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CREAMY BROCCOLI SOUP

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

LEFTOVER BROCCOLI—maybe that you boiled or steamed as a simple side dish—is a super candidate for this soup. (You may even find yourself making more broccoli than you can eat, as I do, specifically so you can turn it into this soup the next day.)

To use leftovers, rinse off any remnants of dressing with hot water, add it to the pan after you’ve cooked away the garlic’s raw taste, and proceed without any additional cooking.

2 cups broccoli florets and peeled stems (about ½ average head), cut into chunks

3 cups chicken stock

1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half

1 cup milk, cream, or yogurt

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the broccoli and stock in a saucepan and simmer, covered, until the broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. During the last minute or so of cooking, add the garlic (this cooks the garlic just enough to remove its raw taste). If you’re serving the soup cold, chill now (or refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a month before proceeding).

2. Puree in a blender, in batches if necessary, until very smooth. Stir in the milk, cream, or yogurt and reheat gently (or chill again); do not boil (yogurt will curdle). Season to taste—cold soups generally require more seasoning than hot ones—and serve.

POTATO AND ONION SOUP

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

ALWAYS COOK THE vegetables for a creamy soup until tender, but no more than that. Spinach is tender in a couple of minutes; potatoes, cut into chunks, will require no more than ten or fifteen. Almost nothing will take longer than that. Cover the pot while the vegetables cook to prevent too much of the stock from evaporating.

1 cup peeled potato chunks (about 1 large)

1 cup roughly chopped onion or leek, the leek well washed

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk or cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped fresh parsley or chives for garnish

1. Combine the potato, onion, and stock in a saucepan and simmer, covered, until the potato is tender, about 15 minutes. If you’re serving the soup cold, chill now (or refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to a month before proceeding).

2. Puree in a blender, in batches if necessary, until very smooth. Stir in the milk or cream and reheat gently (or chill again); do not boil. Season to taste—cold soups generally require more seasoning than hot ones—garnish with the parsley or chives, and serve.

PUMPKIN SOUP

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 40 MINUTES

USUALLY, PUMPKIN MEANS pie, a limited role for a large vegetable that is nearly ubiquitous from Labor Day through Christmas. But soup based on pumpkin—or other winter squash like acorn or butternut—is a minimalist’s dream, a luxuriously creamy dish that requires little more than a stove and a blender.

If there is a challenge here, it lies in peeling the squash. The big mistake many people make is to attack it with a standard vegetable peeler; the usual result is an unpeeled pumpkin and a broken peeler. A quicker and more reliable method is to cut the squash up into wedges; then rest each section on a cutting board and use a sharp, heavy knife to cut away the peel. You’ll wind up taking part of the flesh with it, but given the large size and small cost of winter squash, this is hardly a concern.

2 pounds peeled pumpkin or other winter squash

4 to 5 cups chicken or other stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the pumpkin or squash in a saucepan with stock to cover and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers. Cook until the pumpkin or squash is very tender, about 30 minutes. If time allows, cool.

2. Put the mixture, in batches if necessary, in the container of a blender and puree until smooth. (The recipe can be prepared a day or two in advance up to this point; cool, put in a covered container, and refrigerate.) Reheat, adjust the seasoning, and serve.

VARIATIONS

Pumpkin, stock, and black pepper are all you