Soup Night (16 page)

Serves 8

Virginia Tackett, of Hillsboro, Oregon, called on her Iowa farm childhood to create this wonderfully rich soup, chock-full of good veggies. It can be prepared either in a slow cooker or in a large soup pot on the stove. Any or all of the optional ingredients make flavorful additions.

• 1 medium onion
  
• 1 pound carrots
  
• 1 large yam (or 2 medium)
  
• 1 large baking potato (or 2 medium)
  
• 1 large rutabaga
  
• 2 medium turnips
  
• 2 medium parsnips
  
• 3–4 cups water or broth
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 1–2 pounds smoked sausage (your favorite kind), cut into bite-size pieces.
  
• 1
  ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoons kosher salt
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon whole mixed peppercorns
  
• 6–8 whole allspice, tied into a cheesecloth bag
  
• 3 tablespoons dried parsley, or
  ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cup fresh, chopped
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, for garnish
  

• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoon seasoned pepper
  
• 2 jalapeños, seeds and membranes removed, diced (see
  page 186
  )
  
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
  
• 1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped (green, red, or yellow, or any combination)
  
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes
  
• 1 small jar sun-dried tomatoes
  

1. 1.
   Prepare the onion, carrots, yam, potato, rutabaga, turnips, and parsnips: wash, peel as you wish, and cut into bite-size pieces. Place them in a large soup pot (or slow cooker), and add enough water or broth to cover all the vegetables. Add the garlic, sausage, salt, pepper, peppercorns, allspice, and parsley.
   
2. 2.
   If using a soup pot, bring the soup to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are tender. If using a slow cooker, cook on low for 8 hours.
   
3. 3.
   Serve hot, sprinkled with cilantro.
   

Variations:
Virginia says this is very good just as is, but you can replace the sausage with any other kind of meat you like.

Make ahead?
Sure. You might want to remove the pot from the heat a little early, so that rewarming doesn’t overcook the vegetables.

For large crowds:
If your pot is large enough, feel free to double everything.

For vegetarians:
Use water or vegetable broth, omit the sausage, and add 2 pounds sliced cremini mushrooms.

Serves 6–8

I really love split-pea soup, but I’ve always felt that the traditional green peas produced a rather unappealing color when cooked. So when I discovered yellow split peas, I made a permanent switch. Like all foods in the yellow/orange/red range, they keep their color through long cooking. I often add other vegetables — carrots or sweet potatoes or both — and that produces an even richer color, not to mention extra nutrients.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
  
• 3–4 carrots, scrubbed and thinly sliced
  
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (optional)
  
• 2 cups yellow split peas
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• About 2 quarts water or broth
  
• Black pepper
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  cup ham or smoked sausage, diced (optional; see note below)
  

1. 1.
   Heat the oil in a large soup pot, and lightly sauté the onion, carrots, and sweet potato; try not to let them brown. Add the split peas, bay leaves, and enough cooking liquid to cover well. You can use plain water, chicken broth, vegetable broth, or ham broth. Simmer the soup until the peas are thoroughly cooked, 1
   ¹
   ⁄
   ₂
   to 2 hours. (This is a great use for your slow cooker.) Check from time to time that all the liquid hasn’t cooked away.
   
2. 2.
   When the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, discard the bay leaves. Transfer the soup to a blender (in batches, if need be) and purée until very smooth, then return it to the pot. Or use an immersion blender and purée the soup right in the pot. This step is optional and purely subjective, but I think you will like the creamy texture.
   
3. 3.
   Add pepper to taste, plus any meat you are using, and simmer until heated through. Serve hot.
   

Variation:
This soup is delicious as is, but if you want to add another layer of flavor, you can turn it into curry soup; see below for possibilities. If you go the simple route of adding commercial curry powder, start with 1 teaspoon, adding more to taste.

Make ahead?
Sure. The soup solidifies when cold, which is startling if you’ve never seen it before, but returns to liquid when reheated.

For large crowds:
This is one of the very best choices for making large quantities, since the ingredients are both highly nutritious and very inexpensive.

You have several options for adding curry flavor to soup. There’s commercial curry powder, of course, or you can make up your own blend. Check ethnic cookbooks or the Internet for recipes for garam masala. If there are Asian markets where you live, pick up a small jar of curry paste and add a dab to your soup. In most large supermarkets, you will find a variety of curry blends and pastes, any of which will add flavor to your soup.

I cheat: I pour in a few glugs of a bottled curry sauce that I found on sale. I won’t bother you with the brand because I think it’s been discontinued, but in most supermarkets you can find a selection of bottled sauces generically known as finishing or dipping sauces, and any of them with a curry flavor will do the same thing.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A fabulous once-a-year party, Big Soup was 20 years old in 2012. It has become a well-known event in the Pittsburgh area. The invitations say: “Bring a bowl. Bring a spoon. Bring a friend.” People invite people they know, and those people invite others, and that’s how it happens that nowadays 250 people show up at the Neelys’ house for soup on the first Saturday in December.

Melissa tells how they got started. “The first year we were married, we were both 23, living in this tiny apartment, and we said to ourselves, ‘Okay, we’re adults now, let’s have people over.’ But we were poor, so it had to be something inexpensive, and we decided we needed a theme. So we said, ‘We can make really good soup, and we’ll have really
big
soup.’ And that’s how Big Soup got started.

“Later we moved to a larger house (bottom of a duplex) and by the tenth year we had 150 people come. Then three years ago we bought the house next door to the duplex, bigger still, and last year [2011] we had 250 people.

“Stephen is a music teacher and teaches at several schools around town, so he has a wide circle of contacts. We always invite people whenever we meet them. And people just seem to hear about it. We use multiple ways to spread the word: printed invitations, which we mail and also hand out; e-mailed invitations from the guest book people sign the first year they come; and last year we used Facebook for the first time.

“A few years ago, we decided to turn it into a charity event: We have so much, let’s share. It was a way to take the event away from a focus on just ourselves and give us all the opportunity to do something tangible about hunger. We put a bucket in the middle of the table and invited people to contribute. The money goes to our local food bank. In 2011 we donated $3,000. Also, in 2011 I invited a local company to sponsor our event. Pittsburgh Seltzer Works donated money and beverages.

“We have three boys, ages 8, 12, and 15. We want them to see what one family can do. I take them to the Food Bank to help out, so they can see how it works and where the money goes.

“We give out lots of little prizes: for the most unique bowl (we’ve had people bring a cat dish, a fireman’s hat, a toy truck), the largest spoon, the farthest distance traveled. One year we had T-shirts made. All those little things bring people together and start conversations.

“We set up a station at the door, with a guest book (that’s how people get on the e-mail list) and name tags. The instructions are to put your name and how many soup parties you’ve been to. That one thing is a great conversation starter. People say, ‘Oh, this is your first? Well, let me tell you about . . .’ Or, ‘Wow, you’ve been coming 15 years.’ The guest book also lets us keep count of how many people come. I also try to take a photo of every person, so we can count how many kids, how many adults. The house is full, but people come at all different times. Also we have a big outdoor space with outdoor fire, and some people always go outside.

“We do all the cooking prep the Friday before. We have five soups, all vegetarian. Labels for each one are clipped to the soup pots with clothespins. We make super-large amounts, so over the years we’ve been collecting huge stockpots. For a while we used our canning kettle. A couple years ago we realized we needed a new pot, so we went to a restaurant supply store, and when we said what we were doing they donated the pot. Also two of Stephen’s students come and help out as volunteers — clean up, gather garbage, etc.

“One soup we always have is Potato-Cheese Soup. It’s a family recipe, and children especially like it. Then we always have one that’s spicy, one ethnic, and one dessert soup. People bring things to contribute to the meal. We set up a large table for those extras: salads, breads, appetizers, and put the desserts on a separate table. Our invitations ask people to bring their own bowls, but people kept leaving them behind, so we had to put up a sign at the door:
Do you have your bowl and spoon?
”

At the Big Soup website you can see a summary of all the soups served each year since the beginning.

• www.bigsoup.org
  

• Neelys’ Potato-Cheese Soup
  

Recipe from Stephen and Melissa Neely,
Big Soup
, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Serves 6–8

Stephen and Melissa say: We serve this every single year at Big Soup. No matter what other soups we serve, we
always
have this one, mostly because we know the kids will eat it.

• 8 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
  
• 2 cups diced celery
  
• 2 cups diced onion
  
• 2 cups diced carrots
  
• 8 cups vegetable broth
  
• ¹
  ⁄
  ₂
  teaspoon dried marjoram
  
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
  
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups), or reserve some to add as a garnish
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  

1. 1.
   Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots in a large soup pot. Pour in the broth, add the marjoram and seasoned salt, and simmer until the vegetables are very soft.
   
2. 2.
   Purée the soup until smooth with an immersion blender.
   
3. 3.
   Add the cheese and pepper to taste. Serve hot, with bowls of extra shredded cheese on the table for an optional garnish.
   

Make ahead?
Yes, through step 2.

For large crowds:
Double or triple or even quadruple as needed. The Neelys’ recipe card shows the amounts of ingredients needed for a 9-times increase — I don’t even know the word for that!