Soup/Stew

This traditional Thai-style soup is my personal favorite. I love coconuts, and this soup is all about the coco. I like to use different ages of coconut meat to get varied textures. A more mature nut makes a chunky soup, while a younger one makes a creamy soup. I also like to use a variety of hot peppers: jalapeño, serrano, and even the super-spicy Thai chile, just to get a wide range of spiciness. Some peppers are hot as you eat them, others after you eat them; my favorites are hot only when you stop eating them.

This is an adaptation of a recipe created by our local berry farm.

In winter, the section of our cupboard devoted to onions seems to grow exponentially, filled with all forms of eye-dripping lovelies: red and white onions, shallots, massive white-bulbed scallions. Grilling a sack of onions down to a cereal bowl of caramelized noodles is a rare fall pleasure. And few pillars of French cooking are as widely and voraciously loved as scalding hot onion soup cloaked in a blistering layer of melted Gruyère. But like with many epic dishes canonized by the cuisine of rural folk, vegetarians usually remain wholly uninvited. So how does one mitigate the beef stock in every single recipe of the gooiest of soups? Our "ah-ha moment" was beer. After trying small batches of all three colors of the proverbial tricolore (blue, white, and red) we settled on Chimay Blue, a dubbel style beer that's become a household name for boozers. This so-called grande réserve, or any other basic dubbel, is a super substitute for the essence of animal gore. The malts and sugars play on your tongue in a way that's strikingly similar to the flavor of liquefied fat and tendon.

Talk about a lean bean! Adding about 1/2 cup of filling high-fiber chickpeas to your daily diet can cut your consumption of fatty foods, a study in the journal Appetite finds.

This Moroccan-style braise is deeply aromatic, meltingly tender, and exactly what you want on a chilly winter weekend.

Slow-roasted cauliflower gives this creamy, elegant soup its incredible depth of flavor.

Serve this smoky soup with plenty of homemade Common Crackers . If substituting smoked whitefish for haddock, add 2 thick-cut slices of smoked bacon; see instructions below.

To speed up this classic soup without sacrificing its soulful flavor, simply caramelize the onions in a dry nonstick skillet (be sure to use one with a silicone surface designed for use over high heat, not Teflon), and use good-quality beef stock, preferably one that is low in salt.

Rasam is an immensely popular South Indian soup. The word rasam, in the Tamil language, means "essence," or "juice," and has come to mean a particular type of soup that includes the tartness of tamarind or tomatoes. The ingredients used in rasam vary, but it is basically a light, spicy soup. The spiciness can be adjusted to your taste. At times I add vegetables to make this soup a complete meal.

When it comes to nutrition, cherries don't bomb. They're rich in anthocyanins, which can jump-start your immune system and mop up free radicals.

To make this slightly sweet dish such a delicious departure from other melon soups, Kinch briefly cooks vibrant Cavaillon and Charentais melons. Feel free to use any of your favorite summer melons, including honeydews or cantaloupes.

This soup is equally delicious served hot or chilled.

Leeks are easy to cultivate, but they do require a long growing season. This soup is one of the easiest to prepare, and it gets a colorful boost with the addition of fresh spinach leaves.

Briny shellfish give this quick bouillabaisse its depth of flavor. Basil rouille (a garlicky Provençal mayonnaise) adds vibrancy.

Aash-e sholleh ghalamkar One of the most delicious and nutritious aashes; serve with hot bread for a substantial meal. Aash-e sholleh ghalamkar goes very well with yogurt as a side dish. In Iran it is often served with kashk. Kashk is sold in liquid or powered form in Middle Eastern stores. My recipe uses chicken (or vegetable) stock, which allows the flavour of the herbs to shine through. In Iran the soup is made from cuts of rib, shoulder or neck of lamb, giving it a viscous consistency and a more meaty flavour. The types of herbs - and their proportions - vary between different recipes. This version favours the aromatic dominance of tarragon, and also includes spinach or beetroot/beet leaves. Most traditional recipes use marzeh (summer savory), a popular herb in Iran. It is not essential, but if you can find the fresh herb it adds to the aroma. Aash-e sholleh ghalamkar takes time to prepare and cook, but the result is well worth it. You can make this aash a couple of days in advance, keep it in the fridge and reheat it gently before serving.

Khoresht-e bamiyeh
Okra and lamb khoresht is cooked throughout Iran, and recipes vary in different regions. This version, from the south, is quite garlicky and spicy, and uses tamarind juice; the okra is cooked until soft and potatoes are added for texture and taste.