A friend in the kitchen

Anna Letitia Colcord

Seven soups open the door: bean, potato, green pea, split pea with vermicelli, tomato, and cream of tomato besides. Anna Colcord's kitchen companion builds plain, inexpensive meals without fuss, the kind a busy household can actually repeat on a weeknight. Simple ingredients, short directions, honest food. Keep it within reach of the stove and let it earn its title of friend.