Cooking Is Easy's
"Idea Starters" for Soup
The Cooking Is Easy method for making a quick, easy soup is very basic. The variations on this theme are nearly endless. The key to it is using pre-made stock. You find it in 32oz boxes on the soup aisle of your grocery store. We'll keep the formula simple and then give you a few ideas for good combinations of ingredients.
One and only rule: Brown all meat first!
Basic "Quick Soup" Formula
- 1 lb meat
- 1 lb vegetables (about 4 items)
- 32oz stock
- 1 starch item:
- 2 medium potatoes
- 2 -14 oz cans beans drained
- 1/2 C Rice
- 1/4 to 1/3 lb pasta (egg noodles, shells, other small size pastas)
- 28oz Can crushed or diced tomatoes (optional)
- 2 tsp seasoning
- 1 medium onion (chopped and sauted in olive oil)
Basic Steps:
- Brown any meat ingredient in a separate skillet, drain fat
- In your soup pot, saute chopped onion in olive oil (med. heat)
- add potatoes (if using, they need more time to cook)
- add stock, salt and pepper, and seasonings (light salt)
- Lower heat to simmer
- add browned meat
- add sliced vegetables
- add beans, pasta, or rice (one of these)
- Cook on simmer for 30 minutes
- Taste and re-season if needed (you may need more salt)
Stocks are often salty, so we go easy on the salt until we've cooked the soup for a while. After 15 minutes or so, taste and add salt if needed
Chopping: for any ingredient that goes into your soup, make the pieces small. You want to be able to fit a few different items on a spoon at the same time.
Stock: You can use beef stock with beef or pork, seafood or fish stock with seafood, but chicken stock will work for anything. Keep plenty in your pantry
Great Soup Ideas
All these combinations follow the basic formula using stock, salt and pepper, 1 medium onion sauted in olive oil.
- boneless/skinless chicken thighs
- potatoes
- carrots, celery, mushrooms, zuchinni
- curry powder (or substitue thyme and rosmary)
- 1 med onion
- Italian sausage (browned out of casing)
- white beans drained(garbonzo beans work too)
- mushrooms and zuchinni
- crushed red pepper, oregano, parsley
- 28 0z can diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion
- Parmesan cheese (grate over individual bowls when serving)
- Peeled shrimp*
- green bell pepper, celery
- 1 can corn drained (or sliced from cob, 2-3 cobs)
- 1 medium onion
- cajun seasoning
- 1/2 C rice or baby shells pasta
* season shrimp with additional cajun seasoning, add for last 10 minutes
Here's a couple of classics that use no meat:
Minestrone
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- fresh green beans (small handfull, cut short)
- 2 cans canellini beans
(white beans) - 28oz can diced tomato
(not optional in this one) - 32oz chicken stock
- 1/4 lb pasta small shells
or elbows - rosemary and thyme
- Parmesan cheese (grate over individual bowls when serving)
For minestrone, saute all the vegetables together with the onion. You could add pancetta cut into small pieces into onion saute step to add a meat flavor.
Pasta e Fagioli
- 1 onion
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 carrots
- 1 celery stalks
- 2 cans canellini beans (white beans) or 1 each white and kidney beans
- 28oz can diced tomato (not optional in this one)
- 32oz chicken stock
- rosemary and thyme
- 8 oz pasta little shells or elbows
- Parmesan cheese (grate over individual bowls when serving)
- 1/2 lb ground beef or italian sausage out of casing (optional) You can brown the meat with onions, or separately and drain grease then add
In Italian-American homes it has evolved into pasta fazool (think of the song "Amore"), It translates and pasta and beans, so by definition this one breaks the rule of using pasta and beans by using both but that's the way it's done. And besides, there are no rules!
More Soup Ideas
- sliced ham
- peas (frozen box)
- white beans (drained)
- parsley and thyme
- 1 medium onion
- rice or egg noodles
- chicken thighs
- 2 cans black beans (drained in colendar)
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- green bell peppers, celery
- 1 medium onion w/ 3-4 cloves minced garlic
- cumin, cayenne pepper
- 1/2 C rice
- sliced sauage (any smoked sausage sliced in wheels, or slice length wise, slice again lengthwise, lay strips together and slice into small dice
- celery, carrots, onions (saute together)
- thyme and sage
- white beans
Want to see a particular dish or technique? , drop us an email.
