Big Soup

It is coming to my attention that when all the ingredients are perfected and collected for a series of little soups, there is an elephant remaining in the kitchen: the Big Soup!  That's what minestrone means - big soup.  There in the bottom of the soup pot is a dense, tasty, and nutritious thick broth filled with seasoning vegetables.  Add some beans and some greens and there you have it:  the Big Soup!  So now what's on the menu?  Choose 1-4 little soups... or just order a big bowl of big soup, giant economy size.  Served with pasta, potatoes, or rice.

Next thing you know we'll be having cheese toast on the side.

I need to look at bowls at the Restaurant Supply Store.

Vertical and Horizontal

There are two ways to do this exercise:  "vertical" and "horizontal" and I am thinking of a timeline here.  The vertical way is to invite 50 people to a tasting, put all the foods on the buffet at once along with some tiny soup bowls, and sample a bit of each.  The horizontal way is to prepare a batch of each ingredient, freeze them all in one-ounce quantities, and then take out 8 - 12 assorted cubes every day and heat them all in a microwave oven.  We're going to do both.  Horizontal first, as we perfect preparation of each individual ingredient.  When we're ready, then we have the party!

The Little Soups Project

Now I've slept on it, and I woke up knowing what I'm going to do.  Announcing "The Little Soups Project"!  There will be 4 broths, 8+ meats or meat substitutes, and 16+ other ingredients all at once, from which to build one's own bowl of customized soup!  You've seen "salad and soup bar" with 50 ways to make salad and 2 little vats of probably canned soup at the end of it? Well, this is not that.  This soup will be 100 percent made-from-scratch ingredients.  A great array of choices.  (And at the end of it, a couple of bowls of ordinary side salad.)  Let the simmering begin!

Meatballs

I've decided to assemble ingredients over the next few days, and then turn out several varieties of "little soup" all at once using what I've accumulated.  Today I started with meatballs.

What's the origin of this idea?  I think it came from a vision I had of the perfect little bookshop- and- cafe which would specialize in customized soups in the same way that sandwich shops now make it your way.  If sandwiches, why not soup?   Four kinds of broth and 15 ingredients, mix and match.  And crusty bread too!  And why not quiche?  Though quiche is a long time cooking... but certainly it can be made in small sizes with just what's wanted for ingredients.  Hmmm... Order lunch by 10, we deliver at noon?

Miniature Quiche

Miniature Quiche
Originally uploaded by The Baker's Dozen

A pair of 8-ounce crustless quiches, perfect for lunch with company, or for packing in a lunchbox. Good hot, reheated, even good cold!

Plan Ahead!

Soup made from scratch can be a simple affair of 3 or 4 fresh ingredients and can be wonderful; but sometimes it's nice to have something a bit more involved.  The way around it is to make extra, in batches, and to freeze it in amounts just right to assemble a single serving later.  Today I set aside 2 cups of broth from a steak and vegetable soup and froze it in an ice tray.  One frozen cube is just about one ounce, so 8 cubes of a variety of ingredients will make a cup of soup!  My ice trays, simple cheap plastic ones, make 16 cubes.

Little Soups

This blog will be dedicated to "Little Soups": quick easy recipes for one-serving size fresh homemade soups and other dishes.