In autumn I become a bit of a soup addict. Something slow-simmered and full-flavoured always lifts my spirits when the weather's not so hot. I also enjoy making soup, and have come up with a strategy to ensure I can do that while still getting other things done on a day off.
Step one, occurring the evening before, is to buy the soup's ingredients. Step two is to rise the next morning, prepare the soup's ingredients, add them to my slow cooker, cover them and let them cook slowly for hours.
Unlike cooking on the stovetop, where you'll want to be around to ensure the soup does not simmer away to nothing, making it in the cozy confines of a slow cooker enables you to slip out the door and do other things.
When I return, and the soup is ready, step three is to make any last-minute additions, taste it for seasoning, then ladle and serve.
Most slow cookers consist of a metal container that holds a heavy ceramic pot. Inside the container is a heating element that surrounds the pot, but, unlike the element on your stove, does not directly touch it. This feature promotes even cooking and helps to prevent sticking and burning.
As the food warms in the slow cooker to a food-safe cooking temperature between 77*C and 138*C, depending on the setting, steam rises, hits the lid of the pot and falls back on the food. This keeps the food moist and reconstitutes it, preventing things such as soup from evaporating away to nothing, even when cooked for hours.
I prefer a slow cooker with about a six-litre capacity. At department stores this size -- exact capacity varies from brand to brand -- seems to be the one most commonly sold, and many modern slow cooker recipes have been designed for this size of machine.
For me it's understandable, because when I make something such as soup, I want some to enjoy now and some that I can freeze, thaw, reheat and enjoy on a busy workday.
The ample cooking room of a six-litre slow cooker allows me to accomplish that and gives me greater flexibility when cooking other dishes, such as the large, meaty lamb shanks I cooked in it the other day.
I've created three slow cooker soup recipes. One is hearty borscht to which I added some cooked roast beef. I did the latter because I had some left over, but you could also add another type of cooked meat, such as pork. To make it vegetarian, replace the beef stock with an equal mix of tomato juice and vegetable stock and replace the meat with more of the vegetables.
My second creation was a tomatoey, Italian-style vegetable soup. To make it a main-course, I put some cooked pasta into my bowls before ladling in the soup and topped it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
The main ingredients in my last soup are yam and red bell pepper, which, after cooking, I puréed together with my immersion blender. The soup is tastily spiced with cumin, coriander and cayenne and, for added richness, is drizzled with a bit of cream just before serving.
All of today's soups took about four hours to cook. As per my strategy, I got the soup cooking in the morning, ran out and did some things, and then returned to have tasty soup for lunch.
If freezing the soup, cool it to room temperature first and then package in amounts you'll most likely require when reheating.
Note: If you're looking for inspiration on other types of soup to make, sample the tasty ones being ladled at the 12th annual Souper Bowls of Hope. The event takes place at the Fairmont Empress hotel from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22.
For a $25 ticket, participants get to enjoy soup served in a handcrafted bowl they can keep. Beyond the soup, there will also be live entertainment and a fundraising auction.
Proceeds go to the Youth Empowerment Society, which provides skills, training, housing and counselling services to at-risk youth. Tickets are available at Bay Centre guest services, Ivy's Book Shop (on Oak Bay Avenue), at the door, and by phone at 250-383-3514.
Eric Akis is the author of the best-selling Everyone Can Cook book series. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
