A mellow blending of flavors

—that's what characterizes homemade soup. Hot or cold, chunky or smooth, sweet or savory, soups offer an astonishing array of choices.

Moreover, they're among the most versatile of all foods. Soups can be hearty enough to be the entrée at lunch or dinner, or light enough for sipping before a holiday feast. Best of all, most soups are prepared from familiar ingredients and are easy to make, often well ahead of when you need to serve them.

Our collection of recipes begins with the basics— simple, flavorful stocks which can become the starting point for many of the other soups in the book. In the following chapters, you'll find clear broths and velvety smooth purées to whet the appetite, simple yet substantial soups to offer with a sandwich or salad, hearty meal-in-a-bowl entrées brimming with chunks of meat and vegetables, and sweet soups suitable for dessert or brunch.

In our features we offer hints for serving, storing, and reheating soups; for making seasoned croutons and other garnishes; for cooking soup in a microwave oven; and for baking breads that can accompany soup courses. Finally, we present ideas for menus that feature soups.

Special thanks to Fran Feldman and Rebecca LaBrum for editing the manuscript. We also thank Animal Crackers, The Best of All Worlds, Brown's China & Glass, Cooks' Junc-tion, Domus, Rorke's, Taylor & Ng, William Ober Co., and Williams-Sonoma for their generosity in sharing props for use in our photographs.

CONTENTS

FLAVORFUL HOMEMADE STOCKS

STARTING POINTS FOR THE MOST DELICIOUS HOMEMADE SOUPS

FIRST-COURSE SOUPS

SIMPLE BROTHS, CREAMS & PURÉES TO BEGIN A MEAL

32

LIGHT BUT SATISFYING SOUPS

PAIR WITH SANDWICH FIXINGS FOR LUNCH OR A LIGHT SUPPER

60

MAIN-DISH SOUPS

SUBSTANTIAL DISHES THAT ARE MEALS IN THEMSELVES

88

SWEET & REFRESHING SOUPS

DISTINCTIVE CHOICES FOR BREAKFAST, BRUNCH, OR DESSERT

SPECIAL FEATURES

Hints for the Soup Chef

21

Seasoned Croutons

52

Soups from the Microwave

58

Breads to Serve with Soups

84

Menu Planning with Soups

96

Metric Conversion Table

STARTING POINTS FOR

THE MOST DELICIOUS

HOMEMADE SOUPS

The basis of a truly homemade soup is a homemade stock. Meat and fish stocks are made by slowly simmering the bones and trimmings of meat or fish with vegetables and seasonings; vegetable stocks use only fresh vegetables and seasonings for their base.

Though canned broth, bouillon cubes, and stock base are convenient alternatives, it's easy to make your own stock—and its rich flavor is a just reward.

In this chapter are recipes for the chicken, beef, fish, and Chinese stocks called for in our recipes.

Also included are two vegetable stocks that can substitute for the above in many cases.