Recession repast

Soup is good food, especially during lean times.

My neighbors have settled in for a nice, long recession. Neither of them has lost a job (yay!), but they’re still pinching pennies because these are unpredictable times and they want to be prepared for any curve ball the economy might lob their way. One of the ways they’re conserving cash (along with having their old cars repainted rather than investing in new wheels) is relying on cheap, homemade soups and digging up their mamas’ Depression-era eats. This kind of stuff is the epitome of all-American comfort food…filling dishes designed to stretch cheap ingredients. Soup, naturally, tops the list, since you can cook up a big pot of the stuff and eat it for several days. A steaming bowl satisfies the soul and the stomach, which makes it quite a bargain, indeed. 

There’s some science to support the notion that soup is especially when money is tight (and, hence, the proliferation of soup kitchens during the Great Depression). Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., of Penn State University has studied this extensively, finding that low-density (meaning foods that are high in water and low in fat) foods are satisfying even though they have relatively few calories. The idea is that you can high volume of low-density food (like soup) and still feel full while consuming fewer calories. That’s good news if you’re watching your weight–or trying to fill up on cheaper, lower-calorie foods like vegetables.

Beer batter bread is a speedy, comforting accompaniment for soup.

Last night, my friends made a northern bean soup with ham hocks and veggies. My contribution was Onion and Fontina Beer Batter Bread (click the link for the recipe and a picture that does this yummy treat far more justice than my snapshot). Of course, the $5 worth of fontina cheese that went into the bread wasn’t exactly a recession-friendly ingredient, though you could substitute a cheaper cheese, say, provolone or Monterey Jack). The point is, I love a beer batter bread for a several reasons: 1) it’s hearty and 2) it’s a quick bread, so you don’t have to wait for a dough to proof, though the beer lends it a nice, yeasty quality. You can throw it together in about 10 minutes, bake it for less than an hour, and serve it with dinner.