Cookbook Corner: For those who love a healthy, hearty soup

First impressions count for a lot when we pick up a potential cookbook to purchase. It has to be good to compete with all that is already out there, not to mention the internet.

Clean Soups contains clear, clean uncluttered photos with glossy paper adding to its immediate appeal. The photos spring out of the pages with their sharpness, balance, calculated use of space and a little macro photography.

The text is black to grey and printed on white paper, adding to the appearance of clean lines. However, the size of the font is somewhat disappointing. In following a recipe I want to read the instructions at a glance from wherever I am working.

Rebecca Katz’s book starts with a comprehensive ‘tool kit’. Much to my surprise, I could tick most of them as being already nesting in my pantry. However, I do need a micro-plane zester as part of my equipment. This section is followed by the basics of storage, thawing and reheating, all beautifully illustrated. Each recipe is introduced with a little information. For example, “Your olfactory sense is going to be off the rails”.

The common elements for making a good soup come next along with the secret (until now) FASS. Fats + Acid + Salt + Sweet (which = yum).

I love the section on “nourishing broths” where Rebecca has incorporated ‘soup and stock pairing’. In other words, one basic broth or stock can be used to make, say, four different soups. How does ‘immune broth’ or ‘nourishing bone broth’ sound! (Note that all the soup titles are in lower case).

Now to ‘blended soups’ introduced with the usual photographic balanced style of deliciously coloured vegetables to one side with space and title of next section adjoining. The velvety textures appeal to me here but I would never have thought of leaving some veggies unblended and added afterwards, to give a little contrast in texture. I cannot wait to try “not your average gazpacho”. Simple and straight forward. Fantastic ‘toppers’ are also suggested with the reference page of how to make each of these delicious professional morsels. A few examples are “polenta croutons” and “silken nut cream” (no, it does not contain cream).

I have already used watermelon as a base for drinks this summer. What about ‘chilled watermelon soup with chilli and lime’?

Do you know what Meyer lemons are? Not a problem as ‘cook’s note’ at the bottom of every page gives that little extra information or tip.

The traditional healing soup section is not to be missed. The emphasis is on locally sourced produce as well as recipes from so many parts of the world such as France, (“caramelised onion with beef bone broth”), Japan, Hungary, China, India, Africa, Tuscany, Latin America and of course one from Nanna. “Clean out the fridge soup” is so easy and colourful.

Rebecca Katz calls herself a “soup shaman” and sees using soup as a way to help the body detoxify and renew. One cannot but agree that Rebecca in Clean Soups does just that. I’d like to thank her for the expertise, time and effort put into producing this comprehensive book.

Clean Soups, by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, is available now from Dymocks.