Soup season is a time to slow down and gather your friends, because really, are you going to eat an entire pot of soup alone? You could freeze it for later, but it’s not as fun. One of my favorite soup memories is a miso and tempura party at my friend Allie’s house in late high school (or was it early college?). We got together in her kitchen one afternoon and chopped up mountains of vegetables, mixed up tempura batter, and took turns tossing carrots and mushrooms into a hot wok. Sarah kept an eye on the oil temperature and cooled the tempura batter with ice cubes while someone prepped a big pot of miso soup on the stove. Teamwork.

I didn’t have any extra sets of hands when I made a quick pot of miso soup last weekend, but I did share it with Ramsey when it was done. Before I share the recipe though, let me fess up to something: I took the lazy route for miso soup. The ambitious make dashi for their miso, which calls for boiling kelp and dried fish flakes to make a rich, salty stock. I, however, am a woman in a small Brooklyn apartment where smells tend to linger days after cooking, so I decided to forgo the fish and just use water and miso. However, if you’re up for making the stock, give it a try and use in place of water in the recipe below.

Miso Soup with Tofu and Soba
(Adapted from everyone’s favorite magazine with a one-letter title, O)

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 medium bunch spinach
• 4 medium carrots (about 3/4 pound), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces buckwheat (soba) noodles
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 cup miso
• 4 ounces tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 scallions, finely sliced
• 2 1/2 quarts water or dashi broth

1. Heat oil in large heavy pot over medium heat. Add garlic and stir occasionally until fragrant, about one minute. Add carrots and cook for three minutes. Add water or broth.

2. Bring water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until carrots are tender, about seven minutes. Meanwhile, bring a separate, smaller pot of water to a boil and add soba noodles. Cook for three minutes, then drain and run under cold water. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

3. Add the spinach and peas to the soup, then quickly bring the water to a boil again. Remove 1 cup boiling liquid, and swirl in a bowl with the miso paste. Set aside.

4. Add tofu and cook for about two minutes. Add soba, and whisk the miso into the soup. Serve immediately and top with a sprinkling of scallions.

With wedding planning over and most food groups reincorporated into my diet, I’ve returned to the kitchen inspired by a boatload of new kitchen gadgets and cookware from our fabulous wedding guests and a desire to improve my rusty cooking skills. The first major dish I made was a beef stew based on Alice Water’s recipe in The Art of Simple Food. I spent a Sunday afternoon chopping carrots and potatoes, browning beef, and taking swigs of the red wine that would be used to deglaze the bottom of the pan. The apartment was filled with the glorious smell of slow-cooking meat and I was reminded of everything I’d been missing for the past few months.

Beef Stew (adapted from The Art of Simple Food)

• 2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2 -inch cubes
• Salt
• Fresh-ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 onions, peeled and cut lengthwise into quarters
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 2 large Russet potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• A few peppercorns
• 1 3/4 cups good red wine
• 12 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 small head of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 thin strip orange zest
• 2 cups beef broth

Equipment:

• Large Dutch oven or other heavy pot with a lid
• Knife
• Cutting board
• Peeler
• Can opener
• Tongs
• Wooden spoon with slats
• Two large bowls

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper a day before you plan to start cooking. If you don’t have time, a few hours before is fine.

2. Heat the butter and oil in the bottom of a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat.

3. Add the meat and brown on all sides using tongs or a wooden spoon to turn the pieces as needed. You’ll need to add the meat in batches to make sure there’s plenty of room between each piece. Place the browned meat in a bowl and set aside.

4. Once the meat is done, drain most of the fat from the pot and add the onions (with the whole cloves stuck into them), carrots, potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns.

5. Cook until slightly browned, about eight minutes. Pour the cooked vegetables into another bowl and set aside.

6. Carefully add the red wine to the empty pot (don’t set anything on fire!) and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pot using a wooden spoon. Cook the wine until it’s reduced by two thirds.

7. Return the beef and vegetables to the pan and stir to combine. Make sure they get a good coating of the wine. Then, add the tomatoes, garlic, a thin strip of orange zest, and two cups of beef stock. (The orange zest may sound strange, but don’t skip it. It adds a great flavor to the stew.) The liquid should cover at least three-quarters of the beef cubes. If not, add more stock.

8. Cover the pot and simmer lightly for two to three hours. Check every half hour to make sure the liquid isn’t boiling or running low. When the meat is tender, remove the pot from the heat and let stand for ten minutes. Skim the fat using shallow spoon. Discard the bay leaf, cloves, and peppercorns.

9. Serve with a piece of a fresh baguette and a glass of the leftover red wine (if you haven’t finished it already).

After a weekend of parties, movies, and a trip to Teddy Roosevelt’s house in Oyster Bay, I spent Monday winding things down and preparing for the week. As I was cleaning items out of the refrigerator in the morning, I discovered that I had a pound of unused carrots on the bottom shelf. I turned to the New York Times’ Recipes for Health, where recipes are broken down by main ingredient and, as the title of the website section suggests, they’re good for you.

A pureed carrot soup looked like a perfect option. I had most of the ingredients on hand, and other than peeling and chopping two pounds of carrots, preparation was simple. You can find the recipe here and some photos from my adventure after the jump.

Make sure to leave ample time for peeling and chopping, or employ the help of a friend or significant other. This soup can be a team effort.

After sauteing my onion and carrots, I added vegetable broth instead of water. I think it added a lot of flavor, but if I were to make it again, I would go low-sodium.

Once the soup simmers for thirty minutes, you’ll be able to see how the addition of the abborio rice helps to thicken the broth. Here’s the soup pre-hand blender.

You can use a hand blender, regular blender, or food mill to puree the soup, but the hand blender comes highly recommended. It’s so easy to use and dishwasher safe (most of the time). It took the soup from from chunky to potage in about fifteen seconds.

To complete my meal, I made an SAT: sprout, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Overall, a healthy, vegetable-filled dinner for one (with plenty of leftover soup for freezing).

I did some dumpling-related freelance writing recently and was left with an abundance of the pork and mushroom variety when I was done. After enjoying a dozen dipped in soy sauce, I decided to make a simple dumpling soup with shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, and scallions. This is a perfect meal to make if you have leftover dumplings that you’ve made yourself or that you have in the fridge from your most recent Chinese food delivery. The best part is that it only takes fifteen minutes to make.

Leftover Dumpling Soup
-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
-2 tbs. scallions, thinly sliced
-1/3 cup thin carrot slices
-3 shiitake mushrooms, sliced into 1/2″ strips
-1/2 cup Napa cabbage, cut into thin strips
-1/2 tsp. sesame oil
-2 tsp. soy sauce
-Salt and pepper to taste
-12 steamed or boiled dumplings

1) Pour broth into a large pot and add carrot slices, scallions, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Just as it reaches a simmer, add mushrooms and cabbage.

2) Once the broth reaches a boil, add the dumplings. Cook 5-6 minutes or until the dumplings are heated through. Try the broth, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

I’ve spent the past two Sundays making variations on Alice Waters’ Minestrone Soup, outlined in her invaluable book The Art of Simple Food. It’s a straightforward recipe that gives you the freedom to improvise based on what’s available at the farmers’ market that day. Making soup from scratch also serves as a wonderful escape on a cold Sunday afternoon. Putting on headphones and catching up on podcasts while cutting vegetables lets you forget about impending elections and financial chaos for a little while.

The beginning of any variation on this minestrone soup is a soffritto of 2 chopped carrots and a large onion, cooked in a heavy pan with a 2 tablespoons of olive oil until tender. Throw in a few chopped cloves of garlic, thyme, salt, and any other seasonings you need, and you’ve got the base for your broth. 

Once you add about three cups of water, vegetables are added in an order to allow enough time for them to cook. Chopped potatoes typically need 15 minutes or so, while softer vegetables need only a few minutes. Last Sunday, I used sage, potatoes, kale, chopped tomatoes, and cooked beans, while this Sunday I used celery, potatoes, turnips, and cooked whole wheat orzo. I think this Sunday’s soup was more successful, however I still haven’t quite gotten the broth to vegetable ratio quite right (as you can see from the photo at the top of this post). What I do know is that cutting up all of the vegetables before starting the soup makes everything much easier.

One of the best parts of making soup on Sunday is being able to store it for lunch throughout the week, or at least the first few days. Pair it with a fresh loaf of bread and you’ve got a meal to get you through the work day.