An Exaltation of Soups (42 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
P
RESTO
P
ESTO
You can buy pesto already prepared in most supermarkets—it lasts a long time in the refrigerator, longer if you freeze it and chip it out as needed.
You can also make it from scratch: Put 1 cup fresh basil leaves in a blender or processor with ½ cup pine nuts or walnuts, 2 garlic cloves, and ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese. Process until thoroughly mixed, then gradually pour in ½ cup olive oil until the sauce is thick and completely pureed.
Are you thinking that
pesto
sounds a lot like the French
pistou?
You’d be right.
Soupe au pistou
is a marvelous French springtime vegetable soup, also appropriate for Lent, that makes a
pistou
with basil, tomato paste, garlic, and oil
—magnifique!
Serves 6 to 8
E
VEN THIS “MEAGER”
Italian soup is wonderful—very filling, very nutritious, very good for dieting, and perfect for Lent. This one from Tuscany is absolutely stuffed with colors, textures, and flavors—a true vegetarian dream—and has a nice finish with the crisped garlicky toast soaking up the broth.
2 cups small dried white beans
10 cups (2½ quarts) water
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, 2 pressed and 2 chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ head cabbage, finely shredded
2 cups washed, stemmed, stacked, and finely sliced spinach
2 tablespoons pesto (see sidebar)
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled between your palms, or
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
Salt and pepper to taste
G
ARNISH
6 to 8 thick slices stale Italian bread
Olive oil
1 garlic clove
Freshly ground black pepper
O
P
REPARE
1. The night before, soak the beans in plenty of water.
2. Prep the remaining ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. Drain the beans, rinse them, and put them in a large soup pot with the water, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and pressed garlic. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low, cover, and simmer for 1 to 2 hours, until the beans are tender.
2. Heat the ½ cup olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, then sauté the onion, chopped garlic, celery, and carrots for about 5 minutes, until they are translucent and beginning to take on color.
3. When the beans are tender, scrape the vegetables into the broth, rinsing the vegetable pan with a little soup broth to get every scrap of goodness. Then stir into the soup the potatoes, tomato paste, cabbage, spinach, pesto, parsley, rosemary, and salt and pepper. Add water as needed to keep the soup brothy. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low again, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the toast garnish. Brush each bread slice with olive oil, then dry and crisp the slices in a 325 °F. oven until dry, about 15 minutes. Rub each slice with raw garlic and set aside.
O
S
ERVE
Place a slice of toasted bread in the bottom of each bowl, ladle hot soup over it, then drizzle each portion with a little olive oil, followed by a grinding of black pepper.
“C
ANTICLE OF
C
REATED
T
HINGS
”
Be praised, my Lord, for our
sister bodily death,
from whom no living man
escapes;
woe unto those who die in
mortal sin,
but blessed be those whom
death shall find
living by thy most sacred
wishes,
for through the second death
no harm
shall come to them.
—S
T
. F
RANCIS OF
A
SSISI
,
P
OEMS FROM
I
TALY
, 1972
EXICO
VIGIL SOUP
CALDO DE VIGILIA
Serves 6 to 8
T
HIS UNUSUAL SOUP
springs from Mexico’s bounty of coastline and seafood, making fresh and dried fish especially appealing during the “no meat” season of
Vigilia
, when many Catholics observe its forty days by eschewing meat on Fridays and during Holy Week. The soup is festive looking—it even resembles the Mexican flag with all those greens nestled in a red broth, creamy eggs mounding across the soup surface. And it’s tasty—savory, rich, full of contrasting textures, and filling.
1 pound tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 cup prepared nopales (using 2 to 4 prickly pear cactus pads), or substitute more green beans or sliced okra
3 tablespoons corn oil
16 cups (4 quarts) water
½ pound (1 cup)
topote
(traditional dried fish, sold in most Mexican markets), or any dried or dry-smoked fish, washed, skin, scales, bones, or fins removed, and cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup diced waxy potatoes, unpeeled
1 cup trimmed green beans, in 1-inch pieces
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon fresh epazote leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried epazote, hydrated in hot water for 10 minutes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
O
P
REPARE
1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, toss in the tomatoes, and roast them for 5 to 10 minutes, turning frequently, until they are fragrant and soft. (If they are fresh, peel them at this point.) Chop the onion and garlic until fine in a blender, then add the tomatoes and puree the mixture.
2. Prepare the nopales: with a knife or potato peeler, carefully scrape away all the spines, then trim all the sides. Rinse well, checking to make sure you have all the spines out. Cut into 1-inch square pieces. Bring 2 cups of water to boil in a small saucepan, salting it well, then add the nopales pieces, lower the heat to medium-high, and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes. When they are done, drain them, rinse them in cold water, and drain them again, then rinse and drain them one more time.
3. Prep the remaining ingredients as directed in the recipe list.
O
C
OOK
1. In a large, attractive soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the corn oil over medium heat, then add the tomato mixture. Fry for 5 to 10 minutes, until the tomato cooks down and thickens. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, then add the fish, potatoes, green beans, and peas. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. (If you are substituting green beans or okra for the nopales, put them in with the main soup at this point.)
2. Add the nopales and the epazote leaves, cover, and cook 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
“T
ARAHUMARA
H
ERBS
”
Into Catholics
by the New Spain missionaries
they were turned
—these lion-hearted lambs.
And, without bread or wine,
they celebrate the Christian
ceremony
with their chicha beer and
their pinole
which is a powder of universal
flavour.
They drink spirits of maize
and peyote,
herb of portents,
symphony of positive esthetics
whereby into colours forms
are changed;
and ample metaphysical
ebriety
consoles them for their having
to tread the earth,
which is, all said and done,
the common affliction of all humankind.
—A
LFONSO
R
EYES
,
twentieth-
century Mexican poet
“P
ROVINCIAL
S
UNDAYS
”
On Sundays when the weather’s good, traditionally
in my home town, young ladies show their pretty heads
in the main square, their eyes reflecting sweetness
and the town band playing languid melodies.
And when the dreamy night descends on the town,
the lovers look at one another with fine expressions
in their eyes, the orchestra’s flutes and violins
coin a thousand romantic sounds in the festive night.
In provincial towns at dawn, holidays
offer visitors a lovely scene:
with their fresh faces, their missals in their hands
,
young ladies on the way to church—
because on a holiday, among them there is not one,
not one beauty, who would miss Mass.
—R
AMÓN
L
ÓPEZ
V
ELARDE
,
twentieth-century Mexican poet
O
S
ERVE
Raise the heat to medium-high, take the cover off the soup, and when it is at a medium boil, pour in the beaten egg all around the surface in a smooth motion. When the egg curdles, take the soup off the heat immediately and serve.
OMANIA
CHILLED GARLIC-BEAN SOUP
SUPA DE FASOLE