Ok, enough of winter

Today, it's in the high 50s. The sun is bright, it's warm and I took my coat off while we were out, because I had on too many clothes. It's time for spring to begin. Where, oh where, are the spring greens. Where, oh where is the rhubarb? Where are the strawberries?

I get this way every year near the end of March. I have had my fill of jerusalem artichokes, and celery root, and potatoes, and turnips, and leeks. If I see one more beet, I'm going to turn as red as they are. Patience is not my strong suit, and this period between the dead of winter and spring, where I want to cook "something green," is maddening.

So today, when I was making the soup for the week, I broke down. And I'm glad I did. I could not face one more winter tuber soup. Or one more bean soup. If I had had enough California asparagus in the fridge, I would have made soup of that. BUT.... instead.... something else. Something really good. And something you should have in your repertoire: tomato soup.

And as I think about this soup, I feel that it defies seasons. Really, in many ways, it strikes me as another "basic black dress" of cooking. You CAN make soup out of fresh tomatoes, you can make really GOOD soup out of fresh tomatoes, but what's the point? Isn't the point of f resh tomatoes eating them with that wonderful, fresh "TOMATONESS" that you get only from the fresh, ripe ones? No, save the fresh ones for eating as they are, and eat them as often as you can, but when you want to make soup, reach for the cans. Get the good stuff.

I say that this is a "basic black dress," because once you make the soup, you can add accoutrements that suit the season. No question about it. It goes with everything.

I'm going to give you a recipe that makes three quarts, which is of course a lot of soup. Cut the recipe in half if you want. It's really easy.

You need two, big cans of whole tomatoes. 28 or 35 ounces is the right size. Try to get San Marzano tomatoes, and get the whole ones, even though you're going to puree them. The quality is better. Okay, like I said, you're going to puree them, so puree them. Dump them, one can at a time, into a blender and puree to a smooth texture. Pour this into a bowl, and reserve.

Then, dice two onions, yellow or white, whatever you have. You want about a good solid cup of them. You also want three cloves of garlic. Don't worry about chopping it, just smash them and get rid of the peel. You'll also want a few stalks of fresh thyme. Try to get it for this, but if you can't find it, use a big tablespoon of dried. You won't be sorry you used that much.

Now, if you're making this soup vegan style, put three tablespoons of olive oil in a big soup pot. If not, use two of olive oil, and one of butter, and heat the fat until the butter melts. Otherwise, heat it until it's just warming. Then add the onions and the garlic, and cook at medium heat, for about 5 or 6 minutes. Add a pinch of salt while you do this. Stir in three tablespoons of flour, and just coat the vegetables. Then, add the tomatoes, as well as 5 cups of stock, be it vegetable or chicken, to the tomatoes, as well as the thyme. Also, put in a half tablespoon (which is 1.5 teaspoons) of sugar. Mix this all up, raise the heat a bit, and stir. Keep stirring until you get a simmer, then cover the pot, and lower the heat, and come back in forty minutes.

That's it. You can eat this just the way it is, and it's absolutely wonderful. But now is the time to think seasonally. If it's cold, heat up the soup, and maybe add some grated cheese, or some slices of avocado to it, maybe pepper jack cheese. Or, maybe some croutons? Perhaps a dash of pesto on the top of it. Sour cream? Yes, I'd like that too. Or creme fraiche. Maybe it's a warm day, and chopped cucumbers, or pickles will do it for you. I have a jar of spicy stringbeans, called "mean beans, " and I'm looking forward to doing it as a spicy starter to a meal . If you think along the lines of pizza, put some left over cooked sausage in, or just cook some and put it in.

Which one is my favorite? Well, they all are. I like all of the ideas. I also like putting corn chips that I've fried myself into the soup. But you know what's sounding best to me today? A big scoop of ricotta, right in the middle of the bowl, with the soup around it. And so is eating it plain, with that wonderful comfort accompaniment, a grilled cheese sandwich. On white bread. With bacon on it. Nothing healthy about that, but if it's healthy, it's not comfort food.

So, make the soup. And then go play. Be a kid again (I'm saying that a lot, aren't I? Maybe it's because I'm feeling that we all lost our childness, somewhere along the way, and we need to get it back. Seriously, when is the last time you looked at a magic trick or a balloon in the air, or a firework and said "Ooooooh"? If something as simple as tomato soup and a cheese sandwich will get that back for me, then I'm doing it, and I'm doing it a lot. )

Be a kid again.