Soups

Page 106


Cabbage Soup with Thyme and Apples (Eastern Europe)

We were both very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked this rather ugly soup. The thyme really works but the pan seared golden delicious apples are the star.

40 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 109


Onion Soup (France)

Yes, you know it as French Onion Soup. And making it is really very easy. Hoang, a dedicated FOS lover, downed two bowls in mere minutes. So there.

70 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 110


Potage Creme de Tomates et de Pommes de Terre – Creamy Tomato-Potato Soup (France)

This is AWESOME soup. So good in fact, that I made another batch for dinner guests a week later. Just a beautiful soup. Note: I don’t even like plain tomato soup.

50 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 111


Potage Crécy – Creamy Carrot Soup (France)

Can’t get much simpler than this: Carrots, Potato, Shallot, salt, pepper, chicken stock with some crême fraiche. Excellent both hot and cold. It’s great as long as you like carrots.

30 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Soupe au Pistou (France)

Bleh. The thing about this soup – and every other incarnation of it I just looked up – is that its base is water and not any kind of stock. That kills it totally. It’s bland and boring, no matter how much seasoning we added.

A day of bean soaking plus another hour or so.
Would make it again? No

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Page 112


Mushroom-Barley Soup (Eastern Europe)

I subbed in some different fresh mushrooms, but really, it doesn’t make a difference. This was a rather bland soup, as you’d expect from eastern Europe, but it was still pretty good – as long as you like mushrooms and barley, that is.

90 minutes total
Would make it again? Maybe

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Page 114


Lemon Soup (Lithuania)

Here’s all you need to know: Hoang said this soup, consisting of chicken stock, lemon rind, egg yolks, flour, lemon juice and sour cream sounded “gross.” Then she proceeded to slurp up her whole bowl saying, “I really like this.” Oddly, I didn’t so much.

20 minutes total
Would make it again? No

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Page 115


Mulligatawny (India)

I don’t know what “Mulligatawny” means, but I’m guessing it’s something like “curry soup.” The recipe, which I followed to a T except for this, called for 3 TBSPs of curry powder. I put in 2 TSP’s. Holy craps that’s a lot of curry. With my lessening, it was delicious.

50 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 118


Almond Soup (Spain)

Bittman himself calls it “unusual” and “mystifying,” but it’s really very good. Getting the almonds and bread down to a paste is impossible until you get it boiling again and smash up the clumps a bit. We were both surprised at how much we liked it.

Serve: Hot or Cold (we liked the hot)
40 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Sopa de Aguacate – Avocado Soup (Mexico)

Not really my thing. But Hoang liked it and really, that’s all that matters, right? Right.

30 minutes total
Would make it again? Doubtful

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Page 121


Coconut Milk Soup (India)

This was quite delicious. Funny thing about Indian cooking is the use of cinnamon in stuff you don’t think you should.

40 minutes total
Would make it again? Sure

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Page 122


Miso Soup with Tofu (Japan)

First, ya make the dashi (page 163) which is the broth of kumbu (seaweed) and bonito flakes, then you blend in the real miso (which smells like a brewery) and voila! As good as any miso soup you’ll get anywhere. I was so happy with how this turned out.

20 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 126


Passatelli (Italy)

This is great stuff on a dreary day. And making it made me feel like an old Italian lady! Making the “bowl” to drop the eggs into to make the “pasta” to cook quickly in the broth… Good stuff.

30 minutes total
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 127


Sopa de Ajo al Tomate (Garlic-Tomato Soup), Caribbean

What you are looking at is a piece of stale Italian bread with an egg cracked over it and this delicious and simple soup poured over it and then baked for 5 minutes. We both loved this one, even if I was missing parsley.

40 minutes (after soaking)
Would make it again? Yes

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Page 130


Mediterranean Squash and Chickpea Soup (Morocco)

So many of my soups are orangey with a dollop of cream and a sprig of cilantro on top. But this one is so totally different from the others; Moroccan influenced squash soup. It was pretty good, but we felt it wasn’t worth the effort.

2 hours total
Would make it again? probably not

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Page 133


Plantain Soup (Caribbean)

Bleh. Just a boring soup that was invented to get hungry people carbs. Avoid.

45 minutes total
Would make it again? No

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