a hearty fall soup
Soup is just the thing for autumn lunches or dinners, or even a big steaming bowlful for breakfast. Especially when you’ve perhaps been doing some yard work or something outside, where you’ve worked up a hearty appetite and a bit of a chill, coming in to a steaming pot of soup is the cozy, inviting, welcoming.
I used to make big pots of soup, enough for a small army really, and entice friends to come over to help chop or stir, or arrive armed with baguettes. We’d crowd round the pot in my tiny yellow-tiled galley kitchen, cramped but warm, chopping, sautéing, then waiting. Finally, pouring steamy ladlefuls into bowls, ripping off hunks of baguette, conversations flowing like water. Our personal miseries shared, lightened, soothed for the time being. Ever since I can remember, food has been something that has been the balm of my existence, something that is worthwhile to spend time on, lovingly create, and most importantly of all, share. Something that everyone can find common ground in, no matter who they are- we all must eat. Food is how I love others, how I love myself. It is how we are nourished in more ways than one, communally. And what is more communal than soup? One pot, something that can be, and historically has, been made of almost nothing. Something that has sustained humankind since ancient times. So, here is the soup I made yesterday. Make it, eat it with someone else whom you care for, pour some into a jar and give to a friend, a co worker, a lover, a sister. Share it, and remember how good it feels to do so.
kale + cabbage soup
this soup may not look like much, but it is delicious, hearty and packed with flavor. I used a honeynut squash here, which is a mini butternut type. As with all soups, it is even better after a rest.
3 tbsp olive oil
a large onion, finely sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, sliced
2 carrots, diced
a fat stalk of celery, diced
.75 lb / 400g peeled squash, cut in chunks
300g tomatoes (about 4 medium) diced small*
1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste*
a liter / 5 cups of stock
2 bay leaves
a sprig of fresh rosemary
about 2 cups / 400g cooked white beans, such as cannellini
3 large handfuls of tuscan kale or savoy cabbage, chopped
salt + freshly ground black pepper
*or use 2 cups good quality canned tomatoes and omit the tomato paste.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot, such as a Dutch oven, over medium heat, and add the onion and a large pinch of sea salt. Sauté until onion is soft and translucent. Add the carrots, celery, garlic and squash, plus another big pinch of sea salt, and stir well. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes, paste, bay leaves and rosemary, stir well and let simmer for a few more minutes before adding in the stock.
Bring the pot just to a boil, cover with lid slightly ajar, and reduce heat so that soup is simmering. Leave to simmer for 45 minutes- 1 hour, or until squash is very tender and broth has thickened a bit.
Add beans and kale or cabbage, stir well, and simmer another 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat, taste, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Thin with extra broth if desired.
Top bowls with a generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (or a spoonful of Calabrian chile paste) and plenty of good, crusty bread (either plain, or toasted and rubbed with garlic and olive oil).