We sympathize with lifestyle journalist Ronda Carman. Known best for her work writing about entertaining, decorating, and traveling, she found herself suddenly grounded by the pandemic. The avid cook suddenly felt the need to minimize trips to the supermarket.

We know. We know. Many of us experienced the same restlessness compounded by agoraphobia. We converted a large portion of a supply closet into the overflow for extra food. Why should one giant cardboard canister of old-fashioned oats suffice when we could stockpile three? Carman took a more practical approach and began to catalog her pantry and adapt her aspirational cooking to suit. (We suspect she enlarged her pantry, too.)

The upshot was this lovely cookbook out next week, The Art Of Pantry Cooking: Meals for Family and Friends (Rizzoli, $39.95), by Ronda Carman with photography by Matthew Mead. Each chapter deals with a pantry staple, why she thinks it should be a staple, and some of its general uses. Then she follows up with a fistful of truly useful recipes that range from pasta puttanesca (in the Anchovies chapter) to buttermilk roast chicken (in the Za’atar pages).

Carman is generous in acknowledging the sources she used in adapting recipes, but she’s also adept at simplifying complex recipes by cutting to the essentials. If a dish calls for pre-cooked chicken, she suggests using a rotisserie bird. In all, the book contains more than 100 recipes. They draw on cuisines around the world but Carman has thoroughly Americanized the ingredients and the techniques.

Since this is part of our Soup Saturday series, Rizzoli has given permission to reprint this unusual but easy chicken soup with northern Italian roots along with Mead’s gorgeous photo of it (below, with recipe). We confess that we went a bit beyond the pantry ethos when we made it, using homemade chicken stock, grating a fresh block of Parmigiano Reggiano, and using the meat left over from a roast chicken Provençale dinner. As for the cornmeal, we had a sealed pouch of coarse stoneground meal from the last time we visited Weisenberger Mills in rural Kentucky. (That’s the mill at right.) The dish came together so fast that we had to pause mid-recipe lest the meal be ready too early. (Wilted spinach doesn’t hold well.)

RUSTIC PARMESAN AND POLENTA CHICKEN SOUP

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course

I adore this easy-to-prepare soup with spinach and chicken. It is wonderful paired with a rustic bread and a crisp white wine.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup stoneground yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 8 ounces baby spinach leaves
• 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes until tender.

Add the stock to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Add the cornmeal to the stock in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the soup is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

Whisk in the cheese and simmer for 1 additional minute. Stir in the spinach and chicken. Simmer until the spinach is wilted and the chicken is heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.

Season the soup with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and drizzle with olive oil.