‘Quick & Simple’ soup for the sick a thoughtful, simple gift (recipe)

My soups for the sick — or isolating — got their start with a new cookbook.

I deliver them to the doorsteps of those among my friends who have been affected or afflicted with the novel coronavirus — an increasing number in recent weeks. They’ve been well-received and leave me feeling I’ve actually done something to help in an awful situation.

After all, everyone needs to eat. And even when taste and smell are gone, the warmth of soup is comfort personified.

The soups I make are easy to create, relying on simple ingredients and canned stock. They take only a few minutes to pull together, and I have some for lunch before packing up the soup to deliver. Once a soup is at its destination, usually packaged in zip-lock plastic bags, I text or call the recipient to let them know it’s there.

My recent binge of soup-making is thanks to Jacques Pepin and his newly released “Quick & Simple,” a delightful book of more than 200 recipes framed around easy-to-find ingredients and using basic techniques to prepare them.

I have my own repertoire of soups, which are delicious but mostly daylong exercises in the kitchen. But some of Pepin’s soup recipes are so simple they’re made right in the bowl from which they are eaten.

Although Pepin makes chicken stock and keeps it frozen and ready to use, he’s not opposed to using high-quality canned chicken stock. I also prefer homemade stock, but I’ve had good results from Zoup’s 32-ounce jars of broth, now available in my local grocery store and from Amazon.com. I also enjoy the many soups available at its brick-and-mortar restaurants, one of which is at Points East in Mentor. Others are in South Euclid, Warrensville Heights, Avon, Bay Village and Westlake.

Pepin’s kitchen versatility also extends to other ingredients, such as the delightful pita bread toasts used as croutons for many of the soups.

Today’s Potato and Leek Soup, like many of Pepin’s recipes, easily can become a chilled Vichyssoise, an elegant cold soup made with the addition of cream and sprinkling of chives.

In this recipe, the vegetables are pureed before cooking, and frozen hash brown potatoes are used, eliminating the dicing and peeling needed for fresh potatoes.

Many recipes use only the white part of the leeks, but in this recipe, the light-green part of the leeks also is used, a thrifty Pepin tip because leeks can be expensive. He suggests discarding only the tough dark-green outside leaves.

The result is a lovely light-green soup.

Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients

2 leeks (about 6 ounces)

1 onion ( about 4 ounces) peeled and cut into 4 to 6 pieces

2 cups water

3½ cups Basic Chicken Stock of canned chicken broth

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound frozen hash brown potatoes (about 3 cups) defrsoted or 3 cups peeled, diced potatoes

Salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1½ cups broken pita toasts (below)

Instructions

To clean leeks, remove and discard the roots. Do not discard the entire green area: instead, remove the outer dark-green layer of leaves, which often are damaged, fibrous and tough, then cut away any dark or damaged inner leaves.

Cut the leeks into pieces and rinse thoroughly in a sieve.

Place in a food processor, add the onion, one-half cup of the water and process 15 to 20 seconds, until pureed.

Transfer the puree to a soup pot and add the chicken stock, butter and olive oil.

Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine the potatoes with 1 cup of water in the food processor and process until smooth.

Add to the mixture in the pot, along with remaining one-half cup water and pepper and salt to taste.

Bring mixture back to a boil and then cover the pot, lower the heat and boil gently for about 15 minutes.

The soup will be slightly grainy but creamy and a lovely light-green color.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with pita toasts.

 

Pita Cheese Toasts

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons peanut oil

4 pita breads

2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Instructions

Preheat broiler.

Melt butter with oil and spread mixture over a rimmed baking sheet.

Split pita bread and press halves, interior side down, into the butter-oil mixture, then turn over and sprinkle with cheese.

Place the pan under the broiler, 5 or 6 inches from heat, and broil about 3 minutes until nicely browned.

Break into pieces and serve.

— Adapted from “Quick & Simple” by Jacques Pepin