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sweetness and intensity that will make the store-bought version seem insipid. We use this broth to make our best-tasting grits ever—it’s as if the corn grits are thanking us for dignifying them with such a special liquid!

1 bunch celery, sliced

2 pounds watery vegetables (see headnote), trimmed and coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine the celery, vegetables, salt, and 2 cups water in a food processor (or, in batches, in a blender) and liquefy. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for no more than 1 week. This broth freezes brilliantly, but may take on freezer odors after more than 2 weeks.

COLLARD GREENS AND WINTER ROOTS SOUP

serves 4 • TIME: 10 minutes preparation, 40 minutes cooking

Any dishwasher who has ever faced the soupy ends of a well-seasoned pot of collards on January 2nd knows that the cooking broth is positively energizing to drink, packed with vitamins and a deep, rootsy flavor that gives you goose bumps, it’s so good. So we’ve taken to serving shot glasses of it to bleary-eyed houseguests for brunch, poaching eggs in it, and finally acknowledging that collards alone would make a terrific soup. We developed our collards soup—a stew, really—to mimic the incomparable long-stewed-greens flavor of that collards pot, but added some roots (turnips and carrots) to sweeten it and beans to give the dish more protein and rib-sticking potential.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

3 ounces slab bacon, or 3 strips thick-cut bacon, diced

1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 large yellow turnip, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

2 small carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into ½-inch-thick half-moons

4 cloves garlic, minced

1½ pounds collard greens (about 1 bunch), ribs removed, leaves finely chopped (about 1 packed quart)

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

¼ teaspoon crushed dried red chile flakes

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 quart vegetable broth, homemade or store-bought

One 14-ounce can white cannellini or navy beans, drained

1 Pour the oil into a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven or stockpot set over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the bacon and sauté until it has rendered some of its fat, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, turnip, carrots, and garlic, and cook, stirring, until the onions are softened and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the collards a handful at a time, turning them until they wilt before adding more.

2 When all the collards have wilted (about 4 minutes), add the vinegar, salt, chile flakes, and black pepper. Add the vegetable broth, beans, and 2 cups water, and cover the pot. When the soup comes to a boil, turn the heat to low. Simmer until the carrots and turnips are tender, about 30 minutes.

3 Season the soup to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve immediately or let cool to room temperature, cover, and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

CREAMY SWEET-ONION SOUP

serves 4 • TIME: 10 minutes preparation, about 1 hour cooking

We make this decadently creamy onion soup with the sweet Vidalia onions that are grown in southeast Georgia and harvested from May until October. And while this recipe, which takes more than an hour to prepare, would seem to challenge at least one of the three principles of Simple Fresh Southern, the method here is so easy, the number of ingredients so few and so readily available, and the flavor so blissfully divine that we simply—no pun intended—had to include it.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 pounds sweet onions, such as Vidalia, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

2 cups dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio

1 pint heavy cream

1 small bunch fresh chives, thinly sliced (¼ cup)

1 In a 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat until