MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. It's Food Wednesday. Soup tends to be an overlooked dish. There's typically one or two on a restaurant specials menu, but always as a side dish, never taking center stage. And we tend to associate soup with winter weather. You probably won't hear someone say in June, I feel like having soup today. But soup, as it turns out, is a extremely versatile dish.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIIt can be filled with hardy ingredients like tortellini or white beans and be served as a meal. It can be a light puree of vegetables served chilled on a hot summer's day. And if you think about it, there's nothing like a steaming bowl of clam chowder on a chilly, rainy summer day at the beach. Our guests today make soups for all seasons, along with international recipes and unusual twists on recipes we already know.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIJoining us in studio is Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris, in Georgetown. She was formally the executive chef of 1789 restaurant in Georgetown. You should know Ris has won a number of awards, including from Wine Spectator, the Washingtonian and she's been nominated for a James Beard award. Ris, good to see you again.

MS. RIS LACOSTEOh, wonderful to see you again, Kojo. It's so great to be here.

NNAMDIAlso joining us in studio is Lorraine Wallace, author of, "Mr. Sunday's Soups." Lorraine Wallace, thank you very much for joining us and congratulations on being featured in today's edition of the Washington Post.

MS. LORRAINE WALLACEThank you so much for having me here, Kojo.

NNAMDINow, you can join this conversation with your own soup recipes at 800-433-8850 or tell us about the importance of soup in your life. You can go to our website, kojoshow.org, send us a tweet at kojoshow or e-mail to kojo@wamu.org. Ris, you are a chef and you've got a very wide repertoire of dishes, but you've said you love making soups. What's special about soup?

LACOSTESoup is -- I think it's a very heartful , very soulful dish to make. You really have to pay attention to it, as -- well, anything that we do, you have to observe and watch. But making a soup, you create layers. You know your end product and you create each and every step to get to that end product that is a balance of flavors. And I think the end product is watching yourself, watching your customer, watching anyone just take that spoon and just savor that first bite of soup. It really is warming and soulful and has -- gives many great rewards.

NNAMDIRis, you tend -- we tend to think of soups as a winter dish, but there are so many different kinds of soups. They're really a year round food and in fact you've created a soup calendar with a soup for each day?

LACOSTEThat's right. It's wonderful. Granted, I did start in winter because it is a little bit easier and people do come off the streets and they're thrilled to, you know, order a bowl of soup and less so in the summer. So our summer cold soups are a challenge. But I did a soup calendar, I think, to challenge us in the kitchen to create soups we've never made before, to train the chefs in the kitchen to really make a good bowl of soup because I think it's just a great thing, you know. It's a good, good, good part of your training and also it pleases people so much. So, yes, we do have a soup calendar at the restaurant and a to-go and every day of the week.

NNAMDILorraine Wallace, one great way to make soups all year is to make them seasonal. Your soup cookbook is divided into fall, winter, spring and summer favorites with herb ingredients that are in season.

WALLACEWell, I think it's important that we buy things that are in season. First of all, they're less expensive and they're more nutritious and good for you. And that's why I purposely set the book up this way so that it would be easy for people to shop and they could actually even shop out of their pantry for less ingredients according to which time of the year it is.

NNAMDIIt snowed here Monday and it's going to be 50 degrees tomorrow. We seem to be somewhere between winter and spring right now. What's on your menu this week, Ris?

LACOSTEWell, today, we have (unintelligible) which is a Pataj (sp?) Gruyere which is a -- it's French. It's Paris -- no, today is Pasta Fagiole, what am I talking about. It's Wednesday. It is Little Italy day at Ris. Every Wednesday we have spaghetti and meatballs and cioppino and Pasta e Fagiole is our soup. So a good hearty white bean soup is a perfect day for it today because it is a little bit of a chill in the air. As it gets warmer, the...

NNAMDIIs that what I'm enjoying right now?

LACOSTEThat's what you're going to have a little bite of right now.

NNAMDIThank you. Keep talking, please.

LACOSTEBut I've created the March soup calendar already and March is going to start bringing in some greens and bringing in some spring vegetables just as -- more so in April. But just as Lorraine was saying, that you just cook with the seasons. So they're not going to come in for the French Onion Soup, maybe, when it gets a little bit warmer. Maybe that will come off the menu, but the lighter soups will come into play. The consumes and the vegetables will start, you know, having more of a full focus over the beans and heartier soups.

NNAMDILorraine Wallace, care to share with us what your Sunday soup is likely to be this week?

WALLACEI think it's going to be baby lima and Swiss chard.

NNAMDITell us a little bit more about that.

WALLACEWell, baby lima is -- you soak the beans overnight and then you put them in with some herbs and vegetables. And then, at the end, you just slice the Swiss chard thinly and you put it on top with a little bit of Parmesan Cheese. And, you know, it still got the beans and the protein there just to keep you satisfied, but as Ris said, we're coming into a probably a good season for garlic, is coming here for garlic straciatella or something like that. For the next couple weeks, we'll start getting into a little lighter soups.

NNAMDIYour soups evolved from your family's unusual weekend routine. Really because Chris can't cook. No, that's not true.

WALLACEThat is true.

NNAMDIYour husband, Chris Wallace, is the host of Fox News Sunday. He can cook, can't he?

WALLACENo, he doesn't.

NNAMDIPlus, he has to get up early in the morning on Sundays to do his show.

WALLACEYes, he does. He gets up at 5:00 a.m. and after asking tough questions, he comes home about 11:15 pretty tired and -- but it was not a -- the weekend was still the weekend for our family. So our children had to be out to sporting events and church and different things so I had to come up with something to get us around the table for that brief moment of time. And so for that 30 minutes or so that we sat down, soup was a solution for us.

NNAMDIYeah, because you had a teenager who was sleeping in on weekends also.

WALLACEWell, as boys do as they grow.

NNAMDIHow did soup fit that bill?

WALLACEWell, soup was our solution because it was -- it just was easy. It's nutritious. It wasn't that difficult and also everybody just started jumping in. They wanted to have an opinion on which kind of soup and what I should be making and it was a great way to get us together and everybody got to have their favorite soup.

NNAMDIWhat are some of the family favorites?

WALLACEWell, I think -- well, Chris' favorite is hearty lentil. He loves lentils with anything. I mean, he likes it with salmon, chicken. But he does like this lentil soup and I put a little bit of curry in it to kick it up a little bit, which gives it a nice little warmth. And then I think also, you know, families aren't always in the best mood so -- or they're ill or under the weather. So I have a family wellness soup, which is just chicken and vegetables simmered down in a stock, very simple to make in an hour. And he swears it's better than penicillin and -- but it isn't approved by the FDA.

NNAMDIIf you'd like to join this Food Wednesday soup conversation, call us at 800-433-8850. We're talking with Lorraine Wallace. She is the author of, "Mr. Sunday's Soups." Also with us is Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris in Washington. She was formally the executive chef of 1789. We go now to Ernest in Alexandria, Va. Ernest, you're first. You're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ERNESTHoly cow, Kojo, Ris, Lorraine, I'm delighted to be here. I've been a soup fan since I was a little kid. Our family story is that we go to Howard Johnson's and everybody would order ice cream, I'd ask for more clam chowder.

NNAMDIYou're a soup guy.

ERNESTI am a soup guy. So as a matter of fact, I took on a project this year, which leads to my question, I promise -- of a year of soup blogging and I even took the yearofsoup.org name for it. So that's available, but I making a lot more soup than I normally do so I need a good source of stock. You know, it used to be whenever I made a chicken, I'd make stock. But now, every Sunday, I make a gallon of soup and I'm using Better than Bouillon's chicken base, which works really well. But I wondered, how do the pros do it?

NNAMDIFirst you, Ris.

LACOSTEThe pros make their own stock, sweetheart. So get making your stock and it's very easy. It only takes an hour to make chicken stock, really, at home. And you can freeze it, you can reduce it, you can freeze it in ice cube trays, you can freeze it in baggies, whatever you need to do. But just -- I would just make -- get some good veal stock and go to Wagshal's. They have great veal bones. They have a lot -- it's a great butcher shop that has all of the ingredients that we use.

LACOSTEYou know, the good knuckle bones to make good veal stock and the good beef bones to make good beef stock. And I would just keep your freezer filled with stocks and make them yourself because I've yet -- I've used the, you know, organic chicken stocks and things and low sodium. But again, when you're making your own stock, it's fresh. And to make a pot of soup from just freshly steaming gorgeous chicken stock is -- there's nothing like it. So I encourage you making it yourself and also making a good...

ERNEST(unintelligible) ...

LACOSTE...a good -- keep a good vegetable stock handy and, you know, water is a -- when we were in Paris, you know, in cooking class, you know, the chef would say, you know, his veal stock is chicken stock for the hot and water faucets so...

NNAMDIJust freeze it and keep it?

LACOSTEAnd freeze it and keep it.

NNAMDIErnest?

ERNESTOkay. Well, I'll have to double back and do that. Also, it's great when I hand off soups to my co-workers. I just bring it in. Any suggestions on how I can send the soup to somebody?

NNAMDIHow you can send soups to somebody?

LACOSTEWell, someone told me you can actually Federal Express soup. But I didn't know if you can actually do that so I would, maybe, research that out.

NNAMDIErnest, thank you very much for your call. And good luck with your ongoing year of soup. You can call us at 800-433-8850. As we head into spring, what kinds of soups do you make for these kinds of in-between months? You have a spring chapter in your book, Lorraine.

WALLACEI do. I like, like, the garlic chicken straciatella or I have a spinach salad soup that I love because I love soup and I love salad. And I thought that -- take spinach and I cook it down with russet potatoes and some stock and herbs and then blend it in the blender and put that in a nice pretty tureen and toss some watercress and spinach with a little bit of lemon and olive oil and salt and pepper and put cherry tomatoes and the salad on top with some shaved parmesan. And it's just a beautiful way to get all that good spinach and it's -- a little twist is that salad melts right into the puree.

NNAMDIRis, what dishes take advantage of spring vegetables?

LACOSTEWell, I'm going to put in April. You know, spring comes March 20th.

NNAMDIYeah.

LACOSTEIt's really April that you start seeing the greens at the market and I, too, follow religiously what the farmers are growing as what is on my table. So I'm going to greens and one of the days week, probably Monday, is going to be after the market on Sunday. It'll be a greens and grains soups. So I will just make different soups with great grains and great green Swiss chards, spinach. As we're saying, just think of asparagus is going to be coming and spring onions. And even new potatoes are -- come out that early, those who want to pick them, you know, bright and early.

LACOSTESo there's lots of ingredients out there to play with. And it's a greens and celebrate them.

NNAMDILorraine, here's the debate I know that you have had. Is split pea soup a winter or a spring soup?

WALLACEWell, that's kind of...

LACOSTEGood question.

WALLACEWell, I tell you what. It's winter if you put bacon on it and it's spring if you put mint.

LACOSTEThere we go, that's a good answer.

NNAMDIThere's a good answer?

WALLACEWell, I use fresh peas, you know. I make a nice fresh pea soup. So split pea, my Mother -- I also have hambone soup here in March on my calendar. You know, we would fight for the hambone in my family of which girl was going to, you know, take it home and make soup. And my Mother made a great pea soup with whole peas and hominy every time she had a hambone. I mean, that was just an automatic. We knew the soup was coming. So I think that you lighten it up a little bit. I would agree that split pea soup is a winter soup, but if you're in, you know, in Eastern California, you know, driving up the -- on those roads, there's great pea soup being had there all year around.

NNAMDILorraine, where did you get the inspiration for the recipes we find in "Mr. Sunday's Soups?"

WALLACEWell, because I started the soup Sunday tradition, we quickly started making soup every week. So it's from my mother. She has a no cream of broccoli soup in here that she uses mashed potatoes to thicken instead of cream. So from my childhood, from friends, family, there's even Pam, the butcher from Wagshaw's...

LACOSTEThere we go.

WALLACE...market, with her famous New Orleans style gumbo that takes two pots to make.

NNAMDIYour husband was always surprised, it would appear, at how well you could recreate a dish that you had in a restaurant. For those who can't cook, it often seems like magic, does it not?

WALLACEIt does, but, you know, I think when you can taste something and go home and kind of put your twist on it and make it two days later and then saying, do you recognize what you're eating? And he's like, I thought it was really good. You really did it. But unfortunately, I don't get to go out to many restaurants because he thinks eating at home is pretty good.

NNAMDIAnd, Ris, I just wonder, as someone who runs a restaurant, invariably when I go to restaurants with people who like to cook, they're always trying to figure out exactly every single ingredient in what they're tasting. Do you get a lot of questions about that at your restaurant? Exactly what is in this? Is this what I'm tasting?

LACOSTENo, true. Very, very true and it's fun. It's part of the game, I think, and it's part of teasing the palate and, well, we all have different -- we're all -- it's a gift that we have been given. And we all have different palates and I think that I admire those who are -- I encourage them, who are trying to test their palates and see if they can see what's in it.

LACOSTEBecause like Lorraine or like many other cooks or like myself, you know -- I mean, I go to a Thai restaurant and the first time I had Tom Kai Gi, I said, I have to make that soup. It is fabulous. And that's how we do it. Then you research it, then you find out the true ingredients, but it's a really fun game and it's really, really pleasurable.

NNAMDII was born in Guyana, South America, where every Sunday you can expect soup in my mother's...

LACOSTEIsn't that wonderful?

NNAMDIMy mother's favorite or our favorite, the children's favorite, was her crab soup in which she used to do crab soup with okra and collard greens. And we'd have in it yams and there would be dumplings and there would be green pantones (sp?) and yellow pantones. And I got to go to a break. I'm getting too hungry.

NNAMDI800-433-8850's the number to call. It's Food Wednesday. We're discussing soups. You might want to share some of your favorite recipes with us. We're talking with Lorraine Wallace, author of "Mr. Sunday's Soups," and Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris, in Washington D.C. That restaurant's located at 2275 L Street Northwest. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIIt's Food Wednesday, soup with Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris, in Washington D.C. Ris is formerly the executive chef of 1789 Restaurant. Also with us in studio, Lorraine Wallace, author of "Mr. Sunday's Soups." We're taking your calls at 800-433-8850. Here is Sara in Washington D.C. Sara, your turn.

SARAHi there. My name is Sara and I just wanted to give a shout out for vegan soups. I have a vegan soup company called Souper Girl...

NNAMDISouper Girl.

SARA...it's spelled S-O-U. So we enjoy all puns really and I just wanted to give a shout out to vegan soups. We cook soups all year around so we certainly love summer soups just as much as we love winter soups.

NNAMDIGetting to summer soups in a second, but go ahead.

SARASo basically we cook vegan soups and deliver directly to people's homes and offices. And we never use chicken or ham, although I understand customers definitely -- some definitely love that. But our soups are vegan and I don't think our customers actually even notice. Some of our best customers are carnivores, but there are ways to kind of sneak in creamy flavors or meaty flavors without actually adding those products.

NNAMDISara, good. Thank you very much for your call. You, too, can call us, 800-433-8850. Do you make any soups for vegetarians?

LACOSTEWe do and they're listed on the soup calendar as well and it is a very, very good point. There's a fabulous vegetarian-vegan community out there who -- I grew up French-Canadian so pork is probably, maybe the first ingredient on our list.

NNAMDIYes, I've lived in Montreal.

LACOSTEYes, so it's hard for me to break away, but it is as we were talking to the gentleman before, to Ernest, you can use water and you make great vegetable stocks with your vegetable peelings and really, really make great soups. They don't need to be chicken or beef based or pork based at all.

NNAMDIDifferent seasons bring different ingredients. Lorraine Wallace, what do you associate with summer?

WALLACEGazpacho.

NNAMDII knew it.

WALLACEIt's just like a cold salad in a bowl. It's just -- and it can be anything you want it to be. You can top it with lump crabmeat. You can just put more roasted vegetables maybe with a little balsamic drizzle on top. I just find it really satisfying and very cooling when it's very hot in Washington.

NNAMDIWhat are some of your favorites in summer, Ris Lacoste?

LACOSTESummer. Well, you know, I was going to make a -- I will write a soup book and one of them was going to be cold soup are for losers because one of the chapters -- because I'm such a rustic hot soup girl, but I love -- I do make a fabulous gazpacho and I agree, you can make it anyway you want. I do a great chilled avocado soup and there are great chilled consumes that you can make into salads almost and add vinegar and add gorgeous fresh vegetables.

LACOSTEVichyssoise is another, you know, these are all the classic cold soups, but you can create some wonderful things so it's...

NNAMDIDoes soup have to be cold to be considered a summer dish, Lorraine?

WALLACENo, I mean, there's corn. Corn is really abundant in the summer. Any kind of corn chowder, you can simmer that down with -- sometimes I even do a tomato and corn chowder 'cause tomatoes are in season. They're both all really good ingredients, but mostly you use your tomatoes and corn in the summer months.

LACOSTERed peppers, too. I know I find -- and tomatoes, you know, you think the tomatoes are ready...

NNAMDIFresh tomatoes.

LACOSTE...but they're not ready 'til, you know, you really have to go to August. You know, wait until then to get the good ripe tomatoes to start making your gazpacho.

NNAMDIFor those who like seafood, Lorraine, you make a summer bouillabaisse.

WALLACEYes, I do.

NNAMDIIs it complicated?

WALLACEIt's very simple, actually. I try to make every recipe in this book to have its own story and the bouillabaisse is very light. It has a little bit of fennel in it and a little orange zest and basically just put the fish in, in layers so it won't fall apart and it's done. So it's very quick.

NNAMDIYou have interesting way of doing soup and salad that, for some reason, does not involve a salad plate.

WALLACENo, it involves a soup cup. Like, you're talking of summer. We have a vichyssoise in the book here that has a little watercress on top of it and I like to serve that 'cause I have a vegetarian daughter. And when Father's Day comes along as all my carnivores are eating meat off the grille, I love to serve that to her in a little pretty tray with them lined up in little stemless wine glasses with the soup on top and also some grilled vegetables.

NNAMDIIt's known by her friends as Lorraine's Signature Soup Salad, is that correct?

WALLACEIt is.

LACOSTEThat's great.

NNAMDIOnto Rob in Washington D.C. Rob, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ROBHi, Kojo, great show. Thank you. Just getting my taste buds going here. I went to India a few years ago and I bought a pressure cooker. And it's taking you a little bit back toward the winter conversation, but I -- you know, pressure cooker's a very useful tool for soups. I just throw in some olive oil, salt and pepper, a leek or two, some dry beans of any kind, maybe stock, but water's fine, 15 or 20 minutes and you've got a very hearty, yummy soup. And I use it for all kinds of different things and I wonder if your guests ever do cook with a pressure cooker. I know some people are kind...

NNAMDII got to tell you, my mother used to say that she was born with a pressure cooker in her hand and my wife seems to have inherited that tradition.

ROBWell, you know, Kojo, some people are scared of them. I think...

NNAMDIThis is true.

ROB...I think a lot of people think...

NNAMDIYou've got to know what you're doing.

ROB...every single household. Yeah, and some people are scared of them, but they're not hard to use. And once you get used to it and get used the steaming noise in your kitchen, you know, they're incredibly useful.

NNAMDIYes, that's the noise the pressure cooker makes. Ever use a pressure cooker?

LACOSTEI don't, you know. I have a 40 gallon tilting brazier that I make, you know, 20 -- 10 gallons, 20 gallons of soup in about 20 minutes, of delicious New England clam chowder, say, every Thursday. We make it for our Friday menu. But I agree with you, though. Soup can be really fast and just to think of making that chowder, 20 minutes, granted, you know, all the slicing and dicing is done for you, and then you have it done.

LACOSTEIn our fast-paced world, I think that is a great, great, great idea. Le Creuset's are my favorite pots to make soups in. Mar Meats, they're absolutely wonderful, but I love the pressure cooker, I do. I think it's wonderful.

NNAMDIRob, thank you so much for your call. We move on to Janice in Alexandria, Va. Hi, Janice.

JANICEHi there. Following up on what Rob said, that pressure cooker is how I started out my vegetable soup. I do my bones for an hour, put it out on the porch and it chills overnight. And I have wonderful...

NNAMDIGood for you.

JANICE...my wonderful stock. But my real question was, why is it so difficult to get whole yellow peas in this area? I don't like pea soup made with split peas and -- it's a texture thing.

NNAMDIRis?

LACOSTEI mean, no, I am with you on it. My mother searched and searched and searched for whole yellow peas for her hambone, her pea soup. And you know where you can get them is at the Asian markets. I just -- I have a dozen bags of them in my restaurant. You can come pick some up tomorrow if you'd like.

JANICEThank you.

LACOSTEAnd just go -- Ramen One, just go to the Asian markets in Springfield, wherever. You look up Korean markets and there's some great, great Asian markets out there and for whatever reason, they carry whole yellow peas, dried yellow peas.

JANICESo they're the same peas?

LACOSTEAbsolutely, that you know and love and are looking for.

JANICEYeah, I would literally bring them back from Minnesota in my suitcase, but I have found them occasionally at IKEA.

LACOSTENo, you just go to the Asian markets. And you're going to love the Asian markets. They're a great place to explore. You'll find lots of great things there.

NNAMDIJanice, thank you so much for your call. I wanted to get back, Lorraine Wallace, to your soup salads because one soup salad that stands out is your spinach puree. Could you tell us how that is made?

WALLACEYes. What we do is we take frozen spinach and you be sure to get all the excess water out. And you saute a leek or a medium white onion in a little olive oil and then you put in about two russet potatoes that you've cubed in there. And you put the spinach in the broth and some herbs, probably more of an Italian herbs, and then you let that simmer down. And when it's cool, you blend it and you put it in a pretty tureen with -- top it with spinach and watercress with some cherry tomatoes and some shaved parmesan cheese.

NNAMDIGreat way to sneak some greens into a kid's meal, isn't it?

WALLACEYeah, it is. Sneaky.

NNAMDIYou've noted that soup makes a great school lunch, just pack in a thermos.

WALLACEWell, it is. I mean, soup is, you know, good for you. It's easy to pack and you know that your loved one is getting something warm instead of peanut butter and jelly and it goes a long way. A nice pot of soup can feed your family for a Sunday meal or it can pack for lunches and you know what your loved ones are eating.

NNAMDILorraine, you make a French onion soup that's different -- not Lorraine, but you, Ris, make a French onion soup that's really different. Tell us about that.

LACOSTEIt's a recipe that I learned when I was in Paris and it is delicious. I make an onion tar. Actually, I take whole onions and cook them down and get the juices out of that onion that combine with the sugar in butter that's in the bottom of the pan and it really -- you cook it until it looks like molasses.

LACOSTESo it's just -- it caramelizes the onions and also creates this tar and so those caramelized onions go into the reduction of the sweet and sliced onions and then that tar is scraped off and put into the soup. Gives it color, gives it onion sweetness and it really makes a big difference. It's quite delicious.

NNAMDIA lot of your recipes are French, presumably because you studied cooking in Paris. But weren't you supposed to be a pre-med student?

LACOSTEI was, yes. I'm French-Canadian descent so there's where the French starts. I went to French school, French -- St. Anthony's, you know, School my thirteen years of my grade school. And yes, I was a pre-med student at the University of Rochester and that led me to...

NNAMDIThat morphed into cooking when you got to Paris?

LACOSTEMorphed into a French degree from the University of California at Berkley. I was at Berkley in the '70s.

WALLACECooking is like a lab when you're into...

LACOSTEAnd then went to Paris. And Paris, then, you know, brought it all together along with my mom.

NNAMDIIt makes -- you're right, absolutely right, Lorraine. You have to be a scientist in order...

WALLACEYou do.

NNAMDI...to be able to cook.

WALLACESometimes a mad scientist.

NNAMDIMulligatawny Soup appears on your March soup calendar.

LACOSTEThat's right.

NNAMDIIt was made famous in a Seinfeld episode. Everybody remembers the Soup Nazi.

LACOSTEYep, Soup Nazi exactly.

NNAMDIIt's a curry-flavored soup of Anglo-Indian origin?

LACOSTEYes, and I've never made it before so I'm looking forward to it.

NNAMDIWhen are you going to be making it? March?

LACOSTEI'll be making it probably on Friday, in March. It's going to be -- it's on my March calendar on the 27th. Again, moving it and so I put -- when I create the calendars, there's a basis created. You know, there's always New England clam chowder on Fridays and Pasta Fagiole on Wednesdays. I have a -- Thursdays tend to be Asian soups and Mondays tend to be Southwestern soups and especially in the winter, their spices, you know, warm you up.

LACOSTEBut the Mulligatawny, I decided to make that and I throw -- I plan maybe about 10 soups a month that I've never made before that I know -- in trying to maintain that -- create that food culture and add to the food culture in D.C. And really, food is such tradition and I think it is a very, very important part of what we do.

NNAMDISpeaking of food culture in D.C., Lorraine Wallace, since we are in Washington, we should talk about a traditional soup served in the U.S. Senate's restaurant, Senate Bean Soup.

WALLACEYes. It's -- if you come to Washington and you're lucky enough to eat in the Senate dining room, that is a must...

NNAMDII've had that privilege.

WALLACEYes, it's...

NNAMDIWhere did that tradition originate?

WALLACEBoy, I think it's back to some of the presidents and it's still there today.

NNAMDIIt's been around since, apparently, 1903 in the Senate dining room. Back to the telephones now. Here is Carol. I think we're going international again. Carol, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

CAROLHi, Kojo, I love your show. I wanted to -- I had a question. I was in Portugal many years ago and I had a cream of artichoke soup and I have never seen it on the menus here. It was a smooth soup and I wondered if any of you have had it or were familiar with it?

WALLACEI haven't.

NNAMDIHave you had it, Ris?

LACOSTEI've made artichoke soup so maybe I'll make one. As spring comes along, the baby artichokes are here and then California starts producing things a good late spring, summer soup. So I think we'll have to make it and try it for you. I would imagine a lot of garlic and lemon and I think we can put that together.

NNAMDIThink you'd like to try that, Carol?

CAROLYes, with a little minus on the garlic. I'm not really good on garlic.

LACOSTEYou got it, Carol.

NNAMDIThat's Ris...

CAROLEven though I'm a New Yorker, I'm not a garlic -- but anyway I just wondered about it and I really enjoy different soups and especially smooth soups.

LACOSTEOkay.

NNAMDILook for it at 2275 L Street Northwest. That's where Ris is located. Carol, thank you so much for your call. Gretchen, in Washington D.C., your turn, you're on the air. Go ahead, please, Gretchen.

GRETCHENHi, hi, everyone. I just wanted to say I think soups are just a great way to bring people back to the kitchen, especially people entirely comfortable there, enjoying good, tasty food. And I'd like to ask the chefs if they can give people some shortcuts for getting there because we like to make our stock, but the fact is that people are either intimidated by making the stock or don't have the time. And so we need to give people shortcuts so they won't be so intimidated. And I, for instance, last night, was making a quick soup.

GRETCHENI used organic chicken broth. I stuck several tablespoons of miso and the children loved it. And so what kind of quick steps can we give some people so that it makes -- two hours for you might not be a long time, but that is a very long time for somebody else who's coming from work.

NNAMDIWell, Ris, this is America. We are in the 21st century. Shortcuts, please.

LACOSTEShortcuts, one quick one. And I know that I'm just avid about making your own stocks and certainly I -- I certainly agree. You know, there's some great, good stocks out there, organic bots. But when I do roast chicken dinner or, again, have roast ham or roast beef, I always will take the scraps, take the carcasses and while I'm doing the dishes -- you know, when I was at home and not chef-ing I would just throw that with a pot of water and some -- cut up some vegetables.

LACOSTEI mean, really, it's on the stove in five minutes and while you're doing the dishes, the stock is done and so -- and put it in the freezer, put it in ice cubes and you have it. So that's one very, very quick step, I think. Otherwise I -- just keep your leftovers. Leftovers make fabulous soups and you can chop up, you know, the leftover spinach or chop up the leftover sweet potatoes or whatever it is that you're, you know, from dinner the night before.

LACOSTESalad fixings, things like that and really create what we call gazinta soup, you know, is -- what's in the refrigerator is -- you can really make a great soup. You got your boxed broth or canned broth or your homemade broth right there and you can really just throw something together and with a great loaf bread and some cold butter, you know, you're good to go.

NNAMDIGretchen, thank you very much for your call. Speaking of keeping it simple, as Gretchen brought up shortcuts, I'd like you, Lorraine Wallace, to go back to your family wellness soup, that is a chicken soup, and tell us about how you put it together.

WALLACEWell, it's really simple. You dice some carrots and onion and celery and you simmer that down in a little olive oil. And when it's half softened, you put in some either diced thigh meat, or if you like breast meat, and you cover that with the broth. And sometimes what I like to do if I don't have time to make a stock or don't have it on hand, is I'll take an organic broth and put maybe a chicken wing or a leg in there with some celery and carrot and just cook that down real slow and then pour that right over the chicken, and there you go. You've got a wellness soup with very little salt or sugar in it, and just a little salt and pepper and it's ready in an hour.

NNAMDIBefore we go to a break, this brief e-mail from Susan. "Last week, my friends and I hosted a soup off where each family brought a pot of soup to share. The kids, 11 in all, tasted each soup and rated the tastes from one to ten. We had ham and bean, Moroccan vegetable, chicken tortilla, sausage, beer, cheese, lentil and French onion. The ham and bean won hands down. It was really a fun way to spend a winter evening." Any surprise that the ham and bean won?

WALLACENo. It's so flavorful.

NNAMDIYeah. It certainly is. Got to take a short break. When we come back, we continue this Food Wednesday conversation with Lorraine Wallace, author of "Mr. Sunday's Soups," and Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris, in Washington and you, those of you who call 800-433-8850 or join us at our website, kojoshow.org. Send us a tweet @kojoshow or e-mail to kojo@wamu.org. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIIt's Food Wednesday. Soups with Ris Lacoste, owner of the restaurant, Ris, in Washington at 2275 L Street Northwest. Ris Lacoste has won a number of awards, including from Wine Spectator, The Washingtonian. She's been nominated for a James Beard award. She joins us in studio with Lorraine Wallace, author of "Mr. Sunday's Soups." Back to the telephone. Here is Melissa in Vienna, Va. with a question. Melissa, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MELISSAYes. I went on a cruise a couple of years ago in the Caribbean, and enjoyed each evening wonderful fresh cold fruit soups. And I've tried to replicate them at home and never really have been able to get the right balance of the fresh fruit flavor and the creaminess, and I just wondered if either of your guests had any suggestions for how to create those kind of soups at home.

NNAMDIRis?

LACOSTEI think you just -- I think that you need a good -- make sure your fruit is nice and ripe, you know, that you have a fabulous melon. And when you get that nice ripe melon, you say, yes, I should make soup out of this. And include as little other ingredients as possible, I think, when cooking soups to get the freshest of that fruit. I've made cherry soups and plum soups and I've added different spice, you know, cinnamon and vanilla and (word?) and things like that.

LACOSTEBut you really want to -- some soups you just puree straight through like melons. Other soups you have to cook, but you want to put as fewer ingredients -- water, you know, just a little, little bit. Because remember fruit is made so much of water. There's so much water content in it that it will produce its own juices. So I think what you have to do, the purity of it, is to add as little as possible.

LACOSTEAlso make sure you have a really good blender and the smoothness and texture oftentimes is created by technology that you are -- you have a very powerful blender, you are taming, straining it, and really get a lot of the fibrous activity out. So it's -- I understand what you're saying. That texture is wonderful. You strain -- a lot of people strain soups also so that you're just getting the soup consomme as -- maybe you could call it, and the fruit consomme from it.

LACOSTESo there are different ways that you can achieve -- I'm not sure exactly what you experienced, but I know that fruit, you want it as ripe as possible, full of flavor, and I -- you don't have to do much else to it.

NNAMDIMelissa, thank you.

MELISSAThank you.

NNAMDIThank you for your call.

MELISSAThank you.

NNAMDIGood luck to you. Speaking of consomme, duck consomme sounds fancy. How complicated is it to make?

LACOSTEConsomme is magic. It is so much fun to see this cloudy mass of both clarify before your eyes and you see -- right around the edges, you see that little glimmer of clarity that you put in a wine glass and look through it and you have done it. It is magic. It's like anything. You have to be there, you have to watch it, you have to pay attention to it, but it really is a scientific experiment of adding egg whites and flavor into a broth. And the egg whites bind with the protein and with the -- with the cloudiness in the broth and brings it to the top and just cleans out -- sweeps out the cloudiness in your stock.

NNAMDII'm tasting it while you speak.

LACOSTEOh, so delicious.

NNAMDILorraine, a hearty soup in your cookbook is your fall vegetable salad soup. It's got zucchini and fingerling potatoes. Talk about that.

WALLACEAnd some cauliflower and they're all -- they cook pretty quickly and then I like to top it with spinach salad on top again. But I have several salad soups and one of them is a minestrone salad soup that we use arugula with. I always think it's nice when you're gonna toss the salad to put a little herb in there. So I'll put a little bit of Italian parsley maybe with the spinach, or with watercress, I'd probably put some lemon zest or something to help to bring out the flavor of the salad a little more on this soup.

NNAMDIOn now to Peter who is listening in (word?), France. Peter, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

PETERHi. I'm ethnically Hungarian and as to the caller one ago who asked about fruit soups, for Hungarian and Transylvanian cooking, cold fruit soups in the summer are very traditional. I would strongly recommend trying to track down a copy of George Lang's book, "The Cuisine of Hungary," which is as much a culinary history as it a cookbook. And there's several recipes in there, some of which I've done. There's a wonderful peach and champagne soup, which is just absolutely great. Gooseberry soup, and of course the prevalent sour cherry soup, which is sour cherries and sour cream primarily.

NNAMDIThere's a gooseberry soup?

PETERAnother -- sorry?

NNAMDII grew up with gooseberries. I couldn't think of gooseberry in a soup, but I'd love to taste it.

PETERWell, again, it's a combination of sour cream, white wine, and gooseberries.

NNAMDISounds fascinating.

PETERThe other -- the other unique thing are herb soups. So sage soup, fresh dough soup, soups made simply with herbs, which are also very, very simple and -- and very flavorful. And thank you, by the way, for whoever mentioned -- I thought I was the only person in the world who cheated by using leftover mashed potatoes.

NNAMDIPeter, thank you very much for your call, and...

PETERI enjoy listening to you.

NNAMDIPlease keep listening in France. Lorraine, you also do a carrot and a pumpkin soup and you add something pretty unusual to your carrot soup.

WALLACEWell, that started -- I add popcorn to it...

NNAMDIPopcorn.

WALLACE...and sage leaves. But it started because the kids would be, you know, third grade of something, and they never would eat their vegetables. And I thought, how can I get vegetables into their diet without them knowing? So you make the nice little carrot puree, and then you let them pop the popcorn and suddenly they're all about the soup and, you know, they're getting their good carrots into them.

NNAMDIPopcorn. What a great idea.

LACOSTEThat's great.

NNAMDII'll do it with my grandchildren. Marilyn, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MARILYNOh, hi.

NNAMDISorry to wake you up, Marilyn, but you are on the air.

MARILYNNo. It wasn't that...

WALLACEI can hear the cathedral.

MARILYN...there was something strange happened with phone in the process. I don't know. No. I was calling about fruit soups also. So I've been hearing a lot of ideas. I have made cantaloupe soup and the sour cherry soup. But I was looking for suggestions about other fruit that you might be able to use in soup.

NNAMDIAny suggestions, Ris?

LACOSTEThere's a great grape soup that is a wonderful grape gazpacho, which I think is delicious with almonds. So look, you know, look those up and, you know, those types of recipes up. There's also, as we just mentioned, the peach and champagne soup so think of that great cocktail champagne with the peach puree. And think of things that -- think when you've had, you know, when you eat peaches -- how I create things is what goes with peaches? You know, peaches and raspberries.

LACOSTEOr what's in the market? What's at the farmer's stand at the same time the peaches are, and think of those ingredients. Think of those combinations of flavors that you really like. But plum soups, I think, are really delicious. What else, grapes, plums, melon, you know, melon and champagne is one of my favorite combinations.

WALLACEStrawberries?

LACOSTEStrawberry. I guess you could make strawberry soup or mixed berry soups. Really good for you. And just think of making -- using leftovers and making them into smoothies and, you know, adding yogurt to them. I mean, there's just lots of wonderful things you can do.

NNAMDIMarilyn, thank you so much for your call. We got an e-mail. "I recall the first week as a new parent. We were treated to a meal of Ris' cauliflower soup that she dropped with ham burst sandwiches. I will never forget that butter and that meal. Since then I love cauliflower anything. Bart." Do you remember dropping off that soup for Bart?

LACOSTEI do remember dropping it off for Bart and Michelle and Kylie.

NNAMDIBart seems to be forever grateful for that.

LACOSTEThank you, Bart, my prince.

NNAMDIOn to Bob in Springfield, Va. Bob, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

BOBHi, Kojo. Thank you very much for taking the call. I love your show, and I'm very impressed by the credentials of both your other guests. I got a recipe that I want to share because I think it's pretty unique. It's for fried green tomato soup that...

LACOSTEWow.

BOB...I have never seen on a menu nor in a cookbook. And I love to get green tomatoes from your local farmers market when they're -- before they even start to turn pink or red and just sauté with onion in a little bit of olive oil. And then when everything's soft, you put it into a blender -- well, first of all, you add three cups of water. I call it my one, two, three soup because it's one onion, two large green tomatoes, three cups of water. When everything's soft, you either use an immersion blender or a regular blender.

BOBYou then add a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of thyme and a couple twists of pepper, and let it simmer until it thickens a little bit. It's absolutely wonderful. A unique taste. And one of the other things that's neat to do on the side, if you either want to make a cornbread from scratch or buy one, you can cut the cornbread up into little one-inch cubes and toast them in the oven and then...

LACOSTEGreat.

WALLACEWonderful idea.

BOB...you use them as croutons.

NNAMDISounds great, Bob. Thank you so much for that.

BOBAnd it is wonderful during the summer, and you can use it either cold or hot and it goes great with a (unintelligible) .

LACOSTEI'm making it, Bob. It's gonna be on my calendar this summer.

WALLACEI have to tell you, it sounds great.

NNAMDIIt does indeed.

BOBIt's wonderful. It's very unique. I've never seen a recipe, and everybody raves over it when I make it.

LACOSTEThank you.

NNAMDIThanks a lot, Bob.

WALLACEThank you for sharing.

NNAMDIThanks for sharing that with us. Autumn brings some special ingredients, squash, pumpkin, potatoes. What are some of your favorite ways to use fall vegetables, Lorraine?

WALLACEWell, I just love the markets in the fall because everything is so abundant, especially early fall. So, you know, you take a butternut squash and you can slice that in half, or put -- make it into chunks and add some apple perhaps to it and go ahead and roast that in the oven, and use that base for a wonderful butternut squash puree. You can add some potatoes to that puree and some pancetta and make yourself a little squash chowder for the fall.

WALLACEAnd I think the apples kind of help soften that and bring out some richness in the taste. So those -- that's probably -- I think of fall, I think of butternut squash.

NNAMDIAny fall ideas of yours, Ris?

LACOSTEI will make a Minnesota wild rice soup that I think that in the fall you still have tomatoes and corn and all of that, but everybody's, you know, sad that summer is going, and I think the -- to help with the -- Fall is one of the most dynamically energetic times of year. The weather, the wind, the -- just it's a -- football, it's a fabulous season. And I think the anticipation in helping you get through the -- from summer and knowing that the cold weather is coming, I think soups are a great connect for that.

LACOSTESo a lovely Minnesota wild rice and duck soup is I think a wonderful -- it's hunt season, so it's a really good -- with little almonds on it.

NNAMDIHere is Claire in Alexandria, Va. Claire, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

CLAIREHi. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm an avid listener. I want to ask the ladies if they had ever heard of a vegetarian soup called callaloo. It's like a greens-based soup, and I made it years ago and can -- I got it actually out of Vegetarian Times magazine, and I haven't been able to find the recipe since. And it's -- I think it's got a Swiss chard base, and there's an eggplant and maybe a sweet potato in there.

NNAMDIMy mother used to make it all the time.

LACOSTEI don't know it. I don't know it. I've never made it. But isn't callaloo itself --

WALLACEIt's Jamaican.

LACOSTEJamaican -- it's a Jamaican vegetable, right?

NNAMDIBasically collard greens is what it is.

LACOSTEIs what it is. And I know one of my farmers has callaloo and he says he has a lot of Jamaican farmers working with him, and he says, you know, it never gets to market because they bogart all of it and they love it.

NNAMDIYeah. Look in …

LACOSTEWe're gonna get some soon.

NNAMDIClaire, look in any Caribbean recipe book. You're likely to find a recipe for callaloo soup.

WALLACERight. A Jerk book -- something with Jerk.

NNAMDIYeah. Any Jerk chicken, Jerk book...

CLAIREA Caribbean -- oh, it's fantastic, though. And even my kids like it, and it's just completely green and abundant. It's so delicious.

NNAMDIIt certainly is.

CLAIRESo Caribbean...

NNAMDIYes.

CLAIRE...a Caribbean cookbook?

NNAMDIYeah. You will find it. Thank you for your call, Claire. Ris, your cream of tomato with grilled mozzarella Panini is on the menu this month.

LACOSTEYeah.

NNAMDIIt sounds mouthwatering. And by adding the bread and cheese sandwich, it becomes a full meal.

LACOSTEIt becomes a full meal and it suits with my Little Italy day that, you know, we'll have nice San Marzano tomatoes. We'll used canned tomatoes in the winter to make this soup. We don't fresh tomatoes until they come out in the summer. And then, instead of making the classic tomato soup with grilled cheese, I'm gonna make a little mozzarella Panini sandwich to go with it, I think, to keep in the theme of Little Italy. So I can't wait to have that.

NNAMDIWe're almost out of time, but I wanted Sonia in Washington to share her experience with us. Sonia, you really have about 30 seconds.

SONIAThanks. Just real quickly, a friend of mine had an idea about the alienation we who live in cities feel from each other, and she started a tradition called soup Sundays where random people she meets on the street walking her dogs, she just gets their e-mail, invites them over on Sunday, makes a different vegetarian soup, asks them to bring a mug, and she's had anywhere from 10 to 40 people show up.

SONIAThey just stand around and meet each other, and it's this great community building exercise. And a tip she taught me was to add, you guys probably know this, but to add a parmesan rind...

LACOSTEYes.

SONIA...to a bean soup, and it tasted fantastic.

LACOSTEYeah. That's really a great -- that's a great tip.

WALLACEYes. Keep your parmesan rinds in your Baggies in your freezer.

NNAMDISunday soups, the new version of Facebook. Social networking on Sundays over soup. Sonia, thank you very much for joining us. Lorraine Wallace is the author of "Mr. Sunday Soups." Lorraine Wallace, thank you so much for joining us.

WALLACEThank you so much, Kojo.

NNAMDIRis Lacoste is the owner of the restaurant Ris at 2275 L Street Northwest. Ris, always a pleasure.

LACOSTEMy pleasure. The pleasure is mine. Thank you so much, Kojo.

NNAMDIAnd thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.