Nothing says "welcome home" better than the heady aroma of a pot of delicious homemade soup simmering at the back of the stove. Nourishing and comforting, a bowl of hot soup, sometimes a hunk of freshly baked bread, and a glorious salad are often the basis of family (and company) suppers--especially when it's a cold winter night and everyone's busy with holiday preparations and hectic social schedules.
Cookbook critics have always cited the soup and salad sections of our cookbooks as truly inspiring so we decided to put our soup-making and salad-tossing wisdom together for this month's menus.
Living where we do, tortilla soup filled with chile peppers, chicken, and strips of crispy tortillas are standard fare at fancy restaurants and country diners. We've made it a personal mission to try as many variations as we can in search of the "best" tortilla soup ever made. Our version here is a combination of several soups we've tried in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Since the soup is garnished with strips of crispy tortillas, we skip the bread and complete the meal with a fruit salad that's often served in Mexico around Christmas time that serves as both a salad and a dessert. You can buy cored and peeled fresh pineapple in most supermarkets. To keep the pomegranate juice under control while freeing the seeds, place the cut pomegranate in a large bowl and cover with water. Working under water, free the seeds from the white membrane. Drain the seeds on paper towels before using.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
Our second meal centers on minestrone, a favorite soup in Italian homes and restaurants. We like the addition of split peas in our minestrone-they thicken the soup perfectly. We suggest using chopped cooked turkey, but one could always use chopped cooked chicken breast if you've used up the last bits of turkey from your holiday meal. The salad course is a zesty combination of crunchy fresh fennel scattered over slices of juicy oranges with a tart vinaigrette and a few toasted pecans. Skip dessert and offer cups of espresso or frothy mugs of sugar-free cappuccino and a couple of Lemon Biscotti from our December, 1997 recipes, instead.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
Our third soup meal is based on a delicious navy bean and vegetable soup that's often found in tavernas in the Greek islands, or sometimes back home in Greek diners. We suggest a Greek salad as a go-along, and Baked Apples with Yogurt and Walnuts for dessert.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
Our last soup is a slimmed-down version of goulash, one of the all-time great foods, from Hungary. Rather than the traditional beef, we've used cubes of pork tenderloin, a meat that's as low in fat and cholesterol as chicken breasts. Full of robust flavor, it's a hearty meal-in-a-bowl. Salad is a mixture of crisp baby greens, dried Michigan cherries (no-sugar-added), and low fat goat cheese.
Dessert is not really a recipe--a half of a banana, sliced lengthwise and sprinkled with a tablespoon of pomegranate seeds for a carbohydrate (fruit) exchange.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
