stand at least 30 minutes. (This can be done several days ahead, and the mushrooms can just stay in the water until use.)

Combine the bouillon, star anise, and ginger in a soup pot, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes. At this point, the broth can sit for up to several hours-or even overnight-before you proceed.

Remove the ginger and star anise with a slotted spoon. Strain the mushrooms over the soup, squeezing them firmly, so all of their soaking liquid goes in. Then slice the mushrooms thinly and add them to the soup as well.

Heat the soup to the boiling point, and add fhe mustard greens, bok choy, and scallions. Turn the heat down, and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Meanwhfle cook the noodles in boiling water until just tender. Drain them in a colander, rinse, and drain again, so they won’t clump. Divide the cooked noodles among the largest soup bowls you can find, and ladle the soup on top. Pass around the optional toppings on a small tray, so each person can customize his or her portion.