Chunky Vegetable Soup, Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple by Jacques Pépin. Photography by Tom Hopkins.
You don’t need a kitchen brigade, decades-honed skills, or expensive ingredients to cook and eat like master chef Jacques Pépin.
Just like the rest of us, he doesn’t always have as much time or energy as he’d like to put together a satisfying meal. So, he came up with Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple, 250 recipes for surprisingly achievable, impressive fare.
Covering homemade staples and every course, with tips for kitchen tools and equipment, pantry staples, and techniques to simplify and improve every dish you make, this foundational, classic collection is essential for every busy home cook who refuses to eat poorly.
Dine on the Braised Short Ribs in Red Wine Sauce that Jacques is proud to serve, prepared in under an hour. Or, for healthier fare, Suprêmes of Chicken with Paprika comes together in under thirty minutes. Originally published as The Short-Cut Cook, this revised edition is a testament to Jacques’ timeless food and advice and now includes beautiful photographs.
Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca.
Chunky Vegetable Soup
SERVES 6 TO 8
(MAKES 10 CUPS)
This soup is made with water, which retains the flavours of the vegetables better than chicken stock would. I used onion, celery, scallions, carrots, zucchini, turnips, cabbage, and potatoes when I first made the soup because I had them on hand; you can use the same assortment or substitute other vegetables you have in your refrigerator or freezer.
After they are peeled or cleaned, the vegetables are thinly sliced in the food processor. The herbs and garlic are prepared in the processor as well, and there’s no need to wash the bowl between uses. The herb-garlic garnish is added to the soup just before serving to give it a fresh flavour.
1 onion (about 4 ounces), peeled
1 rib celery (about 2 ounces), rinsed
4 scallions, cleaned
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots (about 4 ounces), peeled
1 zucchini (about 7 ounces), trimmed and rinsed
1 white turnip (about 3 ounces), peeled
A wedge of cabbage (about 4 ounces)
2 or 3 potatoes (8 ounces total), peeled
1½ teaspoons salt
7 cups of water
3 cloves garlic, peeled
About ½ cup flat-leaf parsley or basil leaves, or a mixture
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Fit a food processor with the 1-millimetre slicing blade and use it to slice the onion, celery, and scallions. Or coarsely chop by hand.
Heat the butter and oil in a large stockpot. When the mixture is hot, add the sliced vegetables and sauté for about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice the remaining vegetables in the food processor or by hand. Add to the stockpot, along with the salt and water, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and boil gently for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, fit the food processor with the chopping blade, combine the garlic, parsley, and olive oil in the bowl and process to mince the garlic and parsley, or mince the garlic and herbs by hand, then stir in the oil.
Add the herb mixture to the soup and mix well, season with the pepper, and serve.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.