As someone who has written an entire cookbook on soups, I can tell you two things. Well, I could tell you a million things, but I'll limit myself to two. First, the right garnish can turn an ordinary soup into something special.
Second, after a full year of making soup, nothing looks better on a dinner table than a fork.
While my family can fully attest to the latter, the former is a lesson I learned on several occasions when I'd made a soup that seemed "OK," but no matter how many times I tested it, I couldn't make it great, until I added a garnish.
Take split pea soup, for example. It's a basic soup, usually made with split peas, onions, carrots and a ham hock. Maybe broth is added in place of water. Perhaps fresh thyme is used as one more flavor element.
I'm sure there are a million variations, but split pea soup is usually only split pea soup, no matter what you do — unless you garnish it.
Somehow, the addition of buttery pumpernickel croutons — or, better yet, buttery pumpernickel croutons mixed with small browned cubes of ham — turn a simple soup into something memorable.
Chili is another case in point. If you're anything like me, a good bowl of chili doesn't exist unless it's topped with a dollop of sour cream, a generous handful of shredded cheese and a sprinkling of diced red or green onions.
This week's roasted butternut squash soup is another example. The soup itself is simple: roasted squash and onions cooked with butter, sage and broth, all puréed until silky smooth.
