Tasty trio: Soup finds compatible partners in salads, sandwiches

As the leaves start to turn, home cooks tend to turn up the heat. We no longer find ways to avoid the stove and oven at mealtime, but seek recipes that warm our homes and our bellies.

Soup often tops the list of what we cook. Yet no matter how hearty a vegetable soup or how filling a creamy potage may be, we generally want something else on the table. Something to sop up the last of the broth in the bowl; something to cut though the richness and prepare our palates for the next bite; something to complement, not overpower the subtleties of the soup.

Sandwiches and salads stand up to the task, proving eager partners.

In her new book "Soup + Sides," Catherine Walther takes that idea and runs with it.

"The concept behind 'Soup + Sides' is to take delicious, wholesome, homemade soups and make them even more appealing by carefully pairing each soup with a side dish meant to complement - even elevate - it," she writes.

Certain soups and sides have a long history. French onion soup with a crusty roll and creamy tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich come to mind for many.

"In the fall when I was younger, I loved any cream soup and a nice buttery grilled cheese sandwich," says chef Hagop Hagopian of Fresh 1800 at the Hyatt in Schaumburg. "Even today, that's what I want on a chilly day."

On some days that bowl of tomato soup gives way to an aromatic butternut squash soup flavored with ginger and fresh chives.

For a decidedly more grown-up side dish, swap out a cheesy sandwich (that would be just too rich with this soup) for a lemony-dressed roasted beet salad.

In "Soup + Sides" Walther gives us tried-and-true pairings and some surprises. And she gives us tips for arranging our own pick-two meals.

"Sometimes, a biscuit or a piece of cornbread is enough of an accompaniment for a soup full of meat and lots of vegetables," she says. "For soups without chicken of another protein, the sides are a little more substantial."

Spring Vegetable Soup, for example, sidles up to Arugula and Goat Cheese Quesadillas while Potato and Leek Soup partners with Broccoli rabe and Cheese Crostini.

"For soups that focus on chicken or beef, a side with lots of vegetables such as a colorful salad works best." Wonton Soup with pork wontons floating in the spicy broth goes well with a delicate Pea Shoot Salad.