Soups


Soups can be sublime and they don't have to be hard to make. You can do a lot of work and follow lots of steps slicing and dicing, then sautéing to make the perfect soup or you can make a soup that's merely very good and get on with life. By keeping a few ingredients on hand you can create a much better soup in a few minutes than you could ever buy frozen or in a can. Best of all, when you see how easy this is you can use this method to make lots of soups. in any quantity you need!

What you need:

Stock or Broth
It takes a long time to make stock and if you have the time homemade is by far the best. (Stock page link) Back here in the real world where time and effort matters we have three choices, Canned broth, Soup base, or Bouillon cubes. I would recommend using bases. They're concentrated, easy to use and have less salt than the cubes.
Mirepoix(one of those French terms)
All this is is a mixture of 2 parts onion 1 part celery and 1 part carrot all diced.
Fine herbs
This is just a mix of Parsley, Chervil, Thyme, and Chives but you can add any herbs you like. I frequently add Basil or for a chicken soup, Sage and Marjoram. Use herbs temperately. They should never overwhelm the flavor!
Vegetables
It takes a lot of time and effort to get a variety of fresh vegetables for soup and they spoil quickly. Find a frozen mixture you like and keep some on hand.
Meat
If you have leftover meats this is the ideal place to use them, aside from that just buy some stew meat and boneless chicken and dice it. Then freeze it in small packages.

Try this example and make a very easy vegetable beef soup.
Put water in a soup pot, add enough base to make it taste like broth, add mirepoix, herbs, vegetables and meat. Bring it to a simmer and cook it till the veggies are done (about twenty five minutes)

Here is a list of other soups you can make this way.

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