Pantry Soup

I realize that this is not quite in keeping with the “traditional” format of Weekly Delicious, but I feel like it needs to be written down somewhere. We writers of the Weekly Delicious have made quite a lot of soup in our time together, and not just because we enjoy soup (though that’s a fine reason by itself). No, to us, soup becomes that great communal dish that everyone can take part in. Translate that as: It’s quick, easy, cheap, and relatively fast to prepare. I can call up people on campus when I start getting hungry, ask what they have, compare it to what I have, and quickly think of how that can work as a soup. Really, it’s the epitome of poor college student dining, with everyone providing what they can in one big meal. For the sake of using a name everyone can agree on, I’ll call this kind of soup a Pantry Soup.

First off, what is a soup? Put something in broth, and I’ll tend to call it a soup. I count chili, stew, and ramen as soups. Usually for a soup, you have to have some sort of liquid base, usually a broth or cream base, though there are others out there. I’d be willing to bet that the majority of these communal soups you’ll be making with be broth based, so you have a few options here. You can go with bouillon cubes, a bouillon paste such as Better That Bouillon (which… really is), canned or carton stock or broth, or you can make your own broth. I’ll let one of the other contributors post how to make broth/stock, since it really is worth it when you make that from scratch. In any case, the first three options are really easy to keep on hand in your pantry all the time for just such an occasion as emergency soup making.

The majority of soups I make have vegetables in them, because that’s just how I make soup. Carrots, celery, and onion are very traditional additions to soup, along with potato, corn, mushrooms, green beans, and peas. In fact, if you have a veggie, odds are it would go good in soup. It’s a really good way of using up whatever is stuck in your fridge or freezer that you don’t know what to do with. Don’t be afraid to experiment with things that you may not be accustomed to. One of my favorite soup creations this year used fennel bulb (licorice-y taste, consistency similar to an onion) and cost barely anything to make a unique soup that had one of those flavors that made people wonder what it was (or would have, if I didn’t call it Beef and Fennel Soup when giving it to people).

Usually you start the veggies first in the pot so that they’re cooked properly, with longer cooking veggies starting first so that they can cook longer. Soup logic, you see. I’m not going to tell you how to cook them, since it varies depending on the soup you’re making, but in general if you’re making a communal soup, you’ll want your veggies cooked before you put your broth in.

The quality of your vegetables will affect your soup, but don’t worry too much about only getting the freshest of ingredients. If you go to a farmer’s market or the produce section all the time, yeah, you’re probably going to see an incredibly tasty soup as a result from great produce. But frozen veggies are really convenient, easy, and affordable without sacrificing too much in the way of taste and consistency, so they’re always a solid option. I tend not to go with canned vegetables as much, though they are a viable option. Sometimes, as is the case with most of the chili we make, canned goods make up the majority of your spontaneous soup. Canned corn, green chilies, and tomatoes (probably the one thing that I will go for canned 90% of the time, just because it’s exactly what I need and so easy) all play a role.

Speaking of canned goods, it’s a rare thing anymore for me to make a Pantry Soup without beans in it. Black beans, red beans, red beans, white beans, navy beans (every color, really), great northern beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, and my personal favorite: the chickpea (garbanzo bean). It’s less than a dollar for a can, and you can just fill your pantry with them. They act as great filler in lots of soups, and do a good job of being a healthy way of varying the consistency of your soup. Plus, it you’re too… well, cheap to buy meat, it’s a great way to get protein in your meal.

I mentioned meat, and now I guess I have to follow through on it. Generally for my Pantry Soups, I don’t have meat in them. Why? I don’t keep meat around without a purpose. On the rare occasion I actually cook a dish that needs meat at school, I’ll buy it that day with the intent to use it within a few hours. That said, go ahead and use whatever kinds of meat you want to cook. Seriously, if it can fit on a spoon, it’ll go in a soup. However, there are ways you can get around having to keep fresh meat around. Leftovers are a great source of proteins, making any leftover chicken or steak like gold in your soup. You can also buy precooked frozen meat pieces (look near where frozen chicken nuggets would be) to keep in your freezer. One of my favorite quick fixes is using frozen meatballs. Just use them whole or cut them in half and warm them up in the hot broth of your soup, and you’ve got meat that also flavors the soup with whatever spices are already in the meatballs.

Oh yeah, and spices. There is no right or wrong spice for every occasion, with the possible exceptions of salt and pepper. However, there are herbs and spices that go with a lot of soups. I have huge bags of herbes de provence, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and bay leaves that I use all the time in soups. The bay leaf in particular will add an earthiness to your soups that will again make people wonder just what that flavor is. Just make sure to take it out before you serve your soup.

Last, but not least by a long shot, I bring up pasta. When you’ve got a wonderful soup that isn’t really enough food for all the people that just showed up at your apartment, you can add pasta to the equation to make that soup go a long way. When you think pasta, think of what fits well on a spoon. I tend to have an abundance of elbow macaroni and shells thanks to Costco, but any small pasta is great. You can even get nostalgic and add alphabet shapes, or stars, or whatever else you have on hand. To prepare it for your soup, just put it into the boiling broth almost at the end, and then follow the cooking time of you pasta. When time runs out (or slightly before), remove from the heat and you’ve got a meal.

Really, your Pantry Soup is only limited by your imagination. And what you have in your pantry, I suppose. Though that just means you should keep your pantry stocked, doesn’t it? Because when dinner for seven or more can cost less than $10, there’s no excuse to not have a few staple ingredients on hand.