Year-round, soup is one of the all-time greatest comfort foods. But during the cold, sometimes rainy or snowy days of winter, simmering a pot of soup on the stove, then sitting down to savor a bowl has a way of nourishing the body and soul.
I was reminded of that simple, satisfying ritual recently when my friend Eddie Hernandez, the executive chef of Atlanta-based Taqueria del Sol, invited me to one of his restaurants to enjoy some posole he’d made that morning.
A surprisingly easy version of Hernandez's red or green posole can be found in his cookbook, "Turnip Greens & Tortillas: A Mexican Chef Spices Up the Southern Kitchen" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Rux Martin Books, $30).
As he explains, the hearty soup is made with pork and chiles, but it’s the hominy, with its earthy corn flavor and chewy texture, that makes it such a prized dish in Mexico, where it’s often eaten on holidays and other special occasions.
At the table, Hernandez serves posole in big bowls, accompanied by a festive DIY collection of lemon or lime wedges, diced onions, radishes, shredded cabbage, and cilantro, so everyone can garnish their soup the way they like it.
Of course, one of the greatest things about soup is that it can be anything you want it to be — meaty or vegan, with a medley of bones or vegetables to make the broth, and herbs and spices and sometimes fruit to flavor it. It can even be served cold — though that’s usually not my thing, and certainly not in winter.
In her cookbook, "The Noodle Soup Oracle: Hundreds of Possibilities for the World's Favorite Comfort Food" (Running Press, $22), New York chef and culinary illustrator Michele Humes writes: "My mother has always comforted me — and herself — with noodle soup."
In the introduction, Humes notes that her method is all about designing your own noodle soup with mix-and-match combinations for noodles, broths and toppings. “It’s up to you to combine them into the dish you want to eat,” she says.
But she does offer some full recipes, too, including a winning “weeknight” beef pho made with store-bought beef broth that’s jazzed up with spices and fish sauce. She also has a “weekend” chicken pho that calls for making the broth from scratch.
All together, those takes prove the elemental and universal appeal of soup.
RECIPES
These recipes for delicious and easy winter soups from around the world travel from Italy to Mexico to Vietnam. And you can shop for all the ingredients you need on the international aisle and in the meat and produce departments of your local grocery store.
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This quick and satisfying soup is a variation on a Tuscan favorite, traditionally made with a combination of leftover bread, vegetables, and cannellini beans. It’s cooked with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, peeled tomatoes, and vegetable stock, seasoned with rosemary and thyme, and brightened with a late addition of chopped kale. Best of all, instead of simmering it with mushy bread, it’s topped with thick slices of a fresh baguette, and baked with red onion, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
- Recipe by Lisa Hanson
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This hearty soup made with pork and hominy is eaten throughout Mexico for holidays and special occasions, such as Christmas. But Eddie Hernandez, the executive chef of Atlanta-based Taqueria del Sol, says his family had it anytime, and it was always very festive. Serve at the table with bowls filled with the likes of lemon or lime wedges, diced onions, radishes, shredded cabbage, and cilantro, and let everyone garnish their soup as they like.
— From “Turnip Greens & Tortillas,” © 2018 by Eddie Hernandez & Susan Puckett. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Rux Martin Books. All rights reserved.
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Vietnamese pho is a long-simmered marvel fragrant with charred ginger and onion and layers of sweet, woody spice. This isn’t quite that, according to chef and cookbook author Michele Humes. But it turns out that the time it takes to infuse a store-bought beef broth with pho’s central aromatics is also the time it takes to firm up a steak in the freezer for easy slicing. The result is an abridged but deeply comforting dish you can absolutely pull off on a weeknight.
A note on the fixings: Pho is traditionally served with an absolute jungle of green accompaniments. Feel free to pick and choose among them.
— Reprinted with permission from “The Noodle Soup Oracle” © 2019 by Michele Humes, Running Press.
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