Soup seems to be a universal comfort food. The French have their onion soup, the Italians minestrone, and Moroccans love harira.  For me, to be honest, tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich are the most comforting combination on earth. And Vietnamese pho is certainly part of this long list.

My parents are big fans of a Vietnamese restaurant near the neighborhood, but I never ventured much onto the unfamiliar side of the menu.  On my first visit, I ordered some cashew chicken bowl, and then came out my parents’ pho.  Big, steaming bowls of noodles and meat in a steaming, aromatic broth, delivered with a big side plate of fresh, green herbs. I was not willing to admit that I had ordered poorly, so I stuck up my nose at the pho.

Not long after that, I had one of the best bowls of soup I have ever experienced.  At a market in Cambodia, I marveled at a bowl of beef noodle soup that smelled so fantastically delicious, it absolutely enveloped me, even overpowering the smells of the market around me. The broth was so fragrant with chunks of beef and a nice slick of grease on the top that coated the noodles as I plucked them out.  I have never forgotten that soup, and know I will never truly recreate that moment.

So now when I go to the Vietnamese place, I order pho.  Different types, depending on my mood.  I don’t know what the Cambodian equivalent of pho is, but I have attempted to create my own equivalent.  I know it’s a simple version.  I don’t simmer bones to make my own stock or use any overly exotic ingredients – I’ll leave that to the restaurant chefs.  But this is warming, comforting and kind in its own way. This soup is easy to make, but impressive to serve.

Simple Beef Pho

The plate of fresh herbs presented along with the steaming soup make this a real treat.

4 cups low sodium beef broth

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves garlic

1 shallot, peeled and cut into chunks

1 Tablespoon sugar

3 Tablespoons fish sauce

8 ounces rice stick noodles

6 ounces top sirloin steak

To serve:

Cilantro

Mint

Basil

Pour the broth into a large saucepan and add the spices, shallot, garlic, sugar and fish sauce.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.

While the broth is infusing, soak the rice noodles according to the package instructions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

Slice the beef as thinly as possible.  It is easiest to do this with cold beef and a very sharp knife.  Putting the beef in the freezer for 15 minutes before slicing will also help.

When the broth has infused, drain through a sieve, discarding the solids.  Wipe out the saucepan and return the broth to it.  Place the noodles in a large serving bowl or in individual bowls. Bring the broth to a boil and drop in the beef slices.  Cook for just a minute, maybe two, until the beef is just warmed through.  Immediately transfer the beef slices to the noodle bowl, then ladle the broth over.

Serve the pho with leaves of cilantro, mint and basil to be sprinkled on top.

Serves 2

There are moments in the kitchen when you remember why you love to cook so much.  That flash of personal genius that leads to the creation of something really great.  A perfect moment of synergy when you find a way to combine your favorite ingredients into one sublime dish.  This Corn and Blue Cheese Chowder, begun and ended with smoky, crispy bacon represents that moment for me.  It’s nothing overly fancy, and surprisingly easy to prepare, but it is truly a big bowl of my favorite things. 

Served with a warm slice of Muddy Bread or Super-Quick Smoky Cheddar Loaf, this chowder could not be a more comforting meal.

Corn and Blue Cheese Chowder

This soup can be made one day ahead and refrigerated tightly covered.  Gently reheat before serving, adding additional half and half if necessary.

6 strips bacon

½ cup chopped onion (from 1 small or ½ a large onion)

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 baking potatoes, peeled

32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth

1 (10-ounce) bag cups frozen corn kernels

1 cup half and half

5 ounces blue cheese, crumbled, plus more for topping

Kosher salt

In a Dutch oven or stock pot, sauté bacon over medium heat until crisp and remove to paper towels to drain.  Drain and reserve the bacon drippings and carefully wipe out the pan with a damp paper towel to remove any burned or dark brown bits.  This will prevent the final color of the soup from being muddy. Pour about 4 Tablespoons of bacon dripping back into the pot, enough to coat the bottom. Add onions to drippings in pot and sauté until soft and turning golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for a further minute.

Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into small cubes, remembering that this will be eaten with a spoon, so they should not be too big. Add the potato cubes to the pot and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.  Sauté for two minutes, stirring frequently, then pour in chicken broth.  Add the corn and simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour in the half and half, stirring to combine.  When the soup is heated through, add the bleu cheese a handful at a time, stirring well after each addition.  Season to taste with salt.

Serve topped with crumbled bacon and additional blue cheese.

 Serves 6

In the many years I was planning events professionally, clients hosting lavish buffets, or even rather simple ones, always came around to that one question – “Shouldn’t we serve some kind of vegetable that’s, you know, healthy?” Not creamy spinach dip, or cheesy stuffed mushrooms, but something that would presumably appease the guest who didn’t want, well, food. Caterers were full of suggestions, but it always seemed to come back to the old stand-by – the crudités tray.  Cut vegetables surrounding a bowl of dip.  Easy – and cheap.  Some caterers made these vegetable trays absolute works of art, with a variety of veg in beautiful colors with a choice of fresh-made dips.  But the truth was invariably that this tray of food was never empty at the end of the event.  And we always cleaned up lots of plates with a stray carrot or broccoli floret in a puddle of dip sitting next to the crumpled up napkin.  People go through the buffet line and put some vegetables on their plate to look virtuous, but never actually eat them. And despite many efforts, it was virtually impossible to convince a client that this stab at virtue was unnecessary.  After a long night on my feet at an event, I never got to have any leftovers of the good stuff, but was always welcome to as much raw veg as I could carry.

And I am guilty of this behavior myself.  When entertaining at home, I’d plan a spectacular spread of rich and delicious foods, then right at the end feel guilty for not offering anything “light”, so outcome the pre-cut vegetables and fat-free yogurt based dip.  I even once put the crudités tray on my beautiful buffet, but thought it ruined the look that I had so carefully constructed and put it back in the fridge.  I, in fact, think that the success of the “baby” carrot (really just whole carrots cut to look like miniature versions) was built on buffet guilt.

So this recipe was born of an overabundance of baby carrots, left over after a pitiful attempt to healthify a party spread.  Roasting the carrots and using carrot juice make this an intensely flavored soup.  I actually prefer canned 100% carrot juice or the kind that comes in tetrapack boxes from the juice aisle at the store to the refrigerated variety, which I find a bit sweet and expensive.  If you can’t find any of these, low-sodium vegetable stock will work. You can, of course, use an equal weight of peeled whole carrots cut into chunks.

Roasted Carrot and Cumin Soup

Scatter a little chopped fresh cilantro over the soup if you’d like to add a dash of color. This is particularly good accompanied by toast slathered with cream cheese.

1 (16 ounce) bag baby carrots

1 large shallot, cut into wedges

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 ¾ cup 100% carrot juice

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the carrots and the shallot in the olive oil and spread in one layer in a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast for 45 minutes to one hour, until the carrots are soft, wrinkled and browned in places and the shallot is lightly browned.

Transfer the carrots and shallots to a blender, and add half of the carrot juice, the spices and the salt.  Puree until smooth, scraping down the sides of the carafe if needed.  Add the remaining juice and puree until smooth and combined.

Pour the contents into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until warmed through.

Makes 2 large bowls or 4 small ones

First off, let me say that this is not my recipe – I don’t think.  I read about this, or someone told me about it, I don’t know.  But it has stuck in my mind for years.  It’s one of those easy ones that you memorize without really meaning to, and then remember when you are wandering aimlessly through the grocery store or farmer’s market wondering what to buy.  This recipe is all about proportion – eight ounces each of four different root vegetables, an onion, some stock and herbs and you are done.  I have made this with all kinds of vegetables, even ones you can buy already cut and prepared.  Extra vegetables that didn’t make it onto another dish also work.  Weigh out your vegetables in the store, making sure to make allowance for peeling and trimming.  The weight of the vegetables are the key here, I have used more or just fudged the weight, but it just doesn’t work, ending up to thick and puree-like.   This really is best right after it’s made.  If you need to keep it and heat it up later, add a little extra stock to thin it out.  But too much extra stock dilutes the flavor.

I usually make this with thyme, but if I happen to have a few sprigs of marjoram around, I’ll throw that in instead.  I absolutely use bought stock unless I happen to have some homemade in the freezer.  Vegetable stock makes this a purely vegetarian meal, but chicken stock is fine if that’s what you have.  The amount here works out to one box and one can.  The color of this soup varies depending on the vegetables you use and the depth of the stock, varying from a creamy yellow to dark burnt umber.  I use my immersion stick blender to puree this, but if you let it cool a bit, then carefully put it in a blender in batches, that works beautifully.  Just remember not to fill the blender more than half full with each batch and hold the top down with a tea towel.

I love this with a dollop of tangy Greek yogurt or a swirl of sour cream.  A sprinkle of feta cheese can add a salty note, which is particularly nice if the soup has that sweet richness of parsnips or carrots.  Freshly toasted croutons, a sprinkle of chopped herbs – even toasted pine nuts can all add another dimension.  But make no mistake, this soup is great completely plain.

Oven Vegetable Soup

8 ounces each of four trimmed root vegetables, such as carrots, leeks, parsnips, celeriac, butternut squash, fennel or turnips

1 medium onion, peeled

48 ounces (6 cups) vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

3- 4 sprigs of thyme, marjoram or oregano

Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Peel, trim and wash the vegetables as necessary.  Chop the vegetables into chunks of about equal size and place in an oven safe Dutch oven, about 5 quarts.  Add the onion, chopped into eighths.  Add the bay leaf and herbs, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Pour in the stock.

Bring the soup just to a boil on the stove, then cover and transfer to the oven.  Leave in the oven for three hours. The vegetables will become completely soft.

Remove the pot from the oven, uncover and leave to cool off slightly. Remove the bay leaf and the herb stems. Puree the soup with a stick blender or very carefully in a blender. You can add a small amount of additional stock if you like. Reheat the soup gently over low heat if needed.  Salt to taste.

Serves 6 small bowls or 4 big hearty ones

Well, it seems that flu season has well and truly descended.  Everyday I hear of yet  another friend picking up kids early from school, then the rest of the house comes down with the yuck.  And I watch the news.  I am considering buying stock in the hand-sanitizer companies. So with that in mind, what better action to take than to cook up your own batch of cure-all.

Really, is there anything more comforting than a nice warming bowl of soup when you feel icky?  And nothing says love better than homemade chicken noodle soup, that queen of comfort foods.  Now, don’t freak out, I am not asking you to undertakes some massive kitchen project. Anyone with a big pot can make good, fresh, chemical and additive free chicken soup.  It just takes a little patience – and for such great reward.  If you have never, or at least not in a very long time, had homemade chicken noodle soup, you will be blown away by the difference.  No chemical tang or aftertaste, just good, clean flavor and fresh vegetables and chicken, chock full of healthy and restorative ingredients.  Plus, chicken soup is perfect for a whole host of ills, not just the flu.  It makes a wonderful and welcome gift to friends who are under the weather.  It will last several days in the fridge, requiring just a quick re-heat to serve up a steaming bowl of good health. 

This particular recipe includes lots of health-boosting ingredients.  Ginger relives nausea and eases pain, Garlic is antibacterial and it helps fight colds and viruses. Leeks contain iron, fennel is high in vitamin C, and rosemary is good for headaches. Parsley is also high in Vitamin C and helps boost circulation, while sage has antibiotic properties. Oregano is antimicrobial and great for colds and flu, carrots contain antioxidants and onions are anti-inflammatory.  Consider putting all this information on a card or note when you deliver the soup to a sick friend.

Not feeling the flu yet?  Lucky you, but take this opportunity to put together a batch today and freeze it, without the noodles, for when (or if, hopefully) you are laid low. 

This recipe also hits on that other hot-button of the day.  Making this big ol’ pot of goodness costs under ten dollars, and that’s with some vegetables, herbs and chicken meat left over for chicken salad or pot pie.  So it’s comforting and cost-effective, no matter what ails you.

Chicken Noodle Penicillin

In general, but particularly when I am sick, or making this for someone who is, I always use organic vegetables, a hormone and antibiotic free chicken and noodles with as few additives as I can find (label reading is good).

1 whole chicken, no liver or gizzards

1 medium onion

2 medium leeks

1 small fennel bulb

3 carrots

3 celery ribs

10 cloves garlic

3 green onions

1 large sprig rosemary

1 large sprig oregano

2 bay leaves

3-4 stalks parsley

1 large sprig sage

1 – inch piece peeled ginger

2 teaspoons peppercorns

Sea salt

10 – 12 cups water

To Finish:

2 carrots, peeled

2 celery ribs

3 green onions, white part only

6 ounces wide egg noodles

2 cups chicken meat 

sea salt to taste

Wash all the vegetables and rinse the cavity of the chicken well. . Place the chicken in a large Dutch oven or stock pot (7 quarts) with a lid.  Peel the onion and cut it into pieces, toss in the pot.  Trim the roots and the dark green parts of the leeks, cut the white into chunks, rinse off, and toss in the pot. Remove the lacy fronds from the fennel, remove the outer layer of the bulb, chop into quarters and toss in. Cut a few feathery fronds and add.  Cut the carrots and celery into chunks and add to the pot.  Trim the roots from the green onions and toss them in with the rest of the ingredients.  Pour over the 10 – 12 cups water.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium, cover the pot and simmer for 2 hours.

When the soup has cooked, pour the whole pot into a colander set over a large bowl.  Pull out the chicken pieces and discard the vegetables. Rinse out the pot and wipe any pieces out. Leave the broth and chicken to cool slightly.  When cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the chicken bones (no skin or fat!) and shred into bite-sized pieces.  You may have more than the two cups meat needed to finish the soup; reserve it for another use.  Set aside.  Skim as much fat as you can from the top of the broth.  You can refrigerate the broth for a few hours to solidify the fat before removing if you’d like.

Finely dice the two peeled carrots and two celery ribs and the green onions.  Remember that the final product is meant to be eaten with a spoon, so make the pieces small enough.  Same goes with the chicken meat.  Add the vegetables back to the cleaned pot and pour in 2 cups of skimmed broth.  Cover and cook over medium high heat until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.  Remove the cover and cook until the broth is almost gone.  Pour in the remaining broth and bring to a boil.  Add the noodles, cover the pot again and cook for about 8 minutes, until the noodles are soft but not limp.  Stir in the chicken meat and heat through. Season to taste with sea salt.

Serve immediately, or leave the soup to cool.  When completely cool, ladle into ziptop bags or glass jars and seal tightly.  The soup will keep for three days sealed in the fridge.  To freeze, ladle the soup into ziptop freezer bags before adding the noodles, seal tightly, and freeze for up to three months.

When ready to eat, pour into a pot and heat over medium high heat until warmed and steaming.  Add the noodles until cooked if necessary.

Serves 6

The Watermelon on the Side of the Road

Watermelon means summer, right?  I know they are available (though not very good) all year round now, but what is more summery than ice-cold juicy watermelon?  Pink juice dribbles down your chin, and even your mama doesn’t mind too much when you spit the seeds.

When I was a kid at summer camp, we used to have races in the pool with a big ol’ watermelon, teams trying to bat the melon down the length of the pool.  When I was old enough, and purely legal mind you, we would spike a melon.  That is to say, cut out a plug and stuff a bottle of vodka or rum in the hole to soak in, then we’d eat the slices.  This skill put me in good stead both at college in Connecticut and at grad school in England.

In the summer in the South, the best watermelons come from the side of the road.  Men in well-worn pickup trucks pull up on country highways and sell big, striped green watermelons from the bed, just picked out the patch that morning, still warm from the sun. I can’t always find one of these watermelon men when I need a melon, but I search them out and always stop when I see a sign, handwritten on a piece of cardboard box. 

Though big slices of watermelon are still my favorite way to chow down, I also love those carved watermelon baskets full of little balls of melon, though I can’t imagine myself ever taking on such a project.  When I have a wedge of melon in the fridge, the chunk leftover after a party or a piece I cut and put by for myself, I tend to just pop off a chunk with a spoon every time I open the fridge until there’s nothing but some dog-eared rind left.  But I have gotten somewhat more sophisticated, frequently mixing cubes of bright pink watermelon with salty feta cheese and fine green mint picked from the garden.  And when I am really feeling fancy, I make this magnificent cold soup.

Southern Summer Gazpacho

4 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, cut into chunks (about 7 cups)

½ cup firmly packed fresh mint leaves

1 cup blanched slivered almonds

3 garlic cloves

4 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a blender, place the mint leaves topped by the watermelon chunks and puree.  This may need to be done in batches.  Strain the watermelon puree through a wire mesh strainer into a pitcher or large bowl, scraping on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible and to remove any stray seeds.

 In the blender, puree almonds, garlic, red wine vinegar and salt.  Tear the bread into small chunks and place in blender with about 1 cup of watermelon puree.  Puree until smooth, adding olive oil in a slow steady stream and watermelon puree (as much as the blender will hold).  Pour this gazpacho mixture into the remaining watermelon puree and stir until thoroughly blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 6 – 8

Watermelon Sparkler

Feel free to add a splash of white rum or vodka

8 cups chopped watermelon, with seed removed

one 12 ounce can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, undiluted

juice of two limes

2 (25 ounce) bottles lime flavored sparkling water

In a blender, process watermelon and lemonade concentrate until smooth.  This may need to be done in two batches.  Pout puree into pitchers.  When ready to serve, stir in sparkling water.  Serve immediately over ice.  Garnish with lime slices.

Makes 14 cups

The Watermelon Truck

In Memphis, in the summer (and the spring and the fall), it is hot.  Devil-hot. Over 100 degrees most days with high, high humidity.  When you open the door first thing in the morning, it’s like walking into a wall of cotton candy.  Hot, thick air that surrounds you.  Many, many days, busy days when you’re out and about, its just to hot to consider cranking up the oven or standing over a hot stove. I love to have a cold soup in the fridge to enjoy for dinner.

It has always surprised me that there is a real lack of cold soup on local menus and at prepared food stores.  I remember a hot August day some years ago, I stopped by a place that offered a selection of pre-made dishes to take home.  It was 100 and blank degrees outside and so humid my lipstick melted off, and the soups on offer were chili and French onion.  Really?

My mom is a big cold soup fan.  She makes it herself, but also keeps a can of prepared vichyssoise in the fridge.  She used to keep jellied consommé, which I always thought was disgusting.  Meat Jell-o.   But she was right on the mark with cold soups during the hot months.  As things heat up here, I am sure a few cold soup recipes will pop up in my repertoire.

I’ll admit, there’s nothing new or exciting or revolutionary about this recipe.  It’s just the way I make the most classic of the cold soups.  It’s elegant enough to serve to company, but keeps in the fridge for several days to provide no-work lunch and dinner options during the hot-hot days.

Vichyssoise

Cold Potato and Leek Soup

2 pounds leeks (about three medium), sliced to yield about 4 cups

2 Tablespoons butter

12 ounces white potatoes, about 2 medium, peeled

2 cups water

4 cups (32 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth

Sea salt

1 cup heavy cream

Chopped chives to garnish

Slice the white and lightest green parts of the leeks into halves lengthwise, then into thin half moons.  Place the leek slices in a strainer submerged in a bowl of water and shake around a bit to loosen any dirt.  Let the leeks sit for a few minutes while you melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove the strainer and shake out excess water.  Drop the leeks into the pot and stir.  Sauté until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes.  Do no let the leeks brown.  While the leeks are softening, chop the peeled potatoes into small chunks.  Add to the cooked leeks with the water, broth and a good sprinkling of salt.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium – low, cover and simmer for 25 – 30 minutes until the potatoes and leeks are very soft.  Remove the pot from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender, filling the blender about half-full each time. Be very careful as the hot liquid can make the top pop off.  Remove the center cap and hold the top with a dish towel.  Pour each pureed batch into a bowl.  When all the soup is pureed, whisk in the cream.  Cover the bowl loosely and refrigerate for at least two hours but preferably overnight.  Taste for salt and season before serving, garnished with chopped chives.

Serves 6 – 8