Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times (5 page)

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

LEFTOVER BROCCOLI—
maybe that you boiled or steamed as a simple side dish—is a super candidate for this soup. (You may even find yourself making more broccoli than you can eat, as I do, specifically so you can turn it into this soup the next day.)

To use leftovers, rinse off any remnants of dressing with hot water, add it to the pan after you’ve cooked away the garlic’s raw taste, and proceed without any additional cooking.

1.
Combine the broccoli and stock in a saucepan and simmer, covered, until the broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. During the last minute or so of cooking, add the garlic (this cooks the garlic just enough to remove its raw taste). If you’re serving the soup cold, chill now (or refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a month before proceeding).

2.
Puree in a blender, in batches if necessary, until very smooth. Stir in the milk, cream, or yogurt and reheat gently (or chill again); do not boil (yogurt will curdle). Season to taste—cold soups generally require more seasoning than hot ones—and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

ALWAYS COOK THE
vegetables for a creamy soup until tender, but no more than that. Spinach is tender in a couple of minutes; potatoes, cut into chunks, will require no more than ten or fifteen. Almost nothing will take longer than that. Cover the pot while the vegetables cook to prevent too much of the stock from evaporating.

1.
Combine the potato, onion, and stock in a saucepan and simmer, covered, until the potato is tender, about 15 minutes. If you’re serving the soup cold, chill now (or refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a month before proceeding).

2.
Puree in a blender, in batches if necessary, until very smooth. Stir in the milk or cream and reheat gently (or chill again); do not boil. Season to taste—cold soups generally require more seasoning than hot ones—garnish with the parsley or chives, and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 40 MINUTES

USUALLY, PUMPKIN MEANS
pie, a limited role for a large vegetable that is nearly ubiquitous from Labor Day through Christmas. But soup based on pumpkin—or other winter squash like acorn or butternut—is a minimalist’s dream, a luxuriously creamy dish that requires little more than a stove and a blender.

If there is a challenge here, it lies in peeling the squash. The big mistake many people make is to attack it with a standard vegetable peeler; the usual result is an unpeeled pumpkin and a broken peeler. A quicker and more reliable method is to cut the squash up into wedges; then rest each section on a cutting board and use a sharp, heavy knife to cut away the peel. You’ll wind up taking part of the flesh with it, but given the large size and small cost of winter squash, this is hardly a concern.

1.
Place the pumpkin or squash in a saucepan with stock to cover and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers. Cook until the pumpkin or squash is very tender, about 30 minutes. If time allows, cool.

2.
Put the mixture, in batches if necessary, in the container of a blender and puree until smooth. (The recipe can be prepared a day or two in advance up to this point; cool, put in a covered container, and refrigerate.) Reheat, adjust the seasoning, and serve.

VARIATIONS

Pumpkin, stock, and black pepper are all you need to make a good pumpkin soup. But when you have more time and ingredients, try one of the following:

• Add 1 teaspoon ground ginger (or 1 tablespoon finely minced peeled fresh ginger) or 1 teaspoon curry powder (and, if you have it, ½ teaspoon ground turmeric) to the simmering soup.

• Add ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, and a small grating of nutmeg to the simmering soup.

• Garnish each bowl of soup with 3 or 4 grilled, sautéed, or roasted shrimp; or about ¼ cup crabmeat or lobster meat per serving.

• Garnish the soup with chopped fresh chervil, chives, parsley, or dill.

• Stir 2 tablespoons to 1 cup crème fraîche, sweet cream, sour cream, or yogurt into the pureed soup as you are reheating it.

• Stir about 1 cup cooked long-grain rice into the pureed soup as you are reheating it.

Or make a variation on the main soup:

Pumpkin and Apple Soup

This screams autumn: Add ½ teaspoon ground ginger or 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger to the soup. Peel, core, and thinly slice 2 apples; cook them in 2 tablespoons butter until lightly browned, turning occasionally. Garnish the soup with the apple slices.

Creamy and Chunky Pumpkin Soup

Measure about 1 cup pumpkin or squash (you will almost always have extra), cut into ¼-inch dice, steam until tender, and stir into the soup about 2 minutes before removing from the heat.

Pumpkin and Mushroom Soup

Sauté about 1 cup sliced mushrooms—chanterelles are best, but shiitakes (stems discarded) or button mushrooms are good—in 2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil until they give up their liquid and begin to get crisp. Garnish the soup with them.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 45 MINUTES

THE SOUP DRAWS
its main flavors from olive oil, cured meat, and watercress. It gains substance and supporting flavors from the peas and a little onion. The combination is delicious, warming, and celebratory in a rustic way. I like to serve with a bottle of Tabasco or any vinegar hot sauce at the table.

1.
Put half the olive oil in a deep skillet or casserole over medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook, stirring, for a minute; then add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens and begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the peas and 1 quart of water and bring to a boil; turn the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the peas are completely tender—10 minutes for cooked or canned, about 30 minutes for frozen.

2.
Stir in the watercress and cook, stirring occasionally, for just a couple of minutes, or until it wilts. Add more water if the soup is very thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning, stir in the remaining olive oil, and serve.

NOTE

Frozen black-eyed peas (and white beans, chickpeas, and others) can be found in the supermarket freezer, and their convenience and quality are unparalleled; they’re faster and easier to use than dried beans or peas and far better tasting than canned ones. In the case of black-eyed peas, they need about half an hour to become fully tender. If you use precooked peas or those from a can (please rinse them first), that time will be reduced to almost nothing.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 45 MINUTES

THIS IS A
stew of carrots, spinach, and rice cooked, you might say, to death. I first ate it at a Turkish lunch counter and was taken by its depth of flavor. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

1.
Combine the carrots with 3 cups of water in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then stir in the rice and a large pinch of salt. When the mixture returns to a boil, add the spinach, then adjust the heat so that it simmers gently.

2.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice and carrots are very tender, about 30 minutes, and the mixture takes on the consistency of a thick stew. When it reaches this stage, stir in the garlic or butter (if you’re using either or both) and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: ABOUT 1 HOUR

CHESTNUTS HAVE A
subtle but distinctive flavor; another, less-well-known attribute is their ability to lend a rich, creamy texture to anything in which they’re pureed—making cream completely superfluous. This soup is a perfect example, and if you can find frozen, peeled chestnuts, it’s the work of a moment. But even if you cannot, the chestnut-peeling process takes about twenty minutes start to finish, and much of that time is unattended; you can use it to chop and cook the vegetables. In a way, starting from scratch with whole chestnuts is preferable, because they gain a bit of flavor as you toast them lightly to remove the skins.

1.
If you have skinned chestnuts, proceed to step 2. If your chestnuts still have their skins, preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a sharp (preferably curved) paring knife to make an X on their flat sides. Roast them in one layer in a baking pan for 10 to 15 minutes, or until their skins begin to open away from the meat. They will then be easy to peel; remove both outer and inner skins while they are warm. (The peeled chestnuts will cook faster if you chop them roughly, but it isn’t necessary.)

2.
Meanwhile (if you have skinned chestnuts, start here), put the olive oil or butter in a deep skillet or casserole over medium heat. A couple of minutes later, add the celery, onion, and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and the chestnuts, bring to a boil, and partially cover. Adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers and cook until the chestnuts are mushy, about 30 minutes.

3.
Carefully puree the soup in a blender (if you are not in a hurry, cool it slightly first for extra caution). Measure and add water to make 6 cups of liquid. Reheat, adjust the seasoning if necessary, garnish with celery leaves or parsley, and serve.

VARIATIONS

I like to elaborate on this soup in two ways, depending on what I’ve got in the fridge and whether meat eaters are coming to dinner:

Chestnut Soup with Bacon

Start by rendering ¼ cup or so of diced slab bacon; scoop out the solids and reserve them for garnish, then sauté the celery and onion in the rendered fat and proceed as directed.

Chestnut Soup with Shiitakes

Garnish the soup with a cup or so of shiitake mushrooms (caps only), sliced and sautéed in butter or oil until crisp.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: ABOUT 1 HOUR

THIS CARIBBEAN-INSPIRED
sweet potato soup is always appropriate in hot weather and makes an unusual starter for a meal off the grill. Serve it hot or cold; by all means chill it in warm weather, but remember it in winter. Whether you’re reheating it or serving it cold, make the soup as far in advance as you like, up to a couple of days. If you’re so inclined, you can make this soup even richer and sweeter by using half chicken stock and half canned coconut milk.

1.
Put the butter in a casserole or Dutch oven over medium-high heat; when the butter melts, add the curry and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add the sweet potato and the apricots and cook, stirring occasionally, until well mixed, a minute or so.

2.
Season with salt and add the stock. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers. Cook until the potatoes are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. If time allows, cool.