AND now we enter the soup season. In the face of such recent challenges as being buffeted by freezing temperatures, battling the flu or simply recovering from the lingering effects of holiday overeating, there is nothing quite so restorative as a bowl of soup.
And there are few things that are easier to fix than a soup made just from vegetables. No long simmering of meaty bones or tough cuts, no complicated stocks. Build a vegetable base and then add water. That's basically it. You don't even need to use broth -- as the vegetables simmer they'll release their own.
A well-made vegetable soup has just about everything you could want in a winter dish -- a balanced complexity of flavors, a soothing warmth, just enough heft to sustain, and a surprising lightness despite its big taste.
These soups are a pleasure, not a penance. Serve them with good bread and cheese, and maybe some tangerines and cookies for dessert, and you've got an incredibly satisfying meal.
Still, though they can be assembled with a fairly free hand, nothing about the preparation of these soups should be haphazard. Like all good cooking, a pot of soup needs to be carefully thought out.
For meat-eaters, the hardest part of making vegetarian soups is coming up with a combination of ingredients that has enough substance to make you feel like you've eaten.
Throw a bunch of root vegetables in a pot and you'll get something that tastes pretty good -- think of first-course soups made from pureed potatoes or carrots. But it will lack the body that can let a soup be the center of a meal.
Finding a substitute that doesn't involve meat takes some creativity. The best solution is beans. Because they're naturally high in protein and have a dense, meaty texture, beans fill in nicely, giving the vegetables the balance they need.
Generally, the best soups are made by starting from scratch with dried beans. As the beans soften during cooking, they release starch that thickens the broth, giving it body and savor.
And starting with dried beans is not as much bother as you might think. You don't need to soak them in advance; in fact, the texture of the broth will be infinitely better if you don't. They do take a little longer to cook this way, but usually less than three hours -- and for almost all that time the pot is sitting by itself, bubbling merrily away in the oven or on the stovetop.
Lentils are even easier. They'll cook in less than an hour and have a pleasantly peppery, meaty flavor.
