Roasted beet and cranberry soup with pickled beet greens. © Ryan Schierling |
All of the tried-and-true classics are already in cans, so the challenge is to either make a soup can soup better, or make something that no one's thought of yet. The problem is, I did some research on the internet and apparently, everything's already been thought of already, soup or otherwise… and it's on a blog, or Facebook, or Instagram, or Pinterest, or whatever.
This information overload pushes me back toward simplicity, and sometimes that's the best thing about the massive, endless, big old stupid-head internet. I turn the computer off, scribble the first three ingredients that come to mind on a scrap of empty envelope and race to the grocery store. That's it, and it's soup. I don't need truffle oil for this, or wild game, or heirloom anything.
Now, it's winter. I want to make something that's a foil to the chill, the wind and the frost, but celebrates the meager ingredients available in this coldest of seasons. So far, we've put together potato chowder with roasted green chiles, proper Texas red, and chicken stock with chunks of onion and carrot and gently-simmered pesto-filled tortellini. All are simple, and filled with robust flavors that shine on their own.