Soup/Stew

Cumin lends a unique flavor and aroma to this popular Ramadan soup. Sometimes, for a heartier version, I add Kafta balls just after I purée the lentils and let them cook together. Lemon juice is thought to aid the body in absorbing the iron in the lentils, so I always squeeze some into each serving—it brightens the flavor, too. Shorabat Adas is delicious the next day; just add a little water to the cold lentils, which will be very thick, before reheating it. You can freeze it, too, in a tightly covered rigid container for up to 6 months.

(Amêijoas na Cataplana Casa Velha) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Jean Anderson's book The Food of Portugal. Anderson also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Anderson and Portuguese cuisine, click here. The Portuguese ingenuity for combining pork and shellfish in a single dish dates back, it's been said, to one of the darker chapters of Iberian history — the Inquisition. Amêijoas na Cataplana, together with a number of other pork-shellfish combinations, were invented as a sort of culinary double-whammy to test one's Christian zeal (pork and shellfish being proscribed to both Jew and Moslems). On a recent swing through the Algarve Province, where this popular cataplana recipe originated, I tried to verify the theory, without success. Manuel Paulino Revéz and Esteban Medel do Carmo, assistant directors at Faro's Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo do Algarve (Algarve Hotel and Tourism School), both doubt that there's any connection between the Inquisition and the creation of Portugal's many pork and shellfish combinations. They do admit, however, that Amêijoas na Cataplana is a recipe so old that its genesis is clouded by the dust of ages. Whatever its origin, the gloriously soupy mélange of unshucked baby clams, ham, and sausages in garlicky tomato sauce is supremely successful. This particular version comes from Casa Velha, once one of the Algarve's top restaurants. Now closed, alas, it was located in a historic, heavily beamed farmhouse amid the umbrella pines and luxury estates of Quinta do Lago near Faro. Note: Portuguese clams are tiny, thin-shelled, and uncommonly sweet. The best substitutes are West Coast butter clams or, failing them, the smallest littlenecks you can find. This dish need not be prepared in a cataplana, a hinged metal container shaped like a giant clam shell that can be clamped shut; any kettle with a tight-fitting lid works well. Finally, this is a naturally salty dish, so add no extra salt before tasting.

Pho Bo Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Mai Pham's book Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. Pham also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Pham and Vietnamese cuisine, click here. This beloved noodle soup is a complete meal in itself and is best served for breakfast or lunch on a weekend. Because the simmering takes at least two hours, I like to prepare the broth a day ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator, where it will last for three days. Many cookbooks call for it to be made with oxtail bones, but I prefer marrow bones and beef chuck, which is what pho cooks in Vietnam use. A good pho broth needs to be clear, not muddy and dark, certainly fragrant of beef, anise and ginger. You can serve this soup with several toppings, but the easiest ones to prepare at home are cooked and raw beef. To use broth that has been made in advance, bring it to a boil, then add fresh ginger to refresh it. Come serving time, get friends or family to help cook the noodles and assemble the bowls. Make sure that the broth is boiling hot and the bowls preheated. Allow about 1 part noodles to 3 parts broth for each bowl.

MAGIRITSA Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Aglaia Kremezi's book The Foods of Greece. To read more about Kremezi and Greek Easter, click here. Magiritsa is made with the parts of the lamb not used for the spit-roasted Easter lamb, which is usually very small (about 20 pounds). In the classic recipe, all the innards — heart, lungs, and so forth — go into the pot, but they do not really contribute to the taste. The flavor of the stock comes from the boiled head and neck, and the soup gets its distinctive taste from scallions, fresh dill, and the egg-and-lemon mixture. There are lots of different magiritsa recipes. A friend described to me the one her family prepared in Halki, a small island that is part of the Dodecanese. In her family's version, no innards were used because, in Halki as in all the Dodecanese, they do not roast the lamb on the spit but instead stuff it with rice and the innards. So in Halki's magiritsa, many lambs' heads were boiled to make a very tasty stock, to which egg and lemon sauce is added at the end. The heads were not boned, but as they cooked for many hours, even their bones became soft. Each member of the family got one head and ate it with the broth. No scallions or dill were added to the magiritsa. My recipe for Easter soup was given to me by my cousin's wife, Katy Kremezi, whose mother came from Smyrna (Izmir) in Asia Minor.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw. Although this soup has a robust tomato flavor, it is surprisingly satiny and creamy, a result achieved by blending cucumber into the tomatoes. Chopped jalapeño provides a refreshing bite, shaved fennel adds crunch, and arbequina olives contribute both earthiness and meatiness. A final drizzle of olive oil is all that is needed to push this splendid dish over the top.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Joan Nathan's book The Foods of Israel Today. Nathan also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Nathan and Israeli cuisine, click here. According to the Ten Commandments, "On the seventh day thou shalt rest," which means that no cooking can be done on the Sabbath. This tradition is the reason Israel is truly the center of the world for cholent, an overnight stew. Almost all Jewish families have brought their own unique versions — with Hungarian smoked goose breast, Brazilian black beans, Moroccan rice, Bukharan turkey giblets and raisin-stuffed cucumbers, or Polish barley and meat. A dish that has experienced a rebirth even among secular Israelis in the last few years, cholent is often served as a centerpiece main course for parties, usually blending several traditions in one exciting creation. Eons ago, needing a dish that could be kept warm for the Sabbath, Jewish cooks came up with an overnight stew, the ingredients for which varied depending on where they lived. The stew was tightly sealed, often with a paste-like dough, and cooked before the Sabbath began, then left overnight in the embers to warm until the next day. During World War II, before Israelis had proper ovens, the cholent often was simmered over the small flame of a kerosene stove, the lid covered with two heavy bricks. The word cholent comes from the French chaud, meaning "warm," and lent, meaning "slow." In Israel, it is also called hamim, Hebrew for "warm." Like outdoor grilling, preparing cholent seems to have become the Israeli man's domain. It is served on every Israeli army base on Saturday, even in small military units on their own at lookout posts throughout the country, since the army, which officially observes the dietary laws, must serve a traditional Sabbath meal. This Hebronite hamim recipe was given to me by Amnon Lipkin Shachak, a former Israeli army chief of staff. He combines the Ashkenazic basic beans and barley with Sephardic sausages and the long-cooking eggs in their shells called huevos haminadav to make an innovative Sabbath dish from Hebron, the city from which part of his family hails. According to him, the recipe changes each time he makes it, depending on what he can find in the cupboard. This version requires kishke (a traditional delicacy made of flour and fat stuffed into sausage casing, today obtainable from Jewish specialty stores) and the robust and highly aromatic eastern Mediterranean spice combination of baharat (see Tips, below).

Wonderfully pure, a "vat" of this stuff lasts about a week, depending on how much you eat each day. Eat as much of the soup as you like, as often as you like.

Pre-peeled baby carrots make this soup super-easy. For a dramatic garnish, place a whole star anise atop each serving.

A slightly firm, mellow triple-crème, Mt. Tam cheese softens into this stew but doesn't melt. We like to add a little extra Sherry just before serving.

The trick: Just add a slurry.
To thicken soups, Terry Conlan of Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas, adds slurries, cocktails of flour stirred with a low- or nonfat liquid, such as broth or skim milk. The texture of his Bay Scallop and Corn Chowder comes from a mix of flour and fat-free cream. Use slurries for any soup that calls for full-fat cream by substituting a slurry of flour and nonfat half-and-half.

The holidays are gone, and the relatives have left. You can also say farewell to the season's fatty foods with this veggie-loaded soup created by Lulu Powers, Madonna's caterer. One bowl dishes more than all of your RDA for vitamin A and 20 percent for potassium. Bonus: Eating soup before a meal means you'll consume fewer total calories.

A bowl of soup is the winter equivalent of a summer salad — an easy, all-in-one way to get your veggies and protein. This filling dish, adapted from The Weekend Chef by Barbara Witt (Simon &Schuster), calls for flavorful leeks and potassium-rich mushrooms. Whip some up and freeze leftovers for future quickie dinners.

Sunday lunch. From Golden Door in Escondido, California. This soup, from The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy (Gibbs-Smith), is stocked with a gardenful of vegetables. Look for the brightest beta-carotene beauties — golden corn, sunny yellow peppers, and ripe yellow tomatoes. Because the produce is raw, you're not cooking away any vitamins.

This spicy stew is no garden-variety meal. Healthy eating is easy when Mother Nature cranks out plenty of nutrient-packed produce. Chef Shawn McClain of Chicago's Spring restaurant created a vegetarian dish using a variety of veggies in a tagine, a flavorful Moroccan stew. We can't think of a tastier way to help get your five-a-day.

Greetings from Boston, home of New England clam chowder. Clam chowder is a year-round comfort food. But knowing that just one bowl of the creamy kind can pack 41 grams of fat isn't so comforting. We lightened the soup considerably — without sacrificing its velvety texture and rich flavor — by cutting back on butter and using lower-fat Canadian bacon and fat-free half-and-half (we used Land O'Lakes). Now you can feel good about spooning up this soup, which is high in iron (the clams) and calcium (the "cream").

When you crave something hot and filling, a bowl of this chili will do the trick.

Watermelon is a lycopene star — 1 cup has nearly 7 milligrams of the cancer fighter. Riesling adds a refreshing crispness.