I just wanted to be warm. Cozy warm. Snuggly like a bug in a ruggedy warm. So chicken soup really seemed the best option. I’m sure you have your go-to chicken soup recipe; one like your mom made that fills you to the brim with all the “everything will be alright” magic that only a mom-made soup can bring. I, for one, never make it the same way.

It’s always dependent on what’s in the fridge. Yesterday, I had a lot of fennel in the fridge, so started by sautéing large dices of an onion, 1 large fennel bulb, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 carrots. Plus, 3 minced cloves of garlic. Usually, I add fresh ginger and chili, but didn’t for some reason. Salt and pepper. A few peels of lemon rind without the pith and I let that sweat over medium heat for about 20 minutes until everything was nicely wilted. Then, I plopped a whole chicken right on top with some more salt and pepper and then topped it off with water.

Of course, I cooked up the heart and kidneys for my very special little pups as their warming treat, and then covered the pot and let the soup simmer away for about 4 hours. Once the chicken was literally falling apart and off the bones, I carefully lifted it out if the pot and placed it on a sheet pan to cool. Then, I separated the bones and skin and shredded the meat to return to the pot along with about 1 qt of small diced green beans. That simmered until Eric came home and it was time to eat.

I had also tested the Potato Dumpling Society’s April Menu Asparagus and Ricotta Tart, so we enjoyed that alongside the soup. And OH MY GATOS was it scrumptious! BUT, that recipe is reserved for the paid subscribers, so you’ll have to join the Potato Dumpling Heads for that recipe my darlings!

Stay warm out there and repeat after me: Warm days are coming!

The beauty of this soup is that it can be made with whatever greens you have on hand. Root veg greens (like those from radishes, carrots, beets, and turnips), or semi-tender greens like Spinach and Chard. So long as you have a blender, food mill, or food processor of some kind, you’re good to go. And even if you don’t, that’s no problem because you can simply chop your greens smaller before they go into the pot.

Begin by sweating a yellow or white onion (or 3 spring onions or 1 bunch of scallions, the white parts only- the green parts saved for later) in enough oil to just coat the bottom of your pot.

Add a pinch of salt

Once your onions are translucent and a little bit sticky looking, but not browned (cooked on med-low for about 15 minutes), add the other ingredients.

Add 1 parsnip, peeled and diced

Add 1 celeriac, peeled and diced

Add 1 handful cashews

Cook the added veg with the for about 3 minutes and then add 3 times the amount of stock (veg, chicken, or bone broth) or water. In ratio terms, 1 part veg and 3 parts cooking liquid. It’s should seem like a lot- it will thicken as it cooks, evaporates and gets eventually puréed.

Simmer until the celeriac and parsnip are tender enough to fall apart when poked with a fork.

At that point, add 1 bunch of chard and 1 bunch of spinach, de-stemmed, washed, and roughly chopped and just let them wilt into the soup. Turn off the heat, add the zest of 1 lemon, another pinch or two of salt and then start to blend it. You can use a high speed blender, food processor, immersion blender, or food mill. You want a velvety texture and may have to work in batches depending on how much you’re making.

As always, taste, and adjust your salt, acidity, and thickness (by adding more water if need be).

Serve hot with a little dollop of plain greek yogurt or crème fraîche and some crunchies (small diced apple and celery, croutons, roasted pistachios, dukkah, sesame seeds, …) Whatever you have on hand that catches your fancy.

Well friends, it would appear that winter wasn’t quite yet ready to leave this party, so I think a creamy soup is in order. This one is luscious and vegan, so all of your friends can enjoy it! The only equipment required is a large pot and a high speed blender, food processor, immersion blender, or food mill.

This recipe will yield about 4 quarts, roughly 16 portions. If you’re going to make it, you may as well make extra and freeze it for another day when you need a quick meal.

Coat the bottom of your large pot with olive oil (or your cooking oil of choice). To that, add:

1 large fennel bulb, diced (note- the smaller your dice, the quicker it will cook). And a few pinches of salt. Sweat it over medium heat until it starts to get sticky and translucent (probably a good 15 minutes) If it gets a little browned, that’s even better!

1 handful of cashews (raw or roasted it doesn’t matter, they make this soup super creamy)

To that, add:

1 apple, cored, and diced the same size as your fennel

3 celeriac bulbs, peeled with your knife and diced roughly the same size as your fennel.

The rind of 1 lemon (I use a veg peeler)

Another couple of pinches of salt

Sauté together over medium heat and then cover at least by twice as much with your cooking liquid, which could be water, stock, or bone broth. I used water and it was great.

Bring to the boil, then drop to a simmer and cook it until the largest veg is falling apart (probably at least 30-60 minutes, depending on how big your cut your veg).

Purée your soup in the blender or whatever device you’re using. Taste it and adjust for salt and acidity as needed (maybe some fresh lemon juice or champagne vinegar to brighten it up). How do you know how to tell what it needs? Great question! If it tastes kind of bland, add some salt and taste again. If it’s “one tone” and flat, add the juice of half a lemon or about 1 tsp of vinegar and taste again. If it still tastes bland, add some salt. Taste again and repeat until you love it! If you don’t want to go back for more, nobody else will either. Trust your tongue!

I served this with some watercress and brunoised (super small dice) apple that had soaked in lemon juice. A dollop of greek yogurt would be nice, or even some crispy shiitake, pancetta or bacon with sage and brown butter. Maybe some roasted croutons, walnuts or a dukkah. And you probably want a fluffy, crusty side of bread with butter or olive oil. I love the garish on these kinds of soups because you really can get creative and experiment according to your tastes and what you have on hand in the kitchen.

Stay warm and safe out there friends!

Yesterday was cold. Cold and snowy and wonderful. I wanted only warm things and meatball soup sounded like just the ticket for dinner. I sautéed onion, fennel, carrot, and celery (in a 2:2:1:1 ratio) in a large pot coated with olive oil until they softened (about 10 minutes) and then added duck stock (I have an abundance due to the 4 ducks I processed over the holidays- duck legs confit in the works today) to about 2 inches from the top of the pot. Once the liquid came to a simmer, I added the meatballs to poach. While the veg was sautéeing, I made the meatballs.

For the meatballs, use equal parts ground chicken and turkey, fresh mint (a small palmful), a pinch of chili, salt, lemon zest, parm, GF breadcrumbs (because Eric can’t eat gluten anymore), and an egg to bind it all together. Everything went into a large bowl and I used my hands to mix it, then a large ice cream scoop to form the meatballs. For a measurement idea, I used 1# each of the ground meat, about 1/4 c breadcrumbs, 1 egg, about 1/4 c grated parm, and about 1 Tbs salt, plus the zest of 1 lemon, and a pinch of ground chili. And then about 3-4 qt of stock.

Drop the meatballs gently into the simmering broth and poach them until they’re done (about 7-15 minutes depending on their size and the broth’s temp) . At the same time that I added the meatballs, I also added 2 heads of diced broccoli (stems and crowns), and then once the meatballs were done, I added a bunch of washed chard that had been roughly chopped. I also had some leftover roasted cauliflower that I threw in, but it was a little overpowering, I’m not sure if I would do that again, but it wasn’t bad.

Basically, this soup can be made with whatever veggies you have in the fridge and whatever ground meat you might have on hand. If you use beef or pork, though, I would definitely add some more intense flavors, like more garlic (which I totally forgot to add to this soup and then meant to add at the end in the form of a pistou/ pesto, but was too tired to make one, so oh well!) and maybe some shiitake mushrooms, and sautée your mirepoix (carrot, celery, onions) at the beginning with some tomato paste.

Happy soup season, friends!

Last week I got stranded at my parent’s house. I had gone to Davis for a two day Whole Grain Croissant workshop with the CA Wheat Commission, brought my snow tires for their seasonal change-over (because the 2 places in Tahoe have been booked solid for months!), and ended-up needing quite a bit of work done; what should have been a few hours in the shop, turned into 6 days! As a result, my wonderful parents took turns shuffling me back and forth from the workshop in Woodland (about 20 minutes from their house) and it felt very familiar to my years as a teenager- in all the best ways. They have very unreliable cell and internet service, so I found myself with quite a bit of time on my hands without the normal tech distractions so decided to spend my time cooking soups for their freezer.

There’s a quiet relief when one finds oneself happily puttering away in the kitchen, unconcerned with texts, emails, and social media; just focused purely on the task at hand. I wanted to help my mom use up a bunch of the veg in the fridge and found about 4 big leeks and a spaghetti squash. Spaghetti Squash’s lemony yellow color shines like the cheeriest of butters and one cannot help but feel the spirits lift at the sight of it!

We gave the leeks a very thorough wash (first by spitting lengthwise and rinsing under the running faucet, next by slicing and washing in the salad spinner) and sautéed them in some olive oil with a little salt and a sliced clove of garlic. Once they had wilted down a bit, I added the peeled and diced spaghetti squash, which also had the seed guts removed. Next, a plump little turnip, peeled and diced, a couple of bay leaves, and the peel of a lemon (I used the Y Peeler to get big strips). My mom keeps homemade chicken stock in the freezer, so that went in as the cooking liquid, plus some more water to cover all the veg. It simmered until the squash was super tender and then I removed the bay leaves and blended the lot of it, added some more lemon juice and salt to adjust the seasoning, and it really was quite delicious, especially with some rye sourdough buttered toast!