I have been making a bunch of soups lately, after a long hiatus from the kitchen, and have to say that it has been both fun and satisfying. I needed to figure out an alternative to sandwiches at lunchtime, since I no longer craved them, and I wanted to replace them with something that was nutritious and comforting. I like the texture of pureed soups, so started there. Two things that I learned from Mark Bittman in his cookbook How To Cook Everything are 1) Roast whatever vegetables you're going to use before adding them to the soup and 2) Potatoes work great to create a creamy texture if you don't want to use dairy. Here are some of my favorites:
I used Mark Bittman's Mushroom Soup Recipe to create the one photographed above. What I love about his style is that he leaves things a little loose. He recommends that a mixture of different types of mushrooms (both dried and fresh) produce the best outcomes, but doesn't go as far as saying which types to use. I used dried morels and porcinis, along with fresh shitakes and baby bellas. I also opted to make this dairy-free and used potatoes in order to be able to puree the soup and create a rich texture. This turned out great!
I posted this photo on my Instagram Stories, mentioned that I used Mark Bittman's recipe and was so excited to have someone from his Instagram account respond to my Instagram Story within minutes and say they thought it looked delicious:
And then a few hours later I was ecstatic to see that they shared my post on their Instagram Stories and added the recipe for their followers. So fun!!! Of course I had to repost their post:
Note the Horn Napkin Holder that I used with my handloomed napkin. I am thrilled with how they turned out and am selling them on my website in sets of 4 in either light or dark colors.
Another soup that I made that was inspired by Mark Bittman is this Roasted Root Vegetable Soup:
I used his recipe for Roasted Root Vegetables from the same cookbook, How To Cook Everything, and then added chicken stock and water, let it simmer, and then pureed it. I then garnished it with toasted pistachios, and sesame and chia seeds for some crunch, along with pea shoots to add some color. Delicious! The Horn Napkin Ring that I used for this photo is one of the light colored ones.
Another standout soup came from Athena Calderone's cookbook, Cook Beautiful. It is Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Dukkah. This is so delicious:
I got the idea for the crunchy topping that I used in the Roasted Root Vegetable Soup from Athena's recipe for Dukkah, which is part of her recipe for this soup. It is so satisfying! Since I didn't have cumin and coriander seeds, I did a work-around using pistachios, sesame and chia seeds, and salt and pepper. This combo is bonkers, and one I've been adding to vanilla ice cream as well. So good! Almonds instead of pistachios are equally good. The napkin that I used is one of my handloomed colorblock napkins that are available on my site, in a Charcoal/Kora colorway.
The last soup I'll share here is from Mollie Katzen that you can find in her Moosewood Cookbook. It is Cauliflower-Cheese Soup. Sublime!
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