Mario Batali’s Chilled Tomato and Bread Soup

This recipe is ideal for when it is brutally hot and you just don’t feel like cooking. It is so easy: just puree canned (or fresh) tomatoes with day-old bread, salt, pepper and fresh basil. Swirl in a little olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and scallions and you are done. The complex taste belies the simplicity of the preparation–no one will know you didn’t slave over this.

Don’t expect this to be like gazpacho, which I find to be too spicy and raw onion-ey. This is subtle and mild. The fresh basil absolutely makes this dish, so don’t leave it out.

Shorba Addis (Ethiopian Lentil Soup)

This is that time of year when people start giving more focused thought to eating a better diet. Unfortunately, it is also the season we most crave hearty comfort foods, which are not always so diet friendly. This curried tomato lentil soup is ideal because it is healthful and hearty.

The recipe is from Dr. Neal Barnard’s 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart and is featured on days one and two of the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart.

One unusual ingredient you need for this recipe is fenugreek. It gives a very distinctive taste to the dish and is well worth seeking out. Be careful how much you add, though, because this spice has a bitter edge.

Lemony Red Lentil Soup with Fried Shallots

We get a magazine from a local hospital and a recent issue had an article about healthy soups. One of the best was this recipe for Lemony Lentil Sup with Fried Shallots, which was reprinted from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook by Kate McMillan, Soup of the Day.

Did you ever wonder why Esav asked for “red stuff” when even red lentils turns yellowish when cooked? Could it be that the lentils were still raw?

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

It is getting to be hearty soup season. This vegetarian split pea soup gets a subtle savory lift from a little miso paste. The combination of carrots, parsnip, celery, onion, garlic and leek, plus a little dill and bay leaves, gives the soup a little color and rich flavor.

My mother gave me some matzoh balls and I had the idea to add them to my split pea soup, thinned out quite a bit. Even though I usually associate matzoh balls with clear broth, this ended up being a very delicious combination.

Italian Garden Vegetable Soup with Rice

Well, the drizzly grayness continues . . .  so, more soup for you!

I flipped through the New England Soup Factory Cookbook for inspiration and settled upon a hearty looking soup with lots of tomatoes, beans and rice. The author, Marjorie Drucker, says that the key to the soup is the mix of diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes and tomato juice. I didn’t have all the ingredients the recipe called for (no stock, no fresh basil, no zucchini or yellow squash), but I made do with what I had (mixed frozen vegetables and dried oregano) and the results were very good: a rich tomato-ey base, lightly thickened with rice, chunky with beans and chopped vegetables.

You need a big pot for this soup. This overflowed my favorite soup pot (a 6.5 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven) and I had to transfer some of the soup to a saucepan (2 quart? 3 quart? I’m not sure). Both pots ended up being filled almost to the brim with soup.

Mushroom Barley Split Pea and White Bean Soup

It continues to be drizzly and gray, so I made a very hearty bean and barley soup. There was a enough light to get a picture, but it is not exactly a colorful soup–more like a symphony in beige. I more or less just made up the soup with whatever was in the house, and the results were very satisfying. It somewhat reminded me of the soup mixes that come in cellophane tubes or the soups that my grandmother, A”H”, used to make.

Lemony Red Lentil Soup

It has been drizzly gray around here. I have been making soups and stews. I particularly liked a red lentil soup that I found on My New Roots. Blogger Sarah Britton says that this is her favorite recipe, and I can see why. It has a lovely reddish-orange color, is easy to make, and has a delightful lemony flavor that comes from simmering whole slices of lemon with the lentils.

Here is the basic idea: saute a chopped onion, lots of garlic (5 cloves!), and a Tbl. of minced fresh ginger in a little oil until tender. Season with a Tbl. cumin, salt to taste and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Add sauteed mixture to a cup of rinsed red lentils along with a can of diced tomatoes and a quart of vegetable stock.  Add three thin slices of lemon and simmer until tender. Squeeze in some lemon juice and serve.

The general lack of light around here meant I never got a good photo of the soup, so just head on over to My New Roots for the recipe and a lovely picture.

Other red lentil soup recipes on my blog (all fantastic):

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Lentil Pottage and Good Housekeeping’s Red Lentil Soup

Hila Solomon’s Baghdadi Red Lentil Soup

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup Like Trader Joe’s

This is a variation on my earlier posted cream of tomato soup. It is basically that soup, but with some pureed roasted red pepper added in. The results are startlingly like the Trader Joe’s Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup, except fresher tasting.

A Better Cream of Tomato Soup

This isn’t one of those involved, gourmet recipes. There is no cream in this soup, no fresh tomatoes and herbs. There is no chopping and sauteeing and pureeing. Effort-wise, it is only a small step up from dumping out the contents of a box or can into a pot and heating it up. Flavor-wise, it is very similar to what you get from the boxed soups (like the Trader Joe’s), but (a) it is a whole lot cheaper and (b) it is a whole lot more convenient.

Yes, you heard right. This recipe is even more convenient that pre-made soup. Why? Because all you need is a can of tomato paste, milk, flour, oil/butter, water, salt and pepper. All things you keep on hand all the time anyway.

Here is all that you have to do to make this soup:

Heat a little butter and flour in a saucepan. Add milk and stir until thick. Add tomato paste, water and some seasonings.  Heat through and serve with grilled cheese sandwiches or open-faced cheese toasts.

It is amazing that you can get so much flavor from these modest ingredients, but I have been experimenting with cream of tomato soup recipes for some time now, and this is my favorite so far.

Truly Superior Mushroom Barley Soup

I love the New England Soup Factory Cookbook. One of the recipes that really caught my eye was the Wild Mushroom and Barley Soup. Wild mushroom, tomato paste, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, broth red wine . . .   As my grandmother A”H would have said, with all those good ingredients, how could it not be delicious?

If not made properly, Mushroom Barley soup can look and taste a bit insipid. This recipe intensifies the flavor, texture and even color of the soup. Tomato and wine add color and flavor sharpening acidity. The wild mushrooms add more flavor and texture. Another improvement is the suggestion to limit the cooking time to keep the barley chewy rather than mushy.

I veered quite a bit off course in making the soup, using only cremini mushrooms instead of the mix of shitake, portobello, chanterelle and enoki. Instead of broth, I used water (well seasoned with salt and pepper, of course). I shifted the balance of vegetables ever so slightly just because of what was on hand. Instead of tomato paste, I used tomato juice.

Did you know that you can sometimes substitute tomato juice for tomato paste? It really only works when you are adding tomato paste and a liquid at the same time. Tomato juice (read the label) is made primarily from water and tomato paste.

What you do is figure that every cup of bottled tomato juice is about 3 Tbl. tomato paste and 3/4 cup water. So, if you need a Tbl. of tomato paste, and you are supposed to add it at the same time as water, you add 1/3 cup of tomato juice and subtract 4 Tbl. of water from what you would otherwise add. If you are dealing with soup, especially an absorbent soup like mushroom barley, you don’t even need to subtract out the liquid.

This trick, of course, works in reverse if you need tomato juice for a recipe and only have tomato paste on hand.  If you need a quart of tomato juice, just mix a 6 ounce can with 24 ounces or so of water (okay, that makes 30 ounces, not 32 ounces, but whatever . . . ).