Seven soups to simmer in December

From make-it-with-your-eyes-closed to major project, soup vibes are big this month. Plus a big clay pot of incredible vegan frijoles de olla.

Happy Friday, cozy cook, and happy December!

Since we’re coming into high soup season, a roundup of some delicious pots to simmer sounds glorious. It’s so funny, when I posted the photo above — a Persian Chicken Soup with Chickpea and Lamb Meatballs (Abgusht-e morgh ba kufteh-ye nokhodchi) — the aromas seemed to jump from the photo. It’s from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks — Feast of Life, by Najmieh Batmanglij. More on that presently.

Holiday gifts for cooks

Before we dive into the big soup pot, you might want to know that the annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop at Cooks Without Borders is open!

There you can find some of my favorite cooking tools, ingredients and books. And a pot — the first item in the shop, a handmade clay bean pot from the Valley of Tehuacan in central Mexico. I bought one a couple years ago, and it’s one of my prized possessions.