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Yes, soup is easy and inexpensive to make.  Yes, soup can easily embrace the four food groups in one meal (or all the levels of the food pyramid, if you want to go all Egyptian).  Yes, soup can be a delicious platform to feature almost any ingredient you choose.  But my favorite thing about soup is that it always has a communal element to it.

It’s the great equalizer, feeding us all: from soup kitchen (coincidence? I think not) to suburbia to high society. Soup offers sustenance and, oftentimes, companionship as well.

Most soup recipes produce at least four servings (4-6 being pretty much the standard), a quantity which practically demands that you share it with someone else.

That’s what this blog is about too.

As people seek to define what’s important to them after the stock market “corrections”, the Wall Street bailouts, the housing market implosion, the radical downsizing of the workforce (that’s the one for me) or any combination of the above, I’ll be offering up a tureen of soup a week around which folks can gather to share a conversation. The dining room table has always been the greatest foundation  on which to build a community. All you have to do is open the door and invite people in.  Does this extend to the online community?

Well, it’s hard to pass a bowl of soup around the Internet, but sharing is at the heart of all social media.

So, this pot of soup is on me.

Like many people, my first experiences with soup were around a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, hence the recipe in this week’s posting.  I think I was around seven.  It took me many years to learn how to make that one myself. Why would I? My mom did it better than anyone in the world.  (To the other culinarily challenged people (males) out there:  You pour the soup into a pot, pour in an empty soup can full of water, heat and serve.)  Soup was an all season meal for us. Mostly on weekends. Just like today the heartier soups work better in colder weather while the lighter fresher ones work better when it’s warm.

A couple of techniques worth noting in this recipe include roasting the chicken and sautéing the vegetables before putting them into the stock pot.  This lets the ingredients maintain their integrity even as they come together to form a larger whole, another kind of culinary community.

Is this soup better than the soup that seven-year-old ate back in the last century?  I would say yes, but you’d have to ask him.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he told you he prefers his mom’s soup.  After all food not only fills our stomachs, it fills our hearts too.

So who’re you going to believe—a grown man or some punk kid?

Good answer.

Phillip Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
(serves 4-6, go figure)
1 pound chicken (skinless thighs or breasts) , diced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup onions, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups chicken stock
¼ cup parsley
2 tablespoon thyme
4 ounces fettuccini
Salt & pepper, to taste

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper then roast in a 350°F oven until just firm (around 20 minutes).  Set aside to cool before cutting into small cubes (aka dicing).
2. Heat olive oil in a 3-quart pot over medium heat, then add the carrots, celery and onions and sauté until tender (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally.
3. Return chicken to the pot, add stock, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
4. Break fettuccini into quarters (bite-sized pieces), add to soup, cover and simmer for about an hour.  The longer the better.
5. Serve with salad and French bread, or, if you’d prefer, saltines.

(Disclosure:  I am not related to the Campbell’s brand in any way.  My middle name is Campbell, which makes me half Scottish and the target of endless grade school ribbing about Campbell’s Soup.  But that’s as far as it goes.)

* Note:  Somebody has already trademarked the soul.

Image Credit:  Caroline Andres, copyright 1997

Questions? Comments?  Put them all in the comments section. Please!  I meant to say please.