a soup to bridge the seasons

I have a well-documented thing for soup. Rich stews, fragrant broths, chilled purees, studded with fresh veggies, topped with crème fraiche…I find a way to incorporate them into my diet all year long. I’m big into comfort food that doesn’t bog me down, and one-pot meals that require only a crusty baguette to round them out, so I often rely on some form of soup to fill that niche.

There’s one that I fall back on more often than any other, introduced to me a while back by my friend Sarah, by way of a blog we both love, Molly Wizenberg’s Orangette. She brought it into work one day for lunch and within a month, at least 4 people on our team had all followed suit with their own unique spins on it, myself included. It’s a simple soup based on three ingredients…canned tomatoes, chickpeas, and stock, and these basic pantry items yield surprisingly deep flavors when combined with a few aromatics.

I’ve been eating tomato soup since I could hold a spoon independently, maybe even before that, and this is easily one of my favorites. It rivals the roasted tomato offering from Fork, etc. in Philadelphia, where I used to linger for many a work day lunch when I lived in the city of brotherly love. Until I invest in a food mill, I’ll never achieve the same silky texture, but this comes close.

We’re experiencing an early spring in DC this year, and I get the feeling that I won’t have many more opportunities to enjoy this, so I wanted to share it before the chilly evenings disappear for good. Note, the original version calls for earthy rosemary, which is wonderful, but lately I’ve been experimenting with more “exotic” add ins…by which I mean I recently bought some sweet smoked paprika and have been using it in absolutely everything. (As a result, my apartment smells kind of like a tapas bar, which I do not mind at all) I leave you to play around with your own herb and spice preferences, or give this one a try.

Modified from Orangette’s chickpea-tomato soup

2 cans chickpeas

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock, I favor Kitchen Basics chicken stock

1 large shallot, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

½ teaspoon cumin

½ cup wild rice (optional, I sometimes add it for a little heft)

2 tablespoons olive oil

A few pinches of sugar

Fresh black pepper

Warm the oil on medium-low in a large soup pot (I use my Le Creuset dutch oven) and sauté the garlic and shallots for two minutes until soft, then add in the smoked paprika and cumin and sauté for another two minutes. Add in the tomatoes, stock, half the chickpeas (drained and rinsed) sugar and a few grinds of pepper and bring soup to a boil, then simmer on low, mostly covered, for about 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup to your desired consistency. Add in the remaining chickpeas and serve, or if you’re adding the rice, do so with the rest of the chickpeas, and let the pureed soup simmer on low for another 15-20 minutes, until the grains are soft.

Finish your meal with some crusty bread and a small spoonful of sour cream or mascarpone. In the meantime, I'll be eyeing this gallery of spring soups on Saveur's website.