Soup That Warms Up Winter

As the days of winter bring bone-chilling weather, hot soup becomes a more appealing solution to warming up a hungry person. Todd English, an award-winning chef and owner of eight restaurants, is an expert on hearty soups.

He visited CBS This Morning to demonstrate how to make a basic chicken stock and a hearty bean soup from his new cookbook, The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizza, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts.

English trained at the Culinary Institute of America and in Italy. He began his restaurant career with two restaurants in Boston - Olives and Figs. His two newest restaurants are in Las Vegas - Onda at the Mirage and Olives at the Bellagio. In 1991, he was named the Rising Star Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. In 1994, he won the Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast.

Chicken and beef soup broths are the bases for many sauces and soups. While English acknowledges that making chicken or beef stock from scratch can be time consuming, he says that it can make a difference in how your soup tastes to you.

You can control the richness and the flavor when you make your own stock. But he says that if you are in a hurry, there are some good commercial stocks available.

Nevertheless, English's philosophy of cooking is very particular.

"I believe that you need to achieve a pure flavor in whatever you're making," English says. "I come from a peasant background and like hearty, not overly fussy food."

English says he believes in "big" flavors - foods that have bold tastes.

English's general advice to at-home cooks is that they should listen to their own culinary heart - or stomach.

"If anything, I try to teach the fact that one doesn't need to always follow recipes. You can use your own instincts to achieve good food. Food is a very personal thing."

The following are recipes from English's book, The Figs Table:

Chicken Broth

• 6- to 7-pound chicken, trimmed of fat
  
• Carcass, back, and neck from another 6- to 7-pound chicken
  
• 1 ham hock or bone (optional)
  
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
  
• 2 carrots, peeled, if desired, and chopped
  
• 1 Spanish onion, chopped
  
• 2 leeks, chopped
  
• 2 garlic cloves
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
  
• 1 small bunch fresh oregano
  
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
  
• ½ teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste

Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to low, partially cover, and cook for 3 hours.

Strain and discard the solids. Add the salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate. When cooled, skim off and discard the hardened fat.

Use immediately, or refrigerate up to 3 days. Makes about 12 to 14 cups.

Whie Bean Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 carrot, peeled, if desired, and finely diced
  
• 1 Spanish onion, peeled and diced
  
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  
• 2 celery stalks, diced
  
• 1 fennel bulb, cut in small dice
  
• 1 ham hock (optional)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried fennel seed
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
  
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
  
• 1 head roasted garlic, peeled
  
• 2 cups cooked white cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 6 cups chicken broth or canned low-sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 bunch escarole or bunch spinach, well washed and torn apart

Add the roasted garlic, beans, and chicken broth and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Place half the soup in a blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until the mixture is thick, but not completely smooth. Return it to the stockpot.

Add the escarole or spinach, if desired, and cook until wilted. Serve immediately, cover and refrigerate up to 3 days, or freeze up to 3 weeks. Makes about 8 cups.

Reprinted from The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizza, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts by Todd English, Sally Sampson; published by Simon & Schuster.