Soup

You know those heirloom tomatoes you bought over the weekend and didn’t use that are now looking a little too soft? They’re exactly the tomatoes you want for this easy, end-of-summer soup.

This pretty green soup is creamy, cool, and refreshing. Top each bowl with a flavorful mix of parsley, mint, olive oil, and lemon zest.

Skillet smoking is a chef's trick that's easy to do at home.

My favorite recipe that I've ever posted on the blog is my Four Corners lentil soup, and it remains the most frequently cooked dish in my kitchen. It is so fast and simple to make, really inexpensive, and uses ingredients that are all found in the pantry. It freezes well, too, so I often make a double batch and store some away for when I need a wholesome meal in a hurry. And why the name "Four Corners"? Besides being my favorite soup, it is also much loved by many people I know all around the world. From the busy streets of Singapore to the remote wilderness of northern Ontario, from the scorched deserts in the American Southwest to the rainy shores of Denmark, this soup really has traveled the four corners of the Earth! Highly nutritious and packed with flavor, this lentil soup is a crowd-pleaser that will warm the heart of anyone you serve it to.

Spring is abundant with greens of all types, both wild and cultivated. You never know what might show up at your market in any given week. It just so happened that I was able to get pepper y watercress, wild stinging nettles, and sour sorrel at the same time. I love the idea of a watercress or nettles soup, but it always leaves me wanting acid, which inevitably turns the vibrant green soup to a drab olive. Naturally sour sorrel solves this by adding brightness without acid to balance the flavor. If you have trouble finding nettles, just use more watercress, or substitute arugula, mizuna, or dandelion.

All the flavors of guacamole meet up in this creamy soup, with yogurt adding body and refreshment. Serve with pita or tortilla chips. For lunch, add a salad of frisée, jicama, and oranges. For dinner, serve in small portions and follow with grilled ribs, grilled salmon, or just about anything grilled.

Weeknight chowder? Use clam juice. Weekend? It's worth making fish stock from scratch.

Buy the best beef broth you can, or better yet, make your own for a rich, full-flavored soup. And if you don't have ovenproof bowls or ramekins for the soup, don't worry—you can just top your soup with melty cheese toasts.

Simmering vegetables in a covered pot over low heat so that they steam in their own liquid—a French technique called à l'étouffée—is the ticket to achieving a soup with pronounced depth. We love this method with cauliflower, but also try it with celeriac or rutabagas.

Our best-ever chicken stock begins with wings, which have a high skin-to-meat ratio. Browning the wings results in lots of caramelized nooks and crannies that imbue the stock with a deep, savory flavor.

Skip expensive store-bought stock: you can extract cleaner, stronger broth from water and a few pantry items you probably already have on hand (think bacon, tomato paste, herbs, peppercorns, a Parm rind, and, of course, kosher salt).

A classic ribollita is cooked one day, then reheated and served the next. To do that, just hold back the last croutons so they keep their crunch.