Soup Night Read Free Page A

Soup Night means to them. But I know for certain that none of these good people would ever think of themselves as special, or want me to portray them that way. As you meet other Soup Nighters later in the book, you will see that, to a remarkable extent, they express the same sentiments, often in almost the exact same words. If I seem to offer more details about Stanton Street, the Soup Night that I know best, it’s simply by way of presenting a model, something that can be duplicated in any town anywhere in the country. If you should be inspired to start a Soup Night in your own neighborhood — my fondest wish — the ideas described here will give you a good starting point.
    Soup Night is incredibly important to the kids on the block and they don’t even know it yet. Right now it’s just a big party to them. But they are seeing how adults can behave cooperatively. And that’s a great thing to grow up with.
    — John

Chapter One

Soup Kettle Basics
    I know you want to get right to the recipes — don’t worry, this is a short chapter. Here I pulled together some general comments and tips about making soup, so I wouldn’t bore you by repeating them over and over later on. Some of these ideas may already be in your repertoire, but I hope you’ll find a few new things too.

The Glory of Soup
    You already know many of the wonderful things about soup:
    It’s healthy. With a strong reliance on vegetables and protein-rich legumes like beans and lentils, relatively small amounts of meat, and almost no fat, soup is a nutrition lollapalooza. It’s also a great way to sneak veggies into kids’ diets.
    It’s inexpensive. Soup is a particularly delicious way to feed lots of people.
    It’s easy. Sophisticated culinary techniques are not needed. In fact, I can hardly think of any soup recipe that requires a special skill; many can be prepared by children (assuming an adult supervises the knife work).
    It’s versatile. Soup for lunch. Soup for supper. Soup for a crowd. Soup for a party. Soup for unexpected visitors — I’m betting you can create something delicious from your pantry and fridge in short order.
    It’s easy to expand. The recipes in this book are planned for 6 to 8 servings, because I know you’ll want to make some for your regular family meals. But almost all of them — almost all soups, really — can easily be expanded to feed a crowd. You may not always want to double the amount of the more expensive ingredients (and it hardly ever matters), and you probably should increase the spices and herbs incrementally, tasting as you go, but in other respects, just double or triple the ingredients. In fact, even if you’re not cooking for a crowd, you might want to make a double batch and freeze half. If you do, here’s a tip from Sonia in Portland ( page 81 ): “Separate the solids from the liquids before freezing. When reheating, start with the liquids, and then add the solids. This prevents the solids from getting overcooked.”
    It’s a great use for leftovers. A little bit of pot roast, a cupful of mashed potatoes, half a zucchini, two tomatoes that won’t last another day . . . just about anything can be the start of a wonderful soup. Just add imagination, and stir.
    It’s forgiving. Precise measurements hardly ever matter. In fact, many great cooks don’t even bother.
    It’s flexible. Soup nicely lends itself to improvisation. Don’t have kale? Use spinach. Weather unexpectedly warm? Many hot soups are also good cold. Don’t like something? Leave it out. I confess — I cannot abide the taste of cooked celery, so when it shows up in any recipe I just ignore it. And you can turn just about any vegetable into a nutritious soup in a jiffy; for example, see Cream of Anything Green Soup ( page 32 ).
    It’s easy to convert for vegetarians. Leave out the meat and substitute vegetable broth or plain water for the stock.
    It’s delicious.
    It warms your soul. For all the above reasons, plus one more: it