With the chill weather, soup is a welcome and easy solution for a hearty dinner paired with crusty bread and a chopped salad. Be creative! You don’t need a recipe if you know the following process.
Start with an inspiration — a winter vegetable from the market, your garden or something in the air. I’m thinking about the crates of potatoes, onions and garlic from my overabundant garden, all in cold storage (at 45-50 degrees). With the wood smoke from fireplaces perfuming the air, I caught a craving for smoky flavors. Potatoes, onions, garlic and smoke: that’s the inspiration. Now to make it happen!
I had the basics, but I needed the smoke.Ham, bacon, smoked sausage (traditional or vegan), smoked paprika, smoked salt, smoked cheese — they deliver. I latched onto the idea of using smoked salmon, added at the very end because it’s delicate. For vegetable sweetness, a few carrots (substitute celery, red bell peppers, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips), some spices (like ground cumin, coriander, smoked paprika or chili powder), some herbs (like rosemary, sage or oregano), and, for sure, salt and pepper.
This story is about smoky potato soup, but it could just as easily be smoky parsnip, or carrot, or sweet potato, or butternut squash.
The Foundation: Magic happens when aromatic vegetables meet sizzling oil. Start with generous glug of olive or other vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add two chopped onions and several cloves of minced garlic. Stir regularly and sauté till browning begins. Now add the finely chopped carrot (or other vegetable for sweetness) and chopped smoked meats (if that’s what you’re using). Add spices (maybe some smoked paprika or dried red chilies) and herbs, and big pinches of salt and pepper.
Keep the temperature medium-high and keep stirring regularly till everything is sizzling golden brown. The hot oil extracts aromatic flavor components from the herbs and spices. The browning of proteins and sugars produces the Maillard reaction, defined as “many small, simultaneous chemical reactions that occur when proteins and sugars ... are transformed by heat, producing new flavors, aromas and colors,” (seriouseats.com). Some sticking is expected. Scrape as needed, but don’t worry, this makes a rich, full-flavored foundation.
Deglaze: Release that foundation and get it into circulation by adding liquid: stock, bean juice, vegetable cooking juice, or water mixed with a few tablespoons of miso (fermented soybean paste). When liquid hits the hot pan the encrusted foundation sputters and dissolves. This is called deglazing. I used four cups of water mixed with two tablespoons of miso paste. (Miso paste is available at Sprouts and Prescott Natural Grocers.)
Add body: I added four medium potatoes cut into one-inch pieces and two cups of cooked white beans with their cooking liquid. You could use almost any winter root vegetable (sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, turnips), winter vegetables like butternut squash, barley, rice, cooked beans, or a combination. Water is a very important ingredient in soup, and it evaporates quickly at this altitude. Add enough water, as needed, to keep the ingredients floating. Cover and simmer the soup on medium low for 20-30 minutes, till ingredients are tender. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed.
Set structure and adjust seasoning: Now design the structure of your soup.
What do you want: smooth and creamy, thick with coarse pieces, or chunks floating in a clear broth? For smooth and creamy, puree the whole batch in a blender or food processor. For thick and chunky, puree a portion. Alternatively, use a potato masher to break down the larger pieces. For chunks in a clear broth, do nothing. If grated smoked cheese is in your plan, add it now and stir it in gently. (Please note that fresh cheeses like mozzarella and queso fresco will toughen rather than melt.) If you want creamy, add a couple tablespoons of cream. I opted for the thick and chunky, and then stirred in a pound of smoked salmon cut into pieces. (You could do the same with cooked crumbled bacon, cooked ham or cooked sausage bits).
Then, please don’t forget a most important step that many miss: taste, taste and taste! Adjust seasoning and taste again. This makes the difference between blah and fantastic. Adjusting seasoning usually means adding salt and pepper, but also adjust the spice levels, maybe add a bit of smoked paprika or chili flakes, maybe a bit more smoked cheese, or a bit of cream. Go slow! (Here’s a master’s trick for fixing overspiced or oversalted
soup: put a portion of the soup in a sieve and rinse it. Then stir it back into the original batch.)
Garnish: I like to garnish with a contrast, like fresh and crunchy (chopped red or green onion or sweet red pepper). Or garnish with something else that stands out or melts in, like toasted almonds, grated smoked cheddar, or a dollop of sour cream. I finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a flourish of Aleppo and black pepper for color and interest (which makes a good photo).
Now you know how to smoke a soup. Go out, make it your own, and hit your midwinter craving spot-on!
Chef Molly Beverly is Prescott's leading creative food activist and teacher. Photos by Gary Beverly.
