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green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 cup uncooked rice
4 cups chicken broth
2 (15-ounce) cans black or red beans, drained and rinsed; or about 4 cups cooked black or red beans (see page 27 )
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the chicken and sauté just until browned. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and rice. Stir to coat the grains of rice with oil, and then sauté until the vegetables are soft and the rice begins to turn opaque, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked, about 15 minutes. Add the beans and tomatoes and simmer until heated through.
3. Taste, and then season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot.
    Variations: Red beans and rice (the dish) is often flavored with some type of smoked sausage, so if you want to add some to your soup, you have my blessing. For a genuine New Orleans flavor, substitute andouille sausage for the chicken, or, better yet, use some of both.
    Make ahead? Cook the chicken separately; chill. Cook the rice separately; chill. Sauté the vegetables as instructed, add the broth, beans, tomatoes, cooked chicken, and rice, and heat through.
    For large crowds: Double or triple everything; if cost is a concern, you can use a smaller increase of the chicken, perhaps three half chickens, and it’s still wonderful.
    For vegetarians: Omit the chicken, and substitute vegetarian broth (or water) for the chicken broth.
    Parmesan Lace
    In my humble opinion, Parmesan cheese makes just about anything taste better. (I haven’t tried it with ice cream, but that may be next.) Of course you can sprinkle on shredded cheese from the supermarket or grate some from a block directly onto the soup, but if you have an extra few minutes, you can do something spectacular.
    Heat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or baker’s parchment, and carefully position spoonfuls of grated (or better yet, shredded) Parmesan cheese on the baking sheet. They don’t expand much during baking, so you can put them pretty close together. As a soup garnish, I like a size a little bigger than a quarter (easier to handle in a spoonful of soup), but that’s up to you. With your fingers or the back of a spoon, press the cheese mounds to flatten them; otherwise, the center will still be soft when the edges are browned. Use a spoon to neaten up the edges of each round, and bake until they are nicely browned on the edges, 7 to 8 minutes.
    When the cheese cools, it becomes crisp, and that crispness holds up surprisingly well in a bowl of soup. To make ahead, store in a tightly covered container — with a lock and key, if you have kids at home. (Some of you may recognize this garnish by the Italian term frico , but I like my name better.)

Sweet Potato Soup — Two Ways
    Sweet potatoes and autumn go together nicely — something about all that orange, I think. And fortunately your favorite supermarket has a nice supply in the fall. Bonus: sweet potatoes are rich in vitamins and minerals. Here are two different ways to turn them into soup — one with a slightly spicy Southwestern twist, one rich with the aroma of roasted apples.

Sweet Potato Soup — Two Ways
Santa Fe Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup
    Serves 6–8
    Cumin and chipotle peppers give this version a Southwestern flavor.
Ingredients
1 1 ⁄ 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped (see note below)
6 cups chicken broth
Sour cream, for garnish
    Note: Chipotles (pronounced chih- poht -lay) are jalapeño peppers that have been smoke-dried. They are most commonly sold in cans packed with adobo sauce; check the Latino section of your