Soup

NOT LONG AGO, I WAS ON A PANEL WITH erstwhile Gourmet editor and author Ruth Reichl when chicken stock came up. “You know what they say,” she said. “If you’ve got chicken stock, you’ve got a meal.”

And it’s true. Soup nights are the easiest meal night. In the winter, a day or two after a roast chicken dinner, having kept a pot of Easy Chicken Stock on the stove top, I strain the stock over some sautéed chopped onion; add left-over vegetables and chicken, and sometimes dried pasta or potatoes; and season with salt and a squeeze of lemon or some drops of vinegar. In short order, the soup is ready to go. Soup like this is infinitely variable. Want some delicate Asian flavors? Sauté garlic, scallions, and a chunk of ginger, strain in the stock, season with salt or soy sauce, fish sauce or miso, rice vinegar, and a drop of sesame oil, add chicken or tofu or wontons, and you have a great meal. Want a spicy soup? Add red pepper flakes to sautéing onion, then your stock, and finish with chopped escarole/Batavian endive and sausage.