Hearty Soups : Comfort Food

Believe me for sure when I tell you that right now, here in the northern Midwest, clinging to life on the edge of a frozen cliff overlooking a desperately inhospitable lake and shivering in sub-zero temperatures, no one sane is interested in anything cold to eat. No thank you. No ice cream, no soft drinks, no chilled fruit, nothing that comes out of a refrigerator. In fact, now that I think of it, refrigerators (and certainly freezers) are practically obsolete in this part of the country at this time of year.

Sub-zero temperatures bring out the soup loving kid in all of us. Yes. Hot bowls of thick, hearty soups served with crusty bread (preferably warm) and a first class cheese board with crackers. What I want right now are log fires, down comforters, sheared lamb slippers, oversized bathrobes, hot chocolate, cookies from the oven, piles of steaming pasta with creamy alfredo sauces flavored to perfection with crushed garlic and topped with a sprinkling of fresh chives. Forget cold cereal for breakfast. Sizzle some good bacon or links of sausage until they’re crispy and brown, then heap them on platters of eggs or pancakes and serve them with scalding coffee.

Here in the Cottage Kitchen I’m practically saying prayers that yes, it will really be spring again someday. Someday, God willing, there will be birds and flowers and sunshine again.

In the meantime, we have soup. Good soup, thick and made with fresh ingredients and bubbling on the stove so that the flavors swap around and mix together in a way that creates new flavors and leaves you guessing about just exactly what went in there to begin with. The best soups are spontaneous. If you have something left over from dinner or lunch, think about whether it might make a good beginning for a new soup. Herbs are wonderful, garlic is practically mandatory, and shallots and onions are magical. Cheese, cream, veggies, and all sorts of meat, fish, and poultry can go into your own soup. Soup recipes, almost without fail, should be considered a starting point for your own creations.

I’m not kidding when I say it’s cold outside. I keep kerosene heaters on hand just in case the power goes out, which it is wont to do from time to time. In the meantime, though, there is something timeless about listening to Mozart at this time of year, and I’m reassured by the fragrance of wild rice and chicken cooking with white wine. It wafts around from the kitchen, mixing with the fragrance of a log fire. Spring will come around again someday, though at the moment it seems like a distant memory. In the meantime, the soup is just about ready.