Lee Bailey’s Soup Meals was one of my earliest cookbook crushes, a beautifully designed and photographed ode to soup as a centerpiece-of-the-meal dish. At the time the book was published, serving soup as a main course was an unusual, if not radical idea in some circles. But it’s a good idea, one that cuisines all over the world and across history have embraced. And why not? Soup is one of the most basic comfort foods—it’s warm, satisfying, relatively simple to prepare, and almost always can be made ahead of time. Add a salad and maybe some bread and a glass of wine, and you have a meal.
To make a good soup, always used the best quality ingredients: fresh vegetables, fish, poultry, or meat, and rich, flavorful stock (MTG can help with that!). Most soups improve as the flavors meld and heighten over a day or two, so make them ahead for better flavor and enjoy the convenience of having your main dish already prepared. Most soups freeze well and can be frozen in individual portions for smaller meals. Reheat soups gently, especially those that contain cream or milk, in order to preserve the soup’s texture. It’s also nice to go the extra mile and serve soups in warmed bowls, so they stay warm through the meal.
For an extra hit of flavor and a contrast in texture, add a garnish to your soup. It could be something simple like some chopped fresh herbs, a swirl of olive or walnut oil, or a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt. Chopped nuts, minced mushrooms, chopped hard-boiled egg, sliced scallions, or thin slices of lemon also make nice garnishes. For a contrast in texture, scatter some crisp popcorn on top of a soup, or make some homemade croutons by sautéing some small cubes of bread in olive oil or butter with some herbs, and dusting them with grated Parmesan.
To make soup a more hearty and filling meal—a “stick-to-your-ribs” sort of dish—try serving it over a mound of steaming, buttery mashed potatoes or warm polenta or mashed sweet potatoes. A number of colorful and flavorful rices are now available in many markets; they’re a perfect foundation for a couple of ladles full of your favorite soup. Hollow out small loaves of bread or large French rolls (save the bread to make croutons for later on), toast them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, and to create delicious edible bowls. (This idea works especially well with our Cheddar and Beer Soup.)
Perhaps the best thing about soups is that they come in a nearly endless and delicious variety:
–There are vegetable-based soups like our Apple-Butternut Squash Soup, Asian Vegetable Noodle Soup, Kathleen’s Tomato Soup, and Wild Mushroom Bisque.
–There are bean soups like our Black Bean Soup, Creamy White Bean Soup with Pancetta, Vegetarian Split Pea Soup, and Moroccan Lentil Soup with Chickpeas.
–Chicken soups come in a number of forms, all of them tasty and comforting: Chicken Soup with Rice, Quick Tex-Mex Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Chicken and Escarole Soup.
–Seafood loves soups, too. Some of our favorites are Shrimp Bisque with Sherry; Mediterranean Fish Soup with Quick Aioli; Leek, Potato, and Mussel Soup.
–And then there are the hearty soups that combine a variety of ingredients like Beef and Barley Soup, Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup with Pasta, and Goulash Soup.
