Monday, April 25, 2011

The Art of Imperfection



 There’s this famous adage that says poems are never finished but instead abandoned.  A college friend of mine used to say: “The paper is never done, the paper due. “

Trying to get things perfect can be maddening, but what if we think of imperfections as uniqueness, a giver of flavor and excitement instead of failures?

This week’s soup is was definitely an example of playing with the art of imperfection. I was inspired by Soup Chick, a tasty soup blog out of Rhode Island, to try Sopa de Ajo (note that Soup Chick’s recipe and mine is derived from Love Soup by Anna Thomas).This soup definitely had me scratching my head at times; I made it two or three times before I decided it is a work-in-progress soup.

Yet Sopa de Ajo is deceptively simple. It calls for few ingredients but the way in which these ingredients are blended together makes a huge difference. The success of this highly alchemical process depends upon your palate, which is a personal as a fingerprint.

As noted above, this soup is an exercise in imperfection. Give yourself time to experiment, to get  it just right for you. I include my notes on how it works for me here. Please make suggestions on your favorite ways to make it (or your frustrations!) in the comments!

Sopa de Ajo (Garlic Soup)

I found the best way to make this soup is per bowl. Each serving should be made separately in a small pot for best flavor.

Gather up:

4 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp smokey Spanish paprika (I heart Penzey’s)
2 cups vegetable broth (Rapunzel’s is fab)
1-2 large eggs (1 for a small serving, 2 for a large)
2-3 pieces of French bread (great to use day old!)

Eyeballing it:
EVOO
sea salt
pinch cayenne

1)      Prep ingredients before you start cooking (garlic minced, bread sliced/cubed).
2)      Go round your small pot with the EVOO twice and heat.
3)      Saute garlic and stir until the aromas begin to pop and the garlic starts to brown just a touch.
4)      Stir in paprika, cayenne and broth. Bring to a low simmer and cover (for 5 minutes or so).
5)      Add sea salt (about a pinch, according to taste).
6)      Add bread and simmer a few more minutes as bread softens. Ladle bread into a small bowl.
7)      Be sure your broth is hot but NOT simmering/boiling.
8)      Break a room temperature egg into a small bowl and (very gingerly so the egg barely notices its being moved) slide in slowly into your broth. Be sure your egg is swimming soundly beneath the surface of the broth and cook until the white is opaque but yolk is a still softish (to your liking).
9)      WOW! You’ve just POACHED AN EGG! Give yourself a hand!
10)   Ladle into your bread bowl and there you have it!

Rating: Another comforting soup! Warm & easy on the tummy on winter days and when you’re feeling flu-ey.
Taste: 3ish, but becomes sort of addictive!
Easy-o-meter: Quite, though you need to be very careful while poaching the egg as it’s a bit tricky!
Time: 15 minutes tops

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Get Parsnippity!

That’s right! Parsnips are awesome! Flavorful and comforting in their many forms, parsnips are underused in the American diet. I recently came into a windfall of parsnips and decided to make good use of them (in soup, of course!).

I located a good parsnip soup recipe (Parsnip Soup from Tea & Sympathy by Anita Naughton) but ended up changing it quite a bit to make it pop! What’s flavor for if not to fully experience all food has to offer?!

Gather up:

1 large potato (I swear by Yukon Golds), chopped
¼ cup (aka half a stick) of unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 med celeriac (aka celery root, looks like a human heart made out of roots!)
6 large parnsips, peeled and chopped
6 cups veggie stock (I used Better Than Boullion, Mushroom base)
3 bay leaves
a block of good, sharp cheese (I used a cheddar/gruyere mix)

Eyeballing it:

sea salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper , to taste
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Do it!

1)      Melt butter in large pot and add chopped onion and celery root and sauté until onion is soft (it’s ok it celery root is a bit firm). This is your base.
2)      Add potatoes, parsnips, stock and bay leaves and simmer for about 40 minutes or until veggies are soft.
3)      Season to taste! The original recipe only called for sea salt/pepper but I felt this was way too bland. My friend Bekah (who kindly let me experiment with this soup in her kitchen), suggested the addition of the nutmeg, which warms the soup nicely and the nutritional yeast, which thickens the soup a bit and gives it a nice cheesy tang. You can also add cayenne or other more savory herbs/spices. Play with your palate and see what floats your boat!
4)      Top with Rosemary Batard (or similar yummy, crusty bread) and crumbles of sharp/salty cheese.

Rating: A comforting soup whose punch depends on you. Be adventurous!
Taste: 3-4
Easy-o-meter: You could do it in your sleep.
Time: 1.5 hours (from chop to chops!)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Magic Herb Soup

No, I'm not talking about that herb, silly. I'm still talking about lavender (apologies for the delay in posting; the life of a college professor during the semester is frantic and inconsistent at best!).

My good friend, fellow writer and foodie, Kat Good-Schiff recently accompanied me on a trip to Boston's North End to poke around and gather ingredient for the soup below.

The North End is a bit magical in itself. Tiny cobblestone sidewalks winding up narrow streets dotted with all kinds of Italian groceries and specialty shops, home of the best, freshest you may find in Boston.

It's also cheap: Kat and I found the ingredients for two meals for 4-6 people for UNDER ten dollars. And a nice, swaggery Italian guy gave us some free celery.

For this soup, I found a base recipe online (linked here) and made it my own. Lavender adds the magic touch here, the complexity that makes this soup memorable as well as delicious.

Traipsing through the Italian shops with little old ladies, we gathered:

 
3 leeks, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced5 small Yukon Gold potatoes, diced with skins
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 cascabel pepper, dried, diced
8 cups vegetable broth (I used "Better than Boullion" Mushroom base to add an earthly flavor layer)
1 1/2 Tbsps flour (to thicken the base/make a roux)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 bay leaves
1 cup light cream
* a coffee filter and a bit of twine/string
 
Eyeballing it:
1/2 palmful peppercorns (your choice of variety; I used a mix of black, red, green, and white) 
1 cupped palmful ground cumin   
1 flat palmful dried culinary lavender buds
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 
fresh chives or scallions chopped, for garnish
 
Go to it:
1) Mix the cumin and the lavender and crush the best you can with the back of a spoon (I couldn't find my mortar and pestle but this worked just fine). Set aside. 
 
2) Melt the butter in your trusty soup pot over medium heat and add the leeks, carrots, celery and garlic. Soon the amazing scents of this case will be wafting all around. 
 
3) Once your leeks are nice and soft, stir in the flour, making a roux (or a thickened base for your soup)
 
4) Add the 8 cups of broth, diced potatoes, cumin/lavender mixture, and peppers to your soup (I used peppers that I like, jalapenos give a nice kick without being too hot while cascabels add a rich medium heat that is also smoky. If you don't like a whole lot of heat, I recommend a poblano or even a bell pepper if your tastes are really tame.)

5) Taking your coffee filter and twine, tie the peppercorns and bay leaves up and add to the pot. Simmer about 20 or so minutes (or until the potatoes are tender).

6) Lower the heat and discard the peppercorn/bay leaf bundle. Stir in the light cream (do not boil or burn soup at this point). Season as you like. 

7) Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh chives and good friends!

Rating:  4; so good (though next time, I will use more potatoes for a starchier, thicker soup)

Taste: Light yet substantial dance of lavender and pepper.

Easy-o-meter: Very easy, mostly chopping and stirring.
 
Time: 45 minutes from chop to bowl.