Wine In My Kitchen: Cooking and Reading Everyday

By Karen Tripson

Making Soup

I like making a pot of soup on a Sunday afternoon because I enjoy the leisurely process. There's time to do a few things around the house, read the paper or watch tennis on TV. The efficiency of having soup on hand for dinner several nights during the week is almost as pleasing to me as the eating.

Good Soup Is Made from Good Stock
I use to make bad soup. Take it from a self-taught person who spent years learning the hard way that rule number one is good soup is made from good stock. Water or the water a chicken stewed in on its way to becoming chicken salad is not the same as stock. Store-bought stock works, but over time all your soups will taste somewhat alike. The flavors of homemade stocks are worth the effort, if not all the time, at least some of the time.

Wine Makes the Soup Better
"Sauté onions, vegetables and spices; add a cup of liquid and reduce by half…" are common instructions in soup recipes. You can dump raw vegetables into a pot of stock and call it vegetable soup, but the results will be weak compared to taking a few extra minutes to sauté the ingredients before adding them to the stock. Using wine as the liquid adds another dimension in flavor and the reduction of the wine concentrates the flavors. If you don't like the wine to begin with, you're going to hate it reduced. So, don't save bad wine for cooking and never use wine labeled "cooking wine."

Any wine you enjoy drinking is a good choice to cook with. Dry sherry and white vermouth are both good stand-ins for "dry white wine" and are practical because they have a good shelf life.

No Skimping — That's How to Make Good Soup
Take a quick course in making soup with "Caprial's soups & sandwiches". What I like about this book is that it demonstrates how to achieve intense restaurant flavors, at home, without a big production. Most of the recipes follow the same preparation steps of sautéing, reducing, adding the stock and simmering. Every soup recipe in this book calls for one or two cups of wine. Flavor also comes from the sheer volume of fresh ingredients which may cause a frugal cook to protest, "Do you really need two pounds of chanterelles in this soup — or four pounds of shellfish in that soup — for 6 to 8 servings?" There is no skimping on the seasonings either. Fresh herbs, spices, zest, lime juice, vinegar and saffron are used boldly. You may not want to go to the trouble for the suggested garnishes, like basil puree or spicy cinnamon croutons, but it's easy to see that they are the final step in producing big flavors. No skimping — that's how to make good soup.

Caprial's Bistro Soups
There is nothing weird or offbeat in this collection of 25 soup recipes. It's as American as chowder, gumbo and split pea, plus Northwest specialties and seasonal vegetables such as corn and squash get their due. Mediterranean, Asian and Mexican cuisine inspire several recipes. Caprial deserves a bonus for creating the easy vegetable, meat and fish stock recipes, which can look pretty intimidating in some renditions. I was also intrigued with the recipes for unusual garnishes and spreads. Caprial raves about Balinese sambal (sweet, spicy, salty) as a garnish for just about anything, especially her barbecued pork loin sandwich. Baking bread for sandwiches is not happening at my house, but 26 sandwich recipes, none of them with ordinary mustard or mayonaise, could be the beginning of a new skill set for me. (Here is the recipe for Fall Squash Soup in an easy print PDF format. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader 5.1 installed, get a free download at Adobe.com)

Caprial's Fall Squash Soup with Chorizo
and Spicy Cinnamon Croutons
Serves 6 to 8
1 medium butternut, Hubbard, sweetmeat or other fall squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large dice
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large onions, cut into large dice
6 cloves garlic
1 cup marsala or dry sherry
8 cups chicken stock
1 pound chorizo
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon cayenne sauce
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Spicy cinnamon croutons (separate recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash on a roasting pan, toss it to coat with 2 tablespoons olive oil and bake until tender and slightly caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes.

Heat the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat until hot. Add the onions and sauté until tender and browned. Add the garlic, roasted squash and marsala and cook over high heat until reduced by one-half. Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo; cook until it is well-browned and then drain the fat well.

Strain the squash and stock mixture through a fine sieve. Puree the solids and return the puree to the stockpot. Stir in the chorizo, Worcestershire, cayenne sauce, thyme and oregano; season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, ladle the soup into individual soup bowls and garnish with the spicy cinnamon croutons.

Spicy Cinnamon Croutons
Makes 4 cups
¼ cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 baguette or loaf of sourdough bread cut into ¼ -inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, chile powder and cinnamon and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until bubbly. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the bread and toss to evenly coat. Spread the croutons on a sheet pan and bake until crispy and caramelized, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the croutons from the oven and cool on a wire rack. (Don't worry if they stick together - they will break apart when cooled.)