Dressing a soup

I love soups. They bring warmth to the body in winter and require about as much cooking talent and equipment as a smoothie. A good blender, any fresh seasonal vegetables and you are 3 minutes away from a healthy meal. To give body to high water content vegetables such as spinach, zucchini, asparagus and leeks, you can add a potato, boil in some cream or blend in the yolk of an egg before serving. My secret ingredient: sauté some onions in butter or olive oil and put them in the mixer along with the cooked vegetables. What you might not imagine is that soups can also be elegant. You can dress them up with croutons (that’s French for baked stale bread) bits of bacon, boiled eggs, dried fruit such as apple and pear or even sautéed mushrooms. The only limit is your imagination. The only requirement: cut as finely as possible the chosen ingredients. I generally love to pair sweet (pumpkin) and salty (bacon), or build on commonly associated tastes (eggs and asparagus or leeks). Another good combination is crunchy (toasted bread) and creamy (spinach). You can serve a bicolor soup for a starter. Pick two color-contrasting soups such as the pumpkin and spinach featured in this issue, pour each in a carafe or a measuring beaker and pour both at the same time in a soup bowl. You have leftovers? Not to worry, they freeze beautifully, or better they make tasty light appetizers in shot glasses. All recipes serve 4
The essential butternut squash soup (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 onion
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
Salt and pepper
Material:
Blender
Grapefruit spoon
Paper towel
Beaker
Place the onion in the freezer.
Cut the butternut squash in two. Remove the seeds. If you want to save them, clean and dry them before baking them on a cookie sheet.
Line the microwave with a paper towel and place the butternut squash halves on top. Microwave for 20 minutes or until soft. When the squash is cool enough to handle peel and place the flesh in the blender.
In the mean time, remove the onion from the freezer, peel, slice and cube the onions prior to sautéing in a little olive oil or butter depending on your taste. Add to the content of the blender
Cover the content of the blender with hot water. Add a teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Blend, taste and pour in a beaker. If the consistence is too thick, add water.

Creamy spinach (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
2 bunch spinach
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large potato or the yolk of an egg
1/3cup (60 ml) crème fraîche or heavy cream
Material:
Colander
Saucepan
Set of tongues
Blender

Wash, cut off the end and dry the spinach in a colander. Place the blade of a knife flat on each garlic clove and strike the blade with the fist of the other hand. Discard the skin of the cloves.
Place the oil in a saucepan and add the spinach and crushed garlic. Sauté until the spinach is wilted. Place in the blender. Peel the potato and slice finely. Place in the saucepan, cover with water. Add a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. When the potato is tender to the knife, add to the content of the blender. Cover with hot water and blend until smooth. Return to the saucepan, add water if needed, cream and pepper and bring to a boil. Alternately, remove from the stove and add the beaten yolk of an egg instead of the cream to the spinach purée. Place in a beaker.

Garniture (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes, Cheap)
Ingredients:
Stale bread cubed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Thyme leaves
5 Pancetta slices cubed
Material:
Frying pan
Paper towels
Salad bowl
Place the bread cubes in a salad bowl. Toss with the olive oil and the thyme leaves.
Set the frying pan on the high setting of the stove. Turn the cubes when they are golden. Reserve on a paper towel
Use the same frying pan to sauté the pancetta. Reserve on another paper towel.

To assemble, pour at the same time the two beakers. Sprinkle the bacon bits on the pumpkin soup and the croutons on the creamy spinach soup.