As the season of gift-giving begins, I urge you to consider giving the gift of good soup.
Now, how can one give the gift of good soup? You may remember the 2022 Tufts Daily column, “The Art of Good Soup.” To ensure future generations of students may read — and more importantly, write — about good soups in the Tufts metropolitan area, consider giving the gift of a donation to The Tufts Daily.
If you feel called to give your gift’s recipient the power to make their own good soups, consider the gift of the immersion blender. An immersion blender was the first thing on my 2022 Christmas (and birthday) list, and I am grateful every week for the opportunity to make good soups. This column is devoted to sharing some of my favorite soups.
Ali Slagle’s tomato soup is filling; the inclusion of white beans thickens the soup. My house made this soup, pairing it with grilled cheese for a classic, cozy dinner. The application of an immersion blender yields a creamy, satisfying soup from pantry-staple ingredients. We prepared a double recipe, but were humbled by how easy, delicious and filling this recipe is.
Another beautiful recipe — this one by Lidey Heuck — this soup makes use of a homemade, aromatic rosemary oil and croutons. The written recipe advises you to transfer the vegetables, stock and oil to a blender. But you, dear reader, can avoid the myriad of dishes that using a blender creates and eschew the splatters of broth across the kitchen counter that are created when transferring the stock to the blender.
I made Alison Roman’s soup recipe in preparation for last year’s “Souper” Bowl Sunday (I was craving Panera Bread’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup at that time). I was very grateful that I followed my intuition and added a few teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes to cut through some of the richness.
Full disclosure: I have not yet made this soup. It is, however, on my list of soups to make this season. Leaving out the optional ingredients (which I almost always do to keep prices low), this is another pantry-staple soup that is full of flavor. This aromatic soup derives its flavors from canned pumpkin puree, canned coconut milk, peanut butter, ginger and chilis.
