When the weather turns cold and the days grow shorter, there’s one thing that brings everyone back to the table: soup. From bubbling stockpots to handwritten recipe cards, everyone has that special remedy which seems to cure anyone of incoming lurgies, or pep up those feeling down. Some say a nonna’s brodo can even cure a broken heart.
So as temperatures (at least where we are) continue to plummet, we’ve been looking to our lovely grandmothers and their recipes for inspiration, as well as crowd-sourcing some of our own. Do you have a special trick to make that broth taste full of flavour? A pinch of something that elevates your base stock? Let us know: we’re always welcome to tips. For now, here’s some tips and top picks of our own.
Vicky values the chickens behind her Minestrone
Vicky makes all her own stock and swears by the quality of the bird.
In her words: Bones from birds who’ve lived a short miserable life indoors are soft; therefore making feeble tasting stock. If I’m using a decent stock I don’t want to cover the flavour with tinned tomatoes, so I use a few fresh cherry tomatoes in summer, or sun-dried, juicy ones in winter.
You can make the dish here.
Linda loves Nonna Concetta’s Cavatelli with chickpeas
I’m not sure if it classifies as soup? But Nonna Concetta’s cavatelli with chickpeas is one of my favourite dishes, says Linda.
Together, we had a long debate about whether this dish from Frigitini classifies as a soup or a pasta dish; we weren’t sure and settled on somewhere in-between. What do you think? With only a handful of ingredients, this one must have quite a few pinches of love in to make extra delicious. Linda, who was present filming this video, says that although it doesn’t look like much, the dish is one she keeps coming back to when she wants ‘a warm hug in a bowl.’
Livia cooks with…whatever is hiding at the back of the fridge
Livia is quite the chef. Everything she makes is perfectly balanced (and always looks beautiful). Try her pumpkin soup with gorgonzola if you need any evidence.
I asked her what inspires her when making up a new soup recipe?
Mostly, it’s whatever is left after cleaning the veg section of the fridge: I enjoy making incredible soup after seeing what’s left in the bottom drawer when I’m tidying out. I find, if you have onions and potatoes, then the addition of any other kind of veg can add a good flavour. And, adding a handful of cavolo nero? Even better!
Michaella adores Ribolitta
I have to admit that soup has evolved as I have aged : pastina in brodo fed to me by my mother as a sickly child, lentils were hearty cheap fare and I have fond memories of cooking up big pots of them with housemates in a freezing Glasgow University flat, before soup was conjoined with the LA-imported connotation of health-consciousness; I liked to whizz up greens and ginger, and thought that carbs were terrible.(Can you tell, I grew out of that one?)
However, a good broth goes a long way for me, and a soup and sandwich is something I can never fail to resist on a cold day. I might have grown out of my overly-blended ginger and greens; but my love of cavolo nero remains. My go-to? Ribolitta like Carla makes.
Do you have a special soup recipe you love? We’d love to know: hello@pastagrannies.com
