PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

Fine Soups: the “Wine” of Superb Fare

Fine soups can be surprisingly sensual, offering subtle overtones and stark contrasts that play upon a canvas of overall taste.  Mark Valenza, chef and owner of Za Restaurant near Princeton, NJ, believes certain soups can therefore be likened to wines, their lightness and complexity creating the perfect way to start a superb meal.
According to Chef Valenza, “A first course soup should be able to awaken the palate but not sate the appetite.  Few dishes are able to equal a fine soup’s ability to give an over-all sensory experience.  These soups may offer combinations of flavors, textures, aromas, and even contrasting temperatures, pleasing to the senses.”
Ordinarily soups have remarkable consistency, as do mass produced wine, by using basic stocks, similar main ingredients and common seasoning.  In comparison fine soups like fine wines, deliver a degree complexity and lightness that are satisfying but definitely not heavy.
In the realm of these more delicate soups, where small adjustments in seasoning on the base flavor allow varied taste sensations, a basic recipe can like wine vintage yield no two batches quite the same.
Chef Valenza offers these examples, all in the category of warming winter taster soups:
Tomato Goat Cheese Bisque with balsamic reduction & herb croutons:  The ripe tomatoes make for a bright tasting base and a velvety smoothness.  Goat cheese adds another layer of tanginess, a more luscious feel while the balsamic vinegar reduction swirled on top sound a sharp note of bitter sweetness.  Herb croutons, floated on top, add crunch and a fresh green, grassy flavor.
Curried Celery Soup with toasted celery seeds:   From base preparation on this soup can be developed into a more or less complex experience.  The sparkling celery taste combined with leek make for a soft, elegant onion nose with a crisp finish.  Curry provides a hot, concentrated rainbow of spicy flavor that should not be over done in this concoction.  The garnish of roasted celery seeds offsets the heat and sweetness of the base with a smoky, nutty accent.  Three additional opportunities for flavor levels are gained in the selection of herbs for the bouquet garni, the choice of stock (vegetable or chicken), and fresh herbs added in the final heating use sparingly and chosen with care.
Grilled Chicken and White Clam Chowder:  Clams, salt and cream combine for a buttery tasting base.  Fresh, succulent clams, in this case not minced but roughly chopped compete well with the smoky chunks of the grilled chicken.  The combination makes for a surf and range stew that is remarkably more satisfying than clams alone.
Potato, Celery Root and Anise Soup with arugula oil:  Arugula oil is a favorite garnish at Za Restaurant for its expressive green color and slightly bitter olive flavor.  This simple to make garnish – blended arugula with 1:4 ratio of water to olive oil, salt and pepper to taste – provides an unexpected grace note to this soup that features a soft base, and smooth potato consistency contrasted with the full-bodied verve of licorice aromatics.
White Bean and Porcini Mushroom Soup with shaved Grana Padano cheese and sage:  The beans, steeped in garlic, make for a woody flavor foundation.  Next the graceful earthy taste of the mushroom takes over, while minced sage garnish offers a wonderful nose to this complex dish.  And, finally, the nut and salt of the Italy’s superior hard Grana Padano cheese is the striking finish.
Za Restaurant, 147 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington, NJ  08534, 609-737-4400.  www.ZaRestaurants.com  Reservation are suggested and can be made online.  As always, Za Restaurant is B.Y.O.B.