• scparks on April 14, 2012

  The Tomato Soup Florentine Style, page 134 adapted wonderfully to no salt added. Pretty looking soup as well as very flavorful. I am making my own chicken stock due to the need for VLS (very low sodium) and some recipes adapt better than others. Great soup salt or not salt.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Saint Basil soup

  • Gio on April 23, 2015

    St. Basil the Great of Caesarea in Cappadocia was born in 330BC. His feast day is 2 January.

• Quick black bean Mexican soup

  • Gio on January 29, 2016

    Pg. 27. A great winter soup with loads of flavor. I swapped out a few ingredients but IMO that did not subtract from its distinctive flavor. I used black-eyed peas, and chicken broth instead of bouillon and water. Included with the onion and garlic were diced carrot and celery. The jalapeno included the ribs and seeds. We loved the soup and will certainly make it again.

  • clcorbi on November 18, 2016

    We loved this! I ended up making lots of small changes---I only used one can of black beans, subbing the other for a handful of green lentils I needed to use up. I reluctantly added the liquid from the can of beans, as per the instructions. I substituted some chopped butternut squash for one of the potatoes, and used pickled jalapeños rather than fresh. I used half a tablespoon of cumin and half a tablespoon of coriander, rather than a full tablespoon of cumin. I sautéed a handful of chopped cilantro stems in with the onion, garlic and jalapeños. I also used a mixture of chicken stock and water rather than a bouillon cube. This soup was extremely delicious, held up to all my alterations, and improved over the next few days. I'd be happy to have some of this in my freezer for later, but we ate it too quickly for that.

• Cuban black bean soup

  • adrienneyoung on November 21, 2016

    Not a keeper. I probably used too much onion (my onions were large). But still: more sweet than savoury and none of the spicy deliciousness and depth of flavour that I associate with great Cuban.

• Portuguese kale soup

  • emiliang on October 29, 2016

    This was pretty good. Added some smoked sweet pepper and a little bit of chiles in adobo sauce to bring out the smokiness.

• Saint Nicholas soup

  • Nancith on December 13, 2017

    This soup has a decent flavor, simple, not exotic, but pleasant. My main disappointment was that it pureed into a quite thin soup; would have been better with less liquid.

• Russian cream of string bean soup

  • Nancith on June 01, 2015

    Such a simple, soothing soup! We really liked this. It was perfect for a cool day, light, but delicately flavorful. It was our main course, but would be great for a first course soup. I used frozen green beans; fresh beans would probably give it a little "beanier" flavor.

• Cream of corn soup

  • Nancith on September 21, 2016

    Very luscious & rich soup. Easy to make. Rather than blend raw onions in with the other ingredients as called for, I sauteed them in a little butter. Could stand a bit more marjoram than 1/4 tsp.

• Savoyard cream of potato soup (Soupe Savoyarde)

  • Nancith on September 08, 2017

    Simple, but very tasty. The big thing is the stock--use a flavorful one! I used good quality mock chicken bouillon cubes rather than real chicken broth, & half Gruyere, half Parmesan. Also did not put toasted bread in bowl as called for since we were already eating sandwiches! Good soup for a chilly evening.

• Artichoke and potato soup

  • Nancith on March 30, 2018

    This was quite tasty & luscious for such a simple soup. I had to substitute dry vermouth for dry white wine, but only had a 1/4 of what I should, so I added white grape juice & more lemon juice than called for to cut the sweetness of the juice. It worked well, although next time, I'll be prepared with enough wine. Used cilantro for garnish since that's all that was in the frig, which actually worked well.

• Brussels sprout soup

  • Nancith on January 04, 2018

    Quite a nice soup with surprisingly rich flavor from very few ingredients. I made the pureed version, but did not add milk, nor did I bother with the French bread & egg. Maybe next time. The only unfortunate thing is the unappealing lingering smell of cooked Brussels hours later!

• Butternut squash soup Portuguese style

  • Nancith on September 21, 2017

    A smooth, comforting, mellow flavored soup. Rather than use 2 butternut squash, a monster crookneck squash that needed to be used substituted for one of them. The garnish of fresh thyme leaves is a must as it adds a note of piquancy to the mildness.

• Cabbage soup

  • Nancith on March 24, 2017

    Amazing how tasty this soup is with so few ingredients, merely using water & 1 bouillon cube for the stock. The lengthy cooking time (2 hours + 30 minutes to stand) helps create the flavor, I'm sure. Simple, but very nice w/ bread & cheese for a filling meal.

• Chickpea soup à la Provençal

  • stockholm28 on November 07, 2016

    I had high hopes for this soup but it was just o.k. for me. I made half a recipe. Leeks are sauteed in a fair amount of olive oil and then chickpeas (soaked overnight), spinach, garlic, herbs (bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and marjoram), salt, pepper, and water are added and the soup is simmered for over an hour. You puree the soup and top with butter (I skipped the butter) and croutons. The pureed soup is a rather thick and unappealing pea green color. I think I would have preferred this without blending, leaving the chickpeas whole. I used fresh herbs and wondered if he meant dried; the recipe doesn't specify but the notes in the front of the book indicate that they grow their own herbs so I assumed fresh. I found the soup a bit bland and lacking depth. I think it would have been better with a good stock.

• Saint Lucy soup Sicilian style

  • TracyCrawford on December 27, 2013

    As called for this soup makes a lot! The recipe needs to be dramatically scaled. The soup is good, but somewhat bland. Essentially an unseasoned bean and wheat soup. Ingredients are in pounds not cups for beans and wheat berries.

• French lentil soup

  • pistachiopeas on October 13, 2015

    A bit plain but satisfying.

• Black-eyed pea soup

  • pistachiopeas on March 08, 2015

    One of my favorite soups.

• Brussels sprout cream potage

  • mamacrumbcake on November 30, 2020

    This is quite light and delicate tasting for a cream soup and it makes a lot—over three quarts. I didn’t have leeks so I used 2 onions. It was too much onion for my taste, so next time use leeks or one onion only. Even so, it was quite lovely. Would be nice with a small pat of butter at serving time. PS since it makes so much, in the future, I would not add milk till serving time; therefore I would be able to freeze some of the soup. Recipe says salt and pepper to taste—it needed 3.5 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

• Spicy English parsnip soup

  • Lepa on November 19, 2018

    This is a nice, simple soup that really highlights the delightful flavor of parsnips!

• Broccoli rabe and bean soup

  • Lepa on December 31, 2018

    I love this soup. It is even better the second day. The broth is so tasty!

• Potato and cheese soup

  • clcorbi on November 18, 2016

    We really enjoyed this soup once we'd made some alterations to it, but as written, I feel it's a bit too austere. I would use broth next time rather than water, and I think a little splash of heavy cream wouldn't be amiss in place of some milk. We almost doubled the amount of cheese added, and used two different types (parmesan and a white cheddar). It could also have benefitted from a bit more onion. Overall, when I want cheese soup, I want it to be very rich, and this recipe required tweaks to get there.

• White bean soup

  • clcorbi on November 20, 2017

    Yet another good if very bare-bones soup from this book. Rather than bouillon cubes, I used 4c of chicken stock to 8c water. I also added several sprigs of thyme and let them simmer with the beans for the entire cook time. I had to simmer this for longer than an hour, but with dried beans I expect that. I probably wouldn't make this soup again since there are so many others I want to try, but it is healthy and tasty and made a lot of servings' worth.

• Country mushroom and sour cream soup

  • clcorbi on November 18, 2016

    Delicious, easy, and comforting. The sour cream does tend to separate a little but re-integrates just fine once heated. We used all broth rather than water/bouillon cube combo. I would definitely make this soup again.

• Cream of broccoli soup

  • clcorbi on November 20, 2016

    Very good but I think next time I would use less heavy cream and add in an equivalent amount of cheese. I really think a sharp cheddar would have done a lot to cut through the heavy flavor of this soup. That being said, I'm sure the flavor will have improved by tomorrow. This is certainly good comfort food.

• Southern-style vegetable soup

  • Bwolfe2 on January 08, 2017

    This is a great, hearty soup. I substituted dried heirloom yellow eyed beams for the potato and did not add the sugar. Because the beans were dried I added the broth from a quick pre-boil I did to start their hydration.

• Acorn squash soup

  • ShieldmaidenofRohan on February 07, 2020

    The soup is very good but the recipe as written is a blank slate flavor wise. I added sage, thyme and Braggs Organic Sprinkle as well as a liberal amount of sea salt. I also made it in the instant pot.. Steam the squash whole for 5 minutes high pressure and it peels and chops easily. Add back to the pot with the first set of ingredients, cook Manual high 10 minutes, quick release, blend with a stick blender, add the rest of the ingredients and put on keep warm to simmer. Season as you will.