Simmer serve

Autumn is officially here, so it’s time to pull out your pots and pans and get down to some serious but simple cooking. I always associate fall Sundays with the Eagles — and we are going all the way this year.

Sunday dinner during football season always has been fun for me. I often prepare a soup, a stew and a roast during the day so Edward and I can enjoy delicious leftovers for the next few days. I rarely freeze soups or stews because my husband is a leftover lover.

He also adores sandwiches; he will place almost anything between two or three slices of bread. He even will make mini hoagies using small Italian rolls, especially if they come from Cacia’s, Le Bus or Metropolitan Bakery.

I have loved soup since childhood. My mother always made a big pot of soup for our Shabbat dinner on Friday night. She varied the repertoire, which included chicken soup, vegetable soup, split pea, mushroom barley and so forth. Ironically, if my sister Sandy and I had a soup-and-sandwich lunch, the soup was courtesy of Campbell’s.

Autumn soups must be chock full of fresh, earthy ingredients. Gone are the chilled or light soups of summer. Enter the hearty robust soups of fall that, of course, can be enjoyed until the first warm day of spring.

The following soups constitute a meal. All that is needed is a green salad and a loaf of bread. I would serve a rich Chianti with the minestrone, a Sauvignon Blanc with the Asian-style chicken soup and a Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir with the mushroom barley. An assortment of cheese and a basket of ripe pears and apples is the perfect dessert.

Here are recipes for autumn soups.

My Minestrone

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 carrots, sliced
2 ribs of celery, sliced
1 leek, washed well, split down the center and sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 (13.75-ounce cans) chicken stock or 1 (22-ounce) carton chicken stock
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their juice
2 cups water
2 (15-ounce) canned white beans, such as Great Northern, washed and drained
1 large yam or sweet potato, peeled and diced
3 fat bay leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Handful of fresh basil leaves
1 (8-ounce) package baby spinach leaves

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, leek and onion and saut� until the onion and leek are translucent, about five minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their juice and water, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium. Add the beans, the sweet potato or yam, bay leaves and salt and pepper.

Simmer the soup, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, or until the yam and carrot are tender but not mushy. Turn off the heat. Add the basil and spinach leaves and blend well. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

Serves four to six.

Note from Phyllis: This is another wonderful free-form recipe. If you have a handful of green beans, add them to the pot. You can substitute grated cabbage or escarole for the spinach. I sometimes add sliced cooked sausages to the soup when it is done. I do not like macaroni in my minestrone, but this is a matter of personal taste.

Asian-Style Chicken in the Pot

Ingredients:

2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs of celery, stringed and sliced
3 large chicken breasts, each cut in half
3 (13.75-ounce) cans chicken stock or 1 (22-ounce) carton chicken stock
3 fat bay leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
Good-sized handful fresh cilantro leaves
Steamed rice or rice noodles

Directions:

Place the onions, carrots and celery evenly over the bottom of a 5- or 6-quart pot, depending on the size of the chicken breasts. Lay the chicken breasts on top of the vegetables.

Add the stock and enough cold water to cover the chicken. Add the bay leaves, kosher salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, partially cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the shiitake mushrooms and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat. Remove the chicken breasts with a slotted spoon. When the chicken breasts are cool enough to handle, remove all the meat from the bone. Place the boneless chicken back into the pot.

When ready to serve, reheat the soup thoroughly. Swirl in the cilantro leaves. Add the steamed rice or cooked rice noodles and serve.

Serves six.

Note from Phyllis: You can substitute two sliced baby bok choy for the celery.

Hearty Mushroom Barley with Beef

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds chuck, cut into small cubes
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup pearl barley
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery ribs, stringed and sliced
2 medium white turnips, peeled and diced
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes with their juice
1 pound mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Place the chuck, onion, barley, carrots, celery, turnips and tomatoes with their juice in a 5-quart pot. Add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 90 minutes. Add the mushrooms and potatoes and cook for another 30 minutes or until the beef is fork-tender and the barley is cooked through. Add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and stir.

Serves six to eight.

Note from Phyllis: This is a variation on the famous "Krupnik," a vegetable barley soup enjoyed by Russian and Polish Jews. My sister-in-law adds a package of toasted farfel when she makes this soup. If you add the farfel, you might have to add a bit more water since farfel and barley double in size when cooked in liquid. The soup gets better with age. If you refrigerate leftover mushroom barley, you probably will have to add more water when you reheat it.