Soups offer simple meals for new year

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of food cooked, and eaten, over the holidays?

For me the first weeks of the year are an excellent time to slow down a bit, to make very simple meals, and to contemplate plans for the new year. And nothing says contemplation like big pots of soup on the stove.

Soups are among the easiest and healthiest ways to nourish yourself provided you keep a few basic items around.

The most vital is stock. I try to keep a few quarts of stock in the freezer (Ziploc freezer bags are great for this), but I also keep a few cartons of organic boxed stock around, too, just in case.

My basic method for just about any soup is this:

1. Saute aromatics - typically onions, carrots and spices.

2. Add ingredients that provide umami, that savory fifth flavor - pulverized shiitake mushrooms, ground dried tomatoes or a tiny drizzle of fish sauce.

3. Add vegetables.

4. Add stock and bring to simmer.

5. Declare victory.

I'll often add cooked noodles at the end, and plenty of fresh herbs. Sometimes I puree the whole thing, either in my Vitaprep or with an immersion blender, and sometimes I don't. Spoonfuls of Greek yogurt or pesto often get added at the table. All these variations add up to what seems like almost limitless variety.

The accompanying cabbage soup recipe is a good example. Nothing could be more modest, or economical, than cabbage soup, but when you give it this kind of treatment, the sum becomes so much more than the parts.

It's the perfect soup for watching the world spin by during the first few hectic weeks of the new year. It might even remind us to breathe, to take it a bit easier, and to take actual pleasure in the cold, wet days ahead.

Eric Gower is a Marin County cookbook author, private chef and cooking teacher. E-mail him at food@sfchronicle.com, and learn more about his approach to food and life at breakawaycook.com.

This article appeared on page J - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle