"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.” - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

As soon as the first day of cold weather came at the onset of fall, I was inspired to try out some new soup recipes. Curling up with a steaming bowl of home-made soup makes the dreaded Northern winters much more bearable. It’s hard to write about the brutal coldness when it’s almost 60 degrees today just a couple days before Thanksgiving. But, there were at least several bitter, cold and windy days recently that moved me towards the kitchen to prepare some soups-roasting veggies and simmering broths-filling the apartment air with delicious smells and comforting warmth.

I used to be afraid to make soups, but then learned they are light as far as labor intensity goes and pretty harmless. . . you can’t really mess them up that much and there is a lot of room for playing around with ingredients and flavors that make them fun. The most important ingredient though for me that I’ve learned to practice with when making soups is patience. . .because it takes time to roast or just let simmer. It’s a good time to fill with clean up I guess. I’ll break the soups down to the basics so it doesn’t seem so scary, and I’ll just give a rough estimate of the amounts for each ingredient since it can really be personalized to taste and desired outcome:

Soup Number One: Carrot Ginger
Ingredients:
1 medium Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/3 cup Ginger Root, finely chopped
1 ½ pounds Carrots, diced
Salt & Pepper
Cumin or curry powder (optional)
6 cups Vegetable stock or Water (I prefer homemade stock)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add onion, garlic and ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion becomes translucent, but be careful not to burn anything.
Add the stock and carrots and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for about 40 minutes, until the carrots are tender.
Puree the soup in a blender in batches to the desired consistency. I always like the soup to have some texture as it feels heartier.
Season with salt and pepper and cumin (optional) to taste

Soup Number Two: Roasted Eggplant & Tomato
2 medium Eggplants, halved
2 medium tomatoes, halved
1 large onion, halved
6 cloves of garlic, whole
6 cups Vegetable stock
2 tbsp dried thyme (or any other dried herbs you like)
¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and roast all the vegetables and garlic on a sheetpan(s). This should take about 45 minutes when the veggies will start to brown in spots. But, remove the garlic cloves after about 20 minutes or else they will burn!
Remove the vegetables from the oven and scoop out the insides of the eggplant in to a large sauce pan or soup pot.
Add the rest of the vegetables, garlic thyme and stock and bring to a boil. Then, let simmer for about 45 minutes.
When ready, puree in batches to your desired consistency.
Once back in the pot, you can add the cream here and stir in well.
I recommend topping each serving with crumbled goat cheese and home-made croutons.

I think that's a good start for the fall and preview to the upcoming winter. Have Fun!