I appreciate a clever turn of phrase, particularly when it conjures up an image so clear and familiar, you can't help but be delighted. Such delight is what I'm after tonight, so I'm taking inspiration for the title of this post from Italo Calvino's book of a similar name. It's not one I've read (yet), but it is one of my most favorite titles ever. Do you wonder what the author was thinking of when he came up with it? To me it's absolutely Robert Frost.
In any case, per my occupational habit I'm familiar with the general premise of the story, which chronicles a reader trying to read a book, and its oft-noted experimental style. In a fashion, that resonates with the stories you'll find here, of a cook trying to cook a meal, experimenting along the way. So begins tonight's story...
Well, it actually begins last night (or, more accurately early this morning) with a few shards of a dream in which I made two things: mustard custard and sunchoke soup. Now, mustard custard I can't even begin to explain. (My dream self must is perhaps a distant relative of Dr. Seuss.) On waking I did actually believe that I'd made this weird thing and was completely confused as to why or, more importantly, how. I let this drift away however as I thought more about the sunchoke soup, which sounded entirely viable and possibly quite delicious.
Jump to this evening. I take stock of my fridge and decide to give this dream concoction a go, adding a few more vegetables and seasonings along the way. What I ended up with is a fragrant, tangy, melt-in-your-mouth vegetable soup. From my subconscious to the soup bowl! This was really fun to make. The recipe follows, with slapdash commentary along the way. Don't skip the gremolata garnish (taken from my new Molly Katzen cookbook): it adds an earthy, peppery punch to the soup, but the orange zest softens the bite and ties the whole dish together.
No photos tonight, my battery kicked it, but I'll see if I can set up a leftover shoot for tomorrow.
Mid-Winter Vegetable Soup
Looks like it serves 4
Equipment: 4-5 qt soup pot, immersion blender, fine-mesh sieve, large pitcher, etc.
6 stalks of celery, leaves removed, sliced thinnish
1 large or two medium onions, rough dice
1 cup baby carrots, rough dice (or 2-3 regular carrots, peeled and diced)
2 cloves roasted garlic, lightly mashed (If you only have fresh garlic, I'd use one small clove, minced to a paste. Roasted garlic has a sweet, mellow flavor that really works here, you can taste the difference, so try to use roasted garlic if you can.)
1 tsp of fresh mixed herbs diced fine (I believe I used thyme, marjoram, and rosemary)
1 smal bay leaf (I didn't use this because I didn't have any but I'm certain it would bring a welcome note of flavor to the mix.)
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
5 small to medium sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes), peeled and diced
1 small apple (medium sweetness, Braeburn or Golden delicious are nice) or 1 small pear (this would give a bit more sweetness to the soup): peeled, cored, diced
2 tb honey
1 tb fresh lemon or orange juice
1 quart of cooking stock (I used chicken but vegetable would of course be fine too)
Salt & pepper to taste
3-4 tb extra virgin olive oil
3-4 tb half and half or whole milk
Spices to finish: grated nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cardamom, ground cumin
For the gremolata:
1 c arugula (if it's big leafy arugula, remove the stems)
2 tsp grated orange zest
2 cloves of fresh or 3 cloves of roasted garlic (again, I like the roasted)
salt & pepper to taste
A good drizzle of olive oil (Molly's recipe didn't call for this but I thought the mix was too dry without it. You'll only need what amounts roughly to 2 tb of oil.)
Make the soup:
Heat the olive oil over moderate heat and add the celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Season liberally and saute until softened--the celery and onion should be partially translucent.
Add 1/2 tsp of mixed herbs, parsnips, and sunchokes. Stir to coat and season. Then stir in honey and lemon juice to combine, and finish with cooking stock. Bring soup to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-low and cover partially. Cook until parsnips and sunchokes are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes.
While the soup is cooking, make the gremolata:
Drop arugula leaves, zest, and garlic into a food processor and pulse until they're finely chopped together but not yet a paste. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and give it another quick pulse. Check seasoning (don't skimp on the salt) and then you're done.
Finish the soup:
When vegetables are done cooking, check for seasoning, then puree using immersion blender. Strain pureed soup through the sieve. This process should take you a solid 4-5 minutes, you want to push as much of the thick soup mush through the sieve as possible so the strained soup has nice body and texture to it. You'll know when it's done because the soup will be lustrous and glossy and smooth. Return soup to pot and keep over low heat.
Now begins the taste-testing. First, check for salt and pepper, as always. I seem to have a heavy hand with pepper when it comes to soup, though this time I barely overdid it. Watch for this! You can always add, but you can never take away. Then, move on to your ground spices. I used about 1/2 tsp of ginger and nutmeg each, 1/4 tsp of cardamom, and maybe 1/8 tsp of cumin. You could bump the cumin up to 1/4 tsp with good effect. I wanted to retain more of the tang you get here from the sunchokes, the carrot and the citrus, so I used more ginger instead. My advice: start out with small quantites, stir, let it simmer for a few minutes, then taste and improvise until you're happy. (Cue lip-smacking here.)
Once you've got the seasoning down, swirl in milk or cream (a dollop of creme fraiche would add a silky decadence) and keep the soup on a low simmer until you're ready to eat.
Oh, you're ready now? Then get yourself a big ladle, dish up the soup, top with a round teaspoon of gremolata, and sprinkle with a nice salt if you have it (I used fleur de sel). Even though it has a good amount of starch from the veggies, this soup sits light on the stomach but still delivers a deep, hearty, satisfying taste.
Winter offers few saving graces, but tucking into a piping hot bowl of soup is certainly one of them.
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