An Exaltation of Soups (20 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan over mediumhigh heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tarragon and the dissolved gelatin, if using, mixing well. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, uncovered. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
2. Bring about 4 cups of water and the seafood seasoning to a boil over high heat, then add the shrimp and boil them in their shells for 5 minutes. Drain and cool, remove their shells and devein their backs, then chop them into bite-size pieces. Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the soup.
3. Wash the lettuce and tear it into pieces that will fit into your serving cups. Store in the refrigerator in paper towels, to crisp.
4. Prepare the garnishes: chop the parsley, slice four thin rounds from the lemon, and cut a wedge from the remainder for squeezing.
O
S
ERVE
Line elegant cups—ideally crystal or glass so you can see the sparkling jelly—with the lettuce. Gently stir the jellied soup, then ladle it into the cups. Sprinkle each portion with the shrimp, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice, then slide a paper-thin lemon round down into the jelly.
S
OUP
W
ISDOM FROM THE
“K
ING OF
C
HEFS AND
C
HEF OF
K
INGS
”
Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.
—A
UGUSTE
E
SCOFFIER
,
early twentieth-century French chef who served as Chef de Cuisine in the Franco-Prussian War, then went on to revolutionize the professional kitchen at The Savoy and other great hotels. It was Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II who told Escoffier, “I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the emperor of chefs.”
EXICO
AVOCADOLICIOUS SOUP
SOPA DE AGUACATE
A
VOCADOS
Known as “alligator pears” for their shape and reptilian skin, and as “poor man’s butter” for their creaminess, avocados are most colorfully known as the fruit of the “testicle tree.” It’s no mystery why. Fully fruited, these ovulate gems hang down from the trees in twos—and have a longstanding reputation as aphrodisiacs. Their very name in Aztec,
ahuacatl
, means “testicle.”
Avocados are native to Central America and can be traced back to the fifth century
B.C.E.
in Mexico and Guatemala, cultivated by both Aztecs and Mayans. In 1519, the Spanish cartographer Martin Fernandez de Encisco, returning from an exploration on the northern coast of South America, pronounced them “marvelous of flavor, so good and pleasing to the palate that it is a marvelous thing.” U.S. President George Washington, on a visit to Barbados in his youth, reportedly ate the
avogato
with extreme pleasure.
Serves 4
P
IQUANT BUT NOT
too piquant, creamy but not creamy thick, and packed with calories, this Mexican soup is gorgeously elegant and brainlessly easy to make, whether you decide to serve it cold or hot. If the former, you’ll make it completely in advance and be done with it; if the latter, be prepared to throw it together at the very last minute because you don’t want the delicate avocado turning bitter on you if it’s cooked too long. Needless to say, don’t even think about trying to reheat it.
4 cups (1 quart) Vegetable or Chicken Stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 chile pepper, as hot as you dare (from banana to habanero)
1 garlic clove
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
Salt and white pepper to taste
G
ARNISH
Minced fresh cilantro
Crisp tortilla chips or fresh tortillas fried in lard or oil
O
P
REPARE
N
OTE
: If you are making the cold version, start at least 3 hours ahead so the soup has time to chill properly.
Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. Heat the stock and cream over medium-high heat in a large saucepan, then reduce the heat to low and keep at a simmer.
2. Either in advance for the cold soup or at the last minute for the hot soup, puree the chile pepper and garlic in a blender, then toss in the avocados. Gradually add the hot stock mixture and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, remembering to oversea-son slightly for a cold soup.
O
S
ERVE
Either serve the hot soup immediately in elegant bowls with the cilantro topping and tortilla chips on the side, or cool slightly and refrigerate to make a cold soup that you will serve later, also with the cilantro and chips.
C
INEMATIC
A
VOCADOS
In arguably one of the most “B” movies ever made,
Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death
(1989), Colonel Mattel (Paul Ross) warns: “Avocados are vital to this nation’s security interests. With the communists already in control of Nicaragua and Guatemala and El Salvador rife with revolution, California is the last secure supply of avocados in the free world. We’re on the verge of a major avocado gap!”
PAIN
CHILLED “PUREED SALAD”
ANDALUSIAN
G
AZPACHO
Serves 4
I
WAS PLEASED
to get this recipe from José Luis Vivas, a native of Seville currently living in Brussels and working as a conference interpreter; José is a gifted polyglot, hot-air balloon crewman, and connoisseur. The following recipe, his personal version, is both authentic and wonderful. Mr. Vivas says, “Usually you make the quantities very large. This is because we usually make a large batch of this ‘base cream’ and thin it with water to taste, as you can either eat it from a dish like a pureed salad or, as we very often like to do in our hot summers, drink it in a glass.” If you want a smoother texture you can peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds from them and from the cucumbers.
N
OTE
: Start the soup at least 3 hours in advance so it has time to chill properly. If you don’t have time to chill it properly, just stir some ice cubes into it before serving.
2 slices crusty white bread
2 pounds ripe or canned tomatoes
1 pound cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional for stronger color)
2 large garlic cloves
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons sea salt
G
ARNISH
Chopped tomato, onion, cucumber, green pepper, hard-boiled egg, and Spanish dried ham
Fresh spearmint leaves
O
P
REPARE
1. Soak the bread in plenty of water. Prep the remaining ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
2. Puree all the fruits in a blender (and, yes, they are all fruits, not vegetables), saving the garlic for last. Add the soaked bread, barely drained, the oil, vinegar, and salt and blend again. Refrigerate until very cold.
3. Prepare the bowls of garnishes.
O
S
ERVE
Ladle the soup into large bowls, dropping a spearmint leaf into each. When served “formally,” gazpacho is presented with an array of garnishes in separate dishes. Pass the garnish bowls for people to serve themselves.
A
LICE
B. T
OKLAS ON
G
AZPACHO
After the first ineffable
gazpacho
was served to us [Alice and her longtime lover Gertrude Stein] in Malaga and an entirely different but equally exquisite one was presented in Seville the recipes for them had unquestionably become of greater importance than Grecos and Zurbarans, than cathedrals and museums. Surely the calle de las Sierpes, the liveliest, most seductive of streets, would produce the cook-book that would answer the burning consuming question of how to prepare a
gazpacho
Cook-books without number, exactly eleven, were offered for inspections but not a
gazpacho
in any index. Oh, said the clerk,
gazpachos
are only eaten in Spain by peasants and Americans.
—A
LICE
B. T
OKLAS
,
in her A
LICE
B. T
OKLAS
C
OOKBOOK
, written in the 1920s but not published until 1954
NITED STATES
ICED POTATO AND LEEK SOUP
VICHYSSOISE