950 soppe recipes

Chilled cucumber soup, a creamy cold starter of cucumbers simmered with leek, celery, and sherry, thickened and enriched with light cream, then brightened with a splash of orange juice. Cool and elegant.

Pumpkin soup with split peas, bacon, onion, and thyme simmered in vegetable stock until the peas and pumpkin are tender. A hearty, thick autumn soup with Caribbean roots.

Fisherman's catch chowder: a slow cooker fish chowder with mixed white-fish fillets, tomatoes, white wine, clam juice, rosemary, and a cream-and-butter finish stirred in at the end.

Mexican chicken rice soup with shredded chicken, chayote, leeks, and arborio rice in a lime-bright broth finished with epazote. A homestyle pot-of-soup dinner with bones in the broth for flavor.

Hearty smoked pork and bean soup built from ham hocks, dried pink beans, and beef stock with paprika and sauteed garlic. Partially pureed for a thick, velvety body. Serves 6.

Copycat Chili's chicken enchilada soup thickened with masa harina and loaded with cubed chicken, crushed tomatoes, and melted American cheese. A big-batch Tex-Mex soup that feeds a crowd.

Two-ingredient fish and cheese chowder: flaked white fish simmered low with cheese until rich and creamy. The simplest possible pantry-style comfort soup.

A much improved tuna casserole that's perfectly sized for two hearty servings. Cheesy creamy and packed with a variety of textures.

A clean, light Asian-style soup of tender napa cabbage and celery in a simple broth, topped with cooked shrimp and fresh scallions. Just 6 ingredients and under 50 calories per bowl.

White turnip soup pureed smooth with bread for body, finished with egg yolks and cream for a velvety French-style potage. A humble root vegetable transformed into an elegant first course.

Hearty Irish sorrel soup simmered for an hour with a full pound of tangy sorrel, thickened with breadcrumbs, and enriched with egg yolks and cream. Pure comfort from the Emerald Isle.

No-bean Texas-style chili with five pounds of ground chuck simmered in beer with garlic, jalapeño, cumin, and red chilies: pure meat chili that marinates for depth and feeds a crowd.

Cold soups make for excellent summer fare. The best vichyssoise I ever had in my life was at a French restaurant during a Montreal summer. Humor me. Try the soup in the traditional manner but then, if you must heat it up, (sigh), go ahead.

Chicken base is basically dehydrated, powdered chicken stock. If you can't find it in the supermarket, grind chicken bouillon cubes. For the asparagus, cut about two inches off the stem end. You don't need to peel it. To blanch spinach, simply drop it in boiling salted water for one minute and then immediately submerge it in ice water to stop the cooking and retain the color. The spinach will provide the soup with a vibrant green hue.

Traditional Sonoran white menudo with tender tripe, calf's foot, and flowered hominy in a rich broth served with lime, cilantro, and chile toppings.

Homemade chicken soup simmered with celery, bay leaf, and peppercorns, finished with tiny butter dumplings dropped right into the broth. Old-fashioned comfort in every spoonful.