Recipe Box: Soup and Bread, Perfect Pairings (2024)

There is more artistry in a simple, satisfying soup and more chemistry in a crisp, moist loaf of bread than you might imagine.

Duluth cooking star Beatrice Ojakangas, a James Beard Foundation Hall of Fame winner and the celebrated author of 28 cookbooks spanning 25 years, can and has broken down the art and science of the perfect pairing of soup and bread.

Bea’s latest tour de force is recently off the presses: The Soup & Bread Cookbook: More Than 100 Seasonal Pairings for Simple, Satisfying Meals (Rodale Books).

“I’ve done a lot of traveling over the years and eating,” Bea says with a twinkle in her voice. “I became fascinated with the way every country I visited had a signature pairing of soup and bread. For instance Sweden has its yellow pea soup and pancakes. In Russia, borscht is always served with black bread.”

Bea found iconic soup-bread combinations even in tropical cultures. “I came to think of it like the intrinsic pairing of certain wines with specific dishes; there are soups and breads that balance each other perfectly.”

In her latest cookbook, Bea sought to develop the compatible two-dish meals for each season. “I wanted the recipes to balance each other. For instance, I didn’t want readers to end up with a ton of soup and very little bread. Nor did I want a bread recipe that took hours paired with a 10-minute soup.”

Bea came up with a book’s worth of perfectly paired soup and bread recipes divided into four seasons. Spring offers fresh combinations like Spring Tonic Soup with Croutons and Cardamom Almond Scones. In Summer, when fruits abound, she delights with Chilled Melon Soup and Blueberry Banana Bread. Autumn celebrates the harvest with the likes of Butternut Squash Soup with Pecan Cream and Quick Yeast Buns, while winter warms with New Year’s Good Luck Lentil Soup and Ezekiel Bread.

These two simple menu items provide a surprising array of options. Bea offers soups, stews and broths that span from chilled purees to hearty and piping hot borschts, while the bread portion might come as regular loaves, flatbreads, crackers, toasts, pitas, muffins, biscuits or breadsticks.

The Soup & Bread Cookbook is just the latest in a great career’s worth of notable work. Bea has been a cook, a teacher and an author. She has written for some of the nation’s leading magazines, including Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Redbook, Cooking Light and Ladies’ Home Journal (and even for this publication a time or two).

It should be no surprise that this wonderful writer can stir a story as well as a pot. Her engaging tales punctuate accessible recipes that always work.

“My ideal was always to be a writer,” Bea admits. A Northland author with a gift for cooking and teaching the rest of us how it’s done. That’s another fine pairing.

Quick Yeast Buns

• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• 3 Tbsp. white sugar
• 1 c. water at 105° F to 110° F
• 1 pkg. or 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425° F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix shortening, sugar, water and yeast. Mix in the egg, salt and flour to make a smooth, soft dough. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. If you are pairing this with the butternut squash and onion soup (see recipe next page) you can do the dough while the vegetables are roasting and raise the oven temperature after they are done.

Drop the dough into the 12 muffin cups, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a skewer inserted in the center of a bun comes out clean.

Butternut Squash & Onion Soup with Pecan Cream

• 2 large butternut squash (3-1/2 lbs), halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1 large sweet onion, peeled and halved
• 1 large yellow potato, scrubbed and halved
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 c. pecans
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 small fennel bulb, halved, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 piece (1-1/2-inch) fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 c. chicken stock or broth
• 1-1/2 c. milk
• 3/4 c. chilled heavy cream
• 1 tsp. hazelnut oil
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Serves 8. Preheat oven to 350° F.

Rub the cut sides of the squash, onion and potato with the olive oil and set them, cut side down, on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast for about 1 hour, until vegetables are soft. Remove vegetables from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle. Spoon the squash flesh into a large bowl; discard the skins. Chop the onion. Chop the potato.

Spread the pecans onto a dry baking pan and place into oven for about 8 minutes until the pecans are fragrant and toasted. Remove from the oven and cool. Set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add the fennel and ginger and cook over moderate heat for 8 minutes until fragrant. Add the squash, roasted onion and the chicken stock, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover the pot and continue cooking about 10 minutes until everything is very soft. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the pecans until they are finely chopped. In a medium bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the chopped pecans, hazelnut oil and cayenne pepper and season with salt.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with a dollop of the pecan cream and serve.

Juli Kellner hosts “WDSE-Cooks” on WDSE-WRPT PBS 8 in Duluth.