UNIVERSAL SOUPS – (CHAPTER TWO)

In my pantry, I have SIX different kinds of stock. In my freezer, I have THREE different kinds of stock.  I do make a lot of soup, but I tend to be repetitious. In my pantry, I also have barley, lentils, black beans, dried peas...well...you get the idea. I also have frozen veggies of all types.  I’m betting that you have many of these items as well. The following are recipes that I am making with a lot of the stuff that I am finding.  Maybe some of the combinations will be weird, but we’ll see what happens.  Fingers crossed. 


Mulligatawny

This is by far my most popular soup.  While normally I use boneless breast of chicken, right now I am feeling the need to get rid of some thighs as well (who doesn’t feel that need?)

I will also replace other items in the recipe that are not on hand right now, but will tell you both.  Normally I would make 6-8 liters, but today only TWO -- one for us and one for my editor. 

  • ½ stick (or ¼ cup) butter or vegetable oil
  • ½ diced onion
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 carrot diced
  • 2 celery sticks chopped
  • 2 tsps curry powder
  • 4 cups stock (I’m using up some cubes)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 peeled and cut-up green apple (I used a little kid sized applesauce and a jar of apple juice that I found in the fridge)
  • 2  cups diced chicken breast (or thighs – I used both)
  • ½ cup cooked rice (I used basmati that was left over from last night)
  • Salt, pepper, thyme or chopped coriander, grated lemon zest (I used lime)
  • ½ cup cooking cream or unsweetened coconut milk (I used coconut milk)

  1. Melt the butter in the saucepan and add onion, celery and carrot.
  2. When that is limp, add the chicken and curry powder.
  3. When the chicken is cooking, add the salt, pepper, thyme lemon zest and coriander.
  4. Stir well and add stock.
  5. Boil, then reduce heat and simmer adding the apple and removing the bay leaf.
  6. Stir in coconut milk, but do NOT boil!

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Lentil Stew

This one can help you unload a lot of stuff out of your freezer, fridge and pantry.  Once again, I will suggest substitute ingredients for items I did not have.

  • 2 celery ribs
  • 1 onion diced
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 4 slices bacon, diced
  • 2 cups dried lentils
  • 1 can diced tomato drained (I added a real tomato that was on its last legs)
  • 6 cups water
  • Vinegar – just a splash (I used balsamic)
  • Black pepper
  • I also added a package of frozen spinach, a jar of diced potatoes (I know – right?) and some sliced spicy Italian sausages that were in my freezer)

  1. In a saucepan, heat up the oil and add the onions, garlic, and bacon, cook gently and add carrots and celery.
  2. Coat the lentils with that mixture and add the tomatoes with a pinch of sugar.
  3. Mix it all up and...
  4. Then I added potato, defrosted spinach and water.
  5. Bring to a boil and then reduce until lentils (and in my case potatoes) are tender.
  6. Add sausage and stir well.

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WTF Soup

(Well – actually beef & barley soup made with the house-warming gift). Instead of bringing a nice bottle of wine to the dinner party as is correct, someone brought Kato this little beauty. **

PHOTO

If you have something similar in your pantry from when one of your dear friends was re-gifting instead of stopping at the liquor store, then you can follow this recipe.  If not, just turn the page.

Since I used up all my stewing beef making Irish stew for St. Paddy’s Day, I used minced beef but just use whatever you have.


  • 2 lbs hamburger meat (or whatever)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 chopped celery ribs
  • 2 chopped carrots
  • 10 cups of water
  • The gift bag

  1. This is a big-ass pot of soup and I don’t suggest making a smaller quantity.
  2. Sautee onion and garlic and then add the burger meat and brown it.
  3. Add the other veggies
  4. Add contents of gift bag and stir well.
  5. Add water and boil.
  6. Turn down the heat, and simmer covered for about 2 hours.

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Hey!  This is pretty good.  I was a little concerned about the warning disclaimer on the package that said, “Please note that some ingredients may be field harvested.  Please inspect for ‘elements of nature’.” Now there’s a WTF for you, but the soup is yummy, doncha think?  So thanks, houseguest, thanks for the great housewarming gift. 

**This entire recipe is based on a LIE!  I bought that ‘gift bag’ from a colleague at work, who was selling them as a fundraiser for his son’s elementary school.  You can’t say ‘no’ to those requests. 


Cheezy Tomato and Eggplant Soup

My great and good friend, Vito, moved to Italy two weeks before the Corona virus hit Europe.  Before he left, though, I ordered up some supplies from his workplace, and he delivered them.  As a result, I have 2 cases of polpa di pomodori, a big jar of roasted red peppers, that jar of black truffles and mushrooms that I keep avoiding, lots of pasta and a bunch of other stuff that we’ll get to eventually.

Anyway, Vito’s girlfriend, who stayed in Canada, informs me that our boy is living in a condo in Puglia, with NO WIFI and a tiny kitchen television with no satellite.  Vito is resourceful, though, I have to say.  He apparently found a harmonica, which he has learned to play, he has pushed all the furniture in the dining room to one side, and so he dances and plays harmonica for a few hours each day.  

Welcome to Italy, Vito.

  • 1 diced onion
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 2 stalks chopped celery
  • 2 large cans diced tomatoes
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced (I used a jar of delicious marinated eggplant strips that Vito gave me)
  • 2 tbsps powdered veg stock or whatever you have
  • ½ litre of water
  • Shredded or grated cheese (how much? ‘sup to you - I used mozzarella, gruyere, parmesan and provolone)
  • Ground pepper

  1. Splash some oil into a big soup pot and add the onions and garlic.
  2. When that’s soft, add celery, eggplant, and maybe a little knob of butter.
  3. Mix well, add tomatoes, sugar, and the powdered stock and mix everything really well.
  4. Add the water and boil, then reduce and buzz the whole recipe.  If it’s too thick, add some more water until desired consistency is reached.
  5. Add shredded cheese, handful by handful, and let it melt slowly.
  6. Don’t forget the ground pepper

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Asian Clam Chowder

There isn’t really anything ‘Asian’ about this soup --  it’s basically New England clam chowder.  Most people have cans of clams in their pantry for making linguini ‘on the fly’.  I have rather a lot.  I also have rather a lot of miso and that damn jar of exotic mushrooms that I would like to use, so that I can stop whingeing about it. I also have a lot of coconut milk, because Kate just brought me one, and I already had six cans of the non-expired variety. (Kate probably thinks coconut milk is exotic, but I use it all the time). That’s kind of a shitty thing for a BFF to say, don’t you think?  Even if it’s true. I also have a lot of every different kinds and colours of curry, pastes and powders galore.  My family is originally from Sumatra, so curry and coconut milk are staples, and I use them often. Going to aim for 2 liters.


  • 1 potato peeled and diced
  • 4 slices bacon diced
  • 2 cloves garlic sliced paper-thin (not minced)
  • 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste or red but don’t use yellow powder (if you only have yellow powder, make it into a paste with water first)
  • ½ cup sake or beer
  • 1 tbsp miso
  • 1 can unsweetened coconut milk
  • Juice from one very juicy lime (I’m using a jar of frozen fresh lime juice because my husband squeezes them and then freezes them when they get soft)
  • 1 big can of littleneck clams (2 dozen) chopped
  • Salt, pepper, freshly chopped cilantro

  1. Cook the potato until it’s just undercooked. Put aside.
  2. In a soup saucepan, cook the bacon until golden (not burnt) and add the garlic and curry paste and stir it up!
  3. Add the sake and miso for a few minutes
  4. Add coconut milk and lime juice and simmer
  5. Add the clams with juices
  6. Add ground pepper and the potato and simmer
  7. Don’t boil it – the clams will get chewy.

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Okay -- I know -- I still haven’t used the #$@&%*! Porcini mushrooms, but I will get to it.  Eventually.  Maybe in Chapter Three -- Pasta on the Fly.  We’ll see.  Give me a minute.  Sheesh.


Cream of Roasted Red Pepper Soup

As you already know, my friend Vito has exiled himself to a very isolated existence in Puglia, in the southernmost heel of the boot of Italy.  Before he left, he bequeathed me many jars. Here are 2 examples.

PHOTO

This one is going to be another ‘WTF’ and an experiment, and I really hope that it’s yummy.  Let’s go...



  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 stalks celery chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tsps hot sauce (I used Pickapeppa)
  • 6 red peppers (I used a jar of roasted peppers in oil, drained, dried and chopped)
  • Salt, pepper, oregano
  • Sour cream  or cheese
  1. In a big saucepan, heat oil and add onion, garlic and celery.
  2. Cook until soft and add chopped roasted red pepper and mix thoroughly.
  3. Add hot sauce, salt, pepper and oregano (I used dried).
  4. Add stock and boil.
  5. Reduce temperature and simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. Buzz it with your blender until it’s smooth.
  7. Serve with a dollop of sour cream (I used parmesan petals in the absence of sour cream).

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Flu Soup

Here it is – the famous Flu Soup.  I have been making this soup all winter for friends, family and customers with bad colds and flu.  The regular kind of flu. According to my friend, Sarah, not only does this soup cure the flu, it can also improve your tennis game.  I make it with homemade frozen stock from holiday turkey carcasses.   It is simple and nourishing and a true comfort soup.

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces (you can use leftover turkey or thighs if you like
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 3 stalks celery chopped
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 liter of stock
  • Parsley, salt, pepper
  • 2 cups of cooked rice

  1. In a big soup pot, heat the olive oil and add onion, garlic, celery and carrots
  2. Maybe add a knob or two of butter
  3. Add the chicken and mix well
  4. Add the stock and BOIL
  5. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
  6. Add rice, salt, pepper and parsley

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Mexican Soup

I don’t know about you, but somehow my pantry ends up getting loaded down with an awful lot of uneaten snack food.

PHOTO

Come on -- not one, not two, but THREE family sized jars of salsa.  Using my rapidly diminishing tins of polpi di pomodori, we are going to use salsa and make Tortilla Soup.  If it’s good, students everywhere will be making it.  As for me, I’ll be making it for Cinco de Mayo if this quarantine shuts down in time!  Flying by the seat of my pants, the recipe is as follows:

  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 large jalapeño pepper seeded and diced
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can kernel corn (I used frozen)
  • 2 jars of salsa (I used mild roasted garlic and original medium)
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • Juice of 1 juicy lime
  • 1 chili pepper
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • Tortilla chips crushed (I left some whole and made guacamole as well)

  1. Heat canola oil and sautée the jalapeño pepper (I didn’t have one, so I just added chili pepper later).
  2. Add beans, corn, and salsa, mix them all up really well with the cumin and lime juice.
  3. Add the shredded chicken and simmer for 20 minutes.

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This could be served with crunched tortilla chips, but it might also be good with a dollop of sour cream, but I don’t have any, so we’re having guacamole.


I called this chapter ‘Universal Soup’ because most soups, from any culture, feature the same basic ingredients.  They all start with onion, garlic and usually celery and/or carrots.  Obviously, they all have broth, but the best thing about them is that they are really just an idea.  You can mix and marry all the fresh, dried and frozen vegetables, spices and meats and make it all your own.

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