An Exaltation of Soups (46 page)
Read An Exaltation of Soups Online
Authors: Patricia Solley
Serves 6 to 8
C
OLD, SHARP, AND
tart—this soup is a glorious way to celebrate Easter and a superb summer first course that refreshes while it stimulates the palate. It’s easy and fast to make and very low calorie.
4 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
8 cups plain yogurt
Toasted almond slices, for garnish
O
P
REPARE
1. Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list, including toasting the almonds for the garnish.
2. In a blender, puree the cucumbers and garlic, pulsing the blades to liquify the mixture. Toss in the dill, salt, water, and yogurt and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
O
S
ERVE
Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with toasted almonds.
T
HE
E
ASTER
S
ERMON OF
S
T
. J
OHN
C
HRYSOSTUM
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
—S
T
. J
OHN
C
HRYSOSTUM
,
fourth-century priest who preached so persuasively that he earned the name Chrysostum, or “golden mouthed.” He was born in Antioch and served as Patriarch in Constantinople until he was banished to the shores of the Black Sea for his zeal in preaching against worldliness
GYPT
LAMB AND GARLICKY RICE SOUP
FATTA
T
HE
S
TORY OF
F
ATTA
Throughout the Mideast,
fatta
describes a way of breaking crisped pitas into a dish before ladling the soup or whatever on top.
Shorbet el Fata
, for example, describes an Islamic feast day soup that is eaten seventy days after Ramadan and is made from the leftover meat and bones of the Eid al Adha sacrificial lamb. It’s a soured, spiced lamb broth, ladled over pita crisps, then topped with yogurt.
Fatta
is also eaten in Yemen as crisped pieces of pita in a lentil salad.
Serves 6 to 8
I
T’S SO OBVIOUS
, this ceremonious serving of the lamb on a side plate—like a communion, spooning small bits of the Lamb of God into a spare, garlicky bread soup. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ. The touch of vinegar recalls the passion. And the rice is white, like the Lamb before the sacrifice, but of course it is also nicely filling and helps get you through all the services and Easter prayers until the proper feast is laid on the table later in the day.
Certainly this soup, served by Egyptian Christians as the very first meal after the Lenten fast, is deeply satisfying, a jolt of meat and protein after weeks of deprivation, but it also clearly marks as a halfway point the transition from sorrow and spareness to joy and appetite.
10 cups (2½ quarts) cold water
2 pounds lean boneless lamb, cut into small pieces
2 medium onions, left whole
1 dried hot chile pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup raw rice
2 cups boiling water
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
8 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon vinegar
4 pita breads, crisped in the oven
O
P
REPARE
1. Prep the ingredients as directed in the recipe list, including crisping the pita breads.
2. Place the cold water, lamb, onions, chile pepper, salt, and
pepper in a soup pot and slowly bring to a boil over medium heat, skimming as necessary. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover, and let the soup cook until the meat is tender, about 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, cook the rice over low heat in the 2 cups boiling water, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes; spoon into a serving bowl and set aside, keeping warm.
O
C
OOK
1. When the meat has finished cooking in the broth, discard the onions and chile pepper, then remove the meat from the soup and reserve. Keep the soup on a low simmer.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat and toss in the reserved meat, stirring until it is evenly browned. Remove the meat to a serving dish and keep warm.
3. Toss the garlic into the remaining butter and sauté over medium heat until golden brown, then scrape it into the soup and stir in the vinegar.
O
S
ERVE
Bring the soup to a high boil. Break the crisped breads into individual bowls and ladle the soup over them, passing the meat and rice separately.
T
HE
“S
TINKING
R
OSE
” T
HROUGH THE
A
GES
Virgil (first century
B.C.E.
) avowed garlic would restore the strength of reapers against the heat, and the poet Macer (ditto) said it was helpful in keeping people who were threatened by the possible attack of snakes from falling asleep.Horace (first century
B.C.E.
, five years younger than Virgil) suffered indigestion on the very day of his arrival at Rome from eating a sheep’s head laced with garlic and so had a horror of it.Pliny the Elder (first century
A.D.
) said garlic was good for toothache, ulcer, and asthma, not to mention stimulating sexual and gustatory appetites.Galen (second century
A.D.
) used it as an antidote to poisons.Athenaeus (second century
A.D.
) forbade anyone who had eaten garlic to enter the sacred temple of Cybele.Mohammed (sixth century
A.D.
), prophet of Islam, extolled its use for scorpion and snake bites.During the Dark Ages (ninth-fifteenth centuries
A.D.
), Europeans believed garlic could ward off the plague and wore garlands of it as protection; to this day they recall folklore traditions that it protects against the “evil eye” and can make witches and vampires disappear at its very sight.Richard Folkard, in
Plant Lore
(1884), advises, “To dream that you are eating garlic denotes that you will discover hidden secrets and meet with some domestic jar. To dream that there is garlic in the house is lucky.”As recently as 1917 and 1918, Americans wore garlic garlands in public during influenza epidemics, and Eleanor Roosevelt was said to take three chocolate-covered garlic pills each morning, on the advice of her doctor, to improve her memory.
TALY
MEATBALL AND CHEESE DUMPLING SOUP
BENNEDETTO
T
HEOCRITUS ON
B
EAUTY AND
R
ICOTTA
In Idyll II, this ancient poet from Syracuse (third century
B.C.E.
) depicts the hopeless yearning of dopey Cyclops Polyphemus for the fair nymph Galatea, who was to his one eye “whiter than ricotta, gentler than a lamb, livelier than a calf, firmer than an unripe grape.”
It was one-eyed Polyphemus in Homer’s epic, of course, who gobbled up six of Odysseus’s men before being easily fooled, intoxicated, and blinded so that Odysseus could escape to return to Ithica and his faithful Penelope.
And what’s ricotta, anyway? Very white, for one. But also a very famous Italian “whey cheese”—that is, a cheese made of what’s leftover from, say, provolone cheese production. It means “twice cooked” because it’s coagulated into a fine grain, spoonable cheese from the uncoagulated liquid that’s left from the first milk separation. You’ll find mostly cow ricotta at the store, but it’s also made from sheep, goat, and buffalo milk.
Serves 6 to 8
I
NCREDIBLY,
EVERYTHING
YOU’VE
missed during Lent appears in this soup: creamy egg and ricotta-cheese dumplings, chicken, and tender meatballs all in a rich chicken broth with light globules of fat. Heaven! And, in fact,
bennedetto
means “The Blessed.”
F
OR THE BROTH
9 cups Chicken Stock
1 large carrot, peeled and minced
1 large onion, minced
2 celery stalks with leaves, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup shredded cooked chicken meat
F
OR THE MEATBALLS
¾ pound lean ground beef or lamb
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
F
OR THE DUMPLINGS
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg
½ tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Minced fresh parsley, for garnish
O
P
REPARE
1. Start the soup: Heat the stock over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven (room to cook the meatballs and dumplings) and stir in
the carrot, onion, celery, and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. You should add the shredded chicken at this point.
2. Prepare the meatballs: Hand-mix the ground meat with the parsley, salt, and pepper, then form into small meatballs the size of large marbles. (You may store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them.)