If there's a positive side to the biting winter cold, it's that the seemingly unshakeable shivers portend soup season. Aroma, warmth, and heartiness fuse together in a slurp-worthy bowl that's a comforting cure for the chilled-to-the-bone tingle. So, with that in mind, here are ten soups that help ward off the frigidness of the season.
Celeriac soup
Cut the celeriac into cubes. Sauté 1 shallot with leeks, add the celeriac, and cover with hot broth. Cook for 30 minutes and once the ingredients have softened, set aside a ladleful of soup before blending the rest. Separately, fry a clove of garlic in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, then add the mushrooms, 1 cup wine, and let it evaporate. Once the mushrooms are ready, add the garlic and mushrooms to the celeriac soup and stir. Add in the set-aside soup, then serve garnished with sage leaves fried in hot oil. Complete with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Celeriac soup
Jerusalem artichoke and potato soup
This soup couples the sweetness of the potato with the delicate flavor of the Jerusalem artichoke. Cut a potato and Jerusalem artichokes into small pieces, sauté diced shallots, then add the potato and Jerusalem artichoke slices. Cover with vegetable stock and cook until ingredients soften, then blend and add salt to taste. Serve with 1 Tbsp. pesto made from basil, pine nuts, oil, Parmigiano, and pecorino.
Simple lentil soup
This soup calls for a crockpot. Before preparing, soak the lentils for 12 hours and then drain them. Dice 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 onion, and 1 clove garlic, then sauté in a pot until softened. Add the soaked lentils and let everything cook for a few minutes. Add 3 Tbsp. tomato paste then cover with broth and let cook for around 1 hour. Once the lentils are soft and the broth has reduced, turn off the heat and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Serve with freshly ground black pepper and grated ginger.
Lentil soup
Tuscan black cabbage soup
If you can't find Tuscan black cabbage, kale will suffice. Before preparing, soak cannellini beans overnight then drain. For the soup, sauté shallots and garlic, then add the beans, cover with broth, cook until the beans are tender, then blend with an immersion blender (without removing the broth). In another saucepan, sauté more garlic until fragrant. Add tomato paste and the blended beans, remove the middle stem of the cabbage leaves and add them to the beans. Let cook until the cabbage softens, add stale bread, and continue cooking until the bread softens. Once ready, turn off the heat and serve with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
Creamy pumpkin soup with mushrooms
Peel the pumpkin or squash then cut into cubes. Fry the pumpkin cubes in a pot with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and some fresh rosemary sprigs. Add some cooking stock and let cook until the pumpkin softens, then remove the garlic and blend the pumpkin. Add sliced mushrooms of your choice (porcini mushrooms pack the most punch) and cook for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve.
Creamy pumpkin soup with wild mushrooms
Valle d’Aosta cabbage soup
Named after the northwest Alpine region of Italy that borders France and Switzerland, Valle d’Aosta soup is especially soothing after a day in the snow. Start by boiling some savoy cabbage in salted water, then butter a baking pan and place slices of stale bread on the bottom. Once the savoy cabbage is cooked, brown it in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil with a few cubes of crispy bacon. Spread the cabbage on the bread slices, cover with vegetable broth and top with slices of fontina cheese. Broil until the cheese has melted and serve the soup steaming hot.
Pappa al pomodoro (Italian tomato soup)
Pappa al Pomodoro, a traditional Tuscan recipe, calls for cooking tomatoes with stale Tuscan bread. Start by preparing a sauté of diced celery, carrot, onion, and garlic. Add the tomatoes (diced or peeled) and cover with vegetable broth. Let cook for 10 minutes then add the chopped stale bread. Once the soup reaches the desired consistency, turn off the heat, and add salt to taste. Add a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil leaves, a sprinkling of black pepper, and 1 Tbsp. stracciatella cheese to each bowl.
Pappa al pomodoro
Radicchio soup with millet
Millet is an ancient grain from Asia that's rich in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and silicon — plus, it’s gluten-free. To make the soup, first sauté a mix of diced celery, garlic, shallot, and leeks. Julienne the radicchio and add it to the sauté with enough vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients, then cook for around 10 minutes. Once the radicchio is softened, transfer the ingredients to a blender and blend. Add the millet and continue cooking for another 15 minutes. Once the millet is cooked, turn off the heat, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
French onion soup
We're quite fond of this soup begat by our neighbor France. Slice the onions (one for each person) and boil them in a pot with salt and 1 clove garlic. In the meantime, cut some Emmental cheese into strips and slice some toasted whole-wheat bread. In each (oven-proof) serving bowl, alternate layers of bread, cheese, and onion broth. Finish with slices of fontina cheese and transfer the bowls to the oven and broil for 10 minutes. Serve hot.