Soup

I’m not going to talk about how I used to run a soup club (I used to run a soup club), or about the time my grandparents, worried that I was still single, sent me to see a Kabbalist, who gave me a project involving soup-making (it… worked?) I’m not going to regale you with soup memories (like the soup I once ate in a dream and am still trying to locate IRL [it had tahini in it]). I really just want to say that soup-making should be very simple, and inexpensive. At the end of a long, cold, and rainy day, soup should be within your reach.

I’m okay with some recipes being hard – take pie, for example. Crust, filling, beautiful lattice top. I’m not interested in short cuts. I want to do it all, from scratch, and perfectly. Soup, however, is by definition, such simple food. I don’t use broths or stocks, pre-made or purchased or otherwise. Just good veggies, seasoned well, and the right amount of cooking time. Last week, I exited my subway station and went to the store, where I bought a butternut squash and 3 leeks. This was after going to another store, and trying to buy a butternut squash and 3 leeks, but being faced with a $10 credit card minimum, which I angrily told them was illegal (it’s not illegal, just rude). I just straight up left the squash and leeks on the checkout counter. Sorry! Anyway, I went to the supermarket next door instead. They have no credit card minimum (as no supermarket should), AND their swipey screen, when asking for your PIN, reads, “ENTER SECRET CODE”, which I LOVE.

Got home, sauteed the leeks in grape seed oil, salt, pepper, and curry powder, added chunks of the peeled butternut, added water to almost-but-not-quite cover the squash, and then left it to gently boil until the squash was verrrrry soft. Until I added a Bamix to my wedding registry, I had never owned any kind of immersion blender. My soups have been chunky for a long time. Sometimes I’d do a thing where I sort of gently mashed the veggie chunks against the side of the pot. But now, velvety, smooth soups are back in my life. It’s just nice to have range, you know? And the Bamix itself is just a great tool. So I pureed the soup and then served myself a bowl, decorated with a little olive oil drizzle, and a few toasted, spicy pepitas (I keep a container in the freezer). I ate it alone, on the couch, while watching COFFEE AND CIGARETTES for the 7th time. We ate more the next day, as part of our Friday night dinner (accompanied by this bread, which is now a Shabbos staple), and then I polished off the final bowl last night. The flavour had, of course, intensified, and the soup had thickened. The squash was unbelievably sweet, and I was a little sad when my bowl was empty.

Make soup! It’s just veggies and water, and if you make a little extra, you can freeze a container, for a fun redux a few weeks later. You’ll free up some time to finally finish writing your wedding Thank You cards, you ingrate