A lot of you here likely know that I am a soup lady, but that only happened in the past few years. I loved soup, sure, in a totally balanced, (neuro)typical way like everyone else before it tapped me on the shoulder a few years ago for our love affair—so I have a smattering of recipes to share from all my years with The Wright Recipes. (In fact, I have a whole Soup category in my Table of Contents that you can peruse, but I thought I would call out a few of my favorites.)
First, the obvious ones: the season would not be complete without a classic chicken noodle (mine made with homemade broth and long, chewy egg noodles, but any would do; I even use brown rice instead). And then, of course, there is lentil soup, for which I have a few recipes: the classic, made of brown lentils, flecked with herbs and simmered with mirepoix, this one finished with a walnut vinaigrette; a spiced red lentil, with a touch of curry and just the right blend of bold spices; or an Ethiopian lentil, made with brown lentils, kale, and berbere (rather than the red lentil riff on “doro wat” from my “Soup Club” cookbook that I make most often).
Then comes tomato soup because tomato soup lovers are a serious lot. For them, I hope they had some gazpacho before the chill set in (or maybe they can make this grilled variety on a random sunny day before they tuck their grill away for the season), but a much cozier choice is my take on this classic bread and tomato soup, Pappa al Pomodoro, or this smooth roasted fennel number that begs for a grilled cheese.
I have long considered the difference between a soup and a stew and the distinction, to me, lies in the broth: is it thin and somewhat clear, or is it opaque and thick like gravy? Either a soup or stew can have big chunks of meat or veg – any of my Soup Club friends would attest that mine surely do – and the gold standard would be none other than beef stew, like this classic beef one (made in a slow cooker and hard to beat, really), or this Southern French beef stew called a Daube. My dad used to swear by this take on a French Onion stew with big chunks of beef in it; in my house, I love this lamb and chickpea birria any day of the week. For a stew that is satisfying but a touch lighter, try this green chile chicken stew with big chunks of pumpkin. If it’s pumpkin you’re after but not meat, this Parsi pumpkin and bean stew will give you your fix.
Then, in a class of its own, are the chilis. (For what it’s worth, I consider them their own special kind of stew, or at the very least, stew-adjacent for their high gravy and soup-belly-comfort levels.) Choose one with either three beans or up to fifteen. Though I have focused on meatless chilis for years now, one with braised beef, beans and guajillo sounds divine.
A bowl of soup is lonely without the extras – toppings galore from the corners of your refrigerator, but accompaniments, like cornbread and this corn-free cornbread (that I called “Skillet Supper Bread” because I couldn’t figure out what to name it) I made up when I stopped eating corn. Or these individual Yorkshire puddings would do nicely.
As opposed to taking you on a tour of my other cookbooks, my call for support this month is simple, urgent and earnest: to consider pre-ordering a copy of my forthcoming cookbook, Seconds, in time for holiday gifting here on Kickstarter. I am running a campaign right now to fund this project that is near and dear to my heart and I can’t do it without the support of readers like you. (It’s an all-or-nothing platform, so I have to raise all the money in the next three weeks or it won’t happen.)
With soup on the brain, in my belly, and in my heart these days, I thank you for reading here. It’s so much more than a meal to me, and I know it means a lot to other cooks out there, too. For those paid subscribers among you, stick around for a fun recipe I made for instant Indonesian chicken noodle soup that combines rice vermicelli, herbs and spices, and pulled chicken in a mason jar and makes soup of it by adding boiling water – the perfect pick-me-up lunch on a dreary day at your desk. It tastes like sunshine.
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